Collapse of Civilization

[Bob Armstrong]

Collapse of Civilization
(Started: 23/10/30)

Weekly Overview

Notes:

1. The “Weekly Overview” of the topic is posted for the benefit of new members who may have come in between the “Weekly Overviews”. It provides an executive summary of the issue for new viewers.
2. The Stats of participation are important to allow all to determine the extent of continuing interest. For thread originators/responders, they are important to see if the interest no longer warrants the labour. Or alternatively, those of us discussing it are drawing in more participants, because they have begun to see the importance of our topic.

A. Statistics

Week # 8 (23/12/18 – 24 [7 days])

(Sometimes Adjusted for no. of days)

A. Weekly Stats:
.....................................................2023 Average..........................................................2023 Average
Last Week's......Prior Week's........Views/Day..........Last Week's.....Prior Week's......Responses/Day
Views/Day........Views/Day.............(8 wks.)............Responses/Day....Resp./Day.......(8 wks.).

…46........................36.......................44.........................4.......................2........................4

B. Analysis of Last Week's Stats

Last week's stats are running substantially ahead of those of the prior week....much more activity. They are almost dead on the 2023 year to date (2^nd last week of 2023).

It seems that this new non-chess topic has hit an interest point ....good on the initiator, Bob Gillanders (I started the thread for him).

C. Is Our Civilization Now Collapsing?

Civilizations do not collapse overnight........there is a long, steady, continuous deterioration before hand. Then, all of a sudden, the tipping point has been reached, and we get metamorphosis (Like caterpillar to butterfly, only in reverse!). Either Dystopia, or a new empire rising like the Sphinx from the ashes, sometimes worse than the one it replaces.

Do we care who is going to be in control, as humans battle to survive in an environment more and more hostile to their continued existence (Negative Climate Change; Possible Nuclear War; Pandemics; etc.)? The very collapse of our civilization is on the horizon!

D. Indicia of a Collapsing Civilization

Comment below on what the current evidence is that our world's civilization is now collapsing......we'll add some of your ideas here! If we miss it, remind us:

1. Increasing dependence on private, volunteer Food Banks.
2. Increasing "Negative Health" factors, such as obesity (Despite amazing advances in medicine and medical technology).

1. An agenda by unknown forces to impose on the World a "New World Order/Great Reset", a world government that, on the evidence to date, will be authoritarian, and likely “totalitarian”. Even if this movement's intentions are “benevolent”, they are totally misguided in understanding the fundamentals of human nature.
2. Increasing inability to cope with increasing environmental changes.

1. Decreasing trust in science, and thus the government – challenge to the medical authorities around COVID-19 vaccination, and vaccination generally.
2. Increasing monopolies by mega companies, putting small entrepreneurship in a precarious position.

Additional Notes:

1. The goal of this thread is not to woodshed an opposing view into submission. Every position is entitled to post as it sees fit, regardless of the kind of, and amount of, postings by other positions. What is wanted is serious consideration of all posts........then you decide.

2. I personally, as the thread originator (After an initiative by Bob Gillanders), am trying to post a new response at least twice per week, but admit my busy schedule means I am sometimes falling short on this. So it is necessary,as is happening, that a number of other CT'ers are posting responses here somewhat regularly.

Bob A

[Bob Armstrong]

Dilip:

You do not understand the small family business, nor the book business. Chapters and Indigo have decimated the small book store business.

The Mega Corporations can set the price for their suppliers, because of their volume of purchases.........no retailer will refuse their business because of the mega-corp demand that they sell to them at LESS than anyone else.

The consequence of this decreased purchase price was that the sale price of a book was LOWER than my brother could get from the same wholesale supplier, because of his lack of volume business. So he would go buy the sale item at Chapters, bring it to the small family business, price it at the market non-sale price, and the family business could turn a small profit. It is the same as small corner convenience stores stocking up at the COSTCO Business Centre in Toronto.

