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Technology Saves the World

future.a16z.com

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Re: Technology Saves the World

#61

Post by carapace »

(With apologies to those that have heard it before) Bucky Fuller (an engineer) calculated that we would have by sometime in the 1970's all the technology necessary to create a kind of secular utopia if we applied our knowledge to solving our problems efficiently.

We could each work for two years and then retire having paid for the rest of our lives during that two-year career.

This happened more or less right on schedule (the technological advances, not the social/economic shift.)

Ergo, our problems now are not physical, they are mental/emotional. The only thing holding us back is ourselves and our (regressive or at least complacent) attitudes and beliefs.

- - - -

As an aside, "But yet, one gets the sense that Pandora’s box has been opened." That's not the right metaphor. The box Pandora opened was filled with evil demons.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#62

Post by carapace »

bttrfl wrote: post #37
semiconduction wrote: post #14

Humanity has starved, struggled and regularly died in mass for millenia. Now the population is 100 times larger than it was a few centuries ago, and more and more people are living in a post-scarcity society. And yes, thanks to all the pioneers, entrepeneurs and geniuses that took an idea or insight into a mass market product. They are who truly deserve the credit.

What if all this is because we took a giant environmental credit that we won't be able to pay back? It's hard to argue that child mortality dropped, literacy increased and so on, but at the same time we are facing existential threats due to warming, lack of water, loss of biodiversity and so on. We are also enjoying a relatively peaceful period (despite what's happening in Syria and tens of other places) on a global…

> history shows that every single global conflict

Er, not to be pissy, but isn't that a sample size of two?

Re: Technology Saves the World

#63

Post by bttrfl »

carapace wrote: post #62
bttrfl wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if all this is because we took a giant environmental credit that we won't be able to pay back? It's hard to argue that child mortality dropped, literacy increased and so on, but at the same time we are facing existential threats due to warming, lack of water, loss of biodiversity and so on. We are also enjoying a relatively peaceful period (despite what's happening in Syria and tens of other places) on a global…

> history shows that every single global conflict Er, not to be pissy, but isn't that a sample size of two?

It's your right to be pissy. Let's drop the "global" then.

I counted 18 wars with upper deaths range above 1M between 500BC and 1800AC. There were 29 of them after 1800. I didn't bother to sum the casualties. Full list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

Re: Technology Saves the World

#64

Post by handrous »

jellicle wrote: post #45
klelatti wrote: post #17

> Permanently divorcing physical location from economic opportunity gives us a real shot at radically expanding the number of good jobs in the world while also dramatically improving quality of life for millions, or billions, of people. This doesn't seem consistent with what is happening in A16Z's own backyard. Either Marc knows something we don't or this is unwarranted hyperbole.

> > Permanently divorcing physical location from economic opportunity gives us a real shot at radically expanding the number of good jobs in the world while also dramatically improving quality of life for millions, or billions, of people. > This doesn't seem consistent with what is happening in A16Z's own backyard. Either Marc knows something we don't or this is unwarranted hyperbole. Well, let's run that through the…

When you fire 500,000 highly-paid workers, and distribute half their pay to dramatically raise the wages of 5,000,000 workers in very poor places and the other half to 50 extremely rich capitalists, you've "expand[ed] the number of good jobs in the world" and "dramatically improv[ed] the qualify of life for millions [...] of people".

It's hard to even argue against, ethically—except that, conveniently, the people most vocally pushing it always seem to be in a "heads I win, tails you lose" position and are never the ones who will lose anything to make it happen. Usually quite the opposite.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#65

Post by handrous »

carapace wrote: post #61

(With apologies to those that have heard it before) Bucky Fuller (an engineer) calculated that we would have by sometime in the 1970's all the technology necessary to create a kind of secular utopia if we applied our knowledge to solving our problems efficiently . We could each work for two years and then retire having paid for the rest of our lives during that two-year career. This happened more or less right on sch…

Aside from the usual hedonic treadmill explanation, a lot of our problems with ever-inflating costs are due to competition for limited goods—especially those conferring advantage to our kids. Houses in good school districts, private school slots, various expensive activities that make getting into top-tier colleges more likely, et c.

Two-income households? Now you're richer? LOL no, just more money lost to zero-sum competition. Making retirement contributions voluntary? Oh great, now my competitors who choose not to save well can out-compete me for advantage for their children now, thanks a bunch. And so on.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#66

Post by ignoramous »

larsiusprime wrote: post #24

I love me some technology, don't get me wrong. But if the lab-leak hypothesis turns out to be correct than technology is undoubtedly the very thing that put the world in peril in the first place, as far as COVID-19 is concerned, before you even consider increased air travel and globalization encouraging/increasing the instant spread of modern pathogens.

Ironically, it is technology that gets the world out of these perils, too. I get your point though, nature could only fuel so much growth before it irreversibly changes course and stops sustaining life as we know it.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#67

Post by jonny_eh »

throwkeep wrote: post #18
d--b wrote: post #2

This is Andreessen trolling to get traffic on their new publication website... Obviously technology is not saving the world. Sure we made a vaccine for a disease that was bad. But technology is mostly responsible for propagating it in the first place. And climate change, you know. EDIT: also on HN front page, fully autonomous killer drones are being mass-produced.

Jon Stewart just made that point yesterday too: “I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science,” Stewart said. “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.” (1) I disagree with regard to climate change though because that externality has so far been a net positive for humanity and we can solve the downside. Yes, technology enabled us to di…

> which was more than likely caused by science

This is absolutely not true. There's zero evidence of a lab leak.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#68

Post by WalterBright »

julbaxter wrote: post #11

"Technology has become the idol of our society, but technological progress is—more often than not—aimed at solving problems caused by earlier technical inventions." "Interesting possibilities arise when you combine old technology with new knowledge and new materials, or when you apply old concepts and traditional knowledge to modern technology." Quotes from https://www.lowtechmagazine.com

I opt for technology rather than leading a nasty, brutish and short life.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#69

Post by WalterBright »

carapace wrote: post #61

(With apologies to those that have heard it before) Bucky Fuller (an engineer) calculated that we would have by sometime in the 1970's all the technology necessary to create a kind of secular utopia if we applied our knowledge to solving our problems efficiently . We could each work for two years and then retire having paid for the rest of our lives during that two-year career. This happened more or less right on sch…

There are a lot more people alive today than in the 1970s.

Re: Technology Saves the World

#70

Post by WalterBright »

bttrfl wrote: post #63
carapace wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> history shows that every single global conflict Er, not to be pissy, but isn't that a sample size of two?

It's your right to be pissy. Let's drop the "global" then. I counted 18 wars with upper deaths range above 1M between 500BC and 1800AC. There were 29 of them after 1800. I didn't bother to sum the casualties. Full list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

There are a lot more people today, too. Of course war death tolls will be larger.
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