Phi Beta Iota: First, tip of the hat to the New York Times for open persistent URLs. Bravo! We strongly recommend a reading of the entire piece at the NYT website. Shame on the USA for not living up to the Founding Father's aspirations for a wise government and an engaged public. No one now working for the White House can recite the ten high-level threats, the twelve core policies that must be harmonized, or the eight demographic challengers–including China–who we should be helping devise the World Brain with embedded EarthGame. US voters are slow to anger, but that anger will rise in 2010 and crest in 2012.
Op-Ed Contributor: Eight Idas Behind China's Success
By ZHANG WEI-WEI, Published: September 30, 2009
EXTRACT: Critics of China like to claim that despite its economic success, the country has no “big ideas” to offer. But to this author, it is precisely big ideas that have shaped China’s dramatic rise. Here are eight such ideas:
1. Seeking truth from facts.
2. Primacy of people’s livelihood.
3. The importance of holistic thinking.
4. Government as a necessary virtue.
5. Good governance matters more than democratization.
6. Performance legitimacy.
7. Selective learning and adaptation.
8. Harmony in diversity.
