Worth A Look – Page 30 – Public Intelligence Blog

Beyond Connecting the Dots is a new kind of book on Systems Thinking and Modeling. Rather than being constrained by the printed page, it runs digitally on your computer or your tablet. Because of this it can provide you an exciting experience that goes beyond the printed word. The models in the book are truly interactive and you can directly experiment with them within the book as you read about them. Beyond Connecting the Dots is more than a book; it is a truly interactive learning environment that lets you play with ideas rather than just read them.

Models in Beyond Connecting the Dots are living. You can interact with them and experiment with them right in the book. Each model contains a guided tour that you can sit back and watch. Alternatively, you can jump in and take the reins adjusting the model on-the-fly to see the results. You can change all the model's parameters or adjust its structure, all right within the book! If you want, you can even load up the models in Insight Maker, a powerful on-line modeling platform, to extend the models with your own ideas and share them with others.

Beyond Connecting the Dots covers all aspects of Systems Thinking and Modeling. It starts on a very basic conceptual level and assumes you do not have a modeling or mathematical background. As the book progresses it becomes increasingly advanced providing you expert knowledge that will be both challenging and rewarding. Whatever your skill level, Beyond Connecting the Dots has something for you. Read the next section to see the full list of subject matter in the book.

Book Home Page, Including Chapter Reviews

How They Did It (STILE Development / Insight Maker)

2014/02/082014/02/08

Worth a Look: Michio Kaju on The Future of the Mind

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ, Intelligence (Public), Worth A Look

The New York Times best-selling author of Physics of the Impossible, Physics of the Future and Hyperspace tackles the most fascinating and complex object in the known universe: the human brain.

For the first time in history, the secrets of the living brain are being revealed by a battery of high tech brain scans devised by physicists. Now what was once solely the province of science fiction has become a startling reality. Recording memories, telepathy, videotaping our dreams, mind control, avatars, and telekinesis are not only possible; they already exist.

The Future of the Mind gives us an authoritative and compelling look at the astonishing research being done in top laboratories around the world—all based on the latest advancements in neuroscience and physics. One day we might have a “smart pill” that can enhance our cognition; be able to upload our brain to a computer, neuron for neuron; send thoughts and emotions around the world on a “brain-net”; control computers and robots with our mind; push the very limits of immortality; and perhaps even send our consciousness across the universe.

Dr. Kaku takes us on a grand tour of what the future might hold, giving us not only a solid sense of how the brain functions but also how these technologies will change our daily lives. He even presents a radically new way to think about “consciousness” and applies it to provide fresh insight into mental illness, artificial intelligence and alien consciousness.

With Dr. Kaku's deep understanding of modern science and keen eye for future developments, The Future of the Mind is a scientific tour de force–an extraordinary, mind-boggling exploration of the frontiers of neuroscience.

2014/02/082014/02/08

Worth a Look: The Blue Economy by Gunter Pauli

5 Star, Complexity & Resilience, Decision-Making & Decision-Support, Environment (Solutions), Intelligence (Public), Worth A Look

The Blue Economy

by GUNTER PAULI author of the Report to the Club of Rome

Blue Economy is ZERI’s philosophy in action.

Blue Economy is where the best for health and the environment is cheapest and the necessities for life are free thanks to a local system of production and consumption that works with what you have.

“Innovative business models“ are capable of bringing competitive products and services to the market responding to basic needs while building social capital and enhance mindful living in harmony with nature's evolutionary path.

“Competitiveness”is harnessing and optimizing the innate virtues and values connecting untapped local potential – like a natural system, where the seeds lie fallow only to sprout with amazing vigor at the first rain unleashing joy and happiness as the conditions for mind full-living are met in balance and in harmony.

BLUE ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

Continue reading “Worth a Look: The Blue Economy by Gunter Pauli”

2014/02/052014/02/05

Worth a Look: SINGAPORE Central to Great Convergence

5 Star, Complexity & Resilience, Consciousness & Social IQ, Decision-Making & Decision-Support, Diplomacy, Economics, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Future, History, Leadership, Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Philosophy, Politics, Public Administration, Strategy, Worth A Look

The twenty-first century has seen a rise in the global middle class that brings an unprecedented convergence of interests and perceptions, cultures and values. Kishore Mahbubani is optimistic. We are creating a new global civilization. Eighty-eight percent of the world's population outside the West is rising to Western living standards, and sharing Western aspirations. Yet Mahbubani, one of the most perceptive global commentators, also warns that a new global order needs new policies and attitudes.

