Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of Pinker (et al)'s arguments that show dropping
infant mortality, poverty, violent crime, etc. But there is a point to be made
that our governments, as technologies, are making a difference ... at least in
*some* measures. Of course, governments are just like the other technologies
and are pushing us toward existential threats like authoritarianism and climate
change.
On 8/28/24 14:26, steve smith wrote:
There's no system of governance that hasn't been corrupted. They're all the
worst forms of governance ever invented, except for the alternative of dealing
with a group of self-selected fellow citizens under no system of governance
whatsoever.
-- rec --
And being a fan of James Scott (The Art of not Being Governed
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6477876-the-art-of-not-being-governed> and Against
the Grain) I am inclined to respect this POV while on the other end, I also am quite the fan of
Michael Levin's perspective on "what is life?" with all of it's spread across scale
and across complexity and across species (in the broadest sense).
Until we might evolve from a slime-mold with psuedopods searching around and
intruding/interpenetrating into oneanother seeking concentrated resources (like Russia's
into Ukraine and now vice-versa, or Israel/Palestine/Lebanon/???). Might we
(collectively) become something more like a "proper" multicellular creature or
a balanced, healthy ecosystem (or system of ecosystems)?
We have (only) been experimenting with large-scale self-organizing systems of
humanity with lots of technological scaffolding
(lithics/copper/bronze/iron/steel through antimatter, quantum dots, and
nanotech, just to name a few?) and religio/socio/philosopho/politco linguistic
technology for a handful (or two) of millenia, so it doesn't surprise me that
we haven't wandered/mutated-selected our way into anything better than we have
to date.
I am (very guardedly) hopeful that the acceleration of the latter (linguistic
technology) in LLMs and other ML/AI (material technology) will give us the
possibility of rushing this phase forward. PInker might claim we have had
material (and psycho-social-spiritual) advancement over the centuries and
decades and maybe he is right in some sense... but the leap-forward in
collective self-governance/regulation/homeostasis we can all seem to imagine
living under feels beyond our (heretofore?) grasp.
For better or worse, it feels to me that Kurzweil for all his nonsense in
predicting an imminent singularity may be right... we will either self-organize
in a Asimovian Foundation/Psychohistory galaxy-spanning culture (almost surely
not) future or implode in a Mad Max (or grey-goo/planet-krypton) apocalypse.
Maybe even in my lifetime, almost assuredly in my children or grandchildren's?
--
ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ
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