The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Chesky argues that the ability to profit from sharing assets is a business model both resistant to recession and to the coming robot work-apocalypse.
Airbnb CEO spells out the end game for the sharing economy, in 7 quotes
Gregory Ferenstein
VentureBeat, 2 July 2014
This is an extract from Beatrice Edwards' new book, The Rise of the American Corporate Security State. It is another tale of the corruption that has become the leitmotif of America in the 21st century.
In Banking World, Fraud Is an Epidemic
BEATRICE EDWARDS – Berrett-Koehler Publishers/Truthout
Reason to be afraid #6:
Systemic corruption and a fundamental conflict of interest are driving us toward the precipice of new economic crises.
See Also (The Book):
The Rise of the American Corporate Security State: Six Reasons to Be Afraid (2014)
TITLE: The role of collective intelligence in the wise democracy needed for humanity's survival
ABSTRACT: This article proposes that the primary function of intelligence is to sustain a dynamic system's balance between environmental control and adaptability. A dynamic system needs to remain in tune with its changing environments so that its actions continue to be successful. It does this through impacting its environment and adapting itself to changing conditions. Both strategies depend on awareness of environmental realities and their relevance to the success and survival of the intelligent system.
Human collective intelligence in technological, economic, and cultural realms has led to the rapid evolution of human civilization's capacity to impact its environment. Humanity's problem-solving capabilities have translated problematic circumstances into new forms of impact, a process known as progress. However, this process has today projected extremes of actual and potential impact into unprecedented scales and realms which challenge not only our ability to respond but the very basis of our responsive capacities – the nature of our intelligence itself.
Neat design for an engine that is also a generator of electricity. The idea has been around for some decades, but now Toyota has engineered one…
No crankshaft, no problem: Toyota's free piston engine is brilliant
Jason Commisa
RoadTrack, 30 June 2014
Former central banker Bernard Lietaer discusses the need for complimentary currencies within nations, the structure of good and bad money and the wide array of solutions that could be adopted by societies wanting new monetary systems.
The Red (Team) Analysis Weekly 159 – An Accelerating U.S. Decline?
Editorial – What appears as most amazing this week is a perception of an accelerating American decline on the world stage. A few months ago, we warned that changes related to the dollar supremacy were in the making, even if they would, most probably, need a relatively long time before to be fully actualized. The trend has not changed but is, on the contrary, most likely to be strengthening (see “The BRICs Are Morphing Into An Anti-Dollar Alliance“, Zerohedge). What is also interestingly pointed out in the article is the capacity of the current American system to create enemies when none existed before or to the least to favour their opponents. For example, by fining the French bank Paribas – as well as other European banks – for not abiding to U.S. American foreign policy (e.g. Titcomb, “BNP Paribas fine could be followed by other banks“, The Telegraph, 1 July 2014), the U.S. system has stressed the needs and advantages for Europeans to see the end of the US Dollar supremacy, thus potentially throwing those who were meant to be their allies in the arms of their opponents.
Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Red Team on Accelerating US Decline?”
In the controversy and protesting stirred up by Abdullah, what is missing is a calm review of today’s political landscape in Afghanistan. Javid Ahmad a Program Coordinator for Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Ahmad Hemmat, a D.C.-based researcher and advisor to the chairman of International Energy Partnerships makes some powerful, obvious and clear points in Ashraf Ghani’s Secret to Success that I expand upon.
1) Dr. Ashraf Ghani and General Rashid Dostum built grass roots support networks. Many people forget that in the last election Dostum delivered over 40% of Karzai’s “clean” votes but ultimately Karzai denied the dozen seats Junbesh requested in exchange for their support. That support was built on promises to take a hard look at the constitution which was created to prevent the Taliban from getting popular votes and putting the executive power squarely in Karzai’s hands. Now minorities and majorities want regional government and more control over their local politics.
