If you\u2019ve been around for seventy years or so you know that the way we live in these United States has been in constant flux for almost your whole life.\u00a0 But if you think about it didn\u2019t start there.\u00a0 In fact, when was the last time that life was wholly stable in form and detail?\u00a0 Well in some backwater areas of the world it\u2019s probably much as it ever was.\u00a0 But for Europeans you might have to go all the way back to the mid-1200s.\u00a0 Back before the age of sea exploration.\u00a0 So, feudalism basically.<\/p>\n
And what was going on back then?\u00a0 I guess most of our ancestors were serfs living and working on the lands controlled by the aristocracy.\u00a0 So, was that better or worse than today?\u00a0 Well, I guess modernity has a bunch of advantages over the 1200s.\u00a0 Today you mostly get to keep your teeth into at least your middle age.\u00a0 And you actually get to live probably into your seventies.\u00a0 And your children mostly won\u2019t die at birth.\u00a0 And you aren\u2019t illiterate and you can call Pizza Hut on your cell phone and have dinner delivered (assuming you have a job, which isn\u2019t that sure anymore).<\/p>\n
But I think the question can still be asked, \u201cAre we living in a better world than pre-renaissance Europe?\u201d\u00a0 If I were to give an opinion, I\u2019d say yes.\u00a0 But not because of the material progress that we have to show.\u00a0 But because I think there is the chance that we might be closer to some kind of breakthrough.<\/p>\n
And what I mean by a breakthrough is an analysis about what represents human happiness and how to maximize it.\u00a0 \u201cOkay,\u201d you\u2019ll say, \u201cbut what do you mean by human happiness?\u201d\u00a0 And that is a fair question.\u00a0 Because human happiness is hard to define.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean that we figure out a way to have the larges tnumber of people hooked up to a dilute fentanyl drip all the time.\u00a0 What I mean is we should figure out what human beings are meant to be doing with their lives.<\/p>\n
If I were to guess I\u2019d say the optimal human activity is learning how to interact with other humans in such a way that everyone feels like their getting something out of the deal.\u00a0 So, let\u2019s say you\u2019re a pretty good carpenter.\u00a0 Okay maybe life would be optimal if you could get paid a decent wage to make chairs or tables or porch decks.\u00a0 And maybe someone else would want to be a Walmart shelf stocker.\u00a0 Sure, he\u2019s not as bright as the carpenter, but he\u2019s hard-working and cooperative and he\u2019s not really interested in owning all the latest \u201cstuff.\u201d\u00a0 So, the idea is that somehow all this \u201cAI stuff\u201d really does pan out and we figure a way to systematize the whole human race so that we can keep this whole multi-billion human juggling act in the air without needing a war or a revolution or a great depression.\u00a0 Now that might be something to brag about.<\/p>\n
Of course, this is all a pipe dream but if you think about it, that\u2019s what all of the geniuses have been talking about for the last couple of hundred years.\u00a0 That\u2019s the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution and Mamdani and all the rest of the people who get all stirred up.\u00a0 Now, we all know that socialism doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0 But maybe that\u2019s because it\u2019s run by socialists.\u00a0 What if HAL9000 ran it?<\/p>\n
Okay, never mind.\u00a0 We know how that ends, \u201cI\u2019m sorry Dave, I can\u2019t let you back in the door.\u00a0 Have a nice day!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019ve been around for seventy years or so you know that the way we live in these United States has been in constant flux<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1263],"tags":[5085],"class_list":["post-35273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-modernity"],"yoast_head":"\n