What is the value of the State?

[Steve Kinney]

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On 05/04/2017 06:11 PM, juan wrote:
> On Thu, 4 May 2017 13:49:03 -0400 Steve Kinney
> <admin at pilobilus.net> wrote:

>> The Scientician faith and its Corporate Capitalist patrons tell
>> us that technological "quick fix" solutions will be created when
>> and as needed to keep the world as we know it intact.  Like all
>> respectable apocalyptic prophesies, those of the Scienticians are
>> likely to be reasonably accurate right up to the point where the
>> Heavens open up and Bog and all his Holy Angels come down and fix
>> everything for us: That part never happens.
> 
>  I'm not completely following. The scienticians don't subscribe to
> any apocalyptic prophesy. Quite the opposite, the shitbags are
> Optimists who believe in Eternal Progress.

What I call the Scientician faith is a very widespread popular
religion, maybe the first really successful atheist religious sect.
In the U.S. its followers number in the tens of millions and include
most self identifying "Liberals" as well as numerous "Libertarians"
and others who pin a large part of their self esteem on the notion
that they are "smarter" than other people.  The Scientician priesthood
- - everyone who claims the title "scientist" and is available through
speakers' bureaus and press agents - replaces the functions of the
Church as "explainer of everything" and "Voice of Divine Authority."

The apocalyptic prophesy I refer to is more or less the same scenario
I outlined earlier:  The impact of resource depletion, environmental
degradation, population pressure etc. on human affairs in the next
couple of decades.

There is a sharp divide between the scientists and Scienticians over
what the outcome will be:  A broad consensus among working scientists
in relevant fields says "life as we know it" will be ending shortly;
massive losses are inevitable; and immediate, radical remedial action
is warranted.

But our Scienticians are happy to promote the belief that by throwing
enough money at the symptoms when they become too severe to ignore,
all the problems arising from the Industrial Revolution can be solved
to everyone's satisfaction by Startling Miracles of Super Science.
The Scientician position has practical consequences:  It maximizes
Corporate executive compensation packages, Corporate shareholder
capital gains, and both poverty and human fatalities among the "lower
classes" worldwide:  It's a win/win/win proposition from our rulers'
perspective.

The State fully endorses the Scientician approach, as the State's sole
function is to transfer money and power from the poor to the rich at
the fastest practicable rate.  As always, symbolic "initiatives" and
strongly worded press releases are sufficient responses to public
pressure to "do something" about, for instance, global warming.

When our propaganda industries co-opted the image of science as a
marketing tool, this already complex and contentious field of human
activity became a /real/ hairball.  Almost nobody who lacks formal
training in the physical sciences stands any chance of understanding,
much less evaluating, claims made In The Name Of Science today.

:o/





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