tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post6974701862271635760..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: "Neo-Reactionaries" drop all pretense: End democracy and bring back lords!David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87525401646349476672019-12-19T20:37:20.005-08:002019-12-19T20:37:20.005-08:00woof, coming back here years later, I see I touche...woof, coming back here years later, I see I touched a nerve.Note that no one goes down these yammering shrill paths who has won respect through genuine science, invention or delivery of truly valued goods and services... or who has won the love of a self-respecting woman. It is no accident that these ranks overlap so much with that of "incels."David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55446988869295030902015-11-12T23:05:17.432-08:002015-11-12T23:05:17.432-08:00The Ancien Regime is the reason we have modern pol...The Ancien Regime is the reason we have modern politics, they bred a passive, Christian, urban (and urbane) civilization full of domesticated tax cattle who depended entirely on political authority and professionalized, bureaucratic violence for basic functions of society. The Ancien Regime was better than the modern world in many respects, but also responsible for it as a result of its own failings and weaknesses.<br /><br />Regarding N. Korea v. S. Korea: For one, N. Korea is ultra-leftist, ideologically, though it's true they're not really 'Communist'. That has a huge influence on their decision making in both propaganda and real-world situations (the idea that rulers are utterly cynical, and know 'the truth', is Conspiracy Theory retardation). And I don't think anyone claims that monarchy is automatically superior, rather that it has strong tendencies.<br /><br />The ancien regimes' absolute monarchy was one that existed in a web of such traditions and monarchies, with strong influence amongst these royal houses. That is a totally different situation to the Koreas, and makes the comparison entirely facetious.<br /><br />And while South Korea is wealthier, that is not everything. It is also an atomized shithole where all the women are bitches and the government subsidized juvenile retardation and tech gadgets for the sake of political gain and export markets. The idea that wealthier/more people = better is simply not true. Most people are shit who pollute society, and their tastes are irrelevant, so who gives a shit how many of them exist and how tall their hideous parapets grow?<br /><br />Anyway, fuck Jesus and the King, and fuck Derrmocracy; mass society and the whole master/slave setup is just Eugenics run rampant, I would just as soon they burn in Hell where they came from as anything else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85389678304280098792015-04-26T04:41:52.519-07:002015-04-26T04:41:52.519-07:00This is just weird. So neoreactionaries don't ...This is just weird. So neoreactionaries don't believe in democracy? Democracy may not be perfect but rarely is an ideal perfect. It is a goal and something we aim for, such as implementing legislation to punish rape and murder. Is there still rape and murder in the world? You bet. But that doesn't mean we should just legalize rape and murder. Likewise, just because democracy is not perfect it doesn't mean we need to go back to monarchism/dictatorship. If you really don't like democracy, get out of America/Australia/UK/Canada and go to Saudi Arabia where they have absolute monarchism.Kertonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54968430379327632702014-05-24T11:47:52.381-07:002014-05-24T11:47:52.381-07:00David Brin:
1) I love you.
