[ExI] The End of the Future

[Jeff Davis]

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 2:19 AM, Giulio Prisco <giulio at gmail.com> wrote:
> Funny to read these words from PT:
> "The state can successfully push science; there is no sense denying
> it. The Manhattan Project and the Apollo program remind us of this
> possibility. Free markets may not fund as much basic research as
> needed."
>
> Then he throws a jab:
> "Men reached the moon in July 1969, and Woodstock began three weeks
> later. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that this was when
> the hippies took over the country, and when the true cultural war over
> Progress was lost.

Thiel just got it wrong, that's all.  Everyone gets it wrong now and
again, no matter how smart, no matter how big the ego.

When the hippies got out of college, they discovered that their bosses
in the world of work were the very brush-cut "bad guys" that they had
been culturally railing against.  For their own professional (ie
work-related) advancement, they shed the tie-dyed, bell-bottomed garb
for the suit-and-tie vestments of the establishment, and, for the most
part, left the hippie culture behind, a fond memory of youthful
exhuberance and glory.

Thiel was born in '69, so he was clearly post-boomer.   I can easily
see how his ego would sanction dissing the dominant demographic -- the
boomers (ex-hippies) -- of which he was not part.

No, the "cultural war over Progress was lost" when Reagan was elected.
 That event marked the rise of "whack job conservatism", the rise of
anti-science, pro-religion, back-to-the-fifties frothing
anti-communism, war, war, and more war, worship of the military, never
enough military spending, "American Exceptionalism" must rule the
world by bombing the living crap out of it (exactly what the hippies
had -- justly and smartly -- opposed) era, that led to Fox,
Bush/Cheney, the mental defectives of the Tea Party, the Pandora's box
of deregulation, and our current US decline and the larger global
state of distress.  All of it the result of "conservative " cannibals
being unleashed on the world.

But fear not.  Life goes on.  Even during the "great" depression with
its 30% unemployment, 70% were stll employed.  The smart ones prevail,
and prosper, even in the worst of times.  So what we have now is a
Darwinian culling, courtesy of the defeat of the progressives by the
Reagan revolution.

The wife and I, now embarked in our yearly migration to our winter
home in Baja, have landed briefly in Burlingame, Ca.  Here is a
beautiful little garden of a burb with new high-end everything.  No
downturn here.  Plenty of conservatives to be sure, but none of the
"whack job" types.

Anyway, the world doesn't need American Exceptionalism.   China and
India will take up the slack.  There's always some up-and-comer
waiting to take up the slack.

Stay smart.  Stay ahead of the curve.  Manage your finances smartly,
and you'll be okay.  The rantings of the media isn't truth, it's a
business model.

Best, Jeff Davis

 "While it is not true that all conservatives are
   stupid people, it is nevertheless
      undeniable that practically all
          stupid people are conservative."
                         John Stuart Mill