Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?  

So I read the SparkNotes summary of Lord of the Flies the other day.  The book apparently paints a pretty bleak picture of humanity.  Do you think its message is accurate?  That humans are (with a few exceptions) savage, murderous creatures held in check only by the laws of society?

  1) People are self interested. 2) People want to be more powerful than other people. 3) Tools make people more powerful. 4) One can use tools to make better tools. 5) One can repeat #4 in a virtuous cycle with exponentially increasing returns. 6) Computers greatly accelerate the speed at which one can move through this cycle. 7) One could leverage this cycle in order to attain far more power than any human being in history. 8) Someone will do this. 9) That individual will become more powerful than any state, company, or any other individual. 10) This person will attempt to eliminate any threats to his power. 11) This person will succeed. 12) Mankind will find itself subjected to the tyranny of a practically immortal, virtually omnipotent God-Emperor.

  What do you think of this essay? http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~baumeistertice/goodaboutmen.htm It's pretty long.  Here's my super-condensed version: Men and women have the same iq on average.  But the variance is larger in men.  There are more men than women with very low iqs and more men than women with very high iqs.   To maximize reproduction, a culture needs all the wombs it can get, but a few penises can do the job. If a group loses half its men, the next generation can still be full-sized. These are two gender differences among many.  When you examine them all, a trend seems to emerge:  Nature rolls the dice more with men.  Women are designed to be loveable while men are designed to strive, mostly unsuccessfully, for greatness.  

  A saying from the Bible's story of Cain and Abel.  After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was. Cain answered, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" Cain's words have come to symbolize people's unwillingness to accept responsibility for the welfare of their fellows — their "brothers" in the extended sense of the term.  The tradition of Judaism and Christianity is that people do have this responsibility.  

This is a fundamental issue underlying many debates: abortion, the death penalty, war, and so on.  Nearly everyone accepts it as obvious that killing is wrong.  But can you provide a logical justification for *why* it is wrong?

1) Candidates seek donations from their communities.  2) If enough people support them, then they receive additional funding from a public pool. 3) If they accept this funding, then they are prohibited from accepting any large donations. For more info:  http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/press/basics

So far Exclusive Debate Week™ on Serious Business has resulted in a grand total of three people making a post to the group.Anyone have any ideas on how we can encourage more activity over there?  Or do you think it's a lost cause?

Global warming is a serious problem.  Yet solving it will require every major country in the world to take strong action.  Will we be able to fix the problem before it's too late? This debate assumes that global warming is real and that man is significantly contributing to it.  If you wish to object to that please consult this Wikipedia Faq first.

Watch it on YouTube: Part 1: Why we need reform Part 2: Summary of the plan Part 3: Debunking misinformation Part 4: How we pay for it Part 5: The moral aspect Part 6: Final thoughts  

Is there a better way to organize scarce resources than the mixed economies we have now?  Something that could work in the real world?