Biology

State of the World 2012

• #106: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Mon 9 Jan 12 14:55
  Why Do Nations Fail? http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/103766Re. Arab spring:"The big question is: Is this going to be a political revolution like the Glorious Revolution in England, which unleashed a fundamental process of transformation in the political system with associated economic changes? Ultimately, such political revolut […]
• #105: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Mon 9 Jan 12 13:26
  The Rise of the Megacity via Big Think.http://bigthink.com/ideas/41833?utm_source=Daily+Ideafeed+Newsletter&utm_campaign=bf9f288d0a-Daily_Ideafeed_January_9_2012&utm_medium=emailToday, 600 urban cities generate about 60 percent of the world*s GDP, according to a recent report by McKinsey Global Institute. By 2025, some of those cities will fall off t […]
• #104: Fron Anders Nygaard (captward) Mon 9 Jan 12 09:11
  From Anders Nygaard via e-mail:Interesting interpretation of nordic social culture @#88 - one I do not particularily recognize myself or any of my friends in :) Which brought on a thought. Gamification techniques appear to have proven to be extremely effective for some limited applications, such as the much-advertised AIDS protein breaktrough. (However, they […]
• #103: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Mon 9 Jan 12 07:13
  Here's a surviving "psychedelic dreamtime" pitch. It's about eating psychedelic mushrooms as a spiritual adventure. Interestingly, it's (a) mostly a historical lecture, (b) Dutch, and (c) framed as part of a Maker scene.http://www.mediamatic.net/page/233314/enhttp://www.mediamatic.net/page/230855/enPlus, given that it's from […]
• #102: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Mon 9 Jan 12 06:16
  We often say that the Internet is rewiring our brains, changing the way we think. Here's an inventory of those changes: http://www.onlinecollege.org/15-big-ways-the-internet-is-changing-our-brain [Read entire topic] […]
• #101: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Mon 9 Jan 12 06:01
  "The 99%" is catchy, but you have to be clear that these global demonstrations and "occupations" are really just mobs of people. All we're sure they have in common is that they're pissed off because they're increasingly aware how powerless they are, and they sense a potential to be empowered in some way. Whether that's […]
• #100: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Mon 9 Jan 12 05:37
  From Will Tomlinson, via email:Re: the 99/1% conversation, I found this, from the current issue of the New Yorker, particularly interesting: "In recent years, certain hedge funds have started investing in class-action lawsuits, providing up-front capital to cover the expenses of a case in exchange for an equity share in a successful outcome. These arran […]
• #99: George Mokray (jonl) Sun 8 Jan 12 17:05
  From George Mokray via email:The demos around the world have not been sparked by #OWS. They were sparked by local conditions and the examples of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and, for the Western democracies, Spain, a really interesting case because it is a "second order" demonstration - not against a dictator but against a "democratic" […]
• #98: Julie Sherman (julieswn) Sun 8 Jan 12 16:56
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• #97: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Sun 8 Jan 12 15:36
  Here's some fun...collaborate on predicting the future of computing at the New York Time, and learn a bit of history too:http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/06/science/20111206-technology-timeline.html?ref=science [Read entire topic] […]