Big idea for the year:
we vastly underestimate how valuable it is to fight for control of a big organism, how important parasitization is in explaining things, and how hard it is to maintain a utility function in a complex system.
we vastly underestimate how valuable it is to fight for control of a big organism, how important parasitization is in explaining things, and how hard it is to maintain a utility function in a complex system.
Since modern civilization is new, the parasites will take some time to work out how to optimally parasitize it, so if you build a system that has ~no protection against parasitization, it will appear to work (at first)
But then over time the parasites will appear and gain more and more control until the thing (whatever it is) has been completely hijacked.
A few potential examples of this:
A few potential examples of this:
(1) Science - science is a big complicated organism whose ostensible goal is discovering the truth. Science is relatively new and at first it worked really, really well.
Nowadays we seem to have problems where institutions for science have been co-opted by anti-science parasites
Nowadays we seem to have problems where institutions for science have been co-opted by anti-science parasites
Science is supposed to be an objective and impersonal truthseeking machine, but now much of science has been taken over by biased, anti-truth agents who profit from the suppression of truth
Parasitizing science is actually an excellent way to suppress truth because the historical successes of the scientific method can be used as a line of defence and a way to deflect people pointing out the reality of what's happening.
It's hard to un-parasitize these big machines once they've been taken over. All the key roles are now under the control of the attackers, you would essentially have to completely dismantle the scientific enterprise and rebuild it from the ground up, which is hard to coordinate.
And any attempt at an incremental fix to parasitization suffers from a problem analogous to why species can't easily evolve resistance to parasites - the parasites' entire job is being parasites and they are very good at it.
Furthermore, unlike natural organisms, our social machines (like science) don't even have an immune system. You can commit massive scientific malpractice, get caught, and then just get away with it. You can even cause millions of deaths and cover it up!
Our immune systems are probably the second most complex system we contain after our brain and nervous system.
Science doesn't have one: Daszak can just get away with dark-side tactics and carry on without punishment.
Science doesn't have one: Daszak can just get away with dark-side tactics and carry on without punishment.
A sane system for science would dedicate say 5-10% of the total global spend to a science police force akin to the FBI or interpol dedicated to finding arresting the enemies of scientific truth.
Why does no such organisation exist?
Probably because science is new enough that it's not widely recognized how dangerous crimes against truth can be, but also because a lot of the really bad problems we have had are regulated at the level of products (e.g. lead paint, asbestos)
Probably because science is new enough that it's not widely recognized how dangerous crimes against truth can be, but also because a lot of the really bad problems we have had are regulated at the level of products (e.g. lead paint, asbestos)
Another problem is that it would be very tempting for large, rich parasites to try to capture that organization, like The Mafia corrupting judges and police officials. Eventually the US government was able to win against the Mafia though, via informants, witness protection, etc:
(2) A second example that has come up recently is the parasitization of the environmentalist movement by the Russian spy agencies.
A classic case of parasitization: parasite manipulating host behavior for its own benefit:
A classic case of parasitization: parasite manipulating host behavior for its own benefit:
The environmentalist movement is a particularly attractive target for parasitization because it has the motivational qualities of a religious organization except its scripture is easy for a would-be parasite to control.
Imagine the power to rewrite the bible in real time? Want to sell gas to Europeans? Make them believe that nuclear power and domestic gas production are sins! Then you can watch them gut their own energy industries!
Democratic institutions are easy to attack too. Politicians are very poorly paid relative to the amount of money they exert control over.
The EU sends Russia about $10ΒΉΒ² - a truly incomprehensible amount of money. It's worth going to a lot of effort to control that flow.
The EU sends Russia about $10ΒΉΒ² - a truly incomprehensible amount of money. It's worth going to a lot of effort to control that flow.
NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) are an extremely rich parasitization channel. ππ―πΊπ°π―π¦ can set up and fund an NGO - there's no regulator for NGO motives.
Apparently @GazpromEN funded european anti-nuclear organizations, for example:
Apparently @GazpromEN funded european anti-nuclear organizations, for example:
If Russia is able to manipulate us into buying its gas [which, really, is a super obvious parasitization motive], what else is going on that we don't know about?
Modern states are simply not secure against these kinds of attacks.
Modern states are simply not secure against these kinds of attacks.
The future for an organism without an immune system is massive parasitization and death.
AIDS patients don't actually die of AIDS. They die of one of many opportunistic infections that target people without properly functioning immune systems.
AIDS patients don't actually die of AIDS. They die of one of many opportunistic infections that target people without properly functioning immune systems.
The fact that Daszak, Putin and others are able to get away with the extremely brazen acts we've seen in recent years is a warning sign. Our societies are not secure. The communal mind is wide open for various bad actors to hijack.
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