The Emperor's Epistle to Democratic Underground

[Emperor_Norton_II]

Friends, liberals, countrymen, assorted wildlife, lend me your eyes:

I’ve been spinning my wheels for the past while on Tasks.

Not just tasks – those are generally just assignments, chores, busywork, which may lend a bit of stability or action to life but tend to do little beyond that.

I’m thinking Tasks.

Hear that capital T dropping into place? I’m not necessarily thinking about something involving stables or the like, but I am thinking of something of significance, something which leads people to significant deeds (or Deeds, but Deeds can be derived either from tasks, Tasks, or neither, and while generally extremely cool are an altogether different topic), some kind of major improvements for self or society, or something entirely different. Something which drives someone, or someones, with a level of intensity that cannot easily reach, and once reached leaves them as better people, or a better society.

Tasks can happen with great ease or great difficulty at the individual level – I discovered my own some years ago, and feel no less driven by it now than I did the day it showed up at the front door of my mind and proceeded to ransack the place. You can’t reliably say how many individuals these days are Tasked with something, of course, without talking to them.

What I’m thinking about, however, is the sometimes astonishing time when a society Tasks itself with some great project.

Societies will only rarely take up a Task, as it is going to require the agreement – or at least the tolerant acquiescence – of a large chunk of whatever group it is involving. You only really see a couple of them appear every generation, at least per region; occaisionally we’re lucky enough to live in a time when the whole bloody planet gets one, although such moments are usually ephemeral.

It’s somewhat difficult to come up with a list of Tasks that large chunks of population have come up with lately. Historians like ‘em; they’re breaks in the continuity, branches in the road, and generally times where something Big happened. Usually, Tasks are constructive, but not necessarily. The main idea of them seems to be that, at some point, a large chunk of a culture thinks at about the same time, “let’s do this” – and does it. There’s a lot of examples of this sort of thing (relatively speaking) from the past couple of centuries: the Meiji Restoration, much of the Second World War, the very existence of the UN and peacekeeping. National space programs – witness Brazil’s dogged determination right now, one of the more moving reactions I’ve felt watching a space program – are definitely amongst those, and within them the Herculean effort which lead to one small step a little more than thirty-four years ago. The massive civil rights and pro-democracy movements which flared in the American south, the European east, and over much of Africa also certainly count – and the growing African Union is an offshoot from the last which certainly warrants following.

One of my personal favorite Tasks was when the world said “enough!” one day, and proceeded to refuse to blink until smallpox was eradicated as a disease.

We do this sort of thing now and then. It’s been going on since Rome chose not to roll over and fold a little over 2219 years ago, and was probably going on way before that.

Oh, you want a point.

My point is that I consider this sort of thing to be the type of event which brings out some of that latent magnificence everyone has but doesn’t seem to notice until they end up making some use of it. When large groups of people get together and decide some great thing must be done or fixed or cured or built, the results can be astonishing.

Someone said “we choose to go to the Moon,” and enough people decided this was proper that by the end of that decade men gazed upon the Earth from another body’s surface. Someone said “we must wipe out this plague,” and enough people decided this was proper that by the end of that decade one of the deadliest diseases in human history was not simply controlled but annihilated.

While this is not always a positive thing – every now and then someone’s going to say “kauft nicht in judischen Geschaften” – but for the most part I believe that when a lot of people get together, centre on some major project, and follow it through, great things generally happen. The opposite, however, seems to be a problem as well.

In short, aimlessness is a bad thing. It’s felt like, at least for awhile – shortly after the end of the Cold War, from what I can see – any sense of direction’s seemed to leave much of the world. I obviously don’t exactly support the Cold War or much of what went on during it, but it seems that we’ve replaced one form of destructive focus with a worse one – a lot of western culture that I can see is currently busily looking for something to take down. Opposing political parties. Wings of political thought. Trenchcoats. Homosexuals. Muslims. Pacifists. Intellectuals. The general, reactionary tone of aliquis delenda est rather than any attempt at searching for something to do, to make, to improve.

It troubles me. A lot.

