The Most Human Human

I just got around to watching Robin’s diavlog with Brian Christian, on Christian’s book The Most Human Human. I find the comments section fascinating.

Here is one quote

Seems to me Brian raises a valid concern. Don’t act like an animal, and don’t act like a machine. Robin seems to have a hard time understanding the concept, maybe it would help if he’d read EF Schumacher’s book with the very telling (to Brian’s argument) "Small is Beautiful– Economics as if people mattered."

It seemed to me that Christian’s point was that shallow people suck and deep people rock, and that Robin attacked this immediately.

The core split between Christian’s perspective and that of economists is that Christian implicitly assumes that good systems elevate “good people”.

So for example, if the system of an agrarian economy was so good then why did the Kings and Queens of that world spend their time playing like they were hunter-gathers. 

Further, scripts whether in sales, dating or politics cannot be good if they allow people who are fundamentally shallow to rise to prominence.

We can go on to analogize that systems which allow computes – which are lessor – to fake at being human are not good because they are elevating the lessor.

Of course, the reply is that makes sense if you have all of the qualities that make a person good. But, what if you don’t?  What if you are a less human, human?

Then this entire philosophy is demeaning.

In short don’t act like an animal or a machine is a nice sentiment if you are the type of person who is very different from an animal or a machine. If you are the type of person who is more like an animal or a machine or enjoys being more like an animal or a machine then it is just telling you that you suck.