Ah yes! The profit motive. That and the unhealthy desire for excessive accumulation of temporal power are the primary forces presently threatening life on this planet, and retarding the application of real scientific progress in a great many areas.

Not that it's wrong to make a profit...I certainly try to do so when running my export business, but I don't destroy nature and use 3rd World people as slave labour while doing so.

If the profit motive were not the dominant factor in high level decisions in our society, we would not presently be burning petroleum products in the form of fossil fuel...we would be using them to make much more valuable synthetic products (plastics, etc.), and deriving our propulsion energy from non-polluting sources. This could have been done decades ago.

We would not be embargoing Cuba (they interfered with the profits of some very big players in the USA). Cuba would most likely be a valued friend and partner of the USA.

We would be providing free health care for everyone.

Point is, the DOMINANT factor in doing anything should be the accomplishment itself...to do something which is valuable and beneficial to everyone concerned, not just to a few CEO's and stockholders. Secondary to that, one would of course try to make a profit in the process, which would be pretty straightforward, given that one was rendering a valuable service.

We would build cities for the health and happiness of human beings, not automobiles.

We would provide a hell of a lot more public mass transit in North America.

And so on.

Who is presently running this planet? The spiritual blood brothers of the Ferengi, the most morally corrupt aliens on Star Trek. "Rules of Acquisition"...that is the credo of our society. He who dies with the most toys wins. Shame, shame, shame.

Brendy - I didn't know there was an online dictionary...besides, it's more fun to just ask. It stimulates conversation. I could phone out for groceries too, but I prefer to go downtown and actually buy them firsthand. I could watch music videos, but I prefer to see a live show. I could have virtual sex, but I prefer the real thing.

"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!"