Jul 23 2012: Canada's Prime Minister doesn't seem to have a constant media presence here, so it's very easy to lose track of who it is. What news and culture about Canada we get on a regular basis is the NPR show "As It Happens", and the occasional sound bite from the BBC or our media international correspondents. I probably know a lot more about Canada's culture than I do its government.
I didn't know that our legislative failures are studied in Canada. That sounds like an area where we in turn can learn from you. If you know of any good place to find out more, please let me know.
Regarding the Twin Towers; we don't really differentiate which nationalities died. It was a community that was attacked. There were people from at least 20 different countries who died there. We generally remember the group as a whole. It makes sense that Canadians would think about how many of their own died there.
Alexander Graham Bell's was born in Scotland, but lived in the US and Canada. Sounds like we can all claim him in some way! Regarding basketball, all I know is that it was first played in Indiana with real baskets and that there's some connection with Converse sneakers somehow somewhere, but not much more than that.
Jul 18 2012: There is nothing more dangerous than a society where people aren't bought into it. The US has more than enough money to fund our pathetic social programs. But it is because we had two multi-trillion dollar wars funded entirely by debt alone, and that our military is funded to a level equal to the rest of the world combined that we're running out of the money that in societies world-wide is traditionally set aside for the people.
I am not part of the underclass. My family line predates the USA itself. My whole family is college educated and I own multiple businesses. I've worked in the financial sector. I'm primarily a capitalist and only as socialist as it is in my interest to be so.
The problem with your attitude is that you refuse to acknowledge the consequences of your policy. If you can't get people to buy into the system, the only way you'll feel safe is to rely on a security apparatus that forces compliance. This attitude by far is what will push us into totalitarianism.
I'm not concerned with the erosion of business liberty but of personal liberty. Labor and environmental laws can modified. But when the police start using terahertz lasers with spectroscopic abilities that can search your person as though you were naked to find out what you ate for breakfast or worse, and when they start using UAVs equipped with gigapixel cameras that can comb an entire city for minor infractions (i.e. building code violations to how far your car is parked from the curb) through which a local government can bypass the tax appropriations process and raise funds through fines; then we have a problem. The most dangerous trend in America is entrepreneurial local government. I'd much rather have an ambivalent local government healthily funded through tax revenues than a starving one that uses local police for extortion. I want our police to be more like Sherrif Andy Taylor than Judge Dredd.
We need them out of our schools and out our bodies.
Jul 18 2012: As an American political moderate, I think the issue is far more nuanced and complex. "Big government" is too simple. Big anything is bad - government, business, farm, church, etc.
Singapore is an economic abnormality, a city-state that sits on one of the world's premeir geopolitical strategic sites. The best equivalent to Singapore is the USA in the 1950's after WW II devastated the world industrial economy. Small countries have little inertia. They can upgrade and adapt easily. Not so for large countries.
The problem with wealth with every society isn't absolute wealth, but relative wealth. If the disparity becomes too great, those that are not benefitting from the opportunity that created such wealth feel disenfranchised from the society as a whole and no longer feel a part of it. This is dangerous ground for any society to be on.
China and the USA in particular are sitting on social time bombs. In the case of China, there are vast economic differences between the interior and the coast. They are practically different countries and for most of China's history they always have been. There is a similar situation in the USA but it is more complex geographically. A few large cities offer pockets of advanced economies with vast regions that are less developed. Many of these cities are themselves economically hollow in the interior with large clusters of the underclass. In both China and the USA, wealth redistribution is meant to keep the disenfranchised loyal and hold off revolution and anarchy.
I too am concerned about America becoming totalitarian. Liberals feared Bush the same way conservatives fear Obama. I see freedoms being chipped by local police that are given unprecedented power and technologies. Worst of all is the political gridlock, which history shows always precedes coup d'etats and the fall of republics. Both parties need moderates and we need to boot yellow journalists and propaganda machines.
Jul 4 2012: You can still go to a community college or even get a 2-year degree online if you want to. Joining the military makes sense for some people. They may not be ready to go to college yet. Or they may have a sense of patriotism or duty. I'd say start with the kind of job you want, check out the requirements for it on job boards, and then look for a college that can give you the education you need. Odds are you'll probably also need to go through an internship or two, or volunteer at a nonprofit.
Jul 3 2012: Orrville & Wilbur only succeeded because they were better critical thinkers than their starry eyed contemporaries. I empathize with the dream of a more responsive and transparent government but like gravity, there's a hard reality that must be considered. The Internet is global. Not everyone is friendly.
