So this entire thread has been execution of an argument I’ve been working on.
I suppose it’s a rhetorical construct I’m working on to effectively move the needle forward.
Unfortunately, my current iteration requires the negative attitude variant to move other people into the correct line of questioning. There’s other issues with it Too, I’m sure.
A major problem with discussing issues today, is getting people up to speed on the problem and having a shared language and idea base which is both accurate, flexible and easy to share and reuse to create new insight and tools to deal with the problem.
It takes a lot of work to unravel the various issues, without getting bogged down with minutiae- or just championing unworkable ideas (lets all stop showering; the world should go vegetarian)
As such this thread did well in serving as a test run.
In essence the term I’m trialing is “Homo economicus is hacking Homo sapiens”, and building from there into showing collective action problems
I really didn’t have a solution for the larger systemic issue, and recently the only one I’ve come up with is the gandhian idea of re-awakening people as moral actors.
The larger system is amoral, as you well know having done Econ. This is by design and not a flaw.
Morality is only exercisesble by Homo sapiens. Homo economicus is not designed to have that capacity, it is an assumed constant, imposed by “policy” or by “consumer choice”.
Since policy and consumer choice are pre reqs to targeting externalities, we need people to feel that they are moral agents who can impose rules upon the working of society.
anyway the goal of this statement was to get the bleak but correct picture forward. We can’t sit on the sidelines anymore.