Adam , you wrote : "Any attempts at improving the human condition must be compatible with human nature, or they will risk creating more problems—such as the collapse of communist and socialist economies, for example—than they solve."
The part where you wrote: "they will risk creating more problems—such as the collapse of communist and socialist economies, for example" ..................I found more than a little ambiguous !
At first I thought that YOU THOUGHT THE COLLAPSE of the communist and socialist economies WAS A PROBLEM....I thought that YOU were sympathising with them in their self-inflicted demise !
To me it was A PROBLEM SOLVED , and all without a shot being fired ! A brilliant result ! And it annoyed me initially to read that YOU were sympathetic to their cause ! Then I re-read it and realised that that was your example of an incompatibility between communism and human nature and that that was why the system collapsed....and NOT that it was a problem that it had done so !
.
Steven Pinker is a great thinker , as is Thomas Sowell and Jordan B Peterson , and on reading your article I think I can detect their influence on some of your ideas. I very much enjoy watching their videos and listening to their thoughts and their accumulated wisdom ......and hoping that a little bit of it 'rubs-off' on me !
.
I enjoyed this article of yours and I hope to read more of your articles in future ! Thanks !
I read your article in Human Progress (Doomslayer) and look forward to reading more. I particularly appreciate your writing style and the structure of this essay.
I just stumbled across your Substack thanks to the cross-post from Human Progress. So glad that someone is working on the psychological foundations of human progress. I have been in Progress Studies for 10 years, and we really have not had anyone beyond Steven Pinker.
Adam , you wrote : "Any attempts at improving the human condition must be compatible with human nature, or they will risk creating more problems—such as the collapse of communist and socialist economies, for example—than they solve."
The part where you wrote: "they will risk creating more problems—such as the collapse of communist and socialist economies, for example" ..................I found more than a little ambiguous !
At first I thought that YOU THOUGHT THE COLLAPSE of the communist and socialist economies WAS A PROBLEM....I thought that YOU were sympathising with them in their self-inflicted demise !
To me it was A PROBLEM SOLVED , and all without a shot being fired ! A brilliant result ! And it annoyed me initially to read that YOU were sympathetic to their cause ! Then I re-read it and realised that that was your example of an incompatibility between communism and human nature and that that was why the system collapsed....and NOT that it was a problem that it had done so !
.
Steven Pinker is a great thinker , as is Thomas Sowell and Jordan B Peterson , and on reading your article I think I can detect their influence on some of your ideas. I very much enjoy watching their videos and listening to their thoughts and their accumulated wisdom ......and hoping that a little bit of it 'rubs-off' on me !
.
I enjoyed this article of yours and I hope to read more of your articles in future ! Thanks !
Regards , Trevor.
Lots of optimism, please, Adam.
I read your article in Human Progress (Doomslayer) and look forward to reading more. I particularly appreciate your writing style and the structure of this essay.
I just stumbled across your Substack thanks to the cross-post from Human Progress. So glad that someone is working on the psychological foundations of human progress. I have been in Progress Studies for 10 years, and we really have not had anyone beyond Steven Pinker.
Welcome!
Incentives Are Everything: https://substack.com/@everythingisbullshit/p-129803223