Y2K mistake: where they gain-maximizing or not?

[Greg E <gje@metaphasetech.com>]

Roberto et al.,

To the readers of this list, particularly related to the after Y2K
societal danger of "business as usual" that is mentioned below, I
would highly recommend the following two books. I don't recall either
text being mentioned previously while I have been subscribed and
lurking. I apologize in advance if this is repeat information. The
first one is:

"The Case Against the Global Economy: And for a Turn Toward the Local"

published by Sierra Club Books; ISBN: 0871568659.

It is a collection of articles written by various educational,
environmental, and economic experts on the detrimental affect of
unchecked global corporations. Although there is no mention anywhere
of either the "gain-max" principle or y2k problem, it offers a clearly
parallel description of the problems at hand, with some suggestions on
how to solve them.

Additionally, today a friend recommended to me the following book:

"The Crisis of Global Capitalism : Open Society Endangered"

published by Public Affairs; ISBN: 1891620274.

written by of all people. GEORGE SOROS, billionare/financier.

Thought I have only read halfway through the first, and not at all the
second, I believe these works will provide ample background to further
this discussion. I have no problem seeing and complaining about the
problems, but devising a way out is another thing altogether ;-) I am
curious to hear more about real world application of these "rule sets"
that are being bantered about here lately.

But at some point this needs to stop being a theoretical discussion
(i.e. design & analysis) and start becoming a real movement,
organization or whatever (i.e. implementation). Here's hoping this
discussion leads to something tangible.

Cheers,


> I invite others on this list to share your thoughts with us. I think
> the Y2K crisis has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to
> reorganize our societies under a different paradigm, if there were
> enough people trying to do so, and avert these other looming crises.
> Otherwise, it will be a "business-as-usual" post-2000 scenario, and we
> will again later have to confront Y2K-scale problems in climate,
> toxics, mutants, social unrest, etc.
>
> Roberto Verzola