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Re:The new utopias: Should we retain the right to feel unhap... by tim333 on Friday May 27, 2016 @09:28AM (#11785845)
Slightly off topic but I can't help but be reminded of the quote from The Third Man:

"in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I'm mildly optimistic that we can at least encourage the better bits of society found in the real world today.

Re:The new utopias: Should we retain the right to feel unhap... by Grishnakh on Friday May 27, 2016 @09:46AM (#11785969)
>"in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Surely Italy at the time had a far larger population base than Switzerland.

Also, Switzerland did produce something: a much better society, which served as an example to others. Unfortunately, just as we see today with the difference between developed and undeveloped nations, people are generally too stupid, in groups, to actually learn from others' examples.

Re:The new utopias: Should we retain the right to feel unhap... by cylinder on Friday May 27, 2016 @03:18PM (#11788241)
And if you were to be dropped with no possessions save for a passport of the nation you are dropped in, where do you go today: Italy or Switzerland?