But wasn’t your point that if they’re enlightened enough, they would refuse to carry out the government’s orders?
No, I’m thinking that if someone understood history, human psychology, and the game-theoretic Bayes-structure of the universe well enough, they might be able to understand how and why currently-existing governments evolved, and then use that knowledge to engineer new institutions that do a better job of being powerful, stable, and protecting human values?
But this is just me thinking out loud. If this comment isn’t useful or interesting, you should downvote it!
then use that knowledge to engineer new institutions that do a better job of being powerful, stable, and protecting human values
Yeah, Asimov called that psychohistory :-) Marxists were doing precisely that: they thought they understood how and why the social order evolved and they used that knowledge to engineer new institutions. How did it work out?
However “engineering” is not enough. So you come up with new institutions—you still need power to implement them. How are you going to acquire this power?
But this is just me thinking out loud.
That’s a good thing. Discussion is good, punishing wrong-thinkers is bad.
No, I’m thinking that if someone understood history, human psychology, and the game-theoretic Bayes-structure of the universe well enough, they might be able to understand how and why currently-existing governments evolved, and then use that knowledge to engineer new institutions that do a better job of being powerful, stable, and protecting human values?
But this is just me thinking out loud. If this comment isn’t useful or interesting, you should downvote it!
Downvoting has been disabled for some time.
Huh, so it is! I’ve been away for a while!
Yeah, Asimov called that psychohistory :-) Marxists were doing precisely that: they thought they understood how and why the social order evolved and they used that knowledge to engineer new institutions. How did it work out?
However “engineering” is not enough. So you come up with new institutions—you still need power to implement them. How are you going to acquire this power?
That’s a good thing. Discussion is good, punishing wrong-thinkers is bad.