It appears chimps are willing to share a banana fairly and we are closely related- it's a start. (NPR or BBC) But also heard farmland was selling for $10,000. an acre and discouraging young independent farmers (which will lead to more agribusiness swallowing up the land).//There is a very long history promoting power and wealth- as a sign of worldly success and divine favor- not sure if there is any way to abolish that notion- well illustrated by the top tiers of socialists and communists- even religious groups.// To be a conservative may mean you have something to conserve (from an old deceased friend); conservatives reward themselves with their own efforts while liberals reward everyone with other people's efforts (thoughts while cooking-rigs). Politicians make endless promises to the poor and middle class in order to secure their votes and stay in office since they(politicians) become unfit for work in the real world.//I think I wanted to be a good person rather than a rich person but I was brainwashed by Catholicism...wasn't I?//
On Jan 14, 9:21 pm, James <[email protected]> wrote: > There are a number of trade routes built into the rewards system though, > for example a simple formula might be: > > Cities favor growth of tax base and expansion, attraction of prospective > citizens and businesses might favor a financial institution over a > private home builder, the contractor may get tax breaks through tricks > between the bank and taxing authorities to greatly increase profits for > everyone except the buyer. The financial institution rewards contractors > and gains from relationships with all three and everyone has their hands > in the others' pocket making gains from the buyer. The whole system is > in the rewards game and it is designed to favor those who can leverage > scale and the promise of a shared economic gain. > > My thinking is very in line with Andrew's on establishing a higher > baseline, I think it would be a worthwhile investment in humanity. But > it doesn't sound probable as long as we are addicted to perpetual growth > schemes that rely on massive excess capacity and waste to prop up an > increasingly top heavy infrastructure. > > Someone once said that an empty stomach doesn't make the best advisor > for the future (or similarly rather). I think that cuts right to Neil's > second brain (the enteric nervous system) that drives an an organism > with primal survival motives, and that is the manipulation in play, I > cannot imagine the promise of democracy seeing the light of day while > higher cognitive functions such as navigating complex multidimensional > environments (societies/states) to solve complex sociological challenges > (lest we believe this is just about money, or at all?!) toward mutually > beneficial outcomes. Unless I was blinded by the pie in the sky I had > something along the lines of a just, healthy and productive society in > mind when first learning about democracy. > > What I see is a large part of people's lives driven by fear, that primal > second brain. I think it should piss us off that we could be far more > productive if someone cared to put the infrastructure in place for our > outputs to be recycled back into society to a larger and more integral > extent, from lack of imagination and dominance of a culture of usury and > isolation. We can invent money but not cure poverty? Who is driving the > boat? (oh democracy, hmm).. > > Distribution of prestige and privilege in our society is as powerful > today as it has been for a long time, how we pursue that I think will > determine whether we fulfill the promise of democracy. The society we > engineer will determine whether the activities of citizens resemble > intelligent, caring, inspired beings or a mound of parasites and > resource aggregating automata. Pardon the crude reductionism to an > absurd dichotomy. > > The possibility of a better world, is it armament enough? Takes more > than imagination, but really, what is it that separates us from the > other animals?! > > On 1/14/2013 9:43 AM, archytas wrote: > > > > > In HE in the UK state school students marginally outperform those from > > private education - until they enter the job market. Social mobility > > between income groups has fallen substantially across the west. We > > have lost a grip on the economic dynamic. Many economists believed > > the rentier part of capitalism would wither away - much as Marx > > thought the State would. What interests me is that we end up with the > > 'socialist state' either through 'revolution' or via a financial > > system stacked in favour of sending money to the very rich who form a > > politburo of their own. My guess is we are trapped because we can't > > change financialism and attitudes to work - through an underlying fear > > of freedom and lack of recognition this has to be structured in such a > > way there is no need to think much about it once we have something > > decent in place. > > > On Jan 13, 2:01 pm, rigs<[email protected]> wrote: > >> Regard the lilies of the field... > > >> In fairness, the US has its share/history of ex-pats. > > >> Debt has a greater earning potential than savings for financial > >> instiutions. Living beyond one's means is promoted in various ways. > >> America is the land of re-invention (social and geographic mobility). > > >> Am partial to savory myself but my grand-daughters requested pies so > >> pies they had. I do like something sweet maybe once a day.