[HN Gopher] We Don't Know, But Let's Try It ___________________________________________________________________ We Don't Know, But Let's Try It Author : samclemens Score : 42 points Date : 2021-06-23 04:20 UTC (1 days ago) (HTM) web link (bostonreview.net) (TXT) w3m dump (bostonreview.net) | maverick-iceman wrote: | Having the courage to try stuff out is the biggest 'tragedy of | the commons' problem we face | | People think it's taxation or CO2 emissions driving climate | change, but they are such a tiny fraction of the lack of courage | problem. | | Because in the end that's how progress happens, a bunch of people | trying so many different approaches and statistically one of them | sticks, then everybody copies and adopts that...and that's how | truly big leap forward are made (in the capitalistic sense) | | I am convinced that it should be nature to kill business idas and | economic ideas, the brain should not do any triage. | | Instead we triage more than ever because all we care about is the | prize of the monetary compensation and associated climbing of the | social ladder . It is truly a tragedy of the commons because if | we collectively decided to try and take on our ideas , then the | amount of quality of life unleashed by the successful ones would | make what we today consider "making it" pale in comparison. | | We are all guilty of it. | infogulch wrote: | It's hard to condemn someone for failing to try to implement | their idea when the attempt comes with such a high opportunity | cost and risk. Who is going to bear that risk? Their friends | and family? Their children? And who will take the blame when | 999/1000 of them fail and are forced onto the street? | | Maybe this is an argument for UBI-style social security, that | it would free millions of people from bearing direct | responsibility for their livelihood and enable them to pursue | otherwise risky ideas, and the explosion of ideas being tested | against reality would maximize the value that every individual | could provide. It certainly sounds romantic, but forgive me for | being a bit skeptical that it would actually be good for the | people involved. | | Spend too much time in chaos and you'll be scorched, | sandblasted to the bone by it. Fail to confront it at all by | hiding behind order and you'll decay from the inside out. The | human condition is to stand on the border of renewing chaos and | stabilizing order. You need both. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-06-24 23:00 UTC)