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Building a car in 10 years that costs under 20k and 100mpg is a yawn-worthy goal. If that were seriously the Country's 10 year goal, do you think that would in

by mchusma 14y ago

Building a car in 10 years that costs under 20k and 100mpg is a yawn-worthy goal. If that were seriously the Country's 10 year goal, do you think that would inspire anyone? I thought this letter was a pretty good example of people's "Big Vision" stuff being actually pretty small and extrapolating from current trends. His examples are pretty flawed. A more direct example would be "Other presidents have gone to war, you should too". In addition to the war on terror and war on drugs, of course. Here are two good/crazy government 10 year goals: 1) Eliminate the need for a legislature by using technology to collect votes. 2) Do more for less - find a way to provide today's services for 1/10th the cost. That way if you want to keep spending you can spend it on new stuff.

SoftwareMaven 14y ago
Eliminate the need for a legislature by using technology to collect votes Oh, please, no! California's government is a mess, thanks to all the propositions that have forced it legislature to do more while tying its hands on funding. While I agree the idiots we have right now are far from ideal, falling back to the base common denominator is not the right solution. Representative democracies allow the representatives to make hard, unpopular choices, something the average citizen won't do. It we want to dump the legislature in favor of pure democracy, we will need a better way to qualify who can vote. And I'm sure that wouldn't be used to disenfranchise some group of people[1]. I think before we consider dumping the legislature, we could play with different options. One I would like to see is having congressional seats divided up among parties by the percentage of the vote you get. So congress represents the entire country and the senate represents each state (or vice-versa). 1. I like the Starship Troopers method of qualification, though: serve your country (military or otherwise) for a minimum time period and you can vote.
- mchusma 14y ago
  Regarding direct democracy: 1) Let's be clear, California's politicians haven't done a great job except for propositions 2) I think direct democracy is a solvable problem. One really simple thing: don't use 50% as the threshhold. Something like 70-90% makes sense to me. Not claiming it is easy, or politically feasible, but if we are in the "what big dream could/should the government work towards in 10 years" category, it seems to fit. Regarding serving for voting: I went to West Point then was in the Army. I like the book Starship Troopers. I think it is a terrible idea in practice. 1) The only thing this does for sure is increase the size of the public payroll. 2) No evidence to support it actually making the country better. 3) I feel like I help my country more working in the private sector than I ever did in the Army. (Anecdotal)
anotherbadlogin 14y ago
Yes, this letter is a waste. Hell, two far-better goals: abolish software and "business method" patents, and reform healthcare so that it's not tied to your EMPLOYMENT. Any talk of entrepreneurship is a sham as long as people are tied to dead-end jobs for insurance. Then we can move on to repealing the DMCA and restore consumers' rights.
youngerdryas 14y ago
A car with triple the gas mileage is yawn-worthy? How out of touch are you? Do you not believe emissions are a serious problem? 1) Eliminate the need for a legislature by using technology to collect votes. I think you have a serious misunderstanding about government and complex systems in general. 2) Do more for less - find a way to provide today's services for 1/10th the cost. Sounds great but is a total fantasy. Wildly unrealistic goals are of no use to people that actually get things done.
- tomjen3 14y ago
  Yes it is boring, it is doable and it doesn't involve the country. In the sixties getting a man to the moon was an acceptable challenge. More than 50 years later we shouldn't waste ten years of our countries best and most brilliant minds on something like merely better millage. How a commercially viable replacement for oil, that can be made in the US in a way that doesn't produce CO2? That would do a lot to improve the world is a worthy goal.
  - rayiner 14y ago
    I think commercial viable replacement for oil is a great analogue to the moon mission. 1) It's a big goal, but one where the first steps are already being made, just as with the moon mission. 2) It has the potential to develop a ton of derivative technology that is widely applicable. 3) It has the potential to cement American's place for decades more, just like the rocket technology developed as a by-product of the space race did. It was hard to compete militarily with the country that could bomb you from space with ICBM's, and it'll be hard to compete economically that has a source of cheap, clean energy.
  - youngerdryas 14y ago
    A couple billion Chinese and Indians are moving up in the world and they aren't going to be riding bicycles. I am as big a fan as any of the moon landing but they didn't even send a geologist. A much better value is had with unmanned probes. Maybe it isn't as sexy but it is infinitely more sensible without a Sputnik type catalyst.

