KuechenmonkOne of the great mistakes of our time is the idea, anything in existence or thinkable can be made a good with a price.
? (cybre aspect)@Kuechenmonk the quantization of all information in terms of value. It's something I dislike as well.
@0x3F It is a shame, since it encourages or rather forces everyone to market him-/herself, to optimize, to streamline...
What I am especially worried about is the idea, all the collected data would give an accurate picture of reality.
@Kuechenmonk turning humanity into individual economic engines isn't a good idea. Ugh, the belief that with enough tech we can solve all problems really rubs me the wrong way.
@0x3F "Progress & Empire" still appear to be a valid motivation.
I wonder, how to organise society around other core principles besides debt-driven greed. What could lead out of that misery?
@Kuechenmonk i have wondered this question for long time, and i have no solution. I truly believe technology cannot give us a solution there. Humans will have to come up with some system of distribution on that scale. I hope people much smarter than me are working on i, because so far I don't even know how to approach that problem.
@0x3F Alas, I have no magic cure either. But there's a documentary, I recently watched, that gave me some insight into the ideas of selflessness, friendlyness and charity. Do you speak German or French?
@Kuechenmonk no I dont speak either of those languages, but subtitles maybe? I'll be sure to check it out.
@0x3F The idea now is to teach people to enlarge that in-group over the entire planet. If we recognise ourselves in that poor fellow on the street or the plantation in Brazil or in the factory in China, we start to act good. You cannot exploit easily those who are like you.
@Kuechenmonk I can agree with that. Just getting it to scale is the difficult part. How do we make it so people who can't speak the same language, or have the same ideas, communicate and identify with each other, recognize the other as part of our group? A fellow sufferer, a person, a friend.
@0x3F Language isn't the problem. One of the benefits of capitalism is the spread of the Enlish language. Without globalisation I doubt very much I would have been forced to learn it in school. And both of us wouldn't be having this pleasent conversation (nor the need of it, altogether). We've got a bunch of shared problems. But we can communicate. And I strongly suggest, the solution, if altruism is it, has to be implemented in a down to top manner.
@Kuechenmonk while English is the closest we've ever come to a global language, there's many people that don't speak it. These people often have entirely different perspectives and that makes them likely to be people most of the WEIRD (western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic) world would have issues with or vice versa. Communication is key and language is the strongest tool we have for that right now. What would a bottom up approach look like?
@0x3F Theory is, if I am benelovent to somebody he/she has got reason to be nice to somebody else, and that somebody to the next one. A chainreaction of pleasentness.
@Kuechenmonk we see this work all the time on much smaller scales and it is something that should be trialed for a larger, less congruent social communities. But I also believe that it is a simplification of the real world. People do not always act in predictable ways, and the level of attention people require to gain the support they need isn't easily encompassed by group altruism. Not saying that it can't be, but it's something to consider as well.
@0x3F@cybre. To be honest, I have no idea what the great plan for utopia could be. That's a bit to much for my brains. However, by the idea of altruism – I don't consider it to be a dogmatic solution. I suppose, it is a good foundation to base one's perception of the world and one's deeds onto.
But, to get a bit religious, I believe, it is the right thing and we'd all be better of, if we considered all humans part of our in-group.
But, to get a bit religious, I believe, it is the right thing and we'd all be better of, if we considered all humans part of our in-group.