Humans seem to need some meaning in their lives. Some of us are able to find or define that meaning for ourselves. (For example, you may decide to spend your life studying some science, or getting good at certain art, or you may notice some problem and decide to fix it.) However it seems that many people lack this skill—they either get some meaning from outside (usually some form of “follow the herd”) or they do some form of consumption and being angry at world in general and people around them specifically.
People who are good at finding meaning, often imagine a perfect society like: “remove the big problems, and allow people to find their meaning and follow it”. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness!
The problem is, many people suck at the “pursuit of Happiness” part. Some of them would gladly trade their Liberty, sometimes even their Life, in return for someone giving them a simple recipe for Happiness. Unfortunately, people like Hitler or Stalin, who offer them such trade, are usually unwilling to leave other people alone, so as a result everyone loses their Liberty and many people lose their Life.
Is there a solution that would satisfy everyone—provide some benevolent “herd regime” for the people who need it, and leave along those who don’t? I am not sure how to design it. Because, on one hand I am afraid that people suck at guessing what would be best for them; on the other hand, deciding for other people because “I know what is best for them better than they do” sounds like an obvious villain speech.
Like, imagine that everyone is by default brought up to be a member of a herd, but people can freely opt out, and those who do are left alone. But, imagine that some of those people who opted out become popular, and suddenly many people will opt out of the herd just because it is fashionable to do… and now we have the same problem again.
To a small degree, this is already achieved by unproductive activities such as sport. But for most people, sport does not provide a meaning for life. Also, people can opt out of sport, without having any alternative way of spending time.
Individualism is the official ideology of the West. But the fact is, most people do not want to be individuals. They may try it, because it is cool and sometimes convenient, but then they get disappointed and organize some revolt against individualism. For starters, perhaps we should not push them so far. Maybe we should make individualism possible but uncool, so that only people who really desire it will choose it?
It’s an interesting point you raise, that balancing the varying preferences to mutual satisfaction may not even be possible. There possibly is no solution for a single society in isolation. Though in a world with multiple competing societies, and some amount of movement between them, at the whole society level, there will be competitive pressure to maximize human potential. Perhaps through this dynamic the techniques that are most effective will, eventually, rise to the top. Though considering societies of hundreds of millions of people this process will likely take many centuries.
Additionally, the possibilities of inheritance of epigenetic and genetic factors that induce docility or rebelliousness, etc., could possibly speed up or retard this process, depending on how such knowledge is applied.
Humans seem to need some meaning in their lives. Some of us are able to find or define that meaning for ourselves. (For example, you may decide to spend your life studying some science, or getting good at certain art, or you may notice some problem and decide to fix it.) However it seems that many people lack this skill—they either get some meaning from outside (usually some form of “follow the herd”) or they do some form of consumption and being angry at world in general and people around them specifically.
People who are good at finding meaning, often imagine a perfect society like: “remove the big problems, and allow people to find their meaning and follow it”. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness!
The problem is, many people suck at the “pursuit of Happiness” part. Some of them would gladly trade their Liberty, sometimes even their Life, in return for someone giving them a simple recipe for Happiness. Unfortunately, people like Hitler or Stalin, who offer them such trade, are usually unwilling to leave other people alone, so as a result everyone loses their Liberty and many people lose their Life.
Is there a solution that would satisfy everyone—provide some benevolent “herd regime” for the people who need it, and leave along those who don’t? I am not sure how to design it. Because, on one hand I am afraid that people suck at guessing what would be best for them; on the other hand, deciding for other people because “I know what is best for them better than they do” sounds like an obvious villain speech.
Like, imagine that everyone is by default brought up to be a member of a herd, but people can freely opt out, and those who do are left alone. But, imagine that some of those people who opted out become popular, and suddenly many people will opt out of the herd just because it is fashionable to do… and now we have the same problem again.
To a small degree, this is already achieved by unproductive activities such as sport. But for most people, sport does not provide a meaning for life. Also, people can opt out of sport, without having any alternative way of spending time.
Individualism is the official ideology of the West. But the fact is, most people do not want to be individuals. They may try it, because it is cool and sometimes convenient, but then they get disappointed and organize some revolt against individualism. For starters, perhaps we should not push them so far. Maybe we should make individualism possible but uncool, so that only people who really desire it will choose it?
It’s an interesting point you raise, that balancing the varying preferences to mutual satisfaction may not even be possible. There possibly is no solution for a single society in isolation. Though in a world with multiple competing societies, and some amount of movement between them, at the whole society level, there will be competitive pressure to maximize human potential. Perhaps through this dynamic the techniques that are most effective will, eventually, rise to the top. Though considering societies of hundreds of millions of people this process will likely take many centuries.
Additionally, the possibilities of inheritance of epigenetic and genetic factors that induce docility or rebelliousness, etc., could possibly speed up or retard this process, depending on how such knowledge is applied.