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Could you give a quick summary of how technology inevitably leads to loss of freedom? I understand that this is often the case, but is it always necessarily th
by aik 14y ago
Could you give a quick summary of how technology inevitably leads to loss of freedom?
I understand that this is often the case, but is it always necessarily the case? Ie. Is it a universal law that "Technology leads to loss of freedom"?
- Alex3917 14y agoIt's been about ten years since I last read it, but as I remember the basic argument is: - Technology can always be used for both good and evil. - As technology gets more powerful, the potential for causing harm will be greater. - Each new technology will require new laws in order to minimize the potential harms of that technology. - Each of those laws is going to have unintended consequences that will result in the loss of freedom. - As the rate of technological discovery increases, the amount of freedom approaches zero. He proposes it as a universal law, and I think it makes sense. But I also suspect that the idea that we're approaching the singularity is actually a cognitive distortion caused by observer bias, so things might not be quite as bad as they seem.
- ebabchick 14y agoThose first four bullets may be true statements, but the second bullet point is a half-truth. It should read "As technology gets more powerful, the potential for causing harm will be greater AND the amount of freedom will increase by some arbitrary amount." It's then reasonable to say that new laws are made to put new technologies in check. It's a lot harder to reach the same conclusion if that's the case.