Feb 26 2013: Hi Peter, I have wondered for a while now why polliticians don't seem to have to have any qualifications for the job they are doing. Perhaps policy might be more appropriate if the policymakers actually knew what they were talking about.
Feb 26 2013: I'm not sure what 'awareness of self' means to others - I am aware that most of me is not 'me' at all. I am a mobile ecosystem, carting around flora & fauna without which I wouldn't survive, but which doesn't carry my DNA. Anyway, two things which I observe about humans which mitigate against solving the problems of living on this planet are:1} Almost immediately after improvements to living standards become a part of everday life we all suffer from TFG - Taking For Granted. I'm thinking here of clean water, a secure food supply, and specifically - because I am reading a book called The Big Necessity by Rose George - an efficient sanitation system. Unfortunately we then see no need to make sure that those improvements spread worldwide.2} We have not yet realised that the most important primary produce of the planet is an educated human brain. I wonder for how many people poor is still equated with unintelligent. I don't have to wonder how many little brains are extinguished by diarrhoea - because of non-existent or poor sanitation. I'm sure the UN has figures, or at least fairly accurate estimates. And the lost potential - caused by a solvable problem - continues year after year after year.
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A reply on Conversation: "Why Can't We Solve Big Problems?"
A comment on Conversation: "Why Can't We Solve Big Problems?"