Planet America

[sparks]

The last few years? Give it time. Those kids are still in school. In ten years the kids who learned critical thinking will be becoming productive members of society, and that's when you'll be able to see whether it's working or not.

Why not test for it as it's being taught? Why wait to find out if it 'worked' or not?

[stanky]

neato.
didn't know of him, but link had link to Herman Daly, "steady state economics". Currency was measured in units of incoming solar radiation. it's fairly brilliant stuff. Pity he isn't better known. A Bucky revival would be nice. they don't make a lot of Bucky Fullers.
Guys like Musk are 'in the box' thinkers. incrementally improving a proven hopeless technology as opposed to freeing one's self from the box and the sad compromises needed to stay.

[Admin]

I have been trying to come up with a better illustration of the issues I have with Americans today, and after rejecting a few ideas I settled on the pandemic. The only problem with that one is that I'm not sure this is a uniquely American phenomenon.

It's not. Everyone made mistakes, chief among which was a complete lack of planning. If the planning had been done for a pandemic, things might have gone very differently.

Was our response to the pandemic good?
Was it bad, but seemed good based on the best information available at the time?
Was it good, but was carried too far or too long?
Was it just rotten to the core right out of the gate?
What should be policy toward Covid 19 going forward, both for individuals, and governments?

Covid itself is a dead duck. Get updated vaccines, continue to produce effective antivirals.

The key is the next pandemic.

If I'm being honest, the answer to all of those questions is, "I don't know."

"Why isn't there a presidential commission on Covid 19?"

There's a Royal Commission going on here, and while the results will be somewhat politicised, it should provide a useful blueprint.

[Meadmaker]

It's not. Everyone made mistakes,

The phenomenon I was referring to was not the response to the pandemic as it happened at the time. The phenomenon in question was the after the fact evaluation of that response. Here in America, there seems to be no interest in making a science based evaluation, Politicians and the media yap about it and shout their preconceived opinions, as if they were informed, and the rank and file of society picks the narrative they like best.

You have your royal commission. As you say, the results will be politicized. That's inevitable. However, there will be results. We don't have anything like that happening. The result is that the information gap is being filled by partisan media sources. The story that I hear most often is that the lockdowns shouldn't have happened. Vaccine mandates were the result of authoritarian governments. The vaccines themselves were dangerous experiments on human guinea pigs, and the deaths caused by vaccines are being covered up.

[stanky]

The track record of the pharmaceutical companies is something we can look at dis-passionately. Are they trustworthy?
If not, is there a money train to follow? For instance, political donations and lobbyists activities?

There's a reason why the phrase "follow the money" is still worthwhile in uncovering untidy truths.

[Admin]

You have your royal commission. As you say, the results will be politicized. That's inevitable. However, there will be results.

History has shown that Royal Commissions are actually pretty good. Our judiciary is very non-partisan, NZ ranks as the least corrupt country on earth, and there have been a number of Commissions that have resulted in deeply unpopular results, so I'm hopeful it's going to be useful.

We don't have anything like that happening. The result is that the information gap is being filled by partisan media sources.

The strange thing is, it's not democracy itself that's at fault - there are older democratic governments and none of them are anything like as partisan as America's. I blame the lack of independence of your judiciary.

The story that I hear most often is that the lockdowns shouldn't have happened.

In hindsight, I think that's true.

I think very few people have any clue what life would have been like for 3 months had measures to slow the disease not been taken. Services would have ceased, the death toll would have been an order of magnitude higher than it was, and health systems completely broken. The best analogy I can make is the New York blackout of 1977, but instead of hours in one location it would have been months globally.

Maybe the world would have sat up and listened had that happened.

Vaccine mandates were the result of authoritarian governments.

That's probably true too. My opinion is that if people don't want the vaccine, don't expect treatment.

The vaccines themselves were dangerous experiments on human guinea pigs, and the deaths caused by vaccines are being covered up.

They're just conspiracist bullshit. All vaccines carry risk and a very few people were harmed by them. Overall, it's 100% correct that vaccines saved - and continue to save - millions of lives.

[President Bush]

neato.
didn't know of him, but link had link to Herman Daly, "steady state economics". Currency was measured in units of incoming solar radiation. it's fairly brilliant stuff. Pity he isn't better known. A Bucky revival would be nice. they don't make a lot of Bucky Fullers.
Guys like Musk are 'in the box' thinkers. incrementally improving a proven hopeless technology as opposed to freeing one's self from the box and the sad compromises needed to stay.

Here you go, then...

Unto This Last - John Ruskin

[sparks]

Saved. That looks like a good read! Thanks Prez.

[Admin]

Hey, Stanky! Maybe you're onto something with RFK Jr.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-f ... 8a72bdeea4

[sparks]

Nope. RFK Jr. remains a fucking woo loon.

First sign: He can't play the game on his merits. He must attack the opposition.




What a cunt.