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> A woman can choose to decouple having sex with getting pregnant. How does that change the social dynamics of mating? Is increasing promiscuity a good thing?

> A woman can choose to decouple having sex with getting pregnant. How does that change the social dynamics of mating? Is increasing promiscuity a good thing? > A person can choose to live hundreds of miles away from their family yet still visit them every weekend. > A person can choose to move to a new country, halfway around the world, and still have their parents be > able to see and converse with the grandchildren every night. Why did this person choose to move physically away from their tribe? To slave away at a job they don't care about? Would they have chosen to move away if the tech to communicate long distance didn't exist? > I can choose to talk to a person who speaks another language and have a computer translate for us. Is it good to use translation tech as a crutch and not emotionally immerse yourself in the culture? > I can choose to have my tooth decay treated without experiencing horrific pain. Why do you have a poor diet? Why do you consume so much sugar? Why don't you brush and floss? > A compound fracture is not an automatic sentence of death or lifelong severe disability. Do you take more risks because you know that a fracture won't end you since medicine can heal you? It seems to me that technology is often used as a band-aid solution. Or it enables certain types of behaviors that when proliferated on a societal level can have drastic consequences.

whateverman23 3y ago
People often confuse society as a whole with individual choices. An individual can independently choose to brush, floss, engage in less risky behaviors, have a good diet, maintain a health weight, etc. It's not hard. But when talking about society as a whole, that breaks down. Society is going to have a percentage of people who don't brush and floss. Who aren't managing their diet and weight. Who are taking risks beyond what you find acceptable. When talking about society as a whole, it's a dead end to just say, "well people should just be better". It doesn't work that way, and it certainly doesn't fix anything. Society will always have people who have a lot of sex. Making it safer is better. Society will always have people who have teeth issues. Not having them die or be in massive pain is better. Society will always have people who can't maintain a healthy weight. Making it easier is better.
- monological 3y ago
  Of course, what you're saying is obvious. I'm just asking questions to get people to think about the ramifications of technology. Society is the sum of all the individual choices people make, which are influenced and amplified by technology, either for good or bad.
  - r00fus 3y ago
    Are these questions really about the technology or philosophy about what constitutes a society? Tool use is fundamental to any meaningful society and that's technology.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- chii 3y ago
  > Making it easier/safer is better. But who bears the cost of this betterment? I certainly don't want to be responsible for paying a cost for someone else's bad choice, esp. if the bad choice gave them an advantage or "profit". That's why all individual choices should have individual consequences, and only under some circumstances where there's a prisoner's dilemma should there be a method/regulation to enforce cooperation.
  - whateverman23 3y ago
    > But who bears the cost of this betterment? We all do, of course. > I certainly don't want to be responsible for paying a cost for someone else's bad choice Then, in some cases, you'd prefer them dead/permanently disabled/permanently in pain/etc. Which, I guess is a position to have, but not one I'd like to take. It sounds like I'm exaggerating here but I'm not. Remember, the theory in the posts above is that technology makes people more likely to take more risky behaviors. And I'm arguing that there will always be a significant percentage of the population that engages in risky behaviors (for whatever your definition of risky is), and we should have technology to help. > esp. if the bad choice gave them an advantage or "profit". Not everything is black and white. We are allowed to pick and choose here and limit this from happening. Most examples we've been talking about involve an individual having to use some communal system, like a healthcare system. That isn't an "advantage" or "profit" that the individual is abusing.
musicale 3y ago
Technology does seem to be good at addressing some - but not all - of the problems created by a technological society.

whateverman23 3y ago

People often confuse society as a whole with individual choices. An individual can independently choose to brush, floss, engage in less risky behaviors, have a good diet, maintain a health weight, etc. It's not hard. But when talking about society as a whole, that breaks down. Society is going to have a percentage of people who don't brush and floss. Who aren't managing their diet and weight. Who are taking risks beyond what you find acceptable. When talking about society as a whole, it's a dead end to just say, "well people should just be better". It doesn't work that way, and it certainly doesn't fix anything. Society will always have people who have a lot of sex. Making it safer is better. Society will always have people who have teeth issues. Not having them die or be in massive pain is better. Society will always have people who can't maintain a healthy weight. Making it easier is better.

monological 3y ago
Of course, what you're saying is obvious. I'm just asking questions to get people to think about the ramifications of technology. Society is the sum of all the individual choices people make, which are influenced and amplified by technology, either for good or bad.
- r00fus 3y ago
  Are these questions really about the technology or philosophy about what constitutes a society? Tool use is fundamental to any meaningful society and that's technology.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
chii 3y ago
> Making it easier/safer is better. But who bears the cost of this betterment? I certainly don't want to be responsible for paying a cost for someone else's bad choice, esp. if the bad choice gave them an advantage or "profit". That's why all individual choices should have individual consequences, and only under some circumstances where there's a prisoner's dilemma should there be a method/regulation to enforce cooperation.
- whateverman23 3y ago
  > But who bears the cost of this betterment? We all do, of course. > I certainly don't want to be responsible for paying a cost for someone else's bad choice Then, in some cases, you'd prefer them dead/permanently disabled/permanently in pain/etc. Which, I guess is a position to have, but not one I'd like to take. It sounds like I'm exaggerating here but I'm not. Remember, the theory in the posts above is that technology makes people more likely to take more risky behaviors. And I'm arguing that there will always be a significant percentage of the population that engages in risky behaviors (for whatever your definition of risky is), and we should have technology to help. > esp. if the bad choice gave them an advantage or "profit". Not everything is black and white. We are allowed to pick and choose here and limit this from happening. Most examples we've been talking about involve an individual having to use some communal system, like a healthcare system. That isn't an "advantage" or "profit" that the individual is abusing.

musicale 3y ago

Technology does seem to be good at addressing some - but not all - of the problems created by a technological society.