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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John Camkiran
@johncamkiran
Follows readily from the accelerating deintellectualisation of the upper class
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Gwynne Michele
@thecurioushermit
Which started when education became more widely available to all. It was no longer a sign of being one of the elite to have degrees, so they moved onto other markers of status.
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Special Agent Royo
@hadrien
I think it might be even broader than that. Society is increasingly visual and moving away from written language (which is the main form of expression of the intellectual class)
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