NationStates Jolt Archive

Come on everyone. We need to get more people involved in UN Proposals. The UN is absolutly useless if people do not start creating worth-while, thoughtly, well-worded proposals. All I see are the same thing every day.... same issues, but the wording of them keeps getting worse and worse. Make these things clear, leave no loop-holes. And lets get some new, fresh ideas. And we cant have only 30-40 people involved.... all over 2100 delegates must get involved.

Come on everyone. We need to get more people involved in UN Proposals. The UN is absolutly useless if people do not start creating worth-while, thoughtly, well-worded proposals. All I see are the same thing every day.... same issues, but the wording of them keeps getting worse and worse. Make these things clear, leave no loop-holes. And lets get some new, fresh ideas. And we cant have only 30-40 people involved.... all over 2100 delegates must get involved.


Wait, are you talking about the daily issues or UN proposals? If you want to discuss changes in the daily issues there's a whole forum for it "Got issues" (heh, sorry, no clicky). The UN proposals are, admittedly, of bad quality a large percentage of the time. However, I think the current requirement of 150 or so delegate approvals weeds almost all of those out. Is there a more specific change you'd like to see, or a certain topic you'd like to see dealt with by UN proposal?

My problem is that I'm running out of ideas for new proposals that would be both worthy of the UN's time and likely to be passed by the General Assembly. I'm actually currently trying to work on a free trade proposal that wouldn't immediately be shot down, but I'm struggling for inspiration.

Does the phrase "preaching to the choir" have any special relevance here?

My problem is that I'm running out of ideas for new proposals that would be both worthy of the UN's time and likely to be passed by the General Assembly. I'm actually currently trying to work on a free trade proposal that wouldn't immediately be shot down, but I'm struggling for inspiration.

I've got a few ideas, but I'm starting to run into the "Environmental" mind set with my ideas, and those are never widely appreciated. I also have two Free Trade ideas and two Global Disarmament ideas -- Free Trades are popular, Global Disarmaments are not.

I think there are still some ideas out there. All of my ideas actually have come from either reading the newspaper or watching TV. :) One of the Global Disarmament ideas is from Babylon 5 (Science Ficition ... and I think it will be pretty fun).

That said, I think if somebody is just looking for something interesting to do, sometimes running polls and asking players about their nations and polls turns up some great ideas.

Furthermore, a real life topic that has *not* been addressed and is something I don't know how to categorize is the cost of perscription drugs. You could possibly make a Social Justice or a Free Trade regulation.

There are plenty of pronography topics that haven't been touched.

I guess a great place to scout for ideas is the proposal queue. Look for a poorly worded proposal that stands for a good idea. Ballast Water is an example. The original author *knew* it was a real problem and understood why, but he didn't have experience with the game and actually just assumed everybody knew what "ballasting" was. I had just come back from an environmental conference in Oakland CA a few months before and decided to help rewrite his proposal into what you now see.

Come on everyone. We need to get more people involved in UN Proposals. The UN is absolutly useless if people do not start creating worth-while, thoughtly, well-worded proposals. All I see are the same thing every day.... same issues, but the wording of them keeps getting worse and worse. Make these things clear, leave no loop-holes. And lets get some new, fresh ideas. And we cant have only 30-40 people involved.... all over 2100 delegates must get involved.

Well I suggest you start writing good repeals/proposals and campaigning for them.

Come on, we don't have all day. Hop to it!! :)

Involvement starts with you.

Involvement starts with 'I'. :P

Sorry. Bad.

I think there are still some ideas out there. All of my ideas actually have come from either reading the newspaper or watching TV. :) One of the Global Disarmament ideas is from Babylon 5 (Science Ficition ... and I think it will be pretty fun).



What's your B5-related global-disarmament idea? (I don't recall any of the governments in B5 disarming - more to the contrary!) Unless you're talking about the interplanetary agreement not to use certain weapons of mass destruction (that the Centauri violated when they bombed Narn back to the stoneage). That sounds like a good proposal.

