[FRIAM] Talent and Moral Luck - Steelman attempt

[Steve Smith]

> One could drive the cash to a recipient, or send Bitcoin.   There's no requirement of anyone to afford a donor of any particular convenience. 

I submit this apocalyptic tale from Frank Herbert (Dune):

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93448.The_White_Plague

Relevant Synopsis:   Scientist (microbiologist/virologist) has his wife
and daughter(s?) killed in a terrorist (IRA) attack on civilians.   He
withdraws from his work, consolidates his assets and builds a biolab in
the basement of a farmhouse in Iowa (or similar).  He gene splices a
virus that has A) good longevity outside of human body; B) spreads
easily and well;  C) kills only women.    He consolidates his remaining
assets into small bills; laces them with the virus;  sends modest
donations to every front for terrorist organizations he can discover.  
He built in a time-out that *should* stop the virus after the
appropriate number of generations to kill all of the terrorist/ally
women.   This is where all goes awry... a mutation? breaks the timeout
and the virus spreads around the world leaving all but a few handfuls of
women who happened to be in some kind of isolation (e.g. in space,
yachting around the world, etc.) ...  this is the first two chapters or
so, the rest (bulk) of the book is post-apocalyptic yadda yadda but with
the overtone of all the surviving men in the world having to come to
terms with how much they took their women for granted, etc.  

Sadly, I fear this scenario is not nearly as far fetched as it was when
he wrote it (80s?)...

Cross breed this story with Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and you get
virus that collapses the world economic system...


>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of jon zingale
> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2021 9:26 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Talent and Moral Luck - Steelman attempt
>
> Very well summarized. I am hearing that Nick's question is one of cultural cultivation. Finding and maintaining a sweet spot seems crucial. Is it the responsibility and obligation of those with power to sit at the head of the household, to play the role of daddy to all free persons? I watched a DW broadcast where it was reported that financial services like Stripe no longer allow users to donate money to Donald Trump, and Deutsche Bank has cut business ties with him. The report closed with a broadcaster saying, "Well, it looks like money talks". I couldn't help but think that it was exactly the opposite, a place where money will not. I was left thinking that I could donate money to a felon sitting in prison, but not the exiting president of the United States (not that I have such an ambition). Here pressures on Trump's context are being reformed to reflect a new status for the man. Is this an example of a change in *our attitudes*?
>
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