Communism definitely serves as a warning to smart optimizers to not get ahead of themselves.
But it also cuts the other way: it lets smart optimizers the know how powerful some ideas can be.
In a sociology class, the teacher once mentioned to us that Karl Marx was the only truly applied sociologist. I don’t know how far this is true, but he is certainly the one who has had the most impact.
Communism definitely serves as a warning to smart optimizers to not get ahead of themselves.
But it also cuts the other way: it lets smart optimizers the know how powerful some ideas can be.
In a sociology class, the teacher once mentioned to us that Karl Marx was the only truly applied sociologist. I don’t know how far this is true, but he is certainly the one who has had the most impact.
Not coincidentally, Karl Marx was also the first to warn people about unfriendly, overly powerful optimization processes.
It’s only a pity he hadn’t the words to put it so succinctly!