The thing is, despite everything I read and see – hell, half of what I talk about and even advocate at times – I do my best to stay, if not simply optimistic or hopeful, then constantly seeking optimism and hope. I hope to see the world, or at least large chunks of it, find some form of Task – these days I’ll settle for a mere task – with which to commit Deeds of some significance. Such things are few and far between – Brazil’s picking itself up from the ashes; Russia and China making noises about doing the same (again, in the former’s case); people wishing to reform governments, the United Nations, and whatever else they can to improve upon the existing bodies; any number of things exist as opportunities.

I want Tasks, dammit.

I want you, or (better) you-and-your-friends, or (better still) whatever culture you consider yourself a part of, or (ideally) humanity as a whole to discover some calling, some duty, some project and create, or cure, or find something that will test skills, spirits and sinews, produce a mighty work, and leave all who partook or witnessed a little bit stronger, a little bit wiser, as a result.

I want to see something that future generations can look back on with pride – genuine pride – and the realization that something was run up, not torn down, through the actions of their ancestors. The sort of thing that comes across a few times a generation, siezes entire nations, focuses them on something truly good, and gives humanity something to do other than tear itself down in a siezure of antipathy.

What Tasks do you know of? Which do you support? Which would you want to see occur?

What have you done to support those tasks? What have you done to arouse the passions of others, or a few, or even one person – just one person! – towards some objective majestic or mundane which could improve our condition and character even one bit?

Those of you with aspirations, plans and hopes, speak of them. They must be heard!

POSTSCRIPT: And for the record, boosting one politician over another does not count as a Task.

[ShaneGR]

1. I put a bumper sticker on my car

Hey, that's a task.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

2. Woo, a bumper sticker.

:eyes:

Try again.

[Fovea]

3. The tasks.

Complete health coverage for all.
Enough bullshit about the free market, this is about humanity-- a term that even capitalists aspire to.

Replace the automobile with something sustainable.
Stop chokeing the planet, while we all can still live on it.


Free public education to the Baccalaurate level.
How can you have an information technology with
workers to strain to keep up with Spongebob Squarepants?

[zeemike]

4. Tasks suggestions

There are lots of them and anyone that is taken on is worthy if it mask progress in society or in some way makes the world a better place.
And many of them will probably deal with the world , like peace in the middle east, but our first objective should be to improve our own house first, and then we would be able to be an example to the world.

Task 1;
Change the mission of NASA to include the creation of a fuel cell that could be used not only to power an auto, but to make individual home electric generator that would get its hydrogen from solar energy. In other words not only make the US energy dependent but the individual family unit free from the use of fossil fuels as least as much as possible.

The problem with this is not with the technology, NASA developed it in the sixties to power the space craft that went to the moon. The real problem is that we have a system where energy is really big business and they will never stand for some project that will basically reduce there sales by probably 75%
Task 2
Solve our health care problem by creating government financed medical schools that would take students that would not be able to afford to go to medical school and give them free tuition in return for a period of service to a community free health clinic. This could be the backbone of a health care system that covered everyone.
Task 3
Start planing for a truly modern mass transit system. I won’t go into it but there was one idea that was covered by National Geographic in 1969 that would blow your socks off.

There are lots more for just this country but if we were only to consider these three we could make tremendous improvements.
And you have asked what I have done? The answer is nothing but talk. I have been on the internet for 6 years talking about stuff like this and have only displayed these ideas to a relative few people and at the rate I am going it will take a thousand years to convince enough people step boldly into the future.
We must have a leader that puts out new ideas , a president that will make it happen.

[T Roosevelt]

6. Great task suggestions...

Task 1:
Fuel cells are almost ready for use in cars - many companies are working on this (Ballard is tops so far). Daimler-Chrysler and Toyota are currently working on integrating FCs into autos.
However, the major challenge is the power source - hydrogen takes energy to create, and a new infrastructure to distribute. Some companies are working on FCs that use alternate fuels (some use gasoline, methane, etc).

Task 2:
Probably needs to go beyond the education system, and recreate the health care system based on a non-profit model. Why should shareholders profit from sickness?

Task 3:
Mass transit systems face NIMBY, planning, and funding problems moreso than technology problems. Most cities in the US that need mass transit are not designed to take advantage of available systems (light rail, etc). Many cities are attempting to build/expand their mass transit, but face political problems - local agencies who don't get what they want can shut down major efforts (Orlando, FL is a perfect example).
Maglev systems are for longer distances between cities...but states are going broke now, and cannot afford these new systems.