I'd also like to explore a proposal regarding limitations of breeding "supermen" to use as soldiers (the "Civils" in Crimmond quite disturb me, for example, and it does not bode well for the universe if such things are left unchecked.) Not that such a proposal would be vastly popular, I think.

What's your B5-related global-disarmament idea? (I don't recall any of the governments in B5 disarming - more to the contrary!) Unless you're talking about the interplanetary agreement not to use certain weapons of mass destruction (that the Centauri violated when they bombed Narn back to the stoneage). That sounds like a good proposal.

I'd also like to explore a proposal regarding limitations of breeding "supermen" to use as soldiers (the "Civils" in Crimmond quite disturb me, for example, and it does not bode well for the universe if such things are left unchecked.) Not that such a proposal would be vastly popular, I think.

Limiting the Use of Mass Drivers.
That is exactly what I'm talking about. :)

Though they are a scifi influenced concept, they also happen to be a real life concept that could one day be worth legislating the use of. I'd say they are one of the rare times that Future Tech and Modern Tech share the same concern (though Fantasy Tech might be less than interested ... dunno).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver

High-acceleration linear motors are currently undergoing active research by the military for use as (ground-based) armor-piercing weapons. Since a mass driver is essentially a very large, very high-velocity linear motor, it could in principle be used as a very large weapon, either firing directly on a target in space, or as weapon of mass destruction, attacking a location on a planet's surface from a position in orbit, or from a nearby planetary body, such as a moon.


What is interesting about the Wiki article is that although it mentioned Heinlein using them in one of his novels (which I've not read), I vaguely remember in the film Starship Troopers (based on a different Heinlein novel) that Argentina or somewhere else may have been subjected to long-distance mass driver based attacks. Though the film did not describe the attacks as mass driver based attacks, they fit the classic pattern. Or so I remember from the '97 film. [I'll add that I hated the film, the novel was so much better.]

The interesting things here is this sort of resolution would actually build upon the "Tracking Near Earth Objects" resolution from last year. And there are theoretical ways to deal with long-distance based mass driver attacks (not the close ones, which is why we saw the Centuari popping in next to Narn to dump on their homeworld): solar sails or even selectively and incrementally altering the trajectory of the asteroid (perhaps even by imploying another mass driver on the rock itself using ... mined fragments of the rock). :)

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/madmen_techwed_040519.html

Eating away at a killer asteroid

At the heart of the MADMEN concept is a mass driver, which would eject asteroid material as it is drilled out of the rock and sling it out into space using electromagnetic acceleration. The recoil from that ejection would pushes against the robot, and therefore the asteroid, imparting a small amount of force for each shot.

"It's like throwing rocks from inside a rowboat," Graham said in a telephone interview. "Over time, you end up moving the boat."


That means that the technology of mass drivers need not be attacked or prohibited in a resolution, but that a Babylon 5 styled prohibition on the *use* and application of mass driver technology as a weapon of mass destruction.

In the real world, the UN has many times made similar statements on nuclear arms, in particular established a few Nuclear Free Zones.

The roleplaying aspect is that a mass driver ban could be written to condemn the initial use (hence a mild GD resolution), but would actually state that the UN can not condone the proliferation of use of mass drivers against those who would use them on others.

I think this is one of two possible GD concepts that would run around 60% in favour / 40% against, as I've worked with a number of the older FT nations (i.e. nations with over 2.5 billion) whom liked "Tracking Near Earth Objects", and they might be willing to take a military hit for a well written proposal / resolution.

I'd also like to explore a proposal regarding limitations of breeding "supermen" to use as soldiers (the "Civils" in Crimmond quite disturb me, for example, and it does not bode well for the universe if such things are left unchecked.) Not that such a proposal would be vastly popular, I think.

