Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2023/03/31/eschatologist-27-golems-and-genies/
I recently read a book which claimed to describe the central problem of the modern world, What's Our Problem by Tim Urban. No one can say he lacked for ambition, but I feel like his analysis overlooks several large problems. In particularly I think he doesn't go nearly deep enough into how technology has changed the rules of the game.
He has divided the political landscape up into golems and genies. And he asserts that we just need stronger genies, the problem is that technology has developed in such a way that it actively sabotages genies while empowering golems. And this problem is not going to go away...
There have been some competing explanations for the Nord Stream explosions. Seymour Hersh claims the US did it. The New York Times claims it was Pro-Ukrainian forces and a somewhat obscure blogger claims he has evidence that it was the Russians. How is one to decide? And is it even necessary to decide? Is it perhaps more important to have a robust framework for conspiracy theories in general, than to have firm opinions about specific theories? How has the modern world made the whole entreprise more difficult?