Friday, December 23, 2005

Here are SF writer Ben Bova's recommendations for a better future.
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4 comments:

Paul Kimball said...
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10:14 AM
Paul Kimball said...

Researching fusion power - good.

Mandatory public service, of any kind - bad. People should serve, in some capacity, but it doesn't have to be with the government (coaching a kid's hockey team is probably more useful, frankly), and, in a democracy, it should never be mandatory.

Paul

10:15 AM
Mac said...

Paul--

I agree. Talk of mandatory public service gives me the creeps because it implies that *someone else* is doing the mandating...

2:24 PM
Mac said...

At any rate, people felt they had much more of a stake in conflicts like Vietnam that they do now for something like the Iraq war, I think.

You may well be right on that. Unfortunately, I see no meaningful distinction between the draft and slavery.

Also, we do have compulsory education through G12 on the (in my view correct) theory that an educated populace is necessary for a democracy to work.

It certainly looks good on paper. But in my experience compulsary schooling is strictly lowest-common-denominator and almost wholly worthless. (Sorry to sound so negative, but I played the game and that's how I feel.)

12:04 AM

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