The blame the government meme is getting old for me. If we don't like them, let's replace them. Nullification, Thomas Woods. Read it, Let's make it happen.
the world is large enough that it doesn't matter and if it did there is the rest of the solar system and lots of other solar systems in the galaxy. There are also other galaxies.
If the world is large enough for exponential growth forever, why do you hedge your bet with the implicit assertion that we'll develop faster-than-light travel?
Please google "most important video you'll ever see", hear Dr. Bartlett out, then, please, seriously, do me the favor of letting me know what it is he and I are missing.
Those "real wages" are unweighted averages. We professionals are on the top end, among the 20% who have 80% of the wealth. The other 80% are living on much less, and don't enjoy all we do. They may have a tv and a cell phone, may have a car. Probably don't own a house. They probably don't have a PPO, maybe have never met a dental hygienist. One in six kids don't get three meals a day.
These are real facts about life in America today. The standard of living you and I enjoy is the exception, not the rule.
Yep. My own pessimism comes from watching an unsustainable economy (basically a Ponzi scheme based on perpetual growth) on a collision course with the laws of physics in a finite world.
Since I don't subscribe to magical thinking, I'm convinced there must come a time when the population stops growing, when the birth rate matches the mortality rate. It might be really messy. And the lack of political will to address the fundamentals makes me pessimistic and cynical.
But the prospect for real change and a sustainable future excites me. I hope SF writers, engineers, and thinking people can come up with a saner, more grounded future.
Not so unusual - as earlier posters mentioned, axe-fighting is part of Army Basic Training.
Please refer to Army Operations manual FM-17, section 2.3.9 - Providing Fair Notice of Initiation of New American Revolution, and section 5.70.7 - Decapitating Superior Officers with Lumberjack Implements.
Yes, the woman has it really hard. But I don't think people fully appreciate how hard pregnancy is on the man. All those Lamaze classes, when all she wanted was a punching bag to swear at.
Ziggitz is right. While we all love to grouse about government waste, government is not really all that unique. The stereotypical hyper-efficient corporation is a myth - most of us know of stunning wastes of money at our own employer. And our vaunted household finances, while smaller in magnitude, probably include some waste too.
Every human endeavor has waste, and if scrutinized under a microscope, something that somebody could interpret as corruption is nearly everywhere too.
We're not always angels, and we're not always robots. But let's not let that stop us from doing what good we can.
It seems like this british law would violate the Vienna Convention the articles mention.
under international rules representatives of the host country may not enter an embassy without permission... Because an embassy represents a sovereign state, any attack on an embassy is considered an attack on the country it represents.
But what do I know. In the end, guns trump conventions, and the UK probably couldn't care less if Ecuador considered it causus belli.
I'm all for consistency, but sometimes "case law" seems little more than convenient cover to sneak away from the Constitution by degrees. If such case law as you suggest exists, it's miles away from anything a Founding Father intended.
A law saying "the UK has the right to revoke the diplomatic immunity of any embassy on UK soil. " is self-cancelling. An embassy, by definition, is not on the host's soil, but its homeland's.
Slashdot Mirror
Overpopulation is a concept from biology/ecology. It is an empirical question of hard science.
You are approaching the question not with biological facts and laws, but with notions and ideals of economics and philosophy.
Use the right tools for the problem domain.
The test of overpopulation is simply whether natural resource consumption outpaces natural resource renewal.
Our population growth and agricultural yields have been achieved through unsustainable means.
Our seeming prosperity is not the triumph of technology; it's primarily a loan that our kids will be obliged, and unable, to repay.
Would it be fair to say, then, that you consider a precondition to overpopulation to be no wasted food, and no corrupt government?
"Overpopulation is a myth. There is no global overpopulation"
If there were global overpopulation, what would it look like?
Ok, that was funny. And insightful.
The blame the government meme is getting old for me. If we don't like them, let's replace them. Nullification, Thomas Woods. Read it, Let's make it happen.
It's your own damn fault for parking it next to your kid's Barbie doll. Next time set it up by a TRS-80.
That's great news. Politics sounds like a relatively easy problem to solve.
Problem is, people are starving now. Please don't claim "we aren't even near that level yet" until people aren't starving.
