Feb 20 2013: Money is not a cause of happiness, but it is an enabler. Money can reduce the number of worries and distractions in life and a healthy supply of it from a source other than hard work does provide time to think and contemplate
Feb 20 2013: Very simple answer: sure, you could elect such a government in virtually every modern country in the next election cycle.
The issue is not that it could be done, it is that in most countries the culture of greed and entitlement allows the many to rob the few at the ballot box. Western Europe is already in the great slide to socialist destruction. America is also likely over the tipping point and will be joining them soon. Russia is rife with unstoppable corruption and Japan with a hopeless and helpless bureaucracy that is endemic to their collectivist culture. India has corruption like Russia and a clanking bureaucracy that has all the worst aspects of British civil service. China is expanding largely based on the greed of the Western world. It will remain to be seen if they can create a middle class that will allow them to self sustain. Africa is a non-issue. The is no culture there that is capable of anything but perpetual corruption and war.
In short, no. The size of government is driven by collective greed. And the one thing that is ever present in the human heart is greed.
Feb 20 2013: The biggest problem that gifted and creative people face is that they are sometimes identified early and then educated by a system run by people who want to train them like show horses or exploit them. The present educational system is geared to create orderly classrooms and low but steady progress. Education does not create or develop genius.
Feb 20 2013: The culture in most of Africa is hopelessly flawed. The problem in Africa is not poverty, resources or education. All of these could be fixed in a decade. One need only look at the explosion in China to see this happening.
As difficult as this is the hear, Africa suffers from a deadly combination of immorality, greed, laziness and corruption.
There is not enough money in the world to fix this. In fact, money only makes the problem worse.
Feb 20 2013: The human race has stumbled past the point at which technological marvels are marvelous. We now all expect that this progress will continue forever...and likely it will. History has shown that we always underestimate technological progress in the same way we over estimate our rationality.
Humans still allow themselves to be driven like chaff in the hurricane of their technology. Man has yet to learn how to design his future. Presently, virtually all models of Utopian society are smoothly running masses with an equitable few at the top running the show. The issue is that every persons vision has themselves at the top. This is as true today with American hegemony as it was with old Rome. There are no benevolent kings.
The next great breakthrough in human history will not be technological, it will be spiritual. Not in the sense of religion or some new twist on Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Voodoo or the like, but rather a fundamental change in the way we view ourselves, our relationships with each other and our relationship with the universe.
In a way, we cannot solve any of the really big problems until we learn this collectively. At some point technology will eventually kill any species that does not solve this issue. In fifty years time, every high school biology lab will have the technological capability to design a virus that can wipe out humanity. Every new technology can either be a tool or a weapon. The difference is not in the technology, it is within ourselves.
It is an irony that any species that has the technology to achieve interstellar space travel must be, by necessity, both highly spiritual and moral. You cannot survive the technology between the flint knife and faster than light travel without morality, compassion, cooperation and love.
In the case of Earth, this may require a couple more resets.
Feb 20 2013: This is a very incisive comment. It seems to me that so much of organized religion is about creating an identity. This is as much about who is "in" and who is "out." That is, there cannot be an "in-crowd" unless there are "dorks." You cannot have a "chosen people" unless you have someone that God does not like.
You provoke a very interesting question: What is a person if you strip away all of their identities, or as you put it, their "brands?"
Feb 20 2013: Religion is different than spirituality. Spirituality is a partial experience of the greater. All spiritual experience is incomplete, because it is not possible to know the whole of God. At its best, religion is a dull reflection of God in a little mirror made by the hand of man. At its worst, religion is a tool used by the unscrupulous to twist the will of others or a weapon to subdue ideas that rationality cannot.
If any discussion begins with recognition that any spiritual perception is incomplete, then a discussion is possible. Then difference can be properly seen in the context that the reflections in two different little mirrors may not be different Gods, but rather reflections of different parts of the same God. God is one, but the one is infinitely complex.
A pretty good rule of thumb is that the more confident the tone of the speaker on religion, the less he knows about God and the more he knows about how to use the tool of religion..
Feb 20 2013: Education is not about indoctrinating children to obey their teachers when they are young so that they will learn to obey their masters when they are grown.
“War is what happens when language fails.” ― Margaret Atwood
We need to teach children to communicate with each other effectively when they are young, so that when they are old every problem will not require a gun.
“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.” ― Herbert Hoover
Children must be taught that they can break the pattern of destruction. A child can learn to say "No!" to immorality and bloodshed.
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” ― Howard Zinn
We need to teach our children love, tollerance and communication, not patriotism.
“How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?” ― Howard Zinn
Children need to develop their own thinking skills and their own morality to see the truth with their own eyes, not have their world view force-fed to them. Thinking, not obedience. Compassion, not patriotism.
“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” ― Aristotle
This new generation of children will grow up in a world with more destructive power and more weaponry than could have been imagined in the past. It is vital for their own survival that they learn how to steward this world, settle their differences peaceably and promote harmony. We already know far too much about war, killing, obedience and we already have far too many causes that people are willing to send someone else's child to die for.
We need to teach this next generation to do something at which we have failed - to live in peace.
