What most people think is true of baldness they cannot really explain or defend. I think it is the same with abortion.
Unless you take extreme positions on baldness, yours is an inexplicable one. Or, at least, it defies easy explanation.
If a man loses one hair, he's not yet bald. Yet if he has only one hair left, most people would agree that he is bald. Where in the process from one hair gone to one hair left does a man become bald? Most of us have some sense of it, but our definitions would likely vary and never be precise or easy to explain.
If a sperm and egg come together, do they instantly deserve all the rights of a human life? Or in the minute before birth, can that baby be treated like a sperm and egg and be easily discarded? Most people would say no and no. But of course, that leaves the majority of Americans with inexplicable positions on abortion left to make a seemingly arbitrary decision about when the line between disposable zygote and precious baby should be drawn.
And yet this is one of those instances in which what is hard to explain seems to make more sense.
R World (Ron Davison muses aloud)
27 February 2011
21 February 2011
And the Nation-State Gradually Grows More Obsolete
Political crises in the Middle East are spilling across borders in the same way that the financial crises did in the West in '08.
This latest burst of panic and protests seems to support the notion that whether it is pandemics, ecological issues, economic issues, or, yes, political and financial issues, national borders seem less and less relevant.
In places like the Middle East and Africa where colonial powers imposed national borders where no clear nations existed, borders have long seemed confusing and of little use in protecting one country from issues in the next. But now, even in the West where national identities date back centuries, national borders are becoming less meaningful.
The big question in '08 was whether the financial crisis could be averted before we had another Great Depression. The big question in 2011 is whether the political crises will create democracies, theocracies, or even more severe autocracies in the Middle East.
To me, the even bigger question is how the idea and even very fact of the nation-state is going to survive in this new stage of globalization.
This latest burst of panic and protests seems to support the notion that whether it is pandemics, ecological issues, economic issues, or, yes, political and financial issues, national borders seem less and less relevant.
In places like the Middle East and Africa where colonial powers imposed national borders where no clear nations existed, borders have long seemed confusing and of little use in protecting one country from issues in the next. But now, even in the West where national identities date back centuries, national borders are becoming less meaningful.
The big question in '08 was whether the financial crisis could be averted before we had another Great Depression. The big question in 2011 is whether the political crises will create democracies, theocracies, or even more severe autocracies in the Middle East.
To me, the even bigger question is how the idea and even very fact of the nation-state is going to survive in this new stage of globalization.
Finally - an Ophiuchus Horoscope
Recently, a new astrological sign was announced. Sadly, no one seems to have updated the daily horoscopes with the inclusion of this 13th group. So, I've taken it upon myself to address this lack. Here it is - your Ophiuchus (Nov 30 - Dec 17) horoscope.
21 Feb - Monday
Today you find yourself celebrating president’s day – or protesting to get a president. In either case, you may want to try out that great little gelato shop close to all the activity. And you can’t help but notice that for all the apparent chaos, riots have a clear purpose whereas parades, for all their supposed order, have none.
22 Feb - Tuesday
You’ll suddenly realize that life is like watching a foreign film so thick with subtitles you can’t both make sense of the film and watch it. Overwhelmed you, Ophiuchus, just choose to ignore life and surf the web instead.
23 Feb - Wednesday
You’re pretty much on your own here. Unlike other astrological signs, Ophiuchuses don’t tend to move in lock step. That said, you may still want to pack a lunch. I really can’t say more or it would ruin the surprise.
24 Feb – Thursday
At 11:53, your phone rings. It’ll be a friend who needs affirmation. Be generous and gush a little. If your phone doesn’t ring by 11:58, admit that you’re that friend. Just make the call.
25 Feb – Friday
Ride public transportation to work today. Read the newspaper aloud to those around you. As you depart, turn to the folks you’re leaving and say, “Please fill out your personal news commentary survey sheets that you’ll find in the seat pocket in front of you. Your feedback is important.”
26 Feb – Saturday
Ah, it’s the weekend. Or used to be. Before they broke all the unions and decided that until everyone – even the Chinese – get a two day weekend, no one gets a two day weekend.
27 Feb – Sunday
You suddenly realize you don’t know how many days are left in the month or even if this is a leap year. You had a great deal planned but this uncertainty sort of puts a damper on all your intentions. Frightened by the thought that the month may already be over and you still haven’t accomplished anything significant, you find yourself ironically disengaged.
28 Feb – Monday
Realizing that this is the last day of the month, you get a burst of productivity so great that these efforts will become the basis for your weekly activity report. Two hours later, you stop for coffee and never quite get back into that same zone. Pity, really, because you were on a roll.
1 Mar – Tuesday
It suddenly occurs to you that you can't even say the name of your new astrological sign. Baffled, you begin to question the validity of any of this before realizing that this very prediction of skepticism is proof that you've nothing to be skeptical about.
11 February 2011
Might be Metaphysical
As I get older, I'm more convinced that our emotional energy creates our circumstances. I've seen it too many times for it to seem like a coincidence anymore. If you are filled with fear, you end with fearful things in your life. Filled with love and you get loving things. Hate begets hate, etc.
This could be metaphysical. I don't pretend to know. It is - for me - conceivable that there is some kind of spiritual or emotional energy that creates things in the plane of reality. It seems far-fetched but it is, nontheless, fetched.
Or it might not be metaphysical. It might just be that attention is scarce and if we pay attention to one thing, we don't pay attention to another. And our attention seems to follow our emotions. I would go so far as to say that the motion in emotion is the direction that our feelings send our thoughts.
Once our attention goes into a particular direction, so do our actions, our talk, and the people and circumstances we pull into our life.
So if you are full of fear, you will - at best - solve the problem of what scares you. But the focus is on that, not other things.
Better to focus on possibilities and positive emotions instead. This isn't easy. Especially if you've found yourself steeped in things deserving of fear and dread. But I do think that this is where the work starts - with positive emotions like love, hope, and compassion. And as you continue to meditate on those things, you'll eventually create more positive things.
Life will always have a mix of wonderful and dreadful and the day to day mundane. But there probably is no one thing that more tips the balance in your favor than the emotions you feed and let drive your meditation.
I could be wrong, but just dancing with this delusion makes me feel a little more positive emotion. And even if I'm wrong and that doesn't create anything else in my life, that positive feeling is enough.
This could be metaphysical. I don't pretend to know. It is - for me - conceivable that there is some kind of spiritual or emotional energy that creates things in the plane of reality. It seems far-fetched but it is, nontheless, fetched.
Or it might not be metaphysical. It might just be that attention is scarce and if we pay attention to one thing, we don't pay attention to another. And our attention seems to follow our emotions. I would go so far as to say that the motion in emotion is the direction that our feelings send our thoughts.
Once our attention goes into a particular direction, so do our actions, our talk, and the people and circumstances we pull into our life.
So if you are full of fear, you will - at best - solve the problem of what scares you. But the focus is on that, not other things.
Better to focus on possibilities and positive emotions instead. This isn't easy. Especially if you've found yourself steeped in things deserving of fear and dread. But I do think that this is where the work starts - with positive emotions like love, hope, and compassion. And as you continue to meditate on those things, you'll eventually create more positive things.
Life will always have a mix of wonderful and dreadful and the day to day mundane. But there probably is no one thing that more tips the balance in your favor than the emotions you feed and let drive your meditation.
I could be wrong, but just dancing with this delusion makes me feel a little more positive emotion. And even if I'm wrong and that doesn't create anything else in my life, that positive feeling is enough.
