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Originally Posted by dead_battery

you cant say that it just perpetuated the existing order. its one of the biggest changes in human history and its only begun.

anyway.

non utopian scenarios -

when fusion energy is cracked, within this century, its not utopian or out of the realms of human ability for us to organize and aggressively demand that fusion is implemented and gives practically free energy to everyone. and it would be practically free since the cost of one plant (which is all you'd need) wouldn't be much.

people are definitely capable of organizing that.

i think we're definitely capable of putting out the idea that free energy is a right, that the rich deserve to pay for it for the rest of us through the tax system, based on my ignorant estimates it would hardly be that expensive.

likewise we're capable of solving the malnutrition problems

the key is to start in the 1st world FIRST and reject all the tricks of universalism which say "cos the africans are starving u just be a good slave and dont dare expect anything other than subsistence".

we're capable of upholding a social expectation that copyright law only applies to certain things. you should be able to 3d print out anything you want if it doesn't harm anyone.

we can pressurize and organize and keep the internet as free as possible.

there are things we can do, and basic scientific literacy and technical skills are the most important way to be able to achieve them.

i get what you're saying, but the blind spot there is that the cure to the problem of human misery isn't really technical-- it's mostly political. and we haven't really figured out that one.

the problem of freedom vs. power is also a political one. free from what? free for what? and who gets to the power, and to what ends? this is a massive question that science can't solve.

and social inequality seems not so much about scarcity of resources or mere survival needs, but with how our brains are hardwired-- as hierarchical, tribal, status/power seeking apes. maybe neuroscience will address that in the future, but if neuroscience can be used to program for social harmony it will be first used to produce compliant workers a la thx 1138 or brave new world.

not being cynical here, just trying to map out the shape of future struggles-- future because they are constant.

the powerful want to accrue greater power because they are engaged in their own arms race at the top. and that is what consumes the resources and freedom who would otherwise feed and free those at the bottom-- guns vs. butter. not that those at the bottom don't have their own arms/status races as well-- it's just that they are less noticeable/make less impact.

i really have no idea of how this could be solved. tomorrow's gangsters will replace today's gangsters but they will still be gangsters.

that's the real problem, right there-- that one. and to reiterate--i don't know if we have a solution for that yet because human brains seem to love being part of a gang with a big boss on top, even if the weak have to pay for it.

 

 

but i'm a fucking mutant experimenting with something else.