Re: [ba-unrev-talk] Fwd: [issues] Ockham's Razor
> That's MY idea, you pea-brained son of a foul-mouthed, bad-breath
> baboon.
> :_) (01)
Ouch!
Any more like that and I'll get my top-notch Monty Python's Professional
Insulting Kit out of mothballs.
Then you'll be sorry. (02)
--
Peter
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Armstrong" <eric.armstrong@sun.com>
To: <ba-unrev-talk@bootstrap.org>; "hm" <eric@treelight.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 9:23 PM
Subject: Re: [ba-unrev-talk] Fwd: [issues] Ockham's Razor (03)
> Peter Jones wrote:
> >
> > With respect, I think it is no longer possible to divorce discussion of
> > augmentation from discussion of the social relations into which it is bound.
The
> > biggest complex, urgent problem on offer is to work out how to take our
> > collective foot off the accelerator pedal of obsession with capital
> > accumulation.
> >
> I'm inclined to agree completely, on this point. Doing so would create
> an immediate reduction in stress -- both on individuals and the
> environment.
>
> Interestingly, this morning I was reading a small article in NewsWeek
> from a few weeks ago, talking about people who quite fast-paced
> jobs for "summer jobs".
>
> The fellow it was about had left a career and ulcers behind to work
> mornings making salads. He'd make about $75, and spend the afternoon
> at the beach. Got to wear a coyboy hat to work, and a grin on his
> face as big as all outdoors.
>
> So there is movement in that direction. The time is right.
> So: Without calling you lame-brained, pea-headed, son of a skunk
> with no more sense than god gave a hammer, how can we begin to
> make that shift happen.
>
> Personally, I find the 3-D farming on the west coast of India
> to be something of an inspiration. They grow most of their
> food in the trees, bushes, shrubs, climbing vines, ground
> crops, and root crops. (Hence "3-D". Note the 7 different levels.
> They actually have 9, since they have coconut trees towering
> over everything.)
>
> Small cottage industries provide the little extra they need, so
> other than an hour or two a day, they are entirely self-sufficient.
> All in all, it sounds like a pretty good balance.
>
> The really nice thing about 3-D farming is that you're surrounded
> by trees, and there is no planting or tilling to be done. Harvesting,
> too, is matter of doing a little every day (to eat), so it's a pretty
> low-maintenance endeavor.
>
> Now then. MY idea is create a foundation which accepts gifts of
> land. It then "rents" that land in perpetuity to folks who will
> do 3-D farming on it, so long as they pay the taxes, and do the
> upkeep. It probably makes sense to have a "cottage industry" as
> a requirement, as well, since the goal is to move people out of
> the major economic channels.
>
> [Also, the goal would be to build community. So bits of land
> close to one another would be best, and some sort of community
> building activity could be a requirement.]
>
> The way I see it "economic growth" is a never-ending treadmill
> that makes housing costs and rents go up and up and up. That
> foundation could start moving people off the treadmill.
>
> If people get tax deductions for donating a car, there must be
> a great break for gifts of land. And in today's society, with
> so many folks living to old age with next to no family, willing
> one's land to a community-focused foundation would, over the
> long haul, accrete sizable portions of real estate.
>
> [The only remaining requirement is a board to run the foundation.]
>
> That's MY idea, you pea-brained son of a foul-mouthed, bad-breath
> baboon.
> :_)
> (04)