09 February 2011
Changing What it Means to be Employed
Bad: increasingly employees face the same risk to future income as entrepreneurs. Worse: they don't share the same potential for returns.
Entrepreneurs face huge risk. More than half of businesses (about 90% by some estimates) fail. But entrepreneurs face this risk for at least two reasons: if they are successful they have the chance to be very successful AND various kinds of success can mean more autonomy and choice about how to live their lives.
Employees today in any arena face huge risk. Government employees and academia have joined the ranks of employees in the private sector, in small or large companies. Employees are probably as insecure as they've ever been, unsure what combination of demotion, reduction in benefits, or job loss they're likely to face. Or, more accurately, they simply aren't sure when they'll face these changes. But unlike entrepreneurs, employees don't face much of an upside. If the business or organization they're in is successful, they are more likely to be employed. (Even that is dicey, given the penchant for outsourcing.) But organizational success for the employee is as likely to mean more stress from additional work as it is to mean promotions and profit sharing.
I don't think that entrepreneurs and organizations can protect employees from market forces. Employment is simply going to be less secure. That, it seems to me, is a fact of life.
Entrepreneurs and organizations can do more to share success with employees. On the downside, the economy has already made employment more like entrepreneurship in terms of risk. This negative can be more than offset by doing more to include employees in the upside of organizational success, giving them more autonomy and more potential for shared equity and profits as organizations succeed.
Hope for reward can offset some of the stress of dread of risk. Also, employees who can make more than just their salaries can also save a little more in anticipation of the inevitable job dislocations that it seems simply come with a dynamic, global economy.
Finally, as employees are treated more like entrepreneurs they're likely to act more like entrepreneurs, helping organizations to become more responsive to changing markets, adding to organization's ability to provide profits and salaries.
Today's situation could be very different. Good: employees are increasingly treated like entrepreneurs, sharing risks, rewards, and responsibilities. Better: organizations and employees are healthier and feel more in control of their own destinies and economic health.
Entrepreneurs face huge risk. More than half of businesses (about 90% by some estimates) fail. But entrepreneurs face this risk for at least two reasons: if they are successful they have the chance to be very successful AND various kinds of success can mean more autonomy and choice about how to live their lives.
Employees today in any arena face huge risk. Government employees and academia have joined the ranks of employees in the private sector, in small or large companies. Employees are probably as insecure as they've ever been, unsure what combination of demotion, reduction in benefits, or job loss they're likely to face. Or, more accurately, they simply aren't sure when they'll face these changes. But unlike entrepreneurs, employees don't face much of an upside. If the business or organization they're in is successful, they are more likely to be employed. (Even that is dicey, given the penchant for outsourcing.) But organizational success for the employee is as likely to mean more stress from additional work as it is to mean promotions and profit sharing.
I don't think that entrepreneurs and organizations can protect employees from market forces. Employment is simply going to be less secure. That, it seems to me, is a fact of life.
Entrepreneurs and organizations can do more to share success with employees. On the downside, the economy has already made employment more like entrepreneurship in terms of risk. This negative can be more than offset by doing more to include employees in the upside of organizational success, giving them more autonomy and more potential for shared equity and profits as organizations succeed.
Hope for reward can offset some of the stress of dread of risk. Also, employees who can make more than just their salaries can also save a little more in anticipation of the inevitable job dislocations that it seems simply come with a dynamic, global economy.
Finally, as employees are treated more like entrepreneurs they're likely to act more like entrepreneurs, helping organizations to become more responsive to changing markets, adding to organization's ability to provide profits and salaries.
Today's situation could be very different. Good: employees are increasingly treated like entrepreneurs, sharing risks, rewards, and responsibilities. Better: organizations and employees are healthier and feel more in control of their own destinies and economic health.
06 February 2011
Making a Game of Education
Games provide flow but rarely provide meaning. Education provides meaning but rarely provides flow. Time to bring gamers into the classroom?
Csikszentmihalyi has spent decades studying flow, the psychology of what engages and absorbs people. It seems to me that successful game designers are experts at creating flow. However, even though games offer an abundance of flow they don't offer much meaning; success at games rarely changes society or provides a living to the game player.
By contrast, education is meaningful. A degree can lead to a job and the work started in pursuit of an education can lead people to rethink society at its most basic level. (The founding fathers, for instance, were all students of the Enlightenment.)
It seems as though there is enormous potential that could come from creating a dialogue between educators and game designers. Perhaps the simplest thing would be to have gamers either enter the classroom or study curriculum to look for opportunities for creating flow. These gamers could work with educators on one simple, but impactful, goal: increase the amount of time each day that students spend in flow. Once they reach a critical point in this - say, once students are in flow for 20% of the day - they could begin to share educational practices.
I suspect that this seemingly simple goal would have profound implications for education. One condition for flow is feedback on how one is doing. Another is a balance between skill and challenge. Yet another is a clear goal. Creating flow experiences for students would mean - among other things - changing how and how rapidly students receive feedback. It would mean accepting where students are and starting there before pulling them to the next level (maintaining a balance between challenge and skill). And it would mean thinking about which goals would be meaningful to 8 or 10 or 14 year olds. This would mean redesigning education.
For now, education still seems heavily influenced by the goals and setting of religious instruction from the early days of formal education. We generally don't trust pleasure or the child's impulses as guides to learning. Beliefs from this orientation form a pattern. Children's attention needs to be directed with rebukes and reminders. Students may find education distasteful, but with enough self discipline, students can succeed. We cannot trust the self but instead have to repress it. And feedback comes instead in the form of judgment, often long after the task is done.
But what if we thought instead that what humans find naturally fascinating is, itself, a basis for an education? What if educational success was less a matter of self discipline than passion? And what if the joy a baby finds in learning to walk or talk is something that could continue to animate learning into one's 30s or 60s?
One last thing that I'll mention about the benefits that would follow from this approach to designing education is simply this: many of the same issues of flow and meaning that need to be addressed in education need to be addressed in knowledge work. Advances in education could hardly be contained to learning but would impact productivity as well.
Instead of telling kids to leave their games outside the classroom, maybe we should ask them to bring them in.
Csikszentmihalyi has spent decades studying flow, the psychology of what engages and absorbs people. It seems to me that successful game designers are experts at creating flow. However, even though games offer an abundance of flow they don't offer much meaning; success at games rarely changes society or provides a living to the game player.
By contrast, education is meaningful. A degree can lead to a job and the work started in pursuit of an education can lead people to rethink society at its most basic level. (The founding fathers, for instance, were all students of the Enlightenment.)
It seems as though there is enormous potential that could come from creating a dialogue between educators and game designers. Perhaps the simplest thing would be to have gamers either enter the classroom or study curriculum to look for opportunities for creating flow. These gamers could work with educators on one simple, but impactful, goal: increase the amount of time each day that students spend in flow. Once they reach a critical point in this - say, once students are in flow for 20% of the day - they could begin to share educational practices.
I suspect that this seemingly simple goal would have profound implications for education. One condition for flow is feedback on how one is doing. Another is a balance between skill and challenge. Yet another is a clear goal. Creating flow experiences for students would mean - among other things - changing how and how rapidly students receive feedback. It would mean accepting where students are and starting there before pulling them to the next level (maintaining a balance between challenge and skill). And it would mean thinking about which goals would be meaningful to 8 or 10 or 14 year olds. This would mean redesigning education.