That helped..... but time is against the small book store owner.......sales migrate, from their core customer base, slowly, over to Chapters. People will spend more at their friendly small corner store only so long. Basic Monthly Budgeting drives the customer to the lower price.

Some small bookstores tried being a specialty/niche book shop. Even they didn't make it (Women's Book Shop on Spadina Ave.........was there for a long time, but had to give up the ghost......to my knowledge it never came back here in Toronto (Someone correct me if I am wrong on this).

Your capitalization of every small book store, to become Mega Book Stores, to compete with Chapters, is, at least, wrong market economics, and, at best, a joke.

Bob A

[Dilip Panjwani]

An example of Society's "fair competition" now, in a age of growing mega-companies:

A small book store existed for 20 years downtown. It went from the parents to one of the sons.



Then Chapters came downtown, with their volume discounts!

The little bookstore, I guess in fair competition (?????), soon closed (rather than go belly-up).

And, I guess, there was here no breach of the "Natural Law".

It was my family's business.

Bob A

Hi Bob,
In a Libertarian world, with easy access to capital, and with more entrepreneurs existing to join hands with you, you would have had a fair opportunity to improve your little family business, to be able to co-exist with, and perhaps do even better than Chapters...

[Bob Armstrong]

An example of Society's "fair competition" now, in a age of growing mega-companies:

A small book store existed for 20 years downtown. It went from the parents to one of the sons.



Then Chapters came downtown, with their volume discounts!

The little bookstore, I guess in fair competition (?????), soon closed (rather than go belly-up).

And, I guess, there was here no breach of the "Natural Law".

It was my family's business.

Bob A

[Dilip Panjwani]

Two things to say about this:

First, it isn't just that your ideas are different from mine. Your ideas are total nonsense, full of false claims and refusing to identify critical terms. You still refuse to define "fair competition" in a legal way. But it is the crux of your Libertarianism social system. Your Natural Law can only be bypassed in the service of "fair competition". If you don't define it, it can be anything you want it to be.

Your proverbial 5 year old can "imply" fair competition to be anything at all, and since it isn't documented, you (Dollop) will agree with the 5 year old IF IT SUITS YOUR PURPOSES. You are the right-wing dictator of a corrupt idea.


Second, it is not personal attacks. You want to protect yourself under this security blanket, but it doesn't apply. It isn't libel if it's true. I have labelled you a BIGOT because your posts here factually document your bigotry, according to the definition of bigot.

YOU ARE A BIGOT. THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL ATTACK, IT IS FACT DOCUMENTED BY YOUR OWN POSTS. I can freely label you as a bigot, and I know I am free from any legal repercussions because I know your posts right here on ChessTalk fit the legal definition of bigotry.

You can have your own opinions, but you cannot have your own facts. Trump and his legal cronies are just beginning to learn that now.

Sid Ballsbag, you would be advised to rid yourself of this piece of shit and stop agreeing with him. That is, if you want to have any credibility yourself. He is like a ball and chain around your ankle, and he clings to you out of desperation because his dreamed-of Libertarian utopia is not going to appear anywhere in the world but you continually pacify him .... truly stupid of you.

I have a 5 year old neighbor, turning 6 in a few weeks. He is a smart chess player, and also reads Chesstalk! He told me today: It is very pitiful that this guy Pargat on Chesstalk cannot understand that 'fair competition' is competition conducted without violating the 'Natural Law'... like a match of chess played with equal whites and blacks for each player!

[Pargat Perrer]

Two important pieces of news out this weekend that impact the possibility of world societal / economic collapse. Both involve China, the most important nation in the world at this point in time.

China Cancels Currency Swap With Argentina:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...ap/ar-AA1lWViI

In the comments section, an astute person described this as follows:
"The swap is basically a 2 way loan to be paid back at a specific time (usually a few years). Argentina is allow to borrow yuan up to an equiv of $6.5B US dollars. But once the yuan is borrowed, it can be converted to dollars. Argentina borrowed yuan, converted it to dollars then made an interest payment to the IMF recently. THe USA is not affected in any way.
Because of the high inflation the argentine peso if converted to dollars on the open market is worthless. It can't be used to pay the IMF or buy products from other countries."

