Once you've read a history book or two, you start to see how repetitive certain sociological "tropes" are.

And you dont need to be an ivy league level historian to observe the phenomenon.

Every great invention that changed our mode of life had people claiming frogs would rain from the sky and the water would turn to blood.

Electricity, cars, the blues, the internet, cryptocurrency, and now AI.

Society and the world has a way of adjusting to and accommodating innovations that are more useful and desirable than they are deterimental.

Its happened many times before and it will continue to.

Our main issue as a species right now is an organizational and logistical one; we haven't figured out how to spur enterprise and mass cooperation without resorting to exploitation and coercion.

IMO, that is the issue that deserves our bandwidth.

If this problem were to be solved a lot of other problems would be solved at the same time, as they are but branching consequences of it.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

I think you are right there.

I wonder what was said when printing was invented? It was dangerous enough with Caxton's method, using a wood-cut to create a single block for the entire page; but then came Gutenburg with his moveable type, making the process faster, easier and probably cheaper.

FreddieUK · 70-79, M

@ArishMell That was a most dangerous invention. It meant that ideas could be spread more easily without the control of 'authority'. Coupled with universal education, the world view accepted for centuries was doomed to become pluralistic.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@FreddieUK Quite so. The same "authority" was the one desperate to prevent the translation of the Bible into local languages.

FreddieUK · 70-79, M

@ArishMell That was definitely one authority. I attended a college which had a window dedicated to William Tyndale, credited with the first translation of the New Testament into English.