Clipmarks | kmcolo's society collection

Sustainable Economy: Five Policy Recommendations

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:05:57 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks:

-- To serve the purposes of ending poverty and conserving the biosphere (sustainable development) we must first rescue the idea of purpose itself from the nether world of illusion and epiphenomena to which it has been banished by mechanist philosophers and neodarwinist biologists. If purpose is not causative in the real world then all policy is nonsense, and all theory on which policy is based is useless.

This last quote is quite important and its conceptualization fundamental in the creation of a new non-Newtonian philosophy of systems dynamics and irreductionism.

But the author doe not sell me on point number 4.

Clip Source: www.feasta.org

(1). Stop counting the consumption of natural capital as income.

(2). Shift the tax base from value added (labour and capital income) and on to resource throughput (that to which value is added).

(3). Maximise the productivity of natural capital in the short run, and invest in increasing its supply in the long run.

(4). Move away from the ideology of global economic integration by free trade, free capital mobility, and export-led growth -- and toward a more nationalist orientation that seeks to develop domestic production for internal markets as the first option, having recourse to international trade only when clearly much more efficient.

(5). Facing the Lurking Inconsistency.

Tags: economy, ecology, environment, philosophy, sustainability

Rigidity: Why.

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:25:34 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Clip Source: www.ecologyandsociety.org

Feedbacks leading to alternative stable modes of behavior occur on levels varying from the cell and the mind to societies. The tendency to lock into a certain pattern comes at the cost of the ability to adjust to new situations. The resulting rigidity limits the ability of persons, groups, and companies to respond to new problems, and some even suggest that it may have contributed to the collapse of ancient societies. In the face of these negative effects, it may seem surprising that lock-in situations are so ubiquitous.

In cells, it filters out noise, and allows a well-defined and consistent behavior once a certain threshold is passed. Basically, the same holds for the attitudes and behavior of individuals and groups.

Understanding why rigidity makes sense may help in finding ways to avoid traps in situations where flexible response and innovation are needed.

Tags: complexity, behavior, innovation, change, adaptation

The Essence of Neoliberalism

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:06:52 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Clip Source: mondediplo.com

What is neoliberalism? A programme for destroying collective structures which may impede the pure market logic.

By Pierre Bourdieu

Tags: social capital, neoliberalism

Desakota

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:38:36 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks: A new term to describe the new urbanization as seen in Asia (largely China).

Clip Source: 72.14.203.104

Desakota is a term originating from the Indonesian (desa = village; kota = city), and developed in order to characterize the original form of large cities in Asia.

These cities generally combine rural areas peripheral to high population densities, particularly because of the activity that requires rice still abundant labour.

Tags: words, growth, asia, urbanization, economy

China Limits Web Videos

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:07:51 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks: Fingers in the cracks of the Great Firewall? Suppressing news has a poor long-term track record.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.npr.org

"Today is a special day for the Olympic Channel. It's also a special day for Mr. Zhang Bin. But it's also a special day for me, because two hours ago, I just found out that Mr. Zhang Bin was having an illicit relationship with another woman," Hu Ziwei told a small group attending the press conference.

Listen Now add to playlist

the Chinese government announced that as of the end of the year, only government-owned or government-controlled Web sites will be able to post Internet videos.

Tags: great firewall of china, china, video

The Evolution of Evolution: how culture changes genes

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:38:38 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Not, as stated, a new idea: been around a long time in complexity theory, and quantum consciousness theory, for instance. This is a short, pithy statement of the claim, read it in a couple of minutes.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Now we're in the midst of the next mutation in evolutionary theory: Human evolution didn't slow as we advanced from nature to culture. It accelerated and changed. Culture, born of natural selection, became natural selection's driving force.

This is the message of a new study of the human genome. If true, it radically complicates the debate between nature and nurture. The question is no longer simply whether our genes are the source of civilization, but whether they're also its product.

Organisms evolve in response to changing environments. This can lead, paradoxically, to the evolution of traits that change the environment. Once that happens, the process becomes dialectical, and its speed increases, because culture changes more rapidly than nature does.

Much of what now passes for "natural selection" isn't exactly natural. It's social.

It may be true that today's God a human creation. But so, in a way, is today's evolution.

Noam Chomsky on Anarchism, Marxism,and Future Hope

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:21:58 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Great interview (1995) Read the full text for his interesting insights.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

Noam Chomsky is widely known for his critique of U.S foreign policy, and for his work as a linguist. Less well known is his ongoing support for libertarian socialist objectives. In a special interview done for Red and Black Revolution, Chomsky gives his views on anarchism and marxism, and the prospects for socialism now. The interview was conducted in May 1995 by Kevin Doyle.

What is called 'capitalism' is basically a system of corporate mercantilism, with huge and largely unaccountable private tyrannies exercising vast control over the economy, political systems, and social and cultural life, operating in close co-operation with powerful states that intervene massively in the domestic economy and international society.

That is dramatically true of the United States, contrary to much illusion.