[zeemike]

8. Electricity can make hydrogen

And the most efficient way to do this is with solar panels. If you had solar panels on the roof of the house it would only need water to produce hydrogen. Hydrogen then becomes a storage system for solar power replacing the battery.

The transportation system I was talking about is much different than anything we have now. I t would not only repose the car for travel across country but the truck for the shipment of goods and much of the air travel.
It was first proposed in 1969 in National Geographic and if you have a source of that mag it would be worth it to look it up. And it was possible to do it then so it should be easier to do it now.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

16. Couple of thoughts

Mainly for Task 1:

1) Why change NASA's mission goals in specific? Since the fuel cell R&D has already been done, production, distribution, etc. could be handled by DOE or DOI just as easily - probably more so, considering that NASA's not really set up to handle that kind of work.

2) Wouldn't a more efficient battery system be better for houshold use than fuel cells? Hydrogen boils off and leaks like a motherfucker in just about any container.

That said, I do like the base idea of Radical Energy Reform.

[zeemike]

27. Good point

NASA would not have to be involved in the actual production.

But Hydrogen can safely be contained just as it was on the space craft that went to the moon. But it is much more efficient to store the energy that way than in a battery. And you also have the option to fuel your car from it so that it could be used both for transportation and household use.
You may still need fuelling stations in most cities for long distant travel, at least until a mass transit system is in place, but this could also be solar powered or wind for that matter.

[HFishbine]

5. I Like

the Apollo 2 project.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

7. kick

Keeping this up at the top for the day. Read, think, respond!

[Sufi Marmot]

9. kick!

I'll try to get around to composing my own list sometime today but in the meantime this needs kicking...

-SM

[TrogL]

10. BBV

Get involved.

www.blackboxvoting.org

[TrogL]

11. Wrest control from the Rabid Religious Right

[Isome]

12. *thinking*

...

[Emperor_Norton_II]

13. Kick out the jams.

:kick:

C'mon, people! Isn't this more thought-provoking than bitching about whichever Democratic candidate is more evil this week? It certainly beats the circular firing squad.

[Sufi Marmot]

14. One that comes to mind right now...

Along the same lines as smallpox eradication, eradication of malaria and other tropical parasitic diseases, which kill or disfigure millions every year. We spend billions to try to cure cancer and heart disease (and we should), but as Lee Hartwell notes, they are primarily diseases of first world nations - many people in developing countries don't live long enough to get cancer...

-SM

[Emperor_Norton_II]

18. Hm

The parasitic diseases are difficult to kill entirely simply because they have the animal host cycle and to kill the host can cause all sorts of fun unintended consequences.

Cholera, though, or TB, those could be eliminated quite nicely given the necessary effort...

[Sufi Marmot]

23. Point noted...

But I doubt we (as a scientific community) have come anywhere close to exhausting all our possibilities. Even if such diseases couldn't be completely eradicated I bet we could find ways to ameliorate their effects and increase lifespan and improve quality of life for those afflicted.

Good points about cholera and TB, although drug resistance is always an ongoing problem...

-SM

[Emperor_Norton_II]

26. One of the things they all have in common

Is a connection to standard of living. Poor sanitation, improper drainage, lack of clean water supplies..

If that was made the first target of a disease-elimination campaign, it would cut back on the number of recurring cases, dropping the pressure for the disease to become drug-resistant.

[blindpig]

15. Task#1: population control

nothing would go further towards a sustainable future for our species and the rest of nature than adopting some version of the "one child family". until our numbers are in agreement with the planet's carrying capacity. unless we bring our numbers down we'll end up exterminating 90% of other species{a crime against)and possibily ourselves!

[theboss]

21. That's your call . . .

You can go into Africa, Asia and Latin America and start whacking out babies like Michael Corleone in the last reel of Godfather. I won't be involved.

Besides, I think the Segway makes a nice gift for future generations.

In all seriousness, if I could devote myself to a task, it would be universal literacy.

[blindpig]

36. WTF??

who's talking about whacking anybody? a bit of preventive biochemistry, a little common sense and concern for the future is all i'm asking.
if some monster were to proceed on "culling" our species for the "common good" the logical place to start would be right here in the good ole USA as we are the biggest pigs on the planet.(my apologies to Porky & co.)
Segway??

