08-09-2018, 08:30 PM | #71 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
|
Re: TL 10 Humans
Quote:
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
|
08-09-2018, 09:33 PM | #72 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: TL 10 Humans
The Hapsburgs were afflicted with horrible genetic disorders caused by generations of uncle-niece and cousin-cousin pairings. Charles II of Spain would have been better off if his parents had been brother and sister from a normal family, as they would have been less closely related.
|
08-10-2018, 05:51 AM | #73 | |
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: TL 10 Humans
Quote:
|
|
08-11-2018, 12:08 AM | #74 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
|
Re: TL 10 Humans
Quote:
And how the economy changes without wealth being inherited and diluted regularly is another complicated question. The Caliph timeline in Alternate Earths 2 addressed this by having a legal requirement that your heirs inherit a large portion of your assets when you turned 100, and strong social pressure to retire from your regular career and do something else, preferably more religious/contemplative/charitable. (I sometimes speculate on what would happen in a stable society where technological progress slowed or stopped, so that society has a problem with what to do with all the increase in capital when all the worthwhile improvements have been made. But I digress.)
__________________
-- Burma! Last edited by cptbutton; 08-11-2018 at 09:28 AM. Reason: typo |
|
08-11-2018, 07:25 AM | #75 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: TL 10 Humans
A high progressive income tax that applied equally to capital gains would also discourage excessive accumulation of wealth. If you own a business and every $ you made over $10 million is taxed at 95%, you are better off investing that money in your workers and/or your capital rather than receiving an extra nickel (if not, the government will gladly accept your $0.95). It is one of the uses of tax policy, to encourage or discourage wealth accumulation by changing the amount of money retained by the individual.
|
08-11-2018, 06:32 PM | #76 | |||
Join Date: Jul 2018
|
Re: TL 10 Humans
The funny thing about the height discussion a few pages back is that it reminded me of that science fiction contest the US Marines did a few years back with Science Fiction Futures. One of the stories featured genetically engineered midget supersoldiers:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
For that matter, alot of hormones tend to have unpleasant side effects (steroids and corticosteroids come to mind). Heck, any sort of biological/genetic, surgical, or bionic augmentation probably will need some kind of maintenance at some point which leads to questions of how much effort to support the benefit (it could be little to none, or it could be alot, depending on assumptions I'd think.) And with diseases or bacteria, they can and do evolve and develop resistances so it's possible we will always have a race of measure vs countermeasure. |
|||
|
|