From: bhoughto@sedona.intel.com (Blair P. Houghton) Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Alpha release Linux/GNU/X unix clone on CDROM for PC's Date: 1 Dec 1992 18:54:58 GMT
In article <1fblp1INNmnd@escargot.xx.rmit.OZ.AU> s891961@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU (Peter David Cupit) writes:
> In the GNU manifesto a thing called the post-scarcity society is mentioned.
> I'd say this goal is much more worthy than one that perpetuates the
> philosophy of greed.
Gag. Do I really want to get into aNOTHER religious war?
Yeah. I guess.
It is the net, after all...
"Post Scarcity" is a myth; a paradox; a utopia of mathematical
but not physical form.
We're soon to be too many for the petri dish we inhabit,
and we won't be able to convert the detritus into nutrients
fast enough, even if we evolve into something that knows how.
If we're fortunate, some intergalactic vector will appear
that will enable us to propagate to other planets, but for
now there's a lot of Outer Space and relatively no Rocket Fuel.
Meanwhile, we're human, and subject to psychologies
different from those of our Utopian leaders. In a Society
there is always Class, and always Bourgeois (Fr., "wannabe")
motivation, and always paranoia and want. Corruption of
the Utopian system is the result, and those in power end up
profiting at the expense of the proletariat.
It's like smoothing the ocean. Theoretically it's possible
for the ocean to be microscopically smooth, but we can't
control the weather.
To fail to compete in an area as potentially profitable
as software engineering is to fail to kill the beast to
feed the pride. Without charity, the pride will starve.
--Blair
"Isn't pride a sin?"
P.S. I didn't mix any metaphors, but it's a heck
of a mix of metaphors, nonetheless...