//My habits > >> were influenced by my early years at boarding school- Sacred Heart > >> Convent. Home was rather dramatic and chaotic while school and camp > >> developed other rhythms. Am quite different from my mother or daughter > >> in many ways but like many people I have tried out various "poses". Am > >> only human, afterall. > > >> On Jan 12, 7:54 am, archytas<[email protected]> wrote: > > >>> When I think about a technology solution I'm not much concerned with > >>> the hardware and software. Most people who drive have very little > >>> clue how vehicles work and even less about how they are made. What > >>> I've been pondering for a long time is whether we can do something > >>> similar for argument and fashion something we can 'drive'. The > >>> spreadsheet is a bit of an example, along with databases. People get > >>> fixated on numbers and techie stuff - and probably with the cruelty of > >>> potential and real uses. There is an emancipatory potential. In > >>> essence this is as simple as, say, me wanting to make a blueberry pie, > >>> not knowing and being able to whistle-up help from rigs or the > >>> 'cloud' (actually I don't like fruit pies). > >>> Ancient Greeks (the Pyrrhonists) knew very different and almost > >>> equally compelling argument could be made about almost anything. > >>> Their 'solution' was a special state of mind involving suspended > >>> judgement - but this relies on 'being clever' enough to achieve the > >>> state of mind. In fact, argument is not of one form but several - > >>> nine are usually considered and have rather different rules.Most > >>> philosophic consideration assumes we argue fairly and politics makes > >>> this a farce before we start. If we are serious about democracy we > >>> have to consider ignorance and means round this other than our failed > >>> educational systems. When I first taught finance a lot of the work > >>> was in calculation and one mistake meant going through everything in > >>> that bit of the system again. Such work is now done by the technology > >>> and indeed the technology has enabled new work to be done - mostly > >>> through its vast iterative speed. The big snags remain garbage in > >>> garbage out, cheating and focus on deriving competitive advantage only > >>> in the financial bottom line. What we need is technology that will > >>> deliver access to embodied knowledge for us all - enabling very clever > >>> solutions for generally not very clever people. This would involve a > >>> transparency we have not previously achieved since we lived in small > >>> groups and probably beyond this. At the moment we have financial > >>> accounting no one can see through - try reading Wells Fargo's 2011 > >>> annual report. I couldn't make sense of most bank reports without a > >>> team of dozens and carte blanche investigation authority. > > >>> I like the idea of 'sending brains' back to countries of origin rigs - > >>> but can we really assume our establishment is really interested in > >>> fixing the problems in any of them - much argument points to the > >>> opposite including such as McJihad in which the US Empire uses Islam > >>> to divide and rule - the literature here is vast. I agree the old > >>> muscle man is mostly long gone (though around the world women do much > >>> of the hard slog anyway - the insect worker gender is generally female > >>> too) - indeed farming once made living conditions worse for the people > >>> who had to do the work. > > >>> We lack answers to incredibly simple questions such as how much work > >>> it is reasonable to expect of an individual, what we can reasonably > >>> allow in safeguarding the planet, how we might reasonably police the > >>> world and so on. Pretty much every economist (Adam Smith, Richardo, > >>> Marx, Ely, Veblen, Keynes) has questioned why we allow a rentier class > >>> and suggested an extirpation of such. Why do we still have a very old > >>> work ethic with all the helping technology around? How have massive > >>> productivity gains 'led' to lower ages, more debt and so on? > > >>> My guess is argument is a roadblock to changes we desperately need, > >>> including the establishment of world peace - here who would develop > >>> another country with a power elite of male zombies who need to black- > >>> bag women and who would come looking to extend their libidinal empire > >>> once our steel was beaten into plough-shares? What would motivation > >>> to work be in a world without want? > > >>> I have a feeling we'd have to develop knowledge technology through > >>> practical projects - converting communities green, more sociable, self- > >>> sustaining - and this would require changes in attitudes to what > >>> investment is. > > >>> On Jan 12, 12:28 pm, rigs<[email protected]> wrote: > > >>>> Why don't some of the brains that the USA has drained move back to > >>>> their home countries and fix them? I am thinking of those who withdrew > >>>> all their money and live like fat cats while their country collapses. > > >>>> On Jan 11, 3:27 pm, archytas<[email protected]> wrote: > > >>>>> I may have to move back to Scotland to stay in the EU. Sad stuff, > >>>>> showing only we haven't moved on here. I see the French now have > >>>>> boots on the ground in Mali. > > >>>>> On Jan 11, 8:26 pm, gabbydott<[email protected]> wrote: > > >>>>>> You see, you shouldn't have changed your proxy settings from Scottish > >>>>>> to > >>>>>> English! > > >>>>>> Ah well, the American Empire is helping us out again, here it is in the > >>>>>> French language version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSgIhU28B8. > >>>>>> Foreign > > ... > > read more »- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --
