That opening killed me. LMAO Also another weakness of technocracies is that experts may have knowledge in one domain, they lack knowledge in many other domains which their policies would end up effecting due to how interconnected our society is.
Hello, i just wanted to say that I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and it is amazing. Not just this video but literally all of them are great. Thank you so much for introducing me to the Culture novels and to Alaistar Reynolds. Your content is amazing. Keep going, i hope you'll get way more subs because the quality of these videos is just astonishing.
I'm not sure what the chances are of you seeing this are, or reading it but I feel I have to comment. Your videos are all magnificent, this one too. The issue I'm writing this is about how you described fascism. It's worse than how you described it. It does not "often emphasize" authoritarianism and nationalism. "Nothing against the state, nothing outside the state, everything for the state." That is fascism as described by both Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile, the founders of fascism as it were. Fascism *is* totalitarianism, the fascist views the individual as a cell in an organism, and there can be no dissent in a cell. (Hence fascism's alternative name, "corporatism" as derived from the latin word for body, "corpus.") While the fascist despises individuality, they paradoxically view fascism as the purest form of democracy. They explain this under the whole "nothing against the state, nothing outside the state, everything for the state" crap. To the fascist since the state is all and the people are the state it means that surely it's a democracy. (Little higher thinking than "it has democracy in the name so it must be democratic). I'd recommend the Gears of War series for an example of fascism in mass media cause the Coalition of Ordered Governments are overtly fascist regimes. There are a mix of races in the armed forces and government, yet there is no real racism and any discrimination they show is towards foreigners.
As soon as you mentioned "technotopia", I thought "Culture". It might be an anarchy, but all of it would not work without the advanced technology underpinning it all - especially the Minds. I could even argue that the Culture is a weird anarchist-oligarchy-technocratic hybrid with the Minds being the (secret) oligarchs and experts.
Logically, any central government that rises out of Human settlement of the Solar system would be almost purely symbolic, with all real power in local government and military (i.e military/ law enforcement space forces). The military's main task would be maintaining the safety of all trade routes.
Yup. It would likely be very comparable to European exploration and colonial setups. The king might say one thing but the conquistador sent across the world (Galaxy) is going to make his own decisions and because of distance and time, there's not gonna be a whole lot anyone back on Earth can say or do.
Love this vid. An example of dystopia or to be specific techno dystopia is the anime Psycho Pass, in which there is a system which calculates probability of someone committing a crime. Moreover the series i mentioned before Legend of the Galactic Heroes is about (as tv tropes said it) a good autocracy vs a rotten democracy
Nice video. I've been trying to think of interesting political themes for a fantasy story I'm working on. Fantasy usually just goes with feudal or imperial, but there so much more possibility out there.
another example to add. this time, a 'the nation state-like still mindset 'governments' have the final say than the 'corporations'' kind of ruling: UCN/ISA (and ICSA(?)) era Humankind's example.
May I point out the short story "And Then There Were None" by Eric Frank Russell, in which an anarchistic and pacifistic society utterly frustrates a galactic empire in a hilarious way...
"Okay, I think we need to lighten the tone a bit and look to some future governments to make us feel a bit more optimistic. Haha! Just kidding!" Too true, Darrel! Great video as always.
Hey Darrel do you have any short story collection recommendations about high tech that I could read? I’m trying to develop a short story reading list and could really use you expertise.
Is 1984 meant to depict communism/socialism? For me it was about the dangers of any absolute authoritarian government, no matter the underlying political ideology. Communism/socialism is a theory of economics first and foremost. People tend to bungle it up because they base socialism solely on the USSR and CCP instead of looking at the "moderate" socialism of western Europe which works very well.
Earnest Callenbach’s 1975 classic «Ecotopia» is an excellent example of the frequently/usually ignored unintended consequences of what seems to be a good thing. I’ve used this as supplemental reading in courses on environmental management and sustainability. It never ceases to be thought provoking for students and a source of deeper reflection around policy issues that are tossed out for the masses. Also, I really like the channel!
Hi Darrel. Great job as always. Please consider developing a video on *caste systems* in science fiction. My favorite examples are the _Red Rising_ series as well as _Brave New World_ For some reason, many of the YA series tend to use caste systems. One example is the _Divergent_ series.
