If I Was Supreme Leader I would...

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Gosnell
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If I Was Supreme Leader I would...

Post by Gosnell » Tue, 22. May 18, 18:03

Its a lazy summers day,lets play a game,list 5 policies you would introduce immediately if you became supreme leader of the world.
Such as
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owI7DOeO_yg
1.Limit families to 2 children,if technology allowed enforce 1 boy 1 girl.
2.Ensure everyone is entitled to a room with basic amenities,Bed Toilet Shower,and internet.
3.Ban all public displays of religion,seize church ect properties,and remove religious teachings,except for historic significance from the education system.
4.Adopt Heinleins,citizenship through military service,right to vote,additionally the right to have children.
5.Invest heavily in space exploration technologies,and foster an education system that promotes sciences.
Mine might be considered a harsh world,whats yours?

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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Tue, 22. May 18, 18:33

Love thy neighbor as you love yourself.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It's not enough to not do evil, one must also do good.

and..

"“Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil. Never back away from an enemy. Either fight or surrender. It is not enough to say I will not be evil. Evil must be fought wherever it is found.” - The Iron Code of Druss, the Legend. ;)

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mrbadger
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Post by mrbadger » Tue, 22. May 18, 18:35

you'd make churches pay tax?

You've got my vote.
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Post by Bishop149 » Tue, 22. May 18, 18:45

Hmmmm, how unrealistic can we be?
Ok, I'm going to go with VERY and propose what will no doubt be a controversial list.

- No capital punishment, no torture.
- No teaching children to hate, no inheritance of prejudices.
- No (or extremely limited) inheritance of wealth. All personal wealth above a modest cap reverts to the state upon your death. No more dynasties.
- No one is allowed to earn more than 10x what anyone else earns.
- Universal disarmament, no more nukes. Whilst we're at it, no more guns either.

Oh and if was allowed a 6th
- Nepotism is illegal

I'd like to propose some perfect system of governance but there isn't one. A benevolent dictator? By definition they couldn't be human. An AI perhaps?

As much as I quite like the idea placing limits upon human reproduction such things tend to go down like the proverbial lead balloon, perhaps something more subtle. . . . . although those ideas tend to become financial making children a privilege of the rich which is also bad. No idea how to tackle that one TBH.
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Post by Gosnell » Tue, 22. May 18, 20:36

bshop,no more weapons is risky what if the little geen men show up?

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Post by muppetts » Tue, 22. May 18, 20:52

1. Remove all states, countries and nationalities, 1 world, 1 race
2. Scrap all religion
3. Combine the goals of everyone to the single task of Space exploration, engineering, R&D etc.
4. Cap personal wealth and start to move towards social goal of scrapping money (gotta admit not sure how).
5. Everyone has to watch Monty Python for 6 hours every thursday.
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mrbadger
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Post by mrbadger » Tue, 22. May 18, 21:08

Gosnell wrote:bshop,no more weapons is risky what if the little geen men show up?
Do you have any idea how easy it is to kill a planets population from space?

There is no such thing as weapon that can protect you from someone who wants to do that.

If they don't? We will always have the high ground, they don't want to kill us, we're on our home planet, they're not, we've had millenia of experience of killimng each other.

We'd soon work it out.
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Post by Morkonan » Tue, 22. May 18, 21:31

mrbadger wrote:...If they don't? We will always have the high ground, they don't want to kill us, we're on our home planet, they're not, we've had millenia of experience of killimng each other.

We'd soon work it out.
This is well worth reading for any sci-fi fan: http://thumbpress.com/wp-content/upload ... verse1.jpg

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ADF's unfinished "The Damned" trilogy draws directly down on this idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Damned_Trilogy

We are killers, as far as the rest of the intelligent species in our neighborhood are concerned. And, they need to hire some killers, right about now... Fun stuff. It's nice to feel like we're badasses, for once. :)

IMO, though, an advanced species just wouldn't "fight fair" if they weren't something like the species in "Signs" or had some weird culture that demanded it. If they didn't want to drop a big rock on our heads, they'd just release a tailored virus and that would be that. No muss, no fuss, just a bunch of extra plant-food. But... that's not particularly fun to derive stories from.

I volunteer to be The Benevolent Dictator.

Everyone will have an acceptable minimum standard of living. Wealth is still possible, but it requires equitable sacrifice. People may choose not to "work," and, instead, indulge in other things, like art or science or philosophy or just "nothing," as long as they're not significantly adding to the burdens of others, but are actually contributing something positive. Recreational drug use will be very limited, since a bunch of people running around stoned isn't desirable. And, if someone wished an education, they could get it and pursue whatever it was that they wished. They may not end up as the top in their field, but anyone can rise to Chief Beaker Washer in their chosen field. Spaceships will still need wrench-turners, too.

Of course, all that needs some sort of dumb helper-AI systems and a lot of robotics and automation as well as some safe power to fuel all that... But, it's "doable."

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Post by Nanook » Tue, 22. May 18, 21:34

mrbadger wrote:
Gosnell wrote:bshop,no more weapons is risky what if the little geen men show up?
Do you have any idea how easy it is to kill a planets population from space?

