Category: Featured

Posted on

International Monetary Fund Predicts Global Financial Crisis Will Take A Decade To Recover From

"I want all three of our hands together"

It is not yet a lost decade but it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape.”

 – Olivier Blanchard, chief economist at the International Monetary Fund

The Daily Mail reports:

… with the eurozone crisis threatening to spiral out of control, the US approaching a debt storm, and the global economy slowing from China to Brazil, the outlook remains bleak.”

The Problem With Isolated Analysis

The unfortunate dilemma continually facing the global economy is a lack of unified integral analysis. For instance, the U.S. looks at the Eurozone and seeks to prepare itself for the worst, although not-much-thinking of providing aid. The Eurozone looks to the U.S.’s approaching fiscal cliff and thinks likewise—neither has proposed the need for mutual aid.

In an interconnected world, perhaps most represented in economic relationships, where markets are tied together, and therefore rise and fall in conjunction with one another; the idea of mutual responsibility is so fundamental that it is almost mind boggling that it has yet to be realistically proposed.

If markets remain connected, as they are now, and nations do not think of each other as parts of one global system, which is now in a growing crisis predicted to worsen, then how can it possibly be tackled by independent parties working towards different goals in an integral network?

The Family Analogy

The most simple interconnected group that exists is a family. In a family, we have a mother, father, possibly children, and extended family. The health of the family is predicated by the health of all of the units within it. If there is a baby in the family, it is given extra care. It isn’t asked a question like, “Why do you not go out and earn a living to support us?” It is naturally understood that a baby is a defenseless unit within the family, that it can not provide for itself, but being that it is part of the family, is provided for by the family.

The global economy is today like a dysfunctional family. Using the family baby analogy, we can perhaps look at Greece as a baby. Harsh austerity is imposed on it. Its public sector has been cut, those who have previously not paid taxes are now forced to do so. As a result, Greek depression and suicide have soared, poverty has risen, and the black-market economy has soared. The country is in no better shape now than previously, and the world sits and waits to see if worse conditions will present themselves.

But if the global economy were to act like a family, then it would look at Greece far differently. Obviously, it must grow up, to spend within its means, to not be a burden. But a baby is not asked to go and earn an income when it is unable to do so. The same analogy can be applied elsewhere as well, if it were allowed to, because the interconnection and interdependence of the global economy takes in many members who are strong, moderately strong, weak, and feeble.

In a family, all are equal.

The Need For Mutual Responsibility To Exit The Global Financial Crisis

Because the interconnection and interdependence of global markets does not subside, and because crisis between markets continues to escalate, the need for mutual responsibility presents itself.

When a family does not act for the mutual benefit of the family, all of its members suffer. If the baby in the family is not treated as a baby, but perhaps as the father of the family, then the baby suffers, and the rest of the family does also.

One key problem that exists within the global economy is that each is treated as if they must, “pull their own weight,” as if conditions are somehow equal existing within and between every nation. But they are not. As a result, the global economy continues to not act like a family due to its interconnection and the entire global economy suffers due to this continued calculation.

Mutual responsibility on the other hand, would necessitate each nation within the global economy to think of the needs of all the other members within the global economy. Greece then would not have to suffer such harsh and rapid austerity in order to bring it into line, but would be gently guided so as to not cause the incredible rise of depression and suicide which we see existing today. The U.S., likewise, would not be asked to face their upcoming fiscal cliff alone, and so on and so forth for each nation within the global economy.

But without mutual responsibility, the IMF’s prediction of perhaps a decade to recover from the global crisis is naïve at best. Global interconnection and interdependence is not ceasing, and mutual responsibility, sadly, is nowhere in sight on the current global landscape.

Image: ““I want all three of our hands together”” by emmiegrn on Flickr.

Posted on

Are We Destined To Pay The High Price Of Materialism Until We Die, Or Is There Another Way?

The Grip Of Materialism

  • Every day Americans are bombarded with hundreds of messages suggesting that ‘the good life’ is attainable through ‘the goods life,’ by making lots of money and spending it on products that claim to make us happy, loved and esteemed.
  • On the news shows we hear a near constant refrain from economists and politicians about the importance of consumer spending and economic growth.
  • Around 150 billion dollars are spent most years to embed consumer messages in every conceivable space.
  • Commercialization and consumerism also reach deeper, warming their way into people’s psyches and encouraging them to organize their lives around higher salaries and owning more stuff.”

The Problem Of Materialism

  • Research consistently shows that the more that people value materialistic aspirations and goals, the lower their happiness and life satisfaction, and the fewer pleasant emotions they experience day to day.
  • Depression, anxiety and substance abuse also tend to be higher among the people who value the aims encouraged by consumer society.”

