tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post8308836360825327746..comments2024-03-27T23:12:08.917-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Will the world’s middle classes rise up, in a “Helvetian War”?David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49268242240169434382014-09-20T10:55:26.329-07:002014-09-20T10:55:26.329-07:00Are there any synonyms to 'Helvetian War'?...Are there any synonyms to 'Helvetian War'?<br /><br /><br />When I read/hear 'Helvetian', I think of Switzerland only. <br />'Middle Class War' or 'Middle Class Revolution' is dull, so, any suggestions for an alternative naming?<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65339371609804475752012-09-05T01:41:39.343-07:002012-09-05T01:41:39.343-07:00Anonymous
"von Mises" is one of the ari...Anonymous <br />"von Mises" is one of the aristocratic enemy. He is also an idealist (in the Socratic sense) and so the enemy of the pragmatic materialism that people here support. Quoting the enemy hardly wins you points.<br /><br />And your post shows you don't understand money at all. Money is a token that can be exchanged for access to real resources. Real resources MAY be used more "usefully" (i.e. to do things that people with money can pay for according to the definition of von Mises) elsewhere - but money itself is not (how can it be "used" it is not destroyed by being passed from one to another). Money is created by lending, and lending is based on a view of the future (that may or may not be mistaken).reasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958786975015285323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44914862890616182282012-09-04T15:47:08.367-07:002012-09-04T15:47:08.367-07:00LAPD Revises Terror Policy but Still Labels Photog...LAPD Revises Terror Policy but Still Labels Photographers as Potential Terrorists<br /><br />http://www.pixiq.com/article/lapd-revises-terror-policyAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07149936479083440451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72680260569936427372012-09-04T15:15:19.558-07:002012-09-04T15:15:19.558-07:00onward... maybe the dolt will be too stupid to sni...onward... maybe the dolt will be too stupid to sniff us out at the next post...David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15026355495105709082012-09-04T14:20:30.684-07:002012-09-04T14:20:30.684-07:00Unless you can find quotes for all those words you...Unless you can find quotes for all those words you put in David Brin's mouth, I would say you have much to apologize for.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69184667276631043872012-09-04T14:02:17.468-07:002012-09-04T14:02:17.468-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.High Arkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14723123626955733759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3471110966115276172012-09-04T13:22:04.938-07:002012-09-04T13:22:04.938-07:00Another blog soon. This one stirred things.Another blog soon. This one stirred things.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29457744394428527962012-09-04T12:23:45.640-07:002012-09-04T12:23:45.640-07:00I rather like the Stratfor approach to analysis. I...I rather like the Stratfor approach to analysis. I've yet to see them engage in doom-saying for the sake of the pleasure of being right. One doesn't have to agree with every fact they quote or trend they predict to benefit from the fact that they get it right often enough to matter.<br /><br />I also like the way the impact of the Enlightenment can be seen in statistical data at gapminder.org. Take a peek at the standard animated graph they have showing percapita income versus life expectancy dating back into the murky depths of our data. When I watch the animation I ask myself which of the countries were direct beneficiaries of science and liberty and it is obvious. Early adopters benefited early, but even nations that shun our experiment have benefited. That data for the late 20th century makes that incredibly obvious.<br /><br />http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2011$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkmq1iMg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL%5Fn5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=282;dataMax=119849$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=12;dataMax=83$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=;example=75Alfred Differnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67677254233109160512012-09-04T08:28:28.482-07:002012-09-04T08:28:28.482-07:00I would really like your post, it would really exp...I would really like your post, it would really explain each and every point clearly well thanks for sharing.<br />paper plates machineshttp://www.paperplatemakingmachine.co.in/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68191662385941360812012-09-04T05:47:49.185-07:002012-09-04T05:47:49.185-07:00I'm sure everyone here is aware of the recent ...I'm sure everyone here is aware of the recent VoterID requirements that have been passed by Republican state legislatures, primarily targeting swing states. Below is an article about how that impacted one person as an example of how it will likely impact many more. Republicans claim it simply prevents voter fraud while Democrats are essentially calling it a new Jim Crow. <br /><br />What I wonder is: Why don't Democrats counterintuitively help pass these laws? Then fund a bunch of legal NGOs to go out and help every citizen throughout the country get an ID, whereupon they make a big public relations push to do away with *voter registration* altogether. Why continue registering citizens to vote if they already can immediately prove citizenship? As for felons, don't these cards have mag-stripes? States already keep felon lists, why not handle that task at the polling station automatically? <br /><br />Talk about a nightmare scenario for the Republicans.