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According to this post, technological stagnation via regulation is what leads to zero-sum, totalitarian societies (in Thiel’s worldview). I personally feel so
by deepsquirrelnet 1y ago
According to this post, technological stagnation via regulation is what leads to zero-sum, totalitarian societies (in Thiel’s worldview).
I personally feel so little connection to this ideology, especially in the post-COVID world. Wanting things my neighbor has occupies nearly zero space in my mind. I drive a 10 year old car that was not fancy when I bought it, and although I could afford to buy a new one, even a fancy one, I just. don’t. care.
Freedom is the only thing that motivates me, and Thiel’s worldview sounds like slavery. His totalitarianism is an inability to personally privatize more of the world than his neighbor. My totalitarianism is obligation to participate in that world.
- beameup10 1y ago>According to this post, technological stagnation via regulation is what leads to zero-sum, totalitarian societies (in Thiel’s worldview). What is the incentive of someone who thinks has a shot at having control over such powerful technology? They will do and say anything that is necessary to justify doing it. My argument is simpler, if "we" don't do it "they" will do it. It's something we'll have to wing. It is surely happening. The real problem will come from the people having control over such tech, since the tech breaks an old game, as old as humans existed and started forming groups. And I see no billionaire who wants to develop and take control over this tech, explain how they'll fix the problem it creates, at game level. I do not care about promises, they mean nothing. I only care about game strategy that guarantees most humans stay alive in such an environment, with age old game rules breaking down.
- pcmaffey 1y agoAlso, our current technological regime, sponsored by Peter Thiel, is what has given rise to totalitarianism today. Propaganda, anti-intellectualism, flooding the public space with disinformation, promotion of extremist viewpoints under the guise of common knowledge—all made possible by our tech oligarchy… and streamed directly into the eyeballs of the unsuspecting world population. We in the tech industry are complicit actors, but Peter Thiel and his ilk are modern villains.
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoThiel spent his formative childhood years in apartheid South Africa, and it seems to have informed his world view ever since.
- monkeyelite 1y agoWhat about all the other formative times in his life? If you live in South Africa that’s the last word on your world view?
- wredcoll 1y agoIt isn't required to be. It just appears to have happened that way.
- monkeyelite 1y agoOr maybe that’s just a piece of information they think is perceived poorly and want to discredit without addressing arguments.
- wredcoll 1y agoThis is a very complicated subject but in the real world, argument from authority is in fact a useful metric because we don't have time to fully analyze everything we come into contact with. It's theoretically possible that Donald Trump is correct about something, but it's certainly not worth the time it would take to filter out all the incorrect bits.
- monkeyelite 1y agoI’m not saying reputation doesn’t exist. I’m questioning how much his time in South Africa is influential compared to all the other influential experiences he writes about. I think this comment wants to say he’s some form of he’s a racist or authoritarian but in more concealed terms. Name calling (the lowest form of discourse) is still name calling even when disguised. > It's theoretically possible that Donald Trump is correct about something Hmm.
- monkeyelite 1y agoWhy are you casting it only in material terms? Freedom and a good life is also what other people want. Rich people don’t fight over cars, they fight over Harvard acceptance for their kids, or play in the Olympics, etc. Our political system is built on coalitions fighting for things for their groups: credentials for jobs, taxes for projects, space for their people and families, status in community. When the supply of those things becomes fixed it’s a zero sum fight for what’s left. You can’t lose without another side winning. The point is that growth alleviates the bitterness because there is a belief that in the future there will be more and I will have a chance to get what I want. When that belief goes away power is the only game in town - and that tends to manifest as violence.
- deepsquirrelnet 1y agoExcept that is not how it has played out. In science fiction, there are competing views of the future. One view of the future is like Star Trek, where people’s needs are easily provided for by technological advancements, and people spend their lives on advancing human understanding at a species level. In other words, technology has liberated people from working to provide for their basic needs and enables them to focus on higher ideals. In other stories, humanity is dominated by technology and a minority of people who wield it. If you believe in a zero sum game, then try going somewhere like a community fridge, where our agricultural abundance is saved from the garbage by stores who are willing to donate. Or watch as generational wealth provides for people who will never work a day in their lives. Look at the extreme excess of PhD students working jobs far beneath their abilities, and teaching no one. Ask yourself how worker productivity and participation has skyrocketed and homelessness has too. Zero sum is not the way I see the world. I believe gradients drive economies, but in almost every system, large gradients are unstable. Large gradients inefficiently over-allocate resources to the wrong places and reactionary effects result. That manifests in violence.
- monkeyelite 1y agoAll of what you wrote makes some sense. What point are you responding to?
- aeternum 1y agoYour freedom to not have a flying car above you requires removing someone else's freedom to travel in a flying car above you. Problem is 'freedom motivates me' often works for both sides of the argument.