The Stronger The Grip Of Materialism, The Lower The Care For Others And Nature

  • Scientists have found that materialistic values and pro-social values are like a see-saw; as materialistic values go up, pro-social values tend to go down. This helps explain why people act in less empathic, generous and cooperative ways when money is on their minds.
  • When people are under the sway of materialism, they also focus less on caring for the earth. The same type of see-saw is at work here: as materialistic values go up, concern for nature tends to go down. Studies show that when people endorse money, image and status, they’re less likely to engage in ecologically beneficial activities like riding bikes, recycling, and re-using things in new ways.”

The Hope For Happiness = A Shift From Materialistic Values To Intrinsic Values

  • If we hope to have a happier, most socially just, and more sustainable world, then we need to develop ways to diminish materialistic values in our personal lives and in society … and promote intrinsic values for growing as a person, being close to one’s family and friends and improving the broader world.
  • The grip and consumerism and commercialism have on our world can seem inescapable, and there are certainly powerful forces that push materialistic values on us, but by making changes in our personal lives and by working for broader societal changes, we can break the hold of materialism and be freer to live our intrinsic values. That, in turn, would help us to take important steps to our greater personal well-being, a more humane society, and a more sustainable world.”

What Are Intrinsic Values To You?

In other words, what do you consider as being the most important values for you and for society?

Also, if you were given the task to plan how society as a whole would come to treat intrinsic values with more importance than materialistic values, what would you include in that plan?

Quotes in this post were taken from the above video “The High Price of Materialism” by the Center for a New American Dream, which are the words of psychologist Tim Kasser.

Posted on

Want To Re-Wind The Aging Clock? Change Your Environment!

Want To Re-Wind The Aging Clock? Change Your Environment!

The Future Of Anti-Aging Therapies

Dr.  Thomas Rando, principle investigator for the Rando Laboratory at Stanford University’s School of Medicine is paving the path to the fountain of youth. Research emerging from his lab changed the cutting-edge focus of anti-aging strategies from how to reverse aging to how to reset the aging clock. Dr. Rando’s team demonstrates that by changing the environment of aging cells that scientists can push a “reset button” effectively restoring the characteristics of youth. As a result, organs and tissues comprised of these cells become “young” again even though they are chronologically “elderly.”

A Happy Epigenome Acts Young And Healthy

Dr. Rando explains in the January 2012 issue of Cell that the reset button is pushed by manipulating epigenetic factors affecting the aging cellular environment. Every cell in the human body contains 100% of the genetic material necessary to build an entire person. Regulation of which genes get expressed (turned on) is governed by cellular material known as the epigenome. The epigenome is affected by environmental factors including diet and stress. Positive environmental factors ensure a nurturing epigenome whereas negative factors imprint the epigenome destructively. Hallmarks of an “unhappy” epigenome include aging and disease.

The Miracle of Conception

By manipulating the epigenome, scientists are able to reset the aging clock on cells in a process duplicating the conditions of human conception. When the genetic material of a man and woman meet during fertilization, the resulting genetic material (zygote) is reset to ground zero even though the contributing material (mom and dad) is decades old. In a process scientists don’t yet understand, the union of the male and female genetic material starts aging all over again.

In laboratory experiments, scientists reset the aging clock on muscle, skin and bone cells of aged mice. The result is that elderly mice sport the skin, muscle and bone tissue of the equivalent of teenage mice. What are the practical implications?

Your Environment Is Your Key To Reset Your Aging Clock

Although therapies for humans remain on the drawing board, the findings highlight the importance of reducing stress. Researchers proved stress experienced by pregnant women can impact epigenetic factors both in children and grandchildren resulting in disease and shortened life-span. Other studies show that a mother’s emotional state during pregnancy turns on genes that code for depression in their children. Does anyone need reminding that stress is a leading cause of heart attack? Diligent attention paid to creating harmonious work and home environments may take years off your appearance as well as ensure you live longer.

Posted on

What Is Systems Thinking? – Peter Senge Explains Systems Thinking Approach And Principles

http://youtu.be/HOPfVVMCwYg

What Is Systems Thinking?

Whenever I’m trying to help people understand what this word ‘system’ means, I usually start by asking: ‘Are you a part of a family?’ Everybody is a part of a family. ‘Have you ever seen in a family, people producing consequences in the family, how people act, how people feel, that aren’t what anybody intends?’ Yes. ‘How does that happen?’ Well… then people tell their stories and think about it. But that then grounds people in not the jargon of ‘system’ or ‘systems thinking’ but the reality – that we live in webs of interdependence.”

What Is The Fundamental Rationale Of Systems Thinking?

[The fundamental rationale of systems thinking] is to understand how it is that the problems that we all deal with, which are the most vexing, difficult and intransigent, come about, and to give us some perspective on those problems [in order to] give us some leverage and insight as to what we might do differently.”

