Comments on: Quote of the day: Competitive Metaphor http://dbzer0.com/blog/quote-of-the-day-competitive-metaphor A bug in the code of the universe. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:12:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ytinas http://dbzer0.com/blog/quote-of-the-day-competitive-metaphor/comment-page-1#comment-80113 ytinas Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:41:03 +0000 http://dbzer0.com/?p=3378#comment-80113 Anon73: You're missing my point. I'm not convinced that war/state/etc. were good and I don't think it's possible to prove one way or another. The point was that fighting over whether it helped or not is pointless as even if it *were* true that says nothing about if it's still needed or not. Anon73: You're missing my point. I'm not convinced that war/state/etc. were good and I don't think it's possible to prove one way or another. The point was that fighting over whether it helped or not is pointless as even if it *were* true that says nothing about if it's still needed or not.

]]> By: Anon73 http://dbzer0.com/blog/quote-of-the-day-competitive-metaphor/comment-page-1#comment-80111 Anon73 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:12:47 +0000 http://dbzer0.com/?p=3378#comment-80111 I feel uncomfortable with this line of argument - I remember Chomsky mentioning that just because a society advances doesn't justify that society's practices (e.g. if it practiced slavery). The uncomfortable implication is that the state and war were somehow necessary - that it was _good_ that states existed in order to propel us to this point. Kind of an "ends justify the means" approach almost. I feel uncomfortable with this line of argument – I remember Chomsky mentioning that just because a society advances doesn't justify that society's practices (e.g. if it practiced slavery). The uncomfortable implication is that the state and war were somehow necessary – that it was _good_ that states existed in order to propel us to this point. Kind of an "ends justify the means" approach almost.

]]> By: ytinas http://dbzer0.com/blog/quote-of-the-day-competitive-metaphor/comment-page-1#comment-80106 ytinas Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:09:57 +0000 http://dbzer0.com/?p=3378#comment-80106 We don't but that's why I worded my comment the way I did. We can't prove we wouldn't be even further along had we dropped capitalism, but these things *were* developed under capitalism. My point wasn't that war/capitalism/state are good and we needed them to bootstrap us. There is no way to prove that now one way or another. My point was that even if that were the case it clearly isn't anymore. We don't but that's why I worded my comment the way I did. We can't prove we wouldn't be even further along had we dropped capitalism, but these things *were* developed under capitalism.

My point wasn't that war/capitalism/state are good and we needed them to bootstrap us. There is no way to prove that now one way or another. My point was that even if that were the case it clearly isn't anymore.

]]> By: db0 http://dbzer0.com/blog/quote-of-the-day-competitive-metaphor/comment-page-1#comment-80105 db0 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:22:11 +0000 http://dbzer0.com/?p=3378#comment-80105 True but I take a more deterministic view of history. There's no point imagining "what if" because it obviously ended up this way because what happened ended up being more memetically competent. True but I take a more deterministic view of history. There's no point imagining "what if" because it obviously ended up this way because what happened ended up being more memetically competent.

]]> By: Francois Tremblay http://dbzer0.com/blog/quote-of-the-day-competitive-metaphor/comment-page-1#comment-80104 Francois Tremblay Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:16:16 +0000 http://dbzer0.com/?p=3378#comment-80104 How do we know that "the light bulb, the phone, the car, the computer" exist because of competition in the first place? How do we know that these things couldn't arise in a less competitive system? It seems to me as an unfounded assertion more than anything. How do we know that "the light bulb, the phone, the car, the computer" exist because of competition in the first place? How do we know that these things couldn't arise in a less competitive system? It seems to me as an unfounded assertion more than anything.

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