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From my training as a computer scientist, I am used to the idea that some problems are easy and some are plainly intractable. Perhaps that's also true in scienc
by karmakurtisaani 4y ago
From my training as a computer scientist, I am used to the idea that some problems are easy and some are plainly intractable. Perhaps that's also true in science and technology, and we are starting to exhaust all the easy directions.
Still, many less techy problems remain, at least climate change and wealth inequality come to mind. Perhaps we'll see the biggest innovations in solving those in the future.
- zmgsabst 4y agoAs a software developer, I’d want to see a rewrite to clean up the legacy bodges before we conclude we can’t add more. Also, wealth inequality isn’t a problem: how wealthy the people at the bottom are is. Wealth inequality is associated with fewer poor people and a higher standard of living because wealth inequality requires a wealthy society. What exactly are you “fixing”?
- karmakurtisaani 4y agoI'm not suggesting we can't add more, rather, that I find it conceivable that there is a barrier of technological progress that we can approach, but never reach. So the pace of progress will slow down. Concerning wealth inequality, I do think it is a fundamental problem of society if a fraction of a percentage controls majority of the available resources even if the lowest half has their immediate needs met, but we can disagree on that all day and arrive nowhere.
- zmgsabst 4y agoThe Pareto principle is incredibly harsh, but such hierarchies seem to form naturally. My concern with your view is that in trying to “squash the gap”, you end up doing so by making everyone poorer — and society worse overall. Happy to agree to disagree; hopefully we can consider each other’s perspectives in crafting policies.
- karmakurtisaani 4y agoIt's indeed not an easy issue, which is why I think there could still be lots of innovations to made in that space in terms of economics, politics, social sciences etc.
- anonymouskimmer 4y agoThe GINI index in absolute monarchies is close to 1. Wealth inequality implies that some people disproportionately control the life production of other people. If you're in favor of a "great man" idea of progress this is a benefit. If you're in favor of individual power to direct production and innovation (along the lines of de Tocqueville or it's left-wing equivalent) this is a detraction.
- int_19h 4y agoWealth inequality is not a problem, it's a symptom. Economic rent is the problem.
- bawolff 4y agoClimate change seems like one of the techiest of problems. I think wealth inequality is too ill defined to even be a problem. If anything i would argue it is only a problem if class mobility is low and that is where the focus should be.