Quote from: K-Dog on Apr 03, 2024, 03:09 PMRE and I had Dinner with George Mobus the last time RE came down to Seattle.

That was a fun trip and good chat with George.  I stayed at a native run casino where I got all my meals comped for gambling, which you could do just by spending a couple of hours at the dime slot machines.  Most you could lose was a couple of dollars, and you got $25 to spend at any of 3 restaurants, a big buffet, a sit down Asian or an Italian Pizza/Hero deli.  They had all you can eat Lobster on Wed & Sun at the buffet.  I also did real gambliing at the Blackjack tables and won enouggh to cover my hotel bill, so all the trip cost was plane fare.  I also got a 1st Class upgrade from my AA miles on the way home.

The real adventure was trying to fit my folding electric scooter of the era into Kdogs trunk of his Mercedes.  Hilarious.

Far as the futurist ideas are concerned, the killer was the exponential population growth.  If we could have implemented sane birth control policies in the 3rd world and not simply dumped cheap surplus food from the "green revolution" on them, we might have had a shot at the techno utopian dream right up to the early 1980s.  That was not to be however, as capitalism saw the growing population as an endless source of cheap labor and voracious consumers.

A utopian future is still a possibility IMHO, but only after a very large population knockdown of 90% or more.  Unfortunately, the devastation resulting from such a knockdown probably prevents that from happening also.  If I was young and healthy, I'd try to survive to help that be a long term outcome, after the current crop of Masters of the Universe have been sent to the Great Beyond.  Perhaps one of my few young readers will carry the torch after I am carved up for dinner for the staff of CNAs here when the food runs out.  :)

RE