““What is causing debts in western democracies. Populist politicians that promise the world to their constituents to get elected? A prevalent culture of cost dumping where everyone externalizes their misery over the fence for someone else to deal with? Human selfishness? The corporatist system? Corruption? Parasitical elements in western democracies … Democracy itself? Overpopulation, and…
An example where average civilians don’t have a clue
I occasionally engage ‘people’ in discussion about stuff they don’t know. It is something I should not do since it is something that makes neither them nor me happy. The other day I described the idea of ‘3D Printing’ to a person and why it has relevance to their business. Instead of keen interest I…
Archival evidence of illegal CIA interventions in South America
O-SPAN Classic: CIA Accidentally Overthrows Costa Rica
Red Versus Blue – DRUGS and PROHIBITION
““Narcotic substances… ranging from cannabis…to cocaine… to heroin. After examples of tests in Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland and many other places in Europe, and also increasingly in the US itself, we find ourselves in the land where the international community can be all but certain that the War on Drugs has failed, most types on…
Red versus Blue – Did the US shat over itself after 9/11
“What happened after the attack on the world trade center wasn’t exactly … tasteful. Some suggest that america made wrong choices. What is worse – there is an increasingly polarized way of thinking about this. Right wingers everywhere latch on to ‘islamization’ and portray it as a danger. ‘Leftists’ don’t even acknowledge Islamization and blame…
Emille Roemer – “Might Makes Right”, remember?
In your last ‘Socialist Party’ circulaire your complained that in the divisional formula dutch society used to spend money – A collapsing Greek economy riddled with tax fraud, and corrupt banks got saved while old people are sidelined. As you so eloquently put it: Terecht zeggen deze ouderen dat de overheid wel klaarstaat voor de…
My Spidermonkey Blogs
And she does so here.
Red versus Blue : Israel, Palestina – Terrorism and Ethnic Cleansing
assumption: “Israel” exists less than a century. It emerged by dictate under arguably unprecedented political compromise. Some palestinians argue they drew the short end of the stick of the emergence of the state of Israel, and that’s an understatement probably. Israeli don’t have much of an alternative however, especially at this stage. They will not…
The Box
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0drT_L4G8w8&fs=1&hl=en_US] So, what is the shape of the debating center at Cosmosia?
Red Versus Blue 001
assumption: We have global overpopulation. So what would a viable longterm solution? Is the ‘malthusian’ debate settled, especially considering that we might run out of oil… is oil depletion really all that bad? Isn’t there ‘plenty space’ ? Some say we need ten planets as is, others say we can easily have 30 billion people….
Red versus Blue
I did the First attempt at Red versus Blue debate format on saterday 4 september and that didn’t work – but that’s only natural. First formula’s never work. Prototype’s always break. So I am updating the prototype today (5 september 2010) and I wonder if my earlier version, Khannea of (say) the year 1990, would…
It is time to start fixing our world
Reprinted from here Despair has many causes. Personal disability and mortality cause despair. People feel despair regarding disability or death of loved ones. The Singularity will create perfect eternal health therefore health-related despair will be vanish, but in the meantime poverty prohibits access to sophisticated healthcare. Money is the biggest source of despair for many…
What does one really say?
My dear Friend V (R) Manoj I would characterize (and probably misrepresent) and a chronicly underappreciated, very smart, very playful young career professional in India, who wants to have fun and play and be happy and be innocent, but needs to be all grownup and responsible. He is utterly breathtakingly polite and nice but at…
This is a completely silly idea
However, just speculate with me. Right now one of the main reasons for economic disparities on earth are climate disparities. We have dry regions, we have hot regions and we have cold regions. The ideal region on earth would be one with temperate conditions, a bit like Florida or the south of France, right? We…
CREATING WHAT YOU IMAGINE
(reprinted from the most beautiful woman in the world‘s blog – me) >> MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2010 “Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be.” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In 2006, I went on a Civil Rights quest with Lila Cabbil, the President of the Rosa and Raymond Parks…
A vision so big it paralyzes most humans into shock.
Even warning you in advance is no guarantee it won’t paralyze you. Are you ready? Are you sure you are ready? Ok here it comes ….. In no less than 20 years and no more than a 100 years we can have longevity mostly reverse engineered. That means that in that timespan we can have…
Is a 500-Year Human Life Span Just Around the Corner?
Reprinted (quoted) from AlterNet By Jonathan Weiner, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. Posted on August 6, 2010, Printed on August 6, 2010 Late August, late afternoon, cloudy-bright. We’d taken a corner table at the Eagle, just inside the red door on Benet Street. From there, the tavern’s windows looked across to the tower of St. Benet’s…
Aubrey de Grey: We don’t have to get sick as we get older
(reprinted from the Guardian) 🙂 !! With his beard and robust opinions, there’s something of the Old Testament prophet about Aubrey de Grey. But the 47-year-old gerontologist (who studies the process of ageing) says his belief that he might live to the very ripe old age of 1,000 is founded not on faith but science….
The Intelligent Universe
Reprinted from here. The next stage in evolution—a machine consciousness able to manipulate time and space—is just around the corner. The catch: humans will no longer be in charge. ASSUME, FOR A MOMENT, the point of view of Intelligence. Not an intelligent point of view, but the perspective of Intelligence itself, gazing out on the…
*SCREAMS*
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijh2Fqd1ZPY&hl=en_US&fs=1] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMICD3aMZpw&hl=en_US&fs=1] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDe5Ckt4joQ&hl=en_US&fs=1] 🙂
The year America dissolved — Its only sci-fi until it happens
Reprinted from here. It was 2017. Clans were governing America. The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable. As society broke down,…
The problem of evil.
Reprinted from here Sims, Suffering and God: Matrix Theology and the Problem of Evil “O,” cries Hamlet in the depth of angst, “that this too, too solid flesh would melt / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!” The Prince o’ Danes should’a stuck around. Today, he would have been relieved to find that science,…
Mohammed comes to the Mountain
(reprinted from here) Hi Everyone, It’s been just over 3 weeks now since my return as CEO, and I think I’ve gotten up to speed enough to begin communicating with you in a useful way. This post is an update on what we are doing, and also to announce an in-world meeting where I’ll extend…
Party is over guys !
The golden era is ending and Americans (and Europeans) are being shoved into the ovens. Nukes have gotten us nowhere since we ascribed to competition-based paradigm. Total dependence on foreign oil has gotten us all in shit creek. Slavish devotion to a ‘winner takes all’ paradigm has made us into, well, not the winner. America…
Terasem1
It was an industrial revolution – foamwelding. So, what was it, this ‘foamwelding’ ? In short the Indians came up with it and it had started spreading all throughout the archipellago in the last months. Previous construction costs were counted in ‘adjusted euro’, and the typical L4 habitat cost a fortune. Terasem 1 was one…