tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6370978.post8311352735263422446..comments2023-09-04T15:43:57.807+02:00Comments on Gajo Simpático: Age of the Dilletanteperreirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14365338322045090686noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6370978.post-3624962765449238102008-07-20T09:08:00.000+02:002008-07-20T09:08:00.000+02:00Probably you're right about universal diletantism....Probably you're right about universal diletantism. If I learned something over the last months: even if you have only a vague idea about the details, the trick is to convince people you know more than they do. That's why you have a PhD. ;-) If a discussion becomes difficult, just evoke the impression that the solution is so obvious it would be a waste of time for everybody to go too much into details. Believe me, with 99.9% of the people it works. I do it all the time. <BR/><BR/>- M.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6370978.post-90407642726295301732008-07-10T01:37:00.000+02:002008-07-10T01:37:00.000+02:00The real question is this:Does that really matter?...The real question is this:<BR/><BR/>Does that really matter?<BR/><BR/>Our progress is greater than it has been any time in human history. Technology progresses a rate never seen before, research uncovers more and more about the deeper secrets of the universe, systems that were unthinkably complex 50 years ago are laid bare for school children. Perhaps my optimism is unfounded. I see a world where, to a more or lesser extent, quality of life still gets better, day-by-day. What scares me is that these increases in QoL seem to be coming to an end. Not so much because technology stops but because as a society we are finding it increasingly difficult to cope. A desire for understanding and intellectual rigour is seen as something to mocked, scorned. An attempt to better oneself often seen as betraying your roots. We stand on the brink of a truly mobile society and are dragged back by a culture that is evolved to be far less movable than any technology that we invented. <BR/><BR/>What chance, what price that new societies will spring up based around those that are ambitious and want to drive forward, and those that are happy to stay as they are? What odds that such a behaviour has already started with the mooting of sea habitats, with billionaires removing themselves further and further from society...is it positive (no) or negative (yes)? Do people succeed due to their choices and skills (yes) or by blind luck (no)?<BR/><BR/>But, as long as progress continues apace and Stuff Gets Done and Things Get Invented does it matter that we abstract more and more the details underlying our systems? I would say probably not, as long as our understanding of those systems is good enough that when we find something that throws us a real bogey comes along, we can pre-empt it...*cue scary scifi about Grey Goo*Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16318643945784986088noreply@blogger.com