There is a body of literature on the subject how self governing groups escape the tragedy of the commons. For example: http://www.amazon.com/Governing-Commons-Evolution-Institutio...
This is all empirical studies.
Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
111–120 of 212 posts
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#112The only hope is cultural change. The only hope is cultural trust , and the only way to achieve that is to allow like-minded individuals to separate themselves into autonomous political units. This is dangerous thinking Chris, if you start following these thoughts through to the end, rather than spinning off into happy-clappy "change the world's heart" wishing...
Or you could just learn to live with people who aren't exactly like you. You know, like everyone on the planet except for wealthy and reactionary enclaves of the United States.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#113I enjoyed your post. I have a couple of thoughts / suggestions for you. I got the impression that the underlying motivation for writing the post, and tactic you used for justifying your positions was largely in response to what I would consider the overly myopic hacker news user base. That is, disproportionately white, male, curmudgeoney programmers. I sympathize with your frustration, but urge you not to let their w…
Yes, I'd like to see the evidence that someone like Musk, Wozniak, and maybe arguably Jobs, are not just outliers. As for his mention of the WWW, I don't credit the valley for all that and wonder if Vint Cerf has emoted about his mentality when coding TCP/IP. > cultural norms Not sure about that, unless you consider it a very recent 'value.' There was quite a bit of flaunting during the dot-com era.
I know of one person personally and by extension one or two more that are very much like Elon Musk. Joel Gascoigne from Buffer for example. He's taking a very similar approach to things, especially if you look at how transparent he is about himself and his company. They've set a lot of waves in their space.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I see nukes as more ethical than patents. You can make the argument that MAD-based nuclear deterrence has saved us (at least so far) from a third world war. Not everyone will agree, of course, but a strong case can be made. On the other hand, to defend patents, you have to show that there are things on the market that we can buy that would not have been made available to us if not for patent rights. Nobod…
Two things: First, you might want to clarify in the first paragraph that you're talking about the existence of nukes, as opposed to the use of nukes. It's clear from reading your entire comment, but I find it's good to play it safe with that sort of topic! ;) Second, to play devil's advocate, is it possible that landmines could have a net positive impact if they could somehow be properly, globally regulated? For and…
In case this is the reason for the downvotes, to clarify, I certainly don't believe landmines should ever be placed such that they would be expected to detonate. I'm saying that they might save lives in certain circumstances if used as a last resort deterrent only (with fields obviously clearly marked). Sorry for the tangent.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#115The author makes some big statements about what Elon is doing and then wonders why everyone isn't guzzling the kool-aid like the author. It has nothing to do with the prisoners dilemma.
First, there is a large portion of the population that doesn't believe global warming is an issue.
Second, there is another large population that doesn't believe global warming can be stopped by a slow transition to electric cars.
Third, there is a large majority of the population that can't afford a 90k luxury car so they fail to see how Tesla will revolutionize the world. This is compacted by the fact that the batteries will need to be replaced in 6-10 years and it will likely cost 20k+. These cars are out of reach for the majority of Americans it's not really going to reduce CO2 output by anything significant enough in time to matter.
Fourth, Elon made a fat stack of cash selling PayPal to Ebay. With that being his primary historical success story, it doesn't make it sound like he is doing just what is optimal for humanity. SpaceX is great for space exploration, but that's not really optimal for humanity considering our current problems.
The article had a nice write up on pareto optimal solutions and the prisoner's dilemma but they are completely irrelevant to the skepticism observed here.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly, this analogy works very much at the company level, but reverses at the country level. For companies, patents represent weapons in an arsenal, in which MAD prevents offensive action, as you've said. For countries, the reverse holds: a country that jettisons its patent architecture, or never evolved a restrictive one to begin with, will be a bastion for innovators. The stable equilibrium is no bad patent…
A nice hypothesis, do you have any examples that show this to be true? The realist in me bets that innovation has only a weak relationship to IP laws, and rather a strong relationship to a certain world-view that fosters innovation since childhood (go USA!)
How does the US foster innovation? It certainly puts the rich (Some of which who were innovators) on pedestals, but the education system certainly does not preach innovation for the first 18 years of a child's life. You could argue that it actually penalizes innovation.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, regions which make it uninhabitable for humans make it habitable for animals. Chernobyl is now a haven for wildlife.
This isn't accurate. The Chernobyl event has severely degraded the ecosystem for nearly all living things. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/forests-around-... "Birds around Chernobyl have significantly smaller brains that those living in non-radiation poisoned areas; trees there grow slower; and fewer spiders and insects—including bees, butterflies and grasshoppers—live there. Additionally, game animals s…
I'm quite aware microbes are mostly gone, after all radiation deals most damage to fastest multiplying cells.
I didn't say it's all roses, but the wildlife there is thriving because of severe lack of humans. Sure those near the sarcophagus are dangerously mutated, but the scientist in me wonders how the animals will adapt to heightened radiation.
As for fires, there is that, but then again the exclusion zone will spread and there will be more free space for wildlife. People will have to reallocate but on the plus side, more refuge for animals.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#118The author makes some big statements about what Elon is doing and then wonders why everyone isn't guzzling the kool-aid like the author. It has nothing to do with the prisoners dilemma. First, there is a large portion of the population that doesn't believe global warming is an issue. Second, there is another large population that doesn't believe global warming can be stopped by a slow transition to electric cars. Thi…
You've alluded to "things which are optimal for humanity" and "our current problems". Could you elaborate?
What do you think is optimal for humanity?
Which current problems are more significant than planetary-level challenges like global warming and confinement of our specifies to a single planet?
These put the existence of our civilization at risk. I would really love to hear which other problems are more significant than those.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly, this analogy works very much at the company level, but reverses at the country level. For companies, patents represent weapons in an arsenal, in which MAD prevents offensive action, as you've said. For countries, the reverse holds: a country that jettisons its patent architecture, or never evolved a restrictive one to begin with, will be a bastion for innovators. The stable equilibrium is no bad patent…
Can you list numerous countries that are examples of not having a restrictive patent system, and subsequently are bastions of innovation? The US economy has been an extreme bastion of innovation for 200 years, while also having a robust patent system (one that has only recently become particularly stifling). In fact I'd argue there has hardly been a greater bastion of innovation in world history than the US economy f…
Im not sure you can take a single thing, the patent system, which also exists in many other countries, and then apply that as the reason for the US to be a bastion of innovation for 200 years.
How do you even know that the US has not been innovative despite the patent system. That if the patent system did not exist, it would have progressed even further than it has.
Re: Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
#120Testa try new battery design now: CarbonBattery
The Ryden dual carbon battery developed by Power Japan Plus is balancing the energy storage equation of performance, cost, reliability and safety.
http://powerjapanplus.com/