"Disaster Preppers"

[GliderGuider]

34. Are there any downsides to this utopia of yours?

Last edited Thu Apr 5, 2012, 07:09 AM - Edit history (2)

How do you manage the consolidation of wealth that is currently immiserating most of the planet, even in the presence of technology unimaginable 100 years ago? How do you ensure the just and equitable distribution of these magical fruits? Right now the fruits of our labour flow to the 1%. How do you propose that more technology will solve that?

What makes your future any different from today, rather than just bigger in terms of both ambrosia and gangrene?

In Aldous Huxley's "Island" he dreamed a perfect world as well. It's not technology that has kept us from moving towards it. I rather think you're missing an enormous piece of the puzzle. More technology has not kept us from encroaching on the natural world - or even slowed the process down. It has simply made it possible for the 1% to turn the natural world into waste faster, so as to maximize its Net Present Value for their own benefit.

We can have all the electronic bells and whistles we want, but until we solve the fundamental problem of human nature and culture, we're far better off shooting for sustainability and resilience at the grass roots than polishing the sorcerer's mirror to a brighter gleam.

I rather suspect we're going to keep getting bigger for a while, but it's not bigger I'm after, it's better. I have no doubt that you also want a better world, but I don't think you're going to achieve that just with more gizmos. This is all just my personal opinion at the moment, but time will tell.

On edit: I'm going to leave the contents of this reply intact, but I'm adding another just below that has a radically different tone.