Where is Bill Gates when you need him ?

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:06 am

jabowery,

After I saw the Google video I devoted my life to creating a demand for the refunding of the Bussard Polywell. Here is a post I did on the subject after getting the thanks of Dr. Nebel:

http://iecfusiontech.blogspot.com/2008/01/dr.html

Doc N said:

Also, I would like to thank M Simon, TallDave and their fellow bloggers for their continued interest in this technology. We appreciate that a great deal, but as you might imagine we have been a little too busy to communicate very much with the on-line people.

I posted links on every blog that had a current mention of fusion from late Nov 2006 on. I would have done more but all I have is my computer and my time.

BTW the April announcement was a false alarm. I was so informed by some folks close to Dr. B. And I was very fortunate to be included in an e-mail list he sent out in August of 2007 when the real announcement came.

And I was flogging the 2006 Outstanding Technology of the Year Award just after it came out in 2007. So if you had a hand in that - thanks.

There are always names behind the Invisible Hand. And yet it is invisible because most people will never know those names. Desire/demand is what makes the system go.

As to consent of the governed: all you have to do to change things is get it. Another project I have been working on for a long time is close to achieving a breakthrough - ending drug prohibition. In fact we got our first major breakthrough about a week ago when the El Paso City Council voted in favor of studying ending prohibition as the solution to drug war violence. The vote was unanimous. Vetoed by the Mayor. An over ride vote is set to come up this week.

The deal is - the Internet has changed everything. Poor people can now create demand and money follows demand. BTW I had a hand in the Internet too. A board I designed and had fabricated went into the World's First BBS.

One man (in concert with others - thanks Joe Strout) can do a lot by seeing what needs to be done and doing it. And don't forget Tom Ligon who started the amateur Fusor program at Dr. B's request. Lots of hands. And you know there were many others whose names would fill pages.

So I'm not near as pessimistic as you are. I have mostly gotten the results I want.

Simon

jabowery · Post by **jabowery** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:20 pm

MSimon wrote:As to consent of the governed: all you have to do to change things is get it.

Get what? The consent of the populace? The consent of the Supreme Court? The consent of Stalin? "If you want government by consent, all you have to do is get Stalin to agree with you."

So I'm not near as pessimistic as you are. I have mostly gotten the results I want.

Well I'm sure a lot of people got what they wanted under Stalin and couldn't comprehend why others were so pessimistic.

Don't mistake me for someone who has not gotten what he wanted. I've put together Federal legislation that was signed into law after grassroots efforts and given testimony before the House Subcommittee on Space where I was credited by the bill's primary sponsor for doing so.

Here's the problem:

Tyranny of the majority restrained by a vague laundry list of selectively enforced "human rights" is not what I call "consent of the governed" even though I may be afforded the opportunity to persuade others to "get it".

Consent of the governed is only realistic when people can vote with their feet. That doesn't mean walking off a cliff to their death. It doesn't mean walking into the ocean to drown. It doesn't mean walking out of one tyranny to join another tyranny. It means having somewhere to go along with others that share your strongly held beliefs about what makes life worth living in a territory of sufficient carrying capacity for your joint population.

That's the primary reason I'm interested in frontiers like the ocean and space. Even in the absence of a frontier though, legitimate government cannot demand political action be the route to "consent" because the only "consent" that matters is the individual's consent. The further the form of government is from that kind of consent the less legitimate it is.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:08 am

Get what? The consent of the populace? The consent of the Supreme Court? The consent of Stalin? "If you want government by consent, all you have to do is get Stalin to agree with you."

Consent of the governed. If you can create a demand for change you will get it. You may have to get it to the 80% or 90% level, but it is doable.

BTW as much as you may dislike the current system - our system is not that bad. Mass murder is not in the style book of the current rulers. At least in the home country. The rulers rule by misinformation and misdirection (it is a magic trick) rather than the gulag. Correct that misinformation and you get change.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:21 am

I'm sure that you know that "consent of the governed" in our system does not mean the people rule. It only means that if people get agitated enough changes will be made. Revolutions are bad for business. Self government is a safety valve. It is all it ever was. Even in the "freest country on earth".

As to things being different some place else? Maybe, for a while. However, the alpha males always assert themselves in time and you are back with the same old problems.

Worse in space because the ship's captain is God. The leader of a colonial outpost is God. Who ever controls your supply lines (deliveries of goods material, information) from the home planet is God.

Yes - if you start with a blank slate you may be OK at first. Then come the slate fillers and you are back to where you started.

You want to fix human nature. I'm content to fix a few problems. Probably a defect on my part. However, you will note that it is the "fix human nature" folks who usually turn into the Stalinists. So be careful what you ask for.

jabowery · Post by **jabowery** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:19 am

MSimon wrote:You want to fix human nature.

Those who opposed Papal rule wanted to fix human nature by your standards.

alexjrgreen · Post by **alexjrgreen** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:30 am

jabowery wrote:
MSimon wrote:You want to fix human nature.
Those who opposed Papal rule wanted to fix human nature by your standards.

The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:36 pm

jabowery wrote:
MSimon wrote:You want to fix human nature.
Those who opposed Papal rule wanted to fix human nature by your standards.

Considering how my ancestors were treated when Pope's ruled - not a bad idea.

jabowery · Post by **jabowery** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:58 pm

MSimon wrote:
jabowery wrote:
MSimon wrote:You want to fix human nature.
Those who opposed Papal rule wanted to fix human nature by your standards.
Considering how my ancestors were treated when Pope's ruled - not a bad idea.

