[extropy-chat] Help! I'm not ready for reality! (was the 7 cents thread)

[Jack Parkinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Samantha Atkins
To: Jack Parkinson
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 10:14 PM
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Help! I'm not ready for reality! (was the 7 
cents thread)

>>>After watching this "debate" for some time I don't think you have a  lot 
>>>of high ground to preach >>>from, Jack.
>>>- samantha


>>Well, I'm listening. And I AM interested in hearing your point of view.
>>And for the record, I was looking for the middle ground rather than the 
>>high ground...

>>...What exactly is your point of view?

>On WalMart my opinion is mixed.  The company has done a magnificent job of 
>creating one of the >world's most sophisticated business organizations. 
>The level of innovation and integration of >countless systems, components, 
>business units and resources is not easily matched by any other >company. 
>The WalMart success is about a lot more than foreign and domestic 
>exploitation.   On >the other hand,  there have been a goodly number of 
>abuses successfully claimed against the >company.   The superstores do tend 
>to drive out a lot of other businesses simply on the basis of >unbeatable 
>price.  These businesses in turn employ people.  Many of them cannot afford 
>to work >at a WalMart and have no desire to work in the WalMart 
>environment.

>I don't believe that there is a definitive answer as to what "to do about" 
>WalMart.  Real abuses of >existing law should be noted and prosecuted. 
>But I don't see any reasonable new forms of >legislation that it would be a 
>net win to impose on them at this time.

> - samantha

There are no specific points of your assessment I would quibble with. 
Appearances to the contrary, I don't actually care about Wal Mart one way or 
the other. I was simply using this high profile big business to make a 
number of points I think are important:

1) That arriving at the pinnacle of success (for a person) - or market power 
(for an organisation) does not make either the person, or the organisation, 
admirable. "Winners" are not to be adored as Darwinian success stories 
(especially if their 'wins' are only able to be appreciated in economic 
terms). Conservative capitalism's love of the big players is (I think) a 
form of false idolatry.
Extrapolated to the extropian point of view - this means in my opinion that 
there is still plenty of scope for everything to go terribly wrong. If big 
business can be immoral, self-serving and parasitic - and presidents can be 
dumb and parochial - who knows what might happen? The question: Who will 
control the technology - and how will they do it? May well be the ultimate 
deciding factor between a bright enhanced future and interminable conflict 
or worse. I for one would not like a mega-corporation to exercise this kind 
of control.

2) There is too much facile acceptance of silly buzz-word ideas like: 
"Efficiency is keeping prices low," "Darwin asserts that the survivor is the 
best equipped to carry the torch," What's good for the economy is good for 
the country," "All competition is healthy" etc. There is no credit to be had 
for taking a 10 second sound-bite to be all inclusive wisdom. Catch-phrases 
are for air-heads and couch potatoes - serious people should be prepared to 
look at the in-depth argument or admit that Homer Simpson does it way better 
than they do. Extrapolated to the extropian point of view - this means in my 
opinion that the technological knowledge (ability) to do good or ill, may 
well arrive before we gain the maturity to deal intelligently with the 
choices it will give us - or the power to choose will be in the wrong hands.

3) Basic premises should be questioned occasionally. A lot of semantic 
baggage becomes attached to words over time. For example, words like 
"liberal" and "socialism" have quite different connotations for citizens of 
the US as compared with either Europeans, or for example, Australians. 
Extrapolated to the extropian point of view - this means (in my opinion) 
that communication of even quite basic ideas is hampered when - as I have 
seen on this list before - someone detects a word with a (gasp) "tinge of 
socialism" or some other semantic impurity that conjures strange local 
associations...

I'll leave it to you to decide if this is the middle or the high ground.
Jack Parkinson