X-Message-Number: 32971
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:37:29 -0400
Subject: A somewhat on topic book recommendation, "The Rational Optimi...
From: Rudi Hoffman <>

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Dear Cryonetters:

I have been following the thread regarding progress/no progress idea with
interest.

To be fair, it is more of a "rapid progress, less rapid progress"
distinction and discussion.

Mark Plus is doing a fine job as a skeptic and curmudgeon...altho, Mark, I
am not sure you are old enough to be a real curmudgeon.   But parts of your
skepticism about "where's my flying car, dude?" may be understandable.

Here is my contribution to this discussion.

I had heard from several respected quarters good things about Matt Ridey's
"The Rational Optimist:  How Prosperity Evolves, " was a great read.

So, along with the 24 other mostly fabulous books in my iphone 4, I went to
Audible.com and invested a credit...15 bucks a month...great value....into
downloading "The Rational Optimist."

Wow...what a book!

As I mentioned on my review on Audible.com, this is the book I would like to
have written.

Ridley explains that by most ANY metric one uses, life is better for most
people on the planet than it has ever been.

By a significant degree.

In empirical, quantifiable, virtually unarguable terms.

I won't be doing a full review here, other than to say, THIS is worthwhile
listening/ reading.

Ridley has a pretty good TED talk you can google for...and it captures some
of the flavor of the book...but not all of it.

I especially liked the rather counterintuitive sections on "Green" energy
and lifestyle.  And why "organic" farming, and "local sourcing", two
buzzwords of the green movement, are astoundingly BAD for the environment
and create a larger ecological footprint.

The basic premise of the book, which most thinking people will agree with,
is that prosperity evolves DRAMATICALLY with the advent of specialization
and trade.

While this may seem obvious, the implications of the thought, which Ridley
cannily explores, include the conclusion that independence is
poverty...interdependence and specialization are what generates the win/win
transactions that make our lives orders of magnitude better than our
ancestors.

Nobody on the planet knows how to make a keyboard I am typing these words
on.  That is, no one could singlehandedly drill the oil that makes the
plastic, design the wireless keyboard I am writing this / these words on,
engineer and manufacture the piece of technology that I can buy for about
what amounts to about 8 minutes of my work.

Folks.  Including Mark Plus.

Can we not take a moment to acknowledge that our lifestyles...for most of
us, certainly not all...are something like what has been DREAMED about by
our ancestors?

As I write these words, I am being served by literally thousands of human
beings.  They have diligently worked to provide a stable office chair and
desk for me, they work to enable me to communicate via the internet to folks
spread around the globe effortlessly.  Electricity, transmitted via power
lines from all over the continent, is being magically encoded into symbols
on a screen made in Taiwan by specialists.

So, I won't try to restate or sell you on Ridley's thesis.

I won't even tell you that you aren't allowed an informed opinion on the
matter if you don't read the book...although this may be true!

Since I have about as good an idea of the demographics and orientation of
the folks who are interested in cryonics as anyone on the planet, based on
the fact that I LOVE to talks with you people, I just know most of you would
and will really dig this book.

Wife Dawn and I have about 88 people scheduled to come to our Halloween
party tomorrow...should be quite an event.  We are still getting things set
up for it...have about 48 Halloween icon "airblown" figures in our front
yard, the entire house decorated inside and out for the season...and we
aren't done yet.

So, I will close for now.  Check out Matt Ridley...you'll feel better about
your life.

Warm regards to all remarkably foresightful and deep thinking readers of
Cryonet...

For Centuries,

Rudi


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Rudi Richard Hoffman CFP CLU ChFC

World's Leading Cryonics Insuror rudihoffman.com
Former Board Member Financial Planning Association fpafla.com
Board Member Salvation Army salvationarmy.org
Member Alcor Life Extension Foundation alcor.org,
Member Cryonics Institute cryonics.org
Certified Financial Planner(TM) CFP Board of Standards
Member World Transhumanist Association http://transhumanism.org/
Securities offered through Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp. Member
FINRA and SIPC.

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