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The argument taken to its extreme is that all of civilization is a mistake since civilization involves specialization which means individuals give up their deci

The argument taken to its extreme is that all of civilization is a mistake since civilization involves specialization which means individuals give up their decisions on things. It's a very pessimistic argument and assumes that people don't use the saved energy for productive endeavors. The fact that civilization has prospered indicates to me that they do in fact simply find other things to spend their mental energy on. Do you want Einstein spending mental energy on picking his next restaurant or solving the fundamental questions of the universe? edit: Much has been written about how the most productive people aggressively remove having to make trivial choices from their lives. To the point of having fifty copies of a single set of clothes.

syshum 6y ago
Civilization may not be a mistake, but it is clear that 90% of people in a civilization is dragged forward kicking and screaming by 10% of people into a Civilization it is not equipped to handle and unprepared for. I think that more than anything is the underlying lesson and danger from the idiocracy documentary We are injecting tools, and technology into civilization that we are not ready for with no concern or care for the damage it does
- yawnxyz 6y ago
  I think clinical trials are the most aggressive form of making sure that a new technology isn't harmful on the population. I can't even imagine what tech would look like if strict pathways like clinical trials were forced on apps and websites, but I could imagine that be possible one day.
  - marcinzm 6y ago
    You can't really do random testing on social products because there's no good way to segregate a social network. Too much overlap and sharing. Harm is also subjective which makes it very hard to measure. For example, tech that made people more supportive of gay rights would have been considered very harmful until fairly recently by a majority of the population.

syshum 6y ago

Civilization may not be a mistake, but it is clear that 90% of people in a civilization is dragged forward kicking and screaming by 10% of people into a Civilization it is not equipped to handle and unprepared for. I think that more than anything is the underlying lesson and danger from the idiocracy documentary We are injecting tools, and technology into civilization that we are not ready for with no concern or care for the damage it does

yawnxyz 6y ago
I think clinical trials are the most aggressive form of making sure that a new technology isn't harmful on the population. I can't even imagine what tech would look like if strict pathways like clinical trials were forced on apps and websites, but I could imagine that be possible one day.
- marcinzm 6y ago
  You can't really do random testing on social products because there's no good way to segregate a social network. Too much overlap and sharing. Harm is also subjective which makes it very hard to measure. For example, tech that made people more supportive of gay rights would have been considered very harmful until fairly recently by a majority of the population.