Sorry for the late reply but I've been quite busy lately.
Geoff Smith wrote:
> did you like my "start a new list" idea?
It's interesting but I don't have the time for such a project. Also, if
I was to start a mailing list it wouldn't be to gain converts to
extropism since I don't even agree with all extropian positions.
> > And I do know economists that don't see free-markets
> > as the best solution.
>
> References? Who are these economists and what have they written? Maybe
> you are mistaking economists and political scientists?
I don't think they've written much but they seem to have a good
knowledge of the subject, at least for me. Most of them work in the
University of Economy in Oporto, a very prestigious institution,
actually the minister of economy works for the University of Economy in
Oporto. Other economists I talk to are students of economics, they must
know something about it.
> > > > Free-markets is not (at least for many people) the best
> > > > solution, it's not the ultimate truth.
> > >
> > > No, but what is?
> >
> > That is what I would like to find out. I asked my original questions
> > because I wanted to see if free-markets was a possible solution to many
> > of the world's problems.
>
> Which problems?
>
> If you define your problems, it might be easier to solve them.
>
> I think the two major world problems are lack of freedom, and lack of
> productivity per capita. If you study economics, you will instantly
> realize that the free market maximizes these two things.
>
> If your world problems are "too much freedom" and "too much productivity",
> then the free market is definitely not for you. I hear there are still
> some communist countries accepting new residents ;)
>
> Also, if you world problem is "not enough equality", then again the free
> market is not for you. If we were all equal, there would be no diversity.
First, it's rather interesting, and I take it as an praise, when you
discreetly insinuate I might be communist. I've been insulted before, on
other mailing-lists and because of my site, and people already called me
both communist and fascist (although not in the same message, of
course). It's rather interesting how people tend to reduce others to
stereotypes and that is exactly what you are trying to do (in a indirect
way since you put an "if" before your sentence but you're not very far
from it). I'm not from left or right, I'm above all that (and I'm also a
convinced jerk but that you probably already noticed).
My world problems? Freedom? Productivity? Are you living in the same
planet I live? Do you know that more than 30'000 children die each day
of avoidable causes? Do you want to know how much people have died in
wars in the last decades? Do you know that at least 30% of the world
population lives in poverty?
I don't know about you but my idea of a good place to live in must first
correct this injustices and only then care about tax rates and
stockholders. And that is exactly why I disagree with free-markets, they
won't solve any of these problems and they will only work in the
direction of the already wealthy (and I mean a lot more wealthier than
us, or at least I) while discarding the poor. Obviously (at least for me
it's obvious) I cannot agree with such a system that might even create a
few more millionaires but will leave the overall world population in
poverty. That is not the world I want to leave for the generations to
come.
> > > > An A chord is always an A chord
> > > > and if anyone disagrees on that he is immediately wrong,
> > >
> > > I think you should go to your local library or even the internet, and
> > > search for the word "epistemology" before you make a statement like that.
> > > What makes you so sure? Why is he "immediately wrong"?
> >
> > Come on, a philosophical discussion now!? You know what I mean.
> >
>
> nope.
>
> maybe the currrent A chord is actually out of tune with the original A
> chord, or theoretical A chord based on the other chords. hmmm.... that
> sounded ugly. "you know what I mean"?
>
> how do you know when you have found the "truth"?
>
> how do you know when someone is "immediately wrong"?
>
> is it a warm, fuzzy feeling?
When I (or any other musician) listen to an A chord (a correct A chord,
if the guitar is not tuned it is not an A chord), we instinctively
recognize it as one (at least if it's played in a guitar or keyboard, I
never listened to an A chord when played on some exotic instruments). If
anyone disagrees with us, he is wrong because that is an A chord as
defined many centuries ago and accepted till our days by all musicians
as an A chord. Is that so hard to understand?
--
Hasta la vista...
"Life's too short to cry, long enough to try." - Kai Hansen
Reason's Triumph at: http://homepage.esoterica.pt/~jpnitya/