A Question of Blame When Societies Fall
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Who or what is to blame when a once-powerful society collapses?
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Sure, there are more brands than ever. But their value is plummeting as consumer loyalty evaporates. Who's to blame? A new breed of hyperinformed superconsumers. By James Surowiecki from Wired magazine.
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I was looking at what my friend Stephen Lewis wrote in HakPakSak a few days ago &#151; specifically newspapersâ roles as public trusts and cornerstones of our informational infrastructure &#151; i.e. sources of solid information and independent commentary essential to informed citizenry, democratic government, effective public policy, and well-functioning economies. What this brought up for me is the notion that human beings are themselves infrastructural;  especially when they are constuctive contributors to the structure we call civilization.
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There's a lot you can blame on the baby boomers, the sumo demographic that has given us everything from bell bottoms to those obnoxious "baby on board" signs. But will you be able to blame us for taking the market down when we start to cash out of our retirement plans?
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The continent has been ravaged by months of rain. Is it paying for the sins of rich countries?
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Government is using technology to burden their future -- and it's all our fault. By Lawrence Lessig from Wired magazine.
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Debate on Orson Welles used to center on the cause of his decline. Now the decline itself is in question.
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All wars, even the noblest, bring a reckoning of means and ends. The war on terrorism has long since lost its crisp moral lines. We may agree that terrorism is wicked, but we're still unsure about how to answer it
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The problem with nationalism is that it will align itself with and act in the common good of humanity only when its own interests are also served. And of course, if its interests are served by stability, which might sometimes be served by propping up corrupt regimes, such as in Burma and its supply of natural gas to India and China, no action will come at all. Agitation then to get countries to do something is pointless. National governments exist to serve that country's citizens, not humanity. That fundamental structural defect means that nations are unreliable agents of the common good. They will never act for the common good of humanity on principle alone.  However, with the rise of the Internet, we have a wonderful new tool at our disposal for the advancement of justice. A means for all of humanity to coordinate and act on the name of the human good on its own, bypassing the morally compromised and ineffectual national governments.
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There is a dissonance between two camps of modern liberal ideology, both of which have had a deep influence on my thinking. On the one hand there is the green ideology that advocates buying locally produced products or growing your own and the general  reduction of energy usage. On the other there is the drop the debt coalition that is attempting to help the developing world drag itself up and become a richer place.   This article is my attempt to resolve their influence on my own beliefs, with regards to philanthropy.
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The spring of hope, and the winter of despair. These are the mixed emotions that enunciate the prevailing paradox of our present society.
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As violent crime rates continue to drop, experts look for explanations  -  and signs of whether the decline is permanent
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History suggests that South Asia's tsunami tragedy could engender regional political fallout.
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An eyewitness account indicates that a death may have been especially tragic.
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The west is stripping the developing world of its talent. The pressures of ageing populations and the need to be at the frontier of technological change has meant skilled labour is in short supply, so raiding
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BISHKEK, May 24 (IPS) - Surviving alone in the era of globalisation has  become increasingly difficult for smaller countries with limited  natural resources. Nations which were recently striving for  independence are beginning to unite with others as a means to  withstand economic hardships.
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Lithuanians who lost savings when the USSR collapsed are due to get compensation.