Hello everyone,
I felt I had to comment on the response QueenMUSE made regarding what E. Shaun had said about wanting a nanotech city that was not only beautiful but also economically productive. My response taken from history and present pop culture is found below!
>QueeneMUSE wrote:
>I find this post interesting, and perhaps on some level, it should >strike
>me
>as admirable, -- coming from the strong puritan work ethic >background as
>I
>do.Productivity. I live for that.
>Yet I do not understand. Why could you either tolerate or not, the
>productivity of a society that needed to produce nothing to survive? >Or
>more
>specifically *how* could you? What about the zen aspect of just >being, if
>that in itself was the art? Creating a nice environment may become >the
>Zenith
>of civilization. Good sounds, good smells, good air, good light, soft
>couches, beauty all around you, robust objets d'art, polite >conversation,
>lovemaking and sweet talk...
Sounds like a place I would love to visit(then again, I have not even made it to Paris yet!). But we must not forget the lessons of history(as taught by Old Testament prophets!). While the inhabitants of this city make merry in their degenerate state they will be conquered by fierce and spartan barbarians!! Just as Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians so it would be for them! Of course the barbarians will have to be masters of an equal to superior form of nanotech and A.I. to have any chance of being victorious!!
And the invaders may in no time become utterly seduced by the enticements of a nanotech pleasure city. In history the conqueror would often be conquered by the culture they had defeated militarily. Though with nanotech the invader could destroy easily or simply restructure the entire city! A former utopian delight could be remade into any form of hell where the conquerors could watch with glee as the former owners were forced to live as medieval serfs or denizens of Dante's hell. Of course you might jack into their brains to do this but for spectacle my way might be much better!
I realize Muse that you were making the point that not every city should HAVE to be economically productive but ironically this city would be a fantastic tourist attraction!! If it were attacked it would probably be by the jealous combined forces of the Disney and Universal Studios Alliance! I can just imagine air cavalry units composed of troops mounted on flying Dumbo's and great white sharks! Scary!!
Sincerely,
John Grigg