Re: [tlug] Re: Why Vista Sucks (was: linux: it's becoming ubiquitous)

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 31/03/2008, Attila Kinali <attila@example.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:18:19 +0900 "Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com> wrote:
>
>  > I assume you are being a bit tongue-in-cheek here, but I'll bite. Like
>  > Larry Wall says, laziness and hubris are virtues, if they motivate
>  > people to be efficient and take pride in their work.
>
> If and only if they are motivated by their laziness/hubris/impatience.
>  But as you know, most people are just simply lazy, without trying
>  to improve their efficiency, hubris, whithout trying to be the best
>  out there, impatience, whithout trying to get their tools do
>  the work faster.

I am not sure I agree, but that probably depends on your definition of
"most". If you mean more than 50%, then I probably agree. If you mean
more than 80%, I do not.

>  > Ultimately, what is good for all of us is good for me too. I'd much
>  > rather act in a way that benefits me little to none, or even hurts me,
>  > if it benefits humanity in the long term, because humanity in the long
>  > term == my genetic material.
>
> That somehow relates to the "Selfish Gene" which i'm currently reading,
>  but you'll have to wait until i'm finshed until i can comment on that :-)

お待ちして降ります。

I really believe that everyone is selfish (enlightened self-interest
is still self-interest), and that strangely enough, that is not at all
a bad thing.

> Actually, i'm quite an optimist, but without the rose-coloured
>  glasses. I know (or at least pretend that i know) that all good
>  has its limits, that at some point the bad or even worse starts.

Hrm... in my experience, only a small percentage of people are
actually bad. Most people simply are not very good at predicting (or
understanding) the consequences of their actions in the
extraordinarily complicated system that is the modern world, and that
is the source of most of the bad stuff that humans do. And that leads
me to...

>  But anyways, what makes you think that "Common Wealth" is an
>  excellent book? And why should i read it?

Because it looks at the world as an extremely complicated system
dominated by humanity, and advances the following argument:

1. People are not bad at heart
2. There are a lot of people (probably more than the carrying capacity
of the planet)
3. People have screwed up the planet, mostly through unintended
consequences of economic improvement (which is good for everyone)
4. Doing nothing will almost certainly doom us before the end of this century
5. There exist many small- or mid-sized solutions to different facets
of the central problem, that there are too many humans
6. The cost of saving the planet is likely less than 1% of the
combined GDP of the G8 economies
7. Ordinary people need to get involved in electing leaders that will
take points (1)-(6) seriously

And now, to pull a Jonathan Byrne, Linux and Open Source are a major
part of saving the world. Low cost tools and rapidly developed, high
quality software will be needed, especially in the parts of the world
that are currently not members of the Convergence Club.[1]

Steve, what do you think of Jeffrey Sachs? Have you ever met him or
read his academic work?

Cheers,
Josh

[1] http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Econ_Articles/Dowrick/conv_club.html