RE: A time for war.

From: Lawrence deBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Sun 20 Mar 2005 - 15:21:35 GMT

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    Hi, Keith,

    War, except for the nationalists, MAKES the future bleak. Wouldn't that be reason enough -- everything else being equal -- to make war undesirable and avoided?

    I would add the term 'oppression' to your 'bleakness' to strengthen the tendencies that might -- might -- lead to war.

    Lots of peoples live with bleak futures, and don't go to war. And others facing bleak futures, do. I am not sure bleakness is a predictor of going to war. Other conditions must obtain, such as the belief that going to war will produce a net reduction in the bleakness, or a belief that the present bleakness has reached such a level that doing something -- anything -- is worth it to try and escape from the bleakness.

    That populations can reach this level is demonstrated in the phenomenon that the US and others call 'terrorism.'

    Cheers,

    Lawry

    -----Original Message----- From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Keith Henson Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:25 PM To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: A time for war.

    At 03:49 AM 18/03/05 -0800, Scott Chase wrote:

    >--- Keith Henson <hkhenson@rogers.com> wrote:
    >
    > >
    > > [Posted this on another list, but since it mentions
    > > memes . . . .]
    > >
    > > Re several threads on this list, I make a case
    > > rooted in the stone age that
    > > a lot of the populations of the world are either now
    > > stressed (such as
    > > those who dropped out of the middle class in the US)
    > > or are anticipating
    > > the world getting worse.
    > >
    > > Exceptions are the Chinese, and a few other
    > > countries where economic
    > > conditions are improving and look like they will for
    > > a while.
    > >
    >Not sure how you're excepting the Chinese. Better keep
    >an eye on recent news wrt Taiwan. Could become a "time
    >for war" sans xenophobia if Taiwan asserts its
    >indepedence as a sovereign state.

    snip

    When Tiawan and China go to war without first having economic problems, falling income per capita, or some other situation that make the future look bleak, then my prognostication will fail.

    Making noise doesn't count as war.

    Keith Henson

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