Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
I am noticing that the most successful new ideologies of the past decade are very object-level (prescriptions on specific issues) and quite little meta-level (social processes for making decisions on object-level issues). Examples: * Abstract libertarianism feels much weaker than 10 years ago. But issue-specific versions of it are quite successful: YIMBY (housing), the crypto space * e/acc (it's about all technology in theory, but ends up being about AI in practice) * The largest cluster in effective altruism morphed from being meta-level ("think harder to making sure your donations are going where they can do the most good!") to object level (AI safety, with a little bit of animal welfare and global public health) * Longevity movement Maybe network states and Glen and Audrey's Plurality movement are two exceptions - but in general the above feels like a strong pattern. Any ideas why this meta level -> object level shift seems to be taking place?
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Jason Crawford
@jasoncrawford.eth
Is it a shift, or has this always been the case?
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Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
2010 did not feel this way to me! There definitely were issue-specific movements (eg. anti-copyright), but the larger balance was toward abstract stuff. Even the Pirate Party felt the need to try to stretch anti-copyright into a more holistic vision for society (UBI, publicly funded art/research, direct democracy etc)
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Colton Dillion š©
@cadillion
Any mass movement will inevitably reduce to the object level for the simple reason that the abstractions have ~0 meaning to ~80% of the population Not only does this portion not want to be involved in changing the processes, they probably have no interest in being involved in the existing processes. The abstractions are not a positive good in themselves, but are tools to achieve some marginal unit of prosperity for themselves and their close circle All the movements you mentioned are still niche, but have moved enough into the mainstream to be the subject of breathless coverage in the NYT. But if you talk to a random citizen of Rapid City, SD, will they know what EA is? Approval voting? Will they even know what you mean when you say direct democracy? It is easy to forget when you are surrounded by theorists, but most people are just figuring out how to pay the bills and where they want to take the kids for the weekend
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