[ExI] Capitalism, anti capitalism, emotional arousal

[natasha at natasha.cc]

   Quoting Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com>:

> Not familiar with Esfandiary...

   You might want to read his writings if you are interested in  
?transhuman? concepts.

(snip)
>> I don't begrudge
> the President a little R&R...

   Well, he certainly does take many, many vacations. Executive jobs  
are tough, so is raising a family. That?s understood. This issue is  
that he is not a good leader in my view. Did Giuliani go on to Aspen  
skiing as NYC was in a rut?  If Obama looked exhausted, skinny, and  
bags under his eyes, I?d gladly help pay for a trip to the Vineyard  
because I would know that he earned it.  Yes, this is judgmental on my  
part, but it is my view and I am sticking to it.

   (snip)

   > Altruism for it's own sake has evil components,

   Why interpret what I said this way? There is a difference between  
altruism and benevolence. I speak of benevolence. Anyway,  ... "random  
acts of kindness and senseless acts beauty of beauty".

   >> Narratives (TV, film, books or whatever) that make money
>> off of dumbing down society are a terrible crime against humanity.
>
> Do the masses need an opiate??? Since religion no longer fills that
> void for many people, do we need the NFL, NBA and comedy shows and
> other television (as well as video games, the Internet LOL cats, etc.)
> to provide the drug for the masses? Does this prevent mass revolt in
> the street? I often think that if we cancelled all major sports for a
> year, and only had reruns on TV, we would have bonfires in the
> streets...

   You are obfuscating my point. I'm not taking about cancelling TV or  
sports. I am an avid TV watcher. I am referring to specific  
narratives.  I don't need to take the time to explain these do I?  ?  
If you turn on the TV you will see programming that is informative,  
entertaining and exciting.  And you will also see programming that is  
manipulative, argumentative, and appealing to the reptilian brain. If  
you watch the new H+ film, you will probably thing H+ is a horrible  
future. So, narratives that squelch critical thinking and promote  
stupidity are not the same as programming that excites, uplifts or  
promotes contemplation.

   (snip)

   > That's all well and good. I think we all view ourselves in this
> manner. It's just that most people tend to settle into a mode that
> they think accomplishes this in the most effective manner. Perhaps if
> you gave an example of a real world problem with it's real world
> solution that you admire, that would give some insight...

   The problem is that you do not know me and are making assumptions  
that I am not *real bright*.  I'll just let this one pass.

> So as an example of something I'm enthusiastic about was the thing we
> noted a few weeks back about putting day light to use in slums and
> favelas... or the TED talk on replacing indoor use of charcoal with
> another fuel, or the Gates foundation work on zapping mosquitos with
> lasers. Those are REAL solutions. Public health care is just another
> government boondoggle and power grab.

   Yeh -- These are a design solutions to real problems.

Kelly, your posts are interesting and you mean well, but I think the  
problem in our communication is that you are talking at me and not to  
me.  This is often the case on lists.

   Take care,

   Natasha



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