[NetBehaviour] Re: [webartery] Re: [syndicate] O[ne]Ur-Future

Sun Sep 18 18:57:20 CEST 2005

Of coures I agree with you here. On the other hand, I've been following 
global xyz, whatever, reasonably closely for years; the signs are obvious. 
Take hippos; in one country alone, there are only 800 left, and they're 
being killed off rapidly by poachers for $50/each. Worldwide, there are 
147 species of primates in danger; all are expected to go extinct. Africa 
is the last place where any real degree of megafauna remains - other than 
the oceans; humans destroyed the rest world-wide in actions from the 
Pleistocene on. Global warming is getting so bad that already the Maldives 
are in danger from flooding; Katrina is an example of increased storm 
energy - this increase has been going on for a century, i.e. it's 
apparently not random. You know of course about the ozone hole; when I was 
in Perth I was warned about not going out covered.

Fossil fuels which are being consumed at an enormous rate, will disappear 
probably within the next half-century; that leaves nuclear. It goes on and 
on - the tundra already melting, alpine and other glaciers disappearing, 
the antarctic ice sheet calving and disappearing. Desertification is 
increasing at an unbelievably rapid rate. Water in California is already 
being used at 150% what's available (resulting in 'paper water' for the 
bureaucrats); this is expected to increase within the next couple of 
decades - already way past what's available. In terms of disease, Sars and 
West Nile, which I think are more or less harmless (bird flu might be 
something else), are just the tip of the iceberg as humans are living 
closer and closer in what should be unacceptable conditions. I think, on 
another subject, there are 18 miners/day dying in China in a rush to 
extract what's still there. In terms of mass-media, at least in the US, 
they're pretty much controlled by Clearchannel or Fox (both radio); local 
news and thereby local concerns are disappearing from view/airing. This 
has been going on since Reagen dismantled the fairness doctrine for 
broadcasting among other things. Virus etc. are also increasing, I think 
exponentially as well; the whole net is vulnerable. I think, forget, there 
are something like 20 intrusive attacks/hour on the average computer at 
this poin. It goes on and on.

I'm not saying anything new here obviously; this stuff comes in all the 
time. Things build on other things; the systems are fed-back into each 
other, something known all the way back to Forrester's Club of Rome report 
in the 60s.

Then there's the US cost of the idiotic Iraq war - over $200 B now - 
coupled with disasterous dismantling of social welfare and tax give-backs 
- combined as well with $200 - $300 B for Katrina - where is this money 
coming from? We're already trillions in debt; I can't imagine (although I 
might be wrong; I'm not an economist) the US dollar continually supported. 
If the dollar does collapse, there's bound to be world-wide instability.

We won't sign the Kyoto treaty, N Korea, Israel, Iran, and who knows how 
many other nations already have nuclear programs in place. I can't imagine 
- with the great degree of fanaticism around the world (religious for the 
most part), that nuclear weapons will remain on the shelf everywhere. If 
there are already suicide bombers, sooner or later, they'll go nuclear. 
The smallest weapon I've seen was only a foot across (the 'Davy Crockett' 
shell for the atomic cannon in the 60s).

On and on and on. For every little bit of good news, worse. We're big fans 
of the Bolsa Chica wetlands in California, which are being expanded to the 
tune of $1.3 million; on the other hand, these were bought by the total 
destruction of the larger wetlands in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Wetlands 
in CA are probably at 1% their former level, and there are still 
developers trying their best to gnaw at Bolsa Chica.

The US is a monster in all of this; the average house in the 50s had a 
family of around 4.+ for under 1000 square feet; today the family is 
around 3.4 for 2500 square feet. If you do the math, the wastage is 
incredible, and growing. Even the former stat is larger than most other 
nations. (I won't go into what desert lawns, golf courses, shopping malls, 
etc. do to the environment - not to mention cruise ships, jet planes, 
autos.)

So that's what I'm looking at. A technocratic future, for me, is based on 
continuous breakthrough, which I don't see happening - or they might 
happen in relation to information / cyberwarfare among other things...

I can get stats/refs on the above - I'm writing off the head-top at the 
moment. -

yours, Alan

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005, _dream.thick[ener]_ wrote:

> At 01:24 AM 18/09/2005, you wrote:
>
>
>> Gads I love this. The 2 should be interspersed. I wish I could be so
>> optimistic; instead I see abandonment everywhere, structures increasingly
>> fragile. Azure's in environmental conservation; we informally chart demise
>> on a constant basis....
>
> hi alan,
>
> thx 4 this feedback + n.deed, a middle view d.rived from both would b
> interesting [any takers?] ... most of my urge 2 respond was related
> directly 2 the importance of reality projection via suggestion =
> influence.....ie self fulfilling prophesies or establishing a likely future
> progression through prompting direction threadings.....
>
> i think its important 2 offer hope + alternatives [via suggestion +
> unfolding pos[itive]sibilities], i guess?
>
> with MOMness,
> [Mind Over Mat(t)er],
> mez
>
>
>
> _intricate mirror mem[e_st]ories_
> _ch[str]ained+[D-fence]linked_
> http://www.hotkey.net.au/~netwurker/
> http://netwurker.blogspot.com/
>
>
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