by mchusma 14y ago

SoftwareMaven 14y ago

Eliminate the need for a legislature by using technology to collect votes Oh, please, no! California's government is a mess, thanks to all the propositions that have forced it legislature to do more while tying its hands on funding. While I agree the idiots we have right now are far from ideal, falling back to the base common denominator is not the right solution. Representative democracies allow the representatives to make hard, unpopular choices, something the average citizen won't do. It we want to dump the legislature in favor of pure democracy, we will need a better way to qualify who can vote. And I'm sure that wouldn't be used to disenfranchise some group of people[1]. I think before we consider dumping the legislature, we could play with different options. One I would like to see is having congressional seats divided up among parties by the percentage of the vote you get. So congress represents the entire country and the senate represents each state (or vice-versa). 1. I like the Starship Troopers method of qualification, though: serve your country (military or otherwise) for a minimum time period and you can vote.

mchusma 14y ago
Regarding direct democracy: 1) Let's be clear, California's politicians haven't done a great job except for propositions 2) I think direct democracy is a solvable problem. One really simple thing: don't use 50% as the threshhold. Something like 70-90% makes sense to me. Not claiming it is easy, or politically feasible, but if we are in the "what big dream could/should the government work towards in 10 years" category, it seems to fit. Regarding serving for voting: I went to West Point then was in the Army. I like the book Starship Troopers. I think it is a terrible idea in practice. 1) The only thing this does for sure is increase the size of the public payroll. 2) No evidence to support it actually making the country better. 3) I feel like I help my country more working in the private sector than I ever did in the Army. (Anecdotal)

anotherbadlogin 14y ago

Yes, this letter is a waste. Hell, two far-better goals: abolish software and "business method" patents, and reform healthcare so that it's not tied to your EMPLOYMENT. Any talk of entrepreneurship is a sham as long as people are tied to dead-end jobs for insurance. Then we can move on to repealing the DMCA and restore consumers' rights.

youngerdryas 14y ago

A car with triple the gas mileage is yawn-worthy? How out of touch are you? Do you not believe emissions are a serious problem? 1) Eliminate the need for a legislature by using technology to collect votes. I think you have a serious misunderstanding about government and complex systems in general. 2) Do more for less - find a way to provide today's services for 1/10th the cost. Sounds great but is a total fantasy. Wildly unrealistic goals are of no use to people that actually get things done.

tomjen3 14y ago
Yes it is boring, it is doable and it doesn't involve the country. In the sixties getting a man to the moon was an acceptable challenge. More than 50 years later we shouldn't waste ten years of our countries best and most brilliant minds on something like merely better millage. How a commercially viable replacement for oil, that can be made in the US in a way that doesn't produce CO2? That would do a lot to improve the world is a worthy goal.
- rayiner 14y ago
  I think commercial viable replacement for oil is a great analogue to the moon mission. 1) It's a big goal, but one where the first steps are already being made, just as with the moon mission. 2) It has the potential to develop a ton of derivative technology that is widely applicable. 3) It has the potential to cement American's place for decades more, just like the rocket technology developed as a by-product of the space race did. It was hard to compete militarily with the country that could bomb you from space with ICBM's, and it'll be hard to compete economically that has a source of cheap, clean energy.
- youngerdryas 14y ago
  A couple billion Chinese and Indians are moving up in the world and they aren't going to be riding bicycles. I am as big a fan as any of the moon landing but they didn't even send a geologist. A much better value is had with unmanned probes. Maybe it isn't as sexy but it is infinitely more sensible without a Sputnik type catalyst.