i guess i am constantly trying to resolve the debate between the promise and peril of technology. technology can take us to abundance, but it can also be used to create a system of total control. technology itself is neutral - the key to societal state are it's operators. consider that in light of noam chomsky's conclusion about what the masters of this world seem to want - "all for us, nothing for the rest". thus, inspite of all my optimism about tech, i see real insight in ran prieur's sentiment:
I was a doomer optimist. For my entire life the world has been getting tighter and tighter, and I was hopeful that I would see it crack open into freedom and possibility. I'm too young to remember the 1960's, but I remember as a kid roaming the neighborhood unsupervised, I remember when small airports had no security at all, when surveillance cameras were rare, when there were no seat belt laws, when you could share information without having to overcome DRM, when only young people had to show ID to buy alcohol.
My fear now is that it will never again get looser, that a tech crash is almost impossible, and that technology will make the control systems more airtight while channeling our urge for freedom into artificial worlds. You could even argue that this is part of the "collapse": increasing poverty causes increasing crime causes increasing fear causes increasing popular consent for strong central control.
after the crash of 2008 and the "slow emergency" that followed, it is clear that the masses do not have agency to effect epistemic change. the "arab spring" forced change of regime, but vestiges of the old seem to be taking hold again. the power of capital seems total - in the west and east...
I was a doomer optimist. For my entire life the world has been getting tighter and tighter, and I was hopeful that I would see it crack open into freedom and possibility. I'm too young to remember the 1960's, but I remember as a kid roaming the neighborhood unsupervised, I remember when small airports had no security at all, when surveillance cameras were rare, when there were no seat belt laws, when you could share information without having to overcome DRM, when only young people had to show ID to buy alcohol.
My fear now is that it will never again get looser, that a tech crash is almost impossible, and that technology will make the control systems more airtight while channeling our urge for freedom into artificial worlds. You could even argue that this is part of the "collapse": increasing poverty causes increasing crime causes increasing fear causes increasing popular consent for strong central control.
after the crash of 2008 and the "slow emergency" that followed, it is clear that the masses do not have agency to effect epistemic change. the "arab spring" forced change of regime, but vestiges of the old seem to be taking hold again. the power of capital seems total - in the west and east...
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