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The myth of freedom
- throwaway8879 8y agoHow can there be any "free will" if we are brought into existence without consent? The only true freedom is to cease to exist. Perhaps quasi-true freedom will be achieved somewhat if there is ever free energy and FTL travel that allows an individual to find a habitable planet. There is no true freedom in a world with resource scarcity. There is no place to run away to, or no place to be exiled, only behind caged bars.
- devoply 8y agoSee century of self. Governments have been "hacking" people since probably the beginning of government. Free will yet remains an ever present concept that is the basis of fundamental things such as the law.
- pizzazzaro 8y agoAgreed. The kind of technocratic musings as the original post have been around since the industrial revolution. And wouldn't you know it, the people who embrace this kind of rhetoric usually happen to be either Fascists, Corporate leaders in search of power masquerading as "charity", or even Racist Nationalists. The OP doesnt talk about what it takes to avoid these sorts of "human hacking" - robust education including rhetoric and debate, but also in sniffing "sponsored content", advertising, and bulls%!t. It takes independent news sources not beholden exclusively to profit, but who can trust that quality, independent journalism will earn a living, and find a public that trusts such news. It takes remembering our history - through the labor movement and World Wars, we dont teach the lessons we learned, and so we suffer. Neglecting that solutions exist isn't even nihilism. Its depressive navel gazing. Yes, the solutions are hard. Having a civilization at all gets hard from time to time.