"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later"

Re:"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days... by TeMPOraL on Monday October 16, 2023 @07:58AM (#37898542)

Unfortunately, most humans don't seem to have a good idea of how feedback loops work, they get stuck focusing on a single leg of them "they hurt me, I must get my revenge" instead of noticing the other leg and self-reinforcing nature of the phenomenon "I get my revenge, they feel hurt and now hurt me to get their revenge, ad infinitum".

And Moloch is a personification of a large system of feedback loops.

That's to say - most humans - and therefore, most "authentic" humans - have trouble recognizing Moloch is a thing in the first place.

(FWIW, I don't think it's an issue of capabilities, but rather, of education. Some basics of feedback control should be covered in elementary education, instead of specialized university degrees.)

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Re:"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days... by nonrandomstring on Monday October 16, 2023 @09:17AM (#37899467)

It's a good take, and I appreciate that depth of thought.

One reason we teach Meadows as one component of intellectual self-defence.

https://cybershow.uk/episodes.php?id=19

But you're right, the ability to see how a great network of systems and subsystems, all trying to make things better, can add up to a lethal "trap" with its own perverse intelligence (I quite like the Adam Curtis slant) is elusive.

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