There is no such thing as weapon that can protect you from someone who wants to do that.....
Never say never! :P It really all depends on the difference in technology levels between the attackers and defenders, doesn't it? With sufficient and continuous research into weapons and defense, it's perfectly plausible to protect a planet full of people. We just have to be better than 'them'. And it's even harder on 'them' if 'they' want the planet for 'themselves' rather than total destruction.

The real lesson here is in H. G. Wells 'Time Machine'. :wink:
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Post by clakclak » Tue, 22. May 18, 21:41

I could of course be as optimistic as you guys are, but I know myself. With that kind of power I would give myself 1 week till I go full Nero. :lol:



Talking about the negative idea we have of Nero, not the modern historically nuanced picture.
Morkonan wrote:
mrbadger wrote:...If they don't? We will always have the high ground, they don't want to kill us, we're on our home planet, they're not, we've had millenia of experience of killimng each other.

We'd soon work it out.
This is well worth reading for any sci-fi fan: http://thumbpress.com/wp-content/upload ... verse1.jpg

:)[...]
May I introduce you to reddit's HFY?

Here is an overview of the top stories. You will find many stories were Humanity is dangerous or seen as a great threat.
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Post by Alan Phipps » Tue, 22. May 18, 22:40

Five World Supreme Leader edicts concerning supermarkets:

1. All sweets are to be removed from within 5 metres of any checkout.
2. People bringing store items without barcode labels to the checkouts in busy periods are to be sent away empty handed.
3. Anyone getting a trolley with a wonky wheel is to be awarded 10% off their grocery and essentials shop.
4. All dropping off/picking up, disabled and driver+child parking areas are to be patrolled and the misusing typical BMWs and RangeRovers are to be towed away to the car pound.
5. Anyone taking away and abandoning a shopping trolley is to be hunted down and severely punished (terminated in the case of pushing it into a river or stream).
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Post by Ezarkal » Wed, 23. May 18, 01:43

Alan Phipps wrote:Five World Supreme Leader edicts concerning supermarkets:

1. All sweets are to be removed from within 5 metres of any checkout.
2. People bringing store items without barcode labels to the checkouts in busy periods are to be sent away empty handed.
3. Anyone getting a trolley with a wonky wheel is to be awarded 10% off their grocery and essentials shop.
4. All dropping off/picking up, disabled and driver+child parking areas are to be patrolled and the misusing typical BMWs and RangeRovers are to be towed away to the car pound.
5. Anyone taking away and abandoning a shopping trolley is to be hunted down and severely punished (terminated in the case of pushing it into a river or stream).
I sense there are a few stories left untold here... :)
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Post by Morkonan » Wed, 23. May 18, 02:37

clakclak wrote:I could of course be as optimistic as you guys are, but I know myself. With that kind of power I would give myself 1 week till I go full Nero. :lol:



Talking about the negative idea we have of Nero, not the modern historically nuanced picture.
]

Nero did nothing wrong! Except maybe blaming a catastrophe on innocents and taking advantage of the situation to build himself a big house.

Link bookmarked, thanks!

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Post by Bishop149 » Wed, 23. May 18, 09:01

Gosnell wrote:bshop,no more weapons is risky what if the little geen men show up?
Nah, firstly they aren't going to show up.
As far as we know traversing any serious interstellar distance is all but impossible, but even if it's not the probability of two (even pretty long lasting) advanced civilizations coexisting at the same time against the background of the age of the universe is tiny.

But, assuming they DID get here they will have bridged a technological gap so far in advance of our own understanding that I doubt a few nukes and guns would do us much good. Also, why the hell would a species capable of such a feat want to wage war with us anyway?
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Post by X2-Illuminatus » Wed, 23. May 18, 09:44

1. End all wars. (Except maybe thumb wars, and Star Wars. But I certainly do not need Storage Wars.)
2. Abolish child labour and slavery.
3. Ensure the separation of state and church all around the world, or implement it where it isn’t already the case. In your sparetime you can do what you want, as long as you do not violate the law.
4. Close (or at least reduce) the gap between the rich and the poor. Does not have to mean that everyone is equally rich or poor, or that everyone has to earn the same. But it’s stupid binding creativity and workforce of people to the worry about everyday necessities like food, shelter or health.
5. Implement a system that ensures reward (reputation and money) for the invention/research/creation of things and ideas, while allowing everyone to use them, especially if they have the potential to greatly improve the life of people. (I pity the one of my subordinates who actually has to implement this.)
Last edited by X2-Illuminatus on Wed, 23. May 18, 09:57, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mrbadger » Wed, 23. May 18, 09:57

To badly quote George Carlin, look at the average person, then accept that half of the worlds population are dumber than they are.

Alledgedly smart people pass through my classrooms every year. Why on earth would I want the job of ruling them? It would be a nightmare.
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Post by Usenko » Wed, 23. May 18, 15:21

One thing that I would change:

As an Australian, I am a citizen of a country with a pretty well-designed Parliamentary Democracy system. It works fairly well. But there is a big change I would make: Allow a small percentage of the representatives (say 5% or 10%) to be selected by some kind of random draw - a "Jury duty" sort of system.

