Johann   page 2

From a philosophical viewpoint, the danger inherent in the new reality of mankind seems to be that this unity, based on the technical means of communication and violence, destroys all national traditions and buries the authentic origins of all human existence. This destructive process can even be considered a necessary prerequisite for ultimate understanding between men of all cultures, civilizations, races, and nations. Its result would be a shallowness that would transform man, as we have known him in five thousand years of recorded history, beyond recognition. It would be more than mere superficiality; it would be as though the whole dimension of depth, without which human thought, even on the mere level of technical invention, could not exist, would simply disappear. This leveling down would be much more radical than the leveling to the lowest common denominator; it would ultimately arrive at a denominator of which we have hardly any notion today.

As long as one conceives of truth as separate and distinct from its expression, as something which by itself is uncommunicative and neither communicates itself to reason nor appeals to "existential" experience, it is almost impossible not to believe that this destructive process will inevitably be triggered off by the sheer automatism of technology which made the world one and, in a sense, united mankind. It looks as though the historical pasts of the-nations, in their utter diversity and disparity, in their confusing variety and bewildering strangeness for each other, are nothing but obstacles on the road to a horridly shallow unity. This, of course, is a delusion; if the dimension of depth out of which modern science and technology have developed ever were destroyed, the probability is that the new unity of mankind could not even technically survive. Everything then seems to depend upon the possibility of bringing the national pasts, in their original disparateness, into communication with each other as the only way to catch up with the global system of communication which covers the surface of the earth.

Hannah Arendt

"Men in Dark Times"

I cannot tell why the spokesmen I have cited want the developments I forecast to become true. Some of them have told me that they work on them for the morally bankrupt reason that "If we don't do it, someone else will." They fear that evil people will develop superintelligent machines and use them to oppress mankind, and that the only defense against these enemy machines will be superintelligent machines controlled by us, that is, by well-intentioned people. Others reveal that they have abdicated their autonomy by appealing to the "principle" of technological inevitability. But, finally, all I can say with assurance is that these people are not stupid. All the rest is mystery.

Joseph Weizenbaum

I have spoken here of what ought and ought not to be done, of what is morally repugnant, and of what is dangerous. I am, of course, aware of the fact that these judgements of mine have themselves no moral force except on myself. Nor, as I have already said, do I have any intention of telling other people what tasks they should and should not undertake. I urge them only to consider the consequences of what they do do. And here I mean not only, not even primarily, the direct consequences of their actions on the world about them. I mean rather the consequences on themselves, as they construct their rationalizations, as they repress the truths that urge them to different courses, and as they chip away at their own autonomy. That so many people ask what they must do is a sign that the order of being and doing has become inverted. Those who know who and what they are do not need to ask what they should do. And those who must ask will not be able to stop asking until they begin to look inside themselves. It it is everyone's task to show by example what questions one can ask of oneself, and to show that one can live with the few answers there are.

Joseph Weizenbaum

"Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation"

If the teacher, if anyone, is to be an example of a whole person to others, he must first strive to be a whole person. Without the courage to confront one's inner as well as one's outer worlds, such wholeness is impossible to achieve. Instrumental reason alone cannot lead to it.

Joseph Weizenbaum

The salvation of the world depends only on the individual whose world it is. At least, every individual must act as if the whole future of the world, of humanity itself, depends on him. Anything less is a shirking of responsibility and is itself a dehumanizing force, for anything less encourages the individual to look upon himself as a mere actor in a drama written by anonymous agents, as less than a whole person, and that is the beginning of passivity and aimlessness.

Joseph Weizenbaum

If you want a tyrant, create anarchy.

Once you understand that it isn't as easy as saying "its just the system, man"... you understand that the path to liberty requires maintaining these institutions and guarding them from corruption.

Absent the institutions we have tyranny.
Absent moderation of the institutions we have tyranny.

You have to moderate them. Its not easy. Its really hard. And while you are doing it many players will whisper in your ear to pervert them to service one end or another. But those roads all lead to tyranny.

https://yro.slashdot.org/ ... sid=11979479&cid=56425655

If I get the call to come in and fix engineering issues, I immediately try to seek out the people who are clearly disgruntled or have already confirmed that they are finishing a 30-day or 2-week notice due to employment elsewhere. If I'm able to identify that they are correctly disgruntled, and simply not causing havoc, I'm going to feed you your employees’ own knowledge. And I'm likely going to charge more than it would have cost for you to simply listen to your employees.

When you do not listen to this relaying of information, and you are still set on hiring outside forces to solve your problem, I will do whatever engineering is required and absolutely shock you in terms of how productive one engineer could be. In reality, this is not because I'm a super genius high-level engineer, it is because I am leveraging your team's engineering against you because you are too fucking thick to see otherwise. This goes back to my writing of "Learn from Your Mistakes." I will give you every tool possible, and perform to the best of my ability, to help you prevent making the same mistakes. If you are not willing to learn, I am more than willing to charge extra the next time you call me.

It is important to note here that I am not trying to take advantage of your situation. Charging more is a direct response to being tired of lessons not being learned. Conversely, I do in fact lower my rates and increase my availability for companies that have proven to learn from their mistakes and adapt. This is because while they still may have a problem or are facing a situation caused by outside forces. Working with those who understand growth both as an employee and as a company simply feels good, and that is exactly what I want to do.

https://allarsblog.com/20 ... -engineering-firefighter/

When it’s Tunisians and Egyptians using FB and Twitter, everyone is quick to take credit and talk about the “transformative” power of social media. When it’s genocide, suddenly everyone is mumbling and looking at the ground. You can’t have every job listing include “changing the world” and then duck responsibility when you actually do change the world, just for the worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16739538

Sollten wir alle bei einer atomaren Massenvernichtung umkommen, so wird das nicht daran liegen, dass der Mensch nicht fähig war, menschlich zu werden, oder dass er von Natur aus böse ist; es wird daran liegen, dass der Konsens der Dummheit ihn daran hinderte, die Wirklichkeit zu sehen und sich dementsprechend zu verhalten.

Erich Fromm

"Credo"