Hacker News Reader

Comment by smitty1e | Hacker News Reader

"Humanity learns" is impossible. The unit of analysis is the individual.

Some state may cross between individuals via education, but the individuals still must learn.

History shows that knowledge transmission remains a sticky wicket.

Firm disagree! Example: take a tour of the tower of London and learn about all the nasty medieval tortures we used to inflict on people. Now we don't do that anymore.

Humans learn things collectively via culture and cultural transmission has been an extremely effective tool of knowledge preservation over the generations.

Arguably culture has been degrading somewhat lately

This has been the popular narrative in almost all common written history forever. It’s basically the biggest recurring theme in diaries from the Middle Ages, especially among religious text.

Things are never an upward hockey stick but they also aren’t saw waves skirting a baseline.

I’ve seen worse in person unfortunately

I mean ya in some places in the world they still do torture people like that.

Based on some of the shit my neighbors post online there is but a thin veneer on society that keeps them from doing it now.

Who is "we"? Torturing people to death in equally horrific ways is still routine practice among radical Islamists and Mexican drug cartels, among others.

humanity learns just mean sufficient individuals learn to take power and enact such a society

Yes, but my point us that repeating "humanity learns" can lead us down garden paths into thinking there is some species-level recollection, when history reveals a mixed bag at best.

Completely agree transmission of knowledge is a sticky wicket. Good reminder to stay logistically grounded. I have found many of the ambitious thinkers close to me tend to aspire to a "humanity learns" moment but if they're anywhere near politics they tend to be tempered fairly well by the logistical realities of bringing ideas to pass

Reply on news.ycombinator.com