7.04: Not Better Enough

Rejecting solutionism, the problems of the humane, and wise change.

We dig into the challenge of taking a non-solutionist approach and rejecting a technocratic view of the world… while not rejecting “interventions” and making real progress along the way.

Stephen accidentally referred to Chris’ reference in his newsletter to C. S. Lewis’ foreword to St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation as “On the Annunciation”—the annunciation is a related but distinct bit of Christian doctrine, when the Incarnation was announced (‘annunciated’) to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Chris thought we talked about thinking-together-about-cell-phones in Season 4; it was all the way back in Season 3.

• “The Slow Web” and the limits of “solutions”, Chris’ newsletter issue mentioned on the episode
  • The Slow Web
  • The Convivial Society, No. 15: Fortnite and the Good Life, L. M. Sacasas
• This is Water, David Foster Wallace’s commencement address at Kenyon College
• A Regulatory Framework for the Internet, Ben Thompson’s careful, thoughtful, excellent take on the subject
• The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande
• Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women, Reuters
• why Chris reacted at his use of the word “nudges”: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, Richard Thaler

Previous episodes referenced on the show:

• 3.10: Saying “Enough” – Phones, technological determinism, Christian ethics, and life in community., where we talked about cell phones and community life
• 6.06: A Kind of Blindness – Smart cities, “big data”, and the meaninglessness of mere information., where we talked about redlining and credit scores and the problems of “big data” as solutions

• “Hidden Worlds” by Teen Daze
• “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho.

Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:

• Daniel Ellcey
• Jake Grant
• Jeremy W. Sherman
• Marnix Klooster
• Nathaniel Blaney
• Spencer Smith

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