[extropy-chat] Seven cents an hour? (was: Riots in France)

[Brett Paatsch]

John K Clark wrote:

>I came across an interesting statistic, the average resident of Mozambique
> makes about 80$ A YEAR.  I'm sure they work one hell of a lot longer than 
> 40
> hours a week to survive but even at that figure my 7 cents an hour would 
> be
> enough to push a person into the upper middle class, if Mozambique had a
> middle class. They don't. I figure they must be making about 4 cents an
> hour now, so all you have to do to win the argument and make me concede 
> that
> I am a villain for paying 7 cents an hour is to prove mathematically
> that 4 is greater than 7.

What universe are you living in where villains concede they are villains?

If you want *someone* to convinct you of something I'm sure you could
be obliged.

You're the guy that thinks international law is pure farce as I recall, 
because
there is no force behind it.

Well your right about there being no force behind it. But the reason there
is no force behind it is because at this stage in human history the force of
international law depends largely on the honour and intellect of you and
your countrymen.

You already have a dead sentence over your head. You were born into
it. You aren't exhibiting any behaviour that I can see that would qualify
you for special positive treatment.

If you are going to rely on future sapient entities for help (or to honour
contracts made in their name) when you have considerably less to offer
them and no force to bargain with what case is your current life and
your current choice of arguments to develop making to earn you credit?

Perhaps sitting on the fence, avoiding being worse than ones countrymen
might be enough to make you avoid being deemed a villain, but you don't
need to avoid a sentence (too late for that your already sentenced to
being mortal), you need to positively earn a pardon for good behaviour.

Would you want to reanimate some smo who in the era of slavery spent
most of his effort saying his slaves ought be delighted at their good 
fortune
of having him for a master as he personally gurantees them enough food
to eat to survive?

Fuck John, you are not a bad guy. But so far as I can see you are not
by any obvious criteria a good one (one that the future is likely to feel
motivated to expend some positive effort to have around) either.

Nor am I.

Brett Paatsch