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posted ago by smartbaum ago by smartbaum +13 / -0

A superficial analysis I see out there is that Elon talked about sustainability and modest climate change concerns, because that would bring in more of the green nutjobs for votes. By the same token, Trump praised A.I. to bring in more votes of the younger generation who are both consciously accepting of and targets of A.I. algorithms.

I'm not so sure its just campaign buzzwords for votes.

Elon brought in what appeared from his language as the soft sale for Technocracy's closed system utopia. This is when he emphasized terminology such as leaning into "sustainability", which alludes to a whole cluster of ideas about humanity's relationship to natural resources and industry. This by all appearances is an attempt to soften up MAGA more to the Closed System paradigm that comes ultimately from the "Science of Limits" of Thomas Malthus (British empire stooge using science to justify imperial policies), and underpins much of the climate and environment dogma in the present day. I don't think it matters that much that Musk tries to be careful he is more "modest" in his vision of phasing out traditional energy and resource industries. Its the same end point, just more palatable for his audience.

He wants to slow the phase change, however we will be stupid to forget Elon's high tech socialist tendencies, his praise for Singularity and hope for universal consciousness, and so on. Elon has a spiritual relationship to the saving benefits of tech, but this optimism relies on fallacious linear and exponential mathematics to frame the issue in terms of human populations being inherently problematic to the balance of nature. Bad assumption 1 is that our inputs and resources are limited, scarce, and under threat of destruction by the very existence of human manufacturing and industry. Bad assumption 2 is that humans (at least the classes of people below the Technocracy) are at their base consumption units and their access to energy and resource utilization must be somehow managed from top down. More conservatives will be accepting of Musk's vision because it looks way less radical and self defeating when comparing to the suicidal policies in the EU for example.

There is, ultimately, a collectivist goal for these various Technocrats, as they continue to unleash "sustainable" technologies that solve for the population problems and bring about new conveniences (accompanied by data collection at every turn) we end up relying on for society to function.

What is missing in their whole program? A classic understanding of human nature and the power of the mind. Cultivating on the one hand un-tethered industry/manufacturing/energy mining, and on the other hand an expansionist mindset that acknowledges the dignity and ingenuity of man & the human spirit, knowing creativity & reason in alignment with a moral order can overcome natural limits at every turn, w/o sacrificing our liberties, volition, or well being. Musk still lives and breathes in the Techno socialist agenda of limits which is why he believes his own "sustainable" tech is saving society from capitalism's over-consumptionist destruction of pristine, fragile, resource scarce nature. He sees a future of collective consciousness undergirded by "sustainable" infrastructure, perhaps where we will be so immersed in each other's consciousness that one day we can't conceive of the collective benefits of say Musk public transport systems without conceiving of the collective benefits of universally adopted Musk Neuralink type biologic and psychic augmenters.

Obviously A.I. is key for all this.

In one sense it is clear that DJT is not completely on board with this world that Musk inhabits. But unfortunately there are warning signs. DJT is dropping the ball on his misinformed and seemingly unbounded enthusiasm about the future utility of A.I.: he appreciates the immense energy gap that needs to be filled to build out A.I. infrastructure throughout society to the degree that the Technocrats like Musk want. So much so that he made sure to point out our current energy resources and abilities are insufficient by half. Stressing this point dovetails the comprehensive adoption of A.I. by society with his MAGA platform policy of investing heavily in energy independence. A big part of this is also National Security, where he elsewhere has spoken often about building our own Iron Dome, which obviously depends completely on A.I. tech. This in spite of the fact that Israel's own Iron Dome has utterly failed its Proof of Concept, and that because of A.I.

So in context of this specific issue, where do you see this going?