Comments for thethinkingtank.co.uk http://thethinkingtank.co.uk think independently, think together, think better Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:40:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on Connect by Catherine http://thethinkingtank.co.uk/about/connect#comment-183 Catherine Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:40:25 +0000 http://www.springboardenterprises.co.uk/~thethink/?page_id=85#comment-183 Great suggestion. As someone who has lived in Colombia and South-East London I recognise a lot of what you say. Let's make this our next topic Great suggestion. As someone who has lived in Colombia and South-East London I recognise a lot of what you say. Let’s make this our next topic

]]> Comment on Connect by Compernolle http://thethinkingtank.co.uk/about/connect#comment-182 Compernolle Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:24:38 +0000 http://www.springboardenterprises.co.uk/~thethink/?page_id=85#comment-182 Suggestion for topic: The war on drugs not only is a total failure, it makes the problem much worse. It creates much more and much bigger problems than it is trying to resolve, because it starts form a totally wrong premise: for purely ideological reasons, it totally irrationally defines a difficult medical problem as a criminal one. The irrationality is evident when it declares some addictive substances illegal, while treating even more addictive ones as legal. But that is minor compared to the other consequences. It costs thousands of lives every year (eg Mexico), more lives than drug addiction by itself. It costs huge amounts of money. It ruins the economy in some countries where growing the raw materials for drugs crowded out all other agrarian production. It makes political problems in Afghanistan and South America worse if not irresolvable. It created and supports huge Mafioso organizations and makes them so rich that they can corrupt entire governments. It fills the US prisons with people who often are not really delinquents, but who become real delinquents in these institutions etc... etc... We should start treating drug abuse for what it really is: a difficult medical problem. For a very small fraction of the money spent on the war, we could treat all addicts. Even providing the drugs in a controlled way in cases were treatment fails (cfr very successful experiments in the Netherlands and Switzerland) would cost society a tiny fraction of what the war on drugs costs now. But even more important for our societies is that it would eliminate much of the petty crime committed by addicts who need their dose every day not to feel totally miserable. Moreover, it would eliminate the reason of existence and the economic foundations of many huge and rich delinquent organizations, it would stop the flow of maffia-money that corrupts many governments and that finances the war-lords in Afghanistan. It would get thousands of addicts out of prison, freeing capacity and resources for real delinquents and their proper rehabilitation. Suggestion for topic:
The war on drugs not only is a total failure, it makes the problem much worse.
It creates much more and much bigger problems than it is trying to resolve, because it starts form a totally wrong premise: for purely ideological reasons, it totally irrationally defines a difficult medical problem as a criminal one.

The irrationality is evident when it declares some addictive substances illegal, while treating even more addictive ones as legal. But that is minor compared to the other consequences.
It costs thousands of lives every year (eg Mexico), more lives than drug addiction by itself. It costs huge amounts of money. It ruins the economy in some countries where growing the raw materials for drugs crowded out all other agrarian production. It makes political problems in Afghanistan and South America worse if not irresolvable. It created and supports huge Mafioso organizations and makes them so rich that they can corrupt entire governments. It fills the US prisons with people who often are not really delinquents, but who become real delinquents in these institutions etc… etc…

We should start treating drug abuse for what it really is: a difficult medical problem.
For a very small fraction of the money spent on the war, we could treat all addicts.
Even providing the drugs in a controlled way in cases were treatment fails (cfr very successful experiments in the Netherlands and Switzerland) would cost society a tiny fraction of what the war on drugs costs now.
But even more important for our societies is that it would eliminate much of the petty crime committed by addicts who need their dose every day not to feel totally miserable.
Moreover, it would eliminate the reason of existence and the economic foundations of many huge and rich delinquent organizations, it would stop the flow of maffia-money that corrupts many governments and that finances the war-lords in Afghanistan.
It would get thousands of addicts out of prison, freeing capacity and resources for real delinquents and their proper rehabilitation.

]]> Comment on Results: why we are not as ethical as we think by Can we ever reliably judge ourselves (let alone others)? | customerinterpreter.com http://thethinkingtank.co.uk/results-why-we-are-not-as-ethical-as-we-think#comment-19 Can we ever reliably judge ourselves (let alone others)? | customerinterpreter.com Sun, 22 May 2011 13:38:22 +0000 http://thethinkingtank.co.uk/?p=196#comment-19 [...] In yesterday’s Thinking Tank debate on ethics, I was struck in particular by the change in self evaluation between the beginning and the end of the discussion. It seems, as the writers of the book we referred to (Bazerman and Tenbrunsel’s “Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do about It”), that we are all prone to some self delusion on this subject. Full results. [...] [...] In yesterday’s Thinking Tank debate on ethics, I was struck in particular by the change in self evaluation between the beginning and the end of the discussion. It seems, as the writers of the book we referred to (Bazerman and Tenbrunsel’s “Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do about It”), that we are all prone to some self delusion on this subject. Full results. [...]

]]> Comment on Origins by Catherine http://thethinkingtank.co.uk/about/origins#comment-7 Catherine Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:05:05 +0000 http://www.springboardenterprises.co.uk/~thethink/?page_id=88#comment-7 Of course Lucas, I will make sure you are on the mailing list. All the best Catherine Of course Lucas, I will make sure you are on the mailing list.

All the best

Catherine

]]> Comment on Origins by Lucas de Jong http://thethinkingtank.co.uk/about/origins#comment-2 Lucas de Jong Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:46:45 +0000 http://www.springboardenterprises.co.uk/~thethink/?page_id=88#comment-2 Hello Catherine, Leo Dijkema of Synthetron in the Netherlands did invite me for a earlier discussion last month. Unfortunately i wasn't able to join then but i really like to do so next time. Could you please sent me an invitation for disussions? Thank you very much. Hello Catherine,

Leo Dijkema of Synthetron in the Netherlands did invite me for a earlier discussion last month. Unfortunately i wasn’t able to join then but i really like to do so next time.

Could you please sent me an invitation for disussions?

Thank you very much.

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