The Last Saturday Secular Social - The Limits to Growth & Abundance

Picture above - Thank you Dave Peebles for suggested topic. Above picture taken from Wikipedia on "The Limits to Growth" Please click on link below for short read:

Wikipedia: "The Limits to Growth" 1972, Update with Pro's & Con"s

We had 13 attendees at our Last Saturday Secular Social & Discussion meeting, July 26th, 2025.
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Car Pools Available. Contact me by text (360) 510-2501 or by email:
SecularWorld@aol.com - We meet at the North end of Bellingham Costco before 10:25 AM, Leave 10:25 sharp - We'll look for you if you text me at above number that you're coming!
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Our "ICE BREAKER" STARTER TOPICS:

#1) (See above) The Limits to Growth: (Thank you Dave Peebles for this topic)
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#2) Book: "ABUNDANCE " (thank you Clint Miller for this suggestion)

Link to Cover Picture and description to Book: Abundance

To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades—because we haven’t been building enough.

Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next gener­ation’s problems. Rules and regulations designed to solve the problems of the 1970s often prevent urban-density and green-energy projects that would help solve the problems of the 2020s. Laws meant to ensure that government considers the consequences of its actions have made it too difficult for government to act consequentially. In the last few decades, our capacity to see problems has sharpened while our ability to solve them has diminished.

Progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and pre­serves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel.

#3) From "ATTENTION" economy to "INTENTION" economy:
Collection and Commodification of Intent via Large Language Models (again, thank you Clint Miller for this suggestion!)

Link to: Intention Economy - Long Read!

This is the next economic shift with the new DATA (vs $) economy, where we move from attention grabbing click-bait to "Intention" farming with the aid of LLM (Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence tools)

I will attempt to read and share my "Reader's Digest" version LATER to share for those who find the article too long.
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We can "change the topic" on the fly based on current attendee's suggested preference - Please feel free to suggest an alternate subject on our around the table introductions!

Also, updates, links to material to read or watch and PDF files to down load will be provided later this week to those I have email addresses for.

If you'd like to be included and haven't received email alerts from me, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT SecularWorld@aol.com TO STAY INFORMED AND RECEIVE LATEST UPDATES!
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We will start out by introducing ourselves, our personal passions and also share our choice on how to conduct our meeting (2 minutes or less per person).
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Freethought encourages creative solutions, but then this group uses reason, evidence and the scientific method as the only reliable means to prune down answers to our probing questions and common sense solutions to humanity's current problems.
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Normally we never follow through with pre-readings, videos or topics anyway and jump in to whatever subjects pop up during introduction circle. The flavor of conversation is quite varied and unique based on who shows and what those present bring to the table.

Feel free to bring a book or article and your take on the readings. Comments on ever changing current events easily fill our discussions!
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Free Coffee, cream and sweetener will be provided. Just bring yourself and share in great conversation, but if you'll be hungry, feel free to bring your own lunch to eat during our talk.
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Have a future idea or topic? Email me at secularworld@aol.com and share!
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Randy Drubek & Monty Vonn – Coordinators