>> >>} 21st century. You will see alot of people getting REALLY smart
>>REALLY fast
>> >>And if they don't worry about the people not adapting, someone's going
>> >>to be REALLY dead. I can't say which side it will be, of course.
>>
>> In the 21st century Welfare State, 5% of the population will get really
>> smart really fast. They and their machines will feed, clothe, house, and
>> entertain (the next big entitlement) everyone else.
>
>The trends seem to be pointing into the opposite direction of your
>outline. While absolute wealth integrated over the population grows,
>it is not equidistributed: a progressive polarization can be observed.
>This seems to be true for most industrialized countries, especially U.S.
On the contrary, redistribution of wealth began in the early 1900s with the
introduction of income tax, and increased successively with the
establishment of social security, welfare, and medicare. But I don't
recall equidistribution as one of the extropian principles...
>> The good news is that as the smart get smarter, the productive will get
>> more productive. It will become easier to just pay off the laggards -- each
>> really smart person will be able to sustain millions of them.
>
>They could, but they won't. Trends towards less selfishness is not
>observable. Instead, forting or relocation stragies are utilized.
>
>> So, I don't think we have to worry about people not adapting. They already
>> are. <g>
>
>I don't like the signs of this adaptation. I don't find the idea of
>living in a fortress & carrying a weapon around too hot, thanks.
I don't either, but that's life under Socialism. <g>
Ira Brodsky
Datacomm Research Company
Wilmette, Illinois