We need a way of connecting with government that stabilizes the system, that promotes compromise among competing factions, and that places truth above partisan myths.
Jul 3 2012: The president of Iran was invited and did speak at New York University. In the end, a few people felt better about themselves because they had the opportunity to mouth off at him for his comments, but nothing positive came from it that benefitted both countries.
I won't go into politics but I think it's fair to say that there's not a lot of trust between the two countries. Iran never forgave the USA for reinstalling the Shah despite its revenge in the 1979 hostage crisis, and the USA never forgave Iran for the hostage crisis. It's a comedy of fools.
Jul 3 2012: It is a false argument that emigrating to another world will solve our over-population problems. No species on Earth can avoid the glass ceiling of carrying capacity. Mankind has only done so through industrial agriculture but the energy source we rely upon to maintain such a system has limits. There are also limits on how many people can enter into space every year since frequent rocket launches are likely to degrade the atmosphere, which means there will likely be an annual quota.
Every one in history who has made predictions of the future later regret doing so but I would hazard to guess that our limit would be between 10,000 to 1,000,000 people per year. Sadly this is well below the annual replacement level. The best way to think of these people is that they are the backup for our human civilization should we fail to manage things here on Earth. However I would predict that it would take at least until 2050, possibly 2100, before these people can truly live independently of Earth, and therefore serve as a genuine backup plan. That's still a long time for our political environment to deteriorate into a global nuclear war.
Jul 3 2012: This concept has a few serious problems with it. First, how are you going to provide assurance to politicians that they're only seeing what their constituents are saying? Closely related to this, how are you going to verify the identity and location of these individuals? Will your system recognize computers that have been co-opted by botnets? How often will you scan for botnets? How will you prevent hostile states and nonstate actors from interfering with this system?
How will you distinguish factual and false information? Will you determine source reliability? How will you prevent or stop erroneous memes that can or that have gone viral? Will you attempt to make a distinction of different political factions and special interest groups? How will you manage a balance in public discourse between different special interests? What if a small minority trolls or shouts down a larger group? What about a hostile faction among the politician's constituents that troll his/her supporters?
Jun 29 2012: This is a good example of why the US is in trouble. It's called a Confirmation Bias: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Senator McCain has done a lot more than just one project, here's his legislative record: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/browse?sponsor=300071
Members of Congress already have healthcare. Obamacare doesn't apply. The main point of Obamacare is that the pool of insured people have enough healthy people to offset the unhealthy, and thereby bring down costs for everyone.
There's a viral Internet meme going around about Congressional pay, perks, and pensions. Sadly lies spread 100x faster than the truth. Here's an about.com article on that topic: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm .
I agree that there are some improvements that need to be made. But if we're going to change anything, let's start with the things that are actually broken.
There's nothing in the world harder than seeing something that looks true, that makes you angry, before sharing it or talking about it with your friends, to first verify sources and facts.
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A reply on Conversation: Non-American views on American politics
I didn't know that our legislative failures are studied in Canada. That sounds like an area where we in turn can learn from you. If you know of any good place to find out more, please let me know.
Regarding the Twin Towers; we don't really differentiate which nationalities died. It was a community that was attacked. There were people from at least 20 different countries who died there. We generally remember the group as a whole. It makes sense that Canadians would think about how many of their own died there.
Alexander Graham Bell's was born in Scotland, but lived in the US and Canada. Sounds like we can all claim him in some way! Regarding basketball, all I know is that it was first played in Indiana with real baskets and that there's some connection with Converse sneakers somehow somewhere, but not much more than that.
A reply on Conversation: What would you do if an economics you compel people to accept, fails to be accepted in the transactions of everyday life?
I am not part of the underclass. My family line predates the USA itself. My whole family is college educated and I own multiple businesses. I've worked in the financial sector. I'm primarily a capitalist and only as socialist as it is in my interest to be so.
The problem with your attitude is that you refuse to acknowledge the consequences of your policy. If you can't get people to buy into the system, the only way you'll feel safe is to rely on a security apparatus that forces compliance. This attitude by far is what will push us into totalitarianism.
