tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post1039063596080457069..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Tales of optimism - and concern - for planet Earth David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1400023699473684032021-12-12T10:55:11.849-08:002021-12-12T10:55:11.849-08:00onward
onward
onward<br /><br />onward<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-17873414121964416182021-12-12T10:26:00.619-08:002021-12-12T10:26:00.619-08:00onwardonwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33962968143995201882021-12-12T09:32:03.325-08:002021-12-12T09:32:03.325-08:00Robert:
There was a recent study (which I can'...Robert:<br /><i><br />There was a recent study (which I can't locate a link for now) which showed that in terms of legislation, the US Congress backed their donors over their voters almost all the time.<br /></i><br /><br />We hardly need studies to show us what we already know. Look at the one and only policy bill the Republicans were able to pass when they last had Congress and the White House--the tax break for billionaires and corporations. It was so <b>unpopular</b> even among the Republicans' own voters that those Republicans had to avoid constituents like the plague, lest they be forced to listen to a tongue-lashing. But their <b>donors</b> told them to get it done so they did.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21911230321198376832021-12-12T09:25:15.402-08:002021-12-12T09:25:15.402-08:00duncan cairncross:
The actual villains are all de...duncan cairncross:<br /><i><br />The actual villains are all dead or very old<br /><br />HOWEVER their successors benefiting from the horror and maintaining it are still alive<br /></i><br /><br />One might start with Jeff Sessions and his whole "Only bad people use marijuana" line of argument.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63773794661421088232021-12-12T07:51:29.918-08:002021-12-12T07:51:29.918-08:00Alfred, you're moving the goalposts.
I repli...Alfred, you're moving the goalposts. <br /><br />I replied to your comment about power: "Seeking power USED to lead to vice in days when bloody conquest was common and politics was a blood sport. Show me the massacres now."<br /><br />I showed you massacres. <br /><br />Now your reply is "Now take the next step and see if you can name billionaires responsible for these things."<br /><br />My answer is that you wrote that seeking power <i>used</i> to lead to vice, and asked to be shown massacres. Seeking power apparently still leads to vice (and massacres). <br /><br /><br />You might argue that money and power are different, but that isn't the way we've structured our society. To get political power you generally need a lot of money behind you. Here's a breakdown of where that comes from in your country:<br /><br />https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/congress-corporate-sponsors/<br /><br />There was a recent study (which I can't locate a link for now) which showed that in terms of legislation, the US Congress backed their donors over their voters almost all the time. Which indicates to me that money translates to power. And we've all seen laws passed favouring certain industries, so power also translates to money.<br /><br />Individual names will be hard to get, because the system is set up to obscure them. Still, you've heard of the Koch brothers? Rupert Murdoch?<br /><br />“I’m not sure that the Blair government or Tony Blair would have been able to take the British people to war if it hadn’t been for the implacable support provided by the Murdoch papers. There’s no doubt that came from Mr Murdoch himself.”<br /><br />https://pressgazette.co.uk/dacre-says-murdoch-press-support-allowed-iraq-war/<br /><br /><br />It was billionaires who relentlessly off-shored American jobs in pursuit of higher profits, which hollowed out the middle class. It was billionaires who relentlessly crushed unions. It was billionaires who pushed opioids. How much suffering have the Waltons and Sacklers caused? (That's over 100,000 deaths a year, 1/3 from legally-prescribed drugs that were manufactured and sold at a profit.)<br /><br />Who caused the financial crisis of a decade ago? Who got their bonuses and stock options, and who suffered?Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909011338723657265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56407549017827497292021-12-12T02:31:42.191-08:002021-12-12T02:31:42.191-08:00@ Alfred
