Comments on: Down-slopes

By: SanguineEmpiricist

SanguineEmpiricist — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 04:49:13 +0000

@John

People lose the nuance in this statement. If you want a more straight-forward example of someone who says a similar statement of humanism being secular Christianity, see John Gray

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/15/society

“Belief in progress is a relic of the Christian view of history as a universal narrative, and an intellectually rigorous atheism would start by questioning it. This is what Nietzsche did when he developed his critique of Christianity in the late 19th century, but almost none of today’s secular missionaries have followed his example.” – John Gray

people pushing the ultra-calvinist line outside its applicability cannot defend moldbug as well as he could himself, so that statement will serve as a solid re-framing until he returns.

By: John

John — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:59:50 +0000

> Isn’t blockchain fundamentally impractical for reasons of size?

Given the rate that costs of storage have been decreasing over time, this really shouldn’t be a problem. Just think of what it cost for a measly 1 GB hard drive 10 years ago. Today 1 TB hard drive is $69 on Amazon.

> If bitcoin was used instead of credit cards, how big would the blockchain file need to be?

It would, and will, become quite large, but users will never have to worry about this and compression options are readily available. Also, a great deal of transactions will be done off chain (within the VISA network, or whatever) with the corporate networks only needing the external Blockchain to occasionally settle up.

By: John

John — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:52:30 +0000

Indeed. His entire theory of collapse is rooted in climate “science” and environmentalism. His prophesy of doom amounts to a grand extrapolation of prog propaganda points for the broad strokes (WE MUST WORSHIP GAIA OR PERISH!!!) with remarkably intelligent and articulate bits of analysis employed for the finer details.

By: R.

R. — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 11:13:32 +0000

Isn’t blockchain fundamentally impractical for reasons of size?

If bitcoin was used instead of credit cards, how big would the blockchain file need to be?

By: Alrenous

Alrenous — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 05:10:18 +0000

Ah, yes.

Make it a little over fifteen years, not ten. Everything takes longer than expected.

By: Lesser Bull

Lesser Bull — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 05:05:35 +0000

We’re all ruin voters fleeing California for the future.

By: Lesser Bull

Lesser Bull — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 04:58:08 +0000

@admin,
that was actually . . . sorta convincing. Hey, if we’ve reached our current level of decay and degeneracy with only a paltry K5 inheritance to spendthrift, I can’t wait to see what we do with the K6 bonanza.

By: mark power

mark power — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 04:40:28 +0000

I agree, I stopped reading him because I didn’t trust his judgement after he demonstrated to much political correctness. I judge everyone harshly.

By: Chris B

Chris B — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 04:33:21 +0000

Unfortunately, comfort seems to breed leftism. Only people living with plenty can have the luxury to pack their country with 3+ children Somali families for the “vibrancy”. Doing such utterly stupid things is only possible when you have excess fat to burn through on such ridiculous whims. So there is the issue of degeneracy linked to wealth.
There is also the issue of societal sclerosis which is something I have been thinking about for a while now. The situation in which a society and civilization develops through spontaneous order and becomes successful, but in the process specific points and groups begin to solidify their positions and block natural spontaneous change in relation to new changes (such as nuclear development). Be this in the form of bureaucracies enacting more and more laws to supply make work to itself, unnecessary intermediaries in the market (as Greer discusses in the post) or other privileges that arise to block change. You could even see SJWs/ liberals/ progressives and leftists in this light. They are “lightworker” intermediaries. A priest type class rent seeking on social ills which they create, exacerbate and scream about. From their colonisation of profitable industries, to their mafia style Pizzo extortion tactics (see the mortgage market 2008 collapse and also this on using shareholder activism to increase diversity – http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/bclbe/Shareholder_Activism_to_Promote_Good_Corporate_Governance_-_Myriam_Denis-1.pdf).
The ultimate result of such sclerosis is an inability of the system to act correctly, resulting in perverse outcomes. What I think Toynebee was referring to when he said all great civilizations commit suicide.

By: admin

admin — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 04:02:00 +0000

The Blockchain is huge. Far more fundamentally innovative even than the WWW. Check out the Ethereum project for a sense of the scope (there smart contract code is even Turing complete, which makes it an AI platform). Marc Andreessen only has to be a little bit right for this to hold good (and he is). For a Thiel-type (accelerated mass) technology, there's New Space, which is -- surely -- happening, and waiting to go critical. Even Solar is being under-estimated, by those not seeing the development curve. Quantum computing is getting serious. Drones are an extraordinary leap, already normalized, and undergoing commercialization. This is not even to mention biotech, VR-media, wearables, new hydrocarbons (Methane Clathrates have to come onstream during the next cycle), and much else besides. There's far more ready to runaway into K-Wave Six than KW5 had ready at a comparable stage.