2022-05-10

Cool

“The People” Are Morons — But We Must Trust Them

There are elements that both populists and elitists get right about the public — and some that they get dead wrong. Populists are correct when they stress the importance of giving citizens a bigger seat at the table — but incorrect in their justification. “The people” are, as Marsellus Wallace would put it, pretty fuckin’ far from wise — but the intelligence or prudence of the public is irrelevant to the matter at hand. Elitists are spot on when they characterize the public as a mob of short-sighted morons, always reacting in the moment on whims, hardly able to see five seconds ahead. But they’re suicidally wrong in thinking that the populace should therefore not be trusted. Both populists and elitists make the same mistake of tying the level of trust that should be vested in the public to the public’s trustworthiness. One side thinks the public “deserves” trust, and the other doesn’t. Herein lies the fatal error. Merit has nothing to do with it.

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Even Walmart Is Worse in the Metaverse

But then came the bit about your car being in the Oil and Lube shop around the back, the bit about the TV being delivered via drone. No, there can only be one conclusion: The viewer has driven to Walmart and instead of simply doing their shopping in the real world, has been hooked up to a Metaverse VR station located, I don't know, maybe somewhere near customer service. If you think this is beyond stupid, congratulations — you are a well-adjusted member of society.
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When Morris Chang Speaks, America Should Listen

in no uncertain terms, Morris called the United States’ current effort to bolster its domestic semiconductor industry “a very expensive exercise in futility”. The interview’s YouTube video currently has less than 5,000 views. It clearly did not go viral, but it should have, because if we, as a country, are serious about what semiconductors mean in America's future, we should listen more to Morris Chang.
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