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. Vote.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

19. See the postscript.

Voting falls under "boosting one candidate over another."

Nice idea, but try again.

[Terran]

20. This will sound ridiculous, but:

Raise the minimum wage to a level where people can actually work a single minimum wage job and still afford to raise a child and find decent housing. I don't know about the rest of the country, but in Missouri that means raising the minimum to an average of about $11 per hour. The federal poverty standards are a joke, they're way too low.

If everyone can afford to live securely and with dignity, then a lot of our social ills will simply disappear. If the government has to subsidize this, then so be it. Redirect the money from the military. I wonder what portion of this goal that $87 billion would have accomplished. There are a lot of ancillary items that would also need to be enacted--health insurance for all, ending corporate welfare--in short, an economic Marshall Plan for the poor and strugglin in the US.

[LunaC]

22. Task #1 - Wake up the Sheeple

Until the Bush Bastards are out of the WH it will be difficult to accomplish anything of substance. To wake up the Sheeple in my immediate sphere I created a timeline of the PNAC's rise to power, theft of the WH, BBV issues, involvement in 911, mass psychological programming, lies, lies, and moreso, shadow groups, decimation of civil liberties and parallels to Fascism (to name just a few key points.) Damn thing took forever to write and is 20 pages long but it sure opens eyes and changes perspectives to what's REALLY going on! If everyone made copies and left it on their neighbor's doorstep, we could easily get Smirk's poll numbers into the basement with the General Public demanding accountability!

[fla nocount]

24. We would have to educate the cute little chubbies before we woke.......

them up. That would mean taxes that would mortgage their future. Are you sure that they're worth that? Seriously my friend(lose the sarcasm) if you have 20 pages of a serious argument that is defined and comprehensible, how do the like minded obtain a copy?

[LunaC]

25. Like-minded apply here....

For a copy of "The Stealth Coup" write to [e-mail].

I'd be delighted to get some mass distribution of this! Thanks for your interest!

[indigo32]

28. I am highly in favor of 3 things

which some of which I'm able to take part in some of which I'm not.

#1. John Kennedy told us...we were gonna get to the moon by a specific date dammit. We need to do the same regarding renewable energy sources. Maybe fision? how close are we to that?

#2 Single payor healthcare in the US. I guess this is more of a cause that I know I could get involved in lobbying for. At this point I haven't I must admit ;(

#3 Human rights. I do write letters for and contribute to Amnesty International. Much more needs to be done to pressure all countries in this area.

So...am I on the right track?

[Emperor_Norton_II]

31. I'd say you're on the right track

Thinking and acting big is one of the important things involved in defining and completing Tasks.

Maybe fision? how close are we to that?
Well, we already have fission power, though it doesn't have... ah, quite the high reputation. Fusion power, on the other hand, is still waiting for that one last big breakthrough - IIRC one of the Euro reactor setups is actually producing more power than it eats, so we're close.

[indigo32]

32. whoops my spelling bad

I was certainly not referring to fussion. Fusion is what I meant. Thx.

[Eloriel]

29. Short term sine qua non task

GET THE VOTING MACHINE PROBLEM FIXED.

Else we won't HAVE a democracy any more, just the illusion of one. Yes, they have been and will be stealing our elections. FL 2000 was just dress rehearsal. Yes, it IS that serious.

Then we can talk.

Although, I do have to say that between my involvement in this issue and my involvement and observation of what's happening in a certain campaign (which shall remain nameless ;-) ), I also realize that we have to resurrect the notion that citizenship carries certain RESPONSIBILITIES too. And they MUST involve some participation in the political/governing process beyond maybe (or maybe not) voting. Then, too, the media situation needs to be addressed as well, because I agree with Abraham Lincoln about trusting the people to do the right thing IF they have the right information.

Okay, IOW:

TASK: SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY.

STEPS:

1. Fix the Voting MAchine problem.
2. Fix the media.
3. Make citizenship popular again.
4. Hold EVERYone in public service, whether elected or government-employed ACCOUNTABLE to their bosses -- us!


Eloriel

[zeemike]

30. I like it

Can I offer something to that?
Require the media to give free time to the candidates as a public service.
Pass a law that puts a tax on any citizen that fails to vote at least every 4 years.

