I’m worried you’re not seeing this at a long enough timescale.
I’m claiming:
1. “information sharing is good” is an invariant as timeless as “people will sacrifice truth and empathy for power”, you can’t claim Moloch wins based on available evidence.
2. both of these are more powerful than short-effects which we can forecast
On 1:
Increased information sharing leads to faster iteration. Faster iteration of science and technology leads to increased power derived from technology. Faster iteration of social norms and technologies leads to increased power derived from better coordination.
It is not a coincidence that the USA is simultaneously the most powerful and one of the most tolerant societies in human history.
Suppose you were the inventor of the gutenberg press deciding whether to release your technology or not. Maybe you could have foreseen the witch burnings. Maybe you could’ve even foreseen something like the 95 theses.
You couldn’t have foreseen democracy in France, or that its success would inspire the US. (Which was again only possible because of sharing of information between Europe and US) You couldn’t have foreseen that jew physicists leaving Europe for a more tolerant society would invent an atomic bomb that would ultimately bring peace to Europe. You couldn’t have foreseen the peace among EU nations in 2024, not enforced just at threat of bomb but more strongly via intermixing of its peoples.
If you decided not to release the gutenberg press because of forecasted witch burnings you might have made a collosal mistake.
Information sharing is argued as good because it relies on principles of human behaviour that survive long after you die, long after any specific circumstances.
Information survives the rise and fall of civilisations. As long as 1-of-n people preserve some information, it is preserved. A basic desire for truth and empathy is universal amongst human beings across space and time, as its encoded in genetics not culture.
Yes, people are often forced to sacrifice certain values at the altar of other ones, and we see this throughout history. You could call this Moloch. This too is universal.
Both of these are invariants that could hold long after the point where we can forecast specific events.
On 2:
Witch burnings don’t prove gutenberg press bad.
Social media isn’t proven bad on such a short timescale for the same reason witch burnings don’t prove the gutenberg press bad.
You haven’t even proven publishing smallpox papers in public is bad. Maybe one day bioweapon research is banned and this is only possible because of public consensus built on publicly available papers such as the smallpox paper.
I’m worried you’re not seeing this at a long enough timescale.
I’m claiming:
1. “information sharing is good” is an invariant as timeless as “people will sacrifice truth and empathy for power”, you can’t claim Moloch wins based on available evidence.
2. both of these are more powerful than short-effects which we can forecast
On 1:
Increased information sharing leads to faster iteration. Faster iteration of science and technology leads to increased power derived from technology. Faster iteration of social norms and technologies leads to increased power derived from better coordination.
It is not a coincidence that the USA is simultaneously the most powerful and one of the most tolerant societies in human history.
Suppose you were the inventor of the gutenberg press deciding whether to release your technology or not. Maybe you could have foreseen the witch burnings. Maybe you could’ve even foreseen something like the 95 theses.
You couldn’t have foreseen democracy in France, or that its success would inspire the US. (Which was again only possible because of sharing of information between Europe and US) You couldn’t have foreseen that jew physicists leaving Europe for a more tolerant society would invent an atomic bomb that would ultimately bring peace to Europe. You couldn’t have foreseen the peace among EU nations in 2024, not enforced just at threat of bomb but more strongly via intermixing of its peoples.
If you decided not to release the gutenberg press because of forecasted witch burnings you might have made a collosal mistake.
Information sharing is argued as good because it relies on principles of human behaviour that survive long after you die, long after any specific circumstances.
Information survives the rise and fall of civilisations. As long as 1-of-n people preserve some information, it is preserved. A basic desire for truth and empathy is universal amongst human beings across space and time, as its encoded in genetics not culture.
Yes, people are often forced to sacrifice certain values at the altar of other ones, and we see this throughout history. You could call this Moloch. This too is universal.
Both of these are invariants that could hold long after the point where we can forecast specific events.
On 2:
Witch burnings don’t prove gutenberg press bad.
Social media isn’t proven bad on such a short timescale for the same reason witch burnings don’t prove the gutenberg press bad.
You haven’t even proven publishing smallpox papers in public is bad. Maybe one day bioweapon research is banned and this is only possible because of public consensus built on publicly available papers such as the smallpox paper.