[extropy-chat] it's all understandable, except

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On 11/6/06, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:

Ability to play WoW doesn't make yourself good workplace
> material.

### OMG WTF! Warlocks own the workplace! Horde FTW!

-------------------------------------------

> Have you looked at an engineer's entry level salaries? You
> have noticed that the middle class is shrinking fast?  And
> that a Second Great Depression is at the door, and there's
> not deus ex machina just-in-time fix to pull us out?
>

### Jeez, Eugen, you sound depressed. Reading libertarian-leaning
economics blogs (Cafe Hayek, Marginal Revolution, Econlog) gives me a
totally different outlook, with the middle class shrinking by steady
attrition into the affluent class, and an economical revolution due to
disappearing manufacturing costs in the offing.

I may be the inveterate optimist seeing a silver lining everywhere
("The UFAI ante portas? Cool, it will fry all the guys I hate, too!")
so maybe I am prone to missing the dark clouds on the horizon but,
really, where is the evidence for doom (aside from the risk of UFAI in
the next 20 - 50 years, which is the only major existential threat I
am aware of)?

Rafal