To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
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Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#2Gotta admit I read this one expecting to find some extremely libertarian critique of libraries per se, something about how "intellectual property" is being violated, etc etc etc.
Instead, I found all the talking points to refute such extremist critiques, and a thoughtful expansion to problems afflicting western liberal democracies. Good read, very thoughtful.
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#3To some extent, this is by design. The inaction of liberal western democracies is because it is ambiguous as it what should be done. Yes, this leads to stagnation, but also minimizes massive mistakes. When it becomes clear what needs to be done western democracies can spring into action, such as with, as the author pointed out, the pandemic.
Look at Russia - The government, but more specifically Putin, just set the country back 20-30 years with one bad decision. China is on a hot streak, but the same could happen to them. What happens when Xi looses his mind? Or dies? Or when the economy takes a prolonged downturn?
Democracies win over the long term because they bet small and lose small.
Libraries aren’t being built because, A. We already have a lot of them in the west, and B. Typically they begin as part of a major philanthropic gift but right now our philanthropist class is focused on eradicating diseases and going to space.
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#4>Think about libraries as a concept – the government builds a huge building, buys loads of books from many different authors and allows
everyone to just go there and read the books for free or some small fee.
False premise: Most librairies in the United States were funded and built by private philanthropy. See: Carnegie Library
>"Sometimes you can even take the books to your home!"– Now imagine libraries didn’t exist and some politician came around proposing we create libraries exactly as they are. What would you expect to happen? I can tell you what I would expect to happen: Nothing at all: What about the authors and publishers? What about the bookstores! People will just steal and/or destroy the books! People don’t even read anymore! I am quite confident they would never get built in any major western democracy today.
If it's difficult to build libraries today, political will is not a limiting factor. Rather, technology has slowly but surely rendered the storage of dead trees as obsolete in all but a few circumstances (i.e. archival analysis) Just as we stopped using street cars when buses and cars proved to be more maneuverable and efficient, one shouldn't advocate a reinvention of the 19th century library simply because it delivered a unique benefit once upon a time.
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#5To some extent, this is by design. The inaction of liberal western democracies is because it is ambiguous as it what should be done. Yes, this leads to stagnation, but also minimizes massive mistakes. When it becomes clear what needs to be done western democracies can spring into action, such as with, as the author pointed out, the pandemic. Look at Russia - The government, but more specifically Putin, just set the c…
Getting involved in a war, trade war, or campaign of human rights abuse is a completely separate category from, say, spending 100 billion on some project.
You might upset the economy a bit. Maybe someone will call you an idiot. But at any rate you made some jobs and nobody died. Nobody is going to demand sanctions unless someone is being badly abused.
We did not spring into action with the pandemic. The only thing we did was make the vaccine, and we can't even keep up with the variants with that.
If we really "Sprang into action" we would have small thermal cameras in our phones by now that would warn us of fevers.
We would have grates in the floor making a constant downward airflow, and vents blowing HEPA air in the ceiling in major public spaces.
Cashiers would have barriers and small filters making walls of clean air indefinitely, not just "Till the worst of the pandemic is over" It would be such a big industry they'd have advertising projections on the acrylic.
Busses would have the same thing.
We would have "Trying to get your employees to work sick" become a 10 year sentence kind of felony.
We'd have subsidized masks that actually do something, with battery powered fans.
We don't do these things because we accept infectious disease as part of life, and there's basically no interest in actually stopping it with any kind of sustainable long term technical evolution like we did with sanitary sewers.
It seems the current system is considered good enough.
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#6A commentary about the shortcomings of western civilization from someone that doesn't understand what makes our civilization a success.
All the other civilizations have large powerful governments that intervene in their society. The West's strength comes from the fact that governments are generally restrained, slow, and more power and freedom is given to individuals. Governments are supposed to not be able to get anything done.
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#7Hands off the libraries, pal. If you need a straw-they for your 'thought exercise', go ahead and use 'sports stadiums', I don't care then. Of course 'the west' IS still building lots of stadiums. [https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/the-10-newest-stadiums-... ] Panem et circenses. (Dick was right.)
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#8A commentary about the shortcomings of western civilization from someone that doesn't understand what makes our civilization a success. All the other civilizations have large powerful governments that intervene in their society. The West's strength comes from the fact that governments are generally restrained, slow, and more power and freedom is given to individuals. Governments are supposed to not be able to get any…
The internet, GPS, nuclear energy, novel vaccines, the interstate system, space flight, the Panama Canal, electrification of Appalachia, 99% adult literacy. Yup glad we didn’t need government action to get these done
Most of the highlights of Western Civ have been a result of collective action. If anything the libertarian mythos that was synthesized in the late 70s is our greatest weakness.
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#9[dead]
Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries
#10In this day and age (at least in my country, a Western Democracy) libraries are not being built, rather closed, or converted to some other uses. And the majority of the vast inventories of books that was once the property of said libraries to keep for posterity's sake has literally been burned, as regulations forbade any kind of recirculation, donation, or sale.