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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace<br><br><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>…<span style='color:black'>BillK, the longer I live the less I think of our good old USA. We were brilliant for many, many years and produced some of the finest ideas in history, such as our Bill of Rights. We have been in decline for some time now, starting with the Vietnam war</span>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The stuff I care about the most has improved dramatically, pretty starting with the time of the Vietnam war. It wasn’t long after that when I saw a computer for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>…<span style='color:black'>No, we are not better than the Russians, the Chinese, and others. Maybe in some ways worse</span>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>On the contrary, we are waaaay better than both in both software and electronics. I don’t see any major breakthroughs from either group. The Chinese are great at manufacturing, but it isn’t clear to me that it is anything other than very low cost labor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>…<span style='color:black'>As one ages, one tends to think like this: "It was all better when I was young and we need to return to our roots.............." But this is not old age nostalgia to me. We really are much worse.</span> <span style='color:black'>bill w</span><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Oh my goodness, very much on the contrary sir. I remember my misspent youth, reading the astronomy magazines, the pace of discovery, the electronics (if we use the term loosely and generously) the consumer products available. Compared to today, oh my. The power of the computer we hold in our hands every time we make a call on our “phones” ASTONISHING! All the stuff we were told about how it would be, compare it to how it turned out. So we don’t have flying cars (well actually we do (and have for a long time (helicopters.))) My son has a phone in his watch, cool! Plus that watch has a bunch of apps on it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Now we can pull a device out of our pocket and say “OK Google” then ask it anything. Most of the time it will come up with a pretty good answer, offered in a really sexy female voice. I have developed a kind of fondness for that voice. Well, understatement, I have fantasized about that Google-woman voice, imagined her with Jill Stein’s face, with the Google-woman’s personality. But I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Think about it: the Google-woman is waaaaay better than flying cars. The pace of discovery in astronomy alone is a mind-blower. I have very little nostalgia about my misspent youth. I struggle to find anything that was really better back then. If anything, the music on the mainstream radio was better: today’s rap is a deplorable mess as a form of entertainment, just a total flop, and yet it seems to have an inexplicable staying power. That I don’t get. The old rock and roll was so much more pleasant listening.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>But other than that, now is so much better, and it just somehow keeps getting better with no immediate indication it is starting to level out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><br>_______________________________________________<br>extropy-chat mailing list<br><a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat" target="_blank">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></blockquote></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>