From: Damien R. Sullivan (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Sun Nov 30 1997 - 16:26:55 MST
Greg: what about Hong Kong? It has a higher GDP/capita than any of the
countries you mentioned (CIA factbook says 21300 Japan, 22000 Sing.,
27500 Hong Kong (same as US!)) and was under the British. Is it
Confucian capitalism, or have they assimilated Western values?
And what are the odds of a more pragmatic approach? Everyone yaks about
"human rights", like the Chinese are committing some obvious crime
against nature, or something. David Brin points out that we can afford
to have a quasi-religious attitude to free speech because its benefits
are so miraculous. Perhaps we should be pushing "cultural technology":
ways of organizing a society, like free speech, mutual accountability,
private property, as the best means to satisfy their explicit goals,
like wealth and getting rid of corruption. (And surely they'll care
about pollution at some point?) People who object to Western culture
and "values" have no qualms about grabbing our factories and planes.
Perhaps we should put more emphasis on the practical benefits of our
societies, and cut the appeals to morals they don't share.
-xx- Damien S. X-)
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