Saturday, February 23, 2013

World’s 100 richest could end global poverty 4 times over

World’s 100 richest could end global poverty 4 times over
“The richest 1 percent has increased its income by 60 percent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process,” while the income of the top 0.01 percent has seen even greater growth, a new Oxfam report said.
What sense does wealth have in the long run, if we think of ourselves as a species in an enormous cosmos, rather than Americans and Saudi Arabians, or rich and poor? 

Crazy talk, for sure. "Us" and "them." If we don't recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters, we're going to be done for. Nature is far more brutal and unstable on the long run than this little calm blip in history would make us think.

"There are not yet obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours rush inevitably into self-destruction. I dream about it . . . and sometimes they are bad dreams."

The words of Carl Sagan in this episode (a stern Kermit the frog) still ring true, despite the fears of that time being slightly different than now. It doesn't matter the nature of the eventual disaster, simply that they are inevitable, and yet we seem to live within a system that is designed to keep us estranged, and to deprive the basic necessities of life to some while others are able to .

The underlying dream of Communism is not a bad one, before it is turned to fascism. Is it human nature that makes such a utopean plans impossible? This requires looking at the myth of human nature and the myth of power. 

[Where is the fucking counterculture? Mythos Media.]

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