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Perspective chauvinism: Difference between revisions
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{{Image|Transfagarasan|png|A [[metaphor]] for immutable progress of civilisation, yesterday.}} | {{Image|Transfagarasan|png|A [[metaphor]] for immutable progress of civilisation, yesterday.}} | ||
''The [[JC]]’s very own coinages {{tm}}''</br>}} | ''The [[JC]]’s very own coinages {{tm}}''</br>}}{{d|Perspective chauvinism|/pəˈspɛktɪv ˈʃəʊvɪnɪzm/|}}our own term for the fallacy of judging obsolete tricks, technologies or ideologies by contemporary standards — evaluation criteria that, [[Q.E.D.]], weren’t relevant when the old technologies or ideas were in fashion. | ||
This is a little like being told, when you are being dumped, “it’s not you; it’s me” — the only difference being in this case (i) it is not disingenuous, but true, and therefore (ii) the dump ''er'' is therefore a lot less likely to ''say'' it. | |||
Judged by such an arbitrary standard, outmoded technologies will, the older they get, necessarily seem more and more primitive and useless: the history of design will seem to lead inexorably to ''right here, right now''. This in turn will create the impression, not easily dispelled, that human progress has been slow, steady, relentless march towards a perfect Platonic ideal, and any imperfection in our current locale is simply a reflection that, however far we have come, we are not there yet. We are but hobbits, on the way to Mt. Doom. | Judged by such an arbitrary standard, outmoded technologies will, the older they get, necessarily seem more and more primitive and useless: the history of design will seem to lead inexorably to ''right here, right now''. This in turn will create the impression, not easily dispelled, that human progress has been slow, steady, relentless march towards a perfect Platonic ideal, and any imperfection in our current locale is simply a reflection that, however far we have come, we are not there yet. We are but hobbits, on the way to Mt. Doom. | ||
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{{sa}} | {{sa}} | ||
*[[Evolution]] | |||
*{{author|Ray Kurzweil}} | *{{author|Ray Kurzweil}} | ||
*{{br|The Singularity is Near}} | *{{br|The Singularity is Near}} | ||