2) Are you familiar w...David Brin:<br /><br />1) I love you.<br /><br />2) Are you familiar with <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w12795" rel="nofollow">Douglass North's <i>The Natural State</i>?</a> What he is saying is related somehow to what you are saying.<br />ambahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042450225428891273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73454875992869188512014-02-22T09:50:46.281-08:002014-02-22T09:50:46.281-08:00> screed
To quote Stoat: "It’s easy to te...> screed<br /><br />To quote <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2014/02/21/a-reader-writes-why-are-there-people-who-seem-hell-bent-on-denying-anthropogenic-global-warming/" rel="nofollow">Stoat</a>: "It’s easy to tell that you’re ranting, but less clear on whose side."<br /><br />And that's the, er, point. The pyramid has sides. The diamond has facets.<br /><br />Brin is writing on the facets, not writing on a "side" there.Hank Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07521410755553979665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21722228495597233872014-02-10T11:43:19.069-08:002014-02-10T11:43:19.069-08:00Nietzsche also said that there was no more perfidi...Nietzsche also said that there was no more perfidious way of attacking an idea than to defend it with faulty arguments. So this unbalanced, self-important screed is probably as good an advertisement for the neoreactionaries as they could wish for. And I write that as an opponent of theirs.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13691932485942666752014-02-10T11:38:52.492-08:002014-02-10T11:38:52.492-08:00Just for the record - Nietzsche predicted the disa...Just for the record - Nietzsche predicted the disaster of the first world war and the hellish ideologies (including the role of anti-Semitism) that would be born from it, and was trying to get an EU going when it would have done some good.<br /><br /> Something you might want to consider when you start running down Nietzsche. Perhaps you might like to actually read the man...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67040931121867328982013-12-15T23:52:34.408-08:002013-12-15T23:52:34.408-08:00Re: reason @ 1:49 AM
Actually, I'm not saying...Re: reason @ 1:49 AM<br><br /><br />Actually, I'm not saying that "there are markers that roughly correspond to racial groups." Rather, the statement "PCA and clustering algorithms allow almost *perfectly* accurate classification of humans into self-identified racial groups" would be more accurate. Note also that the link I posted was from early 2007 - I'd bet the state of the art is even more accurate now.<br><br /><br />Brin, in his original statement, made the "more genetic variation within races than between them" assertion, and then accused "neo-racialists" of ignoring this out of bad faith. However, he did not state whether he made that assertion in order to argue that (a) "race is a meaningless concept" or (b) "trait distributions of different races overlap, so racists are wrong to argue that some races are superior to others." Because this was unclear, I merely addressed the "bad faith" accusation, and pointed out that Lewontin's Fallacy does indeed fit the definition. I don't think your charge of "subtle distortion" is warranted.<br><br /><br />However, the point you raise is a good one to address. Would it be fair to say that you're asserting that "just because different races are geneticly distinct, doesn't mean they differ in their distribution of a particular trait."? (this sounds like a stronger version of assertion (b) above.) This is true - overall genetic distinctiveness does not require that races be distinct in a given trait. However, in reality races often *do* differ - sometimes considerably - in the distribution of a given trait. For example, while there's a large overlap of the IQ distributions of white gentiles and Ashkenazi jews, the average Ashkenazi jew has a higher IQ than roughly 70 to 85% of the white gentile population. (Assuming IQ is normally distributed with a standard deviation of 15 for both populations, a white mean IQ of 100, and a jewish IQ mean from 108 to 115, the range outlined <a href="http://web.mit.edu/fustflum/documents/papers/kim-beder.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Disclosure: I myself am a white gentile, while David Brin apparently is - ironically - Ashkenazi jewish.)pwyllnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88907111295774250622013-12-07T13:29:13.976-08:002013-12-07T13:29:13.976-08:00its all futile echoes... electric media since 1930...its all futile echoes... electric media since 1930.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05412942930488460654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60275963715028143762013-12-07T10:42:55.142-08:002013-12-07T10:42:55.142-08:00The 12/2/2013 issue of The New Yorker (http://arch...The 12/2/2013 issue of The New Yorker (http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2013-12-02#folio=076) has an interesting article with three points I'd like to discuss/dispute:<br /><br />1) The assertion that moderate/centrist views are more prevalent in the mass public than in political elites because they are less "informed".<br /><br />2) Gerrymandering is responsible for at most 10-20% of the polarization of the House of Representatives.