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It's sad to see so much pessimism here. You are underestimating the power of technology to fix seemingly intractable problems such as energy or healthcare costs
by paul 16y ago
It's sad to see so much pessimism here. You are underestimating the power of technology to fix seemingly intractable problems such as energy or healthcare costs.
Here is a key quote from his post:
Revolutions are not obvious when they happen. When James Watt started the industrial revolution with the steam engine in 1775 no one said, “This is the day everything changes.” When Karl Benz drove around Mannheim in 1885 no one said, “They’ll be 500 million of these driving around in a century.” And certainly in 1958 when Noyce and Kilby invented the Integrated Circuit the idea of a quintillion (10 to the 18th) transistors being produced each year seemed ludicrous.
- chailatte 16y agoYou're overestimating technology innovation being able solve the ills of government/corruption/war/debt.
- paul 16y agoI bet I'm not. The printing press had a pretty big effect, and I expect the Internet will be similarly powerful.
- gloob 16y agoThe printing press had a big effect, but it didn't fix government, corruption, war, or debt.
- anamax 16y agoI'll bite - what technology has solved "the ills of government/corruption/war/debt"? Why will the internet be any different?
- eru 16y agoThe cash register has done a lot about petty corruption. (Does anybody have a link to Warren Buffett's eloquent musings about that subject?)
- crux_ 16y agoThe internet is turning out to be more like TV and less like books/newspapers on that front. Signed, Someone who used to be an idealist about that.
- paul 16y agoIf you expect everything to suddenly change overnight, of course you're going to be disappointed, but if you can't see things changing, you are blind.
- crux_ 16y agoOkay, as I'm a bit grouchy, I will bite. Here are some of the changes I see: There's a generation rising up that largely sees privacy as disposable rather than precious. Groups of what I'd call the wilfully ignorant -- hate groups, cults -- are thriving out in the information age; most of them growing far faster than they would have been able to previously. Decades ago, society's malcontents may have organised, marched, and changed things. Today: they can organise, march, and be ignored due to our society-wide ADD and the incredible media sophistication wielded by the powerful. Or, more often, they can do none of that, vent on the net, and still be ignored. Then there's the huge, undeniable, centralisation going on. Even without evil being actively done within organisations like Facebook or Google, it creates huge vulnerabilities for abuse, as we've already seen. There are all of the extremely bright people who ought to be contributing to the next technological revolution(s), instead looking to reinvent online marketing. In short.... I do see change. I don't see much change for the better -- not when it comes to "reshaping the face of society" kind of change, in any case. How's that for your daily dose of cynicism?
- ntoshev 16y agoIt's easy to be a cynic, and it's hard to argue with one. But cynics don't change the world for the better. Your opponent in this argument has done it.