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Progress, elite control



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 5th 03, 04:09 AM
Alexander S.
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Default 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.
--
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  #2  
Old July 5th 03, 04:44 PM
Uncle Al
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Default 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  
Old July 5th 03, 06:20 PM
Steve Harris
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Default 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  
Old July 5th 03, 10:06 PM
ZZBunker
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Posts: n/a
Default 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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