<br /><br />3) Polarization in Congress maps<br />better onto one measure better than any other: economic inequality -the more economic inequality in America, the more polarization.Keith Halperinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52539383472661203832013-12-06T19:35:49.377-08:002013-12-06T19:35:49.377-08:001- There is more genetic variation among and betwe...<b>1- There is more genetic variation among and between African racial groups than between African Bantus and Caucasians. Hence, what exactly, do the neo-racialists think they are doing? By ignoring this distinction, they display an utter lack of the "scientific curiosity" that they claim and reveal the truth… that their motivation is simply racism.</b><br /><br />The distinction is ignored because it's not relevant. Counting genes is a stupid way of classifying things because it doesn't say anything in and of itself. <br /><br />For example:<br /><br />"We’re used to hearing about biodiversity of rainforests, for example, as cradles of huge numbers of species,” Cutter says. “But our research drives home that biological diversity even within a single species can also be really impressive. The copies of DNA that one of these worms gets from its mother and father can be even more distinct from each other as the DNA we might look at between humans and macaques.”<br />For instance, comparisons of any randomly chosen analogous sequence of DNA from two different specimens of C. brenneri would find these sequences would differ from each other by some 14.1 percent, meaning they would differ on nearly every sixth base pair on average. By comparison, C. elegans has about 100-fold less genetic variation, and humans have more than 150 times less variation."<br /><br />African genetic diversity says nothing about what those genes add or subtract in terms of ability and behavior. C. Brenneri has 150 times the genetic variation of humans and I don't see a single one piloting star ships.<br /><br /><b>2- Yes, the lefty-liberal insistence that science should not look at racial differences is - formally -- inappropriate political correctness. But I am willing to live with this for a generation, for its pragmatic effects, which are to help end the nasty human habit of pre-judice or pre-judging individuals based upon their involuntary membership in some broad grouping.</b><br /><br />First, I'm not sure how you intend to end a "nasty human habit" that is inborn in all of us without genetic engineering. If there are genetic predispositions to, say, violence, the racial stereotypes won't go away, so your nasty habit, even if purely social (it isn't), won't go away either.<br /><br />Second, I'm not sure what exactly you think the pragmatic effect is gonna be. As far as I can tell it's to get the plebs accept an influx of cheap third world labor so the oligarchs don't have to pay them as much, and the plebs are too busy killing each other to threaten the ruling powers. Latin America, with near African levels of murder despite being considerably better off financially and almost completely racially integrated is a very good example of this "pragmatic effect".<br /><br />Even if all races were equal in ability (a subject I have no strong opinions on), it won't change the fact that people are hardwired to hate people who are different.Johnny Thunderhttp://divinethrone.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10383699583719282862013-12-06T19:19:44.734-08:002013-12-06T19:19:44.734-08:00What surprises me is how many people are under the...<br />What surprises me is how many people are under the serious delusion that they don't live in an oligarchy. Now Brin himself is almost certainly a liar, putting on a show of "fighting the oligarchs" for the benefit of his followers. Oligarchs putting on minstrel shows of fighting the oligarchs is a well entrenched Democratic tradition. It's not as comical as when Warren Buffet does it but it's still a joy to watch. I mean:<br /><br />"We and our Enlightenment are the revolutionaries, still, beating down the repeated, clawing assaults of oligarchists from all sides, some of whom called themselves "communists," but always prescribing the same, boring pyramid of power."<br /><br />It's gold Jerry, gold! Boy I sure am glad we don't live in one of those pyramids. Today power looks like the opposite of a pyramid: it looks like a spike, ready to be driven into the ground. That's a good thing, right?<br /><br />http://markpalermo.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/cocktail.jpg.w300h300.jpg<br /><br />The shape is quite becoming, presumably it represents a funnel, so that our beloved Democrats at the top (who are not oligarchs, I swear!) may pour the bounty of Democracy right down our collective throats. Brin enumerates other benefits, like the trade deficit with China. Clearly this happened because "we could afford 60 years of uplifting trade deficits" and not because the Oligarchs (who have no power in a democracy, I swear!) wanted cheap labor. There is also a flood of third world immigration into Europe and especially America also due to generosity. The border with mexico is for all intents and purposes open despite popular desires to close it because The People Have Spoken and not because the Oligarchs want to depress wages even further. Every facet of culture isn't inundated with virulent anti-racism to make the middle and lower classes willingly accept their annihilation. It's Democratic Generosity. That's the one. Nailed it.