[p2p-research] In the future...the cost of education will be zero...Mashable

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Ryan,

I can agree with your conclusion ...

but there's an issue of perception here ... some things are real but work
like the boiling frog phenomenom ... when it starts boiling, like climate
change, it wil be too late ...

you can't blame humans for following their neural wiring .. but for those of
us who know, we have to find ways to wake humanity from their slumber ...
since this proves very difficult, the default option is to start preparing
...

if good solutions are available, the majority will find them faster once
they are motivated to change as well,

Michel

On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:32 PM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 11:15 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hi Ryan,
>>
>> Every one is the realist and utopian to somebody else ...
>>
>> So, while you consistently decry the utopians, I'm sure plenty of people
>> would find this phrase the summum of utopianism, i.e.
>>
>> <I certainly have, at times, shared this view.  But I doubt it is true at
>> present.  My guess is that, in the main, people do not cling to bad
>> systems...they rationalize the good they do and wait for proof of
>> alternatives to show they are not contributing fair value.  In the end,
>> people mostly acquiece to obsolescence.  It's hard, but it happens.>
>>
>> Clearly, my wish is that you'd be right ... but ...
>>
>> My experience is pretty much the opposite ... i.e. people will cling to
>> bad systems, until they really can't anymore ... Otherwise, why would we
>> accept global warming, world hunger, medications costing 5 cents in Cuba
>> costing $120 to uninsured poor people in the U.S. etc...
>>
>> Change is hard ... not easy,
>>
>> Michel
>>
>>
>
> Michel,
>
> I agree change is very hard...the hardest thing.  But I also think people
> do not do evil intentionally for the msot part.  They work to survive and
> continue on in their own microcosmic agenda of what they see as a greater
> local good.  The key, I think is to measure and measure hard...and
> comprehensively.  No one would not prefer to be poor in the US to being in
> Cuba...and there is reason to doubt that global warming will happen at a
> pace that really matters.  You and I may know better, but should a person
> destroy their own livelihood to act on something that MIGHT happen?  Only a
> fool would do so.
>
> In the end, things change when people have compelling evidence that things
> will be worse for them and theirs if they do not change.  All the more
> reason why idealism without experiment and measurement is simply narcissism.
>
>
> Ryan
>



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