RE: capitalist religion (was: NANO: _Forbes_ cover story)

From: Barbara Lamar (altamiratexas@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Jul 20 2001 - 19:52:46 MDT


Miriam English wrote:

<I can't remember who on this list pointed out that the common open-source
model for development is not suitable for all endeavours>

I'd be interesting in taking a look at that post, but as yet I haven't found
it in the archives (I wasn't subscribed to the list when it was posted).
Could the person who discussed the application of the open-source model to
projects other than software development please let me know so that I can
search the archives by author and locate the post?

Thanks

To continue with what Miriam wrote:

<and I think I
agree with them.>

I do too (at least as far as I can agree without having read the post :-).

I like the idea of picking and using the best aspects of capitalism (it
would be interesting to take an inventory of the characteristics of
capitalism. I have to confess, I'm not sure what people mean when they use
the term. Different people seem to mean different things at different times)
and open source.

<The main problem remaining is social justice: how to ensure that a child
born to parents who didn't want and couldn't afford children would not be
condemned to second-class citizenry for their parents' mistake, or that a
genius with a genetic disease would not be cast out of the medical system
as uninsurable. This wastes very important resources.>

Not only does it waste resources, it's also not the sort of situation I'd
want to live in, since I have no way of knowing for sure that I, or someone
I love, won't need help someday. As Samantha Atkins has mentioned in a
recent post, advanced technology is likely to provide a wider range of
options than we've been used to in the past. I still favor the unqualified
guaranteed minimum income as the option that would involve the least
regulation of human behavior (by unqualified, I mean that everyone gets it,
regardless of income level, health, etc.) Along with this, I'd like to see
the status of children change drastically. At the moment, all children are
treated more as sub-humans than second class citizens. Giving human rights
to children would be likely to at least partially solve the problem of
parents having children for the main purpose of collecting more gov't
benefits. Human rights would include the right to own property, the right to
control one's own body, the right to "divorce" one's parents, the right to
choose one's own form of education, and the right to work and to own control
the earnings from one's work.

Barbara



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