Which billionaires should we behead to ...@ Alfred<br /> <br /><i>Which billionaires should we behead to deal with this, hmm? </i><br /><br />The Drug Lords and, more importantly, the Bankers involved in money-laundering. Targeting the money flows should have the higher priority in law enforcement than targeting addicts and low-level dealers. Legalizing drugs destroys their markets. Confiscate real estates and luxury cars and other toys. Oh, and regulate companies like Purdue Pharma and sue families like the Sacklers into oblivion.<br /><br />You are probably right with the rest of your assumptions.<br /><br />My point is, never allow an individual to have more influence than the state. Keep the state free of their grasp. If you want to keep a free, lawful and democratic society you must keep them in check, in one way or another.<br /><br />Think of the following scenario: Your country burns again, just like it did last year, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Servile_War" rel="nofollow">only worse</a>. In this situation, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Licinius_Crassus" rel="nofollow">billionaire owner</a> of a security and defense contractor company <a href="https://wkc6428.medium.com/the-lead-federal-agency-responding-to-protesters-in-portland-employs-thousands-of-private-db137349f8b0" rel="nofollow"> offers to send in his mercenaries</a> to restore order (which he has prepared exactly for this type of intervention), backed up with <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/11/15/standing-rock-tigerswan-infiltrator-documents/" rel="nofollow">intelligence assets he owns</a>. Since the state's own forces are exhausted and spreaded thin, they accept. After weeks of blood and fire in the streets, peace is restored. The political opposition, including those pesky independent, leftist media has been put to the wall. For a short time, the billionaire is that governments hero and they expect him to give the power back. Only he does not, and turns on them. Or allies with other strongmen and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Triumvirate" rel="nofollow">forms a loose, informal alliance</a> dominating the government.<br /><br />Maybe billionaires should be watched very closely, as closely as extremist groups of any shade are watched.Der Ogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00977602334642769985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59045616473405550282021-12-12T00:35:24.167-08:002021-12-12T00:35:24.167-08:00Name them. Please.
The ones responsible for the M...Name them. Please.<br /><br />The ones responsible for the Mexican problem are mostly dead - the biggest responsibility goes to one Richard Nixon<br />https://qz.com/645990/nixon-advisor-we-created-the-war-on-drugs-to-criminalize-black-people-and-the-anti-war-left/<br /><br />“You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”<br /><br />The actual villains are all dead or very old<br /><br />HOWEVER their successors benefiting from the horror and maintaining it are still alive<br /><br />I would include 90% of GOP politicians on that list<br /><br />I would also include the Koch brothers as part of the enablers<br />duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30374342886054425092021-12-11T21:13:50.883-08:002021-12-11T21:13:50.883-08:00Between Robert and Der Oger we've got a growin...Between Robert and Der Oger we've got a growing list for massacres that we can use to test the belief that removing the opportunity to remain a billionaire will work in the future to prevent more massacres.<br /><br />Robert's<br />—————<br />Sudan (Let us focus on the Darfur genocide)<br />Rwanda (Let us focus on the Tutsi genocide)<br />Sri Lanka (Tamil genocide)<br />Yazidi Persecution (Kurdish homeland) <br />The Rohingya (and the broader conflict between Hindus and Muslims)<br /><br /><br />Der Oger's<br />—————<br />Endemic gun violence in the USA<br />Mexican Drug Cartel Violence<br /><br />Ponder these lists for a moment and a few patters pop to the top of mind immediately. The list from Der Oger is mostly about crime. Robert's list goes deeper into inter-culture and civil wars.<br /><br />Now take the next step and see if you can name billionaires responsible for these things. Whether you could make charges stick in court of not, imagine yourself able to strip the money from billionaires by magic. Who would you strip (given 20/20 hindsight) to stop these deaths?<br /><br />My view on Robert's list<br />—————<br /><br />If you think stripping money from people will stop Hindus and Muslims from killing each other in some parts of the world you are utterly unaware of how deep their hatreds run. Strip all the money you want and they'd sharpen sticks to carry on. Want to help them? Help them join our civilization even if that means helping them relocate.<br /><br />If you think you can stop genocides in the Fertile Crescent you are utterly delusional. That cradle of civilization has known genocide since the first cities were born shortly after the ice melted. I don't care how many you impoverish trying to stop them. The only methods we've seen work were horrible fascist states that applied a short-term band-aid. Want to help them? Guess what? Help them join our civilization. Spend your wealth accordingly AND DIRECTLY. Don't give it to fascist bastards like Saddam was.<br /><br />Sudan, Rwanda, and every other place where tribes have been at war since before recorded history… Guess what? Help get them out of there. You can't impoverish them enough to stop it, so stop trying. Try the inverse instead. Get them into the world markets so they have something they treasure more than the righteous indignation they feel for tragedies immortal.<br /><br />Don't think this can work? Well. Europes tribes used to slaughter each other in huge numbers too. Especially the barbarians roaming the flatlands stretching from from Channel to North Sea to the Baltic.