[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Harry wrote,
>
> Arthur,
>
> You are probably too right about this.
>
> From where outside will succor come?
>
> Harry
>
> Arthur replies,
>
> Harry,
>
> I think that much of the conversation that has taken place on FW over the
> years has the makings of what the change will be like.
>
> Shortened work weeks
Lengthened workweeks except for the growing industrial reserve
army.
> Telework
In people's "off hours".
> Local Currencies
Scrip (company IOUs that are worthless if you try to
leave)
> Self employment
Every man for himself
> Guaranteed Annual Income/Basic Economic Security
In Germany and France
> New forms of taxation
(You got me on this one.)
> Georgist initiatives
Bushido
> Better training and broadened education
A return to indentured servitude for most students
> Worker engagement (perhaps through direct ownership)
Bad attitude will be punished by immediate termination
> Strengthened and enlightened unions
Where? In Norway?
> Full cost accounting (to avoid pollution)
The accounting industry is looking for
unexploited markets
> Energy friendly production and consumption
Enron redux! (Cheney to the rescue!)
> A gradual move to sustainable growth
Total elimination of capital gains and inheritance taxes
> Re-regulation (which will be called "smart regulation")
Stronger reins on union avtivity
> Broadened governance to allow the inclusion of more voices/concerns
Broadband
> Valuing activities more broadly
Monetarization of the underground economy.
> New pricing mechanisms
An end to anti-trust regulation
> Treating workers as assets rather than costs which can be cut
Above the Vice President level
> Worker sabbaticals
You'll have Sundays off unless your Sabbath falls
on a different day (work 6 of 7).
> etc.
More of the same.
>
> In fact it is hard to imagine a novel idea that needs to be unearthed. The
> ideas discussed on FW all have to be developed for impacts and implications.
> And someday they will. Some amalgam of the above and some others that have
> been discussed will come to pass.
The living will envy the dead. (Sorry, this is supposed to be
humorous)
>
> It will happen when there is a system break, either economic, political, or
> environmental. In the rush to salvage the system there will be a sudden
> appetite to listen to and implement these ideas. In much the same way that
> Keynes was suddenly listened to during the 1930's.
Moore's Law will save us from social change: The processing
speed of computers will increase faster than
the amount of clerical work to be done.
>
> So we are doing something on this list. We are presenting and discussing
> new forms of organization appropriate to a new economy. Those who are
> currently at the helm are content to play out all the options. At one point
> while foundering on the shoals of reality they will cast about for new
> options. On FW we have been discussing possible alternatives. Forgive me
> if I have left out some FW ideas from the above list.
Q: Why did the foetus fight to prevent itself from being born?
A: Because it didn't want to forfeit its right to life.
>
> So, I guess I am an optimist after all.
I have written probably the world's shortest Science Fiction
novel/history of the future:
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/moreEtc.html#fu
I believe it was in 1927 that Ettore Schmitz (AKA Italo Svevo)
ended his novel _Confessions of Zeno_ with the vision of a man
tunneling to the center of the earth and placing an explosive charge
there and detonating it and purging the universe of the pestilence
that is the human species. (I did not think of this -- I just
read the book).
>
> There is no undiscovered economic theorem out there that will offer a
> magical solution: There only needs to be leaders (elected and appointed)
> willing (or needing) to listen and act.
In all seriousness, I concur with Elias Canetti, as he wrote
in his _Crowds and Power_, that the continued worship of power
is a threat to humanity in our time, and that power needs to
be demystified: Neither leaders nor followers. (Oh, yes,
Canetti did win the nobel prize for literature, and I believe
it was less than 50 years ago, so there was at lesat one
winner in the past 50 years who was at lesast somewhat deserving,
although neither Broch nor Musil won a Nobel, and both
were greater than Canetti, but Canetti is still a substantive
writer -- as the title of one of his books has it:
The Conscience of Words
>
> arthur
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 3:19 PM
> To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: To survive or not to survive.
>
> Arthur,
>
> You are probably too right about this.
>
> From where outside will succor come?
Ray is right: Brooklyn -- there's nothing like it back home.
Language is a virus from outer space
(--William S Burroughs)
\brad mccormick
[snip]
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
