I agree and plead guilty to leading this list off track. I am a co-owner of the list and have intervened in the past to prevent precisely this. I posted the Swiss material in response to a list-member from Switzerland who has, in the past, flung some arrows at other countries and how they run their affairs. It was posted in the spirit of "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" Tempting to do on my part, but I should have practiced restraint. However I did post the material and I shouldn't have. It led the list astray. And to the others, posting the material on the Pres. of Iran was also off-topic and so I apologize on this account too. So.....thanx for the reminder. To all remaining list members let's try to stay on topic. I will do so and hope that others who have strongly felt views on non-FW topics will post those views to the relevant lists. All the best. Arthur
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stephen Markan Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 10:27 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Futurework] Switzerland: Europe's heart of darkness? While I cam see this is an important topic deserving of deep academic debate and investigation - I am just curious as to how this relates to the "purpose" of this futurework list? I am just one of the technical drones that monitor the status of the list and the hardware it resides on - and every once in a while I browse the posts. from the listinfo page: "FUTUREWORK: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work in all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines and/or in low-wage countries. Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need for ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth. What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure, adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals? This is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for income distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are questions of how to take back control of these events, how to turn technological change into the opportunity for a richer life rather than the recipe for a bladerunner society. Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as possible in re-designing for the new realities. We hope that this list will help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and political agendas worldwide. The FUTUREWORK list is hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo. "
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