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by ReticentVole 2196 days ago
We need a grand strategy. Our first order of business should be to end the burning of fossil fuels, second order being to establish permanent presence beyond Earth.

Otherwise it feels like we are just twiddling our thumbs, redistributing wealth (upwards), and slowly dying.
1 comments
bonestormii_ 2195 days ago
I want space colonies as much as the next guy, but we really need to try to end homelessness, poverty, and extreme gaps in wealth inequality. Otherwise the rich will just fly off into the sky after they are done with the planet anyway.

The production is there. The money is there. If we simply won't do this, we aren't worth preserving as a society.

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ReticentVole 2195 days ago
The willpower and genetic heritage of the poor and homeless isn't there. Most people at the very bottom are in that position because of mental or genetic problems. You cannot continue to throw money at it - you will end up with an endless burden. Instead just fund planned parenthood so that the cycle doesn't continue.
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bonestormii_ 2193 days ago
This perspective is a tragedy, and is just not the case.

Guess what--It's hard to get a good job with a criminal record, and it's easy to have a criminal record when you are black/brown.

So you take a bad job. And with that job, you remain so poor that you cannot handle the slightest emergency. A huge bill or disaster in your life (medical; car; legal) can pretty much end you. If you don't have a strong network to support you, you become homeless.

How do you reconcile the fact that most homeless people have some sort of family structure that is not homeless? I've never seen any evidence that homelessness is an inherited condition.

You blame both will power and genetics. Why are you so anxious to believe that society has no role in creating or solving this problem? If you make access to education equitable; if you don't ruin people's ability to engage with the economy with drug offenses that statistically appear quite racist in their skew; if you treat mental problems with medical assistance rather than criminal justice systems; if you regulate housing markets to prioritize making housing affordable rather than prioritize generating passive income for upper classes-- you can have a meaningful reduction of homelessness.

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