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> What if we're building a society that is so complicated that it just isn't feasible for individuals to make informed decisions about important matters any mor

> What if we're building a society that is so complicated that it just isn't feasible for individuals to make informed decisions about important matters any more? Then we should apply the regulator brakes immediately, as hard as possible. If the threat new technology poses to society is so great as that, then we should regulate those technologies, possibly to the point of strangulation. Ancient Roman urban legend: An inventor came to the Emperor to show off a new material, unbreakable glass. He showed the Emperor a glass chalice and threw it to the floor. Instead of shattering it merely bent, and the inventor bent it back into shape with a hammer. The emperor was very impressed, then ordered for the inventor to be killed. Unshatterable glass was very nice, but it wasn't worth the social and economic disruption it might cause. I am not that Roman emperor. What I support is the regulation of business practices, not technology itself. But if you (and Ted Kaczynski, for he has argued the same) are right and the threat to society comes from the technology, then we can regulate the technology as well.

hkpack 4y ago
It is obviously that we cannot do that because of the global competition. Regulation of technology to reduce risk to society will just make competing part of society you have no influence on to dominate. And you lose on both fronts - technology domination, and ability to control it in the future.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  Regulating Apple specifically, or the role of smartphones in society generally, imperils national security? Sorry, but I'm not buying it. The relevant business behavior and technology to squash is the technology that intersects with the lives of common people in an intimate way, not military R&D. I'm talking about regulating the way online banking and ecommerce work, not the etching of silicon or production of rocket motors. The cited threat is phones getting pwnd by scammers who drain your grandpas bank account. If that threat is indeed so severe that digital freedoms for everybody need to be curtailed, it would be better to ban online banking entirely than to put the entire population under the paternalistic control of a handful of corporations. You'll have to dig deep into nth order effects to justify such regulation imperiling national defense, essentially tea leaf reading.

hkpack 4y ago

It is obviously that we cannot do that because of the global competition. Regulation of technology to reduce risk to society will just make competing part of society you have no influence on to dominate. And you lose on both fronts - technology domination, and ability to control it in the future.

MichaelCollins 4y ago
Regulating Apple specifically, or the role of smartphones in society generally, imperils national security? Sorry, but I'm not buying it. The relevant business behavior and technology to squash is the technology that intersects with the lives of common people in an intimate way, not military R&D. I'm talking about regulating the way online banking and ecommerce work, not the etching of silicon or production of rocket motors. The cited threat is phones getting pwnd by scammers who drain your grandpas bank account. If that threat is indeed so severe that digital freedoms for everybody need to be curtailed, it would be better to ban online banking entirely than to put the entire population under the paternalistic control of a handful of corporations. You'll have to dig deep into nth order effects to justify such regulation imperiling national defense, essentially tea leaf reading.