Second, “progress” is more like the dialectic helical spiral, so beloved by Marxists, with various manifestations periodically revisited, albeit each time on a different level. Democracy works for a time, then it is replaced by a monarchy or an oligarchy or anarchy, then back again, though hopefully in a more “evolved” form (whatever it means). In that sense, I agree, thinking of democracy as the final form of government is rather short-sighted.
Third, the idea of democracy currently has a feel-good halo, probably due to Western (British?) influences, so nearly all dictatorships still bill themselves as democracies. One can imagine that this fad will pass and something else comes into vogue, such as “responsible corporate governance at a state level”, and every government, democratic or not, will try to pretend that they are run like a corporation. Then the prevailing wisdom will be that the corporate model is the final stage of “human social development”, until that fad, too, passes.
This is a big reason behind Main being so boring. Old style Ovecoming Bias posts never make it into main any more and when they do they are never promoted.
Why? It reads rather like a Robin Hanson posting, and those seem generally regarded as superior to the run of posts appearing on the Main page here. (At least according to commenters on Hanson’s blog.) It’s more original and important than the average Main post. The differences I discern relative to the typical Main post is that it’s concise (a plus), better written (a huge plus), and less scholarly (a small minus). By my lights, of course.
It seems a question of what you want to read here. I look for novel ideas rather than extensive scholarship. Do others really look to this blog for scholarship? And if others denigrate the posting as substandard, I have to wonder why so many have taken the time to comment.
First, this belongs in Discussion.
Second, “progress” is more like the dialectic helical spiral, so beloved by Marxists, with various manifestations periodically revisited, albeit each time on a different level. Democracy works for a time, then it is replaced by a monarchy or an oligarchy or anarchy, then back again, though hopefully in a more “evolved” form (whatever it means). In that sense, I agree, thinking of democracy as the final form of government is rather short-sighted.
Third, the idea of democracy currently has a feel-good halo, probably due to Western (British?) influences, so nearly all dictatorships still bill themselves as democracies. One can imagine that this fad will pass and something else comes into vogue, such as “responsible corporate governance at a state level”, and every government, democratic or not, will try to pretend that they are run like a corporation. Then the prevailing wisdom will be that the corporate model is the final stage of “human social development”, until that fad, too, passes.
This is a big reason behind Main being so boring. Old style Ovecoming Bias posts never make it into main any more and when they do they are never promoted.
Aren’t all OB posts currently made by RH?
EDIT: My point is that there is a reason that, without EY there, OB is basically the RH’s blog.
I agree, and I previously suggested that a post upvoted to, say, +20 should (automatically) be moved to Main.
Why? It reads rather like a Robin Hanson posting, and those seem generally regarded as superior to the run of posts appearing on the Main page here. (At least according to commenters on Hanson’s blog.) It’s more original and important than the average Main post. The differences I discern relative to the typical Main post is that it’s concise (a plus), better written (a huge plus), and less scholarly (a small minus). By my lights, of course.
It seems a question of what you want to read here. I look for novel ideas rather than extensive scholarship. Do others really look to this blog for scholarship? And if others denigrate the posting as substandard, I have to wonder why so many have taken the time to comment.
I prefer it when posts are promoted to Main, not started there.
So, you wrote this belongs in Discussion to express your position that posts generally should start there? That’s somewhat disingenuous.