"Spudboy100@aol.com" wrote:
>... I am guessing that a intellect fried on booze still produces more
> intellectual property, then one fried on sweet sensamilla.
This would not match my own suspicion.
> However that is
> debatable. It also makes me think of a middle aged man still narfing
> down of maui wowee seem incongruent to me ...
Well, I simply don't know of scientific studies of the moment of
intoxication, but about the long-term effects I do know that THC and
cannabis have far less chance of ruining the life of the user through
their physiological effects than alcohol. Indeed alcohol has a known
deleterious effect on the brain and marijuana has no similar proven
effects. Moreover, the consumption of marijuana in a society
enforcing a prohibition on it is a qualitatively different action from
consuming alcohol.
> SDI bought us little, but it helped collapse the Soviet economy. If one
> believes that their mentality was mired in Stalinism (as it was)
> then it was still worth it, by far. ...
This assumes that it was the job or the duty of the U.S. to cause the
collapse of the Soviet system. Though I agree that the result was
beneficial, I question the obligation of U.S. citizens to pay whatever
cost was required to get that result. I'll still be paying down that
debt with my income taxes for years.
As to the other experimental benefits, if we were interested in
producing good science why not directly subsidize it?
I think the government owes it to its citizens to restrict its defense
expenditures to defense, and leave behind the imperial pretensions.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:29 MDT