"Technological dependence obscures the political and economic decisions about what sort of technologies should be developed," yes. I like to compare tech dependence to addiction.
Addiction speaks in the voice of reason: "you haven't relaxed like this in so long, have another drink"; "you might miss a message, check your phone." Derangement-by-reason (or a façade of reason, anyway) is really hard to detect and identify for what it is, because the forms it takes are so damn reasonable. Hard to dissect.
I don't think that historical Luddism / Butlerianism is prepared to deal with tech dependence as it manifests in the human psyche today. But they're still essential reference points - I'm glad people are out there reading and interpreting these canons for the rest of us.
Yes. When u look at things like white supremacy, Christian nationalism, far right fascism etc u see a similar pattern: addiction and faith/belief intertwined without any conscious regulation.
Look into the Red shirts in Spain, don't limit your reading to current fashions.
most likely no one will ever challenge you to compare groups you like with groups you don't like. All of these groups have the same org chart and tax status. Irregardless of political motivations. It scares me, and I hope to be shown wrong.
Um, what? Bro who are you projecting onto? Why would you think i “play favorites” instead of looking at behaviors in context clearly? Oh right, because internet derangement syndrome is rampant.
Bro, it reminds me of the time a kid punched me in the face because I said he liked a girl that he liked. I really did want to talk about the red shirts, but that's gone now.
Yes, of course, words made you feel “punched in the face”… ok 👌. Who would want to have a conversation with someone like that anyway? Im sure you can find a subreddit to have conversations with people just like you.
"Is the solution more or less democratic control over technological development and deployment? Do we trust today’s major players in this space to truly prioritize anything other than profits and returns?" the right questions to be asking, i think. loved this <3
Another fantastic essay, Ed. And I appreciate the Chomsky interview excerpt at the end. His clarity is always stunning. More democracy is a value in itself. To my mind, the entire corpus of anticapitalist, liberatory thought distills to those seven words.
“If we realize that certain paths or arrangements or products go against human flourishing or the public good or our ecological niche or the mental health of the general public (realizations we have already made), will we be able to do anything about it?”
Not to put too much of a dampener on it, but the South African 'regime' (350 + years) ran an explicitly racist, minority government on White, National, Christian, Civilisation 'principles' (no contradictions, I kid you not.) Lets see how long this one lasts! So there's work to be done. The biggest (overwhelmingly Black, but 'foreign' / non-indigenous) 'Christian Church', the Zionists, is still alive and kicking. Good luck!
Randomly found a copy of Erewhon at a small bookstore a few weeks back & I'm even more motivated to read it now. I knew about the concept from reading up on the world-building that was done around Dune. Thank you for taking the time to talk about it and its links to the present.
to recap, I saw his book in a library of a school that rejected me from admission a long time ago. It's about sheep. Erewhon to me was a grocery store that sold access to status of being able to afford to go. It had all the old Utopian vibes without the community property part and most of the strange beliefs.
I read some of the book. It's a funny book about a fake place, a real Utopia, which means something like good ornamental gardening in Latin. It can also mean no place if I remember right.
So the book is about technology addiction?
and Herbert, not the QB, wrote the book with snakes in it kind of on the same theme?
Tried to watch Dune 2 in the theater, and the sound cut out. So I have only seen 12 minutes and most of that was pretty quiet.
you are saying that evolution applied to other topics or industries produces addiction after a depression from destruction of traditional supports? or at least these two people did?
and here I am looking at a shiny black mirrored screen, agreeing with people who are probably dead, and wondering how amazing it is to see it all decoded by someone I never met.
"Technological dependence obscures the political and economic decisions about what sort of technologies should be developed," yes. I like to compare tech dependence to addiction.
Addiction speaks in the voice of reason: "you haven't relaxed like this in so long, have another drink"; "you might miss a message, check your phone." Derangement-by-reason (or a façade of reason, anyway) is really hard to detect and identify for what it is, because the forms it takes are so damn reasonable. Hard to dissect.
