Reddit reviews In the First Circle: The First Uncensored Edition

> PICK ONE! Because those two statements are mutually exclusive. You can't be an authoritarian that wants to force bright people into slave labor while also claiming you're trying to avert a collapse of society.

> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006IDG3Y0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

> Unfortunately, it has proven to have worked in the past.

In the First Circle is Solzhenitsyn's fiction masterpiece

It's fiction dude. Fiction. Fantasy. Not real. Made up. Like Santa Clause.

>But they are finite and will see the end sometime in this century.

But it DOESN'T GO AWAY. We can recycle it.

>Rail treatments were replaceable by some other material. Phosphates are difficult to replace.

Do you have any idea what Phosphates are actually used for? And rail tie treatments were INVENTED, not replaced.

WTF is HBD?

You're blaming the dark ages on...

>if America fails there are no real alternatives

Europe? Japan? Hell, China's a little authoritarian, but they're a hell of a lot better than they were.

> relatively little money is spent on future techs.

Are you fucking with me?

Dude, while futurology might be overly optimistic, but you are a just a doomsayer with nearly ZERO supporting argument. You just FEEL like it's falling apart. And you've told us you feel things are shitty. Ok. We now know your feelings. But that doesn't mean much.

>PICK ONE! Because those two statements are mutually exclusive. You can't be an authoritarian that wants to force bright people into slave labor while also claiming you're trying to avert a collapse of society.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006IDG3Y0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

Unfortunately, it has proven to have worked in the past.


>Like what? Rare Earth? It's not that rare. And the US hold 38% of the world's deposits. We have mines we could open up if it weren't so cheap coming out of China.

But they are finite and will see the end sometime in this century.

>Plastic? We can synthesize it. We no longer need crude oil. But honestly, whatever is cheapest.

That point is taken, but whether it can be done in a large scale remains to be seen.

>OIL would be the big one. We literally burn it as opposed to all the others we can mine out of trash dumps. (Landfills have more gold in them then gold ore these days). But alternative energy really seems to be picking up speed. Good times.

That is the big debate, although I personally think demand will be reduced instead in a way most people do not want to mention.

> phosphates

I really don't think it's a problem. Hell, you sound like people in the 1800's fear-mongering about how how the rail network was going to deforest the nation. But then of course someone made a better treatment for the railroad ties and life moved on.

Rail treatments were replaceable by some other material. Phosphates are difficult to replace.
>> We already have an example of ignorant masses ending civilization in the Western World. In one word, Hypatia.

>Is the name of one greek lady murdered in AD415. Get over it dude. Civilization did not end. This is the best example you have of the ignorant masses committing atrocities?

It did for at least 900 years.

It took the Black Death, which got rid of a lot of brain-dead priests who had to perform the last rites (the smarter ones who somehow got out of that duty lived), to reopen the vaults of progress.


>Shit, I'm more pissed about Alan Turing's nuts. Seriously, why not mention Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot?

By that time there were alternatives in other country. However, this time, if America fails there are no real alternatives, due to the difference of traditions.

>> It will have to be more brutal to keep things going till a breakthrough occurs.

>This is exactly the opposite of the truth. One of the bigger existential threats we face is letting jack-booted thugs take over the reigns of the nation and commit atrocities.

Which will happen. The only difference would be would it be Stalin, who at least understood the importance of science and tech, or Pol Pot, who did not.
>> get fed up by the 'new arrivals'

>Ah, yes. You're bitching about the immigrants. Listen, EVERYONE always bitches about the next wave of immigrants. Especially if they were immigrants in the past generation. Get over it dude. If you're a European, get your racist shit in order and learn to deal with outsiders. Stop being a pussy and trying to call it a war. They are literally coming to work for you. If you really want them to conform to your ways, sure, legislate that or something, but the most effective method would be to STOP HIRING THEM. But of course that would fly in the face of capitalism. Which doesn't work out so well when you're trying to make a buck. Really, invite them in, show them the better way, politely laugh at their religion, and within a couple generations you'll hardly know where they came from. (And they'll be bitching about the damn immigrants from... Mars or whatever).

Unfortunately, there is something called HBD, which shows most of the new arrivals are not too likely to add good things to existing societies.

> And some people are just completely fucking nuts when it comes to future inventions and they think they'll be uploaded to utopia sometime next Thursday. The later is a little more prevalent of Futurology.

We might already be too late for that, but that's another topic.

With all money having spent in social programs and SJW projects, relatively little money is spent on future techs. Elon Musk, etc, tend to focus on tech which would make them big bucks, and to reach the stars we need a new Manhattan Project which does not seem to be in the horizons as for now.

> But yeah, it'd be REALLY nice if you could at least accurately point to the big problems we're facing, like climate change, as opposed to brown people moving in next door or the cost of phosphorus rising a little. Come on

I think the resources will start to run out, one by one, from next decade. Demand destruction will probably have to occur, but the ultimate solution is reaching the stars to obtain new resources.