[extropy-chat] gm biodiesel 'em

[Jeff Davis]

--- spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
> [mailto:extropy-chat-
> > bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of David
> Lubkin
> > Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2005 7:41 AM
> > To: exI chat list
> > Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] gm biodiesel 'em
> > 
> > Jack Parkinson wrote:
> > 
> > >To my mind, a successful extropian future is
> partly dependent on making a
> > >transition from economics of scarcity to
> economics of plenty - just
> > having a
> > >more radical juxtaposition of haves and have-nots
> is never going to do
> > this.
> > 
> ...
> 
> David Lubkin wrote:
> > 
> > Second, it seems to me that there will always be
> scarcity...
> 
> 
> Yes, because scarcity is arbitrarily defined.
> 
> During the Katrina disaster, there were numerous
> news videos
> of people slogging thru flooded streets, belated
> attempts
> to evacuate, endless droning about poverty this and
> poverty
> that.  But the people they showed on the videos
> appeared
> quite well fed.  None of them looked in immediate
> danger
> of starvation, in fact most of them appeared
> overweight,
> some waaaay overweight.  This must be puzzling
> indeed to 
> those in truly hungry places in the world, to see
> apparently 
> wealthy people given as examples of how the west
> shamefully 
> allows grinding poverty among its own people, while
> failing 
> to produce a even single example of a person who
> appears 
> to be actually starving.  
> 
> Actually we have a few such people; they are known
> as 
> supermodels.  The absurdity of the situation cries
> out 
> for biting satire.
> 
> spike

In a similar vein.  I was rather surprised to see,
back when the Soviet Union was collapsing and the
Berlin wall was coming down, all the folks in the
street nicely dressed in sturdy, warm, even stylish
(if practical) attire.  What ever happened to the
impoverished victims of communism?  You know, the
ragged, downtrodden, dispirited folks, all condemned
to wear boring, unaesthetic, gunney sacks of the
lowest possible quality?  Did they all of a sudden get
a credit card from REI or Land's End?  

Or perhaps the answer is that the information we got
from the govt/MSM concerning the nature of their
(govt/MSM's) ideological adversaries was a load of
propacrap.

Once again the words of Bob Dylan come to mind:

"Freedom, just around the corner from you,
But with truth so far off, what good will it do."

Best, Jeff Davis

  "During times of universal deceit, telling the
         truth becomes a revolutionary act." 
                         George Orwell 




	
		
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