The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (SPECIAL ACCESS) KGB Political Debate Central Food Stamps benefits cut

Lets not Goodwin this thread.

Ah, when I think 'hard work' I associate the term with ability to focus on productive tasks for extended periods.

@sini re: fake debt schemes: no of course not

@ sini re Stanislav Lem : no, I am not familiar with Lem - but Mitsuo Fukuda and David Weber among others have given the subject quite a bit of treatment.

@ Kaotic : sf writers are often if not usually extremely intelligent, educated and insightful. Just because something appears in fiction does not mean it is flippantly constructed. Also, the type of eugenics being discussed have nothing in common with the pogroms of the 3rd Reich - instead think pre-natal care. If your fetus has downs syndrome, but you can use a virus programmed to repair the chromosomes do you use it? If your fetus has a malformed skull, and you can use a virus to repair the sequence do you use it? Ok, what if you can use the technique to impart resistance to HIV or Plague? What if you can identify markers for intellect and give your kid an extra 20 IQ points?

I have no idea what this means.
I think viewing eugenics through rose colored glasses is the reason that it took us so long to get into the war in the first place. Most of those ideas originated here with folks like Margaret Sanger and all in the name of removing "undesirables" from society. As for the type of eugenics, I only know of one type and it supports the propagation of those deemed fit or worthy and the elimination, through direct or indirect means, of those who aren't.

I wasn't suggesting that things addressed in SF novels aren't creatively designed and well thought out and I wasn't accusing Sini of being flip. I was merely suggesting that we know where that road leads. You should know as well as any of us that any power given to the government (I know you're not so naive as to think it wouldn't end up there), no matter how altruistic it seems, will eventually be corrupted and abused.

The world still needs ditch diggers and will always need them.

This line I just said is an old labor term which I am sure will confuse you more.

I don't know what you do for a living and I don't really care, not being rude,
but you seem to be on a private island somewhere and do not know how the real world works.

I understand that when you hear hard work you think manual
labor. Its hard for a progressive elitist to think otherwise.

I don't know what you mean by demeaning and invented work and
activities, but I am sure you can fill us in.

The more you talk the more you sound like the eugenics society
that Hitler liked.

He was the Russian guy that wrote Solaris????
They made 2 movies out of it, a Russian one and the
one from America.

Polish author, but yes, one that wrote Solaris. My favorite work is The Star Diaries

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/...ot_obesity.html

Probably was a better thread for this, but close enough.