Those who are members of particular parties have their own agendas, which are perfectly valid (and I see no reason to eliminate them). But a useful check/balance would be to ensure that there is always a voice for normal people.

EDIT:

I debated whether I'd say something about this, because I know I'm a bit of a minority view here . . . but since a few people suggested a policy to tax churches (or other non-profit organisations), I would like to throw my 2c in.

I think I have a perspective here that is valuable - I have actually been responsible for the finances of a church.

The problem is that people see things like the Vatican and whichever megachurch is present in their part of the world (which is probably pretty extravagant) and make the reasonable (but incorrect) assumption that this represents the normal state of affairs for churches.

In fact, the reverse is true. MOST churches (in fact almost ALL churches) operate on a shoe-string budget. If they can afford to employ people at all, it will be one or two staff on a small salary. In fact this is why in some countries (including Australia) a pastor enjoys tax-exempt status - when the rule was made, it was in a context of a society that largely valued the work that pastors did, and wanted even small churches to be able to afford to employ them. By making a pastor's income tax-exempt, it was possible for a church to pay a person significantly below what a person would receive when employed at an equivalent level of education and responsibility elsewhere without disadvantaging them. And yes, there are churches who do not require such advantages[1], but it is important to understand that they are the exception, not the rule.

As for taxing the church organisation itself, this idea makes sense - if you forget that churches are by definition not-for-profit organisations. There is a complex set of rules, but basically a not-for-profit organisation must not allow its members to receive returns or dividends. It is possible for some churches (especially large ones) to have a significant income, but the rules are that all money either donated to or generated by the church MUST be used for furthering the objects in the church's constitution. There is no profit as such. Even if the church gets some major windfall (e.g. the band records an album which turns out to be popular and sells millions of copies), the proceeds MUST support the objectives of the organisation. This is rigorously checked in the church's annual audit (which, from experience, I can tell you is every bit as enjoyable as preparing for a colonoscopy).

This has major consequences for the idea of taxing churches. If it were to be taxed, you would tax it under the rules for corporations. But corporations are taxed a percentage of their profits; since there are no profits in a church, the amount of tax it would be liable to pay is zero. This is not just true of churches (and mosques and temples); it is the same for the boy scouts and girl guides, for theatre societies, for charities, some schools and various other organisations.

[1] In Australia, in recognition of this, many larger churches recommend that their pastor pay tax as normal if is possible for them to receive a full salary, meaning that tax-exempt status is mostly reserved for the small congregations it was intended to assist.
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Post by Alan Phipps » Wed, 23. May 18, 16:04

Presumably the 'jury' collectively cannot have its own manifesto.

When the main parties are closely matched, all the power will be in the hands of those 'jury' members in offering to help form coalitions or with critical swing votes.

How do you know the randomly selected 'jury' members won't mostly be established members of main parties? If not, how do you prevent all the independent 'jury' members from just taking the best offers from the other parties in return for patronage and concessions (in a personal benefit rather than matter of conscience sense)?

Lastly, why do you imply that party politicians cannot be 'normal people'? You lot voted them in! :D

Horror scenario after an election:

Party X 42%
Party Y 48%
Random Jury 10% and ALL loyal to Party X
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Post by pjknibbs » Wed, 23. May 18, 16:19

I kind of see where Usenko is coming from, but I think the solution proposed is unworkable. What I would do is make a rule that no-one can be a politician in *any* capacity without at least ten years' experience working in non-political fields. So, no people going straight from Oxbridge into government, or spending years as a union leader before doing the same thing: you actually have to spend ten years on a farm, or in IT, or driving a bus, or what-have-you before you can try and run the country.

I'm sure some clever sod would work out a way of gaming the system and getting into government after ten years of supervising sheep herders in the Outer Hebrides from their Home Counties mansion, but that sort of person will find a way in regardless of what you put in their way. At least this would mean politicians have a bit more empathy for the average man in the street, since they *were* that man for a decade...

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Post by X2-Illuminatus » Wed, 23. May 18, 18:17

pjknibbs wrote:you actually have to spend ten years on a farm, or in IT, or driving a bus, or what-have-you before you can try and run the country.
We see how good that works for/with Trump. :P

More seriously, while this may be part of the problem, I think the much bigger problem with politicians is that they spend too much time being politicians. A lot of people start their political career with good ideas, and a certain ideology. However, due to the time it takes to actually reach a state where they can make a difference, and due to the steps they have to take to get there (comprimising, networking etc.), not much is left when they actually have some form of power. Even, if they manage to preserve their ideology or ideas, the need of comprimising and the drive to change anything at all (better to change something than nothing) can easily destroy even the best ideas.

By putting up a 10 years "barrier" before any meaningful political career, I'd guess you just increase the average age of the politicians, which in a lot of countries is already quite high. However, for certain things you do not have to spend 10 years in a "real" job to know that the current system is not the best. Also, you may already have enough understanding of the system in order to be able to propose reasonable changes.
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