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>People don't really care about privacy People don't care about anything by default. They have to learn about threat-models and how to mitigate those threats.

>People don't really care about privacy People don't care about anything by default. They have to learn about threat-models and how to mitigate those threats. Usually this only happens after getting burned personally. (To learn from others is still learning, which people also don't care about.) This topic comes up in politics all the time. There is this hurt and offended reaction to people embracing authoritarianism, often becoming nihilistic. But the practical truth is that people don't care about philosophy or politics. Human society's default is authoritarianism. Rather than be upset at this impulse, it would be wiser to acknowledge with amazement that we managed to try something different. Civilization will struggle with it's default settings for as long as civilization exists, and our role is fight against them, knowing the fight is never over.

psunavy03 2y ago
A columnist I read brought this up recently mocking a bunch of Silicon Valley execs supporting monarchism, presumably thinking they would be the educated elite monarchs. His point was that they hadn't invented anything new . . . monarchy is literally one of the oldest ideas in human history. Of course there's also the bit that historically, when unrest or a revolution comes, the people who think they can manipulate it to end up in charge are usually the people who end up getting stood up against a wall and shot, too.
- simpaticoder 2y ago
  To paraphrase Gandalf, "Do not bother saying we, Saruman. Only one hand can wield the One Ring."
worik 2y ago
> Human society's default is authoritarianism. I do not think so I think freedom
Centigonal 2y ago
> Human society's default is authoritarianism. This is a very interesting question -- Thomas Hobbes would disagree with you here.
sapphicsnail 2y ago
> Human society's default is authoritarianism. I'd say it's quite the opposite. It takes a lot of force and coercion to maintain authoritarian institutions precisely because it's not natural. Most of us have had a lifetime of schools, churches, and jobs drilling conformity and blind obedience into us.
- simpaticoder 2y ago
  Human society's default organizing principle is authoritarianism. This is born out by the fact that most humans who've ever lived lived under such a system. A large fraction of us today live under such a system. Even in liberal societies our entertainment overflows with depictions of monarchy and feudalism. Even at a smaller scale, families, clans, businesses, militaries and teams are run this way: there is one boss, and all authority flows from them. For some (for me) there is a psychological allure to the idea that left to our own devices we'd self-organize in an enlightened way. But the experiment has been done over and over and over again, and that's not what happens. I realize it's painful to accept something you don't want to be true, but that's no reason not to face up to it. Better to face the challenge open-eyed than to have false assumptions undermine you.

psunavy03 2y ago

A columnist I read brought this up recently mocking a bunch of Silicon Valley execs supporting monarchism, presumably thinking they would be the educated elite monarchs. His point was that they hadn't invented anything new . . . monarchy is literally one of the oldest ideas in human history. Of course there's also the bit that historically, when unrest or a revolution comes, the people who think they can manipulate it to end up in charge are usually the people who end up getting stood up against a wall and shot, too.

simpaticoder 2y ago
To paraphrase Gandalf, "Do not bother saying we, Saruman. Only one hand can wield the One Ring."

worik 2y ago

> Human society's default is authoritarianism. I do not think so I think freedom

Centigonal 2y ago

> Human society's default is authoritarianism. This is a very interesting question -- Thomas Hobbes would disagree with you here.

sapphicsnail 2y ago

> Human society's default is authoritarianism. I'd say it's quite the opposite. It takes a lot of force and coercion to maintain authoritarian institutions precisely because it's not natural. Most of us have had a lifetime of schools, churches, and jobs drilling conformity and blind obedience into us.

simpaticoder 2y ago
Human society's default organizing principle is authoritarianism. This is born out by the fact that most humans who've ever lived lived under such a system. A large fraction of us today live under such a system. Even in liberal societies our entertainment overflows with depictions of monarchy and feudalism. Even at a smaller scale, families, clans, businesses, militaries and teams are run this way: there is one boss, and all authority flows from them. For some (for me) there is a psychological allure to the idea that left to our own devices we'd self-organize in an enlightened way. But the experiment has been done over and over and over again, and that's not what happens. I realize it's painful to accept something you don't want to be true, but that's no reason not to face up to it. Better to face the challenge open-eyed than to have false assumptions undermine you.