Weber again: “And, so in light of this historical view, we need to remember that bureaucracy, taken as it is, is just an instrument of precision that can be put to service by purely political, economic, or any other dominating or controlling interest. Therefore the simultaneous development of democratization and bureaucratization should not be exaggerated, no matter how typical the phenomena may be.”
Yikes, okay, it seems like Weber understood the notion the orthogonality thesis.”
Isn’t this interesting, Weber’s point is similar to the orthogonality thesis. This makes me realize a wider implication: the orthogonality thesis is actually very similar to the general argument that “technological progress is good” vs “no it isn’t necessarily”.
Weber: democratization isn’t given from bureaucreatization
Orthogonality thesis: Intelligence and morality are orthogonal.
Technological caution argument: More powerful technology isn’t by default a good thing for us.
I’m especially interested in constrasting orthogonality to technological caution. I’d like to express them in a common form.
Intelligence is capability. Technology generally is capability. Morality = what is good.
More capability dropped into parts of a society isn’t necessarily a good thing. Be it that part of society is an AI, a human, a social system or a socio-technical system.
This is a generalization of the orthogonality thesis and the technological caution argument, assuming that AI gets embedded in society (which should be assumed).
As you likely know by now, I think the argument that “Technological Progress = Human Progress” is clearly more complicated than is sometimes assumed. AI is very much already embedded in society and the existing infrastructure makes further deployment even easier. As you say, “more capability dropped into parts of a society isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
One of my favorite quotes from the relationship between technological advancement and human advancement is from Aldous Huxley below:
“Today, after two world wars and three major revolutions, we know that there is no necessary correlation between advanced technology and advanced morality. Many primitives, whose control over their environment is rudimentary, contrive nonetheless to be happy, virtuous, and, within limits, creative. Conversely, the members of civilized societies, possessed of the technological resources to exercise considerable control over their environment, are often conspicuously unhappy, maladjusted, and uncreative; and though private morals are tolerably good, collective behavior is savage to the point of fiendishness. In the field of international relations the most conspicuous difference between men of the twentieth century and the ancient Assyrians is that the former have more efficient methods of committing atrocities and are able to destroy, tyrannize, and enslave on a larger scale.
The truth is that all an increase in man’s ability to control his environment can do for him is merely to modify the situation in which, by other than technological means, individuals and groups attempt to make specifically human progress in creativeness, morality, and happiness. Thus the city-dwelling factory worker may belong, biologically speaking, to a more progressive group than does the peasant; but it does not follow that he will find it any easier to be happy, good, and creative. The peasant is confronted by one set of obstacles and handicaps; the industrial worker, by another set. Technological progress does not abolish obstacles; it merely changes their nature. And this is true even in cases where technological progress directly affects the lives and persons of individuals.”
— The Divine Within: Selected Writings on Enlightenment by Aldous Huxley, Huston Smith
https://a.co/a0BFqOM
Isn’t this interesting, Weber’s point is similar to the orthogonality thesis. This makes me realize a wider implication: the orthogonality thesis is actually very similar to the general argument that “technological progress is good” vs “no it isn’t necessarily”.
Weber: democratization isn’t given from bureaucreatization
Orthogonality thesis: Intelligence and morality are orthogonal.
Technological caution argument: More powerful technology isn’t by default a good thing for us.
I’m especially interested in constrasting orthogonality to technological caution. I’d like to express them in a common form. Intelligence is capability. Technology generally is capability. Morality = what is good. More capability dropped into parts of a society isn’t necessarily a good thing. Be it that part of society is an AI, a human, a social system or a socio-technical system.
This is a generalization of the orthogonality thesis and the technological caution argument, assuming that AI gets embedded in society (which should be assumed).
As you likely know by now, I think the argument that “Technological Progress = Human Progress” is clearly more complicated than is sometimes assumed. AI is very much already embedded in society and the existing infrastructure makes further deployment even easier. As you say, “more capability dropped into parts of a society isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
One of my favorite quotes from the relationship between technological advancement and human advancement is from Aldous Huxley below:
“Today, after two world wars and three major revolutions, we know that there is no necessary correlation between advanced technology and advanced morality. Many primitives, whose control over their environment is rudimentary, contrive nonetheless to be happy, virtuous, and, within limits, creative. Conversely, the members of civilized societies, possessed of the technological resources to exercise considerable control over their environment, are often conspicuously unhappy, maladjusted, and uncreative; and though private morals are tolerably good, collective behavior is savage to the point of fiendishness. In the field of international relations the most conspicuous difference between men of the twentieth century and the ancient Assyrians is that the former have more efficient methods of committing atrocities and are able to destroy, tyrannize, and enslave on a larger scale.
The truth is that all an increase in man’s ability to control his environment can do for him is merely to modify the situation in which, by other than technological means, individuals and groups attempt to make specifically human progress in creativeness, morality, and happiness. Thus the city-dwelling factory worker may belong, biologically speaking, to a more progressive group than does the peasant; but it does not follow that he will find it any easier to be happy, good, and creative. The peasant is confronted by one set of obstacles and handicaps; the industrial worker, by another set. Technological progress does not abolish obstacles; it merely changes their nature. And this is true even in cases where technological progress directly affects the lives and persons of individuals.”
— The Divine Within: Selected Writings on Enlightenment by Aldous Huxley, Huston Smith https://a.co/a0BFqOM