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Although only a paragraph is dedicated to the topic, I think this essay is more about the wonders of biology. I've been thinking about this more lately, how ce

Although only a paragraph is dedicated to the topic, I think this essay is more about the wonders of biology. I've been thinking about this more lately, how cells are more or less the nanomachines we read about in sci-fi. Animals and plants are living machines, much more compatible with humans than the machines we have created - yet the investment in artificial machines dwarfs the natural ones... (I make this statement without evidence :)

astan 6y ago
And investment in preserving nature, learning from it, and investment into human beings and nurturing their capabilities dwarfs all the investment in technology. And I don't mean nurturing capabilities to make them drones spending all their energy working for corporates, but for themselves and being able to pursue their own causes. And believe me, we won't need new shoes and new apps and perfect games every week if we are not being drained of our energy 50hrs/wk. We can and will happily do with much less if what we have is not cheap trash hurting our bodies and souls, manufactured by suffering working class people (please look up suicide rates in chinese factories and in working class communities in america).
- WalterBright 6y ago
  > spending all their energy working for corporates, Without corporates, we'd be spending all our energy working on subsistence farms. No thanks.
  - Shared404 6y ago
    Is it too much to ask for balance though? I see neither end as ideal for the average person, but we are definitely farther to the corporate side of things than I am personally comfortable with.
  - astan 6y ago
    Why do you think that? We can still work and produce, but instead of having new shoes released by nike every month, they would be released every year. People who want to work 80hrs/wk can still do that, essential jobs like firefighters that currently pay very little can pay 250k a year, instead of getting 10 fruits in your supermarket, you will have to deal with 5 locally grown ones, but anyone who wants to pursue other things will be generously allowed to. Usual work days can be reduced to 3 days of work per week. We just need to reduce fetishism with non human scale technology at the cost of nature and humans. But people are still free to pursue it, and societies can pick what aspects they want.
    - WalterBright 6y ago
      The way people organize to work on something is to form a company (or corporation). Getting rid of them means everyone pretty much has to be self-sufficient, i.e. subsistence farming. > anyone who wants to pursue other things will be generously allowed to. As they are now. Nobody is forced to work for any companies in America.
jackcosgrove 6y ago
Biology is inductive technology, built from the specific to the general through trial and error. Human inventions are mostly deductive technology, built from the general to the specific through the understanding of principles, and trial and error. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Biology's biggest advantage is a head start. However biology while sometimes elegant can also be very dumb. For example DNA is spaghetti code.
- Mobleysoft 6y ago
  Your assertion that DNA is spaghetti code seems short sighted while the inner-workings of structures, such as human brains, which it can generate remain to be fully understood. There is more to learn. What you deem to be spaghetti may be the most efficient way to make one piece of code perform well under broad spectrum of conditions.

astan 6y ago

And investment in preserving nature, learning from it, and investment into human beings and nurturing their capabilities dwarfs all the investment in technology. And I don't mean nurturing capabilities to make them drones spending all their energy working for corporates, but for themselves and being able to pursue their own causes. And believe me, we won't need new shoes and new apps and perfect games every week if we are not being drained of our energy 50hrs/wk. We can and will happily do with much less if what we have is not cheap trash hurting our bodies and souls, manufactured by suffering working class people (please look up suicide rates in chinese factories and in working class communities in america).

WalterBright 6y ago
> spending all their energy working for corporates, Without corporates, we'd be spending all our energy working on subsistence farms. No thanks.
- Shared404 6y ago
  Is it too much to ask for balance though? I see neither end as ideal for the average person, but we are definitely farther to the corporate side of things than I am personally comfortable with.
- astan 6y ago
  Why do you think that? We can still work and produce, but instead of having new shoes released by nike every month, they would be released every year. People who want to work 80hrs/wk can still do that, essential jobs like firefighters that currently pay very little can pay 250k a year, instead of getting 10 fruits in your supermarket, you will have to deal with 5 locally grown ones, but anyone who wants to pursue other things will be generously allowed to. Usual work days can be reduced to 3 days of work per week. We just need to reduce fetishism with non human scale technology at the cost of nature and humans. But people are still free to pursue it, and societies can pick what aspects they want.
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    The way people organize to work on something is to form a company (or corporation). Getting rid of them means everyone pretty much has to be self-sufficient, i.e. subsistence farming. > anyone who wants to pursue other things will be generously allowed to. As they are now. Nobody is forced to work for any companies in America.

jackcosgrove 6y ago

Biology is inductive technology, built from the specific to the general through trial and error. Human inventions are mostly deductive technology, built from the general to the specific through the understanding of principles, and trial and error. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Biology's biggest advantage is a head start. However biology while sometimes elegant can also be very dumb. For example DNA is spaghetti code.

Mobleysoft 6y ago
Your assertion that DNA is spaghetti code seems short sighted while the inner-workings of structures, such as human brains, which it can generate remain to be fully understood. There is more to learn. What you deem to be spaghetti may be the most efficient way to make one piece of code perform well under broad spectrum of conditions.