For now, education still seems heavily influenced by the goals and setting of religious instruction from the early days of formal education. We generally don't trust pleasure or the child's impulses as guides to learning. Beliefs from this orientation form a pattern. Children's attention needs to be directed with rebukes and reminders. Students may find education distasteful, but with enough self discipline, students can succeed. We cannot trust the self but instead have to repress it. And feedback comes instead in the form of judgment, often long after the task is done.
But what if we thought instead that what humans find naturally fascinating is, itself, a basis for an education? What if educational success was less a matter of self discipline than passion? And what if the joy a baby finds in learning to walk or talk is something that could continue to animate learning into one's 30s or 60s?
One last thing that I'll mention about the benefits that would follow from this approach to designing education is simply this: many of the same issues of flow and meaning that need to be addressed in education need to be addressed in knowledge work. Advances in education could hardly be contained to learning but would impact productivity as well.
Instead of telling kids to leave their games outside the classroom, maybe we should ask them to bring them in.
03 February 2011
Living Somebody Else's Life - Beyond Inherited Goals to Corporate Transformation
We inherit goals. Personally, we find ourselves living within systems that have been designed by previous generations for their goals. Not just people but even institutions inherit goals.
The new nation-state first saw itself in a role like that of the Medieval Church. The church made itself responsible for the souls of its congregants and the early kings' gave themselves a similar role. The resultant chaos and bloodshed that came from centuries of religious wars was atrocious. It literally took centuries for the nation-state to ignore the goal of the church and instead focus on goals like the safety and prosperity of its citizens.
The corporation, too, seems to have first accepted the goal of the previously dominant institution. In this case, the corporation tries to imitate the goal of the bank, to make money, or, more specifically, to provide a return on capital. This misses the point. I've heard Russell Ackoff and Peter Drucker each make the point that profit is to a corporation what oxygen is to a person: vital but by no means its goal.
Corporations today, like the nation-state after the Reformation, is the most dominant institution. One of the keys to it realizing its potential to make life better for communities is that it treat profit not as the goal but as just one of its necessary conditions. Even if this were all that were involved in transforming the corporation, it would mean a large shift in how we think about our world. The good news is that once people begin thinking about the goal of the corporation beyond making money they will begin the process of reinvention. Then we will more often see the many and way cool things it can be.
The new nation-state first saw itself in a role like that of the Medieval Church. The church made itself responsible for the souls of its congregants and the early kings' gave themselves a similar role. The resultant chaos and bloodshed that came from centuries of religious wars was atrocious. It literally took centuries for the nation-state to ignore the goal of the church and instead focus on goals like the safety and prosperity of its citizens.
The corporation, too, seems to have first accepted the goal of the previously dominant institution. In this case, the corporation tries to imitate the goal of the bank, to make money, or, more specifically, to provide a return on capital. This misses the point. I've heard Russell Ackoff and Peter Drucker each make the point that profit is to a corporation what oxygen is to a person: vital but by no means its goal.
Corporations today, like the nation-state after the Reformation, is the most dominant institution. One of the keys to it realizing its potential to make life better for communities is that it treat profit not as the goal but as just one of its necessary conditions. Even if this were all that were involved in transforming the corporation, it would mean a large shift in how we think about our world. The good news is that once people begin thinking about the goal of the corporation beyond making money they will begin the process of reinvention. Then we will more often see the many and way cool things it can be.
01 February 2011
Tweets from Jan 2011
Egyptian government shuts down Internet - citizens forced to use hieroglyphics. On possibly related note, protestors build human pyramid.
Wonder how different you'd be if you were someone else. If your folks named you Alexander the Great instead of Reginald, for instance.
Another year and again snubbed by the organizers of Davos. Don't these people know that I have a blog?
3 happiest sounds in the English language: haha, ah, and aha. Apparently, exhaling makes us happy.
I swear they said Asian cuisine but was surprised to find mashed potatoes and digestive cookies. It was, sadly, an Agin' cuisine buffet.
Citizen - Journalists risk lives to cover national policies. Where are the employee - journalists to risk jobs to cover corporate policy?
Don't criticize anyone til you've walked a mile in their shoes. By then, what w/ the pain and blisters, you should be able to really cut loose.
Walmart has 'anti-aging' makeup for 8-year-olds? Wouldn't it be enough for them to resist aging by simply not wearing makeup?
Everything you ever do has to be, by definition, doable. I don't know why I keep having to relearn the need to change tasks until they are.
I'm thinking about getting a tattoo. Sort of. Just the words, "This is not a tattoo" written on my bicep.
"That's ridiculous!" "Well yes dear, but sometimes ridiculous is the best we can do."
I wish, rather than telling us to be more like China, Obama had told us to be more like Norway. Seems obvious who has better quality of life.
Taking my cue from Congress, I'm no longer going to just nod when I agree – however tepidly. I’m going to stand and applaud.
Cuba, that last holdout of communism, has the 2nd highest govt. spending as % of GDP. Only Iraq, our example of democracy, has higher.
Obama won't accept 2nd place, yet we're 10th in happiness, 11th in per capita GDP, and 33rd in education. Maybe he'll accept 3rd?
The universe is infinite AND expanding AND right here! If not mind boggling that seems at the very least mind jostling.
So, it turns out that it was Rahm Emanuel who was born in Kenya?
The biggest delusion of middle age is thinking that you won't have to change your life in the next decade just as much as you did at 20.
Today's biz idea: surf video web site, YouTubular.
Parents today worry about their children being bored in the same way that parents 100 years ago worried about their children being hungry.
"As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning and meaningful statements lose precision." - Lofti Zadeh
I wonder whether they consider it a good or bad thing when employees at Jack in the Box think outside the box.
Obama quickly tired of the Chinese president shrugging off all his challenges and queries with the quip, "The Hu Man is only Human."
34 of the 100 largest economies in the world are companies. A quarter of countries would not make Fortune 500 list (assuming sales ~ GDP)
I wonder if the Chinese will also add a 13th astrological sign. Already have a dragon and tiger. I vote for year of the panda.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." – MLK
I would like to find a really good personal trainer. And by really good, I mean someone who actually exercises for me.
Schwarzenegger says governorship cost him $200 million. Curiously, that's just a fraction of what it cost the state.
Her new year's resolutions became less demanding every year. This year it was simply to take down the Christmas lights. Eventually.
So, the earth is wobbling on its orbit and the 1st thing that concerns people is whether their horoscope has changed?
It's not so much 1 brain as many brain modules w/ different goals. Conflict is just a reminder that it's a small, primitive tribe up there.
About the same temp in Canada and San Diego this week. Only here it is 22 Celsius and there it was 22 Fahrenheit.
Presumably, awe is best in small doses. Awe-some is better than aw-ful.
Back from Coronado cooking up ideas on how to pull off a LBO of beach property by issuing junk bonds against my suburban home.
Will next generation pay security deposit, and then turn on utilities AND aesthetics? "Well yeah, I have electricity but no art or music.
Happy 1/11/11 day! There are 1's enough for everyone 1!
Honest to goodness graffiti seen here in Canada: "A Quiet, Peaceful Place." Canada, where even the vandals are polite.
In the 2,000 miles between San Diego and Corpus Cristi, there are 6,700 gun dealers. Along that stretch, Arizona is the easiest place to buy.
Saw a palm reader in downtown Vancouver. For an extra $20, he'll let you keep your gloves on so your hands stay warm while he does it.