[berry]

33. I have NEVER understood why free time (in reasonable amts)

for candidates was not required of media as part of licensing agreements. (And if one rich candidate sought to get the advantage by buying extra time, they'd be required to offer the same amt of time free to all other candidates for that office. That might limit the obscene advantage of money without the RW objections and arguments that money equals "free speech.")

Yes--to some form of required voting, with either incentives or disincentives. I don't care how it's done.

And I've forgotten the word for it but: the kind of voting where the voter registers 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices for candidates (this would make the Nader problem not a problem).

I agree with Eloriel about the urgency of the vote-fraud problem. I'm still mulling over other grand TASKS. There are so many possibilities.

[BelgianMadCow]

34. you describe how I feel

I have so often wondered what would happen if we, the people would spend more time developing ourselves.

Imagine all the money into military being spent on brain research. Or food and health care for every human.

Dreams are powerfull stuff. I don't care being called an idealist.

Great thread, Emperor !:thumbsup:

[Emperor_Norton_II]

35. I am humbly proud

Though I can't take all the credit here. Like any good executive, I have a dedicated staff of experts devoted to making me look good at all times. The Imperial Court did most of the really hard legwork on this one, leaving me the job of presenting it to the masses.

But I'll pass on your kudos ;-)

[Sufi Marmot]

37. End to all child soldiers...

It would take a lot of political will to enforce, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. An even more daunting Task would be to create enough stability in Africa to end the many bloody conflicts there, particularly in the Congo, but also elsewhere (Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc.), and to bring Africa up to a standard of living where there is enough food and water, and decent medical care for everyone. It might involve redrawing the map of Africa along more sensible ethnic/tribal lines, so I doubt it would be feasible...

-SM

[Emperor_Norton_II]

38. Nothing is unfeasible

Merely expensive, dangerous and not for the patient. But ultimately, that's what Tasks involve, so why not?

[Sufi Marmot]

40. I don't see Africa getting better any time soon...

It involves too much political will and probably too much strong-arming of uncooperative governments/groups by the international community to be politically viable. How do you disarm an entire continent? How do you keep western interests from exploiting political instability to get at the mineral resources of an impoverished country? Then there's the whole AIDS thing...government corruption, famine.....Tasks within Tasks within Tasks....

-SM

P.S. The Chimpanion wanted me to mention, on the subject of Africa, the eradication of the bushmeat trade, so that his primate cousins won't be hunted into extinction. Can't someone come up with a sustainable protein source (meat) that can be raised in tropical environments? Why couldn't sub-Saharan Africans raise rabbits (or some other fast-breeding, indigenous, tasty, rodent) for food instead of devouring endangered species?

[Emperor_Norton_II]

41. Nobody ever said it would be easy

But then, if it was easy somebody would have already done it. If the will to proceed can be marshalled - along with a good helping of aid from the established & stable African nations - then then it can be done. It would take years, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, the careers of more than a few politicians worldwide, and undoubtedly the lives of countless people.

It would require solutions to problems that have plagued humanity since we first started hiking out of the Great Rift Valley so many years ago (like "where the hell do you find a meat animal that lives in the rainforest?").

It would require us to invent new solutions. (An AIDS vaccination, or a functional world government, to begin with.)

Tasks within Tasks within Tasks.

But. The end result would be healing the scars of hundreds of years of war and death in a place that has seen far too much as it is, making Africa - our home in as real a sense as any other - into a good and peaceful place.

Isn't that worth the effort?

"William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred." -- John F. Kennedy, address to Rice University, 09/12/1962

[Shyriath]

39. Space exploration!

A return to space (beyond earht orbit, I mean)! More missions to the moon! Humans on Mars! Robotic probes by the score, hunting down and studying every last unseen niche! And, above all else, colonization of those bodies with the best potential for supporting human life (Mars, I'm talking about YOU)!

The future of humanity lies beyond the earth, and it must be reached for.

[inthecorneroverhere]

42. Dr. DeBakey was on NPR today....

The world famous heart surgeon has just had his 95th birthday and spoke out in favor of a National Health plan or service on NPR's Talk of the Nation today.

Heard on WFAE out of Charlotte during the 3 o'clock hour today.

[scipan]

43. great thread, Emperor.

