Re: Post singularity society

[T.L.G.vanderLinden@student.utwente.nl (Timothy van der Linden)]

Kelly wrote:

>I.E. we are doomed, and all civilization will
>collapse, or we will survive only by stealing from everyone else.  This is
>nonsence, but its geting to be common enough nonsence to worry me, and your
>comment about "maybe we need to have fewer people" seemed to suggest it.

I wrote the latter because I had in mind that many may want to live a bit
more roomier.

>As to things that still need to be done by humans (growing food, building
>houses etc) the number of humans neccisary to do that is droping rapidly
>(bad news if you work in those fields.  Thats A BIG issue in the U.S.).

I assume that is an upcoming problem for all developed countries.

>But the big issues are often cultural.  Everone can by the same equipment.

Yes, I've that feeling too, I always wonder if people in Third World
countries want to do the work themselves, or that they want us to do the job
for them. I often get the idea that the latter attracts the biggest group.

>But often even if poor counties (or rich third world ones) do by it and the
>resorces, or even if they are given them.  They can't assimilate and use
>them.  The mid east spent a ton importing equip and geting international
>contracts.  But then they found their people for cultural reasons
>couldn't/wouldn't operate the systems correctly.  All the contracts
>vanished.  All the companies left.  It wasn't a mater of training.  They
>knew how, they just wouldn't.  Doing what was nessisary for the equipment
>was unacceptable to them culturally.

Indeed, I've heard several times that as soon as they get their money they
leave and come back when the money is gone. The only way to make them come
back, is to pay them just enough to life one day.
They seem to be happy with what they have. Sure they like new "toys", just
like we do, but they don't find them important enough to work for day and night.
They often have a lot of spare time (or at least we see it as spare time),
the drawback is that their lives are a bit more insecure. (With todays crime
one can doubt that.)
Most people from Western cultures want to or "are forced to" make enough
money to live according to high standards.
Maybe someday most people of undeveloped countries decide to do like us, one
simply cannot force that onto someone. Of course they like what we have, but
most of us like things we don't have (yet).

>Thats going to be a bigger issue as more technologies and issues get out to
>the third world.  They will be forced to deal with things they don't want
>to deal with, and may just drop it and not adapt.  But when they stay where
>they are, and the rest of the world races past.  They will not blame
>themselves.

I'm not sure who they want to blame, it's always easier to blame someone
else, I think they should show some initiatives themselves first.

Maybe we are partly to blame, we buy lots of resources from them, things
they probably will never get back (at least not in usable form). On the
other hand their leaders should be smart enough to regulate that, but it
seems they (and their friends) are the only ones who get the money.

So most of these countries have internal problems, and the poor people know
that it helped more to ask Western countries for aid than to ask their own
governments.

I believe that we generally agree...


Timothy