5 ms·

Ha! If the free market says every man should be infertile I think I'll avoid the free market.

harryf 11y ago
Well there is that small issue of over population and the impact we're having on the environment so perhaps this is the free market solution?
- alanwatts 11y ago
  We already tried sterilization and eugenics back in the 1920's-1940's. A more intelligent and humane approach to overpopulation lies in the recognition of the demographic-economic paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_and_fertility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_and_fertility >There exists a realizable, evolutionary alternative to our being either atom-bombed into extinction or crowding ourselves off the planet. The alternative is the computer-persuadable veering of big business from its weaponry fixation to accommodation of all humanity at an aerospace level of technology, with the vastly larger, far more enduringly profitable for all, entirely new World Livingry Service Industry. It is statistically evident that the more advanced the living standard, the lower the birth rate. -Buckminster Fuller
  - filoeleven 11y ago
    That all depends on if your concerns about overpopulation are based on available space versus available resources. Fuller's conjecture might work for conserving space, but a child born in a first-world country will use something like 800x the resources of a child born in a third-world country. Clearly a higher and more equitable standard of living for everyone is desirable, but we also need to figure out how to cut way back on resource usage at the same time.
    - alanwatts 11y ago
      Fuller's theory was based on both the efficient use of space and the efficient, renewable production and distribution of resources: >In technology's "invisible" world, inventors continually increase the quantity and quality of performed work per each volume or pound of material, erg of energy, and unit of worker and "overhead" time invested in each given increment of attained functional performance. This complex process we call progressive ephemeralization. In 1970, the sum total of increases in overall technological know-how and their comprehensive integration took humanity across the epochal but invisible threshold into a state of technically realizable and economically feasible universal success for all humanity -Grunch of Giants >but a child born in a first-world country will use something like 800x the resources of a child born in a third-world country. Clearly a higher and more equitable standard of living for everyone is desirable, but we also need to figure out how to cut way back on resource usage at the same time. The Fuller house was an example of how to cut back on that higher resource usage by using intelligent architecture and design. It is important to cut back resource usage in many areas. It is likewise important to cut back on resource waste (the resources that goes unused). Most importantly, the surplus of food, water, and shelter that goes wasted every year which nearly half of the world's population struggles to obtain. Effectively distributing this waste could go a long ways to ending war, violence, mental illness, disease, substance abuse, and a whole host of other problems.
fucking_tragedy 11y ago
Looks like rational choice theory is correct.

Well there is that small issue of over population and the impact we're having on the environment so perhaps this is the free market solution?

alanwatts 11y ago
We already tried sterilization and eugenics back in the 1920's-1940's. A more intelligent and humane approach to overpopulation lies in the recognition of the demographic-economic paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_and_fertility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_and_fertility >There exists a realizable, evolutionary alternative to our being either atom-bombed into extinction or crowding ourselves off the planet. The alternative is the computer-persuadable veering of big business from its weaponry fixation to accommodation of all humanity at an aerospace level of technology, with the vastly larger, far more enduringly profitable for all, entirely new World Livingry Service Industry. It is statistically evident that the more advanced the living standard, the lower the birth rate. -Buckminster Fuller
- filoeleven 11y ago
  That all depends on if your concerns about overpopulation are based on available space versus available resources. Fuller's conjecture might work for conserving space, but a child born in a first-world country will use something like 800x the resources of a child born in a third-world country. Clearly a higher and more equitable standard of living for everyone is desirable, but we also need to figure out how to cut way back on resource usage at the same time.
  - alanwatts 11y ago
    Fuller's theory was based on both the efficient use of space and the efficient, renewable production and distribution of resources: >In technology's "invisible" world, inventors continually increase the quantity and quality of performed work per each volume or pound of material, erg of energy, and unit of worker and "overhead" time invested in each given increment of attained functional performance. This complex process we call progressive ephemeralization. In 1970, the sum total of increases in overall technological know-how and their comprehensive integration took humanity across the epochal but invisible threshold into a state of technically realizable and economically feasible universal success for all humanity -Grunch of Giants >but a child born in a first-world country will use something like 800x the resources of a child born in a third-world country. Clearly a higher and more equitable standard of living for everyone is desirable, but we also need to figure out how to cut way back on resource usage at the same time. The Fuller house was an example of how to cut back on that higher resource usage by using intelligent architecture and design. It is important to cut back resource usage in many areas. It is likewise important to cut back on resource waste (the resources that goes unused). Most importantly, the surplus of food, water, and shelter that goes wasted every year which nearly half of the world's population struggles to obtain. Effectively distributing this waste could go a long ways to ending war, violence, mental illness, disease, substance abuse, and a whole host of other problems.

fucking_tragedy 11y ago

Looks like rational choice theory is correct.