Hacker News Reader

Comment by AndrewKemendo | Hacker News Reader

Every possible example of “progress” have either an individual or a state power purpose behind it

there is only one possible “egalitarian” forward looking investments that paid off for everybody

I think the only exception to this is vaccines…and you saw how all that worked during Covid

Everything else from the semiconductor to the vacuum cleaner the automobile airplanes steam engines I don’t care what it is you pick something it was developed in order to give a small group and advantage over all the other groups it is always been this case it will always be this case because fundamentally at the root nature of humanity they do not care about the externalities- good or bad

View on HN

COVID has cured me (hah!) of the notion that humanity will be able to pull together when faced with a common enemy. That means global warming or the next pandemic are going to happen and we will not be able to stop it from happening because a solid percentage can't wait to jump off the ledge, and they'll push you off too.

Yeah buddy we agree

If you edit your comment to add punctuation, please let me know: I would like to read that final pile of words.

I did try, I promise.

Ok here: Everything from the semiconductor through the vacuum cleaner, automobile, airplanes and steam engines was developed to give a small group an advantage over all the other groups. It has always been the case, it will always be the case.

Fundamentally, at the root nature of humanity, humans do not care about the externalities, either good or bad.

That's a slightly odd way of looking at it. I'm guessing the people developing airplanes or whatever thought of a number of things including - hey this would be cool to do - and - maybe we can make some money - and - maybe this will help people travel - and - maybe it'll impress the girls - and probably some other things too. At least that's roughly how I've thought when I make stuff, never this will give a small group an advantage.

But the whole point is embedded in the task otherwise you wouldn’t do it

If somebody is using monetary resources to buy NFT‘s instead of handing out food to the homeless then you get less food for the homeless

All of the things listed are competitive task situations and you’re looking for some advantage that makes it easier for you

well if it makes it easier for you then it could make it easier for somebody else which means you’re crowding out other options in that action space

That is to say the pie is fixed for resources on this planet in terms of energy and resource utilization across the lifespan of a human

Vacuum cleaner -> sell appliances -> sell electric motors

But there was a clear advantage in quality of life for a lot of people too.

Automobile -> part of industrialization of transport -> faster transport, faster world

Arguably also a big increase in quality of life but it didn't scale that well and has also reduced the quality of life. If all that money had gone into public transport then that would likely have been a lot better.

Airplanes -> yes, definitely, but they were also clearly seen as an advantage in war, in fact that was always a major driver behind inventions.

Steam engine -> the mother of all prime movers and the beginnings of the fossil fuel debacle (coal).

Definitely a quality of life change but also the cause of the bigger problems we are suffering from today.

The 'coffin corner' (one of my hobby horses) is a real danger, we have, as a society, achieved a certain velocity, if we slow down too much we will crash, if we speed up the plane will come apart. Managing these transitions is extremely delicate work and it does not look as though 'delicate' is in the vocabulary of a lot of people in the driving seats.

This is where the concept of trickle down economics came from though and we know that that’s not actually accurate

I used to hear about this with respect to how fun funding NASA would get us more inventions because they funded Velcro

No it’s simply that there was a positive temporary externality for some subset of groups but the primary long term benefit went to the controller of the capital

The people utilizing them were marginally involved because they were only given the options that capital produced for them

Reply on news.ycombinator.com