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[antayla]

BTW, what type of culture DOESN'T consume?  A dead one?  

Er, that was innaccurate of me.  I meant inefficient consumption.  Throwaway clothing, walmart-quality crap that ends up in landfills, toy fads, excessive packaging. If people spent a little more and bought quality the first time around I think we'd use half as much resources.  Also, building to recycle in the first place would help.  Do you know how much crap is made out of oil?

[Herself]

It ends with the phrase "Leave me alone or just frelking kill me."

"Frelking" or "freaking"? What in Sam Hill does "frelking" mean?

    Frelk, Frelked, -ing, as invented by SF writer Samuel R. Delany in one of his better short stories (see his collection Driftglass, et al.) refers both to persons attracted to a group of astronauts who (for reasons logical within the story) have had their sexual devopment arrested prior to puberty, and/or whatever it was such persons ultimately sought to do with such astronauts, which was a mystery even to the astronauts themselves.  "Frelk" was applied to persons as a term of insult in addition to being used as a verb.  The term has found some use within the community of fen (SF fans, esp. the more active sort).  As it is obscure to the point of meaninglessness and shares initial and final phonemes with a well-known obscene word, it can be very useful in certain situations.  (Compare with "gorram" from the short-lived television series -- and forthcoming feature film -- Firefly).

     Aren't you glad you asked?  My own little voice says Ayn Rand Syndrome is "the inability to use five words when five hundred will do."  I've no idea what it means.

     --Herself

[5thconcerto]

My own little voice says Ayn Rand Syndrome is "the inability to use five words when five hundred will do."  I've no idea what it means.

     --Herself

Do all politicians suffer from Ayn Rand Syndrome? Sure seems that way.

[Herself]

No, no, 5th -- mainstream politicos suffer from excessive obfuscation syndrome.  The thing about ARS is, it all makes some kind of sense while going on a lot longer than most readers would have preferred.  At considerable length, in fact, which...  Oh, dear.

     --H

   

[5thconcerto]

No, no, 5th -- mainstream politicos suffer from excessive obfuscation syndrome.  The thing about ARS is, it all makes some kind of sense while going on a lot longer than most readers would have preferred.  At considerable length, in fact, which...  Oh, dear.

     --H

   

A politicians mantra: Be at one (or two) with your obfuscation.

[SteveA]

   Aren't you glad you asked?  My own little voice says Ayn Rand Syndrome is "the inability to use five words when five hundred will do."  I've no idea what it means.

Hey, I heard that!  Ah, too true.  Let me explain why .... blah, blah, blah ... because without sufficient explaination ... blah, blah, blah ... and so Rand necessarily ... etc. ... blah, blah ... so it's obviously due to too much coffee and free time.

(See how much more convincing a long discussion is?)

[5thconcerto]

Brevity is the essence of wit.

[Pat K]

Brevity is wit.  

[Herself]

it is?

[SteveA]

yes

[5thconcerto]

!!

[antayla]

*sigh*

[LeRuineur6]

My little voice tells me that there will be another depression when oil production peaks in 2010 or so, which in combination with the housing crash... could be a very interesting and potential devestating economic period of time.
...
I think we will use up so much oil fighting and fueling a consumer culture that we will not have enough to build the next power system (wind or solar) and will spend the next century or two recovering from that, trying to rebuild our skillset and desperately seeking other forms of power.

Consumerism is the opposite of capitalism.  The less we make of the stuff we use, the more we depend on others, and the more fragile we are to economic downturns.

We need to make more of the stuff we use.  Period.  Those who make most of what they use hardly even notice the most drastic economic depression.

Check out "This Ugly Civilization" by Ralph Borsodi for more info on that.  (Be prepared for some old-conservative sexism in the book though, it was written long ago.)

[nonluddite]

My little voice tells me that there will be another depression when oil production peaks in 2010 or so, which in combination with the housing crash... could be a very interesting and potential devestating economic period of time.
...
I think we will use up so much oil fighting and fueling a consumer culture that we will not have enough to build the next power system (wind or solar) and will spend the next century or two recovering from that, trying to rebuild our skillset and desperately seeking other forms of power.

Consumerism is the opposite of capitalism.  The less we make of the stuff we use, the more we depend on others, and the more fragile we are to economic downturns.

We need to make more of the stuff we use.  Period.  Those who make most of what they use hardly even notice the most drastic economic depression.

Check out "This Ugly Civilization" by Ralph Borsodi for more info on that.  (Be prepared for some old-conservative sexism in the book though, it was written long ago.)

No, division of labor is part of capitalism!  If I had to grow all of my own food, what time would I have to go to work--wouldn't we just turn the clock back to the pre-21st century, or the Middle Ages?  Even Communism has division of labor, at least in small groups!

[RhythmStar]

I think we need to be careful with the semantics -- division of labor is not part of Capitalism at all, but is a naturally emerging phenom, a consequence of people's individual actions (I spend some time making more program code, because I can buy better food from the farmer than I can grow, and get more money for the code I can make in that time than the worth of the food I might have produced).   Still, I am free to grow my own food and code less if I wish.

Under Lenin's Communism, both the division of labor and the activities labored at were arranged by the State.



RS