I don't have much to add. I'd like to see us cut our dependence on oil, as has been mentioned. There are actually two great reasons: global warming and dependence on foreign countries like Saudi Arabia. I think we know, mostly, how to do it - research into alternate energy, utilitizing alterate energy sources we've developed enough to be fairly competitive (don't put all our eggs into the hydrogen fuel cell basket, there is wind, solar, solar from space satellites, hydro... maybe we should use them all for now), increase the CAFE standards, rail systems in cities...have I left anything out? Oh, tax deductions for things like hybrid cars and energy efficient homes and appliances.

Global warming is too late to stop, but we might still avoid a catastrophe, which is quite possible if not probable. Depending so much on the Middle East for our energy is driving our foreign policy and causing us to do things like invade other countries. Kerry has called for an Apollo-type Task on it but it hasn't gotten much media coverage. (I'm a Dean supporter, but Kerry is second.)

[zeemike]

44. I have another one

And it ties in with just what you have said on global warming and the environment.
Pass a law that no house can have more than 10 percent wood products in it. It would slow to a crawl the deforestation that aggravates global warming and the environment.
We would then build our homes out of more durable and fire resistant things like brick, stone, concert and dozens of other materials that have low impact on the environment.

[scipan]

46. I like it.

Although, maybe sustainable wood is OK.

What I'd really like to see, and I don't know if this would be possible, is to keep track somehow of everyone's use of energy and tax people for overuse. Including corporations. Ahh...a pipe dream.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

45. Further comments

The Imperial Court - that is, the staff of experts who do most of the heavy lifting for me ;-) - have been watching this thread from a comfortable place, and have asked me forward these comments:
---

First, I gotta voice my disappointment to a few of you – sgr2, TrogL and RUMMYisFROSTED – for their attempts to dodge the point. You can always tell when someone doesn’t actually read one of these things, and instead try to snap off the shortest, most flippant response possible. The point of the exercise was to think, you three, not kneejerk, and y’all failed that part miserably.

(Emperor's note: Just in case you missed it, the Imperial Court happens to be a prospective teacher.)

As for the others, I’m quite pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect this thread to become anywhere near as full as it has, beyond maybe a few responses. It’s great to see people willing to take these sorts of things and think about what they involve. Most people don’t react very well to being asked just what they’ve done to improve things, but a lot of you guys did, and I hope you all keep it up.

Anyway, I wanted to respond to a few of you guys in particular, so here I’ll go, in a particular order (prefixed by post number):

“(1) I put a bumper sticker on my car. Hey, that’s a task.”

*whack*


“<4> The problem with this is not with the technology, NASA developed it in the sixties to power the space craft that went to the moon. The real problem is that we have a system where energy is really big business and they will never stand for some project that will basically reduce there sales by probably 75%…

…Solve our health care problem by creating government financed medical schools that would take students that would not be able to afford to go to medical school and give them free tuition in return for a period of service to a community free health clinic. This could be the backbone of a health care system that covered everyone.”

Of all the suggestions I see, zeemike, I tend to like yours the best. You came up with a few that were enough out of left field (pun not intended) to make me think – which isn’t to say some of the others weren’t great, but yours had interesting twists on them. Personally I’m all about the idea of bringing power generation as close to the home level as possible – I’d be more likely to say the neighbourhood or subdivision level, to find some happy medium between effeciency and safety. (I also love the mass transit system idea you mention.)

One of the things I’m curious about here is what you mean by “changing NASA’s mission.” The fuel cells you’re talking about, for the most part, already exist, aside from the problem of getting solar power to a level of effeciency that’d be fun without glassing the Sahara. Why would you want to eliminate NASA to support this? Could you think of some other way to promote fuelcell technology?

Your idea for healthcare reminds me of an idea floated by Spider Robinson some years back: get a group of people together with enough funding for the purpose and wander from university/professional school to u/p, asking if there’s anyone who could get in academically but lacks the finances. Find those people, introduce yourself as a consortium of concerned citizens, and say that if they want they’ve just got their education paid for – tuition, books, room/board if necessary, etc – on the condition that they pay back with low interest, beginning two years after they enter the work force, and owe members of your group free services for whatever amount of time afterwards. Assuming sufficient resources, you end up with a few new doctors, dentists, accountants, lawyers, carpenters, plumbers, and so on who would otherwise not be able to enter the workforce, your investment back over the next decadeish, and a growing pool of free services as you need them.

