As long as your "long-term self interest" includes time spans longer than the self. RJR Tobacco and US Gypsum discovered in the 1930s that their products caused cancer when used as directed. They then spent the next two generations denying any problem existed, since the "long-term self interest" of the company management wasn't THAT long.
Over the long term, we're all dead. Do you think that the executives of US Gypsum gave a flying fuck about the long term when they discovered that their asbestos products caused mesothelioma? No, they covered that information up, knowingly condemning hundreds of thousands of people to horrible, agonizing, drawn-out deaths, and so did their successors over the next four decades. Eventually they went bankrupt (for reasons unrelated to mesothelioma) and now belong to Halliburton, while society as a whole has suffered the long-term effects of hundreds of thousands of unnecessary early deaths and billions of dollars in health care costs. The only thing to "emerge organically over the long term" were thundering herds of trial lawyers.
The world has changed in the last 25 centuries. Today a single company can shear off the top of an entire mountain, suck out the coal, and fill the valley with the detritus, it would have taken the entire Classical Greek population decades to do that. A couple of companies dumped so much crap into the Cuyahoga River that it burst into flames. Not regulating trade today is a recipe for disaster, there are too many people and our technology is too high.
The ghost of Edward Bernays would like to have a word with you . ..
Barely a century ago the thought that an army would not gratuitously rape, rob and massacre the population of whatever area it was invading would have been considered absurd. Today it's a war crime. Three centuries ago the thought that peasants could have a viable voice in government was ridiculous. The world changes, your world-view needs to be able to accommodate that change.
So the Cuyahoga River bursting into flames was caused by, what? If not capitalism, and not a Free Market approach to use of the common waterway, then by what? Watching a fucking river **BURN** on national television was the catalyst for the creation of the EPA, a very visible and very blatant demonstration of the failure of capitalism to regard the good of the public as being an equal to or higher priority than a producer's own good.
Over the long term. People in aggregate need to function in the long term, people individually almost always operate in the short-term. This is the point of regulation of businesses, forcing acceptable long-term behavior on an organization which focuses exclusively on short-term goals.
Yep, and that's why we (and all other social species) have evolved altruistic behaviors and morality. It's very deep-seated in our brains, even feral children (wild children who have grown up without human interaction) demonstrate altruism. Unfortunately those who run our society seem to be predominantly sociopaths whose sense of altruism is pretty much non-existent.
Microsoft has made keyboards, mice, and other products for years, in addition to printing and distributing their software since the beginning. Physical products aren't new to MS.
Why? The whole Cult Of The CEO revolves around the magical mystical "leadership" aura that supposedly inhabits the specially gifted and turns everything they touch to gold. What a steaming pile of horsepuckey. Saying that Mulally is the best pick because he has succeeded running factories in the past (never mind that most of his success seems to have been lucky timing) is like saying that since my brother knows how to run a remodeling company he would be the best person possible to manage a restaurant chain.
So someone who knows how to manufacture physical products automagically knows how to make software? Is this part of the powers of the Holy Snake Oil that MBAs are anointed with upon graduation?
No, the CO2 is moving shit around underground. That was the purpose of doing it in the first place, although of course they just wanted to move the oil around. It seems odd to me to find people on a science/technology-oriented web site assume that moving thousands of tons of liquid and gas around from one place to another will NOT cause things to stress unpredictably.
Not in the US. There are families here that were accused of child pornography because they put a photo of their two year-old playing naked in the yard sprinkler on their web site.
Unless it's a terrorism show trial. Then the FBI informant can recruit the participants, create the plan, convince everyone to agree to participate, and then be the only one to go free.
Remember why he did that? The other admins wanted to do stupid and/or illegal things with the system, and when he complained he was brushed off. He felt that since they were going to drive the truck into a crowd a new lock was the best option.
This is one of the best runs of 'car' analogies I've ever seen.
The launch cost less than a steel magnate's daughter's wedding just a couple of years ago. If the problem is just money that's the place to go to get it, not robbing the country's future development. Were you one of the people who scoffed when Indira Gandhi revealed the country's plan to expand the secondary and educational system and universities, squawking that "They're wasting money while people are starving"? Now those educated people bring vast amounts of income into the country, which their space program hopes to do as well.
Maybe to the politicians and generals, but not to anyone else. Sergey Korolev told a Soviet general, "What we are doing is much more important than your bombs." The Saturn V was useless as a weapon, nothing about the Apollo launches was useful militarily except the spinoff technology, and the general public in both countries didn't cower in fear. Historical revisionism is fun and entertaining, though not always all that accurate.
