[ExI] Fermi's Paradoxical Politburo

The Avantguardian avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com
Sat Mar 9 15:09:08 UTC 2013


----- Original Message -----
> From: spike <spike at rainier66.com>
> To: 'The Avantguardian' <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com>; 'ExI chat list' <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 7:48 AM
> Subject: RE: [ExI] Where are they? was Re: 2^57885161-1
> 
> 
>> ... On Behalf Of The Avantguardian
> ...
>> ...Perhaps your new law of physics should be that "cultures of an
> intelligent species cannot exist without inherent politics."  ...Stuart
> LaForge
>  
> _______________________________________________
>
 
Spike perceptively writes:
 
> 
> I have long had a notion that we are missing something fundamentally
> important in the Fermi question.  Stuart gets close to it with his comment.
> Imagine that intelligence cannot evolve without competition, generation
> after generation for eons, allowing the most extreme in every niche to
> gradually rise to the top in whatever it is, so that you end up with a
> particular species that is the swiftest carnivore, the fiercest defender,
> the smartest beast.  That part of the argument is intuitive.  Now follow it
> to the next step: that same characteristic of competition which created the
> intelligent species eventually either limits or destroys further progress.
> By that model, competition giveth and competition taketh away.
>

Try this outlandish hypothesis on for size: intelligent civiizations stagnate when technological advancement becomes illegal. There are many civilizations paralyzed by fear of change in various stages prior to Kardashevian I->II phase change. Technological progress in civilization halts when sufficient technology evolves such that the ruling political structures can maintain totalitarian control of the bulk population and preserve their particular status quo indefinately.   

 
----- Original Message -----
> From: BillK <pharos at gmail.com>
> To: Extropy Chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Saturday, March 9, 2013 2:34 AM
> Subject: [ExI] Is future progress moving to virtual reality?
> 
> We have discussed a few times whether scientific progress is slowing
> down. Comparing the huge leap in inventions between 1940 and 1980 with
> the Facebook and iPhone inventions of 1980 to 2013.
> 
> I have just come across another data point. And this is a real-life
> commercial decision. Disney's Tomorrowland. This show was created in
> 1955 and regularly updated. But in 1998 renovation changed. The
> Mission to Mars ride was replaced with a pizza parlour. The 'progress'
> features are moving to movies, like Buzz Lightyear, Finding Nemo and
> Wall-E.
> 
> Quote from the article:
> Disney’s pessimistic attitude towards the rate of current advancement
> comes from a place of truth. New, revolutionary ideas were coming out
> on a consistent basis in the mid 1900s during Walt Disney’s
> generation, but near the late 1900s progress as a whole slowed down.
> Rather than innovating new and fresh ideas, the current generation
> fine-tunes the revolutionary ideas of their predecessors.
> It’s only a matter of time until the whole Tomorrowland sector becomes
> a Disney themed montage. If technological development continues at
> this rate, Tomorrowland may as well combine with Fantasyland as a
> childish delusion from the past. As displayed by the modern
> developments of both Disney movies and Disneyland, the once
> flourishing future that Disney envisioned for the world is coming to a
> rapid halt.
> -----------------
> 
> http://www.newgeography.com/content/003484-disney-stops-thinking-about-tomorrow

And here Bill hits upon a symptom of of what I am describing. Civilizations in the galaxy are in a state of arrested technological development because before Dyson Spheres or Bradbury-Matryoshka Swarms could arise, the ability of individuals to print nukes and other WMD must become possible. And that is something no government, human or otherwise, would allow.. 
 
Stuart LaForge
 
 
"Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven." - William Shakespeare





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