It’s not government subsidizing of the various fields, but it’s an interesting idea, and I’ve heard of a small number of instances of people applying it with some success.


“(5) I like the Apollo 2 project.”

Be less vague, HFishbine!


“(12) Isome: *thinking* …”

*nagging*…


“(14) One that comes to mind right now along the same lines as smallpox eradication, eradication of malaria and other tropical parasitic diseases, which kill or disfigure millions every year…”

I like this one, not least for the Statement value. I personally consider the eradication of smallbox to be the most magnificent accomplishments in the history of mankind; an event in which all humanity said “no!” and wiped out that most ancient plague, something that simply couldn’t be done if we didn’t act in concert. We demonstrated that we can do that, which bodes well for the future. I never thought of the notion of first-world versus third-world diseases, either, especially with regards to things like cancer; I think I’m gonna have to do some reading on Hartwell.


“(36) WTF??”

Well, blindpig, your ability to dodge the sarcasm of theboss’ post shows a naivete , indeed a childlike innocence, which I find heartwarming. You go on to prove that even your misanthropy needs work in later sentences, which makes me even more optimistic for the future. :)

“(17) Vote.”

*whack*


“(20) I know this will sound ridiculous, but…”

I’m of mixed feelings on this idea. While raising the minimum wage will insert a greater amount of money into the hands of people who need it, there’s likely to be an immediate rise in costs of living as people jack up prices to cope – to say nothing of the tremendous job losses this would create. Call me an evil anticorporatist bastard, but I have a feeling the poverty problem in the West will need some major changes in the psychology of cultures and some governments to fix, not simply a higher level of objective wealth for the people. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to do that without resorting to heavy-handed methods which will cause a problem for every one solved… Any ideas, folks?

“(22) Wake up the sheeple”

Take a good look, guys: someone who is putting in the effort, who has produced a work, and who is taking active steps to get others, people not in the Choir, to realize just how much can be wrong in our world. You I definitely congratulate, and I congratulate you a little more for every person you get to say “…hmm…” by showing them your timeline. I enjoyed reading it, LunaC; how widely have you tried distributing it in your neck of the woods, and what was the general response like?

“(29) I also realize that we have to resurrect the notion that citizenship carries certain RESPONSIBILITIES too.”

Getting people to realize this, much less say it out loud, even in a relatively safe forum like DU, is a Task in and of itself, Eloriel. How would you recommend going about making citizenship popular and involving?


“(34) I have so often wondered what would happen if we, the people would spend more time developing ourselves.”

My take on Tasks is that they tend to be the moments when we, as individuals, or groups, or cultures or nations or a species, get together and spend time developing ourselves. When we get together and spend more time developing ourselves, we leapfrog centuries technologically. We annihilate terrible plagues. We gaze at Earth from another world’s surface. The answers to what would happen are plain to see if we look for them; what’s important is that we recognize those possibilities and try, again and again, to hit those kinds of moments more often.

“(40) I don’t see Africa getting better any time soon…”

If it takes generations – or even centuries – to repair the damage, would that still not be worth it, set alongside allowing such huge tracts of the world to wallow forever? How to disarm a continent? One nation at a time, or even one village at a time, is a good start, working alongside the new African Union which grows in significance and influence even as we type. “Healing Africa” definitely isn’t a Task as much as the package in which a vast number of them come, but even incremental improvement is worth striving for with everything we have.


Well, that’s about it for the responses that I can see. Thanks to all of you for reading, thinking, and replying. Now, I’ve got one more question for those of you who are still reading this: If you’ve said what your Task is, or what a prospective Task for people should be, what, if anything, have you done to further or promote it? If nothing, what could you do to do so? Do you plan on doing anything? Wish you could do more? Think about it and realize with surprise or outrage that you can do more and will, dammit? Let’s keep this ball rolling a little more; it’s getting a lot of great ideas out into the open, which is exactly where they need to be.

[zeemike]

47. “Getting ideas out in the open”

Is exactly right. That is what must happen if we are to change things for the better.

