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> We tend to worship democratising institutions without considering whether or not the people recieving these new powers are capable of handling them with the c

> We tend to worship democratising institutions without considering whether or not the people recieving these new powers are capable of handling them with the correct values, motivations, and competencies. Who exactly are the right people to be using technology? How do they decide what constitutes correct values, motivations and competencies? Your sentiment seems to carry a lot of hubris behind it. The world is just not that simple. > The Internet has given too much to those who are not curious about the world or have a serious interest in improving it. This sounds like a generic pretentious sentiment. What are you exactly trying to say? Because I'm pretty sure that widespread access to the internet has resulted in an overwhelming net good for the world, allowing people to learn more and do more than ever before.

DennisAleynikov 8y ago
the tech is rarely the issue at scale. When almost everyone uses something you run into the same problems you get from any crowd. traffic, deviancy and abuse of resources. humans are animals and we need to keep that in mind for when we expect large groups of them to act like anything but a herd
- anonytrary 8y ago
  > humans are animals and we need to keep that in mind for when we expect large groups of them to act like anything but a herd Then it is equally foolish to assume that humans are capable of shepherding each other. Either every human is an animal, or none of them are. Which animals get to decide how the rest of the animals use something in the world? It's not as easy as it seems. Finding "clever" ways of partitioning people is a recipe for disaster.
  - imartin2k 8y ago
    Well, humans are the only animal which is able to actually act against its animal nature. But this requires work, education, self-awareness. Acceptance and understanding of one’s cognitive biases. Not everyone on the internet is acting equally destructive. But possibly at this point in collective human evolution, people (on average) maybe are not ready for the internet.
    - anonytrary 8y ago
      > Well, humans are the only animal which is able to actually act against its animal nature. Think about this some more, it doesn't actually make sense. There are aspects of humans we can differentiate between other species, but there exists no subset of behaviors amongst humans that are non-animalistic. It's a contradiction.
      - imartin2k 8y ago
        I don’t see what you mean. If certain patterns of behavior characterize 99,9 % of the animal species, and if humans are the only species which is able to deliberately act in a way which 99,9 % of the animal species can’t/won’t, then describing this as “non-animalistic” behavior is very practical to use for the topic at hand, and not a contradiction, in my opinion. Because this is what sets humans apart from all animal species.
        aluren 8y ago
        >certain patterns of behavior characterize 99,9 % of the animal species There is no such thing. Unless you mean very basic things like eating and sleeping, and that's not even certain. Also, every species has its own idiosyncracies that no one else does. The idea that humans somehow 'arose' through evolution atop the masses of the mindless animal kingdom is a bit quaint.
    - hnisgroupthink 8y ago
      Slavery IS human nature, and that's exactly what's been implemented.
lkrubner 8y ago
"How do they decide what constitutes correct values" Unless I'm misreading you, there is an element of nihilism in your comment. You seem to be suggesting that there are no correct values, or that the correct values can not be discovered. I'm sure you must be aware that in the West we've been having a conversation for the last 2,400 years regarding how to discover correct values and live one's life according to them. If your comment was meant to dismiss or side step the importance of that conversation then your comment can be read as anti-intellectual. But to whatever extent you accept the importance of that conversation, I imagine you'll be willing to admit that many people nowadays are mis-using the Internet, as the parent comment suggested.

DennisAleynikov 8y ago

the tech is rarely the issue at scale. When almost everyone uses something you run into the same problems you get from any crowd. traffic, deviancy and abuse of resources. humans are animals and we need to keep that in mind for when we expect large groups of them to act like anything but a herd

anonytrary 8y ago
> humans are animals and we need to keep that in mind for when we expect large groups of them to act like anything but a herd Then it is equally foolish to assume that humans are capable of shepherding each other. Either every human is an animal, or none of them are. Which animals get to decide how the rest of the animals use something in the world? It's not as easy as it seems. Finding "clever" ways of partitioning people is a recipe for disaster.
- imartin2k 8y ago
  Well, humans are the only animal which is able to actually act against its animal nature. But this requires work, education, self-awareness. Acceptance and understanding of one’s cognitive biases. Not everyone on the internet is acting equally destructive. But possibly at this point in collective human evolution, people (on average) maybe are not ready for the internet.
  - anonytrary 8y ago
    > Well, humans are the only animal which is able to actually act against its animal nature. Think about this some more, it doesn't actually make sense. There are aspects of humans we can differentiate between other species, but there exists no subset of behaviors amongst humans that are non-animalistic. It's a contradiction.
    - imartin2k 8y ago
      I don’t see what you mean. If certain patterns of behavior characterize 99,9 % of the animal species, and if humans are the only species which is able to deliberately act in a way which 99,9 % of the animal species can’t/won’t, then describing this as “non-animalistic” behavior is very practical to use for the topic at hand, and not a contradiction, in my opinion. Because this is what sets humans apart from all animal species.
      - aluren 8y ago
        >certain patterns of behavior characterize 99,9 % of the animal species There is no such thing. Unless you mean very basic things like eating and sleeping, and that's not even certain. Also, every species has its own idiosyncracies that no one else does. The idea that humans somehow 'arose' through evolution atop the masses of the mindless animal kingdom is a bit quaint.
  - hnisgroupthink 8y ago
    Slavery IS human nature, and that's exactly what's been implemented.

lkrubner 8y ago

"How do they decide what constitutes correct values" Unless I'm misreading you, there is an element of nihilism in your comment. You seem to be suggesting that there are no correct values, or that the correct values can not be discovered. I'm sure you must be aware that in the West we've been having a conversation for the last 2,400 years regarding how to discover correct values and live one's life according to them. If your comment was meant to dismiss or side step the importance of that conversation then your comment can be read as anti-intellectual. But to whatever extent you accept the importance of that conversation, I imagine you'll be willing to admit that many people nowadays are mis-using the Internet, as the parent comment suggested.