I wouldn't mind an objective AI ruling us based on the greater good, with strong moral and ethical safeguards in place. It would be a "limited dictatorship" sure, but certainly better than any government we have in place today, especially for our descendants and our ecosystem.
Hello. Have loved and read science fiction all my life and it’s a shared love with my spouse. Didn’t study literature and love these mini-lectures. As a Librarian, gives me great titles for book clubs and programs 👋🏾🌸
it baffles me nobody seems to understand what fascism is ..practically most if not all of the dystopian governments listed are fascistic. And Fascism has Zero to do with nationalism ...the Nazi's were Fascists and the Communists were Fascists. Fascism is simply when the Private and Public enterprise is Ideologically Synced with that of the State ...an example today is Private and Public Institutions in Ideological sync with 1 Political party ...this would be considered a Fascist State. So when Entertainment, Corporations, Educational Institutions are touting a political ideology of 1 Party that is Fascism. Notice Nationalism nor Race has anything to do with it ..though Racists and Nationalists tend to lean politically fascist because they tend to be Authoritarian ..which leads to 1 party Rule ...The Chinese Communist Party is Fascistic for example.
Buddy, you don't know anything about communism at all. Communism is when people govern themselves. That is, all the most educated proletarians are the state. Unlike anarchism, the state is not destroyed, because according to communists the state is just a tool, but its levers of control are transferred to the proletariat, the vertical of power is compressed to a minimum. The subjects of power should be the people themselves. That is, not when someone does something good for people, but when people do something good for themselves and society. Open the Communist classics and try to find something about totalitarianism there. Not in the capitalists' edited retellings, but in the sources themselves. Here are a few more interesting things you might not know: 1) 90% of the bad things about the USSR were never true 2) 90% of the good things about the USSR were never told to you on purpose 3) The USSR was not a communist country. Maybe only at the very beginning under Lenin and with a huge stretch. You can't even call it socialism. Don't confuse the product packaging with its contents. Packaging can be anything. But if the packaging is Red, it doesn't mean that the content corresponds to it. China, for example, is kind of red, but it's capitalism. If you want something on the subject with proof, I recommend Grover Furr's books. Doesn't cover many topics, but enough to make you realize the magnitude of the deception. His most famous book is Blood Lies, a response to Snyder's book Bloodlands. Greetings from a communist from Siberia/Ukrain! ps. And Orwell, not knowing what communism is, accidentally described modern capitalist society accurately. Irony.
you don't want a balanced budget. you want the government to hold the debt. maybe if I can teach a TH-camr simple economics we can finally move forward as a society. I doubt I'll be successful in this endeavor. propaganda is strong.
That opening killed me. LMAO
Also another weakness of technocracies is that experts may have knowledge in one domain, they lack knowledge in many other domains which their policies would end up effecting due to how interconnected our society is.
Knowledge does not equal wisedom.
Hello, i just wanted to say that I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and it is amazing. Not just this video but literally all of them are great. Thank you so much for introducing me to the Culture novels and to Alaistar Reynolds. Your content is amazing. Keep going, i hope you'll get way more subs because the quality of these videos is just astonishing.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoy my videos 🙏
Should include the god-emperor from Warhammer 40K
Man, I love your playing with words! “Putting the dick in ‘dictator’”. Great to see you again. Always fun!
Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the video 🙂👍
I was hoping that was a segway over to Philip K., but oh well.
@@MagusMarquillin That is even better!!
I'm not sure what the chances are of you seeing this are, or reading it but I feel I have to comment.
Your videos are all magnificent, this one too. The issue I'm writing this is about how you described fascism.
It's worse than how you described it. It does not "often emphasize" authoritarianism and nationalism.
"Nothing against the state, nothing outside the state, everything for the state." That is fascism as described by both Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile, the founders of fascism as it were. Fascism *is* totalitarianism, the fascist views the individual as a cell in an organism, and there can be no dissent in a cell. (Hence fascism's alternative name, "corporatism" as derived from the latin word for body, "corpus.")
While the fascist despises individuality, they paradoxically view fascism as the purest form of democracy. They explain this under the whole "nothing against the state, nothing outside the state, everything for the state" crap. To the fascist since the state is all and the people are the state it means that surely it's a democracy. (Little higher thinking than "it has democracy in the name so it must be democratic).