If the Queen visited Canada, she'd only need one Canadian bill ... which she could then use as ID for cashing checks.
My nephew casually said, "It's hit and mystery." I would have corrected him but the way he said it actually makes more sense.
I think for my next career, it'd be fun to get into improvisational academia - just expounding theories w/o constraints of data or reason.
I think that flying could be really exciting. Especially if nobody had ever bothered to explain to you before how seat belts work.
Facebook values 500 million users at $50 billion, meaning 1 user = $100. I wonder if this will create a black market for false identities.
Initially baffled by the high prices, it took Ralph some time to realize that he'd stumbled into Cost'Mo instead.
I stepped outside and looked around. I couldn't see a flaw anywhere. It is a perfect day.
Oh boy. Here we go into the awkward 'tween stage of the century.
27 January 2011
Royal Weddings - Like Giving Alcohol to Toddlers
On her wedding day, a bride is royalty. On that day, we make no pretense that everyone is equal. We don't revel in the uniform of jeans and t shirts and casual conversations. Instead, it's a day with a royal procession, fawning over the princess, and a dress that transforms her from commoner to royalty.
We make a great show about everyone being equal in the West but what we really want is our shot at becoming royalty, at being the person who is beautiful, rich, and powerful enough that they're lauded simply for being friendly to the commoners. We don't so much want an egalitarian society as one in which we all have an equal shot at being treated better than everyone else.
We make a great show about everyone being equal in the West but what we really want is our shot at becoming royalty, at being the person who is beautiful, rich, and powerful enough that they're lauded simply for being friendly to the commoners. We don't so much want an egalitarian society as one in which we all have an equal shot at being treated better than everyone else.
And for that reason alone, a wedding is a hoot. Everyone wants a day to be treated like royalty.
So what happens when royalty have a wedding? It's like giving alcohol to toddlers who were already walking unsteadily and speaking incoherently. When royals have weddings ... well, you get a spectacle that generates more news than anything short of war or natural disaster.
This year William and Kate are getting married. If you can, buy stock in tabloids. At least for now. And try to wrap your mind around the idea of what it means for royalty to be treated like royalty.
25 January 2011
Tipping Point: The Corporation Eclipses the Nation-State
In this era of globalization, quality of life is increasingly a function of corporate, not government, policy.
52 of the 100 largest organizations in the world are corporations. Over half. [fn1]
This is even more remarkable given that corporations did not exist 150 years ago. [fn 2]
Just one of the many things suggested by this is that if the media wants to remain relevant, they may want to consider playing reporters within and for these corporations in the same way that they've learned to do within and for governments. It is within the corporation that our futures are being defined. It is time for communities to act like it.
------------
[fn 1] Jointly ranking companies by sales and countries by government spending.
[fn 2] More precisely, the modern, joint-stock, limited liability corporation did not exist. Lest you think that a legal technicality, in 1800 there was not a single organization that employed 500 or more employees, whereas today about half of all workers are employed by such organizations.
52 of the 100 largest organizations in the world are corporations. Over half. [fn1]
This is even more remarkable given that corporations did not exist 150 years ago. [fn 2]
Just one of the many things suggested by this is that if the media wants to remain relevant, they may want to consider playing reporters within and for these corporations in the same way that they've learned to do within and for governments. It is within the corporation that our futures are being defined. It is time for communities to act like it.
------------
[fn 1] Jointly ranking companies by sales and countries by government spending.
[fn 2] More precisely, the modern, joint-stock, limited liability corporation did not exist. Lest you think that a legal technicality, in 1800 there was not a single organization that employed 500 or more employees, whereas today about half of all workers are employed by such organizations.
Competition: The Consolation Prize That Offers so Little Consolation
Obama's going to win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, out-building rest of world. His new theme is competitiveness. Apparently he's found Dubya's old prescription med, the one that causes leaders to spout nonsense so familiar that hardly anyone notices that it is nonsense.
Competition is at odds with creativity. Competition reinforces rather than changes the status quo. If you are happy with the status quo, it's a good idea to work harder within the current system to do even better. If the system isn't giving you what you want, though, it might be time to step back to reconsider what system you want to create, what system you want to be a part of.
Obama says that he won't accept 2nd place. Well, we're only 10th by measures of happiness, 11th by measures of per person GDP, and 33rd by educational rankings. It seems to me that Obama should gladly accept a rise to 2nd place.
Obama has yet to do the hard work of defining what comes next, what world he's trying to create. Or, rather, the theme of being most competitive suggests that he hasn't. Obama has a chance to transcend platitudes this evening. If his focus is on competitiveness, that simply won't happen.
Competition is at odds with creativity. Competition reinforces rather than changes the status quo. If you are happy with the status quo, it's a good idea to work harder within the current system to do even better. If the system isn't giving you what you want, though, it might be time to step back to reconsider what system you want to create, what system you want to be a part of.
Obama says that he won't accept 2nd place. Well, we're only 10th by measures of happiness, 11th by measures of per person GDP, and 33rd by educational rankings. It seems to me that Obama should gladly accept a rise to 2nd place.
Obama has yet to do the hard work of defining what comes next, what world he's trying to create. Or, rather, the theme of being most competitive suggests that he hasn't. Obama has a chance to transcend platitudes this evening. If his focus is on competitiveness, that simply won't happen.
23 January 2011
Genetically Unimpressed with Authority
It's not that I don't respect people in authority. I just don't respect them any more than any other people. It turns out that my disdain for authority may be genetic.
My great grandparents ran a bed and breakfast up in the Redwoods between the Oregon border and Eureka, California. It was partly a business (the real business was the dairy) and partly a service since there weren't really hotels in that part of California in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They let out their bedrooms and served meals to the occasional visitors to the area. The beds were offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and when those were full, additional guests were sent out to the barn to sleep.
The governor of California, Governor Gillett, was hunting in the area on one busy night. My great grandparents treated him as they would any other guest; given the house was full, they sent him to sleep in the barn.
One nice post script to this is that Gillett was apparently appointed by Republican Party heads because they knew he'd favor the railroads over the local communities and Gillett was not a particularly popular governor.
It seems like a shame that this tradition never caught on. How fun would it be to periodically send politicians out to the barn?
My great grandparents ran a bed and breakfast up in the Redwoods between the Oregon border and Eureka, California. It was partly a business (the real business was the dairy) and partly a service since there weren't really hotels in that part of California in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They let out their bedrooms and served meals to the occasional visitors to the area. The beds were offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and when those were full, additional guests were sent out to the barn to sleep.
The governor of California, Governor Gillett, was hunting in the area on one busy night. My great grandparents treated him as they would any other guest; given the house was full, they sent him to sleep in the barn.
One nice post script to this is that Gillett was apparently appointed by Republican Party heads because they knew he'd favor the railroads over the local communities and Gillett was not a particularly popular governor.
It seems like a shame that this tradition never caught on. How fun would it be to periodically send politicians out to the barn?
13 January 2011
The Deep Roots of America's Gun Culture
Along the 2,000 miles of border between San Diego and Corpus Christi, there are about 6,700 gun dealers. All on the American side, of course: guns are illegal in bullet-ridden Mexico.
Perhaps the reason that Americans love their guns has its roots deep in the collective history of Western Civilization.
The conservative impulse is always a desire for what once was, a pull towards some idealized past. This is not to say that it is at odds with progress: Renaissance thinkers sought to return to what they saw as the glorious past of the Greeks and Romans. They were not deliberately trying to create something new but were, instead, trying to revive the classical world that had died centuries before.
