Rancar: Sorry, what I meant by the word symbol "guess" was that any particular scenario had a very low probability of being accurate. There is a difference between something being a "distraction" and being "a figment of the imagination". A distraction is something that takes your focus away from something else. In this instance, away from the implications of the broad course of history. Obviously, "high tech" exists. The "net" is certainly an "improvement" in certain ways, however, clearly and without question, it has made our social system of the division of labor far more vulnerable to disruption. All of the vast information flow you point out passes through a handful of servers, for example (including this post!). Is the quality of education better now than it was 100 years ago? Read high school textbooks today and compare them with those of the early 1900s if you think it is. See my example of the amount of labor required to purchase a house. Do you have more freedom and opportunity than you would have 100 years ago? The cost of your government was less than 10% of what you earned, and, you could earn the price of (insert the basics-with the one exception of food) with less work hours than you can today. You could travel the world with a few gold coins in your pocket, buy property anywhere, without, I might add, needing a passport or proof that you existed (except, I believe, in Prussia). How long does it take to get a letter across town today vs 100 years ago? Are the backward cultures today (who contributed little or nothing to civilization) kept in line (or are they praised in your universities)? Do you realize that life expectancy once you get past 50-60 is little more than it was in 1881 (I have actuarial table printed in 1881 vs 100 years later)? My point is simply that people are fixated on high tech and thus are not focused on the broader picture of what is really happening, to wit: measurable decline in the intellectual and cultural basis of civilization itself. The world is falling apart around your ears and you (and all of us too) are fixated on the "marvels" of high tech and the internet, etc. If you doubt this, look at what has actually been done since 9-11. Pakistan, filled with radical muslims,still has nukes. Sodomy and the Baathists are still in power in Iraq, not one oil field (built with western capital and technology and stolen by the natives) has been liberated, not one college professor preaching "multiculturalism" thus intellectually disarming the west has been exiled and so on and on and on and on. The lack of will to crush our enemies is astounding, but, actually I guess not unexpected given my premise.
Patrickg: Yeah, its good to get some oral history. I was able to get some tapes from my mother before she died relating stuff. Her description of the 1918 flu epidemic in Philadelphis was very interesting. Unfortunately my dad wouldn't do it. He worked with Farnsworth (on early TVs) in the 1930s, radar WWII, computers in the 1950s and the space program in the 1960s. Would have been interesting. My aunt was into that stuff before she died, I have 2 vols and the family tree going back to the 1350s.
Take care. JEH
