From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Jan 30 2001 - 02:59:22 MST
denis bider wrote:
>
> hal@finney.org writes:
>
> > It's one thing to talk about the future of the West, about
> > the new technologies and what opportunities they will bring
> > to those of us wealthy and fortunate enough to be participating
> > on this mailing list. But let us not forget that "most people"
> > are unlike us. It's going to be a much longer road for them
> > to share in the bountiful future we hope to see.
>
> True, with the following comments:
>
> - Whatever needs to be done, once someone has done it, it is a lot easier
> for others to follow. Example paves the way. It will be easier to show the
> eastern guys that our lifestyle is good once it is *actually* good. At this
> time, many of those eastern guys might argue that they have nothing to learn
> from the western civilization: "Just look at yourself, what do you do all
> day? Sure you're clean, sure you've got gadgets, but how are you any more
> happy than we are?"
>
Compared to what they have it IS already good and has been for
sometime. People in these countries largely know this. We do not.
> - If you manage to motivate those eastern guys by example, by showing them
> that we have achieved something that they really desire, then, once people
> are motivated, the road need not be long at all. Laws of slow change apply
> to an idle, non-motivated society. I think that if you managed to show all
> of India something that would motivate all of them to strive towards a goal,
> you would be able to have them get there very quickly. [Or so I think.] Just
> compare this to conductors: you can't nearly put as much power through a
> semiconductor as you can through a superconductor. Yet the difference is
> primarily in the internal order within the material.
>
Believe me, the suffering in India and the hope of better material
conditions is HUGELY motivating. What is the problem is a lot of
inertia and graft that is difficult to get beyond and a lot of
illiteracy and superstitious belief systems. This is not so easily
overcome even with a lot of motivation.
> The reason I am saying this is because some people tend to have a
> 'perfectionist' approach: let's make sure everything is nice and correct
> right now, and then we'll figure out what to do next. "Let's not go to Mars
> until we have Earth figured out." I think that's the wrong approach; by the
> time we have Earth figured out, it might be too late.
>
It is not that for me. It is more practical of how we will finance the
escapade, how it will become self-supporting and whether it will
actually do what we would like it to do as far as being a "backup" for
instance.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:05:27 MST