TheRoadsMustRoll t1_it89osv wrote on October 21, 2022 at 5:30 PM

Reply to comment by 491010 in A new UN report explores how to make human civilization safe from destruction. There’s a way to make civilization extinction-proof. But it won’t be easy. by mossadnik

that hasn't always been true. many medieval cathedrals took generations to build. the people laying the foundations would be dead and buried by the time the cathedral was finished and they knew it. so they were proactively working for the greater good of generations yet to be.

in the modern world (the last 100-200 years) we've been idolizing short term profits and short-sighted individuals to the point where a confluence of very serious issues have built up around us. we're valuing denial instead of action but that's just a modern strategy. it appears to be a fairly unreasonable and unsustainable approach imo.

marsten t1_it8ix35 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 6:31 PM

Cathedral-building is a good example and it highlights what is different now: We have so much less certainty about the future than we did in medieval times. Back then people could visualize pretty accurately the world their great-grandchildren would be living in. Now? It's bewildering. What will AI be like in 20 years, let alone 200? How will social norms change? What will be the dominant societal problems? In the face of so much uncertainty it's hard to make long-term plans.

TheRoadsMustRoll t1_it8ldg1 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 6:47 PM

>In the face of so much uncertainty it's hard to make long-term plans.

agreed. we've sped up our lead time (for adopting/using new technologies) exponentially. it's hard to know what the future context is going to be at this rate.

i would argue that we could be a lot more efficient at it if we actively mitigated our denial and greed with some reason and humility.