X-Message-Number: 20838
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 02:05:53 +1100
From: Philip Rhoades <>
Subject: Conspiracies and Basic Research
References: <>

People,

There is a lot of truth in Yvan's arguments re development - there have 
been some breakthroughs but mostly the last few decades of 
technological development have been "more of the same" - but smaller 
and faster eg computer chips.  I am quite happy to believe that there 
are some serious conspiracies going on (does anyone _really_ believe it 
was Lee Harvey Oswald that fired the magic bullet?) but there might be 
some sort of international conspiracy going on in this case too.  
Religionists still pretty much run the world - do they want any of us 
to develop the technology to live forever?  How does that affect their 
power bases?  Religious organisations are just fronts for political 
manipulation after all.

Conspiracies aside, the effect that Yvan is talking about is more 
likely to be a result of the wave of Economic Rationalism that has been 
sweeping the globe for the last few decades such that pure science and 
fundamental research has suffered ie the researchers who have been 
suffering are exactly the ones where all the major breakthroughs are 
made.  While the bottom line is master, with ever shortening economic 
cycles, there is not much hope.

While remaining sort of optimistic about the future (how else can you 
be?) if the Americans don't get us killed in a nuclear war and we can 
stave of global environmental collapse, the bean counters will probably 
nickle and dime us to death . .

R&LL,

Phil.
-- 
Philip Rhoades

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