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So the biggest obstacle to solving anything about this world is stupidity of the general population. People can't stop choosing the most stupid things with thei

So the biggest obstacle to solving anything about this world is stupidity of the general population. People can't stop choosing the most stupid things with their wallets and attention.

bmitc 5y ago
As harsh as I am on humanity, it's not entirely people's fault. We have primate emotions that have been grossly outpaced by our technological development. This is why I've become somewhat anti-technology despite still working on technology because it stretches us to lifestyles that are distinctly inhuman. Humanity simply does not have the emotional capacity to handle the technology we create. It never has and never will, and it's just that software has greatly amplified this inability. This is why mental disorders are skyrocketing. We're building emotional prisons with technological walls and bars.
- kmlx 5y ago
  > and never will don’t humans continue evolving?
  - bmitc 5y ago
    My laymen and superficial understanding of the situation is that humans do continue to evolve but our genome is also degrading in terms of building up mutations. https://www.nature.com/articles/news990204-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/news990204-2 If we're evolving, I don't think it's anywhere close to the rate of increase of our technology.
  - notacoward 5y ago
    Human evolution operates at timescales several orders of magnitude slower than technological evolution so, in effect, no we don't.
gretch 5y ago
Not everything that's stupid is harmful. It's fine if everyone is stupid, or most of us choose to engage in stupid things from time to time. I paid $17 to see Transformers. That was pretty stupid, but oh well, no one got hurt. People want to be entertained and engaged - I do not think they aim to harm. So I think we need to develop alternatives to entertain people - these alternatives can still be stupid, they just shouldn't be harmful.

So the biggest obstacle to solving anything about this world is stupidity of the general population. People can't stop choosing the most stupid things with their wallets and attention.

bmitc 5y ago

As harsh as I am on humanity, it's not entirely people's fault. We have primate emotions that have been grossly outpaced by our technological development. This is why I've become somewhat anti-technology despite still working on technology because it stretches us to lifestyles that are distinctly inhuman. Humanity simply does not have the emotional capacity to handle the technology we create. It never has and never will, and it's just that software has greatly amplified this inability. This is why mental disorders are skyrocketing. We're building emotional prisons with technological walls and bars.

kmlx 5y ago
> and never will don’t humans continue evolving?
- bmitc 5y ago
  My laymen and superficial understanding of the situation is that humans do continue to evolve but our genome is also degrading in terms of building up mutations. https://www.nature.com/articles/news990204-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/news990204-2 If we're evolving, I don't think it's anywhere close to the rate of increase of our technology.
- notacoward 5y ago
  Human evolution operates at timescales several orders of magnitude slower than technological evolution so, in effect, no we don't.

gretch 5y ago

Not everything that's stupid is harmful. It's fine if everyone is stupid, or most of us choose to engage in stupid things from time to time. I paid $17 to see Transformers. That was pretty stupid, but oh well, no one got hurt. People want to be entertained and engaged - I do not think they aim to harm. So I think we need to develop alternatives to entertain people - these alternatives can still be stupid, they just shouldn't be harmful.