[ExI] Fundamental Concept

Ben ben at zaiboc.net
Sun Feb 7 09:51:35 UTC 2021


On 06/02/2021 18:46, bill w wrote:
> But what do you do when you have limited resources and overpopulation?
> The Tragedy of the Commons.  Yes, we should all respect others' rights 
> and
> that solves a lot of problems, but people are greedy and take more 
> than their
> share.  Result: strife and war.  We have hardly ever been without it.  
> So I
> think that getting rid of greed and taking only your share would be 
> even better
> than following all the advice of the libertarians.  Impossible, you 
> say?  No more
> so than getting everyone to respect the rights of others, completely 
> and consis-
> tently.   bill w


Limited resources and overpopulation are the same thing, as it's the 
share of resources per person that's important.

What do you do? increase the share of resources per person until no-one 
could possibly use all the resources available to them. I see two ways 
of doing that: 1) drastically reduce the population 2) drastically 
increase the resources (aka 'abundance economy'). I know which I would 
prefer.

This (limited resources) is one thing among a few that we starting to 
realise can be changed. Some things have always been true in the past, 
and it's difficult for many people to see, or accept, that they are not 
laws of nature, that they can, should, and almost certainly will at some 
point, change:

Resources are limited (and the consequent inevitability of strife and war)
Ageing and death are inevitable
The only sapient creatures are human beings
Inteligence is limited to organic brains
There is only one 'me'
Human nature is always the same

There are probably others that I haven't thought of.

In the long run, maybe the answer to Ivor's question lies in all of these.

-- 
Ben Zaiboc

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