<br /><br />My view on Der Oger's list<br />—————<br /><br />Ha ha ha! If you think stripping billionaires of cash will stop Americans from loving guns, you don't know us. We love alcohol too and tried to ban that about a century ago. Didn't work. Instead we funded illegal cash into… dig this… our own drug cartels. We wanted alcohol bad enough we were willing to fund some very evil men to provide it. What do you all suppose we'd do if anyone tried to prohibit guns? Hmm?<br /><br />Mexican citizens suffer a most terrible fate being so close to us. Their cartel violence is mostly our fault. We've gone and done something truly stupid in prohibiting something many of us want bad enough to pay very evil men to provide it. This time the providers are across the border in a land that isn't rich enough to kill them all. Which billionaires should we behead to deal with this, hmm? I'd like to know. I'd LOVE to pin this evil on someone and screw them back. Name them. Please.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32580010508658779442021-12-11T20:26:03.423-08:002021-12-11T20:26:03.423-08:00Der Oger,
Heh. I like D&D a great deal. I pla...Der Oger,<br /><br />Heh. I like D&D a great deal. I played through much of the 80's and a bit in the early 90's under the original v1.0 rules… with one very important variation. I wouldn't play under GM's (let alone be one) that awarded experience strictly by the rules. Experience for gold for a monk? Nonsense. For a paladin it really SHOULD have been related to the character's goals and the player's understanding of how they were achieving them. Straight formula use was a dumb idea.<br /><br />The first character I got to play under a GM that understood this was a cleric of a trickster god. I got experience based on how well the character served that god's interests. Gold? Sure. Rather useful. Sneaky tricks? MUCH better. Awareness by me the player of how I was doing it (documented on the battle sheets and correspondence) was the real way to advance.<br /><br />Anyway… a Paladin really should be able to fight evil EFFECTIVELY. That means distinguishing targets from distractions and measuring the success of their techniques. Same goes for all the other character classes… because that's closer to how real life actually works. If one is going to role play a character, it sure helps to know that sensible techniques will produce sensible results. Luck plays a role, of course, but should not dominate unless fully intended by someone in the game.<br /><br /><br />I can put on my 'paladin helm' and recognize that gold just one way to trace a path to evil-doers. Plenty of evil is done by poor people too. I'd argue that most of it is, but the rich man can amplify his evil by hiring (at best) amoral henchmen. Strip him of his money and one mitigates the damage done, but fails to remediate it.<br /><br />If I put on my 'enlightenment civilization enthusiast' hat instead, much of that translates with little change. Big pieces gets added, though. <br />1) What constitutes 'evil' should not be decided by a tiny few.<br />2) Stopping cheaters MUST be done ex post facto. Cheating will happen and we learn from it to stop repetition. We will never, ever, ever stop cheating ex ante.<br />3) Tolerance of evil is not acceptance of it. It is quite possible to overreact to a minor evil and create a worse one.<br /><br />Of the two characters, I find the paladin fun to play occasionally and the member of a great civilization worth becoming.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81027463487883577302021-12-11T14:32:05.593-08:002021-12-11T14:32:05.593-08:00@Musk: It could get interesting for his Giga Facto...@Musk: It could get interesting for his Giga Factory in the state of Brandenburg, near Berlin. Apparently, he did not wait until all concessions to build that factory were granted, and there are hundreds of objections to the construction site (which sits in a protected water reservoir. Also, he will use 12-13% of that state's water, which is also notorious for forest fires and droughts.<br /><br />He will start full production there early next year (target is 500.000 Teslas per year), test runs already underway. It is very likely the state government grants these concessions and deflects the objections(the state is still underdeveloped when compared to the western states, and jobs still beat environmental concerns <i>there</i>). Yet, if the objections enter the system of the administrative courts, it could happen that Musk will have to scrap that project well after he has produced millions of cars there. On the high sea and in the courts, you're at god's mercy, as they say.<br />Der Ogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00977602334642769985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40903889848747962062021-12-11T14:15:35.853-08:002021-12-11T14:15:35.853-08:00So… show me the modern massacres and I'll poin...<i>So… show me the modern massacres and I'll point out our next opportunity for a crusade.<br /><br />Money isn't the evil to be crushed.</i><br /><br />Robert has already provided good examples, I'd add the endemic gun violence in the USA and the Mexican Drug Cartel wars (which have spilled over to the Netherlands a bit in the last years.)