Comments on: “Lies don’t work as well as they used to…”

By: Aaron Agassi

Aaron Agassi — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:02:22 +0000

By “factual”, does Drexler mean: ontological?

By: William Blight

William Blight — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:13:01 +0000

I believe that Ron Paul is intelligent and well intended – and his efforts are to be respected. Unfortunately, the problems with our government are systemic, complex, and massive. Perhaps a government of, by, and for the people is now completely unrealistic. Maybe a Corpocracy ran by powerful corporations and special interests is inevitable. I’m just not sure it will be too benevolent to either individuals or the environment. Like the mad tea partyiers, perhaps the large media propaganda outlets will keep us busy pointlessly protesting our ugly fate. Sorry, I don’t see a happy ending.

By: George

George — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:57:41 +0000

William Blight,

I’d be interested to hear what your opinion on Ron Paul and the Campaign for Liberty. In regards to the OP, we already have the medium: The blogosphere.

By: William Blight

William Blight — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:50:44 +0000

At what point have “Republicans” promised any form of honesty or given any indication that they would do so? Fantasy or magical thinking is usually associated with irrational, childish, tribal-level thinking processes. In addition, the Republicans have given us an 8 year track record of downright, orchestrated lying, massive deficit spending and a nearly moribund economy. As I have pointed out previously, your article and its attendant thinking process is either magical or extremely politically naive. Oh, and the idea things will be solved by a third party conglomeration of righteously indignant, brown-shirted tea party-iers (led by Glenn Beck and Faux News); now that’s hilarious! And once again, many of your readers do not accept your author’s premise that President Obama has engaged in lying and lack of transparency. This is a politically biased form of name calling for which you need to be held accountable by your readers!

By: Al Fin

Al Fin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:51:46 +0000

You cannot separate politics and technology, as the recent Obama EPA ruling that tries to define CO2 as a toxic pollutant illustrates.

Technological advances depend upon wise public policy. Smart politics is crucial to the development of optimal technologies.

Unprecedented government debt plus crippling new regulations on technology lead to a society without technological innovation. We have to watch this destructive trend and nip it in the bud if we can.

By: William Blight

William Blight — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:12:33 +0000

There’s one other point that the Foresight Institute should be aware of. If you are engaging in political positions, your nonprofit status could be called into question. (Squelching can go in more than one direction.) You would be well advised against posting politically-biased attack articles. By the way, Bush’s orchestrated lying about the Iraq war would be a much better example of lying and one with which your readers could agree.
[What do you think "if Republicans promise honesty ... but go back to their old ways" means? -jsh]

By: William Blight

William Blight — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:23:09 +0000

Let me see – President Obama is cast as a liar without factual evidence and the reader should see this as even handed? In my opinion, your squelching of political points should begin in the articles you are presenting. You also be open to the likelihood that your understanding of your readers may be more limited than you think. Please stick to science or if it makes you happy, squelch anything that doesn’t agree your with your point of view.

By: Valkyrie Ice

Valkyrie Ice — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:22:40 +0000

I’ve said frequently that whatever your opinion of Obama, one thing is certain, he’s focused American attention on politics like never before, and exposed the desperate need to overhaul the entire system.

And it’s through the ability of the internet to enable more people to connect and communicate that I see such overhaul proceeding. It’s going to be a rough few years, but as the internet continues to allow people greater and greater access to information, lying is going to become harder and harder to get away with, and transparency is going to be the inevitable result.

By: William Blight

William Blight — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:52:20 +0000

I have several concerns with the recent posting by Glenn Reynolds. First, when did this site begin espousing political positions? Second, what, if any credentials, does Reynolds have for making political commentary. In my opinion, the election of a Cosmo nude star – who, yes, he does own a truck – is more indicative of America’s growing collapse as a world power. These idiots like Palin and Brown, and the brown shirted tea party thugs, do not bode for better times – nor does gridlocked government. But on the bright side, the small government that Reynold espouses may greatly reduce scientific funding and may force him to look for honest (no government tit) work.

[Glenn espouses a particular political point of view, which we don't -- we're interested in TECHNOLOGICAL advances that make social decision-making processes, including the political one, work better. I trust that most readers can understand that quoting someone to the effect that lying is harder to get away with, on either side of the aisle, isn't an endorsement of either party (both of whom Glenn implicitly accuses of lying in this passage).
Further replies advancing particular political points of view will be squelched as off-topic. -jsh]