“You’ve got these kids, and they’re creating these worlds, and they think they’re just playing a game, but they have to solve some of the hardest problems facing humanity.” Continue reading
Blog Posts and Writings Tagged: Complexity
Blog 90. How to boil an egg in a microwave
Submerge the egg in a mug of water. Turn on the microwave for one minute. Listen for snap as the eggshell cracks. That’s ok, the crack relieves pressure. Reduce power to 40% and run the microwave for another minute. At 35 seconds you will hear a loud pop. Continue reading
Blog 39. Is federal regulation legal?
In drafting the federal constitution, the founding fathers didn’t foresee a government involved in administering diverse things like air travel, radio waves, rivers, and food purity. The Constitution specifically allows regulation of interstate commerce and postal roads, but, for example, does it allow federal regulation of pollution in rivers? Continue reading
Blog 34. Ancient Greeks and Current Monetocracy
When life gets chaotic
I have suggested that, when daily living becomes sufficiently chaotic, people will look for simple solutions and welcome dictatorial control that promises simplicity. There’s some ancient Greek wisdom to support this view, although the Greeks didn’t have our mathematical notion of complexity that emerged during the last thirty years. Continue reading
Blog 18. Social Anxiety Rooted in Inequality?
Angst
In talking with people-including conservatives, liberals, the young adults, and especially the retirees-I detect an underlying tension, an angst, as though something is generally wrong, the world is decaying despite the visible affluence without a particular ill symptom or dissatisfaction. What’s going on? Continue reading
Blog 15. The B Team Has Plan B for Profits, People, and the Earth
Frustrated by change?
As Blog 1 discussed, society is changing faster every year, with the rate of change driven by the accumulation of prior changes. My frustrated colleagues issue complaints like this:
- The print and broadcast news media are becoming slanted because they are controlled by a few companies with political agendas.
- Commercial TV now fills 30% of its time with advertising.
- The news is no longer investigative journalism, but panders to spectacular events and personality displays.
- Politicians focus on making the other side look bad rather than solving problems.
- Blame and fear instead of facts and analysis recently dominate government.
- CEOs make tens of millions while outsourcing jobs.
- As soon as they are elected, congressmen invest half their time in fund-raising and politicking for the next election.
- Big businesses like oil and corporate farming get subsidies.
Blog 10. Economics and Carrots and Social Security
Political arguments.
Political arguments whirl regarding the solvency of Social Security, the enduring recession, the inability of congress to pass a budget, and the monetary loans intended to postpone the collapse of Spain and Greece. The arguments don’t address the sisgnificant question. In the absence of war or pestilence, why do economic systems collapse even though the physical methods to produce food, clothing, and shelter exist unchanged?
Continue reading
Blog 9. Is regulation a dirty word?
Imposed ideology?
Regulation is not always an imposition of political ideology. Most regulation is adopted by governmental agencies such as a city planning commission or the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), supposedly away from elected bodies like city councils, state legislatures, and congress. Regulation– from speed limits to barber licenses or pollution control– is theoretically free from partisan ideology. That’s a nice theory, but a myth.