4 ms·

I do not think we have enough historical evidence for such an extrapolation. Human societies have been getting more and more complex, necessitating more and mor

I do not think we have enough historical evidence for such an extrapolation. Human societies have been getting more and more complex, necessitating more and more complex governance. We are at a point of crisis, where the electorate is supposed to decide through voting, and our elected politicians are supposed to decide through legislation, on topics that neither the electorate, nor the elected are able to fully understand. It is not clear to me that democracy will triumph.

hedora 2y ago
Sure we do. Go read H.G. Wells "The World Set Free". It's pre WWII, covers these exact topics, and could have been written yesterday. When it was written none of the problems were new. The book is a utopia, written in the hope that, with unlimited energy (and therefore, unlimited means of production), government upheaval would finally let us transition to a post-scarcity society. Humanity has had the technology necessary to do that since the 1950s, but instead focused on things like using more fossil fuels, weaponizing food, spreading disease and ignorance, expanding poverty, etc. Both parties in the US have consistently supported all of the above for my entire life. We're seeing an acceleration of those things under the current administration. Hopefully, we'll get decent leadership soon. We're still a democracy.
- nradov 2y ago
  The things that people really want will always be scarce. Even lower energy prices or better political leaders can't change that reality.
nradov 2y ago
That's a non sequitur. Just because human societies have been getting more and more complex doesn't necessarily mean we need more and more complex governance. We might be better off with radically less governance, and just accept the consequences that sometimes bad things will happen due to lack of governance.

4 ms·

I do not think we have enough historical evidence for such an extrapolation. Human societies have been getting more and more complex, necessitating more and mor

by dachworker 2y ago

hedora 2y ago
Sure we do. Go read H.G. Wells "The World Set Free". It's pre WWII, covers these exact topics, and could have been written yesterday. When it was written none of the problems were new. The book is a utopia, written in the hope that, with unlimited energy (and therefore, unlimited means of production), government upheaval would finally let us transition to a post-scarcity society. Humanity has had the technology necessary to do that since the 1950s, but instead focused on things like using more fossil fuels, weaponizing food, spreading disease and ignorance, expanding poverty, etc. Both parties in the US have consistently supported all of the above for my entire life. We're seeing an acceleration of those things under the current administration. Hopefully, we'll get decent leadership soon. We're still a democracy.
- nradov 2y ago
  The things that people really want will always be scarce. Even lower energy prices or better political leaders can't change that reality.
nradov 2y ago
That's a non sequitur. Just because human societies have been getting more and more complex doesn't necessarily mean we need more and more complex governance. We might be better off with radically less governance, and just accept the consequences that sometimes bad things will happen due to lack of governance.