Feb 20 2013: I agree with you that what Powell is promoting is not structure as I would define educational structure. It seems to me that what Powell is talking about are creating the outward appearances of conformity. However, being able to cause a group of children to perform or obey on cue does not rise to the level of education.
It may be that his background in a very rigid, top-down structure colors his view of the requirement of various professions and careers. While it may be that this is successful in the military, it will be much less so in more creative or changing environments. I also think that he may not understand the importance of flexibility and the need to continuously renew skills over time. The days of a person getting a job at a factory and putting the same bolt in the same hole for 40 years and then retiring are over. The half lives of job skills and careers these days are months to years, not decades as in the past. Education must adapt to this reality.
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A comment on Conversation: Can Money Buy Happiness?
A comment on Conversation: Smaller Government in all countries around the world
The issue is not that it could be done, it is that in most countries the culture of greed and entitlement allows the many to rob the few at the ballot box. Western Europe is already in the great slide to socialist destruction. America is also likely over the tipping point and will be joining them soon. Russia is rife with unstoppable corruption and Japan with a hopeless and helpless bureaucracy that is endemic to their collectivist culture. India has corruption like Russia and a clanking bureaucracy that has all the worst aspects of British civil service. China is expanding largely based on the greed of the Western world. It will remain to be seen if they can create a middle class that will allow them to self sustain. Africa is a non-issue. The is no culture there that is capable of anything but perpetual corruption and war.
In short, no. The size of government is driven by collective greed. And the one thing that is ever present in the human heart is greed.
A comment on Conversation: What are the challenges that gifted and creative individuals face at present?
A comment on Conversation: Can donor funding really fix African challenges, or should we empower African communities to address their own challenges?
As difficult as this is the hear, Africa suffers from a deadly combination of immorality, greed, laziness and corruption.
There is not enough money in the world to fix this. In fact, money only makes the problem worse.
A comment on Conversation: "Why Can't We Solve Big Problems?"
Humans still allow themselves to be driven like chaff in the hurricane of their technology. Man has yet to learn how to design his future. Presently, virtually all models of Utopian society are smoothly running masses with an equitable few at the top running the show. The issue is that every persons vision has themselves at the top. This is as true today with American hegemony as it was with old Rome. There are no benevolent kings.
The next great breakthrough in human history will not be technological, it will be spiritual. Not in the sense of religion or some new twist on Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Voodoo or the like, but rather a fundamental change in the way we view ourselves, our relationships with each other and our relationship with the universe.
In a way, we cannot solve any of the really big problems until we learn this collectively. At some point technology will eventually kill any species that does not solve this issue. In fifty years time, every high school biology lab will have the technological capability to design a virus that can wipe out humanity. Every new technology can either be a tool or a weapon. The difference is not in the technology, it is within ourselves.
It is an irony that any species that has the technology to achieve interstellar space travel must be, by necessity, both highly spiritual and moral. You cannot survive the technology between the flint knife and faster than light travel without morality, compassion, cooperation and love.
In the case of Earth, this may require a couple more resets.
A reply on Conversation: Is there any way to prevent religious debates from turning into a big fight?
You provoke a very interesting question: What is a person if you strip away all of their identities, or as you put it, their "brands?"
A comment on Conversation: Is there any way to prevent religious debates from turning into a big fight?
If any discussion begins with recognition that any spiritual perception is incomplete, then a discussion is possible. Then difference can be properly seen in the context that the reflections in two different little mirrors may not be different Gods, but rather reflections of different parts of the same God. God is one, but the one is infinitely complex.
A pretty good rule of thumb is that the more confident the tone of the speaker on religion, the less he knows about God and the more he knows about how to use the tool of religion..
A comment on Talk: Colin Powell: Kids need structure
“War is what happens when language fails.” ― Margaret Atwood
We need to teach children to communicate with each other effectively when they are young, so that when they are old every problem will not require a gun.
“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.” ― Herbert Hoover
Children must be taught that they can break the pattern of destruction. A child can learn to say "No!" to immorality and bloodshed.
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” ― Howard Zinn
We need to teach our children love, tollerance and communication, not patriotism.
“How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?” ― Howard Zinn
Children need to develop their own thinking skills and their own morality to see the truth with their own eyes, not have their world view force-fed to them. Thinking, not obedience. Compassion, not patriotism.
“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” ― Aristotle
This new generation of children will grow up in a world with more destructive power and more weaponry than could have been imagined in the past. It is vital for their own survival that they learn how to steward this world, settle their differences peaceably and promote harmony. We already know far too much about war, killing, obedience and we already have far too many causes that people are willing to send someone else's child to die for.
We need to teach this next generation to do something at which we have failed - to live in peace.
A reply on Talk: Colin Powell: Kids need structure
It may be that his background in a very rigid, top-down structure colors his view of the requirement of various professions and careers. While it may be that this is successful in the military, it will be much less so in more creative or changing environments. I also think that he may not understand the importance of flexibility and the need to continuously renew skills over time. The days of a person getting a job at a factory and putting the same bolt in the same hole for 40 years and then retiring are over. The half lives of job skills and careers these days are months to years, not decades as in the past. Education must adapt to this reality.
A reply on Talk: Israel and Iran: A love story?