To state the obvious, what is changing is knowledge (literacy) and its
distribution - atoms and Standard model particles are pretty much the same.
The acquisition and distribution of knowledge used to be much slower, so
it was sufficient to control its substrate (culture) and its artifacts
(gunpowder.) The pace accelerated to the point when that doesn't work
any more, as the gap between the knowledge and the artefact almost
disappeared. There's little stopping biohacking enthisuast to synthesize
race-specific virus in the kitchen (big data, ML, sequencer.) Few years.
Maybe even ideology-specific?
The current equilibrium is combination of population dumbification and
seduction of those who escape it. It works, but not perfectly - the
seduction part deteriorates as there are fewer and fewer artifacts to
hoard and offer.
It seems that the individual's capability to acquire and apply knowledge
(amount of the stuff one can do) is outrunning individual's social
cohesion mechanisms (instincts. morality - the stuff one should do to
maintain the group.) The disturbing part is that this makes
anti-intellectualism almost a rational strategy.
On 1/1/18, 08:21, byfield wrote:
distinction, but I think that's backwards on every level. It assumes
that things that were seen as benign or beneficial are now being
misused. But I think the reality is that, for many people, those things
were never entirely benign or beneficial — they were just the perks that
one part of the population enjoyed. It's
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