The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Dear Keynesians: Your Sad Devotion to Your Failed Religion Hasn't Conjured Up a Recovery–Here's Why
That any schoolkid could predict eliminating feedback and consequences will lead to a series of disastrously poor choices by speculators and imprudent borrowers doesn't register with the Keynesian Cargo Cult.
The Dead Are Wealthier Than the Living – Capital in the 21st Century
Patrimonial capitalism—and the landed or urban gentry living off of inherited wealth—was dealt a mortal blow by the Great Depression and World Wars. But it’s making a comeback, and the only way to stop it might be a worldwide tax on capital.
EXTRACT:
Why is capital re-establishing dominance over income? Because, Piketty writes, r > g.
In plain English: The return on capital (r) almost always exceeds economic growth (g). Piketty calls r > g an “inequality” rather than a formula because it isn’t “an absolute logical necessity.” Rather, it’s “the result of a confluence of forces, each largely independent of the others.” These include demographics (a rapidly growing population boosts g); the extent to which a country’s economy has matured (China has much higher g than the U.S. and Western Europe because it’s still catching up); and various “technological, psychological, social, and cultural factors” (all of which can cause r to fall). Typically, r is four to five times g, but the ratio gets larger as capital accumulates across generations. The dead—though worse off in most obvious respects than the rest of us—are wealthier than the living. “The past,” Piketty writes, “tends to devour the future.”
The Observatory of Economic Complexity
The future of search may just be here, in the form of a specialized search engine courtesy of MIT (quelle surprise!) The Observatory of Economic Complexity (ECI) is the result of a 2010 Master Thesis in Media Arts and Sciences by one Alexander Simoes, and enjoys the continuing support of the MIT Media Lab‘s consortia for undirected research. A history of the project’s contributions is available on Github. Some technical details from the project’s FAQ page:
“Where does the data come from?
“The observatory provides access to bilateral trade data for roughly 200 countries, 50 years and 1000 different products of the SITC4 revision 2 classification. For historical SITC classification data, we use data from The Center for International Data from Robert Feenstra. For up to date HS classification data, we use data provided by UN COMTRADE.
“Can I download this data?
Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: The [MIT] Observatory of Economic Complexity”
My Address To The European Pirates
Pirate Parties: This weekend, hundreds of pirates from all over Europe gathered in the European Parliament to formally found the European Pirate Party. It was an amazing gathering of determined activists, many of which were absolutely electrified at realizing the sheer scale of this movement, seeing 400 of Europe’s brightest activists gathering for the occasion. I had the honor of giving one of the opening keynotes (below).
The exact sequence of words has been slightly edited for readability.
Amelia Andersdotter: Tonight, we have the honor of welcoming a very special keynote speaker. He was the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party in 2006, a reaction to changes in the Swedish legislation brought about by the same directive that Julia Reda [the previous speaker] asks us to pay close attention to in the coming five years. Since 2006, he has succeeded not only in forming a political party in Sweden, but also to bring all of us together here. I would like to welcome up on the stage — Rick Falkvinge.
Rick Falkvinge: Thank you so much, Member of European Parliament Andersdotter, all staff, and all volunteers, for making this possible.
I would imagine a lot of us speak almost daily about tactical operational details about how we go about changing the world. It’s what we strive for, after all: we are here to change the entire world for the better. Nothing more, and nothing less.
So instead of talking about operational details, having so many prominent people here today, I take the opportunity to remind us all how large our goal and our opportunities are.
The title of this conference is Internet Governance. You see a lot of conferences called Internet Governance these days. The problem is, it’s a total contradiction in terms. This term, Internet Governance — this is not an Internet term. Nobody on the Internet would talk about Internet Governance. This is a governmental term, this is a corporate term. And there are reasons for that.
Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: My Addess to the European Pirates”
5 Emerging Technologies That Could Destroy The World
By
That's Really Possible, 07/07/2013
LIST ONLY:
1 & 2 Nanotechnology & 3D Printers
3 & 4 Artificial General Intelligence & Big Data
5 Biotechnology
Read full article inclusive of apocaplyptic scenarios
Continue reading “Berto Jongman: 5 Emerging Technologies That Could Destroy the World”
Now you see the curtain pulled back. The Keystone pipeline is a classic example of profit for the few — the Koch's could make many many billions from Keystone — and potential disaster for the many. It is now completely transparent. And yet it could still happen.
The Koch-Keystone Connection: Brothers Are The Largest Lease Holders in Canada’s Oil Sands
LINDSAY ABRAMS, Assistant Editor – Salon
Good step, this is.
Master of Tri-Sector Collaboration (MTSC)
The innovative Master of Tri-Sector Collaboration provides rigorous interdisciplinary training in effective problem solving for the 21st century’s complex environment. It is applicable to business, government, and civil society organisations, and to the interactions among them. It will:
