Future Imperfect
January 15, 2009 9:01 PM Subscribe
Future Imperfect. David Friedman gives a wonderfully discursive talk on future technology and the law at Google.
i liked it :P
like i think it _should_ be of interest for techno-cultural enthusiasts (ppl who like SF _approximately_ ;) but i'm guessing maybe cuz he's treading a fine hypothetical/counterfactual line -- on the one hand 'scenario planning' is only so relevant w/o RL examples/analogs to grab onto (altho you may try to sorta steer to where they might start cropping up, which he does) and on the other, not being explicitly fiction, there's not really any satisfying narrative (lotsa questions, no resolutions) -- the 'audience' for this might also be kinda narrow; i dunno :)
for me the most interesting part was his linking of the coordination problem (game theory!) with externalities (that are generally hard to measure or expensive to calculate, presenting information asymmetries writ large -- what if adverse selection was occurring and nobody knew? -- resulting in spooky action at a distance!) which markets are uniquely not suited to solving or optimising -- 'efficient market' outcomes only result under certain conditions... so it shouldn't be a surprise i don't think that many of the problems we face occur when those conditions aren't met; like how would you accomplish decision making under uncertainty given imperfect (negative, partial or unknowable) information and say (un)bounded rationality? trial and error? you're living the simulation...
and then there's the solipsism or near-solipsism matrix debates!
like one thing i came across recently relating to the role of inconvenience design is the concept of fitting the reality to the model so to speak; of course define 'reality' and set your terms (again) etc. but for _human systems_ and techno-cultural ones at that that is essentially what i think people have been attempting, successfully or unsuccessfully, since like language and tools were 'invented' -- trying to remake (trick!) the world into our virtual image :D
posted by kliuless at 12:21 PM on January 17, 2009
like i think it _should_ be of interest for techno-cultural enthusiasts (ppl who like SF _approximately_ ;) but i'm guessing maybe cuz he's treading a fine hypothetical/counterfactual line -- on the one hand 'scenario planning' is only so relevant w/o RL examples/analogs to grab onto (altho you may try to sorta steer to where they might start cropping up, which he does) and on the other, not being explicitly fiction, there's not really any satisfying narrative (lotsa questions, no resolutions) -- the 'audience' for this might also be kinda narrow; i dunno :)
for me the most interesting part was his linking of the coordination problem (game theory!) with externalities (that are generally hard to measure or expensive to calculate, presenting information asymmetries writ large -- what if adverse selection was occurring and nobody knew? -- resulting in spooky action at a distance!) which markets are uniquely not suited to solving or optimising -- 'efficient market' outcomes only result under certain conditions... so it shouldn't be a surprise i don't think that many of the problems we face occur when those conditions aren't met; like how would you accomplish decision making under uncertainty given imperfect (negative, partial or unknowable) information and say (un)bounded rationality? trial and error? you're living the simulation...
and then there's the solipsism or near-solipsism matrix debates!
like one thing i came across recently relating to the role of inconvenience design is the concept of fitting the reality to the model so to speak; of course define 'reality' and set your terms (again) etc. but for _human systems_ and techno-cultural ones at that that is essentially what i think people have been attempting, successfully or unsuccessfully, since like language and tools were 'invented' -- trying to remake (trick!) the world into our virtual image :D
posted by kliuless at 12:21 PM on January 17, 2009
« Older The Sling Shot Man and Other Non-famous... | Tips for Tech Users, Designers, Bloggers Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by now i'm piste at 11:19 AM on January 16, 2009