Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> >
> > This definitely agrees with my personal experiences with such. Now, if
> > this diagnosis is correct, what is the best cure? Education (but how
> > to get it into unwilling heads)? Publically discrediting this belief
> > system (but how to do so powerfully enough to pry it loose)? Or is
> > there a more effective way?
>
> I don't think there is a single way. But some remedies might be:
>
> * Discredit the self-interested groups. Since their positions are actually
> based to a large extent on their own gain rather than (say) a concern for
> others, demonstrating this and the hollowness of their arguments can do a
> lot of good. But this becomes much easier if the counter-arguments are
> understandable.
Doesn't this play into the dangerous meme that only those who
have no personal or group stake in a situation should have any
say in it?
>
> * For arguments to work, they must be understandable. Expressing the
> benefits of free trade, free movement of people, open societies and so on
> in a way that *anyone* can understand is a huge challenge that should be
> met. Well crafted arguments may of course cut through a lot of rigid belief
> systems, but they are hard to create. It is better to aim at "the middle
> ground", the large population of people not strongly polarized but not very
> knowledgeable and get them to learn about these ideas. That can help create
> a culture that can absorb more advanced arguments.
>
Free trade and free movement are fine and good. Being convicted
here for breaking a law passed by a government on the other side
of the world that I have no representation within and which
might run on totally different principles than any I have agreed
to is not at all fine. Yet such things have been proposed as
part of "globalization".
> * Aim at the intellectuals. As Hayek pointed out (I know Waldemar and I are
> starting to sound like a broken record about this) in _The Intellectuals
> and Socialism_, if you can get the memes into the intellectual strata of
> society, they they will spread much more efficiently and affect other parts
> of society. This requires a lot of dedicated work, but eventually it will
> be worth it (as socialism demonstrated).
>
To be cynical, I think it was Lenin who was happy to have the
intellectuals make the space for the revolution but promplty
suggested they be done away with as soon thereafter as
possible. Be very careful what it is you do and do not want
globalization to be. Watch out for putting the neck of humanity
in a common noose.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:39:55 MDT