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i dont think both of you guys criticism is particulary fair or accurate. projecting christian moralism onto what i'm saying, when it's the exact thing i'm trying to get away from. you're both stuck in a particular perspective and it's not one i share, not even unconsciously, despite what you might think
nowhere did i say any of this stuff would "save us", and the idea that that's even what we should be looking for is the opposite of what i said. i did say we can use it, and we should. i think my attitude is more realistic because im basically saying there are aspects of progress that we can plan ahead for and use for our own ends. we can claw back some freedom if we can accurately allign ourselves with the technical progress that is on the way, because for a moment before it exists it's there in a virtual sense and the field is open for what its ultimate fate will be. if we are always a few steps ahead, we can create new social norms/demands/expectations before the monopolies happen and we get gouged.
there is a certain amount of leverage people have, and the attitude that both of you seem to espouse does not seem like it wants to use it.
ive also never encountered someone who uses the "ah ha, you really DO believe but you dont want to admit it!" line or argument and found them to be convincing.
im not the conservative here, and it seems like the cynicism you both espouse is based on previously ridiculously utopian expectations rather than a realism. that's my main point against xtian people or people unconsciously biased by the surrounding xtian culture.
the argument is like "this nuclear power you speak of, i can come up with so many reasons why it will be misused, why it wont reach absolutely EVERYONE, why horrible things will happen!" therefore im more cynical than you therefore i win.
to me this attitude is totally and utterly redundant because technical progress happens whether we like it or not, and the machines are working on us just as equally as we work on them, so the only sane attitude is to allign yourself not with the utopian or unrealistic aspects of progress, but with a determination to experiment/weaponise/use it because it is happening whether you like it or not.
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