Conservatives try to retain what is – or even return to what they imagine once was. Religious conservatives feel a pull towards a past in which the church could define society. Social conservatives want to return to an imagined past in which social mores were more clear, were simpler, when mores were more moral.
Without understanding what came before the nation-state, one can’t really understand the love of guns in this country. It seems to have its roots in feudal Europe, a pull towards an idealized world that came before the rule of the state.
Few realize that feudal Europe was a world in which disputes were settled by, well, feuds. There was no recognized central government and if two families or regions or people had a difference, they settled it through negotiation, trickery, or force.
Although clergy were prohibited from carrying arms, everyone else was expected to be armed and prepared to defend himself. Rights were not guaranteed but had to be fought for and “war” regularly broke out between families, groups, and even individuals. Although this seems to us like anarchy, these feuds were one characteristic of feudalism.
Medieval society was closer to anarchy than anything we know of as a modern nation-state. Force was used to settle issues and anyone could wage war against anyone else. Feuds were common in this age of feudalism. If this seems primitive, American readers might do well to remember what happened to the chief author of the Federalist Papers, which did so much to define the United States. Even for him, law did not offer an honorable resolution to disagreement: Hamilton, the first American Treasury Secretary, was killed in a duel because Aaron Burr thought that Hamilton’s criticism ruined his candidacy. The bill of rights that included a right to bear arms drew from this earlier time of feuds when the individual distrusted government’s monopoly on power. Even this constitutional genius had more regard for honor than law; culture changes slowly and involves more than just reason. Although they didn’t use pistols, many a medieval man died as did Hamilton, although for them there would have been, for them, no alternative of resorting to law rather than a personal duel or feud.
Conservatives today have a love of guns because theirs is still an uneasy trust in the machinations of justice as administered by the state.
Now for us normal people, the thought of justice administered by force rather than law or reason seems unreasonable. And perhaps many conservatives would articulate the same thing. But in some deeper recess of their coerced social evolution, they still pull back from the idea of ceding power to faceless bureaucrats. The right to bear arms becomes sacred because it represents at a real and visceral level the last bastion of resistance against the monopoly on power that the state uses as the basis for everything else it imposes upon its citizens – from laws, regulations, and taxes.
07 January 2011
December Tweeting
Rush Limbaugh? Ha! Let's tackle him
Retro product idea: a rotary dial cell phone. (Or is there already a smart phone app for that?)
# of stars now 300 sextillion, 3X previous estimates. On a related note, mathematicians have tripled the estimated value of infinity.
NASA discovers that life in CA is ... different. Who would have guessed? http://t.co/OYdQZEE
Everything is systems. Context is just the system bigger than the system on which you're focused.
Wonder how we'd explain to Martians that no issue's more vital to r future than the question of whether to raise taxes another 3% on just 2% of the pop.
Time to start thinking about new year's resolutions. One I'm contemplating is liberal use of the word "uber."
The escalator hand rail in O'Hare has become a billboard. Turns out that the final frontier in space is advertising space. Absurd.
"We're waiting for pilots," they announced. "I don't have a license but I've always wanted to fly one," I tell the crew. Sadly, they thought I was joking
How about negative entropy pool? After the initial break, the goal is to get the balls back into the formation of the original triangle.
LA County now fines Jaywalkers $191. This fine is discounted 50%, tho, if at the time of arrest you can demonstrate a decent moonwalk.
Congress is extending tax cuts & benefits. They talk of deficit reduction w/ double-digit unemployment but it turns out they aren't idiots.
Philadelphia Phillies ranks up there with San Diego Sandies or Los Angeles Losers for imaginative team names.
Assange arrested in Europe. I wonder if we'll ever see the diplomatic cables requesting his arrest. Probably all done with phone calls.
Well, at least Republicans are clear about the one thing on which they won't compromise: tax cuts for the top 2%.
Shouldn't an elevator be called something else when it is going down?
Jeter goes 2 for 2 Tuesday. $51 million contract from Yankees. Cool million in extra take home over next 2 years from Obama & Republicans.
Imagine ....
[Lennon anniversary]
Language defines the meaning we give to sounds; culture defines the meaning we give to behaviors.
Is the allure of Cinderella for women really about the prince or the thought of someone making great effort to deliver the perfect shoe?
Jung's Lost Manuscript: TV, the collective semiconscious.
wikileaks. Good: citizens know what govt does but their own lives are private. Bad: govt knows what citizens do but its actions are private.
Republicans’ economic philosophy: the 1 reason everyone is not rich is that tax rates are so high they leave us no incentive to be rich
Given the anxious look on his face, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to hear him ask, "Where is your codependent reader section?"
Love begins with approval, continues with acceptance.
Do you suppose that if Americans suddenly had technology to extend life to centuries there would be a push for euthanasia legislation?
Reliarmed? the mix of relief and alarm when you discover you've narrowly averted a disaster that you didn't know about until it had passed.
Every 24 hrs, life expectancy rises 5 hrs. If rate of improvement tracks productivity increases, by 2100 it'll rise 24 hrs every 24 hrs.
There's no need for gratuitously complicatifying things.
Could not figure out why we were just sitting on the tarmac unable to take off. Then I realized that I'd left my cell phone on.
Uniform idea: designed to look blurry and out of focus so that defenders continually question the direction and location of players.
Wonder if we'll develop something even better than North Korea's spring-loaded marching step once we've repealed don't ask / don't tell.
Sadly, to save on royalties, the Salvation Army bought the rights to the "Jingle Bells" songwriter's lesser known tune: "Jangle Bells."
Wonder how computer repair will evolve. Cars are still expensive to repair but need it less often. Clothes are cheap enough to just replace.
Michael Jackson just came out with a new album. You can text him an interview request via Ouija board.
No one ever points out that while we've kept the mass in Christmas, it has morphed from religious ceremony to actual ... well, mass. I suspect that the average weight gain during Christmas is about 5 pounds.
Is it just me, or does Julian Assange look look like a Tolkien character?
http://bit.ly/gvAUCu MS gov Haley Barbour doesn't remember segregation as "being that bad." Didn't Rockefeller say that abt the depression?
If Santa were from the South Pole instead of the North do you suppose homes would be filled with the smells of frying instead of baking?
You are what you tweet.
I don't care who you are, the thought of living 500+ years has got to hold your attention for 20 minutes. http://on.ted.com/8mvR
The teen center had a small auditorium with an awkward stage.
Something about his cooking made her briefly wonder whether cuisine and queasy didn't have a shared etymology
Really looking forward to ESPN's special holiday board game coverage.
Probably best not to think about how Santa treats his elves and suppliers as he works to drive down costs to zero.
Some restaurant is going to start offering "even primer rib" and "primest rib." And once that happens, who'll settle for mere "prime rib?"
Before you agree to push back the ocean, study the tide tables. Life is simpler when you work with the forces rather than against them ... plus it is kind of fun to take credit for the inevitable.
I wonder if Santa Claus and the Buddha go to the same gym.
Heard Bobby Dylan tell a joke today. "My friend Derek is an atheist. His favorite Christmas movie is 'Coincidence on 34th Street.'"
Oh boy. I now have less than a week in which to get serious about my 2010 new year's resolution
I have just 2 questions of walking or jogging partners. 1. Can you keep up on the way out? 2. Can you carry me on the way back?
2011 and still no personal robots or flying cars. Technical difficulties? OK. But what's the holdup on the ubiquitous, unisex coveralls that used to be in every sci fi movie?
