We Need to Talk

WE NEED TO TALK third edition ISBN 978-0-9938885-0-2 © Andy Turnbull, 2014 all rights reserved Red Ear Publishing, Toronto Canadian cataloguing in publication data Andy Turnbull, 1937 - WE NEED TO TALK third edition 1. economics 2. social change 3.current events 4. future 5.title WE NEED TO TALK page 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD.............................................................................................. 6 WHY WE NEED TO TALK...................................................................... 8 WHERE WE CAME FROM ....................................................................9 BOTTLENECKS AND SETTLERS ................................................14 AGGLOMERATION......................................................................... 17 A DIFFERENT TYPE OF EVOLUTION .......................................19 CONVENTIONAL WISDOM ..........................................................23 FOOD FOR THE FUTURE ....................................................................26 DISASTER IN WAITING .................................................................33 OUR OPTIONS.................................................................................. 37 MEAT ANIMALS ..............................................................................39 URBAN FARMS ................................................................................45 FINDING MORE WATER ...............................................................47 THE ECONOMY .....................................................................................50 HOBSONS SPIRAL........................................................................... 51 THE FORD EFFECT ........................................................................52 WORKING CONDITIONS ..............................................................53 SLAVES TO THE MARKET............................................................ 55 WHY THE LAND OF THE FREE IS THE HOME OF THE SLAVE .................................................................................................56 POLLUTION, PESTS, PLAGUES AND OTHER CATASTROPHES .............................................................................57 OTHER PROBLEMS........................................................................ 62 ONE SYSTEM.................................................................................... 63 We need to talk page 3 MIGRATION .....................................................................................66 ROBBING THE THIRD WORLD................................................... 68 FOR A BALANCED GLOBAL MARKET .....................................70 BELIEF IN NUMBERS........................................................................... 72 PRODUCERS, NON-PRODUCERS AND TRADERS ..................76 TOO MANY NON-PRODUCERS ...................................................77 KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRIES .........................................................79 THE MANAGEERS ..........................................................................80 MANAGEERS IN GOVERNMENT................................................ 86 TAX RELIEF FOR THE RICH........................................................ 89 SOCIAL DARWINISTS.................................................................... 90 ECONOMIC PREDATORS .............................................................91 THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS.......................................... 92 THE CHARITY BUSINESS .............................................................95 BETTING ON BETTING .................................................................96 ABOUT MONEY ...................................................................................100 SAY’S LAW ......................................................................................101 BENEFIT and COST GOODS .......................................................101 THE MULTIPLIER AND THE CASCADE.................................. 103 DIFFERENT DOLLARS ................................................................105 A BENEFITS TAX? .........................................................................109 ENERGY FOR THE FUTURE ............................................................111 THE PRICE OF POWER ...............................................................116 THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX ....................................117 THE WAR ON TERROR................................................................ 120 THE SPACE RACE .........................................................................122 We need to talk page 4 RATIONAL NATIONAL DEFENSE ...................................................125 DISASTERS .....................................................................................125 ROUTINE PROBLEMS .................................................................130 TWISTING THE TRUTH..................................................................... 137 ENTERTAINMENT AS PROPAGANDA .....................................143 VIRAL ADS ......................................................................................150 CHAIN MEDIA ...............................................................................150 NEWS WHITEOUTS ......................................................................153 LET’S FREE THE PRESS.............................................................. 155 BARNUM’S LAW ............................................................................157 PROPAGANDA AND EDUCATION .............................................158 SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLING ...........................................................159 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS ...........................................................169 HIGHER EDUCATION ..................................................................172 EDUCATION BY ENTERTAINMENT......................................... 182 THE LAW ...............................................................................................184 THE POLICE ...................................................................................188 CRIMINAL COURTS .....................................................................191 JUSTICE FOR THE POLICE AND COURTS............................. 198 PRISONS ..........................................................................................199 HEALTH CARE..................................................................................... 202 THE PLAGUE THAT WILL COME............................................. 206 A RATIONAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM?............................. 209 HOW WE ARE GOVERNED ..............................................................215 ELECTION BY LOTTERY?.......................................................... 221 CIVIL SERVANTS........................................................................... 222 We need to talk page 5 REPUBLIC vs MONARCHY .........................................................225 WRAPPING IT UP ................................................................................227 We need to talk page 6 FOREWORD This is a book of ideas about how human culture developed and where it might go in the future, and how we might guide it into a more human-friendly path. Most futurists start from today’s world, and try to predict the direction it will go. That’s not valid because our future began in the distant past, and if you don’t understand the past you can’t predict the future. Sailors know that a ship is not often going in the direction it appears to be heading. There are currents in the sea and if you want to head due east through a northerly current you have to head south of due east. Even a steamship has to compensate for the wind, and a sailing ship often has to ‘tack’ back and forth across the wind to get where the sailor wants to go. So if you want to know where a ship is going it’s not enough to know where it is and which direction it is headed. You have to know where it started and where it is now, or where it is headed and which way the wind is blowing and the currents are ﬂowing, and how much the sailor knows about the wind and the currents. Predicting the future is something like predicting the course of a ship, because we can’t tell where the world is going without knowing where we started and how we got from there to here and we have to understand the social, economic and other pressures that drive us this way or that. If a sailor sets his course without knowing the wind and the currents, he won’t get to wherever he wants to go. If pundits and politicians try to guide us without understanding where we started and the various factors that cause and affect change, they won’t get us to where we want to go. Do you think Hitler knew what he was getting into when he invaded Poland? Did Ben-Gurion intend to create the nightmare of Palestine? Did Lyndon Johnson mean the war in Vietnam to work out the way it did? Did George W. Bush know what his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq would lead to? Not likely. Some books about the future predict a time of progress and high-tech wealth. That’s no surprise because most books are written to sell and most of us like predictions that we will soon be wealthy and have robots to clean the house while we travel to other planets; but such dreams are not realistic. I’m not going to predict the doom of mankind but it is a distinct possibility and, if we don’t recognize that, it may become a probability. We don’t have to go there but to avoid it we have to know where we came from, and we have to We need to talk page 7 understand

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