alanwatts

12 ms·

61.
by alanwatts 10y ago
The difference between your comparison is that automation of finance/insurance would be achieved purely by mathematical calculations performed by software, while the automation of many/most other jobs would require much more compl
62.
by alanwatts 10y ago
When workers' wages are lowered/replaced by a typical welfare program as a result of automation, the workers no longer have the purchasing power to purchase the goods produced by the automation, thus rendering such automation usel
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by alanwatts 10y ago
"Enhanced interrogation"
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Pretty accurate description for the last 100 years. But this fighting has been going on for thousands of years between the 3 Abrahamic religions, perpetually fighting over the Holy Land and between their own respective sects.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
What's not the same thing? Plenty of such tribes exist and have existed without centralized industrial infrastructure.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>piggybacking on a technological society that did make those investments. Indeed, every technological advancement has piggy backed on those before it.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>How do those systems manage capital-intensive projects? The use of the word "capital" here indicates a misunderstanding of the social dynamics of tribal economies. They produce and consume that which they need together because
68.
by alanwatts 10y ago
>I'd like to see your anthropology cites for "tribal organisations" Look at any hunter gatherer tribe. The key word here is "distributed". Distributed tribes are light weight and mobile by design. So they are rar
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>What's the alternative that doesn't rely on philosopher-kings or omniscient omnibenevolent central planners? Distributed sharing economies, like that of most tribal organizations.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
All that's left is for us to ban roads, that way no one can drive their get away cars.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
It's simply luditism. Their business model depends upon the constraints of obsolete technology, so they will resist every new innovation as an evil killer until their artificial monopoly finally bleeds out.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>Writing in the near-east was essentially developed as a more sophisticated accounting tool. The ancient Greeks also developed their alphabet and coinage systems around roughly the same time.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>The term "piracy" doesn't help the problems any---it's a smear term that tries to put downloading and sharing on the same level as murder and kidnapping. Precisely: >I say to you that the VCR is to the American fi
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by alanwatts 10y ago
What word/phrase would be more apt, in your opinion? Marshall McLuhan wrote about this phenomenon back in the 60's >Men are suddenly nomadic gatherers of knowledge, nomadic as never before, informed as never before, free from f
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Who do you think are among the top financiers of elections who are also pushing for deregulation? You don't think those congressmen actually wrote those technical laws themselves, do you?
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Add student loans to the list
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>Is there any way for your statement (which has many bold assertions) to lead anywhere but "We're all just victims of our genes"? Maybe that we are influenced far more by uncontrollable environmental factors than by our &q
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Careful with that train of thought, teaching unconditional love and forgiveness is what has led many mystics to be punished to the max: i.e. crucified, burned at the stake, etc.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Intentions aside, the 67% recidivism rate in the US shows that it is more focused on recurring punishment than rehabilitation.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Computing and renewable energy methods are becoming exponentially more powerful and less expensive to produce, a process called ephemeralization.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>I keep trying to come up with a reason for how recent advances are improving our lives without increasing GDP. Does anyone have a compelling one? GDP/GNP is not a measurement of happiness or standard of living. >Gross National
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>Of course, no one thinks of themselves or their in-group as horrible. You could substitute horrible for flawed if it makes you feel better. If everyone is flawed, then whats the point of having an arbitrarily selected group of flawed pe
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by alanwatts 10y ago
No tools have ever gone extinct in human history http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/02/04/133188723/to...
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>The past few decades of globalization have resulted in the greatest destruction of poverty in history. At the same time there are still more poor people than ever before in history, ~3 billion, so what is the net? 50 years ago there was
85.
by alanwatts 10y ago
Interesting. So there are no 24/7 news channels?
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by alanwatts 10y ago
I.E. the Sony hack was attributed to North Korea simply because the attack had a NK IP address.
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by alanwatts 10y ago
Where did you migrate from? And what was the news like there?
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by alanwatts 10y ago
How do we know Duterte isn't working with the Cartels like so many others in his position? If true, this would be a great plan to consolidate the supply chain by efficiently/extrajudicially killing off the competition while increa
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>You have made tremendous strides in the area of scientific and technological development. But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. I
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by alanwatts 10y ago
>but the thrown away food is hardly the reason people are hungry. What is the reason?

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