[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> RVINS OF A NEVV ECONOMII DIGEST [lebkowsky, weishaus]

[Nmherman@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/14/2001 11:20:04 PM Central Daylight Time, 
nettime@bbs.thing.net writes:

> From: "Jon Lebkowsky" <jonl@well.com>
>  Subject: RE: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy
>  Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 10:48:56 -0600
>  
>  > Today's NY Times has another piece called
>  >
>  > What Have E-Consultants Wrought? By AMY HARMON
>  >
>  > where she looks at the damage caused by consultants (gee, what a novel
>  > theme!) over the past four years or so.
>  
>  However there were also those of us who were somewhat skeptical of the
>  mania, yet wandered down that whacky path imagining that we were building
>  sustainable enterprises. (I worked with a "sustainable" company that lasted
>  only four months!)
>  
>  And I once argued with Mark Dery that Kevin Kelly was a cut above Tom
>  Peters; now I'm not so sure.
>  
>  So continuing my train of thought from a message earlier today... we need a
>  better sense of ethics, but we also need better bullshit detectors!

I think the Genius 2000 Network is an excellent bullshit detector, if only 
because I'm in a garage band and love the Clash.  

>  
>  -- jon
>  
>  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>  
>  From: "Joel Weishaus" <weishaus@pdx.edu>
>  Subject: Re: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy
>  Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 17:10:06 -0700
>  
>  > The real problem with the 'new economy,' IMO, had nothing to do with the
>  > technology, which is clearly a boon and here to stay. The problem with 
the
>  > 'new economy' is nothing new: it's the same downsides of capitalism that
>  > nettimers know so well: greed and avarice. I argued here some weeks ago
>  > capitalism (corporations) are just a form of organization, that greed is 
> not
>  > inherent but the product of a failure to instill any sense of ethics in 
> our
>  > legions of fresh-scrubbed MBAs, the same folks who siezed the Internet as
>  > their own and called it an "industry."
>  
>  Jon,
>  
>  I'm no ecomonist, but I do know that capitalism is about money, which is
>  what capital is. Wealth is to capitalism what gold medals are to the
>  Olympics. The more the better. Where do you introduce morals into such a
>  system?

My plan for the Genius 2000 Network is to create a new awareness in which 
folks will be ashamed not to buy products that include external costs in 
consumer price.  This will require new information and ideas delivered via 
any means possible.  Victoria Vesna once cited an anuthor who said "the only 
syncretic system left is the market."  I think this is a hasty capitulation.  
The Genius 2000 Network is a syncretic system.  Public associations can 
influence both consumer activity and politicians.

>  It also goes to population growth. Capitalism needs constant population
>  growth to make new consumers, which, at the same time, is destroying the
>  planet, already overrun with humans, crowding out habitate of other 
species,
>  destroying the land, water, air. Capitalism, too, needs raw materials in
>  order to produce goods for sale, and these are running out. It's a neurotic
>  system on the border of insanity. It needs intensive therapy.

The capitalism we have now is psychotic, suicidal, homicidal, and devoid of 
genius.  It eats therapy for breakfast before gassing the miners.  This is 
because the corporations are above the law and above democracy, like Noam 
Chomsky has said since the early seventies.  It's Reaganomics back for 
another swing.  It needs to be voted against and spoken against; after this 
we replace it with a wholesome economy.  It can't be saved, even if Bush 
burns every tree in every neighborhood.

>  
>  > Manic growth is never sustainable, and it's a relief to see this latest
>  > bubble burst (anyone who's lived in a boomtown won't be surprised to see
>  > this side of the cycle). The question now is how we evolve an ethical
>  > tradition so that whatever form our future may take, we learn to be more
>  > humane and to think in terms of sustainability. The real new economy 
> should
>  > be founded on an ethics of economic justice, which is antithetical to the
>  > net-boom focus on growth at all costs.
>  
>  I agree. But, I think, if history is the teacher, change will only come
>  after major world-wide catastrophes. What we can do now is expand the
>  conversation to include more & more people, especially young people, to
>  change the perception of capitalism that the corporate media gives. Only by
>  creating healthy minds will the system will be seen for what it is.

I know a lot of people (many of whom are my parents) who think society 
doesn't change until AFTER the catastrophe.  I don't think we'll live through 
one more big one so I say do it now.  The young people like Genius 2000 quite 
a lot.  

Healthy minds are the constitution of genius.  Shelley said "Poetry is the 
best and happiest moments of the best and happiest people."  Syncretism and 
contextual literacy are what we need to teach.  The celebrity system is rank 
sewage.

Best,

Max Herman
http://www.geocities.com/genius-2000

>  
>  Best Regards,
>  Joel Weishaus


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