X-Message-Number: 16047 From: Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 07:24:36 EDT Subject: Shift the time paradigm Time paradigm , Time horizon in the political world is at most 4 - 5 years: the time elapsed between two elections. The business time is even shorter: One or two years at most in 99 per cent of all cases. Nearly nobody bother with time beyond raising raising children or paying the house. For religions, the end of time (or history) goes from some one century to some days in sects. Nobody seems to have a long range feeling for time. I invest in real estate, because this is the longest economical time frame. My personal feeling about civilization is that it can endure indefinitely, that is far more than the present age of the Earth. Long term view is important for cryonics, environmental issues and economic stability. The crisis in dot com industry displays well the problems of short range thinking and get rich fast. The only solution is education: Learn to think about long time with geology, astronomy, cosmology or cryonics, then connect that thinking with everyday life. A good start would be to devote some time at an activity with long range effects: That may be as simple as sowing trees. There may be some practical benefit in thinking long term, for example, if you plan to invest a sum for many years, where you do put your money? I know John de Rivaz will tell: Put it in technology fund. Once more, the dot-com adventure shows that this is insufficient : not all technologies are good. There is a list of potential 21st century domains to look at: Air ships: Both, large and small. Pay per use electronics devices. Combined cycle cars( electric + gasoline) Technological leisures. Oxygen enhanced air for house.... I would like to add space and thermonuclear devices but these sector are not ready to be taken by the economy sector now. Yvan Bozzonetti. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16047