tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post4504465351428951583..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: Democracy, truth, fallibilism, and the tech overlordsKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-46487875671076865472019-01-07T00:58:55.390-05:002019-01-07T00:58:55.390-05:00There have long been problems with the way we trea...There have long been problems with the way we treat science and technology overall, and in particular, one of them is how we almost deify people who succeed at something. In a way, we create these tech overlords, my giving them gravitas and depth they simply don't have.<br /><br />Previously, I've written about how society tends to conflate scientists and engineers, another deep mistake, and how engineers are focused on some fairly narrow goals. Largely as a result of that, many of the problems we have today amount to unintended consequences, as result of accomplishing goals, that, while hey have some short term benefit to shareholders and customers, generate problems that tend to be long-term, and effectall of us. Some laws and regulations are intended to broaden evaluations, but they are not treated as a critical part of the process.<br /><br />Along related lines, we highly values success, even by the limited ground rules just defined, and we tend to allow more latitude to those who have achieved success, by those rules. Einstein, who made most of his significant contributions to science before 1920, was always amazed at the questions people would ask him, often on topics in which he claimed little knowledge, and no expertise. Late in life, he understood that since he had solved some very challengng problems, people assumed that he the answers to most other things. He once observed that he could have said almost anything, and people would have eagerly accepted it.<br /><br />Apply this same treatment to someone like Bill Gate, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk; all people who have been very successful in our system, successful by any measure in business.Such success gives their word added value and weight, so when they hold forth, on any topic, thier word weighs heavily on the scale. Without picking on these men in particular (there are others) whatever they say gets extra attention and notoriety, not necessarily on the merits of what they are saying, but due to their overall profile and fame, derived from that success. Now it is good when these people have done their "homework" and know what they are saying, and some (Gates in particular) are using their wealth to sustain a foundation that is, on the whole, doing some beneficial projects. But this is not always the case, and please remember that some of these successes are predicated on the same narrow values (profitability, customer and shareholder value uber alles) that produced the unintended consequences that are causing so much concern.<br /><br />This notion is fundamentally rubbish, the idea that "Oh, but XXX is so wealthy/successful, he must be smart, and know what he's saying about YYY". There are many ways that this makes no sense at all. I am reminded of a certain real estate developer and licensor of the family name for use in conjunction with other properties, who used this reasoning and presentation recently, to to achieve high political office (no names, please, merely an example).Robert Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17893518516529800764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-48592514502072200732019-01-06T21:03:25.270-05:002019-01-06T21:03:25.270-05:00Democracy merely reflects the views and wants of t...Democracy merely reflects the views and wants of the majority, there is no other grand purpose like preserving the environment. If people want to better their lives short term at the expense of long term survivability then that's that.blackTomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08247961256570492410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-72878770740466879072019-01-06T12:16:41.965-05:002019-01-06T12:16:41.965-05:00Yet we got here with democracy. Even though it may...Yet we got here with democracy. Even though it may be better than other forms of government, it has not been up to the task of making our society environmentally sustainable. If democracy can't do it, we are doomed.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01251330546889158364noreply@blogger.com