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I think one of the most dangerous ways to think of the future is to assume that human nature is fundamentally good, peaceful and cooperative. And that the only reason there's evil, war and competitive behaviors is due to perverse incentives and corrupt institutions.

There's literally no reason to believe this is true. It's seductive to think it true, because then you can simply focus on fixing those incentives and tearing down corrupt institutions. But it's a false promise to think there's this tied-up box of goodness waiting to escape on the other side.

Some people think this is cynical. I just thinks it's realistic. There is no destination for us. There's only the journey.

HODL 2y ago

Why does it have to be utopian to fix incentives? Obviously fixing incentives goes a long way to creating a less bad world. Perfect worlds cannot and will not ever exist.

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Discussion

Mike Brock 2y ago

I agree we need to fix incentives. And it's really the only way you can change complex systems. But the problem is, every change to the system, creates new unexpected incentives. So the process of changing incentives never ends.

DRE 2y ago

Exactly. The fact that a utopia is unreachable means there will always be work to be done to improve things aka the complex system. Is there really ppl out there under the impression that this is not the case?

HODL 2y ago

Yep. So let’s just all be sensible and realize that we must have a persistent human culture of adapting and overcoming.

Proof of Steak 2y ago

Under the current incentive structure shit naturally floats to the top. I believe this is exacerbated at the end of debt cycles.