The idea of good of humanity at scale is a scam, an impossible computation for the social brain. We just can't know more than 150 people deeply enough. At scale we use two technologies. One is classification (peasants, elite, etc) and the second one is converting to numbers - voting, money, net worth, age, interest rate etc. If you know someone who meets more than 150 people, chances are he has a system to either classify you or measure you numerically. It is impossible to care humanly at scale. Companies use LTV (Lifetime value of a customer). Countries need to find sources of revenue. Sales people need quotas and PhD needs publications and citations. Nothing human scales without measurement and numbers, becoming less human in the process. And that is counterintuitive to the social brain designed to understand pain in persons and not pain in numbers. Classifications and numbers are great tools to approximate humanity at scale, because considering everyone is practically impossible. The ruthless market competition is the only system that has worked well to consider the good of as many as possible at as cheap a price as possible. And yet it always "feels" wrong.
WTF is social? Being human at scale
WTF is social? Being human at scale
WTF is social? Being human at scale
The idea of good of humanity at scale is a scam, an impossible computation for the social brain. We just can't know more than 150 people deeply enough. At scale we use two technologies. One is classification (peasants, elite, etc) and the second one is converting to numbers - voting, money, net worth, age, interest rate etc. If you know someone who meets more than 150 people, chances are he has a system to either classify you or measure you numerically. It is impossible to care humanly at scale. Companies use LTV (Lifetime value of a customer). Countries need to find sources of revenue. Sales people need quotas and PhD needs publications and citations. Nothing human scales without measurement and numbers, becoming less human in the process. And that is counterintuitive to the social brain designed to understand pain in persons and not pain in numbers. Classifications and numbers are great tools to approximate humanity at scale, because considering everyone is practically impossible. The ruthless market competition is the only system that has worked well to consider the good of as many as possible at as cheap a price as possible. And yet it always "feels" wrong.