| > I don't think there is a point where we were not already in societies. Society is what is natural to man. That's fair. I guess alien societies would also have problems of their own, so wishing to not be human probably isn't good enough. > therefore, managerial skill must necessarily be invested in a small number of dedicated civil servants (technocrats), Ah yes, the sufficiently smart (and benevolent!) bureaucrats TM. Works every time, 50% of the time. > My own answer to this is that the watchers must be aligned with the watched at a deep and abiding level. They must come from the same places, same economic conditions, same religion, same value system, same history. Their children must go to the same schools, marry and reproduce with their constituents, their own family's welfare must be tied up with the health and success of the community overall. I agree, but how do we go about selecting them? It would be nice if politicians felt less otherly, but that's more wishful than realistic. With power comes responsibility, and the gap between citizens and politicians is unhelpful. > In contrast, our present political "consensus" has no solution to moral dissolution (except to double down on a kind of anti-morality). I feel like people are moreso doubling down on their beliefs. > The only way out is down and through some kind of large-scale re-calibrating event, like a global war, which no one wants to experience. Be optimistic; maybe it'll just be a few civil wars. |