I don't think that historical Luddism / Butlerianism is prepared to deal with tech dependence as it manifests in the human psyche today. But they're still essential reference points - I'm glad people are out there reading and interpreting these canons for the rest of us.
Yes. When u look at things like white supremacy, Christian nationalism, far right fascism etc u see a similar pattern: addiction and faith/belief intertwined without any conscious regulation.
Look into the Red shirts in Spain, don't limit your reading to current fashions.
most likely no one will ever challenge you to compare groups you like with groups you don't like. All of these groups have the same org chart and tax status. Irregardless of political motivations. It scares me, and I hope to be shown wrong.
Um, what? Bro who are you projecting onto? Why would you think i “play favorites” instead of looking at behaviors in context clearly? Oh right, because internet derangement syndrome is rampant.
Bro, it reminds me of the time a kid punched me in the face because I said he liked a girl that he liked. I really did want to talk about the red shirts, but that's gone now.
Yes, of course, words made you feel “punched in the face”… ok 👌. Who would want to have a conversation with someone like that anyway? Im sure you can find a subreddit to have conversations with people just like you.
I agree with you about the derangement thing.
FOMO
I never watched or read Dune, I had assumed Butlerian Jihad had something to do with Judith Butler. I learned something today and I feel a bit silly.
Judith Butler's Jihad never got off the ground.
I assumed the same!
“I mean, what are human beings?”
This is the question fundamental to meaningful human existence, and it always has been.
Will we hear the call of, and answer to, our better angels?
"Is the solution more or less democratic control over technological development and deployment? Do we trust today’s major players in this space to truly prioritize anything other than profits and returns?" the right questions to be asking, i think. loved this <3
This is super b Edward, thank you. I recently left the IT world after 37byears, to redundancy, largely driven by AI.
I re-read Dune on holiday, having read it some 20nyears before. I was shocked at how relevant and poignant it is given today's challenges.
Thank you for writing exactly what I was feeling.
Another fantastic essay, Ed. And I appreciate the Chomsky interview excerpt at the end. His clarity is always stunning. More democracy is a value in itself. To my mind, the entire corpus of anticapitalist, liberatory thought distills to those seven words.
I've become quite fond of another property's take on A.I: "abominable
intelligence".... what times to be alive.
“If we realize that certain paths or arrangements or products go against human flourishing or the public good or our ecological niche or the mental health of the general public (realizations we have already made), will we be able to do anything about it?”
Spectacular
Not to put too much of a dampener on it, but the South African 'regime' (350 + years) ran an explicitly racist, minority government on White, National, Christian, Civilisation 'principles' (no contradictions, I kid you not.) Lets see how long this one lasts! So there's work to be done. The biggest (overwhelmingly Black, but 'foreign' / non-indigenous) 'Christian Church', the Zionists, is still alive and kicking. Good luck!
Randomly found a copy of Erewhon at a small bookstore a few weeks back & I'm even more motivated to read it now. I knew about the concept from reading up on the world-building that was done around Dune. Thank you for taking the time to talk about it and its links to the present.
oh man that scares me.
to recap, I saw his book in a library of a school that rejected me from admission a long time ago. It's about sheep. Erewhon to me was a grocery store that sold access to status of being able to afford to go. It had all the old Utopian vibes without the community property part and most of the strange beliefs.
I read some of the book. It's a funny book about a fake place, a real Utopia, which means something like good ornamental gardening in Latin. It can also mean no place if I remember right.
So the book is about technology addiction?
and Herbert, not the QB, wrote the book with snakes in it kind of on the same theme?
Tried to watch Dune 2 in the theater, and the sound cut out. So I have only seen 12 minutes and most of that was pretty quiet.
you are saying that evolution applied to other topics or industries produces addiction after a depression from destruction of traditional supports? or at least these two people did?
and here I am looking at a shiny black mirrored screen, agreeing with people who are probably dead, and wondering how amazing it is to see it all decoded by someone I never met.
Thank you Edward. Now I can be team Edward!
Great essay, thank you!