[ExI] Meta question

Sat Aug 20 17:21:49 UTC 2016

On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 4:33 PM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 
> Perhaps so, but gene were around a *long* time before they gave rise
>  
> to creatures who could think even a little.
>

Until it succeeded in inventing brains after 3 billion years of effort
Evolution was the only way to make complex things.

 But times change.

> 
> this century could be dramatically more bloody than the first half
>  
> of the last century.

There is certainly the potential for that, and that's why it's important
that the person in charge of H-bombs be knowledgeable about world events,
have a thick skin and even temperament, not be a sucker for conspiracy
theories, and make life or death decisions based on facts not gut instincts
or invisible men in the sky. It would also be helpful if that person was
not crazy.

> > 
> but think about what happened to the
>  
> Germans in the 20s.  Just because a country is highly civilized
>  
> doesn't mean they can't jump into being barbarians in a heartbeat.
>

I hope you won't have another example of that in 5 months.

> > 
> For about 90% of Americans, i.e., all but the top ten percent, their
>  
> real income has not gone up since the late 70s or early 80s.  They
>  
> have not recovered what they lost in the 2008 recession.

Yes. I'm a Libertarian but what you say above is true and Libertarians
ignore that fact at their peril. In 2016 the richest 62 people on the
planet had as much money as the poorest 3.5 billion people, as recently as
2014 it took 13 more, back then it took 85 people to equal the poorest half
of the human population. I think it's fair to say that one way or another
this trend will *NOT* continue. If I was one of those 62 hyper rich people
and had a brain in my head I'd try to close that huge gap or at least slow
its rate of growth, and I'd do it even if I didn't give a damn about other
people and was only interested in myself because I'd know if I didn't it
would only be a matter of time before I'd lose my head.

 John K Clark
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