3 Characteristics Of A Systems Thinking Approach

  1. A very deep and persistent commitment to ‘real learning.’
  2. I have to be prepared to be wrong. If it was pretty obvious what we ought to be doing, then we’d be already doing it. So I’m part of the problem, my own way of seeing things, my own sense of where there’s leverage, is probably part of the problem. This is the domain we’ve always called ‘mental models.’ If I’m not prepared to challenge my own mental models, then the likelihood of finding non-obvious areas of leverage are very low.
  3. The need to triangulate. You need to get different people, from different points of view, who are seeing different parts of the system to come together and collectively start to see something that individually none of them see.”

A Fundamental Principle Of Systems Thinking: Smart Individuals Are No Longer Needed, Collective Intelligence Is

We all have probably spent too much time thinking about ‘smart individuals.’ That’s one of the problems with schools. They are very individualistic, very much about ‘the smart kids and the dumb kids.’ That’s not the kind of smartness we need.

The smartness we need is collective. We need cities that work differently. We need industrial sectors that work differently. We need value change and supply change that are managed from the beginning until the end to purely produce social, ecological and economic well-being. That is the concept of intelligence we need, and it will never be achieved by a handful of smart individuals.

It’s not about ‘the smartest guys in the room.’ It’s about what we can do collectively. So the intelligence that matters is collective intelligence, and that’s the concept of ‘smart’ that I think will really tell the tale.”

All quotes in this post are by Peter Senge, scientist and director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management, taken from the video “Navigating Webs of Interdependence.”

Posted on

This Crisis Is Different

This Crisis Is Different

This Crisis Is Different

  • The observation that recoveries following a financial crisis are different suggests that standard macroeconomic policies might not work as one would usually expect…
  • On balance, it thus seems that this time – or, rather, this post-crisis environment – really is different, and that macroeconomic policies have done little to improve matters…”

— Daniel Gros, Director of Center for European Policy Studies, in the Project Syndicate article, “This Recovery Is Different.”

Today’s Crisis Renders Political Leaders & Financial Experts Helpless

Indeed political leaders, financial and economical experts seem desperately helpless in the face of the deepening crisis all over the world.

In Europe, for example, they switch from austerity to stimulus, and then back and forth. In the US, there is sharp debate about more market freedom or more State control, interest rates are lowered to even minus levels like in Denmark, but overall nothing seems to work.

All the debate and analysis is touching only the surface, the symptoms. It does not extend deeper trying to identify the core problem.

How Is It Possible That The Methods & Tools That Drove Progress Until Today Turn Out To Be Useless, Moreover Harmful?

Every day, the news increasingly exemplifies how the globally interconnected economy affects every country in the world, but when it comes to implementing solutions to global problems, no leaders or experts know how to do it.

A global, integral system means that all the elements are tightly intermingled with each other. When one part of the network moves, the whole network moves with it. All the elements are fully interdependent.

Today’s globally interdependent conditions are still being approached by methods and tools developed in the past, which  were built for a world unlike today’s. In the past, tight global interconnectedness was not taken into account, and thus fragmented, protectionist, self calculating and many times exploitative measures proved to be successful. However, as the world today heads into a new integral era, those same methods and tools have become cancer-like, running down the whole system and making success look like a bleak objective.

Global Scale Problems Require Global Scale Solutions

For a solution that works, people around the world will need to first understand how the protectionist and self calculating attitudes that have been at the core of modern upbringing and education, which seemed to offer success in the past, lead only to increasing problems.

Secondly,  people will need to learn about what living in today’s new globally interdependent conditions means for each and every person, and become motivated to rise above the previous thinking that considers only the success of individual people, organizations and nations, to a thinking that considers a truly global scale success.

With a full understanding about today’s globally interconnected conditions – how these conditions came about, what are today’s problems, what is their source, how should these conditions be optimally related to in order to reach globally interconnected solutions – it could become clear to each and every human being that the health, prosperity and future of every individual directly depends on the health, prosperity and future of the total, unified network.

Image: “humanity street – Voxefx” by Vox Efx.

Posted on

3 Ways To Develop Mutual Responsibility

unity

unity

When it comes to the implementation of a new idea, whether it is in science, economics, culture, etc.—every idea, if it is new, has an uphill battle to undertake. When Galileo proposed that the earth revolved around the sun, and not the other way around, it was the beginning of that idea’s long trek up the hill of what had previously been thought. It was a similar trek walked by the idea of natural selection proposed by Darwin, or by Edison numerous times, or by hip hop to become accepted as a respectable form of music.

