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Comment by swat535 | Hacker News Reader

I sometimes wonder what western historians will think when they study this era 100 years from now? Will they think of this movement as a radicals capturing various institutions for political gains? Will they think of it as an innocent attempt to do good but went too far? or perhaps just a fashion movement that faded by then..

Perhaps it's the lack of spirituality that has driven people so insane that they latch on to anything that promises them virtues. Nietzsche once said "God is dead", but what did we replace it with?

In any case, it's amusing to watch it all enfold right in front of your eyes.

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>I sometimes wonder what western historians will think when they study this era 100 years from now?

I sometimes find myself wanting aliens to find us and make contact, just so we can have an outside, hypothetically enlightened source (if we're going by the Star Trek fantasy) to say "You're doing WHAT?!"

It’s not radicals capturing institutions, at least not in a nefarious way. The masses simply have a different morality than they used to. In the marketplace of ideas, the scoring function is not wholly or even mostly rational, instead it is mostly determined by morality, which at present is this new morality. The radicals have just made an idea-product that sells well to people with the new morality. They are not steering the ship, they are just riding on it.

Of course this is all happening at a subconscious level for almost everyone involved. It’s very hard to step outside of one’s own morality.

> Nietzsche once said "God is dead", but what did we replace it with?

"Deus ex machina" (in the classical use of the word as a crude theatrical contraption) and in the most absurd manner possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina

"See what happens, Larry?"

I just think back to my classes about algorithms and data structures. I didn’t think the big issues I’d face in technology would regard generating images of Nazis with the proper skin tone. Can’t say I’m thrilled with this particular direction technology has taken.

I think we haven't yet fulfilled the vision of personal inter-relations from mutual self responsibility. People were still too hung up on wanting to play the victim.

It’s going to be treated as what it is, psychological warfare to undermine the stability of America. No other country on this planet seems to suffer these issues to the extent that we do.

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