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The Case for Optimism

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Re: The Case for Optimism

#91

Post by Gravityloss »

lamontcg wrote: post #71
danans wrote: post #58

> Today’s widespread middle class living standard is the result of several one-time events for the planet, such as mass migration into cities, the movement of women into the formal working economy, and pervasive automation of labor. He forgot a big one: Massive use of fossil fuels, whose long term effects are, depending on where you live, threatening to undermine that very standard of living. The challenge of this ge…

Solar and Wind beat fossil fuels now. There's no need to compromise on standards of living, that's a toxic and false narrative that we need to suffer in order to fix things.

It will not be cost free.

It's like working for your salary or just living off your inheritance and leaving nothing to your kids.

Re: The Case for Optimism

#92

Post by legrande »

maxerickson wrote: post #27
legrande wrote: post #11

> To be a good ancestor one must assume that good things can be forwarded. Many of the old ways are being forgotten, and `Grandma's brain` is not so readily picked anymore since people value their Internet & the hive mind of social media more than the wisdom of their elders. Also the old way of passing down teachings orally, like in the case of Buddhism and some other religions, is declining. Now it has to be perfect…

Isn't it relatively likely that there are more people learning Buddhism orally now than there ever have been before?

> Isn't it relatively likely that there are more people learning Buddhism orally now than there ever have been before?

Well I suppose if you mean listening to an audio-book or even reading a book constitutes learning something orally, then you might have a point.

When I say orally I mean passed down from generation to generation via spoken word. Buddhism originally had no scriptures and was passed down by word of mouth until everything was transcribed to texts.

Re: The Case for Optimism

#93

Post by maxerickson »

legrande wrote: post #92
maxerickson wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it relatively likely that there are more people learning Buddhism orally now than there ever have been before?

> Isn't it relatively likely that there are more people learning Buddhism orally now than there ever have been before? Well I suppose if you mean listening to an audio-book or even reading a book constitutes learning something orally, then you might have a point. When I say orally I mean passed down from generation to generation via spoken word. Buddhism originally had no scriptures and was passed down by word of mou…

Yeah, I meant orally as in spoken, not recorded.

There's an awful lot more people around now than there generally has been.

Re: The Case for Optimism

#94

Post by eropple »

dbish wrote: post #90
eropple wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, elected ones? That seems like a good start, rather than "one guy with a lot of money".

The career politicians are some of the very last people who should be making choices on what technological directions we should go as a society. You can watch any of the congressional hearings to see the complete lack of understanding of today’s technical landscape, let alone expecting them to determine where we go next. One day I hope to see actual technical people taking on high level elected positions and trying t…

If the world wanted Jeff Bezos to lead it, we would have elected him. Would we not?

Who exactly is he to make megascale decisions for the rest of us?

Re: The Case for Optimism

#95

Post by dbish »

eropple wrote: post #94
dbish wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The career politicians are some of the very last people who should be making choices on what technological directions we should go as a society. You can watch any of the congressional hearings to see the complete lack of understanding of today’s technical landscape, let alone expecting them to determine where we go next. One day I hope to see actual technical people taking on high level elected positions and trying t…

If the world wanted Jeff Bezos to lead it, we would have elected him. Would we not? Who exactly is he to make megascale decisions for the rest of us?

Someone competent who has actually done something, unlike elected officials. Until there is a party that represents and has engineers and technical people as an every day part of their system, not a unique member among a sea of lawyers, we cannot allow politicians to stifle innovation and humanity’s ability to build for the future.

Re: The Case for Optimism

#96

Post by eropple »

dbish wrote: post #95
eropple wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the world wanted Jeff Bezos to lead it, we would have elected him. Would we not? Who exactly is he to make megascale decisions for the rest of us?

Someone competent who has actually done something, unlike elected officials. Until there is a party that represents and has engineers and technical people as an every day part of their system, not a unique member among a sea of lawyers, we cannot allow politicians to stifle innovation and humanity’s ability to build for the future.

"He made a logistics company, so he should be able to enact megascale experiments on people because why not?"

Respectfully: this reads like the kind of post that would be written by a software developer who thinks being an expert in one thing makes them an expert in many.

I was that person when I was young. I grew wiser. I hope you do, too.

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