
Terraforming Ourselves: What sort of world do we want to live in? - Hooke
https://www.the-american-interest.com/2018/06/01/terraforming-ourselves/
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erentz
Brings to mind a good book by Peter Frase called “Four Futures”. It’s a quick
read. But sums up very well something we seem to have real trouble with -
imagining the possible futures we could have. And importantly what we seem
incapable of doing these days, based on that deciding to take actions that put
us on a course for the future we prefer. There’s a disheartening lack of
vision out there.

Edit: because of its short nature the audio book version is a good use of any
built up audible credits.

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aalleavitch
This is one of the reasons I desperately want Banks’ Culture novels to get
more popular. I think it’s a positive vision of the future that would resonate
really well with this generation. I’ve even been tossing around the beginnings
of a TV script for Consider Phlebas, though I’m not a real writer so I’m not
sure it’ll go anywhere.

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noir_lord
I have good news for you.

[http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/consider-
phlebas/55461/amazon...](http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/consider-
phlebas/55461/amazon-to-adapt-sci-fi-novel-consider-phlebas-for-tv)

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crankylinuxuser
Well, what we want to live in, and how we implement what we want are two very
different ideals.

I still see money being the center of the US economy. In fact, money also
allows criminal misdeeds... Go away. Money means I can be educated at a much
higher quality than the lesser classes. Money also guarantees that my
illnesses are taken care of much better.

Today, the money floodgates are open for ISPs to start extracting more Mooney
from the masses, for what should be a public good. Today represents a step
back in the democratization of communication. All so some board of directors
and shareholders can make a buck.

My future; my science fiction; my wishes: are like that of Star Trek (Tos,
TNG, Ds9..etc). The necessities to live should be part of citizenship.
Obviously we don't have infinite matter or energy- but humans don't need
infinite of either. Credits are a simple way to allocate the costs of
goods/energy.

There's pockets of people doing work here to make all society better, but I
see a stark reversion to a "I got mine and FUCK you" culture. I, personally,
don't know how to fix that.

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zip1234
A Star Trek ideal would be nice but I don't see it happening. Government is
just too slow and inefficient to provide such things effectively. Food is a
necessity, but you don't have to look that far back in history to find a
government trying to provide that for its people and see the problems. For one
of the worst cases of this ever, take a look at the Great Leap Forward in
China. Millions died from famine.

~~~
crankylinuxuser
> A Star Trek ideal would be nice but I don't see it happening. Government is
> just too slow and inefficient to provide such things effectively.

That's because tbis government was formed before the idea of post scarcity
could actually be implemented. There was also the idea that citizens and
government were in opposition with each other.

> Food is a necessity, but you don't have to look that far back in history to
> find a government trying to provide that for its people and see the
> problems. For one of the worst cases of this ever, take a look at the Great
> Leap Forward in China. Millions died from famine.

I'd be very wary in citing governmental propaganda. Capitalism also has great
costs, including over suffering and death of humans and the destruction of the
environment. Except in capitalist countries (USA) it gets turned around to
blame the individual for having $bad_thing done to them.

You also seem to implicitly think that I would want socialism/communism. In a
way, yes. But most Marxists want the standard 'governmental control of the
factories'. In the end, the citizens end up trading corporate master for govt
master.

Instead, I find that I agree much more with cooperatives. Democracy, one voice
one vote, is generally considered good - why not also apply that to our
workplaces rather than a dictatorship? I see that much more of a way forward,
than some idiotic overthrow for more of the same.

~~~
zip1234
I didn't mean to say that you wanted socialism/communism. That was just the
most obvious example of nationalizing such a basic need, food. I don't mean to
say that a capitalist society has no costs. Capitalism definitely has some
tradeoffs for sure. I'm not certain that environmental destruction is as much
a capitalist thing as it is a human thing. Human history leads me to believe
the latter.

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neom
Somewhat tangentially, never the less: I've never tried DMT or Ayahuasca
(although curious) - however having spent 3/4 hours reading about the
experiences people have had, I wonder if collectively we should discuss that
as a direction for transformation we should be exploring. I've read Gene
Roddenberry used a lot of substances, and imo -ST is pretty damn beautiful.

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delbel
> Mark Zuckerberg, the wunderkind who rose from the designer of an app for
> ranking women by attractiveness into the autocrat of the parallel world
> through which we receive all our news, is gearing up for new technological
> initiatives to reshape education and dating. Do you feel cyberpunk yet?
> Good. If we must terraform ourselves, let’s demand a say in what we become,
> and make it something warmer and humbler than anyone’s utopian dreams of
> systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.

Published on: June 1, 2018 Alexi Sargeant is a theater director and cultural
critic who writes from New York City.

huh?

