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Undertoad · 08-23-2006, 07:34 AM

Ali, would it surprise you to learn that, worldwide, obesity now affects more people than hunger?

1 B people are thought to be obese.
800 M people are thought to be starving.

Things are changing fast as the productivity changes that made the west, are exported to the east. This includes not only inventions and innovations -- China didn't invent the train, car, plane etc but it sure has them now. It also includes ideas: the barely-sustainable systems of the last century are abandoned for the freedom-oriented ideas that generate wealth.

This planet can, unquestionably, sustain everyone at the same level of comfort that people in western societies enjoy. It can't sustain everyone driving SUVs, granted.

Until, that is, another round of innovation improves batteries, and another round of innovation improves power generation. The battery round is well under way.

What's really exciting, though, is what will happen (not what MIGHT happen) if all those humans start to become as educated and relatively free as the west. At that point, all their innovations will start to enter the stream as well.

Even a heavily political Nobel Prize committee has really only granted prizes in physics, chemistry, economics to western-educated people. But a lot of the east has now woken and they have a ton of people, some of whom I'm sure are very bright. The revolution has just begun.

Because wealth is most certainly *generated*, not cut up like some big pie. The most useless and available raw material on the earth, sand in the deserts, is now converted into silicon chips that run our lives and glass fibers that connect them. The chips and fibers constitute much more wealth than the sand particles. This is how wealth is generated - useful items spring from almost nothing. Wealth is generated when order displaces disorder, when government sets up useful systems that permit people to interact, not to control people.

When cultures decide to not fight each other and build schools instead, wealth is generated out of nothing. When cultures decide to allow their women to make their own choices and become productive, wealth is generated out of nothing. Most cultures are only just now figuring this out. The revolution has just begun.

08-23-2006, 07:34 AM	#61
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Ali, would it surprise you to learn that, worldwide, obesity now affects more people than hunger? 1 B people are thought to be obese. 800 M people are thought to be starving. Things are changing fast as the productivity changes that made the west, are exported to the east. This includes not only inventions and innovations -- China didn't invent the train, car, plane etc but it sure has them now. It also includes ideas: the barely-sustainable systems of the last century are abandoned for the freedom-oriented ideas that generate wealth. This planet can, unquestionably, sustain everyone at the same level of comfort that people in western societies enjoy. It can't sustain everyone driving SUVs, granted. Until, that is, another round of innovation improves batteries, and another round of innovation improves power generation. The battery round is well under way. What's really exciting, though, is what will happen (not what MIGHT happen) if all those humans start to become as educated and relatively free as the west. At that point, all their innovations will start to enter the stream as well. Even a heavily political Nobel Prize committee has really only granted prizes in physics, chemistry, economics to western-educated people. But a lot of the east has now woken and they have a ton of people, some of whom I'm sure are very bright. The revolution has just begun. Because wealth is most certainly generated, not cut up like some big pie. The most useless and available raw material on the earth, sand in the deserts, is now converted into silicon chips that run our lives and glass fibers that connect them. The chips and fibers constitute much more wealth than the sand particles. This is how wealth is generated - useful items spring from almost nothing. Wealth is generated when order displaces disorder, when government sets up useful systems that permit people to interact, not to control people. When cultures decide to not fight each other and build schools instead, wealth is generated out of nothing. When cultures decide to allow their women to make their own choices and become productive, wealth is generated out of nothing. Most cultures are only just now figuring this out. The revolution has just begun.