4 ms·

I guess this was inevitable. It's a shame we have not advanced beyond our basic instinct in all these millennia. Every new technology always ends up as a weapon

I guess this was inevitable. It's a shame we have not advanced beyond our basic instinct in all these millennia. Every new technology always ends up as a weapon, one way or another. Even today, when we have more than enough resources and means to distribute them to everyone, blind greed and hunger for power prevails.

trevoragilbert 3y ago
> we have more than enough resources and means to distribute them to everyone I read that as giving everyone weapons and was surprised at the tone shift.
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> we have more than enough resources and means to distribute them to everyone Do we? To what threshold? Sustainably? We don’t have, for example, have the resources to provide every person on the planet with the quality of life of even a lower-quintile American. (Home, power, plumbing, car, petrol, varied industrially-produced foods, television, phone, internet, in-person education, security, et cetera.)
- ethbr1 3y ago
  Exactly. Until human desires are saturated, there will always be humans who desire more and will take it if they have the force to do so. And we have no evidence thus far that human desires can be saturated.
- NegativeLatency 3y ago
  I bet we could do clean water, food, and battery powered lighting for night time though.
  - hollerith 3y ago
    I'm not sure of that. I worry that unless we take over the national government, bureaucrats will prevent the aid from reaching every resident for ideological reasons (or cultural reasons, e.g., about the proper role of women) or simply because a bureaucrat wants to steal -- and of course taking over a government is difficult and expensive. Also, you leave basic security out of your list: not having roving gangs for example always stealing your stuff and sexually harassing your daughter. That's more important that having lighting after dark.
    - InitialLastName 3y ago
      Your concern isn't a resource issue, though. The resources exist, but so do the people willing to siphon resources to their benefit over the basic needs of others.
      - hollerith 3y ago
        >Your concern isn't a resource issue I don't like that way of framing it. I prefer to say that the US would need to spend additional resources (which seem prohibitive to me) to ensure that the nominal resources reach the intended recipients.
      - lucianbr 3y ago
        You're right in a sense. But I wonder, what does it mean to say "we have enough resources to provide for all humans" when human nature itself makes it impossible to provide for all humans with the resources we have now. Possibly with any amount of resources. It's not a resource issue, but it's not an external factor either.
- btbuildem 3y ago
  I'm sorry that you think owning a car and eating industrially-produced foods is a mark of a "good" standard of living. Both these are unfortunate byproducts of a runaway economic model that tied profits to consumption, while destroying the very prerequisites of its existence. We more than definitely have enough resources to satisfy everyone's basic needs. The basic needs would be: clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, simple healthy food, a safe home and community, quality education and healthcare, and the freedom to do whatever it is you want to do as long as it doesn't impinge on these basic needs of anyone else.

trevoragilbert 3y ago

> we have more than enough resources and means to distribute them to everyone I read that as giving everyone weapons and was surprised at the tone shift.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> we have more than enough resources and means to distribute them to everyone Do we? To what threshold? Sustainably? We don’t have, for example, have the resources to provide every person on the planet with the quality of life of even a lower-quintile American. (Home, power, plumbing, car, petrol, varied industrially-produced foods, television, phone, internet, in-person education, security, et cetera.)

ethbr1 3y ago
Exactly. Until human desires are saturated, there will always be humans who desire more and will take it if they have the force to do so. And we have no evidence thus far that human desires can be saturated.
NegativeLatency 3y ago
I bet we could do clean water, food, and battery powered lighting for night time though.
- hollerith 3y ago
  I'm not sure of that. I worry that unless we take over the national government, bureaucrats will prevent the aid from reaching every resident for ideological reasons (or cultural reasons, e.g., about the proper role of women) or simply because a bureaucrat wants to steal -- and of course taking over a government is difficult and expensive. Also, you leave basic security out of your list: not having roving gangs for example always stealing your stuff and sexually harassing your daughter. That's more important that having lighting after dark.
  - InitialLastName 3y ago
    Your concern isn't a resource issue, though. The resources exist, but so do the people willing to siphon resources to their benefit over the basic needs of others.
    - hollerith 3y ago
      >Your concern isn't a resource issue I don't like that way of framing it. I prefer to say that the US would need to spend additional resources (which seem prohibitive to me) to ensure that the nominal resources reach the intended recipients.
    - lucianbr 3y ago
      You're right in a sense. But I wonder, what does it mean to say "we have enough resources to provide for all humans" when human nature itself makes it impossible to provide for all humans with the resources we have now. Possibly with any amount of resources. It's not a resource issue, but it's not an external factor either.
btbuildem 3y ago
I'm sorry that you think owning a car and eating industrially-produced foods is a mark of a "good" standard of living. Both these are unfortunate byproducts of a runaway economic model that tied profits to consumption, while destroying the very prerequisites of its existence. We more than definitely have enough resources to satisfy everyone's basic needs. The basic needs would be: clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, simple healthy food, a safe home and community, quality education and healthcare, and the freedom to do whatever it is you want to do as long as it doesn't impinge on these basic needs of anyone else.