OOC: When I first started a year plus ago, I announced that Mikitivity was developing a "Super Solider Serum" as part of a "Captain Mikitivity" to stand as a leader of the growing number of "Marvels" appearining in Miervatia. :)

In the current Marvel "Ultimate" series, the EU used the US SSS to create a Captian Spain, Captain Britian, Captian Italy, etc. There were massive protests in the book about government super humans, but the concept of debating eugenics is something that would be interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics

Resolution #56, Bio Rights Declaration only extended equal rights to clones and genetically engineered persons ... and we did actually touch upon the subject of governments breeding soldiers for combat. Just my opinion, but I think having a similar debate would be a refreshing break to the typical human rights resolutions that we get. <-- though Bio Rights Declaration was a HR resolution, so the use of "Marvels" or "Supers" in combat was not discussed.

I think that if you really wanted to have fun with a GD resolution restricting their use / enlistment in normal combat units, that actually making references to "Supers" or "Marvels" might be enough that Pixar and comic book fans would appreciate the humour. :) Or you could even be more blunt and draft a set of guidelines for "Incredibles" so that the masses would realize that the proposal is playing on the film and comics.

I could always try to ram UNFA through again, although I doubt it would make it to the table. People have been somewhat reluctant to embrace the cause, even considering the relatively miniscule cost.

Otherwise, I'd be interested in working out a WTO-style resolution encouraging free trade between United Nations members, with certain exemptions for human rights violations, et cetera. Any takers?

I could always try to ram UNFA through again, although I doubt it would make it to the table. People have been somewhat reluctant to embrace the cause, even considering the relatively miniscule cost.

Otherwise, I'd be interested in working out a WTO-style resolution encouraging free trade between United Nations members, with certain exemptions for human rights violations, et cetera. Any takers?

I'd like to see a Free Trade resolution, but instead of a WTO, what about dealing with prescription drugs and R&D costs. In the real world companies are placing different costs on different socities based on an ability / willinness to pay. From what I understand, US law is prohibiting Americans from getting their drugs from other sources ... basically forcing an artifical reverse sort of tariff.

The reason I'm steering away from a WTO is once you do it, its done. But by focusing on commodities and specific industries, you can revisit the debate by changing your "noun" in a few months. This gives more flexibility to future players. We effectively are doing this with human rights resolutions. "Let's make a resolution granting everybody the right to eat toast!" "OK, it is a civil liberty, I'm all for that!"

I'm not sure I'd want to see the proposal queue filled with free-trade clones, but I can understand your reasons for choosing that avenue. I'd have to do a sizeable amount of research to come up with anything inteligent, but a proposal dealing with prescription drugs, medical technologies, or other goods isn't out of reach.

Sophista, you've got my support for UNFA. As for free trade, Nargopia is still undecided on this issue.

I'm also thinking of writing a resolution outlawing political imprisonment, but first I need to check and make sure nothing's already on the books about that.

I'm not sure I'd want to see the proposal queue filled with free-trade clones, but I can understand your reasons for choosing that avenue. I'd have to do a sizeable amount of research to come up with anything inteligent, but a proposal dealing with prescription drugs, medical technologies, or other goods isn't out of reach.

While immediately following the Hemp resolution, somebody did a search and replace on the word "hemp" and tried to bring in another environmental resolution, however, we are not allowed to clone / copy resolutions ... so I'm not worried that we'd be flooded by free trade proposals.

My alcohol accord is general enough that other free trade proposals could borrow parts from it, but I also believe that various commodities are unique enough that new text shouldn't be that hard to draft up. :)

I totally agree about the issue of prescription drugs ... I won't have the time to deal with this until June, but if people are interested, it is a "real-life" issue that I'd like to seriously discuss and see if NationStates can teach the world a thing or two. I had a lot of fun with the asteroids and later needle sharing (my other resolutions came from stuff I already do, but those two were things I had to teach myself about).

I propose Mikitivity should go on holiday, set his nations to vacation mode, and give us all a chance to catch up! lol.

and hey. this is post number 300! Im geting there. :p