<br /><br />----<br /><br />http://www.alternet.org/93-year-old-woman-who-marched-dr-king-has-jump-through-hoops-vote-because-gop-voter-suppression<br /><br /><i>Although the Republican effort is not exactly a secret, few Americans are discussing it with the urgency it deserves. The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law says that since the start of 2011, 16 states—which account for 214 electoral votes—have passedrestrictive voting laws. Each law is different: some curb voter registration drives; others require new and costly forms of identification; and still others insist that voters produce government-issued photo IDs at the polls. The Brennan Center also points out taht:<br /><br />[…]<br /><br />“[T]he scope of the suppression movement and its potential impact are staggering ... as many as 11 percent of eligible voters—roughly 21 million Americans—lack current, unexpired government-issued photo IDs. The percentages are even higher among seniors, African-Americans and other minorities, the working poor, the disabled and students—constituencies that traditionally skew Democratic and whose disenfranchisement could prove decisive in any close election.”</i><br /><br />[…]<br /><br /><i>Consider the case of Viviette Applewhite , a 93-year old resident of Pennsylvania. She marched with Martin Luther King Jr. but cannot get a photo ID because all her papers were stolen from her purse. On three occasions she has tried to obtain a birth certificate from The Pennsylvania’s Division of Vital Records. Although she paid the fees, she never received one. Now, a newly engaged lawyer has been trying, once again, to obtain her birth certificate. On July 25, 2012, however, the Pennsylvania court upheld the law that may very likely prohibit her from voting. (Editor's note: A day after the court decision, the state issued her a voter ID card.) </i>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07149936479083440451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59389549893123964212012-09-04T04:45:15.332-07:002012-09-04T04:45:15.332-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18924570879969137112012-09-04T04:37:54.355-07:002012-09-04T04:37:54.355-07:00Thinking of the "creaming old wino" (Fre...Thinking of the <i>"creaming old wino"</i> (Freudian slip I assume? but possibly accurate!) ...<br /><br />PURE SPECULATION: Is there something in some of us that resists good news, e.g. Ian's comments on poverty levels? <br />I don't know whether it's that we've been disappointed so often before, or that the sheer magnitude of other problems overwhelms our capacity for hope, or that some sort of psychological apoptosis impels middle-aged men (in particular) to suicidal frenzied charges against each other (... with flint spears in the old days, with tl;dn postings in the internet equivalent thereof ...) as a way of clearing out space for the next generation ... <br />... maybe the "Troll" gene, however difficult it was on individuals, had adaptive value for the species as a whole at one time.rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25401658536896859902012-09-04T02:57:43.381-07:002012-09-04T02:57:43.381-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.High Arkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14723123626955733759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21891911510746939182012-09-04T02:23:58.585-07:002012-09-04T02:23:58.585-07:00The Economist has two recent articles of interest;...The Economist has two recent articles of interest;<br /><br />1. The majority of people living in absolute poverty don;t live in the Least Developed Countries. They live in middle Income Countries with a per capita GDP of between $2,000 and $8,000 (with India being the most obvious example.)<br /><br />http://www.economist.com/node/21561878<br /><br />2. In the past decade, for the first time in history, not only did the percentage of people living in absolute poverty decline but the absolute number of people living in absolute poverty declined. (That's a whole lot of absolutes, I know.)<br /><br />That's primarily due to the decrease in absolute poverty in China. but the largest decrease in percentsge terms was in subsaharan Africa.<br /><br />"If China accounts for the largest share of the long-term improvement, Africa has seen the largest recent turnaround. Its poverty headcount rose at every three-year interval between 1981 and 2005, the only continent where this happened. The number almost doubled from 205m in 1981 to 395m in 2005. But in 2008 it fell by 12m, or five percentage points, to 47%—the first time less than half of Africans have been below the poverty line."<br /><br />http://www.economist.com/node/21548963<br /><br />The percentage of Africans living in poverty is now lower than in South Asia.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57873403878565766922012-09-03T21:09:40.735-07:002012-09-03T21:09:40.735-07:00This is interesting.
WRT the Anonymous hack of S...This is interesting. <br /><br />WRT the Anonymous hack of Starfor emails that Wikileaks has released, this blog entry quotes a discussion over the threat of Tea Party organized RW terrorist groups in the aftermath of a 2010 capital hill Tea Party protest to the Health Care bill. <br /><br />At the time anti-gay epithets were screamed at Congressmen Barney Frank, and another congressman claimed he was spit upon. The Stratfor staffers compared this type of conduct with that of Nazi Germany and suggested that an earlier Obama Justice Administration report detailing the risk of right wing extremist terrorism was - in fact - a valid concern. <br /><br />http://politicalgates.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/stratfor-founder-george-friedman-slams.html?spref=twAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07149936479083440451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23755209912883789102012-09-03T13:42:27.379-07:002012-09-03T13:42:27.379-07:00I am deleting the asshole liar who keeps trying to...I am deleting the asshole liar who keeps trying to come back here. I have checked a couple of linguistic cues and some of you older denizens of this blog can tell who the lunatic is, coming back under an assumed name. He does it once a year or so.<br /><br />If I let a few through, just treat him the way you would a creaming old wino, screeching at imaginary things.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44798025603078444202012-09-03T13:06:06.761-07:002012-09-03T13:06:06.761-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.High Arkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14723123626955733759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29079702354485578032012-09-03T12:32:12.927-07:002012-09-03T12:32:12.927-07:00Ian:
