Occupy Wallstreet

[tm20]

if i go eat at hooters would i be supporting the 1%?

[Aquaplant]

Originally Posted by Clarke

99.99% of everyone would be out of a job, for one thing.

But if you already had access to everything you can get these days with money, why would you need a job? Assuming we are going with the Star Trek canon where all basic material needs can be produced via replicators, and having a job/education is more of a pursuit of knowledge than mandatory routine for survival.

[Crickett]

Originally Posted by Aquaplant

How do you measure the amount of existing money when it doesn't even exist? For ages now, the amount of money that exists has not been in any relation to the amount of goods and services it is worth so to speak. Money has value only because we all religiously believe it has value, but in reality it's just a piece of paper that's about as valuable as toilet paper.

But that's true of lots of things. What good is gold? The only practical purpose I've ever seen for gold other than jewelry (which only has value because we believe it has value) are as the metal covering for the jacks at the end of headphones. Because it's so soft compared to every other metal, it's terrible as a building material. And yet we (humans) covet it just like we covet money. In fact, the money used to be backed by the gold and many believe it still should be. What value is gold besides subjective appearance?

Diamonds have value in industry, but very simply put, you don't need to mine industrial diamonds, you can just make synthetics. With the exception of those industrial gemstones, diamonds despite being a tangible item really only have value because we as a society say it does.

Originally Posted by Aquaplant

We wouldn't know what do do if things were actually good?

To the point where nobody had to do anything? To the point where almost everyone's job would be superfluous? Yes, we wouldn't know what to do. It's possible we could go through an educational revolution but..... well.....

I can't find a video with it so I'll just write the quote

"Hell, if I wanted schoolin', I'da gone to school" - Jayne Cobb.

[Clarke]

Originally Posted by Aquaplant

But if you already had access to everything you can get these days with money, why would you need a job? Assuming we are going with the Star Trek canon where all basic material needs can be produced via replicators, and having a job/education is more of a pursuit of knowledge than mandatory routine for survival.

To stop being bored.

[Human No More]

That's it - there's no obligation to work, and indeed, some people seem to live doing very little, while others run businesses, but more as a service then for profit. Of course, it still needs people to actually contribute by doing work, but this is on the basis of an individual "I should help out" decision and not a "I need to work or I'll starve" decision.

Originally Posted by Crickett

But that's true of lots of things. What good is gold? The only practical purpose I've ever seen for gold other than jewelry (which only has value because we believe it has value) are as the metal covering for the jacks at the end of headphones. Because it's so soft compared to every other metal, it's terrible as a building material. And yet we (humans) covet it just like we covet money. In fact, the money used to be backed by the gold and many believe it still should be. What value is gold besides subjective appearance?

Diamonds have value in industry, but very simply put, you don't need to mine industrial diamonds, you can just make synthetics. With the exception of those industrial gemstones, diamonds despite being a tangible item really only have value because we as a society say it does.

Gold has a lot of value in advanced chemistry and physics - there are many very useful gold compounds. Most electronics will contain a small but not insignificant quantity of gold, as it's one of the best electrical and heat conductors available. If gold was not valued aesthetically, it would still be in demand, but would merely be cheaper. Silver has less use than gold (but still very far from no use), while platinum has a very large number of uses, for example, catalytic converters contain enough platinum that is is profitable to recycle them from scrapped cars. Diamonds are actually a far better example for your example than gold - while they are rare, they are not as rare as many people would believe, and subject to artificial price inflation by the cartels that control the vast majority of supply.

Is your old hardware made of gold, or just DIRT? is an interesting read on the use of rare elements.

[Sempu]

Interesting article on the Occupy suppression by an author I respect: The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy | Naomi Wolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

[Aquaplant]

No matter how much you speak the truth, those in power will just ignore you, label you insane and paranoid or in worst case, subdue you with force.

[Aquaplant]

For those of you who think that you actually understand money and the scale of it all.

Hint:Right-Click, Save Link As...

[Ja'k Dawsiin]

what is the current status of the OWS movement? are they still a viable movement now that the 2012 election and general politics has settled down? jw

[iron_jones]

Originally Posted by Forest Goddess

what is the current status of the OWS movement? are they still a viable movement now that the 2012 election and general politics has settled down? jw

There's still a few dicks who think they matter.

But most of all, no one cares anymore.