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The appeal there is that they seem apolitical. They are not - they have baked in political ideas. Moreover they allow people with power to take political action

The appeal there is that they seem apolitical. They are not - they have baked in political ideas. Moreover they allow people with power to take political actions and can credibly that they are not political. It sounds like something from a cyberpunk novel, but much of this baked in politics resides within powerful mega-corporations, playing within their moats and exploiting their walled gardens. People high up in those corporations have their own agenda. Much of this agenda is carried out with the aid of lobbying. Deep inside those mega-corporations, other strata of lower-level functionaries from an entirely different social class are carrying out their own agendas. Often these agendas clash with the higher-ups. Often, these agendas clash with those of the users and ordinary people. such systems have no vision of the future. That requires people. Many of the problems arise when people with some power have dehumanized other people in their minds, and start to mistreat them, within whatever level of power they may have. By their very nature, such mega-corporations tend produce many such opportunities. 'All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace' This title, as a phrase, describes The Culture in Iain M. Bank's books.

freddybobs 6y ago
> Many of the problems arise when people with some power have dehumanized other people in their minds, and start to mistreat them, within whatever level of power they may have. By their very nature, such mega-corporations tend produce many such opportunities. This is a good insight. That many efforts in the fairly recent past to alter the the situation have failed spectacularly, or at least not turned out in the way it was expected. As examples, 'communism' seems to degenerate into a strict hierarchy of authoritarianism and associated suffering (perversely such a hierarchy being an anathema to principals of communism). The Arab spring, something seen in a positive light in the west, seems to have in several cases failed. It could be argued the failure was in part because it didn't have a clear vision or the people in place to make the change happen - there was a power vacuum. These failures make us very wary of people talking about any significant change. They seem at a default that they could be dangerous. That predicting the future is hard. It is important to be wary. What really is a red flag is claims of a better future, when it's not explained clearly what that future is, and the policy changes that will need to be undertaken to get there. All that being said it seems to me important for a society to strive to be better, and to think of other solutions than just more of the same.

freddybobs 6y ago

> Many of the problems arise when people with some power have dehumanized other people in their minds, and start to mistreat them, within whatever level of power they may have. By their very nature, such mega-corporations tend produce many such opportunities. This is a good insight. That many efforts in the fairly recent past to alter the the situation have failed spectacularly, or at least not turned out in the way it was expected. As examples, 'communism' seems to degenerate into a strict hierarchy of authoritarianism and associated suffering (perversely such a hierarchy being an anathema to principals of communism). The Arab spring, something seen in a positive light in the west, seems to have in several cases failed. It could be argued the failure was in part because it didn't have a clear vision or the people in place to make the change happen - there was a power vacuum. These failures make us very wary of people talking about any significant change. They seem at a default that they could be dangerous. That predicting the future is hard. It is important to be wary. What really is a red flag is claims of a better future, when it's not explained clearly what that future is, and the policy changes that will need to be undertaken to get there. All that being said it seems to me important for a society to strive to be better, and to think of other solutions than just more of the same.