But just what is NASA’s mission? It seems to me that it doesn’t have one except a space stations that is unlivable to humans for any length of time. They have been studying the effects of weightlessness for the last 25 years and what have they learned from it other than man has a hard time living that way.
Had we been serious about exploring space we would have a base on the moon and the first landing on Mars this year as mars was at it’s closes point to earth.
There is another reason why we are not going to explore space and it is not lack of the ability to do it. Nor does it have anything to do with money, we have spent plenty in the last 25 years and went nowhere.
So I am saying lets give NASA a job that it can do that will actually be good for the world not just good for science.

But the classic answer to promoting fuel cell tec is to make it profitable to business and they will do it for us. That sounds real good until you realize that they have a lot tied up in energy production, refineries, oil tankers, gas stations, and the standard internal combustion engine. Why would they make this money making machine that they own obsolete? And to make it profitable for them to junk all that they own what price would you have to give them?
It can never be done in the standard way. It must be a national goal and we must act as a government to make the necessary changes or be happy with the way things are.

The same is true for health care. If you use the standard supply and demand model then what do you say is the problem when health care is too expensive? That model say s that there is not enough supply to meet demand right? And the medical establishment, to keep profits high for the doctors, controls the number of doctors. And it will stay that way until we act as a government to increase the supply and give the medical community real competition.

If instead of a government if we would call ourselves a corporation would we not be allowed to compete in a free market? Is that what we need to do? Incorporate ourselves and demand that our tax money be spent in a way that benefits us all?

[LunaC]

48. Lots of "Wows!" as well as stunned silence.....

I enjoyed reading it, LunaC;

Muchas gracias! I put my heart and soul into that piece because I feel so strongly about the dangerous political climate in the U.S. today and disheartened that nobody's paying much attention beyond the sound bites on the evening news.

how widely have you tried distributing it in your neck of the woods, and what was the general response like?

Among my personal friends I didn't get an immediate response, which puzzled me. It turns out that it was somewhat overwhelming for them to assimilate all at once. I knew I had hit pay-dirt when one of my hard-core Republican friends (hey, I talk to everybody!) admitted "I think you're really onto something and you've pretty well nailed it!" I can't say he's become a Dem convert but I shifted his perspective significantly and I'm happy with that.

I've also submitted it to numerous activist sites (including DU), all the Dems in Congress with email addresses, various foreign and domestic newspapers, political tv and radio shows and even some celebs. Scoop.co.nz was the only one interested in republishiing it but thus far they haven't gotten around to it yet. Oh yeah, I also gave it to Military Families Speak Out - our soldiers deserve to know how they're being used as pawns!

My original intention was to plant the concept in people's minds and "release" it into the wilds of the internet - for all I know, it's propagating all on its own. It'll go/do wherever/whatever it's supposed to.....

Anyone interested in spreading the word, please contact [e-mail] for "The Stealth Coup."

Thanks again for your kind comments and acknowledgement!

[juajen]

49. I have a task

Relocate Israel to The United States (possibly Wyoming) and remove all Americans out of the Middle East, except for embassies. Since we give aid to Israel in the billions, we would continue doing that until all of their people are happy in the good ole USofA.

Encourage North and South Korea to merge. They need each other. Lend or give aid where needed and be a force for good.

Dismantle and disintegrate all nuclear weapons all over the world. This would be a perfect job for armed services everywhere.

Take all foreign interests out of sovereign countries. Give the diamonds, gold, minerals, etc. back to the people who should have them, themselves.

Reorganize the IMF. Get rid of the crooks.

Use the UN to much greater lengths, for population control and for helping countries to become independent, working countries, using their resources to actually help them, instead of big corporations.

Make it illegal to use any set aside property in this country that is owned by the people unless the people vote in a national election to allow its use. Make sure that corporations are not allowed to steal the assets of the American people and that any gold, minerals, oil, or anything else that could be mined or extracted is paid for adequately; or, in the alternative, employ our own people to set up government-based companies. All profits to go to the US treasury, and any profits seen would reduce taxes by this amount.

Do away with the electoral college.


Now, to what I have done to advance any of these ideas. Nothing except attempt to elect and encourage people to run for office who know how to think outside the box.

In that regard, so far, the only dem candidate that actually thinks outside the box, is Dennis Kucinich. I support him and anyone at the local level who is even close to espousing any of these and even newer ideas. Unfortunately, they are few and far between.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

50. Early morning kick

Not quite ready to let this sink into the archives just yet.

:kick:

Other DUers out there with the Vision Thing, lend us you ideas!