The things you learn in checkout. Apparently, Eva Longoria is not attractive enough to find someone to mate with. http://bit.ly/gFADij
Odd, really, that a country founded by men in wigs took centuries to repeal "don't ask / don't tell."
I think that next I'd like to be an unlicensed aristocrat.
If the amygdala is the part of the brain that socializes, is facebook the internet's amygdala? http://yhoo.it/flgWSj
Could have sworn that just yesterday we were living in San Diego. Today, instead, I could just swear. Rain? Cold? Again?
Saw a bi-plane yesterday. I guess they call it that because its performance is the same regardless of its orientation.
One of amazing things about the internet is that it takes all the effort out of multitasking. You don't even have to get out of your chair to be distracted
Mankind has all kinds.
It's probably too late to get the tshirts printed up to sell for this year ... "Make love, not resolutions. Happy New Year!"
Retro product idea: a rotary dial cell phone. (Or is there already a smart phone app for that?)
# of stars now 300 sextillion, 3X previous estimates. On a related note, mathematicians have tripled the estimated value of infinity.
NASA discovers that life in CA is ... different. Who would have guessed? http://t.co/OYdQZEE
Everything is systems. Context is just the system bigger than the system on which you're focused.
Wonder how we'd explain to Martians that no issue's more vital to r future than the question of whether to raise taxes another 3% on just 2% of the pop.
Time to start thinking about new year's resolutions. One I'm contemplating is liberal use of the word "uber."
The escalator hand rail in O'Hare has become a billboard. Turns out that the final frontier in space is advertising space. Absurd.
"We're waiting for pilots," they announced. "I don't have a license but I've always wanted to fly one," I tell the crew. Sadly, they thought I was joking
How about negative entropy pool? After the initial break, the goal is to get the balls back into the formation of the original triangle.
LA County now fines Jaywalkers $191. This fine is discounted 50%, tho, if at the time of arrest you can demonstrate a decent moonwalk.
Congress is extending tax cuts & benefits. They talk of deficit reduction w/ double-digit unemployment but it turns out they aren't idiots.
Philadelphia Phillies ranks up there with San Diego Sandies or Los Angeles Losers for imaginative team names.
Assange arrested in Europe. I wonder if we'll ever see the diplomatic cables requesting his arrest. Probably all done with phone calls.
Well, at least Republicans are clear about the one thing on which they won't compromise: tax cuts for the top 2%.
Shouldn't an elevator be called something else when it is going down?
Jeter goes 2 for 2 Tuesday. $51 million contract from Yankees. Cool million in extra take home over next 2 years from Obama & Republicans.
Imagine ....
[Lennon anniversary]
Language defines the meaning we give to sounds; culture defines the meaning we give to behaviors.
Is the allure of Cinderella for women really about the prince or the thought of someone making great effort to deliver the perfect shoe?
Jung's Lost Manuscript: TV, the collective semiconscious.
wikileaks. Good: citizens know what govt does but their own lives are private. Bad: govt knows what citizens do but its actions are private.
Republicans’ economic philosophy: the 1 reason everyone is not rich is that tax rates are so high they leave us no incentive to be rich
Given the anxious look on his face, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to hear him ask, "Where is your codependent reader section?"
Love begins with approval, continues with acceptance.
Do you suppose that if Americans suddenly had technology to extend life to centuries there would be a push for euthanasia legislation?
Reliarmed? the mix of relief and alarm when you discover you've narrowly averted a disaster that you didn't know about until it had passed.
Every 24 hrs, life expectancy rises 5 hrs. If rate of improvement tracks productivity increases, by 2100 it'll rise 24 hrs every 24 hrs.
There's no need for gratuitously complicatifying things.
Could not figure out why we were just sitting on the tarmac unable to take off. Then I realized that I'd left my cell phone on.
Uniform idea: designed to look blurry and out of focus so that defenders continually question the direction and location of players.
Wonder if we'll develop something even better than North Korea's spring-loaded marching step once we've repealed don't ask / don't tell.
Sadly, to save on royalties, the Salvation Army bought the rights to the "Jingle Bells" songwriter's lesser known tune: "Jangle Bells."
Wonder how computer repair will evolve. Cars are still expensive to repair but need it less often. Clothes are cheap enough to just replace.
Michael Jackson just came out with a new album. You can text him an interview request via Ouija board.
No one ever points out that while we've kept the mass in Christmas, it has morphed from religious ceremony to actual ... well, mass. I suspect that the average weight gain during Christmas is about 5 pounds.
Is it just me, or does Julian Assange look look like a Tolkien character?
http://bit.ly/gvAUCu MS gov Haley Barbour doesn't remember segregation as "being that bad." Didn't Rockefeller say that abt the depression?
If Santa were from the South Pole instead of the North do you suppose homes would be filled with the smells of frying instead of baking?
You are what you tweet.
I don't care who you are, the thought of living 500+ years has got to hold your attention for 20 minutes. http://on.ted.com/8mvR
The teen center had a small auditorium with an awkward stage.
Something about his cooking made her briefly wonder whether cuisine and queasy didn't have a shared etymology
Really looking forward to ESPN's special holiday board game coverage.
Probably best not to think about how Santa treats his elves and suppliers as he works to drive down costs to zero.
Some restaurant is going to start offering "even primer rib" and "primest rib." And once that happens, who'll settle for mere "prime rib?"
Before you agree to push back the ocean, study the tide tables. Life is simpler when you work with the forces rather than against them ... plus it is kind of fun to take credit for the inevitable.
I wonder if Santa Claus and the Buddha go to the same gym.
Heard Bobby Dylan tell a joke today. "My friend Derek is an atheist. His favorite Christmas movie is 'Coincidence on 34th Street.'"
Oh boy. I now have less than a week in which to get serious about my 2010 new year's resolution
I have just 2 questions of walking or jogging partners. 1. Can you keep up on the way out? 2. Can you carry me on the way back?
2011 and still no personal robots or flying cars. Technical difficulties? OK. But what's the holdup on the ubiquitous, unisex coveralls that used to be in every sci fi movie?
The things you learn in checkout. Apparently, Eva Longoria is not attractive enough to find someone to mate with. http://bit.ly/gFADij
Odd, really, that a country founded by men in wigs took centuries to repeal "don't ask / don't tell."
I think that next I'd like to be an unlicensed aristocrat.
If the amygdala is the part of the brain that socializes, is facebook the internet's amygdala? http://yhoo.it/flgWSj
Could have sworn that just yesterday we were living in San Diego. Today, instead, I could just swear. Rain? Cold? Again?
Saw a bi-plane yesterday. I guess they call it that because its performance is the same regardless of its orientation.
One of amazing things about the internet is that it takes all the effort out of multitasking. You don't even have to get out of your chair to be distracted
Mankind has all kinds.
It's probably too late to get the tshirts printed up to sell for this year ... "Make love, not resolutions. Happy New Year!"
03 January 2011
Waiter! About My Order! Wealth Distribution in the US
Here is a fascinating piece on wealth distribution by UC Santa Cruz professor G. William Domhoff.
To put this in perspective, imagine comments on yelp from reviewers who had dined at a restaurant where the waiter served one guy 42 hamburgers, the next 19 guys a total of 50 burgers and then made the last 80 people share just 7 burgers. My guess is that patrons would be less than impressed with the service (or might suspect that they were on candid camera). And yet we accept an economic system that distributes wealth just that poorly.