<br /><br />Otherwise, I agree on money not being the evil. Yet, it enables people doing evil stuff with it, causing much harm in the wrong hands; and it allows them to gain protection from the consequences of their evil. Being to able to afford a better lawyer, influencing favorable legislature, and to buy doomsday bunkers all fall in this latter category. There is no simple, tidy solution to it*, the process requires painful compromises again and again. No human mind can imagine a game that cannot be rigged in any way, people just become better at cheating.<br /><br />The danger is that because the process is so slow and there will always be cheaters and sometimes loss of goals already achieved throws progress back a few decades, you will eventually loose people investing in this process (i.e voting, believing or otherwise participating) and maybe look for other options.<br /><br />*I would say simple solutions to complex problems are never tidy. Go, ask Louis XVI.<br /><br />Nice you mentioned D&D. I find it noteworthy that even the noble, righteous paladin advanced in experience levels (=power) less by slaying monsters, but more by finding and looting their treasures. :-) Still, one of the better game mechanics to measure character progression objectively.<br />Der Ogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00977602334642769985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56034601321912529522021-12-11T14:02:47.976-08:002021-12-11T14:02:47.976-08:00scidata:
a horrible, self-inflicted shambling to ...scidata:<br /><i><br />a horrible, self-inflicted shambling to oblivion, but played out through a single life. The Howard Campbell and George Will parallel is a bit of a stretch, but I do get the point.<br /></i><br /><br />I can only speak to <i>Mother Night</i> the novel, which may or may not reflect the movie. Caveat emptor.<br /><br />To me, the Howard Campbell character more resembles Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity--that is, if their ravings were a pretense by which to trick FOX into having them on the air while they passed secretly-coded information along to the good guys on those broadcasts. And just as Campbell's Nazi father-in-law noted of Campbell at their parting, it doesn't matter if Tucker or Hannity are really authoritarian terrorists or just pretend to be in order to keep their tv spots for some higher purpose. Because the damage they are doing is just as real either way.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23478258971458082802021-12-11T13:18:30.066-08:002021-12-11T13:18:30.066-08:00Scidata well said.Scidata well said.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13115406151910372872021-12-11T12:44:15.008-08:002021-12-11T12:44:15.008-08:00If zero-sum / 'diabolical' success / histo...If zero-sum / 'diabolical' success / history-as-cyclical mentality wins out, then we're all dead men walking. That's the primary theme in CB across the several years I've been here and presumably long, long before. Whether in the context of romanticism, politics, or the Fermi paradox. More recently, Covid has provided another sandbox experiment with the same conclusions. As Aldous Huxley put it, facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. <br /><br />This is not a philosophical debate about Pollyanna-ish naivete (that would be pleasant and even amusing). It's about existence, plain and simple. Jacob Marley's words were not aimed just at one selfish old fool. I ploughed through MOTHER NIGHT (the 1996 Nick Nolte film). I'm guessing it had Vonnegut's blessing because he actually makes a cameo appearance. It has the same feel as ON THE BEACH (1959) - a horrible, self-inflicted shambling to oblivion, but played out through a single life. The Howard Campbell and George Will parallel is a bit of a stretch, but I do get the point. CITOKATE - the favourite drink of the civilized world.scidatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152319593457629592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44495485964126940992021-12-11T11:43:44.867-08:002021-12-11T11:43:44.867-08:00Dr Brin:
But attractor states and feudal malgover...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />But attractor states and feudal malgovernance are not the same thing as the insipid “cycles” delusion, which are spread by apologists and shills FOR oligarchy, who chant that it is the active, vigorously creative middle classes who are the decadent ones, because they believe and work for positive sums.<br /></i><br /><br />I've spent too much of my lifetime listening to that "Protestant Work Ethic" crap which asserts that any time spent away from toil is decadent and harmful to society. Most decent people will work their asses off in an "all hands on deck" mode during a crisis which requires it, but when such crises end, it's time to decompress a bit and catch up on rest and food. The idea that we're somehow letting society down by taking some time to enjoy the fruits of labor rather than laboring until we drop is more than absurd. It is evil.<br />Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11689192306834271482021-12-11T11:38:56.923-08:002021-12-11T11:38:56.923-08:00Robert:
