Comments on: China, Green Dam and peer pressure http://futurismic.com/2009/07/01/china-green-dam-and-peer-pressure/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:03:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: 何健（Shanghai,China） http://futurismic.com/2009/07/01/china-green-dam-and-peer-pressure/comment-page-1/#comment-36719 何健（Shanghai,China） Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:05:36 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=8018#comment-36719 我（何健）个人认为“绿色海啸”更名为“绿云”比较好。（绿色海啸是绿坝的克星，由海外人士研发）毕竟沿海地区人民不希望发生海啸。海啸是有破坏力的。而用“绿云”体现了在“云计算”下，全球网民的互动。拥抱“绿云”吧！——摘自《何健语录》，欢迎转载，谢谢支持！ 我（何健）个人认为“绿色海啸”更名为“绿云”比较好。（绿色海啸是绿坝的克星，由海外人士研发）毕竟沿海地区人民不希望发生海啸。海啸是有破坏力的。而用“绿云”体现了在“云计算”下，全球网民的互动。拥抱“绿云”吧！——摘自《何健语录》，欢迎转载，谢谢支持！

]]> By: Jetse http://futurismic.com/2009/07/01/china-green-dam-and-peer-pressure/comment-page-1/#comment-36672 Jetse Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:08:20 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=8018#comment-36672 "Of course, the possibility of sweeping away nation-states only to replace them with equally dictatorial multinational corporations is worth bearing in mind. I think Jarvis is right: we need to keep up the pressure on big businesses so that they don’t start eyeing up empty thrones." Ehrm, Paul, you already forgot about <a href="http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/04/21/advice-to-writers-on-creating-realistic-mega-conglomerates/" rel="nofollow"> this post</a> on Jason Stoddard's <i>Strange and Happy</i> blog? To quote Jason: "To think that a corporation would voluntarily destroy a middle class (source of most of their income) to replace it with slaves and serfs is really silly. They’d rather see more middle-class. More upper-middle class. More people with more money buying more of their stuff, period." Which is not to say multinational corporations are good, far from it. It's just to say that multinational corporations *don't* want world domination: they want profit maximalisation. And if a democratic world with a large high middle class greenies brings them more profit than a totalitarian world with low-earning, lower-class serfs then they will opt (and support) the first option. Or to be more blunt: happy people have both a much higher productivity, and a much higher consumer profile than unhappy people. So it pays for multinational corps to keep people happy. Hell, it even pays for the Chinese government to keep people happy and consuming. The moment the Chinese 'wirtschaftswunder' stops is the moment the Chinese goverment will be in *real* trouble. “Of course, the possibility of sweeping away nation-states only to replace them with equally dictatorial multinational corporations is worth bearing in mind. I think Jarvis is right: we need to keep up the pressure on big businesses so that they don’t start eyeing up empty thrones.”

Ehrm, Paul, you already forgot about
this post on Jason Stoddard’s Strange and Happy blog?

To quote Jason:

“To think that a corporation would voluntarily destroy a middle class (source of most of their income) to replace it with slaves and serfs is really silly. They’d rather see more middle-class. More upper-middle class. More people with more money buying more of their stuff, period.”

Which is not to say multinational corporations are good, far from it. It’s just to say that multinational corporations *don’t* want world domination: they want profit maximalisation. And if a democratic world with a large high middle class greenies brings them more profit than a totalitarian world with low-earning, lower-class serfs then they will opt (and support) the first option.

Or to be more blunt: happy people have both a much higher productivity, and a much higher consumer profile than unhappy people. So it pays for multinational corps to keep people happy. Hell, it even pays for the Chinese government to keep people happy and consuming.

The moment the Chinese ‘wirtschaftswunder’ stops is the moment the Chinese goverment will be in *real* trouble.

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