You're away on a business trip getting o...Ian:<br /><br />You're away on a business trip getting offended by a stranger on an internet forum out of solidarity with personal friends who lived through the difficult periods of the Cultural Revolution and Student Protest years in China. The expression of that offense is a semantic debate over the definitions of "liberalize" as it relates to the shift between Maoist and post-Maoist PRC social policy.<br /><br />Do I understand this correctly? <br /><br />I was never much interested in post communist revolution Chinese history. I like the old stuff. But I've got to say, given that we share a somewhat esoteric interest, and given that it's clear I've been citing from assigned AS material, don't you think we have more in common than not? Is this debate truly Mortal Kombat worthy? <br /><br />That said, any cites you have to offer are welcome. My wife is a professor and I have access to library resources. If you have a cite I think is cool, I'd be willing to dig just out of curiosity. <br /><br />It's 3:30am where I currently live, time to crash. -MAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07149936479083440451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36499422379980571702012-09-03T12:27:36.360-07:002012-09-03T12:27:36.360-07:00Dead money, No it is just being put to better use...Dead money, No it is just being put to better use else where in the world. Taxes are a weight on job creation. Taking from the rich and giving to the government is very ineffient and just plan crazy just look at the EU. Try reading some Ludwig Von Mises.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15286218192456090162012-09-03T12:13:15.386-07:002012-09-03T12:13:15.386-07:00KS Park - completely separate from whether or not ...KS Park - completely separate from whether or not you are right (you are not) is the fact that your premise is so devoid of hope that it does not even suggest that some social or political solution might conceivably work. And since billions will not die without dragging others down with them, it means a virtually extinction level event.<br /><br />At this point, it really is a matter of personality. We each think the other is delusional. My delusion - that it won't be easy at all but there's a chance, if we all work hard and pull together - may be the optimism that Oswald Spengler called mind-treason...<br /><br />...while yours may be a convenient was to wallow in the righteous pleasure of cynicism, which lets you playground sneer at all the folks who are pulling together, while having an excuse not to lift a finger to help.<br /><br />Hm... let's see. If you are right, then we all die. You and me. and all of us, but I get to be distracted with all my futile efforts while you sneer "I told you so!"<br /><br />If I am right, then you are a useless parasite, hindering those who will save the world despite your useless, cynical ass.<br /><br />Either way... you're the jerk. Sorry. But that's peeling things down to the essentials.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35520314437471522462012-09-03T12:05:52.181-07:002012-09-03T12:05:52.181-07:00Can you believe this guy?
Koch said he thinks the...Can you believe this guy?<br /><br />Koch said he thinks the U.S. military should withdraw from the Middle East and said the government should consider defense spending cuts, as well as possible tax increases to get its fiscal house in order — a stance anathema to many in the Republican Party.<br /><br />“I think it’s essential to be able to achieve spending reductions and maybe it’s going to require some tax increases,” he said. “We got to come close to balancing the budget; otherwise, we’re in a terrible deep problem.”<br /><br /><br />Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80483.html#ixzz25LjcBAJFDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7743110636589863772012-09-03T12:05:19.383-07:002012-09-03T12:05:19.383-07:00Except you can turn coal into oil. Also, natural g...Except you can turn coal into oil. Also, natural gas can be used in place of oil. And methane is also useable as a fuel. And come to think of it... if we get to a period of oil shortage, we know how to build batteries and electric vehicles, have plenty of uranium and other radioactive materials that can be used as fuels for nuclear power, and STILL continue. <br /><br />That's not to mention various technologies being researched for biofuels, including synthetic oil.<br /><br />So you put entirely too much importance on oil. We've long been out of the time of cheap oil. And the longer oil companies try to rape us for profits, the faster we start researching alternatives. Modern society will continue... and flourish... without oil.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83161050634726851712012-09-03T11:45:57.509-07:002012-09-03T11:45:57.509-07:00I'm sorry, but David Brin is sounding like a s...I'm sorry, but David Brin is sounding like a self-delusional technocrat. Fact of the matter is, the world we are living in is much simpler than he thinks. The world did not succeed because of science, the world succeeded because of oil and when we run out of oil, that will be the end of modern world as we know it. No amount of science is going to replace oil. <br /><br />We are eating up the world's natural resources at a level that is unimaginable. This problem is only going to get worst in ten years when we add another billion people to this planet as human population is also growing at an exponential rate. There is no solution to the world that's running out of resource. No amount of science can solve this problem.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56429218707471410992012-09-03T11:21:34.054-07:002012-09-03T11:21:34.054-07:00Hm... Well... I guess I am saying 2020s so they&#...Hm... Well... I guess I am saying 2020s so they'll still be in OUR future....David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82234750151691116742012-09-03T10:58:59.465-07:002012-09-03T10:58:59.465-07:00Dr Brin,
In "Earth", did you really env...Dr Brin,<br /><br />In "Earth", did you really envision the Helvetian Wars as having took place in the 2020s? Both times I read the book, I tried to place the time-frame, and it seemed to me that the choice was somewhere between 2000 and 2010.<br /><br />I'm not going to argue with the author, but just wanted you to know what it seemed like to a reader.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.com