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From: kjm@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ken Montgomery)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: A Paradise.
Message-ID: <1554@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Apr-85 13:57:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.1554
Posted: Wed Apr  3 13:57:00 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Apr-85 04:29:28 EST
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Organization: U.Texas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
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[]

From: ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale)
>There is a green Vale in Nepal...
>The population can't be more than a couple of hundred.
>
>The people are divided into two groups: the workers (mostly farmers),
>and the priesthood of the monastary.
>
>The first son of every family is sent to the monastary to become a
>priest.

What if he doesn't want to be a priest?

> The monastary receives all its provisions from the rest of
>the population (they have had surplus crops every year for centuries).
>The monks are all celebate - as a consequence, the population of the vale
>remains approximately constant.

What if a first son doesn't want to be celibate either?

>No government exists except for a marginal social ordering.
>
>There is no television, no radios, and none are wanted because
>  A) They are very expensive
>  B) No one knows what they are for/like
>
>No increase in living standard has been recorded for centuries.
>
>No oprtunity exists for advancement, so nobody 'succeeds' or 'fails'.

Why do you equate success with advancement?

>The Vale is so isolated from the outside world as to be almost immune
>to change. This means that they receive none of the benefits of
>organised government, or competition in the free market.
>
>Is this idyllic, or what?

No, it sounds profoundly boring, and somewhat authoritarian as well.

>I can't draw any profound conclusions from the existance of such a
>society. It's nice to ponder, though. Maybe it has something to
>do with Buddhism - 'elimination of desire'.

Do the Buddists eliminate the desire to continue living, too?

>Nice place to retire to.

Boring.  (I'm a first son.  I've no desire to be either a priest
or celibate, or to live without modern technology.)

>-Nigel Gale

--
The above viewpoints are mine.  They are unrelated to
those of anyone else, including my cats and my employer.

Ken Montgomery  "Shredder-of-hapless-smurfs"
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