I didn't so much say not to try to solve people problems with technology as I said not to confuse or conflate a technical problem with a people problem. It's a small but important difference. You can always "solve" a people problem with technology through the simple expedient of using technology to eliminate "the people." There's been enough cases of deliberate genocide in the last thirty years to indicate it's becoming a popular option in some places.-40hz
I aware of the distinction, I was just having a bit of fun poking you with a stick.
I don't see "animal" instinct or cosmic levels of "evil" when I look at most of what is going on. What I do see is a lot of laziness, refusal to take responsibility, lack of civility, fear (as in angst), impatience, and sloppiness in our own behavior, and our behavior towards each other. I think we sometimes wish it were a "law of nature" that we be that way - because that would provide a convenient excuse for all sorts of bad behavior - and a justification for all sorts of pre-emptive and repressive responses on the part of those in power to prevent or mitigate them.-40hz
I'm not implying it is a copout/excuse for anything. I'm simply pointing out that the societal tendency as of late to sweep it under the carpet is destined to backfire.
So I don't think I'm glossing over bad behaviors or certain people's proclivity to indulge in them.-40hz
Didn't say
you were ... But
society is.
People do bad things. No argument from me on that point. But what I do disagree with is that any of this is beyond our personal ability to control when it comes to our own behavior. To say "it's human nature" means it can't be changed. And I don't see that. The human brain is like a piece of putty. People change their thinking all the time. And other people often change (or at least try to change it) for them.
...
So no...I don't think we're animals, or monsters, or rabid rabbits that need to be penned in and watched lest we all kill each other. I just think we get lazy, and tired, and impatient, and afraid - and we do counterproductive things to ourselves, and each other, as a result.-40hz
...And that result is a tendency to fall back to our baser instincts.
Here's the thing. You are equating "animal" with "Monster" ... Which has abso-freakin-loutly nothing to do with my usage of 'Animal'. Animals do not kill for sport, humans however do. And that is simply because of our delusion-ally arrogant assertion that we humans are somehow superior to these lessor beings ... So it's somehow ok. In the bad behavior department, humans are by far the stupidest parasitic infestation this planet has ever suffered.
Animals OTOH, have a much better understanding of the usage of a measured response when it comes to the fighting half of the fight of flight reflex. An animal will kill in defense of family, territory, or survival (e.g. food) and there is nothing wrong with that. As will we, except that in the interest of maintaining a thin veneer of civility we - or more specifically or leaders in power - will also concoct any manner of bullshit story to facilitate the necessity of pursuing things even farther for the purpose of more ... Not need...just more. An animal will break off the attack the instant the threat passes. Humans...OTOH...not so much.
Tomos actually nailed where I'm coming from with his assessment of society not scaling well. The larger a crowd of people becomes, the harder they are to keep on the same page. So more and more silly assed rules - like you can't walk your alligator in the town square - get enacted for the purpose of "maintaining order". And that's when the clic's start taking over the pecking order.
See you are trying to equate animal instinct with violence, I on the other hand am not. I'm speaking to the predatory nature that is so prevalent today in how power is badly wielded in all aspects of our sad joke of a civilized society. If you take a mans life in an alley, that's bad. But if you use a 900lb gorilla of a legal tiem to destroy a mans life with some bullshit trumped up patent trolling ... Well... *Shrug* ...That's just how the system works. Yet the predatory intent was the same. We just like to kid ourselves that we're - "Civilized"... - better than the other animals because we didn't leave a literal bloody carcass laying in the street after the fight.
How high are the bodies stacked due to some corporations desire to "protect" their shareholders? If the shareholders found out, would they
really care? ...You know...after the cameras were turned off.
In the AA they like to say that the first step is to admit that there is a problem. And we need to do that ... Instead of pretending that the predatory animal nature does not exist in the core of our being.
Recent Posts
I can't even make words to respond to this with. 
...WAN port on a switch?