Please hear Dr. Bartlett out, then let's discuss. I'd appreciate it if you would point out any flaws.
Whether it will ever happen I wouldn't know.
But it's insane to base our civic planning on an imaginary technology that by all indications is physically impossible.
If we ever have FTL, hey, go hog-wild and conquer the universe, and when we fill that, conquer another dimension.
But until then, it's a lousy plan. We're building an epic disaster, bringing children to life and putting a gun to their heads.
It's really quite a horrible thing to do. Evil.
the world is large enough that it doesn't matter and if it did there is the rest of the solar system and lots of other solar systems in the galaxy. There are also other galaxies.
If the world is large enough for exponential growth forever, why do you hedge your bet with the implicit assertion that we'll develop faster-than-light travel?
Please google "most important video you'll ever see", hear Dr. Bartlett out, then, please, seriously, do me the favor of letting me know what it is he and I are missing.
Those "real wages" are unweighted averages. We professionals are on the top end, among the 20% who have 80% of the wealth. The other 80% are living on much less, and don't enjoy all we do. They may have a tv and a cell phone, may have a car. Probably don't own a house. They probably don't have a PPO, maybe have never met a dental hygienist. One in six kids don't get three meals a day.
These are real facts about life in America today. The standard of living you and I enjoy is the exception, not the rule.
Yep. My own pessimism comes from watching an unsustainable economy (basically a Ponzi scheme based on perpetual growth) on a collision course with the laws of physics in a finite world.
Since I don't subscribe to magical thinking, I'm convinced there must come a time when the population stops growing, when the birth rate matches the mortality rate. It might be really messy. And the lack of political will to address the fundamentals makes me pessimistic and cynical.
But the prospect for real change and a sustainable future excites me. I hope SF writers, engineers, and thinking people can come up with a saner, more grounded future.
Not so unusual - as earlier posters mentioned, axe-fighting is part of Army Basic Training.
Please refer to Army Operations manual FM-17, section 2.3.9 - Providing Fair Notice of Initiation of New American Revolution, and section 5.70.7 - Decapitating Superior Officers with Lumberjack Implements.
I think we won't suddenly get better government just by getting the 40% who probably know/care the least to show up.
"If you really believe that election results are completely inconsequential, why are you here commenting on them?"
What else is he supposed to do? Vote?
How is it selfish to want others to be better off?
I think selfishness would be to wish oneself were better off than others.
Yes, the woman has it really hard. But I don't think people fully appreciate how hard pregnancy is on the man. All those Lamaze classes, when all she wanted was a punching bag to swear at.
Ziggitz is right. While we all love to grouse about government waste, government is not really all that unique. The stereotypical hyper-efficient corporation is a myth - most of us know of stunning wastes of money at our own employer. And our vaunted household finances, while smaller in magnitude, probably include some waste too.
Every human endeavor has waste, and if scrutinized under a microscope, something that somebody could interpret as corruption is nearly everywhere too.
We're not always angels, and we're not always robots. But let's not let that stop us from doing what good we can.
That works for software, I guess. What about the hardware? Should people setup a chip foundry in their garage?
Thanks to this research it seems pretty clear that interfacing to the brain reveals much more than where you want to move a cursor.
Anybody working with classified info won't be allowed anywhere near these things.
Thanks for the correction. I appreciate it.
It seems like this british law would violate the Vienna Convention the articles mention.
under international rules representatives of the host country may not enter an embassy without permission... Because an embassy represents a sovereign state, any attack on an embassy is considered an attack on the country it represents.
But what do I know. In the end, guns trump conventions, and the UK probably couldn't care less if Ecuador considered it causus belli.
I'm all for consistency, but sometimes "case law" seems little more than convenient cover to sneak away from the Constitution by degrees. If such case law as you suggest exists, it's miles away from anything a Founding Father intended.
That's exactly the point.
A law saying "the UK has the right to revoke the diplomatic immunity of any embassy on UK soil. " is self-cancelling. An embassy, by definition, is not on the host's soil, but its homeland's.
1) Your question doesn't follow from my comment. You're just moving the goal post.
2) The Coast Guard is military, and they are guarding our borders. Different context entirely.