This “sad frame” hit hard for me, but in the opposite of the intended way:
It’s building an adult to take care of us, handing over the keys and steering wheel, and after that point our efforts are enrichment.
If I had ever met a single actual human “adult”, ever in my life, that was competent and sane and caring towards me and everyone I care about, then I would be so sososo SO SO happy.
I yearn for that with all my heart.
If such a person ran for POTUS (none ever have that I have noticed, its always a choice between something like “confused venal horny teenager #1” and “venal confused lying child #2″) I would probably be freakishly political on their behalf.
Back when Al Gore (funder of nanotech, believer in atmospheric CO2 chemistry, funder of ARPANET, etc...) ran for president I had a little of this, but I thought he couldn’t possibly lose back then, because I didn’t realize that the median voter was a moral monster with nearly no interest in causing coherently good institutional outcomes using their meager voting power.
I knew people throwing their back into causing Bush to win by violating election laws (posing as Democratic canvassers and telling people in majority Democrat neighborhoods the wrong election day and stuff) but I didn’t think it mattered that much. I thought it was normal, and also that it wouldn’t matter, because Al Gore was so manifestly worthy to rule, compared to the alternative, that he would obviously win. I was deluded in many ways back then.
Let’s build and empower an adult AS FAST AS POSSIBLE please?
Like before the 2028 election please?
Unilaterally and with good mechanism design. Maybe it could start as a LW blockchain thingy, and an EA blobkchain thingy, and then they could merge, and then the “merge function” they used could be used over and over again on lots of other ones that got booted up as copycat systems?
Getting it right is mostly a problem in economic math, I think.
...the current situation helps at least some people realize that every existing human government on Earth is a dumpster fire… because (1) the US is a relatively good one, and (2) it is also shockingly obviously terrible right now. And this is the fundamental problem. ALL the governments are bad. You find legacy malware everywhere you look (except maybe New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore).
Death and poverty and stealing and lying are bad.
Being cared for by competent fair charitable power is good.
“End death and taxes” is a political slogan I’m in favor of!
one of the things I’d like to enjoy and savor is that right now, my human agency is front and center
I find that almost everyone treats their political beliefs and political behavior and moral signaling powers as a consumption good, rather than as critical civic infrastructure.
This is, to a first approximation WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
I appreciate you for saying that you enjoy the consumption good explicitly, tho.
It is nice to not feel crazy.
It is nice to know that some people will admit that they’re doing what I think they’re doing.
Wanting competent people to lead our government and wanting a god to solve every possible problem for us are different things. This post doesn’t say anything about the former.
I believe the vast majority of people who vote in presidential elections do so because they genuinely anticipate that their candidate will make things better, and I think your view that most people are moral monsters demonstrates a lack of empathy and understanding of how others think. It’s hard to figure out who’s right in politics!
This “sad frame” hit hard for me, but in the opposite of the intended way:
If I had ever met a single actual human “adult”, ever in my life, that was competent and sane and caring towards me and everyone I care about, then I would be so so so so SO SO happy.
I yearn for that with all my heart.
If such a person ran for POTUS (none ever have that I have noticed, its always a choice between something like “confused venal horny teenager #1” and “venal confused lying child #2″) I would probably be freakishly political on their behalf.
Back when Al Gore (funder of nanotech, believer in atmospheric CO2 chemistry, funder of ARPANET, etc...) ran for president I had a little of this, but I thought he couldn’t possibly lose back then, because I didn’t realize that the median voter was a moral monster with nearly no interest in causing coherently good institutional outcomes using their meager voting power.
I knew people throwing their back into causing Bush to win by violating election laws (posing as Democratic canvassers and telling people in majority Democrat neighborhoods the wrong election day and stuff) but I didn’t think it mattered that much. I thought it was normal, and also that it wouldn’t matter, because Al Gore was so manifestly worthy to rule, compared to the alternative, that he would obviously win. I was deluded in many ways back then.
Let’s build and empower an adult AS FAST AS POSSIBLE please?
Like before the 2028 election please?
Unilaterally and with good mechanism design. Maybe it could start as a LW blockchain thingy, and an EA blobkchain thingy, and then they could merge, and then the “merge function” they used could be used over and over again on lots of other ones that got booted up as copycat systems?
Getting it right is mostly a problem in economic math, I think.
It should happen fast because we have civilizational brain damage, at a structural level, and most people are agnosic about this fact, BUT Trump being in office is like squirting cold water in the ear…
...the current situation helps at least some people realize that every existing human government on Earth is a dumpster fire… because (1) the US is a relatively good one, and (2) it is also shockingly obviously terrible right now. And this is the fundamental problem. ALL the governments are bad. You find legacy malware everywhere you look (except maybe New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore).
Death and poverty and stealing and lying are bad.
Being cared for by competent fair charitable power is good.
“End death and taxes” is a political slogan I’m in favor of!
I find that almost everyone treats their political beliefs and political behavior and moral signaling powers as a consumption good, rather than as critical civic infrastructure.
This is, to a first approximation WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
I appreciate you for saying that you enjoy the consumption good explicitly, tho.
It is nice to not feel crazy.
It is nice to know that some people will admit that they’re doing what I think they’re doing.
Wanting competent people to lead our government and wanting a god to solve every possible problem for us are different things. This post doesn’t say anything about the former.
I believe the vast majority of people who vote in presidential elections do so because they genuinely anticipate that their candidate will make things better, and I think your view that most people are moral monsters demonstrates a lack of empathy and understanding of how others think. It’s hard to figure out who’s right in politics!