Daniel_R
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Commented on Dead plots
Then perhaps, just maybe, it's time for optimism. Go the Iain Banks route. Go Star Trek. Show a shining, utopian future. World government; benevolent Strong AI; a colonised Solar System; post-scarcity abundance and the human condition perfected. Try to resist...
Comment Threads
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Scott Sanford commented on
Dead plots
Considering that the invasion of Afghanistan put up opium production there by a massive factor (tenfold or more, if I recall), it sounds rather convoluted. But, given the current political scene and the next blog entry, we live in a world driven by convoluted conspiracies. You're not wrong. Under orderly management there should be no problem importing arbitrarily large amounts of opiate feed stock, whether aided or hindered by America's adventures in Afghanistan and the subsequent expansion of the opium crops. (Condemning opium growing was one of only two things the Taliban ever did that I agreed with, and that...
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waldo commented on
Dead plots
IIRC my thought at the time was that Afghanistan really badly needed some sort of legitimate export industry and there was a global morphine shortage, so it seemed a natural conjunction of demand and supply with a bit of nation-building; but no, the Coalition nations were going to bring everything on-shore. At the time it seemed like a missed opportunity. As I say, it's a vague recollection, and may be flawed....
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Elderly Cynic commented on
Dead plots
It's my recollection, too. Buying up the opium crop would have led to some abuses, but would have been a lot cheaper and more-cost effective than destruction and mayhem. It's not as if the illegal drug trade pays the growers much, after all!...
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Keithmasterson commented on
Dead plots
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Moderator Alan commented on
Dead plots
With which I think this entry is exhausted...
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Buy my Books
Quick Stuff
Specials
- Common Misconceptions About Publishing—a series of essays about the industry I work in.
- How I Got Here In The End —my non-writing autobiography, or what I did before becoming a full-time writer.
- Unwirer—an experiment in weblog mediated collaborative fiction.
- Shaping the Future—a talk I gave on the social implications of Moore's Law.
- Japan: first impressions — or, what I did on my holidays
- Inside the MIT Media Lab—what it’s like to spend a day wandering around the Media Lab.
- The High Frontier, Redux — space colonization: feasible or futile?
- “Nothing like this will be built again”—inside a nuclear reactor complex.
- Old blog—2003-2006 (RIP)
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