POLITICS - One of Many Sources of Waste of Time & Resources!

I'm going to post something thats likely going to piss you off for one reason or another.

The best way for a society to thrive and excel is to maximize the productivy of its individuals.

Thus, I have a theory that one of the worst things a society can do is waste intellect, labor, time and resources on things that don't serve one of the following purposes...

Advancing science

Turning people into productive members of society - healing the sick, educating the young, training the working class, providing basic human neccesites etc.

Producing a product needed for others to work efficently

Self learning and training ie. studying

The government should be doing all it can do encourage and provide for the above activities. The more people for whom the above needs are met, either by society or by their family, the more productive members the society will have in the future. By meeting these needs, people have fewer things to worry about, fewer hurdles esp during thier youth and more time that can be focused on making something of themselves.

By that theory, the following are a drain of society's resources (man power, intellect, time etc) while producing little of value in return.

Politics - Think about the huge amount of time that people spend watching politics on tv, reading newspaper, volunteering for campaigns etc. Now campaigns are starting earlier than ever, being watched more closely by more people than ever, and are expending more resources than ever. Not to mention the lumber to print all those pamphlets, the travel etc.

Television - Televisions pro is that it can rapidly provide access to and distill and present new ideas. It could be used to channel the very best intellects on the cutting edge of ideas and package these ideas to the masses. Unfortunately, that's not how it's used. Unless you're one of the rare people that watch no more than an hour of tv a day, and only to relieve stress, or you mainly watch the few shows left that distill new ideas and perspectives found in intellectually stimulating books and presenting them the public on PBS, chances are, your tv is draining what could be productive output from you.

We absolutely need creative people in society to provide us with new ideas and innovative solutions that enhance productivity. Unfortunately, it's the most creative people in society that are most drawn into televisions ability to present so many different things so quickly. And I believe precisely those people esp when young get sucked in nowadays to television as a format of rapid fire information, and thus most held back by it's lack of true content. Creative people have brains like sponges. They love to absorb information whatever it maybe, and unfortuantely, tv is one of the easiest ways to absorb information, but also one of the least informative.

Internet - A lot of what I wrote about tv can be said about the internet. Yes emails make efficient work possible, but the average person spends a lot of more time goofing off online than doing any actual work.

Recreational Drugs - Once again, unless you consume very small amounts for short periods to relieve stress.

War and the Military - War maybe good for the economy in the short term. But overall, it's a huge amount of time spend blowing stuff up, and then rebuilding it later. The amount of resources, time and money spent on battlecrusiers that do little more than sit around for the most part. The amount of time spent training people during times of peace etc.

Organized Religion (Also time spent on psychics, ghosts and other spiritual entities) - Six hours every week in Church, the hours spent each day thinking about god, reading the bible, prayer etc. Not to mention the intellectual dissodance it often creates with actual science. Unless you're one of the rare people who truly couldn't get by without religion, is probably wasted time.

Love, Lust and Relationships - Of course, love does meet a basic human need. But now more than ever, more time and resources are spent on it, pursuing it, ending it, repursuing it than ever before.

Sports - One hour of exercise a day is actually a good thing and increases productivity. I'm refering to things like following sports, watching sportscenter and professional athletes that do little else other than play sports etc.

Celebrities and our obsession with them - Need I say more.

What aspect of my post do you disagree with?

Where does this theory fall apart?

What other things can you add to my list?