Here are some of the more amazing facts about wealth and income in the US.
The bottom 40% of households have only 0.3% of the wealth. That's not 3/10th. That's 3/1,000th.
The median white household has about $43,600 in net worth (not counting house value). For black and Hispanic households, median wealth is $500 and $400. That's right. Total net worth less than the typical monthly rent.
The top 10% of American households hold 70% of the wealth. Only Switzerland, a country that did not let women vote until 1970, has more inequality. In Germany and Finland, the top 10% have less than 50% (44% and 42%, respectively).
Income for the top 1% of Americans between 1982 and 2006 rose from 12.8% to 21.3% of all income, income mostly shifted from the bottom 80%.
The ratio of CEO pay to average factory worker pay peaked at about 500 to 1 in 2000 in the US. By contrast, in Europe, the ratio is 25 to 1.
In 2004, the top 1/10th of one percent made more than the lowest paid 120 million Americans.
To put this in perspective, imagine comments on yelp from reviewers who had dined at a restaurant where the waiter served one guy 42 hamburgers, the next 19 guys a total of 50 burgers and then made the last 80 people share just 7 burgers. My guess is that patrons would be less than impressed with the service (or might suspect that they were on candid camera). And yet we accept an economic system that distributes wealth just that poorly.
Here are some of the more amazing facts about wealth and income in the US.
The bottom 40% of households have only 0.3% of the wealth. That's not 3/10th. That's 3/1,000th.
The median white household has about $43,600 in net worth (not counting house value). For black and Hispanic households, median wealth is $500 and $400. That's right. Total net worth less than the typical monthly rent.
The top 10% of American households hold 70% of the wealth. Only Switzerland, a country that did not let women vote until 1970, has more inequality. In Germany and Finland, the top 10% have less than 50% (44% and 42%, respectively).
Income for the top 1% of Americans between 1982 and 2006 rose from 12.8% to 21.3% of all income, income mostly shifted from the bottom 80%.
The ratio of CEO pay to average factory worker pay peaked at about 500 to 1 in 2000 in the US. By contrast, in Europe, the ratio is 25 to 1.
In 2004, the top 1/10th of one percent made more than the lowest paid 120 million Americans.
“The reason socialism never took hold in America is because the poor don’t see themselves as exploited proletariat so much as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
- John Steinbeck
The Least Confessed - Most Often Pursued - Resolution
“The purpose of life is to fart around. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”
- Kurt VonnegutI like the idea of new year's resolutions. I love the idea of using any excuse for a fresh start, for renewing or creating a new goal or way of being. I'm not a cynic about goals or resolutions, but I do find it curious that what appears to be most valued is least mentioned.
Left to our own devices, we will play. We will stare at monitors, out windows, and at wallpaper. We will engage ourselves in such meaningless tasks that should someone ask us, "What'd you do?" the only honest response would be, "Haven't a clue."
And yet no one says, "This year, I resolve to give myself, guilt free, hours each week to dabble, putz, and fool around," in spite of the fact that our actions would seem to suggest that this is something we value.
If it is guilt that keeps you from admitting to your love for idle time, it seems to me that there are at least a couple of socially redeeming justifications for such behavior - justifications beyond the simple enough justification of "it makes me happy."
Idling gives you more energy to sprint when you need to. I find that the more time I spend trying to be productive, the less productive I can be. If you are trying to be productive 26.2 miles a day, you'll go at a much slower pace than if you are trying to be productive for 100 yards. Some tasks are more performance than productive; you have to be "on" for 15 minutes or an hour. If idling into that surge of adrenalin and engagement makes you more powerful in that moment, idling might be the smartest thing you can do.
Plus, this is a complicated and confusing world which requires us to learn and change, something that play makes easier. Covey used to make the distinction between efficient ("he was fast up that ladder") and effective ("oops - his ladder was leaning against the wrong wall!"). The person who has his head down the whole time, working to be productive, has less opportunity to explore other possibilities, to contemplate other ways to be. Children play all the time and no adult learns as much or changes as much as a child. Play - or fiddling about - gives a child a safe space to experiment with other personalities, goals, and roles. Play is personal experimentation and facilitates development.
Perhaps this is the year to stop pretending that you don't like to pretend, to play, to daydream, and to fart around. Perhaps this year it is worth leaving your self some elbow room to develop, muse, and unfold in unexpected directions.
30 December 2010
Redefining the Nation-State as a Phase of Life Instead of Place
More Americans are retiring in Mexico. It costs less to live there.
Mexicans are still trying to come to the US for work. Jobs pay more here.
What if, over time, nation-states are less places than way stations for phases of life? What it will mean to be American is that you have a good job. What it means to be Mexican is that you are retired. You know, sort of like what it means to be New Yorker or a Floridan.
"Mom, where do people go when they die?"
"South America, honey."
Mexicans are still trying to come to the US for work. Jobs pay more here.
What if, over time, nation-states are less places than way stations for phases of life? What it will mean to be American is that you have a good job. What it means to be Mexican is that you are retired. You know, sort of like what it means to be New Yorker or a Floridan.
"Mom, where do people go when they die?"
"South America, honey."
29 December 2010
Breaking the Handcuffs of History - From Stimulating the Old Economy to Creating a New One
I'm a firm believer that the farther back one goes into history, the further ahead one can predict. This, of course, depends on understanding patterns and dynamics that drive events. As much as I love history as a means for understanding how we got here and the direction we're heading, I often see history used as a way to define what is possible rather than create new possibilities.
In today's economy, there are frequent parallels drawn to FDR and the slow recovery from the Great Depression. I'm not sure that the right lessons have been drawn from this.
WWII seemed to have ended the Great Depression. Industries like information technology and commercial aviation were direct products of the war effort. Industries like pharmaceuticals and media were less obviously a product of the war than of the many beneficiaries of the GI Bill that created so many knowledge workers who, in turn, created or made possible new industries so dependent on knowledge workers.
One lesson is that if we also stimulate the economy and fund education, we'll also stimulate GDP and create jobs. This is partly true - as can be seen by the fact that we've partly accomplished these goals. (GDP is again rising; unemployment stays disturbingly high.) But it seems to me that there is a more important lesson.
FDR partially, and the second world war more completely, didn't just nudge the economy towards full employment. FDR created entirely new departments and government bureaucracies in addition to the new industries that were spun off from the war effort. It wasn't just that old industries and government agencies employed more people: entirely new industries and agencies created jobs.
Bush started - and then Obama continued - a huge stimulus package. But neither have actually helped to create new industries.
Alternative energy is the obvious new industry that could be created by government initiative. Others include longevity enhancement, nanotechnology manufacturing and repair, commercial "space" travel, and mental health through cognitive science (and not just pharmaceuticals) to name just a few.
To date, the attempt to create jobs by cutting taxes for corporations and buying bonds from banks has proven wildly inadequate. Corporations now sit on top of a record $2 trillion in cash - money that's not being used to create products, processes, or jobs. Banks are still not loaning. Corporations and banks have money but they are not creating.
Instead of wasting stimulus potential through tax cuts and bank financing, the government would do well to directly fund the creation of new technologies and companies. Yes, fund new companies that represent new industries that would absorb displaced workers and hire new ones.
The real lesson of the recovery from the Great Depression is not to merely stimulate the old economy. It is, as well, to help play midwife to new ones. Until we're that bold, I think that our recovery is going to look more like Japan's decade long stagnation than any previous recovery we've enjoyed.
