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Dave, I agree. </div>
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Bill (and, please, it's "Max"), the list is less overwhelming if you take a quick high-level look. That would involve first deciding what exactly it is (or exactly enough) you're looking for in ratings of freedom. Some of those lists are based on definitions
of freedom that I find useless and even backward while others match well with what I consider to be freedom -- essentially recognition and protection of negative rights. That lets you focus in on maybe two or three rankings at most so you can then drill down
into their metrics. </div>
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If you really want to figure out whether freedom is increasing or decreasing, as Dave said, you have to have metrics and you have to do some work. We are not equipped with a reliable freedom-sense!</div>
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--Max</div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> on behalf of Dave Sill via extropy-chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, August 31, 2021 10:52 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Dave Sill <sparge@gmail.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Arrogance</font>
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<div>On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 1:02 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif; color:rgb(0,0,0)">There is little anyone can do about any of the variables (such as government spending or judicial integrity) and so I conclude:</div>
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<div style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Don't worry about it. Keep on truckin'.</div>
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<div>There's little that can be done, but without metrics there's even less. At least such lists give people shopping for a place to live some useful information.</div>
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<div>Someone has to worry about these things or the situation will never improve.</div>
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<div>-Dave</div>
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