I'm not concerned with the erosion of business liberty but of personal liberty. Labor and environmental laws can modified. But when the police start using terahertz lasers with spectroscopic abilities that can search your person as though you were naked to find out what you ate for breakfast or worse, and when they start using UAVs equipped with gigapixel cameras that can comb an entire city for minor infractions (i.e. building code violations to how far your car is parked from the curb) through which a local government can bypass the tax appropriations process and raise funds through fines; then we have a problem. The most dangerous trend in America is entrepreneurial local government. I'd much rather have an ambivalent local government healthily funded through tax revenues than a starving one that uses local police for extortion. I want our police to be more like Sherrif Andy Taylor than Judge Dredd.
We need them out of our schools and out our bodies.
A comment on Conversation: What would you do if an economics you compel people to accept, fails to be accepted in the transactions of everyday life?
Singapore is an economic abnormality, a city-state that sits on one of the world's premeir geopolitical strategic sites. The best equivalent to Singapore is the USA in the 1950's after WW II devastated the world industrial economy. Small countries have little inertia. They can upgrade and adapt easily. Not so for large countries.
The problem with wealth with every society isn't absolute wealth, but relative wealth. If the disparity becomes too great, those that are not benefitting from the opportunity that created such wealth feel disenfranchised from the society as a whole and no longer feel a part of it. This is dangerous ground for any society to be on.
China and the USA in particular are sitting on social time bombs. In the case of China, there are vast economic differences between the interior and the coast. They are practically different countries and for most of China's history they always have been. There is a similar situation in the USA but it is more complex geographically. A few large cities offer pockets of advanced economies with vast regions that are less developed. Many of these cities are themselves economically hollow in the interior with large clusters of the underclass. In both China and the USA, wealth redistribution is meant to keep the disenfranchised loyal and hold off revolution and anarchy.
I too am concerned about America becoming totalitarian. Liberals feared Bush the same way conservatives fear Obama. I see freedoms being chipped by local police that are given unprecedented power and technologies. Worst of all is the political gridlock, which history shows always precedes coup d'etats and the fall of republics. Both parties need moderates and we need to boot yellow journalists and propaganda machines.
A comment on Conversation: Can religion be a science?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novum_Organum, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method
I suggest you read them and then draw your own conclusions.
A comment on Conversation: Military or collage?
A reply on Conversation: Direct democracy Vs Representative democracy. A network to connect and empower America with our US politicians and our elected leadership.
We need a way of connecting with government that stabilizes the system, that promotes compromise among competing factions, and that places truth above partisan myths.
A comment on Conversation: Iran Vs United States. Multiple football matches to improve relations between two nations. what can be the outcome ?
I won't go into politics but I think it's fair to say that there's not a lot of trust between the two countries. Iran never forgave the USA for reinstalling the Shah despite its revenge in the 1979 hostage crisis, and the USA never forgave Iran for the hostage crisis. It's a comedy of fools.
A comment on Conversation: Finding a second planet that can support life will be Good or Bad for the Earth?
Every one in history who has made predictions of the future later regret doing so but I would hazard to guess that our limit would be between 10,000 to 1,000,000 people per year. Sadly this is well below the annual replacement level. The best way to think of these people is that they are the backup for our human civilization should we fail to manage things here on Earth. However I would predict that it would take at least until 2050, possibly 2100, before these people can truly live independently of Earth, and therefore serve as a genuine backup plan. That's still a long time for our political environment to deteriorate into a global nuclear war.
A comment on Conversation: Direct democracy Vs Representative democracy. A network to connect and empower America with our US politicians and our elected leadership.
How will you distinguish factual and false information? Will you determine source reliability? How will you prevent or stop erroneous memes that can or that have gone viral? Will you attempt to make a distinction of different political factions and special interest groups? How will you manage a balance in public discourse between different special interests? What if a small minority trolls or shouts down a larger group? What about a hostile faction among the politician's constituents that troll his/her supporters?
A reply on Conversation: I don't believe government is an efficient tool for solving problems. I want my representatives to believe it can be, then prove it.
Senator McCain has done a lot more than just one project, here's his legislative record: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/browse?sponsor=300071
Members of Congress already have healthcare. Obamacare doesn't apply. The main point of Obamacare is that the pool of insured people have enough healthy people to offset the unhealthy, and thereby bring down costs for everyone.
There's a viral Internet meme going around about Congressional pay, perks, and pensions. Sadly lies spread 100x faster than the truth. Here's an about.com article on that topic: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm .
I agree that there are some improvements that need to be made. But if we're going to change anything, let's start with the things that are actually broken.
There's nothing in the world harder than seeing something that looks true, that makes you angry, before sharing it or talking about it with your friends, to first verify sources and facts.