I'd recommend the Gears of War series for an example of fascism in mass media cause the Coalition of Ordered Governments are overtly fascist regimes. There are a mix of races in the armed forces and government, yet there is no real racism and any discrimination they show is towards foreigners.
As soon as you mentioned "technotopia", I thought "Culture". It might be an anarchy, but all of it would not work without the advanced technology underpinning it all - especially the Minds. I could even argue that the Culture is a weird anarchist-oligarchy-technocratic hybrid with the Minds being the (secret) oligarchs and experts.
It’s an AIcracy.
They’re not oligarchs because an oligarchy is self interested and a manifestation of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie
(GA (Humanity's example).
....).
Nah
AI-ocracy. Artificial intelligence-ocracy. Rule by Artificial Intelligence. Possibly benevolent. Maybe not.
Probably not.
No Heinlein recommendations for Libertarianism?
Logically, any central government that rises out of Human settlement of the Solar system would be almost purely symbolic, with all real power in local government and military (i.e military/ law enforcement space forces). The military's main task would be maintaining the safety of all trade routes.
Yup. It would likely be very comparable to European exploration and colonial setups. The king might say one thing but the conquistador sent across the world (Galaxy) is going to make his own decisions and because of distance and time, there's not gonna be a whole lot anyone back on Earth can say or do.
Great vid! For villainous dictators, I always liked the Archimandrite Luseferous from Iain M Banks Algebraist... Space Joffrey 😂
Ha! Space Joffrey! 🤣rofl!
Uh no the Drummers are not in charge of the Vickies. They're human processing basically. They are tools.
Love this vid.
An example of dystopia or to be specific techno dystopia is the anime Psycho Pass, in which there is a system which calculates probability of someone committing a crime.
Moreover the series i mentioned before Legend of the Galactic Heroes is about (as tv tropes said it) a good autocracy vs a rotten democracy
I love Psycho Pass!!! AND I’ve just started Legends! 👍👍👍
I think Psycho Pass premise of calculable crime coefficient was inspired by PKD's "The Minority Report"
Unless the more recent books have gone off the rails the Star Kingdom of Manticore is a constitutional monarchy, not an autocracy.
Good summary and an excellent varied selection. Plenty for anyone to choose from for seasoned and those new to sci-fi.
A beautiful discussion. Thank you.
Wide ranging and well done!
SF? Go with John Campbell: Lack of accountability corrupts and Absolute lack of accountability corrupts absolutely.
We see this in the USA today.
Nice video.
I've been trying to think of interesting political themes for a fantasy story I'm working on. Fantasy usually just goes with feudal or imperial, but there so much more possibility out there.
youtube, give this man more recs 🤬
As long as it's a Cracy-ism👌
another example to add. this time, a 'the nation state-like still mindset 'governments' have the final say than the 'corporations'' kind of ruling: UCN/ISA (and ICSA(?)) era Humankind's example.
There is nothing inherently wrong with an empire, provided it maintains the peace and avoids conflict.
An empire which draws its energy from the sun would be good.
0:09 I actually laughed out loud. Great vid.
Love your illustrations, did you make them?
May I point out the short story "And Then There Were None" by Eric Frank Russell, in which an anarchistic and pacifistic society utterly frustrates a galactic empire in a hilarious way...
"Okay, I think we need to lighten the tone a bit and look to some future governments to make us feel a bit more optimistic. Haha! Just kidding!" Too true, Darrel! Great video as always.
0:50 Did he say in George Orwell's "1994" ???
Hey Darrel do you have any short story collection recommendations about high tech that I could read? I’m trying to develop a short story reading list and could really use you expertise.
What about the Berserker series?
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is a better depiction of communism than 1984 I think. Not as widely talked about for some reason.
Is 1984 meant to depict communism/socialism? For me it was about the dangers of any absolute authoritarian government, no matter the underlying political ideology.
Communism/socialism is a theory of economics first and foremost. People tend to bungle it up because they base socialism solely on the USSR and CCP instead of looking at the "moderate" socialism of western Europe which works very well.
Good Vid, Queen Elizabeth (Honor Harrington) is Black btw.
Beat me to it.
