A conversation with Henry Farrell about how the land of hippie-technologists turned into a haven for right-wingers with grand and malevolent ambitions.
second, even very very smart people are very very limited in what they know or can know.
third..i think...people attracted to computers may be specially limited in what they know about people and are easily suckered into believing that they are the smart ones and deserve to rule ..because they would do such a better job than the politicians and other people who have to deal with compromises and balancing competing interests.
i have my own reservations about democracy..because i see the Left blaming the Electoral College every time they lose an election, and i see the Right believing it has a right to force its superior morality on everyone else. I think the Framers had it right when they created a system of checks and balances....though they may not have quite expected it would be checks and balances between the haves and have nots. But neither side, nor anyone, has enough knowledge or wisdom or decency to rule everything. they will be stupid and eventually cruel.
back in the day it was my misfortune...caused by my stupidity...to find myself pursuing a profession that attracted the sort of people who love power, even if it is only over a caged pigeon.
I found i did not like, or desire power. so i had to get myself a steady job. Watching the clown show was enough stress for me. Now that it seems the Bad Clown has won, at least for a while, I feel afraid.
Go back and watch the original version of Rollerball. This is what the tiny manhoods want….corporations running the world not governments. Bottom line is these are all very disturbed individuals who misunderstood what they’ve read, clearly had odd upbringings and now think they’re gods.
My TLDR on this is that they were all Ayn Rsnd acolyte, but also misogynists, so they couldn't admit they were adopting the ideas of a woman (which Rand technically was), so they found a bunch of books by men to cite instead.
Not for nothing has SV morphed into the "Broligarchy", with its perverted "values", a corrupted neo-Darwinism as one of its touchstones...and all leading to the "Great Man" apotheosis in Elno and his ilk.
All of this history and analysis of the influence of science fiction and various philosophers is interesting, but I think it's a mistake to ignore the way that these positions are self serving. The same way Ayn Rand is popular because she's telling people its good to be selfish, the ideas you're talking about justify the Silicon Valley Billionaires doing things that increase their own wealth and power. Its a mistake to think that Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and others care about making government better for anyone else besides themselves.
I can't see the incredibly valuable role in the world Henry Farrell hopes for could possibly happen without the men who currently have lots of money and think they are "great men" loosing their money and power.
first, power corrupts.
second, even very very smart people are very very limited in what they know or can know.
third..i think...people attracted to computers may be specially limited in what they know about people and are easily suckered into believing that they are the smart ones and deserve to rule ..because they would do such a better job than the politicians and other people who have to deal with compromises and balancing competing interests.
i have my own reservations about democracy..because i see the Left blaming the Electoral College every time they lose an election, and i see the Right believing it has a right to force its superior morality on everyone else. I think the Framers had it right when they created a system of checks and balances....though they may not have quite expected it would be checks and balances between the haves and have nots. But neither side, nor anyone, has enough knowledge or wisdom or decency to rule everything. they will be stupid and eventually cruel.
back in the day it was my misfortune...caused by my stupidity...to find myself pursuing a profession that attracted the sort of people who love power, even if it is only over a caged pigeon.
I found i did not like, or desire power. so i had to get myself a steady job. Watching the clown show was enough stress for me. Now that it seems the Bad Clown has won, at least for a while, I feel afraid.
Go back and watch the original version of Rollerball. This is what the tiny manhoods want….corporations running the world not governments. Bottom line is these are all very disturbed individuals who misunderstood what they’ve read, clearly had odd upbringings and now think they’re gods.
My TLDR on this is that they were all Ayn Rsnd acolyte, but also misogynists, so they couldn't admit they were adopting the ideas of a woman (which Rand technically was), so they found a bunch of books by men to cite instead.
Not for nothing has SV morphed into the "Broligarchy", with its perverted "values", a corrupted neo-Darwinism as one of its touchstones...and all leading to the "Great Man" apotheosis in Elno and his ilk.
All of this history and analysis of the influence of science fiction and various philosophers is interesting, but I think it's a mistake to ignore the way that these positions are self serving. The same way Ayn Rand is popular because she's telling people its good to be selfish, the ideas you're talking about justify the Silicon Valley Billionaires doing things that increase their own wealth and power. Its a mistake to think that Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and others care about making government better for anyone else besides themselves.
I can't see the incredibly valuable role in the world Henry Farrell hopes for could possibly happen without the men who currently have lots of money and think they are "great men" loosing their money and power.
Sorry for the typos