The Value of Natural Resources vs. The Value of a Human

Advances in technology and changes in human population affect the relative value of natural resources to the value of a human.

Here are things that raise the relative value of Natural Resources:

• An increase in population increases the demand for natural resourses.
• An increase in population also intensifies the competition between people, bringing down the value of a person.
• Advances in technology also intensify competition, bringing down the value of a person.
• Advances in technology find new uses for Natural Resources, increasing demand.
  

Here are things that lower the relative value of Natural Resources:

• Advances in technology make usage of resources more efficient.
  
• Advances in technology creates substitutes for Natural Resources.
  
• Advance in technology increases the value of someone effectively educated.
• Advances in technology encourage cooperation, instead of competition.

It may be that effectively educated countries with abundance of Natural Resources will overturn the existing balance of wealth and power.

Social Awareness: Near and Far

Modern life has left man with a weakened sense of community and family. It has been replaced with an increase in global and national awareness.

This is in correlation with a shift in the sources of one's needs. Social, financial and other needs are not supplied by family community or even nation anymore. Those needs are met by a global network.

That means that we can expect a decrease in global violence, and an increase in family problems.

That trend would change if an awareness of the benefits that can be supplied and needs that can be met only through local community and family were matured.

Religious Progress & Development

In recent times, religion has come under fire. The problems are many. Biblical religion has a problem that many of the facts expressed, like Genesis don't match our observations. The problem with philosophy of God is that it's not experimental.

However, Mankind will never abandon it's pursuit of God. By "God" I mean the source of all. Man's natural desire for understanding of his environment naturally leads him to the doorway that stands between the finite and scientific to the infinite and theoretical.

However, it's too shallow and nearsighted to mark off the domain of the spirit as being impenetrable. I'll suppose here that at some point in the future, mankind will learn to develop in Spirit like he is currently developing in more tangible topics. Once a clear, replicable methodology for continual improvement in spirit has been formulated, man can get on track toward developing in Spirit.

Stock Selling Principles

Stock books tend to focus on what stock to buy, underemphasizing the importance of selling wisely. Here are some tips:

1. Buy Low and Sell High. However, "low" and "high" must be relative to future performance, not past performance.

2. The price and point at which one sells should be independent of the sell price. It should be based on speculation of future performance alone.

3. Here are 3 general approaches to selling points:

1. Sell when the calculations are the opposite of those you used to determine when and what to buy.
   
2. Sell at a specified time after you buy.
3. Sell at a specified change from the buy point, either up or down.
   

Vertical Genius: Culture & Language.

Vertical Genius is the acceleration of idea development through education. Without education, everybody develops ideas in parallel. However, education lets us begin idea generation from where others have left off, enabling us to "stack" our intellect upon others. Hence, it ascends vertically.

The principal that education and focus on vertical genius applies not only to hard sciences and technology, but also to the development of good culture. By "good culture" I mean social awareness, good social habits and practices, as well as the everyday habits of the individual. Uneducated cultures are liable to have more violence, inefficiency and health problems. They are liable to have relatively unrefined manners, and contribution to humanities.

Language can have a strong impact on vertical genius. A common language is the vehicle of communication, and communication is the instrument of education. The more people one shares a language with, the more people that can contribute to his genius.

The ideas related above mean that localities that speak uncommon languages are likely to have retarded cultures.

Work and Help

In an efficient labor market, the amount that one earns correlates with the amount he helps others.

Hence, a government of an efficient labor market should encourage people to earn as much as possible, not only because it increases tax revenues, or makes the economy more stable, but because the more people help each other, the greater the quality of life.