The economist Ha-Joon Chang calls this &#...Robert:<br /><i><br />The economist Ha-Joon Chang calls this 'pulling up the ladder' — benefiting from a measure until one is successful, then demanding it be ended so others can't share the same success. <br /></i><br /><br />A tale as old as time. Clarence Thomas denouncing any sort of Affirmative Action, without which he would not be on the supreme court. Paul Ryan trying to kill Social Security after being raised on it.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76058122245588509872021-12-11T11:21:07.954-08:002021-12-11T11:21:07.954-08:00No need to get complicated in answering Treebeard’...No need to get complicated in answering Treebeard’s cycles-of-decadence mantra. It’s a lunatic, masturbatory incantation that has never been right, even once, across human history. As I show here: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-tytler-calumny-is-democracy-hopeless.html<br /><br />Do Kings and dynasties sometimes cycle like that? Sure. <br /><br />And there are Attractor States that routinely suck nations in, especially the one that has our ent’s reflexive “see Kyle” devotion: feudal rule by brutal lords and their spoiled inheritance brats, who thereupon wreak chaos and decline with the malgovernance that has always been the bitter fruit of feudalism. <br /><br />But attractor states and feudal malgovernance are not the same thing as the insipid “cycles” delusion, which are spread by apologists and shills FOR oligarchy, who chant that it is the active, vigorously creative middle classes who are the decadent ones, because they believe and work for positive sums.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13209585745405126402021-12-11T07:27:21.951-08:002021-12-11T07:27:21.951-08:00Show me the massacres now.
Sudan. Rwanda. Sri Lan...<i>Show me the massacres now.</i><br /><br />Sudan. Rwanda. Sri Lanka. The Yaziidi. The Rohingya. et bloody cetera.<br /><br />The fact that you don't see them in the headlines doesn't mean they don't happen.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909011338723657265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50159701596926210232021-12-11T07:16:47.586-08:002021-12-11T07:16:47.586-08:00I can never tell if Elon Musk is a genius or a con...<i>I can never tell if Elon Musk is a genius or a con man.<br /><br />After learning this week that his fortune is based on $4.9 billion in subsidies courtesy of the American taxpayer, I'm going to go with con man.</i><br /><br />Subsidies he now says shouldn't exist.<br /><br />The economist Ha-Joon Chang calls this 'pulling up the ladder' — benefiting from a measure until one is successful, then demanding it be ended so others can't share the same success. Not idea if that's an official term in economics or just a good metaphor.<br /><br />Doesn't make him any more a con man than any other businessman who does the same thing. Which you could interpret as saying that a great many businessmen are con men, and I wouldn't disagree, but it is sound business ethics according to those I know in business.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909011338723657265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15614722180641672582021-12-11T06:59:18.403-08:002021-12-11T06:59:18.403-08:00Cari Burstein:
in general it does seem to benefit...Cari Burstein:<br /><i><br />in general it does seem to benefit the individual to be "diabolical" if what they see as success is primarily measured in power and worldly goods. <br /></i><br /><br />If selfishness motivates you, then selfish actions breed success. If evil motivates you, then evil actions breed success. It's practically a tautology.<br /><br />That touches on my own (secular) speculation of what afterlife might be like. There's no separate Heaven or Hell that "good people" or "bad people" go to. Rather, everyone has the same afterlife, but you spend it knowing without illusion or evasion just exactly who and what you are. If you're the kind of person who can look yourself in they eyes in the mirror without flinching, then it feels like Heaven. If you cringe or despair at the waste you made of your life, then it feels like Hell. Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50637612354200470552021-12-11T06:56:12.086-08:002021-12-11T06:56:12.086-08:00Catfish: Investors prefer logarithmic/exponential ...Catfish: Investors prefer logarithmic/exponential growth to sustainable growth - it has a much higher ROI.DPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07087941506162882852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72711797399747914942021-12-11T02:35:24.304-08:002021-12-11T02:35:24.304-08:00"I hope you will suddenly be tempted by great..."I hope you will suddenly be tempted by great wealth."<br /><br />There is an even better line from "Fiddler on the Roof"<br /><br />Perchik: Money is the world's curse.<br /><br />Tevye: Then may the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover!<br /><br /><br /><br />DPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07087941506162882852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57000872781886436032021-12-11T02:32:22.359-08:002021-12-11T02:32:22.359-08:00"DD That is a poor basis to choose con-man.&q..."DD That is a poor basis to choose con-man."