h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

mob rules means he with the biggest mob rules. No one wins, people get hurt...people die. Peaceful mobs are crushed or replaced with violent mobs. June 4th movement in China, Falun Gong in China, the peaceful ousting of Erap in Manila followed by yesterday mornings events. Even pointless violent mobs filled with soccer fans on holiday...are met with more violence from the other side. Nice guys finish last only because they're the only ones left after all the other yobbos have offed each other.

zactly. we need 'compassionate capitalism' with strictures and ruls and inspections, so everyone gets a good deal, not McDo only.

Anarchy - system of self rule
wil no property rights or law but people
can still choose to live in conunity
(Personally I think small scale communal
anarchy would be best.)
Anarkist - Mainly thick but so are capitilists
basicaly people are mainly thick.
Democracy- mob rule

I thick we need some kind of mental change
(call it spirtual if u must)
as well though 'cus at the moment people r
just commpetive greedy b******s.

god! i don't check my emails for a couple of weeks and look what has happened. suddenly i have a six mile list to read. not that i understood much of it ofcourse. i just thought i'd say somthing to let people know i'm still here in the corner and i still haven't found the toilets yet.
cheers.

its a good idea JK, but in practice it wont work. we just need rules for corporations.

No, I think there's a real strong chance that the entirety of humanity might go through a kind of 'phase change' real soon ... there are huge numbers of people thinking of alternative kinds of social, political, economic and legal systems for the world. As for a change of attitude, away from selfishness, greed and shortsightedness to openness, tolerance and responsibility, I think there's a chance of that also. We must not look at the short term too much.

but there are also huge numbers of affluent young people who just want more money/sex/mobile phones/clothes/make up/drugs and dont give a flying duck about anything else

They will learn...

we can but hope

no they wont

They'll either learn or die. The world is gonna become a pretty hard place to live in soon.

The USA for instance shouldn't believe itself to be more important than the rest of the world. Megalomania usually goes along with paranoia. That's where the USA seems to be headed. They believe that they are the best country in the world, they try to dominate everybody economically and culturally; now many people don't like that so anti-American feelings are growing; now America feels threatened and increases its own military capabilities; next countries who don't like America do the same, and again you're caught in an arms race and it ends with a coalition of Russia, China, India, the Islamic countries, Africa and Central/South America against North America; Europe will be divided between the one side and the other; we'll nuke each other into kingdom come.

The people who survive a catastrophe like that will have learnt something.

Blimey, I'd rather it din't go that far.

New Dish of the Day - dark chocolate digestives toppped with greek yoghurt and strawberries. Highly reccommended.

I would suspect that more effectivley regulated capitalism, with optional commumes and alternative local lifestyles is about the closest we could get to a perfect system. I'm afraid I suspect that work is inevitable, but it can be rewarding and pleasurable activity rather than a miserable chore. There is enough food air and water if we stabilise the population. People are capable of living peaceful, happy lives and where circumstances are favourable generally do so.

I like Pillows optimistic notion of change, but not the vision of impending doom. On the wall of the UCB you will find a cutting from weekly world news, (US tabloid) screaming:MOON TO CRASH INTO EARTH IN FIVE YEARS! (p 84, July 2000). So we only have just over four years to sort everything out. More coffee anyone???

pj

well, its all very well saying people 'should' do this that and the other, but they wont. i wish they would. but they will not.

UH, exactly how is it that you can predict exactly how human beings will behave in the future? In my experience things have a way of changing in unexpected ways. The situation of humanity changes over time, human nature itself can even change. There's no law of nature that says it can't.

Anyways I find the idea of impending doom to be refreshingly inspirational and motivational! It sure de-complicates things.

hope springs eternal, but not much

It'll simply have to do.

ah, who am i fooling? we're all doomed.

Well that's kinda OK too. If we really are such a*****s the universe is better off without us.

True enough humans are a virus of the universe, we have already set about destroying the Earth, it is only a matter of time (if we survive) before we would destroy other planets.