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lady_icedragon

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Jun 11, 2010 10:32

One of the blogs I follow, Resource Based Living, posted this article: So you want a real democracy do youIt's not really about democracy, and more about the role of technology in society. The author argues that there are many decisions that are too important to trust a fallible human being to make, and are best made by a rational, logical machine ( Read more... )

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lady_icedragon June 11 2010, 10:37:55 UTC

It's incredible when you think about what we could achieve if everyone was working together for a common goal. I'd like to believe that it could happen, that we all have community instincts, and it's only our monetary system that keeps us fighting each other - but that's my idealism voice talking.

I've had I Robot thoughts myself - actually watched it yesterday!

egadfly June 11 2010, 19:16:50 UTC

It's incredible when you think about what we could achieve if everyone was working together for a common goal.

Yes! Or maybe many different goals, but compatible and based on well-informed good intentions. People are the problem; people are the solution. Idealism is where we have to start :)

jexacinna June 11 2010, 10:19:12 UTC

Reading this I'm reminded of the scene in Minority Report (yeah, I know) in which Cruise's character attempts to escape before realising that all of the venus-like cars can be co-opted by the authorities and that his movement within the urban infrastructure is thus frighteningly determined, not by a machine, but by the indiviual controlling it. It's a daft example and potentially something of a 'parade of horrors', but you have to wonder how much of a factor these issues might be.

lady_icedragon June 11 2010, 10:38:54 UTC

I know - and I think any discussion on technology which doesn't include (or dismisses) concerns about control and corruption is naive.

egadfly June 11 2010, 15:02:13 UTC

I agree with your concerns and frankly find that Venus Project blog post naive and scary. It says we should give up on humanity and become the childlike pets of magic dictator machines that do all the hard stuff for us. It is an astonishing abdication of responsibility. Machines (as we currently understand the concept) are good for many things but government is not one of them. Making difficult decisions - and learning from that - is what being human is all about ( ... )

Sorry, I shouldn't say more, but... I will egadfly June 11 2010, 23:10:49 UTC

From that post by Andrew Buxton of The Venus Project:

machines already make important, and in some cases, life saving decisions without any belief or value system to obscure its objectivity like humans

What garbage. Machines follow programming. Algorithms. Any algorithm implies a value judgement. The judgement was made by the designer/programmer. Pretending it's not there is dangerous fantasy. Andrew Buxton is a fucking idiot who shouldn't be trusted with a remote control, let alone an opinion about the future.

Re: Sorry, I shouldn't say more, but... I will lady_icedragon June 12 2010, 06:05:48 UTC

You've managed to form my concern into words in a rather eloquent manner - as usual.

I'm going to guess that this guy has no real idea of technology, and has never been involved in programming or systems design.

I have more thoughts in my head, but it's 7am and I'm getting ready for work, and I can't get them out without rambling for half an hour :p