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Why can't we have nice things? Is it profit motive, which pushes dark patterns and ads in our software, planned obsolescence in our hardware and incentivizes r

Why can't we have nice things? Is it profit motive, which pushes dark patterns and ads in our software, planned obsolescence in our hardware and incentivizes races to the bottom in every industry? Is it an issue of control, where our governments are either hamstrung or downright dangerous with no in between? Is it an organizational issue which causes companies to act selfishly resulting in public harm? Where even the employees of a company will act selfishly against the interests of the company? Is it an evolutionary thing where death and suffering are just a natural fact and that our society is a very imperfect attempt to escape the cruelties of existence? Why can't we have nice things?

DiggyJohnson 2y ago
Its the fundamental question of whether the human is mostly savage and our systems are valuable at tempering our worst impulses and directing us in a reasonable direction, VERSUS humans can progress beyond their savage impulses if only we weren't encumbered by the systems and expectation anchoring us down. So the reason we can't have nice things support the former position: that humans can't simply choose to be better. We need to change the system to direct people to better ends if we have the resources to do so. We shouldn't be surprised when a struggling startup sells user data because that's just what humans do. If we don't want this bad inevitable thing we need to modify the system elsewhere to prohibit or disincentivize.
ebcode 2y ago
> Why can't we have nice things? "Nice things" is a value judgement, subjective, and the question as phrased usually seems mostly rhetorical. It's always a struggle to communicate clearly. We can, and do in fact have nice things. It's nice to be alive. It's nice to watch a beautiful sunset. It's nice to have potable drinking water. It's nice to have a computer with a keyboard and a monitor and an internet connection. And it's nice to be a part of a community. But you have to take the good with the bad. We also have a fascistic police state. We have enormous wealth disparity and the resurgence of medieval plagues due to unsanitary living conditions on the streets of our cities. We also have microplastics in our bloodstreams. We have PFAS in our drinking water. We have Donald Trump. I think your questions are pointing in the right direction. Profit motive. Dark patterns. Hamstrung governments. Acting selfishly. Personally, I think we'll have a lot more nice things, and fewer bad things, when we can collectively acknowledge that the reason for microplastics and PFAS in our waters and bloodstreams is absolutely the result of the status quo. Just like addiction, the first step in getting help is admitting that you have a problem. And we most certainly need help. It remains to be seen if we can admit that we have a problem.

DiggyJohnson 2y ago

Its the fundamental question of whether the human is mostly savage and our systems are valuable at tempering our worst impulses and directing us in a reasonable direction, VERSUS humans can progress beyond their savage impulses if only we weren't encumbered by the systems and expectation anchoring us down. So the reason we can't have nice things support the former position: that humans can't simply choose to be better. We need to change the system to direct people to better ends if we have the resources to do so. We shouldn't be surprised when a struggling startup sells user data because that's just what humans do. If we don't want this bad inevitable thing we need to modify the system elsewhere to prohibit or disincentivize.

ebcode 2y ago

> Why can't we have nice things? "Nice things" is a value judgement, subjective, and the question as phrased usually seems mostly rhetorical. It's always a struggle to communicate clearly. We can, and do in fact have nice things. It's nice to be alive. It's nice to watch a beautiful sunset. It's nice to have potable drinking water. It's nice to have a computer with a keyboard and a monitor and an internet connection. And it's nice to be a part of a community. But you have to take the good with the bad. We also have a fascistic police state. We have enormous wealth disparity and the resurgence of medieval plagues due to unsanitary living conditions on the streets of our cities. We also have microplastics in our bloodstreams. We have PFAS in our drinking water. We have Donald Trump. I think your questions are pointing in the right direction. Profit motive. Dark patterns. Hamstrung governments. Acting selfishly. Personally, I think we'll have a lot more nice things, and fewer bad things, when we can collectively acknowledge that the reason for microplastics and PFAS in our waters and bloodstreams is absolutely the result of the status quo. Just like addiction, the first step in getting help is admitting that you have a problem. And we most certainly need help. It remains to be seen if we can admit that we have a problem.