How Austerity Kills – NYTimes.com

How Austerity Kills – NYTimes.com To test our hypothesis that austerity is deadly, we’ve analyzed data from other regions and eras. After the Soviet Union dissolved, in 1991, Russia’s economy collapsed. Poverty soared and life expectancy dropped, particularly among young, working-age men. But this did not occur everywhere in the former Soviet sphere. Russia, Kazakhstan [...]

Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class – Salon.com

Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class – Salon.com The interesting thing about it is that people advertise, “Oh, what an incredible life. She’s this incredibly lucky person who’s worked really hard.” And that’s all true. She’s in her 20s, and it’s great that she’s found this success, but what this success is that [...]

A conversation with Elon Musk

Wealth tax to pay for EU bail-outs – Telegraph

Wealth tax to pay for EU bail-outs – Telegraph Instead of taxing cash, European Union governments should in future target property and other, less mobile assets, he said. “For example, over the next 10 years, the rich should give up a portion of their assets,”

Demand forecasts: Distant peak car | The Economist

Demand forecasts: Distant peak car | The Economist a few decades ago teenagers in America often got free driving lessons at school, but now they may have to pay up to $800 for them before they can sit their test. The cost of adding a young driver to the family’s car-insurance policy too has risen [...]

Why It’s Smart to Be Reckless on Wall Street | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

Why It’s Smart to Be Reckless on Wall Street | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network That asymmetry in pay (money for profits, flat for losses) is the engine behind many of Wall Street’s mistakes. It rewards short-term gains without regard to long-term consequences. The results? The over-reliance on excessive leverage, banks that are loaded [...]

Why The Future Will Be Much Better Than You Think – Forbes

Why The Future Will Be Much Better Than You Think – Forbes Our next force is money—a lot of money—being spent in a very particular way. The high-tech revolution created an entirely new breed of wealthy techno-philanthropists who are using their fortunes to solve global, abundance-related challenges. Bill Gates is focused on eliminating malaria; Naveen Jain is crusading against [...]

“Computerized communication console of the future”

Walter Cronkite in the Home Office of 2001 (1967) – YouTube

Scientists make monkeys smarter using brain implants. Could you be next?

Scientists make monkeys smarter using brain implants. Could you be next? For the very first time, scientists have demonstrated that a brain implant can improve thinking ability in primates. By implanting an electrode array into the cerebral cortex of monkeys, researchers were able to restore — and even improve — their decision-making abilities. The implications [...]

In Praise of Idleness By Bertrand Russell (1932)

In Praise of Idleness By Bertrand Russell Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have [...]