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mtbcSome kind person, probably here on Dreamwidth, mentioned Beth Mathew's
Dr Frank Gannon wrote,
I want to live in a world where experts truly are able to make our world better. Perhaps this never really much happened, or not so much in my own lifetime. I still haven't properly understood the mixed legacy of figures like Robert McNamara. Our present governance seems to care more about appearance, perhaps to mask its obvious lack of technical competence. Perhaps quite justifiably, the public doesn't trust authority anyway. The incentives may be all wrong, perhaps the broader social context too.
It's not as if I seek to be constrained by some soulless technocracy. Civil liberties are important to me. The same environment doesn't fit everyone, and people should have the freedom to create one that does. Finding that can itself be an experiment: we try things out, even spontaneously, and see what suits us. Sometimes, perhaps often, the experts are wrong, especially about individuals. For instance, in Britain there's no rational way to justify how we've treated the trans community: they have to shout only because policy-makers haven't been listening.
I just want institutional decision-making to be both well-informed and well-intentioned, even if it must also be open-minded. When I look at contemporary examples among social policy and technological innovation, it's hard to feel as if the future is filled with hope, in the way that some previous generation might have. Given the sea change that LLMs are causing in software development, I don't how much hope to have for even just my personal future.
Perhaps the Artemis program is an unusual exception, charging me with a little of that same hope that the 1962 Seattle World's Fair might have brought its attendees, reminding me of the perhaps naive optimism that experts would be able to guide our progress to a future worth embracing. Even if I am not part of it, I would still be glad for it to happen.
Why So Many Control Rooms Were Seafoam Greenwhich references
the work of color theorist Faber Birrenand
a master color safety code for the industrial plant industry, with the aim of reducing accidents and increasing efficiency within plants.
Dr Frank Gannon wrote,
Back in the 1950s and 1960s there was a general optimism and excitement about science, technology and engineering; citizens believed that scientists could free humanity from the constraints of Earth and reach for new frontiers.
I want to live in a world where experts truly are able to make our world better. Perhaps this never really much happened, or not so much in my own lifetime. I still haven't properly understood the mixed legacy of figures like Robert McNamara. Our present governance seems to care more about appearance, perhaps to mask its obvious lack of technical competence. Perhaps quite justifiably, the public doesn't trust authority anyway. The incentives may be all wrong, perhaps the broader social context too.
It's not as if I seek to be constrained by some soulless technocracy. Civil liberties are important to me. The same environment doesn't fit everyone, and people should have the freedom to create one that does. Finding that can itself be an experiment: we try things out, even spontaneously, and see what suits us. Sometimes, perhaps often, the experts are wrong, especially about individuals. For instance, in Britain there's no rational way to justify how we've treated the trans community: they have to shout only because policy-makers haven't been listening.
I just want institutional decision-making to be both well-informed and well-intentioned, even if it must also be open-minded. When I look at contemporary examples among social policy and technological innovation, it's hard to feel as if the future is filled with hope, in the way that some previous generation might have. Given the sea change that LLMs are causing in software development, I don't how much hope to have for even just my personal future.
Perhaps the Artemis program is an unusual exception, charging me with a little of that same hope that the 1962 Seattle World's Fair might have brought its attendees, reminding me of the perhaps naive optimism that experts would be able to guide our progress to a future worth embracing. Even if I am not part of it, I would still be glad for it to happen.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-12 09:28 pm (UTC)Yes, MLK's thinking still resonates well, alas.