From: Andrew Ducker (samael@dial.pipex.com)
Date: Mon Dec 14 1998 - 13:38:21 MST
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick.Gray@bull.com <Dick.Gray@bull.com>
To: extropians@extropy.com <extropians@extropy.com>
Date: 14 December 1998 20:13
Subject: Re: Property [was Re: The Education Function]
>
>
>Samael writes:
>
>"Democracy is as fundamentally silly as any other political system. Just
>because everyone else voted for something doesn't make it right."
>
>
>I'm with you 100% here. So, knowing this, why do you still believe in
>government?
Because I believe that capitalism is as silly as any other method of
organising a system (yes, I know, capitalism is in some ways not a way of
organising a system).
I care about people and I believe that in certain situations that people
ought to be helped. I don't believe in public funds going towards art,
theatre, etc. I do believe that when it comes to technology and most forms
of commerce the capitalist system is the best. And in general capitalism
will give everyone a better tomorrow. But looking around I can see hundreds
of thousands of people starving to death when we have the technology to feed
the world and educate them all to university standard for a tiny fraction of
the amount we spend on arms each year.
So yes, in a perfect world where Capitalism worked instnataneously to
equalise differences[1], I'd be happy to leave it to it's own devices, but
otherwise I think that I'd prefer the singularity to arrive 10 years later
with a load more happy well fed people than arrive ten years earlier with
hundreds of thousands of people dying of easily prevented diseases.
[1] A company moves into a very poor country and employs it's people doing
horrible jobs for a pittance. Eventually more companies move in, they have
to compete for labour, wages rise, quality of life rises, education rises
and the companies have to find someone else to make trainers. Great - in
the long run. In the short run I'd rather that we were sponsoring education
in these countries and making people happy now. Even if it did mean you had
to pay an extra $5 for your trainers and they were made in Ohio.
Samael
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