“develop new immigration rules that cities across America would be comfortable cooperating with”—this is the “make government super-efficient because, of course, we can be certain it is always doing what we want” argument. The alternative is “always make sure there’s some sand in the gears of government because when it is not doing what we want things can go really badly, so let’s limit the velocity with which that can happen”.
Yep; I think we are entering a technological regime where slow government immediately leads to human extinction, or the replacement of that government with a fast government. While it lasted, slow government had some upsides, but I think it makes sense to change with the times.
(For example, in a lot of classic cyberpunk literature, the old governments of the world are still around, just irrelevant compared to the corporations running important parts of the important cities.)
I’m reminded of something Noah Smith said on a podcast, which I’m going to paraphrase.
The advantage of dictatorship, or other systems with extremely concentrated political power, is that dictators get things done, because nobody can tell them no.
The disadvantage of dicatorship is that dictators get stupid things done, because nobody can tell them no.
“develop new immigration rules that cities across America would be comfortable cooperating with”—this is the “make government super-efficient because, of course, we can be certain it is always doing what we want” argument. The alternative is “always make sure there’s some sand in the gears of government because when it is not doing what we want things can go really badly, so let’s limit the velocity with which that can happen”.
Yep; I think we are entering a technological regime where slow government immediately leads to human extinction, or the replacement of that government with a fast government. While it lasted, slow government had some upsides, but I think it makes sense to change with the times.
(For example, in a lot of classic cyberpunk literature, the old governments of the world are still around, just irrelevant compared to the corporations running important parts of the important cities.)
I’m reminded of something Noah Smith said on a podcast, which I’m going to paraphrase.
The advantage of dictatorship, or other systems with extremely concentrated political power, is that dictators get things done, because nobody can tell them no.
The disadvantage of dicatorship is that dictators get stupid things done, because nobody can tell them no.
What is your theory of how fast government can prevent extinction?