tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post1497836491981624852..comments2024-03-29T04:06:37.402-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Recycled SocialismStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-77630716162950632612017-08-01T14:14:49.970-07:002017-08-01T14:14:49.970-07:00Stuart: Between them, the atheist paradises of Com...Stuart: Between them, the atheist paradises of Communist countries killed over 100,000,000 people. Many of them died in Mao’s China, in the post-World War II period, but upwards of 35,000,000 starved to death.<br /><br />It was amazing to see the numbers:<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine<br />----<br />According to government statistics, there were 15 million excess deaths in this period. However, the Chinese government at this time was taken over by market reformers who were strongly opposed to the Great Leap Forward. Unofficial estimates vary, but scholars have estimated the number of famine victims to be between 20 and 43 million. Historian Frank Dikötter, having been granted special access to Chinese archival materials, estimates that there were at least 45 million premature deaths from 1958 to 1962, although far from all these deaths came about as a result of starvation.<br />----<br /><br />Even so, birthrates only fell barely below death rates for 1960 (with birthrates going down) but almost instantly birthrates exceeded death rates by a factor of 4 by 1965.<br />https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birth_rate_in_China.svg<br /><br />If species evolution comes from periods of mass deaths or starvation, we can wonder what sort of survival of the fittest traits work best during years of starvations. It might be the same "selfish genes" that cause mass obesity in the high-calorie world of today, as long as our fossil fuels can keep the party going.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-21367285269489152752017-08-01T10:15:19.787-07:002017-08-01T10:15:19.787-07:00Good intentions ("claimed"), Road To Hel...Good intentions ("claimed"), Road To Hell: Minor assembly rqr'd.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-23237648257672976762017-08-01T06:47:51.222-07:002017-08-01T06:47:51.222-07:00The widespread annihilation of high trust societie...The widespread annihilation of high trust societies should revert us to historic norms of poverty, starvation and war pretty soon. Frankly, the sooner the better. If it's going to happen, I'd still rather have it happen in an era where there is enough uncovered woods and streams to hunt and fish in as urban populations succumb to cannibalism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-65424854155894723552017-08-01T06:16:20.928-07:002017-08-01T06:16:20.928-07:00Speaking of barbarism, I'm still waiting for t...Speaking of barbarism, I'm still waiting for the "breakthroughs" from embryonic stem cell research. As far as I know, Michael J Fox still has Parkinson's and Christopher Reeve is, sadly, still dead.<br /><br />"[N]o field of biotechnology has promised more and delivered less in the way of treatments than embryonic stem cells."<br />--- MIT Technology Review (8/2016) <br /><br />But... but... but...<br /><br />Mo' $$$$$$$!!!! It's just around the corner!trigger warninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06310637474428322994noreply@blogger.com