<br /><br />How about "hypocrite".<br /><br />Someone needs to inform Elon that it's bad form to bitch about additional taxes on billionaires when he would never have become a billionaire in the first place with $4.9 billion in subsidies courtesy of the American tax payer.DPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07087941506162882852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45072093808292021152021-12-11T02:29:08.355-08:002021-12-11T02:29:08.355-08:00World population will peak faster and fall quicker...World population will peak faster and fall quicker than anticipated, due to the effects of educating young women.<br /><br />https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/the-best-news-of-2020-humanity-may-never-hit-the-10-billion-mark/<br /><br />The best news of 2020? Humanity may never hit the 10 billion mark<br />While watching 2020 unfold has been like watching someone set themself on fire with a bucket of bacon grease and a firecracker, one morning I stumbled on something that made me smile, and then jump for joy: A new study found that the global human population might peak at just under 10 billion people in the 2060s before tapering off to 8.8 billion by 2100.<br /><br />What miracle could achieve such a slowdown in human reproduction after a century of smack-yourself-in-the-face runaway growth? It’s not war, or nuclear holocaust, or plague (COVID-19, as tragic as its mishandling has been by certain governments, will do little to slow down population growth). It’s two things, both wonderfully non-violent: women’s education, and access to birth control.<br /><br />The new findings, published in the medical journal The Lancet, differ from other population forecasts, most importantly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNPD) and the Wittgenstein Centre, by predicting that the global population will peak sooner than expected and fall quicker than anticipated (though still, by 2100, the Earth would house more humans than the 7.8 billion of us here today).<br /><br />This was good news. No, no, this was freaking great news. Because if this research — which made some clever shifts in how it analyzed the data and predicted the future — could be believed, it could mean that Planet Earth, in all its ecological glory, might just survive our current devastating onslaught and begin to recover in the coming centuries. Assuming we, of course, actually deal with climate change. A big assumption.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />DPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07087941506162882852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-75245068407751844392021-12-11T02:28:49.649-08:002021-12-11T02:28:49.649-08:00More on declining demographics
https://www.nextbi...More on declining demographics<br /><br />https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2021/12/173993.html<br /><br />Asia Population Peaks by 2040 Under 5 Billion<br />Recent census for India and China have reported sharper drops in birthrates even before COVID. COVID is further suppressing birthrates. India will likely only add 100-140 million people instead of 273 million. China’s population will decline more sharply. The Total Fertility Rate drop was expected to take until 2050 in Asia appears to have already happened.<br /><br />https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2021/12/indias-population-will-peak-earlier-than-expected.html<br /><br />India’s Population Could Peak Within 15 Years<br />India’s national Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has fallen below the replacement level for the first time. India’s national Total Fertility Rate has dropped 1.6 in cities and to 2.1 in rural areas. The TFR was found to be 2.2 in the NFHS 2015-16 survey and 2.7 in the NFHS 2005-06 survey... India was adding over 18 million people per year in 2005 but in 2020 this dropped to adding 13 million. A persistent lower fertility could see the population peak around 2035 to 2040 instead of after 2050 in older projections.<br /><br />Everyone's birthrates are crashing - except for Africa's. If these trends continue and the majority of working age adults live in sub-Saharan Africa by 2100, then Africa becomes the future center of human civilization and economic growth.<br /><br />https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2011/06/one-in-three-people-will-live-in-sub-saharan-africa-in-2100-says-un/<br /><br />Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth, if it follows these projections, will likely have important geopolitical repercussions. Today, the region is home to more than 877 million people, or roughly 12 in every 100 people on Earth. In 2100, the medium-variant projection for sub-Saharan population is 3.36 billion people, or one in every three people on the planet. Such an increase in human capital could be a major asset, but whether or not economies can grow quickly enough to accommodate it – as well as provide the number of new schools, hospitals, infrastructure projects, and other services that will be needed in general – will be a crucial challenge.<br /><br />DPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07087941506162882852noreply@blogger.com