Comments

  • In praise of science.
    if you think being ignorant is better than being knowledgeable, then I'll not argue with you. — Banno

    I never said being ignorant is better than being knowledgeable. It appears you are making an assumption to avoid the work of a logical reply, which is reasonable as there is too much info even in just this one thread to keep up with. But rather than posting remarks like that you might try either not posting if it is too much effort or making an effort and contributing to your discussion.
  • Best attributes for human civilization - in your opinion
    @schopenhauer1
    I'm not quite sure what your point is. My high level statement on freedom was for beings that must work together in some type of civilization so they can achieve more that they could alone. This requires some limitations on freedom as far as I know and I tried to maximize it as much as possible within those limitations.
  • Best attributes for human civilization - in your opinion
    @Hello Human
    Definitions are fun. Oddly enough I stumbled across a mathematical definition of the word Civilization. Some of her/his assumptions may need to be defined better but it was an interesting read. I had not mentioned equality except with respect to job and education opportunities.
  • In praise of science.
    As I said, science is a tool. It's neither bad not good. — Frank
    Nuh. Knowing stuff is good. Science is about knowing stuff. — Banno

    To the op, I know you believe science/knowledge can be assinged an attribute of good or bad but I guess we are going to just have to dissagree on this as I have not seen any argument that would force me to believe otherwise. It may be out there but I have not seen it.
    ------------------------------------------

    Science, like intelligence, is just a tool used to gather knowledge. If you imagine a set of all knowledge, there is a subset that can be defined as all knowledge known by humans. Science is one of the tools used to increase the size of the set of human knowledge.

    I don't think knowledge can be assigned a moral attribute. With respect to knowledge, assigning the attribute of good or bad can only be used for the application of knowledge, which I define as wisdom. Like this quote in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade “He chose... poorly”. He chose (application of knowledge)… poorly (unwisely). The knowledge wasn’t bad or good but the application was subjectively defined as bad.

    To those who believe that science/knowledge can't be assigned moral attributes then perhaps another way to ask the question would be: Can humanity handle (used in a way subjectively defined as good) the application of knowledge acquired by science?

    Here is a thought experiment which I call "the black box of doom(BBD)": Imaging a group of people that are adult members in good standing in their civilization. For each of those people simultaneously put a black box in their hand with a red button on it. Tell them that If you press the button the entire universe would be destroyed. Estimate how long it would take before the universe was destroyed if at all.

    I am guessing that there is a 50% chance that someone would press the button in less than one second. Does this mean that knowledge of the black box of doom is bad? No. Does this mean that the science that discovered the technology for the black box of doom is bad? No. Does this mean that humans are not mature enough to use this knowledge? Yes.

    To your original post: I believe science/knowledge has had a tremendous impact and benefit for humanity as a whole UP TO NOW. There may be a time in the future where we may want to avoid technology classified as BBD technology until we evolve to the point where we can handle the application of this type of technology. You could define this as bad if you are referring to how humanity would use it.
  • If you had the answer to world peace.
    Well after all humans are removed it would be quite peaceful :). "Kill all humans" was a quote from Futurama and I intended that as a joke.
  • If you had the answer to world peace.
    There are many routes to world peace. The most obvious would be to kill all humans. Another would be to breed/genetically engineer humans such that the forces of greed, lust and hate are small enough that they can no longer affect a humans behavior.
  • What have been the most worthwhile threads on the forums?
    The problem I have with forums is the information is too ephemeral. If one thread produces some great info it fades into obscurity nor is it compared to similar threads or combined with the best similar information on other forums and made easily available. We do a poor job of capturing information in this so called information age, which is one of the reasons why I believe we have not yet reached the true information age. I believe this age should be renamed the advertising age.
  • Best attributes for human civilization - in your opinion
    @T Clark
    Thanks for the input. You included quite a bit of information in your first two items. I already included what I would like for health care. My thoughts on some of your other items:

    Work and Opportunity
    • 100% employment opportunities
    • All jobs are family wage jobs

    Education
    • Free K-12 education (Not paid for by taxes)
    • Paid higher education. Students pay would be based on grades, performance, civilization needs for that type of degree or training etc.

    Housing is kind of complicated - my thoughts on it are below. The section on cities includes housing:
    • Allow civilization to focus on desired projects rather than 'for profit' projects. When I use the word 'maximize' below this means remove all artificial limitations that prevent desired outcomes and move the limit to physical limitations like lack or resources or labor, i.e. a physical constraint. Example:
      • Maximize ability to build modern new cities including continually improving them using the best current technology. This includes demolishing and recycling our current and old cities.


    Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
    - This falls under freedom in my mind.

    I had not thought about security or nutrition. Not sure what you are looking for with community. On second thought, security would be covered by the laws of freedom.
  • Best attributes for human civilization - in your opinion
    • No taxes
    • Free quality health care for everyone
    Please explain how you get free healthcare with no taxes.
    @T Clark

    I had mentioned in the second paragraph not to worry about the "how". In my mind this is a problem definition, not a problem solution phase. I typically start with the 100% best goal possible and if that is not feasible then back off until you find something practical.
  • Best attributes for human civilization - in your opinion
    Thank you for your reply. I know it varies based on the individual which is why I included 'in your opinion' in the title. I was curious what other peoples thoughts were on the subject.