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>the entire goal of technology is fight the actual laws of nature I find this a very questionable premise. Technology, being constrained by physics, necessary
by pythia__ 10y ago
>the entire goal of technology is fight the actual laws of nature
I find this a very questionable premise. Technology, being constrained by physics, necessary works with the laws of nature at least to that extent[1]. Well-designed technology, however, most often also works with rather than against its materials[2] and with, rather than against, the human mind that is intended as its user.
[1] E.g., airplanes do not fight physics to fly but use it. The "fight" view is based on an incomplete picture that ignores everything beyond gravity.
[2] This is not the same as the intent of whoever created the materials, hence hacking.
- pron 10y agoI meant to fight the limitations that the laws of nature place on human action. I thought that was clear. Obviously, technology can't actually change the laws of nature as they are (assumed to be) immutable. But in that sense, we "fight" them (i.e. their effects on us) with technology to the best of our abilities. Social laws, however, can and constantly do change by human action, and yet SV culture seems to fear putting as much as a fight against them as it does "against" the real laws of nature, and even shows some aversion to studying them in depth (i.e. beyond tallying them with data and statistics, akin to how the early astronomers studied the heavenly bodies centuries and millennia ago).