What sort of historical tech from previous ages do you have in mind which enables unilateral individual action to have a massive influence?
The only thing I’m thinking of are weapons which allow the assassination of important people. All the assassinations of important people which come immediately to mind are cases where I think I would’ve preferred the important person to stick around.
The author’s agency doesn’t dominate the effects so much, I think, there are many people who have to agree before a piece of writing can do anything. Nothing propagates or gets read without the consent of an audience, to the extent that popular texts often just articulate sentiments that’re already endemic.
What sort of historical tech from previous ages do you have in mind which enables unilateral individual action to have a massive influence?
The only thing I’m thinking of are weapons which allow the assassination of important people. All the assassinations of important people which come immediately to mind are cases where I think I would’ve preferred the important person to stick around.
Machiavelli’s The Prince, and various other texts.
How about the printing press?
The printing press is a tool which lets us coordinate multilateral action differently than we were previously.
The author’s agency doesn’t dominate the effects so much, I think, there are many people who have to agree before a piece of writing can do anything. Nothing propagates or gets read without the consent of an audience, to the extent that popular texts often just articulate sentiments that’re already endemic.