China has decided Argentina is not worth saving. Basically, Argentina is screwed. Totally screwed. Sucks to be you Argentina.

Even bigger expose about China's coming economic collapse:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/webc...0035OKRQjkDORw

Very researched expose of what very likely awaits the world in 2024: total economic collapse of China. leading to a domino effect of economic pain throughout the entire world. Possible societal collapse as a result.

Buy gold and precious metals now while you can. Gold has cone up over $100 in just the past week. Only the beginning ... although Western governments and central banks will do their utmost to prevent it .... and we might last a few years yet before finally, at long last, the total PURGE arrives.

[Pargat Perrer]

This is how you are behaving on Chesstalk, Pargat: You begin a personal attack on someone who posts ideas that are different from yours. When that person responds appropriately to your personal attack, you launch more irrelevant, delusional personal attacks! Very sad to have such behavior on Chesstalk. Hope you give up your obnoxious personal attacks during the holy days of Christmas and make a New Year's resolution 2024 to give them up for good... I am sure others will respond in kind...

Two things to say about this:

First, it isn't just that your ideas are different from mine. Your ideas are total nonsense, full of false claims and refusing to identify critical terms. You still refuse to define "fair competition" in a legal way. But it is the crux of your Libertarianism social system. Your Natural Law can only be bypassed in the service of "fair competition". If you don't define it, it can be anything you want it to be.

Your proverbial 5 year old can "imply" fair competition to be anything at all, and since it isn't documented, you (Dollop) will agree with the 5 year old IF IT SUITS YOUR PURPOSES. You are the right-wing dictator of a corrupt idea.


Second, it is not personal attacks. You want to protect yourself under this security blanket, but it doesn't apply. It isn't libel if it's true. I have labelled you a BIGOT because your posts here factually document your bigotry, according to the definition of bigot.

YOU ARE A BIGOT. THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL ATTACK, IT IS FACT DOCUMENTED BY YOUR OWN POSTS. I can freely label you as a bigot, and I know I am free from any legal repercussions because I know your posts right here on ChessTalk fit the legal definition of bigotry.

You can have your own opinions, but you cannot have your own facts. Trump and his legal cronies are just beginning to learn that now.

Sid Ballsbag, you would be advised to rid yourself of this piece of shit and stop agreeing with him. That is, if you want to have any credibility yourself. He is like a ball and chain around your ankle, and he clings to you out of desperation because his dreamed-of Libertarian utopia is not going to appear anywhere in the world but you continually pacify him .... truly stupid of you.

[Dilip Panjwani]

Ok, so now YOU get to decide that 5 year olds, when presented with the statement "government is the best that governs the least" should imply that this means "to achieve functionality and order"?

Do you even realize how insulting you are?

You make statements that those people who are not among the "hard-working" top 1% of the world's richest people are all by definition doing drugs and collecting unemployment and lounging around in their underwear and are NOT DESERVING of any government assistance to get through their lives.

Now you decide that 5 year olds are already 100% politically savvy and can distinguish implications according to your specifications.

You are an absolute BIGOT. You are the very definition of BIGOT. How Sid Ballsbag can have ANYTHING to do with you is beyond me.

You are the Archie Bunker of Canada.

This is how you are behaving on Chesstalk, Pargat: You begin a personal attack on someone who posts ideas that are different from yours. When that person responds appropriately to your personal attack, you launch more irrelevant, delusional personal attacks! Very sad to have such behavior on Chesstalk. Hope you give up your obnoxious personal attacks during the holy days of Christmas and make a New Year's resolution 2024 to give them up for good... I am sure others will respond in kind...

[Pargat Perrer]

The stupidity and idiocy lies within you who needs a detailed explanation for what even a 5 year old would assume as implied.