Slashdot Mirror
As long as your "long-term self interest" includes time spans longer than the self. RJR Tobacco and US Gypsum discovered in the 1930s that their products caused cancer when used as directed. They then spent the next two generations denying any problem existed, since the "long-term self interest" of the company management wasn't THAT long.
to emerge organically over the long term
Over the long term, we're all dead. Do you think that the executives of US Gypsum gave a flying fuck about the long term when they discovered that their asbestos products caused mesothelioma? No, they covered that information up, knowingly condemning hundreds of thousands of people to horrible, agonizing, drawn-out deaths, and so did their successors over the next four decades. Eventually they went bankrupt (for reasons unrelated to mesothelioma) and now belong to Halliburton, while society as a whole has suffered the long-term effects of hundreds of thousands of unnecessary early deaths and billions of dollars in health care costs. The only thing to "emerge organically over the long term" were thundering herds of trial lawyers.
The world has changed in the last 25 centuries. Today a single company can shear off the top of an entire mountain, suck out the coal, and fill the valley with the detritus, it would have taken the entire Classical Greek population decades to do that. A couple of companies dumped so much crap into the Cuyahoga River that it burst into flames. Not regulating trade today is a recipe for disaster, there are too many people and our technology is too high.
That's never going to change under any system
The ghost of Edward Bernays would like to have a word with you . . .
Barely a century ago the thought that an army would not gratuitously rape, rob and massacre the population of whatever area it was invading would have been considered absurd. Today it's a war crime. Three centuries ago the thought that peasants could have a viable voice in government was ridiculous. The world changes, your world-view needs to be able to accommodate that change.
Yes, they work so well that without massive regulation and government intervention they destroy the society they function in.
So the Cuyahoga River bursting into flames was caused by, what? If not capitalism, and not a Free Market approach to use of the common waterway, then by what? Watching a fucking river **BURN** on national television was the catalyst for the creation of the EPA, a very visible and very blatant demonstration of the failure of capitalism to regard the good of the public as being an equal to or higher priority than a producer's own good.
Over the long term. People in aggregate need to function in the long term, people individually almost always operate in the short-term. This is the point of regulation of businesses, forcing acceptable long-term behavior on an organization which focuses exclusively on short-term goals.
That demands altruism.
Yep, and that's why we (and all other social species) have evolved altruistic behaviors and morality. It's very deep-seated in our brains, even feral children (wild children who have grown up without human interaction) demonstrate altruism. Unfortunately those who run our society seem to be predominantly sociopaths whose sense of altruism is pretty much non-existent.
The insurance companies won't reimburse them.
Success has nothing to do with the Leadership Aura effect, Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump and Michael Capellas are all highly sought-after.
Microsoft has made keyboards, mice, and other products for years, in addition to printing and distributing their software since the beginning. Physical products aren't new to MS.
Mulally would be the best pick
Why? The whole Cult Of The CEO revolves around the magical mystical "leadership" aura that supposedly inhabits the specially gifted and turns everything they touch to gold. What a steaming pile of horsepuckey. Saying that Mulally is the best pick because he has succeeded running factories in the past (never mind that most of his success seems to have been lucky timing) is like saying that since my brother knows how to run a remodeling company he would be the best person possible to manage a restaurant chain.
So someone who knows how to manufacture physical products automagically knows how to make software? Is this part of the powers of the Holy Snake Oil that MBAs are anointed with upon graduation?
No, the CO2 is moving shit around underground. That was the purpose of doing it in the first place, although of course they just wanted to move the oil around. It seems odd to me to find people on a science/technology-oriented web site assume that moving thousands of tons of liquid and gas around from one place to another will NOT cause things to stress unpredictably.
it *is* considered art
Not in the US. There are families here that were accused of child pornography because they put a photo of their two year-old playing naked in the yard sprinkler on their web site.
He's also assuming that the police are sane, competent and honest. Probably also an error.
Unless it's a terrorism show trial. Then the FBI informant can recruit the participants, create the plan, convince everyone to agree to participate, and then be the only one to go free.
That would be the Japanese space program, I think.
Remember why he did that? The other admins wanted to do stupid and/or illegal things with the system, and when he complained he was brushed off. He felt that since they were going to drive the truck into a crowd a new lock was the best option.
This is one of the best runs of 'car' analogies I've ever seen.
The launch cost less than a steel magnate's daughter's wedding just a couple of years ago. If the problem is just money that's the place to go to get it, not robbing the country's future development. Were you one of the people who scoffed when Indira Gandhi revealed the country's plan to expand the secondary and educational system and universities, squawking that "They're wasting money while people are starving"? Now those educated people bring vast amounts of income into the country, which their space program hopes to do as well.
France was a major colonial power in Africa, and much of western Africa still speaks it as an official language.
Maybe to the politicians and generals, but not to anyone else. Sergey Korolev told a Soviet general, "What we are doing is much more important than your bombs." The Saturn V was useless as a weapon, nothing about the Apollo launches was useful militarily except the spinoff technology, and the general public in both countries didn't cower in fear. Historical revisionism is fun and entertaining, though not always all that accurate.
You forget that according to the Libertardians there are no benefits ever from taxes, except for the military.
Oh my, the "god of the gaps" argument again. Good grief.
Better, faster, cheaper. Pick two.