Policymakers all over the world must change their preconceptions and accept that we live in one world. National interests must be balanced with global interests. Power must be shared. The U.S. and Europe must cede some power. China and India, Africa and the Islamic world must be integrated. Mahbubani urges that only through these actions can we create a world that converges benignly. This timely book explains how to move forward and confront many pressing global challenges.

Political genius is never without controversy, or without mystery. This is what makes it so interesting and so rare. Is Lee Kuan Yew the feral, authoritarian figure that Western critics claim? Or a stoic pioneer in new approaches to developing a nation—uncorrupt, modern, almost scientific?American journalist Tom Plate first interviewed the founder of modern Singapore in 1996 in a continuing back-and-forth with LKY that led to the summer of 2009, when the former prime minister agreed to sit down for two days of unprecedentedly informal but intense conversations that led to this special book. This new edition includes fascinating excerpts from prior interviews, as well as the author’s assessment of the man who goes down in history as the world’s longest-serving prime minister—and as one of the most unforgettable political figures of modern times.

2014/02/03

Worth a Look: Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran

5 Star, Diplomacy, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Misinformation & Propaganda, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Strategy, Truth & Reconciliation, Worth A Look

Less than a decade after Washington endorsed a fraudulent case for invading Iraq, similarly misinformed and politically motivated claims are pushing America toward war with Iran. Challenging the daily clamor of U.S. saber rattling, Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett argue that America should renounce thirty years of failed strategy and engage with Iran—just as Nixon revolutionized U.S. foreign policy by going to Beijing and realigning relations with China.

In Going to Tehran, former analysts in both the Bush and Clinton administrations, the Leveretts offer a uniquely informed account of Iran as it actually is today, not as many have caricatured it or wished it to be. They show that Iran's political order is not on the verge of collapse, that most Iranians still support the Islamic Republic, and that Iran's regional influence makes it critical to progress in the Middle East. Drawing on years of research and access to high-level officials, the Leveretts’ indispensable work makes it clear that America must “go to Tehran” if it is to avert strategic catastrophe.

2014/01/30

Berto Jongman: Gray Work – Confessions of an American Paramilitary Spy

Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Intelligence (Commercial), Intelligence (Government/Secret), Worth A Look

Can be ordered now, releases on 27 May 2014.

Jamie Smith. Gray Work: Confessions of an American Paramilitary Spy (William Morrow, 2014)

Book Description:

An unprecedented, raw, first-hand look into the life of America’s private paramilitary warriors and their highly secretive work around the world. Jamie Smith, a contractor with more than two decades under his belt, has planned and executed hundreds of missions on behalf of government agencies and private industry in some of the world’s most dangerous hot spots.

They are elite warriors who run highly dangerous missions deep inside foreign countries on the brink of war. Jamie Smith knows these men well. Not only is he one of them, but he cofounded one of the most successful private contracting multinational firms in the world. For the first time, he breaks his silence, detailing the ultimate danger and risk of paramilitary operations—both officially government-sanctioned and not. Pulling back the curtain of secrecy, he reveals in very intimate terms exactly what private soldiers do when the government cannot act or take public responsibility.

Combining the thrilling narrative of a riveting international spy thriller with boots-on-the-ground realism, Gray Work follows Smith through his CIA training and career as an operative, his co-founding of and eventual exit from Blackwater, and his creation and direction of his own company. Espionage and assassinations, rescues and renditions, the turbulence of the Arab Spring, the fall of Qadhaffi, the grit and gristle are all here in covert black ops from Syria to Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and beyond.

As the founder and director of Blackwater, Smith’s initial vision has undeniably shaped and transformed a decade of war. He argues that this gray area—and the warriors who occupy the controversial space between public and private—has become an integral element of modern warfare.

2014/01/29