M.I. Lastman's Blog, page 2
August 8, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
The arts are green. Think of the amount of creative energy dissipated harmlessly by this performance. 
There will, of course, be greenhouse gas emissions associated with this performance (transportation, etc.) However, the important thing is the amount of creativity the actual performance generates without adding significantly to the carbon toll.
There will, of course, be greenhouse gas emissions associated with this performance (transportation, etc.) However, the important thing is the amount of creativity the actual performance generates without adding significantly to the carbon toll.
August 7, 2015
Aforementioned: Aphorisms and questions for 2015
One of the root causes of the crisis of the biosphere is the craving to dissipate human creative energy. 
No one ever stops to question our need to do things. All these pictures provide work and entertainment for huge numbers of people, but the carbon cost is appalling in each case.
No one ever stops to question our need to do things. All these pictures provide work and entertainment for huge numbers of people, but the carbon cost is appalling in each case.
August 6, 2015
August 06th, 2015
We should take opportunity greed into account when we weigh these pictures in the balance. 
The second picture shows David Zaslaw, CEO of Discovery. His hourly compensation as the highest paid business executive in the States is 17,268 times that of the girls making shoes in Indonesia for the North American market. There is something grossly wrong about this disparity. However, we should bear in mind that the gross disparity in opportunity is even worse. Remember that possiblye half these girls could do as good a job as Zaslaw of his work, given equal opportunity.
Not all of us can be executives, but a heck of a lot more would be without the compensation disparity.
The second picture shows David Zaslaw, CEO of Discovery. His hourly compensation as the highest paid business executive in the States is 17,268 times that of the girls making shoes in Indonesia for the North American market. There is something grossly wrong about this disparity. However, we should bear in mind that the gross disparity in opportunity is even worse. Remember that possiblye half these girls could do as good a job as Zaslaw of his work, given equal opportunity.Not all of us can be executives, but a heck of a lot more would be without the compensation disparity.
August 5, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Manual labour is green. Yes, use it where possible, but pay for it equitably to enable opportunity. 
What is wrong with this picture? The answer is not that one man is pulling another in a rickshaw. The shame is that at a guess the rider will pay the puller a pittance for his service. It will be nothing remotely close to his own hourly compensation. One wonders how this equation would change if the rider were required to pay, let us say, even one twelfth of his own hourly wage. This picture shows labour that has been grossly cheapened.
What is wrong with this picture? The answer is not that one man is pulling another in a rickshaw. The shame is that at a guess the rider will pay the puller a pittance for his service. It will be nothing remotely close to his own hourly compensation. One wonders how this equation would change if the rider were required to pay, let us say, even one twelfth of his own hourly wage. This picture shows labour that has been grossly cheapened.
August 4, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Labour is much more costly than fossil fuels, but we must learn to pay for it cheerfully. 
Picture one is about as carbon neutral as one can get, and there is likely to be little chemical input. Picture two is redolent of carbon and long-term pollution. The only advantage of the second over the first is the vastly lower, artificial cost of the energy used in the farming and following from that the wider profit margin and lower cost to the consumer of the produce.
Picture one is about as carbon neutral as one can get, and there is likely to be little chemical input. Picture two is redolent of carbon and long-term pollution. The only advantage of the second over the first is the vastly lower, artificial cost of the energy used in the farming and following from that the wider profit margin and lower cost to the consumer of the produce.
August 3, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
We should not forget that healthful physical work is the greenest energy available. 
It goes without saying that we could multiply examples of this sort of thing forever. The important point remains, that when we are using our own resources rather than borrowed energy, we are not contributing to global warming.
It goes without saying that we could multiply examples of this sort of thing forever. The important point remains, that when we are using our own resources rather than borrowed energy, we are not contributing to global warming.
August 1, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
60 million sperm per milliliter serves the same purpose as countless seeds in a loaf of bread: natural surplus for survival.
It is hard not to be moved by Pope Francis. He is a very good man, doing good work. It is therefore tragic that he cannot see how wrong his understanding of natural redundancy is. There is no difference between a man's sperm and the seeds in a wheat field. They both serve to ensure survival through surplus. Pope Francis could not argue that we should protect all of those seeds as God's special creation. Surplus is the means of interspecies survival. The problem, as with any plague, is that there is nothing to consume our surplus. The Godly thing to do would be to argue strongly that we have a duty to control our numbers in the interests of all nature.
It is hard not to be moved by Pope Francis. He is a very good man, doing good work. It is therefore tragic that he cannot see how wrong his understanding of natural redundancy is. There is no difference between a man's sperm and the seeds in a wheat field. They both serve to ensure survival through surplus. Pope Francis could not argue that we should protect all of those seeds as God's special creation. Surplus is the means of interspecies survival. The problem, as with any plague, is that there is nothing to consume our surplus. The Godly thing to do would be to argue strongly that we have a duty to control our numbers in the interests of all nature.
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
The pope needs more than sacrements: he needs the surplus of countless other species. Why is human surplus sacred? 
The Pope rightly eschews luxury and eats very simply. However, to consume anything is a direct contradiction of the religious anathema of contraception. We see nothing wrong with consuming the surplus of any other species that may be useful to us. What then is so wrong with controlling by contraception the natural and devastating surplus of humans?
The Pope rightly eschews luxury and eats very simply. However, to consume anything is a direct contradiction of the religious anathema of contraception. We see nothing wrong with consuming the surplus of any other species that may be useful to us. What then is so wrong with controlling by contraception the natural and devastating surplus of humans?
July 31, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
If men went through the pregnancies, abortions etc., would world population start to decline?
It is difficult not to conclude that it would, since men would then have much more to lose as a consequence of their sexual activities.
It is difficult not to conclude that it would, since men would then have much more to lose as a consequence of their sexual activities.
July 30, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
#LaudatoSi is moving and important, but 7.25 billion people is not sacred: the Plague of Homo Sapiens 
Is it tragic that the Pope cannot acknowledge that his revolutionary vision will never be realized in a world crowded with 7.25 billion of the largest species ever to infest the earth? His vision is likely not possible even with half that number, but it would be exponentially closer to being achievable.
Is it tragic that the Pope cannot acknowledge that his revolutionary vision will never be realized in a world crowded with 7.25 billion of the largest species ever to infest the earth? His vision is likely not possible even with half that number, but it would be exponentially closer to being achievable.