In today's economy, there are frequent parallels drawn to FDR and the slow recovery from the Great Depression. I'm not sure that the right lessons have been drawn from this.
WWII seemed to have ended the Great Depression. Industries like information technology and commercial aviation were direct products of the war effort. Industries like pharmaceuticals and media were less obviously a product of the war than of the many beneficiaries of the GI Bill that created so many knowledge workers who, in turn, created or made possible new industries so dependent on knowledge workers.
One lesson is that if we also stimulate the economy and fund education, we'll also stimulate GDP and create jobs. This is partly true - as can be seen by the fact that we've partly accomplished these goals. (GDP is again rising; unemployment stays disturbingly high.) But it seems to me that there is a more important lesson.
FDR partially, and the second world war more completely, didn't just nudge the economy towards full employment. FDR created entirely new departments and government bureaucracies in addition to the new industries that were spun off from the war effort. It wasn't just that old industries and government agencies employed more people: entirely new industries and agencies created jobs.
Bush started - and then Obama continued - a huge stimulus package. But neither have actually helped to create new industries.
Alternative energy is the obvious new industry that could be created by government initiative. Others include longevity enhancement, nanotechnology manufacturing and repair, commercial "space" travel, and mental health through cognitive science (and not just pharmaceuticals) to name just a few.
To date, the attempt to create jobs by cutting taxes for corporations and buying bonds from banks has proven wildly inadequate. Corporations now sit on top of a record $2 trillion in cash - money that's not being used to create products, processes, or jobs. Banks are still not loaning. Corporations and banks have money but they are not creating.
Instead of wasting stimulus potential through tax cuts and bank financing, the government would do well to directly fund the creation of new technologies and companies. Yes, fund new companies that represent new industries that would absorb displaced workers and hire new ones.
The real lesson of the recovery from the Great Depression is not to merely stimulate the old economy. It is, as well, to help play midwife to new ones. Until we're that bold, I think that our recovery is going to look more like Japan's decade long stagnation than any previous recovery we've enjoyed.
27 December 2010
iBudget: The Per Person National Budget, Allocated by You
I think it is time that federal budgets be translated into per person amounts so that we all can have some sense of perspective.
The idea of a $14 trillion economy or a $3.5 trillion federal budget is mind numbing. I propose that all talk about budgets and taxes be adjusted to per person totals. Our roughly $14 trillion economy, for instance, translates into about $46,000 per person. The first number makes no sense to me; the second does.
So, even if - like me - you haven't a clue what $663 billion for defense looks like, you can understand what it means to have each person pay $2,200 a year for defense, or about 5 cents of each dollar they make. A National Science Foundation budget to finance all basic research is about $7 billion. Sounds like a lot, but that means each American chips in about $23 a year. In other words, if you go to a nice, but by no means extravagant, restaurant, you'll spend as much on that one meal as you spend to help fund basic research.
It wouldn't be hard for the federal government to have a website that allowed people to enter their income to see how much they were funding in each category. And I think that if we can calculate taxes we owe each year, we should also have the ability to allocate those taxes. I'd be fascinated to see what gaps showed up between current government outlays and what the average person thought we ought to allocate to. If we were really brave, we could let each tax payer allocate - the total budget distribution a weighted average of every taxpayers' allocation.
These steps would make the budget process more personal and maybe even make it feel a little more like it was our government.
The idea of a $14 trillion economy or a $3.5 trillion federal budget is mind numbing. I propose that all talk about budgets and taxes be adjusted to per person totals. Our roughly $14 trillion economy, for instance, translates into about $46,000 per person. The first number makes no sense to me; the second does.
So, even if - like me - you haven't a clue what $663 billion for defense looks like, you can understand what it means to have each person pay $2,200 a year for defense, or about 5 cents of each dollar they make. A National Science Foundation budget to finance all basic research is about $7 billion. Sounds like a lot, but that means each American chips in about $23 a year. In other words, if you go to a nice, but by no means extravagant, restaurant, you'll spend as much on that one meal as you spend to help fund basic research.
It wouldn't be hard for the federal government to have a website that allowed people to enter their income to see how much they were funding in each category. And I think that if we can calculate taxes we owe each year, we should also have the ability to allocate those taxes. I'd be fascinated to see what gaps showed up between current government outlays and what the average person thought we ought to allocate to. If we were really brave, we could let each tax payer allocate - the total budget distribution a weighted average of every taxpayers' allocation.
These steps would make the budget process more personal and maybe even make it feel a little more like it was our government.
23 December 2010
On Conversation
I was recently with a friend who left me dismayed. He's become the guy whose opinions are not opinions but are, instead, "the way things are." This dismayed me because such an approach takes all the joy out of every conversation and because it was a reminder of how easily I could become (could be?) that guy. I have very strong opinions.
But it seems to me that the best conversations are the ones that don't smack down possibility before it's even out of the womb. Instead, conversations that play with possibility, coddle it, and explore it are best. This means that a person can talk without being defensive. (I do think that there is something expansive about good conversations. They don't make us hunker down but instead draw us out to dance.) This means that a person gets to discover for himself or herself what is or is not workable in this possibility. And finally, in the end, it clarifies the real purpose of a conversation. Conversation is not about the battle of ideas or an exchange of information: conversation is about, not just getting to uncover ourselves but getting to discover ourselves. A good conversation leaves you vulnerable at times. It is as much about confessing what you don't know as what you do. It is not about alternating monologues but instead about co-creating a dialogue. This means cooperation, not competition.
Next time you are in a conversation, try the following. When someone mentions something that you disagree with, play with it. Listen to them. Ask them questions that get them to explore the consequences of what they're saying, rather than having you point this out. Not only do they get to understand themselves better, but you, too, might come to understand them. And if there is anything that we all want, it is to be heard and understood.
Finally, I'll try not to be the guy who "knows." My own conclusion about life is that it is easiest to be arrogant when you've not really tried anything. If you are sincere about trying to accomplish something that matters, you'll inevitably be humbled by life ... and if you are honest about it, this will leave you open to hear what someone else might know that could be a help to you becoming who it is that you're becoming.
But it seems to me that the best conversations are the ones that don't smack down possibility before it's even out of the womb. Instead, conversations that play with possibility, coddle it, and explore it are best. This means that a person can talk without being defensive. (I do think that there is something expansive about good conversations. They don't make us hunker down but instead draw us out to dance.) This means that a person gets to discover for himself or herself what is or is not workable in this possibility. And finally, in the end, it clarifies the real purpose of a conversation. Conversation is not about the battle of ideas or an exchange of information: conversation is about, not just getting to uncover ourselves but getting to discover ourselves. A good conversation leaves you vulnerable at times. It is as much about confessing what you don't know as what you do. It is not about alternating monologues but instead about co-creating a dialogue. This means cooperation, not competition.
Next time you are in a conversation, try the following. When someone mentions something that you disagree with, play with it. Listen to them. Ask them questions that get them to explore the consequences of what they're saying, rather than having you point this out. Not only do they get to understand themselves better, but you, too, might come to understand them. And if there is anything that we all want, it is to be heard and understood.
Finally, I'll try not to be the guy who "knows." My own conclusion about life is that it is easiest to be arrogant when you've not really tried anything. If you are sincere about trying to accomplish something that matters, you'll inevitably be humbled by life ... and if you are honest about it, this will leave you open to hear what someone else might know that could be a help to you becoming who it is that you're becoming.
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