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Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

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Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#51

Post by karmanyaahm »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #47
twelvechairs wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the man generally but disagree with his views on hard immigration caps for Australia. I agree population is a major sustainability issue but find these caps far too elitist and authoritarian - while it just pushes the same issues elsewhere globally. Though nobody should be judged on one view alone. Everyone has their failures and blindspots

Harvesting 21st century's most valuable resource -- the best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries is horrific. It's colonialism, in my opinion. I'm always astounded by people in rich western countries boasting about how they poached all this talent from some of the poorest countries on earth. Like, yeah that's great you got another doctor for your healthcare system that spends billions of dollars exte…

> Harvesting 21st century's most valuable resource -- the best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries is horrific. It's colonialism, in my opinion.

Sure, maybe that is the case when looking at the 'Greater Good' of the whole population, but the

> best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries

are also real people with individual hopes and dreams. Just because they happened to be born in a bad place doesn't mean that their desire to achieve better things (think research facilities, schools for kids) and contribute to the future of humanity should be discounted.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#53

Post by throwawaylinux »

karmanyaahm wrote: post #51
throwawaylinux wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Harvesting 21st century's most valuable resource -- the best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries is horrific. It's colonialism, in my opinion. I'm always astounded by people in rich western countries boasting about how they poached all this talent from some of the poorest countries on earth. Like, yeah that's great you got another doctor for your healthcare system that spends billions of dollars exte…

> Harvesting 21st century's most valuable resource -- the best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries is horrific. It's colonialism, in my opinion. Sure, maybe that is the case when looking at the 'Greater Good' of the whole population, but the > best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries are also real people with individual hopes and dreams. Just because they happened to be born in a bad…

Yes, it's rich countries screwing poor by exploiting their resources.

The robber barons were also real people with individual hopes and dreams. The real problem is so are all those other people in those poor countries. The 99.99% who are left behind are also individuals with hopes and dreams.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#54

Post by lotophage »

desertraven wrote: post #5

Dick Smith is a legend. Great sense of humour, prioritising philanthropy and buying local. My favourite product of his was the parody of Redhead Matches, a box of matches with a woman’s face on it. Dick sold matches called “Dickheads”, with his face on them. A friend of mine growing up had Dick perform an emergency landing on their property (in his plane). He must still be an avid flyer as we both attended the same a…

His peanut butter was always known as "Dick's nut butter" amongst my friends.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#55

Post by cmroanirgo »

ravenstine wrote: post #3

Wow, I always kind of assumed Dick Smith was just a fictional mascot like Betty Crocker, but he was a real dude. I lived in New Zealand for a short while growing up and we used to refer to Dick Smith Electronics as "Dip-shit Electronics" because the prices could be pretty outrageous. It was otherwise a pretty cool store, though; think somewhere between Radio Shack and Best Buy.

In the early days DSE was like jaycar. An electronics store with kits and diy computers. Dick sold it off years ago. The stores are part of Kogan now (importing and flogging chinese stuff).

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#56

Post by jlawer »

dools wrote: post #40
ggm wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The historical uses of this line of reasoning are plain to see: it has been used to justify racial theory, eugenics, sterilisation of the mentally deficient. I believe I understand how strongly some environmentalists believe lower population is "the answer" especially in an Australian context of concern about water and carrying capacity of an overwhelmingly arid landscape. This isn't a random belief, it's grounded in…

If we are doing our fair share by land mass it should be 500m by 2050. I find it astonishing that people have an easier time believing we can colonise Mars than that we can colonise the centre of Australia.

We can colonize the centre of Australia. There just isn't a reason to do so. You can see wherever they find a patch of minerals, a mining town springs up. Decades ago, there were towns all along the train lines to support the rail services, but as trains got more reliable they were no longer required. There are few advantages to being in the centre of Australia. Many of the people who live there do so because they have a connection with that land.

The average person would rather live in a crammed Sydney apartment complex then live in the middle of the Simpson desert.

Mars is new. We really don't know what will happen. There are a group of people throughout history that have "chanced it" and gone to the new world out of the hope they can build something better. You will have the same rush on Mars.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#57

Post by naruhodo »

lotophage wrote: post #54
desertraven wrote: post #5

Dick Smith is a legend. Great sense of humour, prioritising philanthropy and buying local. My favourite product of his was the parody of Redhead Matches, a box of matches with a woman’s face on it. Dick sold matches called “Dickheads”, with his face on them. A friend of mine growing up had Dick perform an emergency landing on their property (in his plane). He must still be an avid flyer as we both attended the same a…

His peanut butter was always known as "Dick's nut butter" amongst my friends.

In a similar vein, his "Dick Smith Electronics" stores were known as "The Big Electronic Dick".

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#58

Post by MarkMc »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #26

He is a persona non grata since he started advocating for sustainable population policies. Funny how nobody talks about that any more. I've had an "environmentalist" get red faced and belligerent toward me for daring to suggest the most effective way to reduce humanity's environmental footprint would be to reduce population. Insisting that the earth's human carrying capacity was 100 billion(!!) and therefore I was wr…

Immigrants generally increase their income, and income is inversely correlated with birth rate.

So wouldn't a high level of Australian immigration reduce the total world population, relative to a low immigration level?

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#59

Post by prawn »

jlawer wrote: post #56
dools wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are doing our fair share by land mass it should be 500m by 2050. I find it astonishing that people have an easier time believing we can colonise Mars than that we can colonise the centre of Australia.

We can colonize the centre of Australia. There just isn't a reason to do so. You can see wherever they find a patch of minerals, a mining town springs up. Decades ago, there were towns all along the train lines to support the rail services, but as trains got more reliable they were no longer required. There are few advantages to being in the centre of Australia. Many of the people who live there do so because they ha…

"We can colonize the centre of Australia. There just isn't a reason to do so."

Also, you drive through a lot of less arid farm land before you get anywhere near desert. Including past dying country towns (many below the Goyder Line). We could increase the density of rural properties (from large farms down to farmlets, etc) or do more to boost living in fading townships well before there was any reason to make the desert more habitable.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#60

Post by ggm »

dools wrote: post #39
throwawaylinux wrote: post #26

He is a persona non grata since he started advocating for sustainable population policies. Funny how nobody talks about that any more. I've had an "environmentalist" get red faced and belligerent toward me for daring to suggest the most effective way to reduce humanity's environmental footprint would be to reduce population. Insisting that the earth's human carrying capacity was 100 billion(!!) and therefore I was wr…

The population will reach 11b and level off in 2050.

Might disagree about the 11b but yes, the 2nd order differential on the rate of population growth strongly suggests we're capping out.

Economics reduces birthrate as fast as anything else.

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