Ok, so now YOU get to decide that 5 year olds, when presented with the statement "government is the best that governs the least" should imply that this means "to achieve functionality and order"?

Do you even realize how insulting you are?

You make statements that those people who are not among the "hard-working" top 1% of the world's richest people are all by definition doing drugs and collecting unemployment and lounging around in their underwear and are NOT DESERVING of any government assistance to get through their lives.

Now you decide that 5 year olds are already 100% politically savvy and can distinguish implications according to your specifications.

You are an absolute BIGOT. You are the very definition of BIGOT. How Sid Ballsbag can have ANYTHING to do with you is beyond me.

You are the Archie Bunker of Canada.

[Dilip Panjwani]

Look at the pathetic Libertarian now backpeddling and adding "to achieve functionality and order" which he stupidly left out in his previous post.

Do you think readers are idiots, Dollop?

And maybe .... the least governing necessary to achieve functionality and order is what Canada has right now. I would say we are more ordered and functional than the USA.

The stupidity and idiocy lies within you who needs a detailed explanation for what even a 5 year old would assume as implied.

[Bob Armstrong]

More ordered and functional than many countries across the globe.........just look at the immigration demand!

But less so than we were:

1. over 50% of Canadian families and single adults have no more that $ 250 in savings at any one time, and many less.
2. only 25% of adult Canadians can afford to buy a single family home, and qualify for the financing needed.

# 1 indicates the exploitation of low-income Canadians, and the unfair exchange of $$$ for labour.
#2 has always been thought of as accessible to the ordinary Canadians; now the preserve of the elite

The current, and recent past, governments are losing focus on the bread and butter issues for the average Canadian.

Bob A

[Pargat Perrer]

Governing the least necessary to achieve functionality and order is not anarchy!

Look at the pathetic Libertarian now backpeddling and adding "to achieve functionality and order" which he stupidly left out in his previous post.

Do you think readers are idiots, Dollop?

And maybe .... the least governing necessary to achieve functionality and order is what Canada has right now. I would say we are more ordered and functional than the USA.

[Bob Armstrong]

The Fall of Rome

A Staggering Excavation Has Rewritten the Fall of the Roman Empire

The discovery changes the whole timeline of the collapse.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...t-newtab-en-us

Bob A

[Dilip Panjwani]

Simple-minded thinking at its worst.

So Libertarianism is Anarchy! LOL

Governing the least necessary to achieve functionality and order is not anarchy!

[Dilip Panjwani]

I recently visited Tundra Music on the Danforth in Toronto. I spoke to a man who I believe to be the owner, or at least the manager. After we digressed from the topic of guitars, he went into some detail about how voting changes nothing and how the world is actually ruled by a few major organizations: the Freemasons, and various owners of castles in Europe, and other Royal families.

We can see that voting changes nothing by looking already at how things are going in Argentina. The new leader has already been "briefed" about what he can actually do and not do ... and guess what, his ambitious Libertarian agenda is already being moderated. In 2 years, you won't be able to say that any of his radical agenda actually transpired. Things there will be back to the way they were, with only minor superficial changes to "keep up appearances".





Clever quotations often encapsulate simple-minded thinking. If you substitute "Provincial" for "Federal" in this quote, then Alberta would have a shortage of oil.

But taking Canada as a whole ... does Canada have a federal-government-caused shortage of oil? Of lumber? Of wheat? Of minerals?

It all depends how you define "shortage".

If we take major quantities of our oil, our lumber, our wheat, our minerals and sell it abroad in order to increase our ability to import oranges, pineapples, electronics ... and even rare exotic wood chess sets .... among many other products not available in Canada in any large quantities ... then do we REALLY have a shortage of oil, lumber, wheat, minerals?

Sand is actually an extremely valuable resource in today's silicon age and in today's concrete building age. There is actually reported by reputable sources to be an international shortage of sand!

Seems Pargat has no concept of the figure of speech called hyperbole, as used by Friedman and Emma Goldman. LOL