<br /><br />Look suckers, the world is quite simple: social hierarchy is in fact a pyramid. This is not a prescription. It's a description. It's a pyramid in hunter-gatherers, it's a pyramid in democracy, and it's a pyramid in everything inbetween, from monarchy to capitalism to communism to every "ism" you can think of. Some people are better than others and they will rise to the top. It's the cold, cruel reality of this world. The people at the top (and no, they're not you, even Brin himself probably barely qualifies for the bottom edge of the top of the pyramid) are better than you. Individual oligarchs may come and fall, but no matter what system you live under, you will always live under an oligarchy. Always. From the day you are born to the day you die, if you can count on one thing and one thing only, it's that someone out there is better than you and standing on your head. Democracy does not exist so that the narcissists here can buy an xbox. Democracy exists because it benefits the oligarchs. They can have as much power under democracy as they did under feudalism, with far less effort at doing anything productive and far less chance of any of them getting killed when something goes wrong. They also have no loyalty whatsoever to you or your countries. They are not shipping jobs to China because of generosity (Brin must have chuckled to himself maniacally while writing this drivel knowing you suckers would eat it right up), or because they give a crap about Chinese children. They are shipping jobs to China because it improves their bottom line. If somebody complains they launch massive smear campaigns accusing anyone of worrying about any of these things as rayciss. There are only so many people a king can kill before they get fed up and drag him to the gallows. That number is a lot, lot smaller than the number of people you can silence with "dat's rayciss". The oligarchs of today don't kill you because they don't have to. They already own you, mind body and soul.Johnny Thunderhttp://divinethrone.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35339323092987749872013-12-06T19:19:13.011-08:002013-12-06T19:19:13.011-08:00I don't qualify as a reactionary since I don&#...I don't qualify as a reactionary since I don't want to bring back any old system in particular. In fact I'd go so far as to say I'm not wise enough to produce a working permanent system (yet). I understand this must be quite perplexing to people who know everything. I am however quite attached to their anti-democratic views, with a twist.<br /><br />I don't find it at all peculiar that Brin & Co. credit democracy with our modern standard of living even though that standard is a result of the Scientific Revolution (to which the Enlightenment latched on like an insidious parasite and now claims credit for) that started under monarchical oligarchies. <br /><br />I also don't find it peculiar that Brin points to a severely isolated communist country as an example of "monarchy". I wonder what would happen to, say, Sweden, if everybody suddenly refused to trade with them. I suspect it would resemble North Korea a lot more than it resembles modern day Norway. Good ol' Kim is actually doing pretty well compared to Gadaffi or Saddam when it comes to surviving the onslaught of Democratic benevolence arrayed against him. His people, not so much. The Iraqis under Western sanctions didn't do too well either.<br /><br />One could point to Hitler, propelled to power thanks to widespread dissatisfaction at the democratic, progressive Weimar Republic, as a sort of quasi-monarch, but I guess that comparison doesn't work as well as North Korea because Hitler turned Germany from a defeated country wrecked by the Great Depression into an industrial, economic and military juggernaut that nearly conquered the world. Sure, Hitler murdered a bunch of people but even if you ignore the millions of children murdered by abortion in democratic countries, I'm sure you can find quite a few millions who died to help propagate Democracy where it wasn't wanted.<br /><br />It doesn't surprise me that Brin himself pimps democracy so vociferously. After all Brin himself has greatly profited from the system. Not nearly as much as, say, Warren Buffet, or Mark Zuckerman mind you. On the Infernal Hierarchy he probably wouldn't rank higher than a Lesser Caitiff.<br /><br />It doesn't even surprise me that Brin has so many followers hanging onto his every word as if falling from the Mouth of God Himself.Johnny Thunderhttp://divinethrone.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1200269476239233342013-12-05T16:38:27.971-08:002013-12-05T16:38:27.971-08:00...and when I say nobody's going to like it, I......and when I say nobody's going to like it, I mean we won't either. That's why it's the DARK enlightenment. We'd love to fix Detroit by writing a check. But that's not possible. We know it's less cruel to face facts than to try to force a fantasy to be true. You don't care about the cruelty, you just want the fantasy. Bluto Pomposonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83597512027582811502013-12-05T16:33:30.323-08:002013-12-05T16:33:30.323-08:00You, Brin, have a little money, a little pull, a l...You, Brin, have a little money, a little pull, a little position, power, etc. Not a huge amount, but you're a bigger deal than me. And you identify with people who control enormous money and power. You think you can count on them to hurt people who aren't like you just to show them who has the