Here are a few examples of model splintering in the past:
The concept of honour; which includes concepts such as: “nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness” [...] personal integrity [...] reputation [...] fame [...] privileges of rank or birth [...] respect [...] consequence of power [...] chastity”. That is a grab-bag of different concepts, but in various times and social situations, “honour” was seen as single, clear concept.
Gender. We’re now in a period where people are questioning and redefining gender, but gender has been splintering for a long time. In middle class Victorian England, gender would define so much about a person (dress style, acceptable public attitudes, genitals, right to vote, right to own property if married, whether they would work or not, etc...). In other times (and in other classes of society, and other locations), gender is far less informative.
Consider a Croat, communist, Yugoslav nationalist in the 1980s. They would be clear in their identity, which would be just one thing. Then the 1990s come along, and all these aspects come into conflict with each other.
Here are a few that might happen in the future; the first two could result from technological change, while the last could come from social change:
A human subspecies created who want to be left alone without interactions with others, but who are lonely and unhappy when solitary. This splinters preferences and happiness (more than they are today), and changes the standard assumptions about personal freedom and
A brain, or parts of a human brain, that loop forever through feelings of “I am am happy” and “I want this moment to repeat forever”. This splinters happiness-and-preferences from identity.
We have various ages of consent and responsibility; but, by age 21, most people are taken to be free to make decisions, are held responsible for their actions, and are seen to have a certain level of understanding about their world. With personalised education, varying subcultures, and more precise psychological measurements, we might end up in a world where “maturity” splinters into lots of pieces, with people having different levels of autonomy, responsibility, and freedom in different domains—and these might not be particularly connected with their age.
Here are a few examples of model splintering in the past:
The concept of honour; which includes concepts such as: “nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness” [...] personal integrity [...] reputation [...] fame [...] privileges of rank or birth [...] respect [...] consequence of power [...] chastity”. That is a grab-bag of different concepts, but in various times and social situations, “honour” was seen as single, clear concept.
Gender. We’re now in a period where people are questioning and redefining gender, but gender has been splintering for a long time. In middle class Victorian England, gender would define so much about a person (dress style, acceptable public attitudes, genitals, right to vote, right to own property if married, whether they would work or not, etc...). In other times (and in other classes of society, and other locations), gender is far less informative.
Consider a Croat, communist, Yugoslav nationalist in the 1980s. They would be clear in their identity, which would be just one thing. Then the 1990s come along, and all these aspects come into conflict with each other.
Here are a few that might happen in the future; the first two could result from technological change, while the last could come from social change:
A human subspecies created who want to be left alone without interactions with others, but who are lonely and unhappy when solitary. This splinters preferences and happiness (more than they are today), and changes the standard assumptions about personal freedom and
A brain, or parts of a human brain, that loop forever through feelings of “I am am happy” and “I want this moment to repeat forever”. This splinters happiness-and-preferences from identity.
We have various ages of consent and responsibility; but, by age 21, most people are taken to be free to make decisions, are held responsible for their actions, and are seen to have a certain level of understanding about their world. With personalised education, varying subcultures, and more precise psychological measurements, we might end up in a world where “maturity” splinters into lots of pieces, with people having different levels of autonomy, responsibility, and freedom in different domains—and these might not be particularly connected with their age.