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jaykimf
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 4:24 am Post subject: Doomsayers Beware, a Bright Future Beckons |
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| Long before �sustainable� became a buzzword, intellectuals wondered how long industrial society could survive. In �The Idea of Decline in Western History,� after surveying predictions from the mid-19th century until today, the historian Arthur Herman identifies two consistently dominant schools of thought. The first school despairs because it foresees inevitable ruin. The second school is hopeful � but only because these intellectuals foresee ruin, too, and can hardly wait for the decadent modern world to be replaced by one more to their liking. Every now and then, someone comes along to note that society has failed to collapse and might go on prospering, but the notion is promptly dismissed in academia as happy talk from a simpleton. Predicting that the world will not end is also pretty good insurance against a prolonged stay on the best-seller list. |
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| Dr. Ridley expects bottom-up innovators to prevail. His prediction for the rest of the century: �Prosperity spreads, technology progresses, poverty declines, disease retreats, fecundity falls, happiness increases, violence atrophies, freedom grows, knowledge flourishes, the environment improves and wilderness expands.� |
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/science/18tier.html?hpw[/quote] |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 5:08 am Post subject: |
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So some guy who seems to be a free-market ideologue thinks everything will turn out just fine in some vague sense? Okay, thanks for the update.
-Edit: if the man from the article is the Mr. Ridley I think it is, then wasn't he involved in the management of a bank begged for a handout after its finances went sour? It seems like he's one of the very parasites he mentions.
Last edited by Fox on Tue May 18, 2010 5:20 am; edited 2 times in total |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 5:17 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the LOL jay (referring to your laughable title). As for the article, nothing but meaningless rhetoric, and zero facts. I bet you think Jim Cramer is a prophet too. |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| This guy aside, life's been getting better in all of my living memory. |
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chellovek
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 6:47 am Post subject: |
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I guess the fire-proof answer is that just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't happen. Afterall, in 4.5 billion years will not the Sun die? Say goodbye to your healthcare and Communist welfare state then! Or if that isn't to your taste then even your neo-liberal dystopia!
However, my understanding is that the adoption of Libertarianism, or on the other hand total state-control, or some other rather simplistic/polarising/rigid diagnosis-and-solution will solve all our problems. All you have to do is ignore all the bad voices and *believe*!
*ahem* Sorry. Not sure what came over me.  |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 11:00 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, life will continue on. It will be even better once this depression ends in 4-6 years or so.
That article is about a book that was written by Matt Ridley. Here's what he said about the FSI:
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| �Empires bought stability at the price of creating a parasitic court; monotheistic religions bought social cohesion at the expense of a parasitic priestly class; nationalism bought power at the expense of a parasitic military; socialism bought equality at the price of a parasitic bureaucracy; capitalism bought efficiency at the price of parasitic financiers.� |
Who is Matt?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Ridley#Northern_Rock |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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| chellovek wrote: |
| However, my understanding is that the adoption of Libertarianism, or on the other hand total state-control, or some other rather simplistic/polarising/rigid diagnosis-and-solution will solve all our problems. All you have to do is ignore all the bad voices and *believe*! |
Isn't it strange how whatever our problems are, the solution is always some ultra-simple ideology that sounds really nice on paper? |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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| yeah all that great stuff that you swallow when you are 18-19 in college taught by people who have never really worked a real job. It sounds good then reality sets in and this is a nice job of b.s.ing but that is about all. |
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