That's a great point. But I suppose it all depends on who composes it. To say a group like this will advocate foolishly or manipulate without admitting that every other group, without exception(!), advocates foolishly and manipulates, is to place too much burden on these particular people. We all do our best to balance what we think should happen against worries that interference could go wrong. (Some of us are better at that balance than others. But that's also true of everyone about everything ... which makes it a useless statement.)
In the end, to be against something before it's even begun is a bit silly, I think. Personally, I'm neutral. But it's interesting in the same way Lessig's May One or the genetic literacy project are interesting ... and manipulative. Even more political is the interesting "neoreactionary" movement. I'm even neutral about that, though I think I'm starting to turn a bit against it. The trick, as we've been discussing, is to never flip the bit one way or the other. On 06/29/2015 07:43 PM, Nick Thompson wrote: > I am afraid I have not been following this closely enough to know the white > hats from the black hats. I think one of the dimensions of disagreement here > is on the possibility of social planning. If one thinks that the subject > matters studied by sociologists and economists are essentially chaotic, then > social planning is either foolish or manipulative … like bishops telling > parishioners to defer gratification so they, the bishops, can live opulent > lives in the Bishop’s Palace. As a consequence of running such a scam, the > Vatican runs half of Rome, right? That new society sounds like a reforming > and a planning lot. That’s as far as my thinking has gotten on this. As you > see, it’s not very far. -- ⇒⇐ glen e. p. ropella She'll borrow bullets and return em' to your skull ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
