I wasn't so interested in this debate but I keep seeing this story pop up everywhere. I'm inspired less to reflect on the specifics of the debate and look more to the heart of the issue, which it seemed like Walter was grappling towards.
Here's my take: In a world of exponential tech it cannot be the solution that governments try to regul…
I wasn't so interested in this debate but I keep seeing this story pop up everywhere. I'm inspired less to reflect on the specifics of the debate and look more to the heart of the issue, which it seemed like Walter was grappling towards.
Here's my take: In a world of exponential tech it cannot be the solution that governments try to regulate away every harm they can imagine coming on the horizon. Just at a structural level this is going to be a lost cause that will (a) fail to achieve its goals and (b) lead to at best an expanding bureaucratic state that bogs down the economy and at worst totalitarianism. Like with many issues today I'm increasingly aware of the powerful role of personal responsibility (in adults and with adults for their children).
There is a Buddhist parable:
"Harmful beings are everywhere like space itself
Impossible it is that all should be suppressed
But let this angry mind be overthrown
And its as though all foes have been subdued
To cover all the Earth with sheets of leather
Where could such a source of skin be found?
But with the leather on the sole of my shoes
it is as though I cover all the Earth!.."
What I'm struck by in the Tiktok discussion is that this is an app voluntarily downloaded, watched populated with content by free Americans. If it is indeed kids that are being convinced to mutilate their genitals (or whatever), then where are the parents? Why are they not protecting their children? Why is it that parents wouldn't drop off their kids to be with a stranger but they almost thoughtlessly hand their children over to literally anyone that can pipe something into their phones on the internet?
And in the case of adults who are responsible for themselves, why are you asking your government to protect you from a thing that you could much more easily protect yourself from? I don't have Tiktok so the nuances of whether or not China is bad, or has nefarious motives for my mind, are moot points. I see less than zero value in using it. I don't use Facebook, I don't ask AI to think for me, I see no reason to watch porn where men are choking out women (or whatever), etc, etc, and every other American adult is just as free as I am to make the same decisions. I'm often struck by what seems to be the underlying refrain in our culture: "Government, stop me from using my freedoms to harm myself because I don't want to have to put in the effort to be responsible, to feel the discomfort of changing my own mind/habits, to create my own boundaries!"
I would really like a cultural paradigm shift where instead of trying to beg the government to somehow federally legislate personal responsibility for hundreds of millions of Americans, instead we turn our focus to building up our own personal agency, resiliency and emotional capacity. That is the essential work of a democratic/free market citizen. Just like the case of an already sick and obese person contracting covid, if a person watches a 30 second video on Tiktok and starts celebrating terrorists, the problem started much earlier. Rather than accepting a weak, unhealthy society and playing legislative whack-a-mole aimed to protect us from the harms of the world (which will be endless and exponential), let's aim for responsibility, for leather shoes rather than covering the whole world in leather. Like policies on affirmative action or the way chronic illness is approached, let's instead take responsibility at the root of the problem rather than create expensive and ineffective band-aids for the end result. This shift would bypass the need for a lot of debating on many topics. Of course it's not always easy. But in particular with kids it is absolutely the parents' responsibility to protect them, whether the Chinese government is doing a psy-op, the deep state is trying to divide us, or we're doing it to ourselves. Does it matter? Let's build a society where the Chinese (or Russian or whatever) government could put anything they want on the internet and we're stable and resilient enough as a people to remain grounded and morally clear. Let's build a society where real life relationships and meaning are strong enough that the internet is understood at an appropriate level: it's got some nice tools but it's not real life. I don't see another sustainable pathway. There will be more Tiktoks, RTs and mind viruses to come, faster than any government can legislate.
Building you're imaginary society requires first to smash the patriarchy and build all groups prioritizing the elimination of childhood trauma incidents. Just five off these damage your brain which keeps you from regulating impulses. Every child needs safe housing, free high quality childcare education and healthcare. Do this, and propaganda doesn't take hold. True that
I wasn't so interested in this debate but I keep seeing this story pop up everywhere. I'm inspired less to reflect on the specifics of the debate and look more to the heart of the issue, which it seemed like Walter was grappling towards.
Here's my take: In a world of exponential tech it cannot be the solution that governments try to regulate away every harm they can imagine coming on the horizon. Just at a structural level this is going to be a lost cause that will (a) fail to achieve its goals and (b) lead to at best an expanding bureaucratic state that bogs down the economy and at worst totalitarianism. Like with many issues today I'm increasingly aware of the powerful role of personal responsibility (in adults and with adults for their children).
There is a Buddhist parable:
"Harmful beings are everywhere like space itself
Impossible it is that all should be suppressed
But let this angry mind be overthrown
And its as though all foes have been subdued
To cover all the Earth with sheets of leather
Where could such a source of skin be found?
But with the leather on the sole of my shoes
it is as though I cover all the Earth!.."
What I'm struck by in the Tiktok discussion is that this is an app voluntarily downloaded, watched populated with content by free Americans. If it is indeed kids that are being convinced to mutilate their genitals (or whatever), then where are the parents? Why are they not protecting their children? Why is it that parents wouldn't drop off their kids to be with a stranger but they almost thoughtlessly hand their children over to literally anyone that can pipe something into their phones on the internet?
And in the case of adults who are responsible for themselves, why are you asking your government to protect you from a thing that you could much more easily protect yourself from? I don't have Tiktok so the nuances of whether or not China is bad, or has nefarious motives for my mind, are moot points. I see less than zero value in using it. I don't use Facebook, I don't ask AI to think for me, I see no reason to watch porn where men are choking out women (or whatever), etc, etc, and every other American adult is just as free as I am to make the same decisions. I'm often struck by what seems to be the underlying refrain in our culture: "Government, stop me from using my freedoms to harm myself because I don't want to have to put in the effort to be responsible, to feel the discomfort of changing my own mind/habits, to create my own boundaries!"
I would really like a cultural paradigm shift where instead of trying to beg the government to somehow federally legislate personal responsibility for hundreds of millions of Americans, instead we turn our focus to building up our own personal agency, resiliency and emotional capacity. That is the essential work of a democratic/free market citizen. Just like the case of an already sick and obese person contracting covid, if a person watches a 30 second video on Tiktok and starts celebrating terrorists, the problem started much earlier. Rather than accepting a weak, unhealthy society and playing legislative whack-a-mole aimed to protect us from the harms of the world (which will be endless and exponential), let's aim for responsibility, for leather shoes rather than covering the whole world in leather. Like policies on affirmative action or the way chronic illness is approached, let's instead take responsibility at the root of the problem rather than create expensive and ineffective band-aids for the end result. This shift would bypass the need for a lot of debating on many topics. Of course it's not always easy. But in particular with kids it is absolutely the parents' responsibility to protect them, whether the Chinese government is doing a psy-op, the deep state is trying to divide us, or we're doing it to ourselves. Does it matter? Let's build a society where the Chinese (or Russian or whatever) government could put anything they want on the internet and we're stable and resilient enough as a people to remain grounded and morally clear. Let's build a society where real life relationships and meaning are strong enough that the internet is understood at an appropriate level: it's got some nice tools but it's not real life. I don't see another sustainable pathway. There will be more Tiktoks, RTs and mind viruses to come, faster than any government can legislate.
Building you're imaginary society requires first to smash the patriarchy and build all groups prioritizing the elimination of childhood trauma incidents. Just five off these damage your brain which keeps you from regulating impulses. Every child needs safe housing, free high quality childcare education and healthcare. Do this, and propaganda doesn't take hold. True that