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by BjoernKW 3411 days ago
Fair enough. Should 'we' have to comply to 'their' worldview though? The opportunity to participate in a global community without a doubt is a good thing. 'Opportunity' implies that you can opt out. Others willing to take that opportunity shouldn't be kept from doing so though
2 comments
jdoliner 3411 days ago
If global means everyone, and I think that's what it means here, then someone has to comply to someone else's worldview. To have a true global community the people who don't want a global community have to be part of it just like everyone else. If people can opt out of the global community and build their own insular communities which they determine the fate of then it's not a global community, it's just a community. A global community that you can opt out of is a solecism.
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BjoernKW 3411 days ago
Taking Facebook as an example for a global community: Just because I have the opportunity to participate in each and every Facebook group I don't have to do so.

Yes, in real life there are compromises to take. You have to accept that in order to thrive in the world you have to comply to some of its rules. I'm very much a cultural imperialist in that I think that an open-minded, tolerant mindset is superior to isolationist, absolutist ideas.

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ThrustVectoring 3411 days ago
Opportunities are not categorically good things. I, for one, want laws that make it harder to sell my vote or my kidney.
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BjoernKW 3411 days ago
Those are far-off examples. Granted, perhaps in some cases people should be prevented from doing something utterly stupid but that shouldn't keep us from exploring opportunities in general. Just because kids occasionally hurt themselves during play they shouldn't be forbidden to play.
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ThrustVectoring 3411 days ago
Would you want to be able to change your brain so that you can productively work 70 hours per week? I wouldn't - it'd quickly become the standard against which you're measured, while the rewards for passing the test stay about the same.

There's a similar argument to be made for being able to share your life on facebook - it displaces alternative interpersonal interactions, so you have the same amount of human connection except with your social graph sold to marketers.

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