Futurism up for discussion.

[POFP]

In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.

An economy based on literal shit flinging.

I don't think you need to worry about supporting such a thing. I believe America is a few policies away from this already. It's only a matter of time.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The fun part about futurism, with both trained folks and us hoi polloi, is that it mostly seems to be "throw shit against the wall.  A bunch of it is going to fly back into your face, ignore that and study the stuff that sticks."  which is to say, brainstorm, shoot down the dumb shit (and this is something we all produce, even if we occasionally forget that), and focus on the stuff that might work.  Rinse, repeat.

Futurism is dumb. It's an -ism- ie. dumb by default.

Except when it means, say, a fast recovery from a hurricane instead of the fact that NOLA is still fucked 11 years later.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Even skepticism is an ism.

All absolute beliefs are stupid.  Including the idea that "ism" automatically makes things stupid.

[CBXTN]

All absolute beliefs are stupid.

This sounds like a zenarchist's koan

[Pergamos]

You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).

In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.

Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

All absolute beliefs are stupid.

This sounds like a zenarchist's koan

Only if it's the kind of zen where you get to beat on fuckers with a stick.  Zazzen or some shit like that.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).

In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.

Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.

Also unicorns.  Outsourced and just as real.

[CBXTN]

All absolute beliefs are stupid.

This sounds like a zenarchist's koan

Only if it's the kind of zen where you get to beat on fuckers with a stick.  Zazzen or some shit like that.

*bows*

[Pergamos]

You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).

In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.

Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.

Also unicorns.  Outsourced and just as real.

Not being real is probably a plus, as far as basing a currency on it goes.

[CBXTN]

You are right, the rate of inflation will always be proportionate to the population, but wouldn't the value of a product or resource stay the same? I think the ability to make one's own Jenkem might contain too many economic variables (like counterfeit bills).

In order for human shit to be a viable currency, we would need to figure out a system in which people do not own the shit they expunge - It needs to be redistributed according the values of products and services people sell.

Well, the process of turning poop into jenkem is unpleasant and I expect most people would prefer to outsource it.

Also unicorns.  Outsourced and just as real.

Not being real is probably a plus, as far as basing a currency on it goes.

I agree! We should find more people that agree with us, then the more valuable the idea will become. just like real currency

[P3nT4gR4m]

Even skepticism is an ism.

All absolute beliefs are stupid.  Including the idea that "ism" automatically makes things stupid.

You got me there And you're right, I don't believe in the -ism- thing, per se. Just another makeshift model based on 100% of observed cases so far. Subject to change, pending new data, like everything else in my head. At some point in my life (day one I think) I got addicted to technology. I became a future-junkie. Maybe that's a futurist? Next year I can buy twice as much raw compute power for the same same bread I paid last year. I have no idea what to do with this, I had more than I could possibly use back in the 00's but that's irrelevant - I FUCKING WANT IT!!! And benchmarking software so I can taste how many trillions of instructions per sec I have at my disposal.

I got a mate who's the total opposite - bewildered by tech. He only sees the downsides (of which there are many) He's like the ultimate cromagnon motherfucker. His hatred of facebook is vitriolic  and evangelical. Looks at the walking heart attacks that are the nintendo generation waddling past and wonders if we're fast approaching the Wall-E tipping point. Who decides that a human being is something that ought to be able to fit through a doorway or climb a flight of stairs without their chest exploding? We have machines these days that can scrape the burger fat from their arteries and carry them down the street to pick up more cheetos. Shit only looks fucked when you compare it to the past. The standards of humanity are not an absolute, they're shifting sands. The future always looks weird through that lense. I think that's why I like it so much.

[freshmeat]

This is in response to the weird shit that we've just witnessed.  Anyone who wants to contribute is more than welcome to do so.

Futurism has boiled itself down into two basic groups (leaving aside the wild-eyed dreamers, "transhumanists", and flat-out charlatans.)

First, you have your unbanists.  This includes urban designers, economists (who never sleep at all), ecologists, process/systems engineers, neurology types, medical doctors, that sort of thing.  They worry about stuff like how many liters of water have to be moved out of a city to keep it from drowning in its own shit.  Hurricane Sandy completely overwhelmed the pumps for all 5 boroughs, but they had the shit flowing in the right direction 13 hours later, because some bright folks had sat down ahead of time and said "what if?" 

Urbanists study cities the same way a good oncologist studies you as a patient.  Look for what's there, but also look for what is inferred to exist by what isn't there.   Urbanists require a huge amount of multi-discipline training to be effective...Looking back to the shit question, you need knowledge of fluid dynamics, mechanical knowledge of pipes and pumps, and also what storm surges you might expect in a given area.  They tend to obsess over data, to the exclusion of what's actually going on.

Strategic forecasters, on the other hand, are the guys who obsess about the newest and best ways to put a hurting on someone.  They come up with things like Swarm/AC drones and stoop targeting, stratelites, and other goodies.  This requires slightly less training, but also requires having a mind full of angry wasps and broken hypodermic needles. 

Swarm/AC.  You have one medium drone that does all kinds of processing, using things like DESI and bog-standard facial recognition software.  It selects, for example, the ring leaders in a protest, mostly by the way they walk (or stand still) in the crowd.  It then sends this info to police, etc.  Or maybe it doesn't.  Maybe it sends it to stoop.

Stoop.  Picture a cloud of drones shaped like 10 penny nails, with a little rotor on the blunt end and a disposable fuel & computer packet on the sharp end.  It receives the signal from Swarm/AT, and aims at the ringleader.  The packet and rotors drop off, and the tiny explosive in the flat end drives the drone down into the head of the victim.  Where it also explodes.

It's worth mentioning that strategic forecasters are absolute solutionists.

It may seem like you can pick out the white hats from the black hats by which form of futurism they embrace, but this isn't the case.  ISIS mostly uses an informal kind of urbanism to get their funnier ideas.  They know that cities are our "safe spaces", so most of what they do is aimed at city dwellers.  Including the beheading thing, which Cain could describe better than I can, in terms of psychological impact.

It's also worth mentioning that these people do not work for free.  They in fact have a huge price tag, because the educational requirements are immense.

my money is on the MIC. As long as our mega society is still connected by bare threads they will be the dominant player in CONTROL.

On the other hand if CHAOS should prevail the strategic forecasters and the urbanists won't matter anymore.

Daesh is betting against the MIC. They are clearly TV deprived savages.

[freshmeat]

I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit.  I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.

I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed".  It's a fucking horrorshow.

nothing major ever happens in mega societies unless it is driven by economics, war or GOD. God is way into "broken window" parables.

[The Wizard Joseph]

I am not interested in transhumanism or any of that infantile shit.  I am, in this thread, asking how things get done in the future to keep the toilets from exploding and the economy from melting faster than the icecaps and. oh yeah, those.

I'm reading some interesting stuff right now on economics as described rather than "as prescribed".  It's a fucking horrorshow.

nothing major ever happens in mega societies unless it is driven by economics, war or GOD. God is way into "broken window" parables.

[Cainad (dec.)]

All absolute beliefs are stupid.

This sounds like a zenarchist's koan

Only if it's the kind of zen where you get to beat on fuckers with a stick.  Zazzen or some shit like that.

"The Stick of Compassion," as it is known.

Those Zen motherfuckers have a great sense of humor.