So I read this the other day and I'm totally convinced. Scientists and technicians are self-serving criminals for promoting the growth of an evil system which is enslaving the human race and destroying all that is natural and wild and pure in this world.
Why don't people focus on technology as the independent variable determining politics? Politics is a distraction. For example, if you think your lives are regulated now, just wait until the scientists and technicians (and the corporations and governments paying them and giving them status and power) make gene editing mainstream. Then your genes will have to be regulated, if only because unregulated genetic manipulation would clearly be disastrous.
Is literature honestly a form of escapism for you guys? Is it "entertainment" that keeps you distracted from the horrors that technological growth, by itself, is unleashing on the world?
all is filler for tech and no one wants to admit it. its the use of tech not tech itself that is evil. the more reasons to keep a blind eye, the more neurotic these politics get. not everyone has good cognitive endurance and even that idea is beyond most.
Dylan Foster
I have an idealistic blueprint for a technologically advanced society without all the ills associated with technology as Ted points out. For one, there shall be limited populations, with no cities or towns, only villages. So there will be no large scale capitalism, no corporations, no need for consumerism, etc. Every village will be self-reliant, with no need for growth or trade. The culture will be designed to preserve Ted's "autonomy," so that there will be no meaningless occupations. There will be a central hub that stores all scientific and technological information, suppressing unneeded technologies and most discoveries and innovations, selectively choosing which technologies to apply among ththe villages. All hub employees will be chosen one by one from the villages, of course, if they are willing to do so. Basic education would be a standard in all the villages, and then the kids become old enough, they can choose to visit the hub and work there.
I dont have all the details worked out. Maybe in some villages, the hub should remain a secret. Maybe the hub could purposely create and alter diverse villages in order to find the right balance between technology and autonomy, and a good population level, and optimal intellectual output. There's no telling how much assistance that genetic engineering could offer, and weather manipulation, crop control, etc. The basic idea is that we should be using advanced technologies to limit our hyperconsumerist, hypercompetitive nature. That's the inherent problem that drives anti-capitalist and anti-technology philosophies, but mere laws won't help. Simply destroying our current technology won't help, we will eventually build it back up. We need to permanently fix the relation between humans and technology, and that can only be done through technology.
I hate that people are divided into the horrible camps, one advocating for ditching all technology, and the other basically ignoring the problem at large, or accepting uncontrolled acceleration. We should take a Hegelian approach and find a synthesis, solving the problem with knowledge from both sides of the dialectic. That is how we go forward. I definitely dont know all the answers yet, but I wish people would think more about how we can embrace Ted's reasonable criticisms and use them to improve our society before it's too late
Oliver Thompson
Basically, we can harness technology with the understanding of its negative effects, in an effort to totally eliminate and prevent those negative effects. It might require drastic changes in populations and genetics, but it isnt impossible. There's no reason not to consider this route. We are, as a whole, blindly marching on, without any reflection on where we're going. Ted gives us the first goal of our path by providing the problems with current socoety: we need to preserve autonomy and prevent an unstoppable oppressive system of unkempt technology. Where we go from there will be the challenge for our descendants.
Xavier Watson
You guys should post in the technology general even though it was poorly introduced.
Jaxson Campbell
>if we drastically remodel human society around technology in THIS way we somehow AREN'T slaves to technology
/g/ is the perfect example of the consumerist shill ridden pathway of tech.
Jaxson Turner
No the technology general that is already a thread on this board right now genius
Kevin Kelly
I'm in neither of those camps. I just want to A C C E L E R A T E
Jace James
got any better ideas or would you just like to wallow inertly in pessimism?
Blake Peterson
To be pessimistic is to be brave, I'm proud to be a pessimist. Only cowards hide behind ideologies and fantastic political systems
Hunter Reed
ok stop acting like a janny. but my point stands..
Andrew Martin
Mere sophistry. You could have said the opposite meaning using the same language and would have sounded just as "profound"
John Brooks
I'm not trying to even act like a Jannie lmao I just think it is a possible good thread and should be the focus desu.
James Cooper
You're acting like this is reddit. Your embarrassing yourself over your thread
Colton Williams
>For one, there shall be limited populations, with no cities or towns, only villages.
You'll need to devise a political/economic framework where that would be viable. As it stands we have been pushed into cities more and more with each of us hyper specialized in some trade or skill.
I don't this a serious solution could be resolved without some kind of global fascism where all production and manufacturing is controlled to meet the needs of a population but not necessarily their desires. All the while, somehow, allowing for villages and regions to be relatively autonomous.
Kayden Rivera
Destruction and creation. gtg
Kevin Collins
Its not even my thread but whatever you say sweaty
Brody Flores
The task of a person acquainted with history and politics is to discern how the future will be, not how it should be or how you would like it to be. Devising these grand ideological systems is a waste of time and only leads to shit like the Third Reich or Soviet Union. We should be Bismarcks not Hitlers.
David Edwards
check it. all these theoretical blueprints for a society are default larp if you dont have the tech at your disposal. the best way to start is to work on a model of a self sufficient energy home that beats the current standard. so far these attempts do work but cost more than the traditional home. we need the next generation of these low cost eco homes. needs are primary.
