> >emotionally balanced, educated person who had an alcohol problem.
>
> Well, a drinking problem generally disqualifies one from being a
> candidate for the lable 'emotionally balanced.' Your statement borders
> on being a tautology. As for never having known an educated alcoholic;
> you will. Go to graduate school. I had a roommate who was working on
> his PhD in psychology. His progress towards his degree was slow because
> he kept derailing himself with his binge drinking.
That is why I said emotionally balanced "and" educated person. If I had
used "or", the statement would have been wrong. It's quite possible for
an emotionally balanced person to have a drinking problem simply because
he doesn't know any better, just as it is possible for an educated
person to have a drinking problem because he can't control his emotions.
I think it is the job of the US government to produce citizens that
satisfy both of those qualities ( or at least try to), but it is failing
miserably in both areas -- especially in emotional education.
> As for your concerns about
> power accumulating in the hands of the few; I
> would suggest that thesituation you describe is the historical norm and
> the rise of the net is beginning to alieviate that inequality by
> bringing information, knowledge, and power to more people than ever.
> Still, your fears about abuse of power are healthy fears.
It is the state of the education system that worries me though. How do
you expect poorly educated people to properly take advantage of increased
communication and information when they don't have the necessary skills?
It will not empower the masses, but rather extend the power of those that
already have it.
As for the net, have you taken a good look lately? It's becoming nothing
more than a way to make money. Ever since the NSF started backing out,
leaving the net with the commercial exchanges, the noise to bandwidth
ratio has increased ten fold.
The way I see it is that our society requires classes, and it will force
that "meme" onto any evolution of itself. If we are ever to grow past our
infancy, we must first eliminate classes. Will that come with time, or
must it be forced as with communism? I think we've already decided in
here that nothing can be forced, so I think it will take time -- more
time than we have. I expect another great war in my lifetime. I hope we
surive. I hope the planet survives.
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