4 ms·
Did you read tfa? The key word here is populism. Finding scapegoats (immigrants, woke feminists, lazy unemployed people) to explain away societal ills caused b
by tovej 7mo ago
Did you read tfa?
The key word here is populism. Finding scapegoats (immigrants, woke feminists, lazy unemployed people) to explain away societal ills caused by inequality. Of course tech billionaires prefer blaming the scapegoats to blaming themselves. It serves as a political shield, so that they can continue to hoard wealth and control.
In the 30s, industry leaders aligned themselves with Hitler and Mussolini. They both focused on technology as a means of control. Capitalists also see the benefit of cheap labor and a war economy.
Right wing populism and technocracy are a match made in heaven, because fascism is good for the bottom line.
- econ 7mo agoYou can eat olives without martini. The actual problem with technocracy (if done right) is that the work of experts grows increasingly incomprehensible to average men. Even if things work out perfectly, experts can't properly take risks or make a leap of faith in other people's name. (Not to argue our current democratic model is any good at it)
- tovej 7mo agoThe actual problem with technocracy is that you create a formalized hierarchy of leaders and rabble based on some credential granting authority that the technocrats control. That's a recipe for disaster. The technocrats define who can be a technocrat, and can design the process to benefit them. The incentives are towards elitist, racist, cronyist policies that would select for sociopathic tendencies. What's the difference between a technocrat and a bishop in this case?
- andrekandre 7mo ago> What's the difference between a technocrat and a bishop in this case? science (i say this with irony)
- cmrdporcupine 7mo agoThe problem is that there's never any single "correct" solution for any engineering problem let alone social ones, and there's no single axis of "intelligence" or "expertise" that qualifies any single individual or set of individuals to make decisions in the long term on behalf of whole groups of people. I am not a free market capitalist, I am a socialist; but I also believe in decentralizing decision making because centralized systems run by self-proclaimed people-of-merit always produces bad outcomes in the long run; left or right. Having to find consensus is messy and difficult but always wins out in the long run.
- econ 7mo agoThis is fun to watch if only for historic value. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL12574BA6D8566A03&si=SyeEWKeJt9QzLOdz https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL12574BA6D8566A03&si=SyeE... >Having to find consensus is messy and difficult but always wins out in the long run. It is talked about in the very first video. How votes are bought in the current system. Nothing is rooted in facts. The (global) discussion should be about fixing the problem. How to find the least terrible system rather than point out all solutions are terrible.
- andrekandre 7mo ago> there's never any single "correct" solution for any engineering problem let alone social ones as an aside, in my experience its engineers that love the one-size-fits-all and apply-it-to-everything solutions... or perhaps this is just indicative of working in top-down tech-land idk...