Comment on 2012 Survey Results

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:10:36 GMT

Good description, but I think that Moldbug's ideology also has a "hidden" arational/romantic side, although it's simultaneously a technocratic one - a Randian aesthetic of sorts, crossed with a Roman-style cult of mastery and dominance. Consider his hero-worship obituary for Steve Jobs, and compare it with Corey Robin's enlightening examination of Joseph de Maistre. Both of them praise and admire above all competition, victory, fiercely defended supremacy, strength through ruthless adversity, control.

M.M. talks about "social order" and "minimization of conflict" not just because he wants to maximize hedonic utility for humans or something generic like that. Rather, he wants a certain mode of existence, where a technocratic system - a crowdsourced monarchist AGI of sorts - will actively seek out and ruthlessly destroy every disruptive element, every irregularity, every bug - and then continuously apply economic and political coercion to prevent further disturbance. He deeply and sincerely wants the paperclips to run on time. Consider these posts on the link between the engineer/tech-geek mindset and fundamentalism/authoritarianism/far-right radicalism.

Please believe me when I say I know how all this feels from the inside. I fear this mindset in others because my own brain can run it and I find the effects unacceptable. (I wouldn't hesitate to proselytize for e.g. forced total wireheading or a bloody world revolution - if it was the only way to avoid this future.)

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