by Naresh Jotwani
It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future — attributed variously to Nostradamus, Niels Bohr and Yogi Berra.
The year is 2050 CE, and the country is Muskovia, the most prosperous and ‘advanced’ country in the history of mankind. AI has been deployed throughout the country to make up for the huge population decline of the previous decades.
Continue reading MUSKOVIA @ 2050 CEby Naresh Jotwani
The surplus capital of any healthy society should, in theory, energize the economy, and enable the society to face present and likely future challenges. In the process, the surplus capital generates both consumption and employment. A king, for example, may build a dam, a road or a fort; a rich man may build a school. In all such ‘traditional’ cases, the nominal owner of the capital is directly involved in seeing that the capital is deployed beneficially.
This basic concept of surplus capital is neither new nor complicated. Over the last few centuries, however, several cunning ‘advances’ on this basic concept have, in effect, turned the concept on its head. Incredibly, surplus capital now adds not to the well-being but to the exploitation of a society!
Continue reading MACHINERY OF GLOBAL FINANCEby Naresh Jotwani
Soon after the previous post was published on this blog, we came across the definition of a so-called Social Well-being Index (SWI), introduced by a group within Russia. Briefly, the SWI index is based on these criteria: life expectancy, infant mortality rate, homicide rate, total fertility, income inequality, education level.
Continue reading SOCIAL WELL-BEING INDEXby Naresh Jotwani
This post is an invitation to readers to consider new ways to assess how wisely a society spends the resources available to it. The post is not a ‘scholarly research paper’, as that phrase is understood, but merely an essay. [Note 1]
Continue reading HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PER DOLLARby Naresh Jotwani
From behind the curtain, global finance drives global politics, exploitation and conflict. To understand the nature of this ruthless game, we need to look at how human societies form and how they function. Our previous post (here) discussed how individuals may be subject to different types of pressure, and how they may adapt or respond. Since individuals are shaped by their upbringing and their societies, the societal aspects of human life are highly relevant.
Continue reading GAMES OF GLOBAL FINANCE (Part 3)by Ashok Jain
Foreword
Guest author Ashok Jain (brief profile here) has followed up on Jayram’s post by pointing out the crucial association between Democracy and Dharma.
While no system is perfect, democracy is better than the other forms of government which have been tried, such as autocracy, feudalism, communism, fascism, religious fanaticism et cetera. Democracy is ingrained in Indian political and religious thought from times immemorial, quite simply because it is ingrained in the concept of Dharma. Dharma provides a sense of fairness in society – as against blind adherence to rules and laws. Additional societal values infused by Dharma are equality, fraternity and justice for all.
Continue reading Democracy as Dharmaby Jayram Daya
Editors’ foreword:
Today we see tensions and conflicts in many parts of the world, caused by internal strife and external pressures, which affect the lives of ordinary people. The former colonial order has disintegrated, giving way to countries which – in theory – are sovereign. A sovereign country should aim to improve the lives of her citizens, but the country is also affected by pressures from the outside. Meanwhile, the old colonial powers find their own backyards affected by globalization, leading to backlash against immigrants. Western power is being challenged by emerging nations which have come together to resist hegemony and improve the lives of their citizens.
We all seem to be visited by that famous Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times!
In this context, our friend Jayram Daya shares his insights from his hometown of Standerton in South Africa. Readers are invited to post their views as comments.
Continue reading Whither democracy?by Jayram Daya, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani
In a few previous posts, we have discussed harmony of mind, body and spirit (here), harmony with nature (here) and — somewhat indirectly — harmony in a society (here). On the last point, harmony in a society, clearly the legal system also plays a big role. The ideal, of course, would be that the legal system adds to societal harmony. But can this ideal ever be attained, given human nature and the working of a modern society?
The legal system is a practical, administrative necessity in a modern society. Without a proper legal system, a modern economy cannot function. Harmony figures nowhere in the stated goals of an economist or a business titan; and only a very simple-minded person would assert that the legal system adds to societal harmony.
Thus we have a seemingly unavoidable tradeoff here between two goals — economic performance and societal harmony — both of which are desirable for a society. Three views are presented here to get you thinking!
by Jayram Daya, R. Srinivasan and Naresh Jotwani
Cooperation and competition both play a role in our collective life — sometimes more of this, sometimes more of that. However, a self-styled ‘capitalist’ sees red at the mere mention of cooperation, whereas a self-styled ‘communist’ argues for forcefully imposing cooperation on the whole society.
Suppose we put all such western ideologies to one side and ask: What does our lived, empirical reality say?
Continue reading COOPERATION, COMPETITION – OR BOTH?It comes as a slight surprise when we first learn that the word ‘technology’ has its root in the Greek word tekhne, which meant ‘art’; after all, today we understand art as being quite distinct from technology. The older Greek word harks back to the era when technology, in Greece and elsewhere, was much simpler; we may assume that practitioners of tekhne in Greece were viewed much as we view ‘artisans’ today.
It is no surprise, however, to learn that the word ‘engineering’ is rooted in the word ‘engine’; presumably, in the early days of engineering, ‘engines’ of one kind or another dominated the scene. But, to dig deeper, we enquire about the origin of the word ‘engine’. It turns out that ‘engine’ is indirectly rooted in the Latin word for ‘intellect’ or ‘inventiveness’. In fact the English word ‘ingenious’ is close in its form and meaning to the Latin near-equivalent ingenium.
Continue reading ENGINEERING OR TECHNOLOGY?
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