[ExI] The Catholic Impact (was Re: Origin of ethics and morals)

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2011-12-21 23:36, Stefano Vaj wrote:
> To bring things back on topic, I would add that such deliberate effort
> at creating artificial melting pots not only is openly aimed at reducing
> cultural diversity in favour of a universal way-of-life, but it helps
> slowing down, as it has always been the case in slavery-based economies,
> technological innovation, which is instead a typical consequence of
> highly-paid, scarce manpower in more communitarian environments.

I'm not entirely convinced. The US has been the main site of 
technological innovation for a long time, yet it has fairly cheap 
manpower and a not very communitarian environment. Certainly Scandinavia 
and Japan have been high-tech (expensive manpower and a communitarian 
environment), but it seems that the availability of capital in the US 
has been a far more deciding factor.

Looking at Florida's studies of the creative class (and Charles Murray's 
mapping of human excellence in time and space) I get the strong 
impression that the truly creative environments are indeed melting pots 
- clusterings of talent, tolerance and tech infrastructure (interpreted 
loosely), likely supplemented by ready availability of money or other 
forms of investment into projects.

Just like artificial silicon valleys rarely work, artificial melting 
pots rarely work - melting pots require people in them to make up the 
rules between themselves, not to have them imposed by ever so benevolent 
outside powers. This is often messy, and I suspect the majority of 
normal people do not actually want to live there.

-- 
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford University