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Since it's EuroTrib, I suppose it's OK to ask if the problem is democracy itself, in the age of universal bullshit propaganda.

Example: Global Warming Remedition versus the NonHuman Global Corporations.

Corporations not only don't have morals, they don't even have the structure to generate morality, but they're making all the decisions.

Where is the control over corporations?

Is it time to consider the kneejerk axiom that democracy is best? We don't have it anyway, as so many here complain constantly.

What's a better system of governance?

Align culture with our nature. Ot else!

by ormondotvos (ormond.otvosnospamgmialcon) on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 06:47:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Good questions, but I got distracted by a reading you a wee bit wrong.

ormondotvos:

What's a better system of governance?

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by A swedish kind of death on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 06:52:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You can't have political democracy without economic democracy. Since economic theory is anti-democratic, pretty much by definition, the act of voting is irrelevant when real power comes from buying Senators and Congress people.

So no - we don't have democracy, and have never had democracy.

With economic and media democracy, rather than pantomime vote-for-nothing-much democracy, more enlighhtened management might become more likely.

Or not. But it would be an interesting experiment. And if the population were educated in social responsibility and participation from birth, who knows how it might work out?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 07:24:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"Since economic theory is anti-democratic, pretty much by definition"

Example? Economic theory is about the interactions of humans, so I'll expect your theory to be more than the inane "rational actor" crap.

And, please, no presumptions that bad actors drive out good actors, since that is very much a subject of dispute.

Group evolutionary theory, etc. Now that we've finally got participatory communication, rather than broadcast top down communication, it's possible we can figure out how to sort out the overload.

I see the human perception of information as William James' description, "a buzzing, blooming confusion" talking about what the world looks like to a newborn baby.

The question is: "Who's the caretaking adult?"

Align culture with our nature. Ot else!

by ormondotvos (ormond.otvosnospamgmialcon) on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 08:28:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Example? Hayek and all of the neo-liberals, who believe explicitly that political power should be mediated by markets, and that if people are excluded from decision-making as a result, that's not in any way a bad thing.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 08:35:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Gee, I wonder if "Hayek and all the neo-liberals" would take exception to your characterization.

And are they "economic theory" all by themselves?

Please explain.

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by ormondotvos (ormond.otvosnospamgmialcon) on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 08:44:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Politically, they're the only economic theory that matters. No one cares what heterodox heretics think, and they certainly have absolutely no influence on US policy - the US being a country where a centrist like Krugman might as well be Karl Marx.

A bit of reluctant pseudo-Keynesian pumping over the last year hasn't done a lot to change that.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Dec 20th, 2009 at 08:56:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't find any explanation in this, just assertions.
by ormondotvos (ormond.otvosnospamgmialcon) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 08:59:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ormondotvos:

Group evolutionary theory, etc. Now that we've finally got participatory communication, rather than broadcast top down communication, it's possible we can figure out how to sort out the overload.

I see the human perception of information as William James' description, "a buzzing, blooming confusion" talking about what the world looks like to a newborn baby.

The question is: "Who's the caretaking adult?"

as to the first point, this is indeed a radical change, and one that still gives me a lot of hope.

great james quote!

the caretaking adult has to be all of us, that way we reduce corruptibility, that's the real group evolution to theorise. (one of them anyway)

great discussion, btw. the varied and sometimes opposing viewpoints are all well expressed, and perfectly mirror my own schizophrenia about obama.

you make your case extremely well.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 06:24:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"Educated from birth" brings in another wonderfully annoying element: what part is the government allowed to play in the education of children in evidentiary thinking, or to be blunt, religious education?

My current guide in this is "The God Virus" which is a current application of meme theory. Following Dawkins and Susan Blackmore, positing the human mind, social aspects and all, as the substrate, the meme as virus can very productively be traced through many biological viral behaviors, especially reproduction and competitive techniques with other viruses, such as secularism and scientism.

Anyone who's ever argued with a religious person about the existence of gods knows the shutdown of reason that occurs in defense of faith. Transferring those crippled rational faculties to everyday life might be the reason for all these failures to function in voting and consumption of more than one's share.

There's a lot more.

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by ormondotvos (ormond.otvosnospamgmialcon) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 09:11:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ormondotvos:
"Educated from birth" brings in another wonderfully annoying element: what part is the government allowed to play in the education of children in evidentiary thinking, or to be blunt, religious education?

yup, that's a very slippery fish to hold.

i appreciate your tact, it's obvious you fully understand just how close to the nerve that one can go.

i don't see why atheism and (comparative) religion can't both be taught, and then let the child decide.

anything more religiously specific should be a matter of family and individual choice.

allow for respect for all belief-systems, as long as practicing them does not impinge on others' space.

sayonara proselitisation!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 02:09:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ThatBritGuy:
And if the population were educated in social responsibility and participation from birth, who knows how it might work out?

well, from birth might be a challenge, (nursery wallpaper, tattooed breasts?), but pretty damn soon after!

this point is crucial,imo, and cannot be over-emphasized.

right now most of the social programming during our most impressionable years has remained diffident at best, breathtakingly ignorant at worst.

which explains so much of the oikiness...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 06:05:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Democracy has shown itself to be without mate when it comes to creating rich and just societies. But first past the post democracy? That's where a part of the rub lies.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 12:31:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
rich and just societies.

rich and just for whom, the few favored?

perhaps 'richer, and juster' might fly better...

PN alert :)

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 06:28:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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