power, and protect people who are like you. Right on A, wrong on B. They don't need you very much, and they will need you less as time passes. <br /><br />So you feel safe, and powerful. You feel arrogant. You can tell stories about how evil and hateful some people are, how they deserve to be punished for thinking badthink, without bothering to learn what they DO think. And you're proud of making up your own story and presenting it as truth, because that feels like power to you. Makes you feel big to kick somebody who can't kick back. Makes you feel like a MAN - maybe for the first time ever, judging by what little of your work I've read. <br /><br />Thing is, you're not literally kicking anybody. And regardless of whatever stories you tell, we're still right on the facts, and what little you know of what we actually think is deeply frightening to you because you know we are right. I've seen a lot of lefties lie to themselves, and I've seen them break when the chips were down and admit the truth, for a little while. They're not as dumb as they try to be. <br /><br />We would rather be permanently right than temporarily fashionable. I pity an author who makes your choice on that question. You won't last. But your literary legacy was hopeless anyhow, so you may as well take the money and sign books for fat girls at cons. Could be a lot worse. Hell, I wouldn't turn it down. <br /><br />But what really matters is that reality always, always has the last laugh. You're not the first little man who ever felt a little bit powerful, Brin. And we're not the first underdogs who ever took cheap shots from puffed up little men. <br /><br />In the long run, we win, and nobody's going to like it. But you can't fool mother nature, and that applies to more than just margarine. Bluto Pomposonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13869956887972961062013-12-04T13:12:36.530-08:002013-12-04T13:12:36.530-08:00I thought this story sounded familiar a conspiracy...I thought this story sounded familiar a conspiracy of elites that want an end to democracy and return to feudalism and aristocracy. Then someone mentioned Captain America and it hit me Jack Kirby already used this plot way back in '76 (Madbomb is the name of the trade paperback if any one is interested.) <br /><br />A group of elites create a "madbomb"that causes people to violently turn on each other, creating enough chaos to overthrow democracy and return to an aristocracy. <br /><br />Thinking about it I find the use of a madbomb to be analogous to how people are able to exploit righteous indignation, short-circuiting our ability to work together.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18233890596097896853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74610980750910417182013-12-03T12:08:38.564-08:002013-12-03T12:08:38.564-08:00RE: There was one science fiction universe which n...RE: There was one science fiction universe which not only built on the importance of working together but envisioned a better world - even as it showed forces that would try to prevent that world from coming about.<br /><br />Babylon 5.<br /><br />"Best moment in B5: when 'the Ones' (Delenn and Sheridan) tell the non-benevolent god-like super-despots to 'get the hell out of our galaxy!'"<br />..............<br /><br />There' is a good variation on this in what I hope will be a new SF classic: "The World's End."<br />The protagonist Gary King (played by Simon Pegg) has a discussion with the alien "Network", representative of the Galactic Community:<br /><br /><br />"The Network: At this point your planet is the least civilized in the entire galaxy. <br /><br />Gary King: What did he say? <br /><br />Andrew Knightley: He said we are a bunch of f*** ups. <br /><br />Gary King: Hey it is our basic human right to be f*** ups. This civilization was founded on f*** ups and you know what? That makes me proud!"<br /><br />Gary later says (reminiscent of Delenn and Sheridan in B5):<br /> <br />"Get back in your rocket, and f*** off back to Legoland you c***s!" <br />..............<br /><br />Here endeth NOT the lesson, but I won't give away spoilers...<br /><br />Keith Halperinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24355005904978799372013-12-03T05:26:27.115-08:002013-12-03T05:26:27.115-08:00"in fact deserve far less credit for their de...<i>"in fact deserve far less credit for their development "miracles" than they claim"</i><br /><br />Well that's kind of insulting ... You make it sound as if the US handed their success to them on a platter and they didn't have to work their butts off to providing competitive goods and services to sell in (sometimes hostile) foreign markets.<br /><br />IMHO you are "forcing" the correlation between system of government and economic success/scientific advancement. Both economic success and scientific advancement come about when the right conditions for them to flourish exist. The system of government doesn't really matter as long as the governments nurtures (or at least stayed out of the way of) said "right conditions".<br /><br />I not a fan of any system of government, they are all flawed, and people should just pick one they are comfortable with. IMHO the difference between a good government and a bad one, isn't the system of government, but the people that makes up the government.