orcim

Many have definitely been motivated by the wish to share information. But there also wasn't much of an alternative. If you wanted to actively learn something, get someone else to use it, or get them to share what they knew, you almost had to interact with others. Which doesn't mean there wasn't a genuine want to help others. But it was also wanting what you shared to become better. Something that was a direct consequence of many of us having experienced a scarcity of computers, software, and information. And then experiencing network effects.

That still exists in some ways. But much of the Internet is very much being gatekept. Including YouTube, Wikipedia, GitHub, Reddit, and Hacker News. There is almost no point in posting things publicly anymore because not only is the average user not genuinely interested, but they are genuinely not interested. That is why kids grow up with TikTok. Because it is one of the few platforms where you can post on almost the same terms as you consume. And thereby experience those network effects.

I've ended up enough times on the Raspberry Pi forum to understand why anyone young today would not want to go into computer science or electrical engineering.

It's an effect that exists, but the examples aren't accurate.

An overemphasis on grades isn't from wanting to educate the population; obesity isn't from prioritizing nutrient-rich food; and increased inequality isn't from wanting to distribute resources based on the needs of society.

Living a well-lived life through culture, cooking, or exercise doesn't make you more susceptible to sensationalism, addiction, or gambling. It's a lack of stimulus that makes you reach for those things.

You can argue that academia enables rankings, industrial food production enables producing empty calories, and economic development enables greater inequality. But that isn't causation.

It also isn't a side effect when significant resources specifically go into promoting education as a private matter best used to educate the elite, that businesses aren't responsible for the externalities they cause, and that resources should be privately controlled.

In many ways, it is far easier to have more public education, heavily tax substances like sugar, and redistribute wealth than it is to do anything else. That just isn't the goal. It used to be hard to get a good education, good food, and a good standard of living. And it still is. For the same reasons.