• jadero@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    1 year ago

    Maybe I read things too literally, but I thought “Fahrenheit 451” was about a governing class controlling the masses by limiting which ideas, emotions, and information were available.

    “Brave New World” struck me as also about controlling the masses through control of emotions, ideas, and information (and strict limits on social mobility).

    It’s been too long since I read “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, but I thought of it as a celebration of human ingenuity, with maybe a tinge of warning about powerful tools and the responsibility to use them wisely.

    I don’t see a lot of altruistic behaviour from those introducing new technologies. Yes, there is definitely some, but most of it strikes me as “neutral” demand creation for profit or extractive and exploitive in nature.