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51802495388308826682013-12-03T02:32:05.496-08:002013-12-03T02:32:05.496-08:00Hm, "Foreign Aid Through Walmart", other...Hm, "Foreign Aid Through Walmart", other than creating some of the most clueless of our Oligarchs? Yes, it may have been a wonderful policy for the rest of the world, but it is now the major factor hollowing out the American Working class, such that even the clueless tools of the oligarchy have noticed here in Bentonville. Two years of consecutive same store sales declines, they have initiated ad "Insourcing" initiative to return manufacturing jobs to the US. Those were their own customers jobs they shipped to China.<br /><br />And of course their rigid insistence on fighting any enforcement of existing wage & hour laws (Maybe more relevant to the discussion over on Charles Stross's blog?); Thus the assorted protests on Black Friday.Karlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16409821497512488294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35088384712258816352013-12-02T12:22:14.394-08:002013-12-02T12:22:14.394-08:00Trivial addendum:
Damien Sullivan,
" The unr...Trivial addendum:<br /><br />Damien Sullivan,<br /><i>" The unrealistic thing about Superman isn't that he goes around helping people, it's that with such a power differential he's never snapped and laid the smackdown on someone like Luthor or a dictator."</i><br /><br />Addressed in one of DC's many, many parallel universes. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Lords" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Lords</a><br /><br />[And the IRL equivalent: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/state-rep-smashes-homeless-peoples-stuff-sledgehammer" rel="nofollow">http://www.alternet.org/state-rep-smashes-homeless-peoples-stuff-sledgehammer</a> ]Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68190836486972938422013-12-02T01:49:59.933-08:002013-12-02T01:49:59.933-08:00pwyll,
Your argument subtly distorts things. You ...pwyll,<br /> Your argument subtly distorts things. You are saying that there are markers that roughly correspond to racial groups - I don't deny that. But that doesn't mean that genetic diversity within those groups doesn't make arguments of genetic determinism moot and irrelevant (because the markers may not be relevant to the question at hand).reasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958786975015285323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55664430564536372962013-12-02T01:44:13.616-08:002013-12-02T01:44:13.616-08:00Daniel Sullivan,
"In general, race and IQ see...Daniel Sullivan,<br />"In general, race and IQ seems really complex. "<br /><br />Well for starters race is very difficult to meaningfully define and so is intelligence. So I'm not sure the question makes much sense in the first place.reasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958786975015285323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43484061981643713222013-12-01T21:51:08.661-08:002013-12-01T21:51:08.661-08:00Aaron Boyden it is easy to rule "well" w...Aaron Boyden it is easy to rule "well" when there are no metrics. Everything about middle kingdom Egypt tended toward stability. This was not hard. And still, I did not say you could find none, only that it would be hard. (I myself cited the Plantagenets who, I believe, had at least one run-of four.<br /><br /><br />Anti gnostic said: ". Your preference is for democratic rule by middle-class men. I think that's a fine model though it does strike me as, well, reactionary."<br /><br />Then you are clueless, sire. It is not "rule by" but rather a system by which complex and diverse interests will find it in their own best interest to negotiate. To exchange reciprocal criticism and accountability and to pragmatically solve problems. Majority rule politics is but a crude, surface manifestation, though it is so vastly better than the failed alternative of rule by delusional elites.<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13416139455882554382013-12-01T11:36:16.649-08:002013-12-01T11:36:16.649-08:00Hmmm, a minimum of 3 generations without one mania...Hmmm, a minimum of 3 generations without one maniac or complete fool? Does Thutmose III, Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, Amenhotep III pass your test (four generations, even! And probably controversial whether it was either preceded or followed by a maniac or complete fool). Admittedly, it wasn't easy to find an example, and perhaps I'm being too generous to one of those pharaohs.Protagorashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12645042531440559735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33955458738006960732013-11-30T14:56:22.898-08:002013-11-30T14:56:22.898-08:00Larry: "Democratic majorities have no such ch...Larry: <i>"Democratic majorities have no such check on their behavior. They will tax up to the limits of the Laffer Curve, then they will print money to pull future production and spend it. When there's no more future to pull forward, they collapse."</i><br /><br />Duncan Caimcross: <i>Which is unique as something that "always happens" that in fact never has happened<br /><br />Of course if you change it to "the elites find ways to steal all of the money and that causes the society to collapse"</i><br /><br />You guys will be neoreactionaries when you realize that <b>those are the same thing</b>.<br /><br />Of course the elites will steal what they tell the the masses to vote to redistribute.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com