Posted on 04/18/2002 9:36:38 AM PDT by RightWhale
If we can figure out how to get to other stars relatively easily, through new discoveries in physics, then we wont need to waste our time developing inhospitable planets, but can search around for more hospitable ones...Earthlike ones. Much would depend on just how rare a planet like Earth is.
But I suppose we need to crawl before we can walk, and walk before we can run. Just overcoming the problems of gravity would be enough to get us started.
Tuor
They certainly could, but it is the *promise* and *hope* of these riches that fuels much of the activity of the lower stratas. The American Dream is all about hard work leading to wealth and comfort.
Now, we could debate whether or not the American Dream is still a reality, but most people still believe in it. Yes, many at the bottom realize they'll never get there themselves, but hope that they can give their children a chance to make it...through education and opportunity.
If you force the rich to subsidize the poor, you take away the incentives of the poor to become rich *and* the rich start trying to find ways to avoid paying...which they will because they can afford to hire people who can find ways around almost any law.
IMO, communism will always fail on a large scale because people have little inner passion to excel. Without outside pressures, communistic states will inevitably stagnate due to this lack of passion on the individual level. It happened in the Soviet Union and it may happen in China. However, China does have some non-communistic pressures which may offset or delay their stagnation for a time. But if they cannot overcome some of those pressures, such as population, they are just as doomed as the Soviet Union.
That's my opinion on the matter.
Tuor
When China becomes a free and open nation, I will take seriously its claims to capitalism.
Tuor
8 )
1. Famines related to the Great Leap Forward and
2. The Cultural Revolution
3. I'm not going to mention Tiananmen, because relatively few people died in that fiasco.
If you think that those don't apply to the current situation, let me try to figure out why that could be:
a) The government was "experimenting" with Communism/collectivism after the revolution concluded in 1949 and the people were willing to cut them some slack while they "made mistakes".
b) The basic character of the Chinese people has changed since 1978 and their relationship to their government has changed, so it is now susceptible to mass pressure tactics.
If the government is now susceptible to pressure tactics from the masses (and they are certainly susceptible to bribery), what would happen to the government if a genuine tragedy were to recur? For example, take the Three Gorges. If that dam through some chain of events were to fail in the coming years, and flood the Yangtze and kill people, would the government somehow be held accountable? Would some officials lose their jobs?
I agree that China as a civilization is not a threat to the United States. However, in my mind any country governed by a Communist party like China's is a potential threat, no matter what they say about peace. I guess you can call me an unreconstructed anti-Communist on this point. Were China's government to be replaced by some type of a multiparty government, no matter how flawed, I think the US would have no business getting involved in the Taiwan strait.
If all of those things were to change, and were the US to completely remove all military forces and interests from the region (including Korea and Japan; personally I think South Korea is strong enough to defend itself from North Korea these days and Japan can go nuclear if it wants to), some of your core problems would not be solved!!!:
These include
1. Corruption among officials leading to various problems
2. Multinational corporations "exploiting" cheap labor worldwide, however you want to phrase it
3. Environmental degradation, on the earth or moon, however you define it
China still looks like a fairly unhappy place 50 years from now if these problems are not addressed, no matter what happens to the moon or Taiwan.
Of course, I also see the United States as being a fairly unhappy place 50 years from now, but that's because I'm a conservative with many things that bother me here like:
1. Ever-expanding government always taking more taxes
2. Liberal control of all major cultural institutions
3. Multicultural bullshit
4. Environmentalist tree-worshippers
Too bad you don't have your own version of Rush Limbaugh in China, you could use one...
I know you can't answer that for safey reasons, but think about it. I pray you don't get a visit from the bad guys just for reading this, but if you do, it only goes to prove my point.
I know you can't answer that for safey reasons, but think about it. I pray you don't get a visit from the bad guys just for reading this, but if you do, it only goes to prove my point.
They would wind up with populists, maybe like:
1. Evita Peron
2. Hugo Chavez
3. Jesse Ventura
4. Bill Clinton ...no, wait, maybe democracy is a bad idea...
I know that. Many Chinese, when they first step off the plane in America are shocked at what they see. In America, the farmers are not the unproductive group. Far from it, they are highly industrialized. They drive SUVs and motorhomes. The family farm is nearly gone.
Thank you for using the pyramid image. The pyramid can be reshaped in many ways. I would like to see the cap of the pyramid raised 22,300 miles above the earth's surface into geosynch orbit, transforming the pyramid into an elevator cable leading to and from space. Take a free ride.
According to Ward and Brownlee, "Rare Earth," earth is probably unique. I would expect that every settlement from here on out will be totally constructed using the best technology. Earth is both the cradle of Man and the mother's breast. It is time to be weaned; it is past time to start solid food.
It is, though. You can go to China, walk anywhere, talk to anyone freely. Nobody will lie to you or tout the State line. It is capitalist, too. The government regulates the economy to a degree as do all governments, but realize that the backbone of the economy is not government projects but private enterprise by democratic agreement in the community. Not as raving independent as in America, the Land of Opportunity, but still capitalism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.