Incidentally, Beelzebub, the alternative scenario that I asked you to consider was not, fortunately, an alternative to globalization.

Not at all.

I merely asked if you could offer a prediction as to the outcomes of the "fortress Australia" policies with which you propose we fight globalization.

My suggestion was that it will result in the creation of another pariah state, locked away in poverty from the rest of the world. I offered you a chance to propose some logical alternative outcome.

Otherwise, my prediction stands unchallenged: if you attempt to provide for Australia's needs by cutting us off from the myriad benefits of globalization that we enjoy every day, we will inevitably wither, and die.

Unless someone decides to take advantage of our weakened state, and takes us over in the meantime. Lock, stock and festering barrel.

After all, why would they stand idly by while we sat on our vast mineral deposits, unable to sell them any because we lacked the resources to dig them up?

So you don't need to form a committee - errr, sorry, bring together a dedicated group.

Just harness the same power of thought that those "elite" employ, and tell us how it all works out, why doncha.

"How do we increase and fairly distribute the national wealth?" to which I answer, "I don't know, and that's what I'm discussing here."
Beelzebub,
If we were to focus on educating our young instead of conditioning them for consumerism we'd escape the realm of greed.
So, the ball is in OUR court !

> If we were to focus on educating our young instead of conditioning them for consumerism
Well said, individual. Modern education is one of the saddest aspects of today's Australia.

> So, the ball is in OUR court!
I notice that the proposed new curriculum has been decisively rejected by all affected parties. I recently started another thread about Citizens' Lobby Groups with a view to addressing things like this. The pollies and bureaucrats will simply race for the quickest, most politically-effective solution and then impose it by fiat on the system. I believe that it is up to the general public, and especially the older generation (of whom I'm one) to address these issues. Not only do they have the broader perspective that comes with time and experience, but most have adequate spare time available for it.

HOW to do it is quite another question. I spent many happy and rewarding years teaching and working in Singapore, but there's no way I'd dare get involved with the education system here. That's one reason why I'm looking for productive activities outside official (and especially bueaucratic) channels.

Globalization is a fraud, manipulated by the greed for money.
579,
Globalisation is exploitation by everyone except the producer.

> Globalization is a fraud, manipulated by the greed for money ... is exploitation by everyone except the producer.
You're right, individual, and there's much else could be said along the same lines. But let me introduce you to a different attitude that I personally find more useful. I'll do it by quoting one of the oldest books known to literature, for the simple reason that globalization is just a modern manifestation of something that is ages old, and well known to all mankind throughout history.

In chapter two of the Gita, the hero has been stymied by the conflict of a moral quandary, and his mentor, in urging him to understand the truth of his situation, says, "Happy is the warrior, Partha, who obtains such a fight, offered unsought as an open door to heaven." The language of these old books is very flowery and poetic by today's standards, and they have been translated and retranslated so many times that considerable study is needed to get at the meaning. Every generation has its 'fight', its own struggle against restraining forces that is a part of the evolutionary process. The older generation had a physical fight, the two world wars of last century. The present generation has had an emotional fight, against drugs, self-indulgence, and disease. The new generation has a different fight looming that is a mental one.

In order to prepare for this fight, certain key information is essential, and has to do with human consciousness. The science of last century focussed on the material world, and has given us remarkable technologies that allow control of physical matter down to the atomic level. The new science that is now emerging will be more concerned with consciousness - mind and emotions - and its relationship to the material world. Although our academic institutions still cling to a framework of ideas that are based in nineteenth century philosophical ideas, many scientists have been working outside this framework to create a new one.

< cont ..

.. cont >

Until recently they have been ridiculed by conservative academics, and have had a difficult time of it because, as with all new ideas, lack of understanding makes it difficult to devise ways of proving them. This situation is changing. Evidence is emerging that shows proof of the new concepts, but the various fields are still disconnected, and it's difficult for outsiders to gain an understanding.

Perhaps the first thing necessary to understand about consciousness generally is that it is a field phenomenon. Your own consciousness operates inside your head, but it is also capable of interacting with others. There are many scientists working in this field, but many of them do not 'go public' for fear of damaging their reputation and hurting their careers, such is the degree of opposition at present. One who has is Rupert Sheldrake:

http://www.sheldrake.org/homepage.html

As with all field phenomena, there are certain limits or thresholds at which its properties change, and different phenomena manifest. Radio waves pass through your body with little or no effect, but beyond a certain frequency they become X-rays, and these can be both useful and damaging. So, too, with human consciousness.

Economic efficiency is a product of human consciousness. Its effects vary depending upon the intent motivating its application. Certain of its effects have proved very beneficial, for example to impoverished third world people who have suddenly found aid or employment. But because it has mostly been implemented by those motivated by greed, its cumulative effect is negative. This is, of course, a very abstract way of looking at things, but it allows you to observe from a different perspective from which more effective action can be devised.

You'll appreciate, I'm sure, that I've tried to address a large, complex topic in a few lines, and I'll surely be ridiculed for it by others in this forum. But if we're to move on to something better, econeff is something we need to supercede, a 'fight' we need to win in order to obtain our 'heaven', a new phase of globalism beyond the crass materialism of last century.