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A sci-fi variant of autocracy is not an interesting idea though. Why is a CEO king and a royal board of directors interesting? Its not even novel: his proposal

A sci-fi variant of autocracy is not an interesting idea though. Why is a CEO king and a royal board of directors interesting? Its not even novel: his proposal is identical to that laid out by the "technocracy" movement a century ago.

underlipton 1y ago
Tangential: I'm reminded of the sadly stillborn Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and its apparent ambition to present a "modern" monarchy, styled visually with elements of both contemporary business and the mafia. You're right, there's nothing inherently noble or benevolent in autocracy; the king brought forward to the present isn't a statesman or innovator, he's a robber baron or a crime boss. I kind of lament that that sort of explicit idea didn't enter the cultural discourse.
- biophysboy 1y ago
  That is a shame - sounds like a fun idea for a JRPG. Bioshock sort of touches on technocracy, but its more post-apocalyptic. A game that spans the rise and fall of a "board of great geniuses" would be great.
  - underlipton 1y ago
    Minor spoilers, but: DEATHLOOP. Which, as luck would have it, is currently free on Epic Games Store.
p3rls 1y ago
technocracy, aka the progressive movement, aka the acknowledged antecedents of most this thread's political views -- funny how things change
- Hikikomori 1y ago
  Musks grandfather was part of Technocracy Incorporated in Canada before it was banned, then moved to south Africa as Canada wasn't racist enough.
- biophysboy 1y ago
  The alliance between tech and progressivism did not really exist until the 80s. Even then it’s always been tenuous and contradictory.
  - p3rls 1y ago
    imagine being this fucking stupid and still opening your mouth. read a book about the era instead of getting your views from wikipedia and marvel movies retard but for you, my dear retard, i'll make an exception: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency_movement
- const_cast 1y ago
  Progressiveness is like waves of wind. It comes and it goes, and it goes more often then it comes. We have extremely brief sections of time where a lot of progressiveness is achieved, and then we have longer periods of darkness where we stagnate or regress. Reconstruction, followed by Jim Crow. The late 70s had a period of progressiveness, of openness, especially towards homosexuals. Then AIDS came, and that was all forgotten. The 80s were another dark age. In the 90s we had another brief opening, but that too ended sooner than it started. We didn't pick up until the 2010s. By 2014/2015 progressiveness was on the way out, just in time for marriage equality to push through. And now, we are in another dark period and have been for a while. Technocracy just follow wherever the wind blows. Progressiveness will come back, and hopefully we can push enough through that we'll be set for the next decade to come. That's really what it's all about - get as much done as fast as possible, so that it cannot all be reverted, no matter how hard conservatives try.
quadragenarian 1y ago
Having had a stint in my youthful life where I studied Technocracy a great deal, I still see some powerful concepts that I can't let go of. The emphasis on standardization and elimination of the price system, even if nothing more than a though experiment on human nature, seemed like worthwhile concepts to consider. Rather than demonize the technocracy movement, I would recommend some investigation into the ideas that underpinned it, especially as we now witness a transition from a limitless growth world to steady state.
- biophysboy 1y ago
  My basic issue with technocrats is that they conflate aesthetic rationality with effective rationality. The perfect city is not a symmetric grid, for example. Yarvin’s writing is Brasilia in Substack-form. A lot of tech “geniuses” are like this (e.g. Thiel, Andreesen)

underlipton 1y ago

Tangential: I'm reminded of the sadly stillborn Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and its apparent ambition to present a "modern" monarchy, styled visually with elements of both contemporary business and the mafia. You're right, there's nothing inherently noble or benevolent in autocracy; the king brought forward to the present isn't a statesman or innovator, he's a robber baron or a crime boss. I kind of lament that that sort of explicit idea didn't enter the cultural discourse.

biophysboy 1y ago
That is a shame - sounds like a fun idea for a JRPG. Bioshock sort of touches on technocracy, but its more post-apocalyptic. A game that spans the rise and fall of a "board of great geniuses" would be great.
- underlipton 1y ago
  Minor spoilers, but: DEATHLOOP. Which, as luck would have it, is currently free on Epic Games Store.

p3rls 1y ago

technocracy, aka the progressive movement, aka the acknowledged antecedents of most this thread's political views -- funny how things change

Hikikomori 1y ago
Musks grandfather was part of Technocracy Incorporated in Canada before it was banned, then moved to south Africa as Canada wasn't racist enough.
biophysboy 1y ago
The alliance between tech and progressivism did not really exist until the 80s. Even then it’s always been tenuous and contradictory.
- p3rls 1y ago
  imagine being this fucking stupid and still opening your mouth. read a book about the era instead of getting your views from wikipedia and marvel movies retard but for you, my dear retard, i'll make an exception: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency_movement
const_cast 1y ago
Progressiveness is like waves of wind. It comes and it goes, and it goes more often then it comes. We have extremely brief sections of time where a lot of progressiveness is achieved, and then we have longer periods of darkness where we stagnate or regress. Reconstruction, followed by Jim Crow. The late 70s had a period of progressiveness, of openness, especially towards homosexuals. Then AIDS came, and that was all forgotten. The 80s were another dark age. In the 90s we had another brief opening, but that too ended sooner than it started. We didn't pick up until the 2010s. By 2014/2015 progressiveness was on the way out, just in time for marriage equality to push through. And now, we are in another dark period and have been for a while. Technocracy just follow wherever the wind blows. Progressiveness will come back, and hopefully we can push enough through that we'll be set for the next decade to come. That's really what it's all about - get as much done as fast as possible, so that it cannot all be reverted, no matter how hard conservatives try.

quadragenarian 1y ago

Having had a stint in my youthful life where I studied Technocracy a great deal, I still see some powerful concepts that I can't let go of. The emphasis on standardization and elimination of the price system, even if nothing more than a though experiment on human nature, seemed like worthwhile concepts to consider. Rather than demonize the technocracy movement, I would recommend some investigation into the ideas that underpinned it, especially as we now witness a transition from a limitless growth world to steady state.

biophysboy 1y ago
My basic issue with technocrats is that they conflate aesthetic rationality with effective rationality. The perfect city is not a symmetric grid, for example. Yarvin’s writing is Brasilia in Substack-form. A lot of tech “geniuses” are like this (e.g. Thiel, Andreesen)