: I can neither affirm nor deny (damn, I am sounding like a politician now) any of those facts. All I can say that if they are, indeed, true, than I would agree with your projection. I hope, however, that within those next 25 years we will have made great strides in technology and be able to mitigate those events. What I am worried about is what kind of government the population would opt for. It could very well be a Stoller brand socialism, a laissez-faire capitalism, or, god-forbid, facism. When people are under duress they tend to make really poor decisions [Read Post-Versaille Germany].
Are you the same David that recently posted this response?
"...the world that I envision would be ideal is one in which the government is small and decentralized. Where the government's only purpose is to protect people's individual rights. I see a world where people are free to do what they want so long as it harms no one, and the use of force is outlawed. One in which people interact with each other voluntarily and as equals, perhaps not equals in ability, but equals in the sense of both having the same liberties. I envision a government that cannot be bought off (this I think would be possible in a government that had no authority outside of protection [domestically, internationally, judicially]). I see a world in which people will succeed by their own ability and motivation, where people's ability and skill will determine their worth, not who they know in government or any other superficial qualities.
: For this sort of a world to work, people must respect each other's individual rights and understand that they are their to interact freely as equals. In this world, people make their own futures.
: Perhaps this may sound too idealistic, but in my opinion, aiming for anything less would be immoral and unethical.
I could not agree with you more David. You do, of course, realize that you just described laissez-faire capitalism to a T? I'm asking this because it sounds as though you scared of this somehow in the current post. If you haven't read Ayn Rand's 'Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal' already, then run, don't walk, to the store and get it. From what you describe as being 'ideal' you could have written that book.
