'puter democracy

[kayakone]

I agree with Pete. We all have a vote, but that doesn't mean we are able to make informed decisions in areas we are not familiar with or informed in. Popular computer vote (no pollies) will not work.

Sometimes poliies don't either (eg Craig Thompson).

Trevor

[eric]

the real politics of the day revovles around gay marriage/and who is the better economic manager.

[Ado]

How true is that. There is a phrase in the Sydney retail economy. Chase the pink money.

[salticrak]

Ah yes and where would San Francisco,be today without it's gay population,point taken,what i meant was that gay marriage is a civil rights/humanitarian issue for those It affects,but hardly an issue for your average Joe who feels totally out of the loop.I remember hearing something on the wireless once that the higher proportion of gay people who live in a city the better off that city is economically and culturally as opposed to those that have a small proportion.

[mudpat]

Ah yes and where would San Francisco,be today without it's gay population,point taken,what i meant was that gay marriage is a civil rights/humanitarian issue for those It affects,but hardly an issue for your average Joe who feels totally out of the loop.I remember hearing something on the wireless once that the higher proportion of gay people who live in a city the better off that city is economically and culturally as opposed to those that have a small proportion.

Struth! That would make Sydney a cross between Fort Knox and Paris/Tokyo/New York.

[Barrabundy]

Why not look at an option that's at the other end of the spectrum, as seen in "The Matrix" movies, where humans role is to provide energy to the system in return for having the minds programmed to think they're living happy fulfills lives?

That would be much easier, wouldn't have to worry about politics, wouldn't have to worry about economics, just stay plugged in and keep breathing and you'll be a fine upstanding battery. When you're spent you get turfed out for a fresh one

[garyp]

just stay plugged in and keep breathing and you'll be a fine upstanding battery. When you're spent you get turfed out for a fresh one

I thought that is what we are doing already.

[Barrabundy]

just stay plugged in and keep breathing and you'll be a fine upstanding battery. When you're spent you get turfed out for a fresh one

I thought that is what we are doing already.

Not quite, if you end up in the shit, you are actually I the shit, not just programmed to think you are.....or are "they" that good?

[eric]

Ah yes and where would San Francisco,be today without it's gay population,

Right where it's always been.

[grinner]

barra

i'd vote for trinity for pm.

the state (both government and capitalist) rely on the conversion of human beings to automatons.
it makes them easier to control for the state and easier to sell to for business.

the ancient greeks, the german lutherans, the native americans would have put a lot more effort into reflecting on their relationship with each other and with nature.

despite assertions that man marches on to higher and higher levels of achievement and morality , i question whether this is really the case.
man had always excelled and achieved status through courage in battle or hunting or exploring.

now wimpy little computer geeks with a vendetta against a gril who dumped them can found facebook and make 100 billion.

or a naughty little aussie newspaperman can be very very sneaky and manipulative and unethical and rise to a position of great power.

so indeed the attributes of courage, loyalty, persistence, deep thought are not required to succeed today.and would seem to be replaced by the ability to trick, decieve and out manouvere and spin.

no alexander the greats or julius ceasars or constantines or king arthurs or sitting bulls on the horizon.

just a lot of hustlers and snake oil salesmen. sad really.

[Barrabundy]

Grinned, is it a case of where getting what we've been asking for? Maybe we thought we didn't like the other measures of courage, wisdom, ethics? Maybe we'll one day go full circle and end up back there.

[FazerPete]

Grinned, is it a case of where getting what we've been asking for? Maybe we thought we didn't like the other measures of courage, wisdom, ethics? Maybe we'll one day go full circle and end up back there.

Can't see it happening. The problem now is that people are going into politics straight out of uni and therefore don't learn any other life skills outside of what's needed for politics. They are brilliant at spin, polls and telling barefaced lies but never learn courage from being in the armed forces or ethics from being a doctor, etc. Wisdom is collected by having a broad range of experiences in your life so you can't expect someone to be wise when they don't experience life in the real world.

This is why no politician from any party has been able to connect with the people for a long time now.

[eric]

Just off the top of my head.

Paul Keating left school at fifteen to become a clerk at the NSW electricity commission.
Rob Mitchell was a mechanic, and RACV man.
Kate Lundy was a construction worker.
Dick Adams was a meat worker, the most entertaining man in Tasmania and for a time was the fastest milkman in Lyons....
Peter Garrett was in a rock band.
Mike Kelly was a soldier for twenty years.

There's teachers as well. The ALP might be chockas with Union types, but they are mostly politicized tradies.

Even the Libs have people that have had real jobs. Not sure about the Nats, the old joke is farmers send the kids they don't trust to run the farm to Parliament.

[Barrabundy]

the old joke is farmers send the kids they don't trust to run the farm to Parliament.

You might have just put words around a thought that's been banging around in my head and I don't think it's too far off the mark

[FazerPete]

Just off the top of my head.

Paul Keating left school at fifteen to become a clerk at the NSW electricity commission.
Rob Mitchell was a mechanic, and RACV man.
Kate Lundy was a construction worker.
Dick Adams was a meat worker, the most entertaining man in Tasmania and for a time was the fastest milkman in Lyons....
Peter Garrett was in a rock band.
Mike Kelly was a soldier for twenty years.

There's teachers as well. The ALP might be chockas with Union types, but they are mostly politicized tradies.

Even the Libs have people that have had real jobs. Not sure about the Nats, the old joke is farmers send the kids they don't trust to run the farm to Parliament.

Yes there are still many who come from different backgrounds but I think you'll find that changing over the next 10-20 years as this crop retire and the next lot come through. I'm not professing to be an expert on politics but I heard a good show on ABC radio a little while ago discussing this very topic. The concensus was that young people see politics as a career now and not so much of a tool to implement their ideological views. You therefore get large numbers of young people going straight out of uni and into the political parties. They hone their political skills as a party hack for a while before rising up to preselection and parliament if they're lucky.

You can already see that there very few real ideological differences between the parties any more which means they have to resort to populist policies and games of "well, we're not as bad as them". This will only get worse.