Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All
"LOVE LOVE LOVE your futorological brickbats! Love them! You are in fine company with Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary with these." -- Paulina Borsook
"Devoted to highly rhetorical nitpicking, but it is fun to read." -- Chris Mooney
"Rather close but correct reading." -- Evgeny Morozov
"Mean, but true." -- Annalee Newitz
"Dale Carrico's skewering of the salvific pretensions of Silicon Valley's soi disant savior/founders never disappoints." -- Frank Pasquale
"Pretty breathless, but I guess it had to be said." -- Bruce Sterling
"An essential reality check for those who are too entranced by transhumanism to notice the sordid reality behind the curtain." -- Charlie Stross
2 comments:
Jail? Of course. Therapy? Not so sure.
As Chomsky argued:
''We are instructed daily to be firm believers in neoclassical markets, in
which isolated individuals are rational wealth maximizers. If distortions
are eliminated, the market should respond perfectly to their ''votes,''
expressed in dollars or some counterpart. The value of a person's interests
is measured the same way. In particular, the interests of those with no
votes are valued at zero: future generations, for example. It is therefore
rational to destroy the possibility for decent survival for our
grandchildren, if by so doing we can maximize our own ''wealth'' - which
means a particular perception of self-interest constructed by vast
industries devoted to implanting and reinforcing it. The threats to survival
are currently enhanced by dedicated efforts not only to weaken institutional
structures that have developed to mitigate the harsh consequences of market
fundamentalism, but also to undermine the culture of sympathy and solidarity
that sustains these institutions. All of this is another prescription for
disaster, perhaps in the not very distant future. But again, it has a
certain rationality within prevailing structures of doctrine and
institutions.''
Jail? Of course. Therapy? Not so sure.
I guess it hinges on the prospects of successful rehabilitation of hard core sociopaths. Maybe some clever biochemist will come to the rescue. A new enzyme, a sort of rebuplicanase if you will.
Post a Comment