Then think for a moment:

Guttenberg -> Internet
Theocracy -> Rule by lies and misdirection
Protestant Reformation -> What you label my desire "to fix human nature"
Age of exploration -> Space age

Space habitats need be no more dependent than new world colonies and indeed, individual families may become quite independent in space given sufficiently advanced automation.

Yes, initially, new world colonies were very fragile, but then there were a whole series of independence movements starting with 1776.

And on Gates:

http://www.htl-steyr.ac.at/~morg/pcinfo ... te1at0.htm

Take a look at which of these functions were "undocumented" - everything to do with extended drives and multitasking. That's why Gate's folks were always able to do more with their software. There was one book for MS guys and another for everyone else. If anyone outside of MS used undocumented functions, they got sued for breach of licensing agreement(no reverse engineering).

Yeah - Gates was a real peach back in the 80's!

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:13 pm

I see two problems with what you propose:

The average person is not interested in the truth. He wants to believe what every one else believes. It is more convenient.

The alpha male.

==

BTW I do not propose changing human nature. I just accept it and try to work around it as best I can.

We are fortunate to live in a system where work arounds are possible.

If space is colonized it will resemble what Earth is like in 500 years or less. At first there will be few rules. And then over time the slate will be filled. You are thinking about what life on the frontier will be like. However, frontiers don't last forever.

jabowery · Post by **jabowery** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:01 pm

MSimon wrote:I see two problems with what you propose:

The average person is not interested in the truth. He wants to believe what every one else believes. It is more convenient.

Then how do you explain the Protestant Reformation?

The alpha male.

The Pope? Bernard Madoff? Ben Bernanke? Warren Buffett? Steven Speilberg? Bill Gates?

Or an unemployed Navy SEAL vet with a 10 inch blade looking to "change human nature"?

==

frontiers don't last forever.

Looking at the growth rate of Islam in the US, you certainly said a mouthful there...

alexjrgreen · Post by **alexjrgreen** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:16 pm

MSimon wrote:Considering how my ancestors were treated when Pope's ruled - not a bad idea.

A fleeting high point in an otherwise squalid story:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -2,00.html

Avignon was on the eastern border of the former Visigoth province of Septimania.

alexjrgreen · Post by **alexjrgreen** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:38 pm

jabowery wrote:
MSimon wrote:[...]
The average person is not interested in the truth. He wants to believe what every one else believes. It is more convenient.
Then how do you explain the Protestant Reformation?

The rise of the Nation-State. The Black Death. The Hundred Years' War. The rediscovery of classical knowledge. Having two Popes at the same time...

Plus a few disagreements over theology and practice.

ravingdave · Post by **ravingdave** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:29 pm

jabowery wrote: And on Gates:

http://www.htl-steyr.ac.at/~morg/pcinfo ... te1at0.htm

Take a look at which of these functions were "undocumented" - everything to do with extended drives and multitasking. That's why Gate's folks were always able to do more with their software. There was one book for MS guys and another for everyone else. If anyone outside of MS used undocumented functions, they got sued for breach of licensing agreement(no reverse engineering).

Yeah - Gates was a real peach back in the 80's!

Gates was/is a real slimeball, and he owes his fortune more to his lawyerly tricks and luck than to any talent or intelligence.

David

ravingdave · Post by **ravingdave** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:32 pm

MSimon wrote:I see two problems with what you propose:

The average person is not interested in the truth. He wants to believe what every one else believes. It is more convenient.

The alpha male.

==

BTW I do not propose changing human nature. I just accept it and try to work around it as best I can.

We are fortunate to live in a system where work arounds are possible.

If space is colonized it will resemble what Earth is like in 500 years or less. At first there will be few rules. And then over time the slate will be filled. You are thinking about what life on the frontier will be like. However, frontiers don't last forever.

There is much wisdom in what you say here. However, I can simplify.

Bulls and Herds.

David

jabowery · Post by **jabowery** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:02 pm

ravingdave wrote: There is much wisdom in what you say here. However, I can simplify.

Bulls and Herds.

I can simplify further:

Bushitters and Bullshitees:

'The Sun - Islamic fanatics name Alan Sugar, Mark Ronson and Lord Levy in a hit list of Britain's leading Jews: British anti-terror expert Glen Jenvey is convinced online forum Ummah is being used to prepare a deadly backlash against UK Jews. His warning came as Europe was hit by anti-Semitic attacks over Israel's push into the Gaza Strip.... Mr Jenvey, 43, said: "The Ummah website has been used by extremists. "Those listed should treat it very seriously. Expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs."'

'It would now appear that this entire non-story actually began with Glen Jenvey feeding an unknown quantity of information to the Sun 'news' paper. Glen Jenvey bills himself in this bio as a 'freelance terror investigator', is described in this article as a 'freelance intelligence agent', and is described in his Wikipedia entry (that he regularly edits himself) as a former spy who now "uses the internet to infiltrate terrorist organisations."'

[...]

'Though the Sun suggests otherwise, the only forum contributor pushing for anything other than a polite letter-writing campaign (details here) is posting under the name 'abuislam'.... and I'm looking at evidence right now that strongly indicates that Glen Jenvey and 'abislam' are one and the same person.'

I don't think of this as a contest between bulls at all. It's more like a contest of slime molds.