More than ever, libertarian socialist ideas are relevant, and the population is very much open to them.

For an excellent collection of anarchist resources, please visit the All about Anarchism page.

Is low intelligence to blame for short life expectancy ?

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:24:25 GMT

clipped by: Oldude59

Clip Source: bps-research-digest.blogspot.com

People in countries with a large gap between the rich and poor have short life expectancies, not because of the economic inequality and lack of resources, but rather because they are unintelligent. That’s the controversial claim of Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics, who has used data from the UN and World Bank to look at the associations between average life expectancy, prosperity and economic inequality within over 120 countries around the world.

The economic historian Richard Wilkinson has argued that economic inequality leads to shorter life expectancy because being at the bottom of the social pile puts people under prolonged stress. But Kanazawa rejects this hypothesis. He argues his data show that once population IQ is taken into account, a country’s average life expectancy is no longer related to economic development and inequality. Indeed, he found IQ was between seven and eight times more strongly related to life-expectancy than were measures of income inequality.

To support his case further, Kanazawa also focused on 29 sub-Saharan countries which have changed little since ancient times. In these countries where modern threats are absent, Kanazawa found IQ is not related to life-expectancy whereas income inequality is.

Tags: belief, clipmarks, concept, research, politics

Poll: Most Americans Support NSA's Efforts

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:29:29 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks: Though I understand the general belief that some domestic surveillance is needed to protect the country there need to be very stringent, independent, legal methods for doing so. Not the extra legal, neo-soviet, domestic spy program of this administration. To this day we don’t even know whom they spied on. Did they spy on the Kerry campaign? Sadly, no one who knows the slightest bit about this administration could deny that possibility.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Poll: Most Americans Support NSA's Efforts

A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority--66 percent--said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.

Tags: spying, government, privacy

Does Eating Salmon Lower the Murder Rate?

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 04:15:52 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Does Eating Salmon Lower the Murder Rate?

Of course, seeing a correlation between fatty acids and nonviolence doesn't necessarily prove that fatty acids inhibit violence. Bernard Gesch, a senior research scientist at Oxford University, set out to show that better nutrition does, in fact, decrease violence. He enrolled 231 volunteers at a British prison in his study; one-half received a placebo, while the other half received fatty acids and other supplements. Over time, the antisocial behavior (as measured by assaults and other violations) of the inmates who had been given the supplements dropped by more than a third relative to their previous records. The control group showed little change. Gesch published his results in 2002 and plans to start a larger study later this year. Similar trials are already under way in Holland and Norway.

Consider, for example, a study conducted by researchers in Finland. They tested prisoners convicted of violent crimes and found that they had lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids than ordinary, healthy subjects. Why? Omega-3's foster the growth of neurons in the brain's frontal cortex, the bit of gray matter that controls impulsive behavior. Having enough of these fatty acids may keep violent impulses in check. Violent criminals may not be the only ones who would benefit from more fatty acids in their diet. In a recent double-blind trial, when omega-3's were given to people with a history of substance abuse, the symptoms of "anger" fell by 50 percent.

Gesch further adds that we shouldn't expect nutrition alone to banish violent behavior. "The brain needs to be nourished in two ways. It needs to be educated, and it needs nutrients. Both social and physical factors are important." Simply throwing fish and vegetables at violent criminals is unlikely to have a lasting effect on its own.

Tags: health, violence, diet, omega-3 fatty acids

Earth is now on a fast track to global warming

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 16:37:16 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks: We short circuited the carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels. That said, we may also be able to short circuit the carbon cycle with engineered solutions to the problem. In other words, there is hope here.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Studies of ancient climates suggest Earth is now on a fast track to global warming

Human activities are releasing greenhouse gases more than 30 times faster than the rate of emissions that triggered a period of extreme global warming in the Earth's past, according to an expert on ancient climates.

Zachos will present his findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in St. Louis. He is a leading expert on the episode of global warming known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), when global temperatures shot up by 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit). This abrupt shift in the Earth's climate took place 55 million years ago at the end of the Paleocene epoch as the result of a massive release of carbon into the atmosphere in the form of two greenhouse gases: methane and carbon dioxide.

Previous estimates put the amount of released carbon at 2 trillion tons, but Zachos showed that more than twice that amount--about 4.5 trillion tons--entered the atmosphere over a period of 10,000 years (Science, June 10, 2005). If present trends continue, this is the same amount of carbon that industries and automobiles will emit during the next 300 years, Zachos said.

"Records of past climate change show that change starts slowly and then accelerates," he said. "The system crosses some kind of threshold."

"We set out to test the hypotheses put forward by a small group of geochemists who model the global carbon cycle, and our findings support their predictions," Zachos said. "It will take tens of thousands of years before atmospheric carbon dioxide comes down to preindustrial levels. Even after humans stop burning fossil fuels, the effects will be long lasting."

Tags: global warming, climate change, climate, carbon cycle, paleo-reconstructions, paleoclimate