Distro trimmed to RCM

On Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:10:21 +0000 (UTC), "Leroy N. Soetoro"
wrote:

snip
Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used
to label any new hire who had not yet read "Atlas Shrugged" a "virgin."
Being conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the economic carnage
caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement.
snip
====================
While _Atlas Shrugged_ does have some appeal to the rugged
individualists (and wannabes) it is still a work of fiction
and in many ways Tolkien's "Hobbit" series is even a better
read and better morality tale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit

These are both works of fiction, and in one sense are simply
extended "Rorschach Ink Blot Tests" on which the reader is
free to project their repressed fears and fantasies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test

IMNSHO the major danger to western
civilization/economy/culture as we currently understand it,
is not some "ism," but rather the unknown and indeed
unknowable effects of extreme globalization, urbanization,
and automation on humankind. FWIW -- the "movers and
shakers" that seem to be promoting and profiting from these
activities appear to be simply swept along like the rest of
us, rather like surf boarders caught in a tsunami.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of years of
socio-economic/political change have condensed into a few
decades, well within an individual's adult lifetime. One
example of this, with which many people are familiar, is the
"evolution" of computer programming/IT from a "craft" to a
"profession" to a wage occupation within a single
individual's working life. While the same thing occurred
with machinists/machining, this change required several
generations, and is still highly contentiousness, e.g.
apprenticeships [largely paid for by the employers] v trade
schools [largely paid for by the individual practitioners] v
college [largely paid for by the taxpayers]. Even who
should buy the "tools of the trade," i.e. the employer or
the individual employee, is still a hot topic of debate.

What is critically necessary is the collection of extensive
*ACCURATE* data on the effects of the increasingly rapid and
extensive/intensive socio-economic/political/cultural
changes, the valid statistical reduction of this data, and
==perhaps most important, some minimal agreement on what
measurable end effects are desirable,== rather than relying
on random impressions,feelings and anecdotes largely based
on one or more works of fiction. Very serious consideration
must be given to "what can go wrong" and contingency
planning, particularly to the shift to mega-urbanization and
the imposition of a cash/money economic system on
"traditional" societies.