Have you read “The Golden Age” trilogy by John C. Wright and did you like it?
Earnest Callenbach’s 1975 classic «Ecotopia» is an excellent example of the frequently/usually ignored unintended consequences of what seems to be a good thing. I’ve used this as supplemental reading in courses on environmental management and sustainability. It never ceases to be thought provoking for students and a source of deeper reflection around policy issues that are tossed out for the masses. Also, I really like the channel!
I actually remember reading this novel. Not sure it is applicable in this day and age, but it was a good read.
One of these are our future.
can read your mind, and control your thoughts but can't balance the budget. Sounds like we are there already, lol.
Brazil...
Empires try to achieve a greater good and security even if they must kill you.
Hi Darrel. Great job as always. Please consider developing a video on *caste systems* in science fiction. My favorite examples are the _Red Rising_ series as well as _Brave New World_ For some reason, many of the YA series tend to use caste systems. One example is the _Divergent_ series.
I wouldn't mind an objective AI ruling us based on the greater good, with strong moral and ethical safeguards in place.
It would be a "limited dictatorship" sure, but certainly better than any government we have in place today, especially for our descendants and our ecosystem.
Eh, no. Hard no. The greater good is often an excuse to perform the most vile and evil acts one can imagine.
Hello. Have loved and read science fiction all my life and it’s a shared love with my spouse. Didn’t study literature and love these mini-lectures. As a Librarian, gives me great titles for book clubs and programs 👋🏾🌸
Every rational libertarian will die to defend an individual's right to be wrong - as are all the Italians who hate real pizza (I.e. Hawaiian). ;-) :D
All you are talking about already exist even more on youtube...
but are those videos narrated by a hot dirty blonde eye-candy with a silky baritone voice? 😏
Would you please read me a bedtime story (andalsotellmeimabadboyandneedpunishing) but mainly the bedtime story 😐
Dude, Diamond Age is a crypto-anarchy, the opposite of a technocracy. Major Fail!
it baffles me nobody seems to understand what fascism is ..practically most if not all of the dystopian governments listed are fascistic. And Fascism has Zero to do with nationalism ...the Nazi's were Fascists and the Communists were Fascists. Fascism is simply when the Private and Public enterprise is Ideologically Synced with that of the State ...an example today is Private and Public Institutions in Ideological sync with 1 Political party ...this would be considered a Fascist State. So when Entertainment, Corporations, Educational Institutions are touting a political ideology of 1 Party that is Fascism. Notice Nationalism nor Race has anything to do with it ..though Racists and Nationalists tend to lean politically fascist because they tend to be Authoritarian ..which leads to 1 party Rule ...The Chinese Communist Party is Fascistic for example.
Buddy, you don't know anything about communism at all. Communism is when people govern themselves. That is, all the most educated proletarians are the state. Unlike anarchism, the state is not destroyed, because according to communists the state is just a tool, but its levers of control are transferred to the proletariat, the vertical of power is compressed to a minimum. The subjects of power should be the people themselves. That is, not when someone does something good for people, but when people do something good for themselves and society. Open the Communist classics and try to find something about totalitarianism there. Not in the capitalists' edited retellings, but in the sources themselves.
Here are a few more interesting things you might not know:
1) 90% of the bad things about the USSR were never true
2) 90% of the good things about the USSR were never told to you on purpose
3) The USSR was not a communist country. Maybe only at the very beginning under Lenin and with a huge stretch. You can't even call it socialism.
Don't confuse the product packaging with its contents. Packaging can be anything. But if the packaging is Red, it doesn't mean that the content corresponds to it.
China, for example, is kind of red, but it's capitalism.
If you want something on the subject with proof, I recommend Grover Furr's books. Doesn't cover many topics, but enough to make you realize the magnitude of the deception. His most famous book is Blood Lies, a response to Snyder's book Bloodlands.
Greetings from a communist from Siberia/Ukrain!
ps. And Orwell, not knowing what communism is, accidentally described modern capitalist society accurately. Irony.
sorry... what dude? you think dystopia and utopia are the same thing?
you don't want a balanced budget. you want the government to hold the debt. maybe if I can teach a TH-camr simple economics we can finally move forward as a society. I doubt I'll be successful in this endeavor. propaganda is strong.