declineoftheempire | The phrase "bad actors" is not a reference to Ashton Kutcher, Adam Sandler, etc.
Instead, the phrase refers to those who use nominally value-neutral
"technologies" (like the internet or mortgage-backed securities) to
exploit others. Basically, we're talking about predators here.
Those discussing the subject all sought to
counter simplistic reductionist statements like "it's all in the genes"
or "the selfish gene." We've all heard these kind of reductionist
arguments. Instead, the researchers in the video cited environmental
factors like upbringing and biological factors like epigenetics during development to explain the astonishing individual variation
we see within the human population. One can then argue further that
human nature is a mirage because of there's so much individual
variation, as expressed behaviorally.
My own view is that individual variation may appear to be large, but
it is clearly bounded (finite), and that variation can therefore be
categorized in useful ways. As a result, there is an identifiable suite
of human behaviors at the level of large populations, or at the species
level. And that is where you need to look if you want to understand
human nature.
There is also the statistical argument which I used in the first
Flatland essay—the fact that .01% of the human population is actively
trying to preserve other species merely implies that 99.99% are either
killing them off, even if it is not their "intention" to do so, or doing
nothing to prevent it. We are interested in the vast majority, not the
tiny minority which expresses some rare individual variation. These
arguments complement one another.
Which brings me to bad actors.
A government study released a few days ago found that people are
becoming leery about using the internet for various purposes. And why is
that? Here's the Christian Science Monitor report on the study.
