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Progress, elite control
It occurs to me that because we live in a society where the main
institutions are necessarily controlled by the rich, who constitute an elite minority, and furthermore that the main scientific ventures are undertaken under their orders, there has been an unfortunate tendency to associate elite control with scientific progress. In physics this tendency is notably a minority one ; the general culture is relatively liberal and anti-corporate, at least in my experience (it would be interesting to discuss why this is, if anyone has any ideas). However in other fields, for example space and aerospace science, the political culture seems to be unusually open to militarism and corporatism, probably because for a long time it has been heavily involved with the US military-industrial complex, which is responsible for most of the pioneering research done in these fields in the US, along with NASA as a junior partner. In any case, I would note that control of operations by an elite minority, bureaucratic centralism and so on, is not a precondition for progress, or something that is desirable. Just because the USSR industrialized somwhat under Stalin does not make dictatorship a desirable system. I would also note that, in all scientific fields I've ever heard of, progress appears to go best when it is the researchers, or designers or whoever who are making the important decisions about what is going on, not random investors, corporate executives, government or other bureaucrats. -- Posted via http://web2news.com the faster web2news on the web |
#2
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Progress, elite control
"Alexander S." wrote:
It occurs to me that because we live in a society where the main institutions are necessarily controlled by the rich, who constitute an elite minority, "Social activism." The threat of massive social unrest is a ball and chain about any oligarch's ankle. The poor reproduce insanely abundantly and embody essentially no social investment/person. The risk-aversive First World counting its military casualties one by one is helpless against a band of savages that joyfully spike their oversupply of sick babies upon set bayonets, then unsheath their own knives and begin the real slaughter. Uncle Al says, "Ownership is the ability to destroy." I would also note that, in all scientific fields I've ever heard of, progress appears to go best when it is the researchers, or designers or whoever who are making the important decisions about what is going on, not random investors, corporate executives, government or other bureaucrats. Productivity is not synonymous with research. Somebody must pay the mortgage in the here and now; somebody mush show up each morning to create the future. Paying the mortgage does not create the future. In the first Mideast War, the most abundant, dense, and expensive conventional anti-aircraft emplacement in the history of the world was defeated by 35 weird-looking planes. In the second, the best tank armor supplied by the Eastern block was trivially holed by Humvee-mounted M60 machine guns with DU ammo. Battle tanks were taken down by Jeeps. Remember what happened to the purely huge Keuffel & Esser slide rule division after the obscenely overpriced HP-35 debuted. Six months after the HP-35, there was no Keuffel & Esser slide rule division. Slide rules had been state of the art since William Oughtred in 1630. How long did vinyl records persist against CDs? Compare FAX traffic to that of e-mail. Uncle Al says, "It is always safe to be a bottle washer or a button sorter, somebody who trades in Least Publishable Units and never broaches a peep of dissent. It is absolutely safe until the future crushes you." As for the poor, let them die in their own wastes, kill them abundantly if they broach dissent, and give them an honest opportunity to join society on their own merits. A farmer who cherishes his culls won't be in business for long. -- Uncle Al http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/ (Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals) "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net! |
#3
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Progress, elite control
"Uncle Al" wrote in message ... In the first Mideast War, the most abundant, dense, and expensive conventional anti-aircraft emplacement in the history of the world was defeated by 35 weird-looking planes. In the second, the best tank armor supplied by the Eastern block was trivially holed by Humvee-mounted M60 machine guns with DU ammo. Battle tanks were taken down by Jeeps. Hyperbole. I know of a case where a main battle tank with Soviet armor was nailed by Bushmaster cannon fire from a Bradley fighting vehicle, but there's a hell of difference between the 25 mm DU round from the Bushmaster and anything you can fire from an little M60. The Browning M60 fires basically .30-06 rounds, which the military calls 7.62 mm, and which don't even come in DU. They do have a tungsten AP which is maybe good for holing the fancy armored automobiles of the rich g.. They might work against Arnold Swartznegger's Hummer, but probably not a military Humvee. Certainly a tank would laugh at them, even a Soviet one. SBH |
#4
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Progress, elite control
"Steve Harris" wrote in message ...
"Uncle Al" wrote in message ... In the first Mideast War, the most abundant, dense, and expensive conventional anti-aircraft emplacement in the history of the world was defeated by 35 weird-looking planes. In the second, the best tank armor supplied by the Eastern block was trivially holed by Humvee-mounted M60 machine guns with DU ammo. Battle tanks were taken down by Jeeps. Hyperbole. I know of a case where a main battle tank with Soviet armor was nailed by Bushmaster cannon fire from a Bradley fighting vehicle, but there's a hell of difference between the 25 mm DU round from the Bushmaster and anything you can fire from an little M60. The Browning M60 fires basically .30-06 rounds, which the military calls 7.62 mm, and which don't even come in DU. They do have a tungsten AP which is maybe good for holing the fancy armored automobiles of the rich g.. They might work against Arnold Swartznegger's Hummer, but probably not a military Humvee. Certainly a tank would laugh at them, even a Soviet one. But, since both jeeps, tanks, and Arnold Swartznegger where holed by submarines, stealth fighters, and cruise missles, the caliber of their ammo is actually irrelevent. Since all of them, including their Iraqi-depleted camel-chemists, and their Bush&Son health-insurance morons are D.O.A. SBH |
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