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 Now online (1)DADONCK ...and 97 guests Last 5 registered Oplandisks nothingstar N_loop yipe foxtrotromeo Browse members... |
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Members 8025Messages 2613814 Today 36 Topics 127525 |
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people think that being born means the world owes them something life's so big, we are small, so we always look like nothing compatriots fulfil and halve the pain which will always be there life is guilt and pain and grief but this is why we can care build euphoric synagogues to weather storms of sadness i would like to think my optimism is more than just a bad guess nothing could be finer than to be in carolina but for now it does as well to live in firth or motherwell intolerance is ignorance and ignorance is no defence should i be blithe to tricky joy or, knowing it, be discontent? potential is the road-map, the packed lunch is ambition opportunity the vehicle or use your feet for locomotion then there's the pride of self denial versus the smugness of achievement forget the past and ego, you might wonder where the pain went time is thre currency we exchange for memories never let it be a bore that you want more to live for |
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Like genes, memes, organisms, and hardware, states have evolved. Their institutions have spread (with variations) through growth, fission, imitation, and conquest. States at war fight like beasts, but using citizens as their bones, brains, and muscle. The coming breakthroughs will confront states with new pressures and opportunities, encouraging sharp changes in how states behave. This naturally gives cause for concern. States have, historically, excelled at slaughter and oppression. In a sense, a state is simply the sum of the people making up its organizational apparatus: their actions add up to make its actions. But the same might be said of a dog and its cells, though a dog is clearly more than just a clump of cells. Both dogs and states are evolved systems, with structures that affect how their parts behave. For thousands of years, dogs have evolved largely to please people, because they have survived and reproduced at human whim. For thousands of years, states have evolved under other selective pressures. Individuals have far more power over their dogs than they do over "their" states. Though states, too, can benefit from pleasing people, their very existence has depended on their capability for using people, whether as leaders, police, or soldiers. It may seem paradoxical to say that people have limited power over states: After all, aren't people behind a state's every action? But in democracies, heads of state bemoan their lack of power, representatives bow to interest groups, bureaucrats are bound by rules, and voters, allegedly in charge, curse the whole mess. The state acts and people affect it, yet no one can claim to control it. In totalitarian states, the apparatus of power has a tradition, structure, and inner logic that leaves no one free, neither the rulers nor the ruled. Even kings had to act in ways limited by the traditions of monarchy and the practicalities of power, if they were to remain kings. States are not human, though they are made of humans. |
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Despite this, history shows that change is possible, even change for the better. But changes always move from one semi-autonomous, inhuman system to another - equally inhuman but perhaps more humane. In our hope for improvements, we must not confuse states that wear a human face with states that have humane institutions. Describing states as quasi-organisms captures only one aspect of a complex reality, yet it suggests how they may evolve in response to the coming breakthroughs. The growth of government power, most spectacular in totalitarian countries, suggests one direction. States could become more like organisms by dominating their parts more completely. Using replicating assemblers, states could fill the human environment with miniature surveillance devices. Using an abundance of speech-understanding AI systems, they could listen to everyone without employing half the population as listeners. Using nanotechnology like that proposed for cell repair machines, they could cheaply tranquilize, lobotomize, or otherwise modify entire populations. This would simply extend an all too familiar pattern. The world already holds governments that spy, torture, and drug; advanced technology will merely extend the possibilities. But with advanced technology, states need not control people - they could instead simply discard people. Most people in most states, after all, function either as workers, larval workers, or worker-rearers, and most of these workers make, move, or grow things. A state with replicating assemblers would not need such work. What is more, advanced AI systems could replace engineers, scientists, administrators, and even leaders. The combination of nanotechnology and advanced AI will make possible intelligent, effective robots; with such robots, a state could prosper while discarding anyone, or even (in principle) everyone. |
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I would like to think your optimism is more than just a bad guess. |
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Hmm, you recently changed your avatar.. which is done in the 'edit your account area.. while you're fiddling with account related stuff I wonder if you created any new accounts recently. |
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No I didn't, but what I can tell you is, I recently went to the toilet. |
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I only this second worked out that Drummond may have been a reference to Bill Drummond. Fancy that? |
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HEY HEY HEY HORSIE WHATEVER YOU SAID I LIKE YOU.SEEN YOUR BEEING SAD FROM YOUR LAST POSTS.HAVE PATIENCE AND THERE MIGHT BE A BETTER TIME A HEAD. |
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that's beautiful lol@dan |
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YEAH HATE TO SEE YOU SAD SOMEHOW I HOPE YOU CHEER UP DUDE :) |
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doubt it but it was an honourable jesture wot u done ty :) |
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yes hope is all we have isent it? |
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Try making your avatar rapidly switch directions like horsefactory's. That might cheer you up. |
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hahaha you was funny once this time |
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it requires knowledge i do not obtain in my memory bank |
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i'm sorry |
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thanx/nigel/dan/richard/tom |
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