[Mind's Eye] Re: When is a natural disaster a natural disaster?

The world population has nearly tripled in my lifetime. I don't think
we have done anything sensible as a collective during my time.
Economics is barking mad stuff. There is a lot of technology we could
have used to sensible ends, but even with agriculture we have just let
it feed over-breeding. I think we do need a scientific fix, but some
scientists are revolting - we've just had a case of one keeping a
slave. We may be lucky to shuffle off before some really revolting
war Rigsby.
The question as to what is a 'natural disaster' is interesting Para.
I guess a comet coming out of 'left field' would count, or a super-
volcano or two. Much of the rest, like massive flooding because trees
have been eradicated or rivers diverted, all of Africa and so on have
our fingerprints all over.

I sort of like the notion of of a radical swing to technocracy - but
this clearly can't be anything like what we see under the weird
enforcement of the interests of the rich through democracy. Veblen
argued on this in the early 20th century - with a kind of 'open your
minds irony' rather than recommendations. My grandson (13) shows
occasional interest in the world, but is quickly diverted into
trinkets and teenage matehood. I find much of the world and many of
the people around me like this - the anarchist perspective of people
trapped in a society of perpetual childhood. Paradox and I 'doing
cricket' is a bit of an example - I still have a bit of an image of me
digging out his in-swinger with my very late back-foot play! Nothing
wrong with this, until all seems rendered trivial. I particularly
despise 'Blue Peter' (Sesame Street) reporting for adults.

We should now lapse into euphoria as England rise to number one Para!
Let's get the whites cleaned up in case we get the call from Lords!

Not much is 'natural' in human affairs, and a technocratic approach
would need economics and banking stripped away to something primitive
enough for us to understand relations between work and reward, yet
also provide the means for us to include many more costs than we do
now. I favour doing this through higher wages to take capital out of
the hands of a rich few and away from centralised government, but also
see no point in this if it would just fund breeding or the idiot
consumption society.

From the Gaia perspective one can call pretty much all disasters
natural - she will survive our idiot behaviour, including climate
change.

On Aug 1, 1:46 pm, rigsy03 <rigs...@gmail.com> wrote:
> To fix what, paradox? Yes- there have been strides in science and
> applications but there have been terrible goofs, as well, plus lack of
> understanding and poor stewardship of the planet. I really don't agree
> that man can conquer Mother Nature to his own needs or whims- look at
> dams and the redirecting of rivers, instance, or the wearing-out of
> agricultural lands or the dumping of waste and contamination. I am
> wondering if all these wind turbines are causing the problems in
> Texas- heat + fires as they alter the pattern of wind...and wave the
> rain clouds away, alas. Somalia is mostly a political catastrophe and
> charity will not alter its climate or poor land- in fact, the long
> term damage to those starving children may have already happened
> though their lives may be saved. What lives?
>
> On Jul 31, 3:13 am, paradox <eadohe...@hotmail.com> wrote:
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> > Lol. Not if the science of longevity has anything to do with it :)
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> > Dont be pessimistic, rigsy; nature does it's thing, as does man; but
> > it takes the capacity and the will of man to fix.
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> > On Jul 31, 8:38 am, rigsy03 <rigs...@gmail.com> wrote:
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> > > When Nature is to blame vs rotten governments/economics? I read the
> > > population of Africa will rise 49% by 2050 and world population will
> > > be 9 billion. I'll be dead. :-)
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> > > On Jul 30, 7:43 am, paradox <eadohe...@hotmail.com> wrote:
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> > > > Listening to some tv coverage of the humanitarian disaster (yet again)
> > > > unfolding in the Horn of Africa, i learnt from a knowledgeable
> > > > commentator that in order to respond appropriately, global aid and
> > > > humanitarian quasi-governmental organisations actually have to
> > > > classify a disaster by a fatality ratio; which got me thinking. When
> > > > is a natural disaster a natural disaster?- Hide quoted text -
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