And so it is now with the idea of mutual responsibility. Just as the earth revolving around the sun suffered through past arguments to the contrary, mutual responsibility does likewise. It has been said to be some sort of form of communism or socialism, a utopian idea, etc. But every new idea undergoes this sort of critique before it, if it has merit, is eventually accepted.

Does Mutual Responsibility Have Merit As An Idea?

When thinking of the idea of mutual responsibility, where instead of a person valuing individual ideals, or loose collective ideals for the sake of receiving one’s needs and not suffering harm from the rest of society; its value in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world should be becoming apparent.

Because if it can be shown that society, global society, is suffering as a result of interdependence not being valued, and that this then leads to the development of crises on all levels (economic, interpersonal relations, communities, states, nations, international relations), then what idea other than mutual responsibility—where people agree to mutual conduct and responsibility for everyone—is more natural?

1. New Education 

It is conceivable that through the prolonging of the current global crisis (in education, culture, economics, climate change, health, and international relations) that mutual responsibility could be arrived at by masses of people through persistent suffering.

But such a path—suffering—is not desirable. This path requires conditions similar to osmosis: A concentration gradient where, here, an idea eventually passes through the barrier of what is accepted and what is not due to concentration, i.e. here suffering increases to a point where it passes through its barrier.

The other path is that of education.

If mutual responsibility were to be taught in the education system as a natural part of life that every modern student should know, this would then hasten mutual responsibility’s acceptance into the marketplace of ideas.

2. Community Involvement 

If a child in school learns about ethics, about what society deems good and bad, and then is put into an environment where such ethics are not valued, then that child will forsake his or her learning due to society’s influence. This is why mutual responsibility, in addition to it being taught, must have a practical application in the form of community involvement.

It is similar to someone who wishes to quit smoking. Does a person who desires to stop smoking congregate closely with those who smoke? Of course not, that is if they are serious about no longer smoking. Because the influence of society, of the smokers on that person, will be an inhibiting force.

If a person reaches the conclusion that mutual responsibility is needed in order to create a healthily functioning society, and as such wishes to develop an attitude of mutual responsibility, he or she needs to be surrounded by those who also hold this idea with regard.

3. Critical Mass 

Even still, although education and community involvement are needed for mutual responsibility to grow to be an accepted idea, it is still not enough. This is because although small groups of people, or even whole communities, can hold this idea, it would still not be on the level needed for a global society that is interconnected and interdependent to be swayed.

That being said, there is an interesting phenomenon known as “critical mass.” It is the concept that once an idea is held by ten percent of a population that idea suddenly begins to spread rapidly and its growth is sustained. As a result, the conundrum of living in a global society which knows little about its interconnection and interdependence also holds a shining light: It provides a network of connections that allows for the transmittance of ideas rapidly.

As a result, with new education, community involvement, and the transmittance of the idea of mutual responsibility through social networks (physical and virtual), it is conceivable that critical mass, as a result of the prolonging of the global crisis, could be reached rather quickly.

The continued spread of the idea would then be the result of self-perpetuating motion.

Image: “Unity – Zickri Teo” by Adi Arfan Mikhail.

Posted on

Downward Spiral In An Interdependent World

Downward Spiral In An Interdependent World

Downward Spiral In An Interdependent World

The Slowing Down Of The Chinese Economy Continues

A recent article in the Financial Times, “Downturn in China spreads to key sectors,” outlines how the slowdown in China spreads into the key sectors of economy previously thought to be solid.

 …China’s downturn is spreading to the sectors and companies that were expected to withstand the slowdown and drive growth in the region.

Financial Times analysis shows that a third of publicly listed Chinese companies suffered cash outflows in the quarter to the end of June as the combined effect of the slowdown in exports, a build-up in stocks and tightening local government finances begins to bite.

Cash balances at a tenth of 1,700 companies analysed by the FT using data from S&P Capital IQ have turned negative in the past two quarters.

For a further 6 per cent of companies that normally report an outflow, the outflows were worse than last year.

The results highlight that even the companies that are expected to help rebalance China away from an investment-driven economy – such as consumer and retail businesses, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and electronics companies – are being affected by the slowdown, along with construction, real estate, industrial machinery and chemicals…”

The Chinese Downturn Is Part Of The Global Process Due To The Interdependent, Integral System

For a long time many observers, and also leaders of the global economy, financial institutions and politicians look at China as a potential savior of the global economy with its unstoppable growth. But this belief did not take into calculation the interdependent state nations evolved into in today’s human network.

Individuals and nations alike are tied together into a single, integral system, depending on each other even for their necessities.

Or as leading economists and politicians have stated, “we are all in the same boat,” thus no individual or nation could pull away from the others, or pull the others behind them relentlessly without being affected by the crisis.

There is plenty of proof of this interdependence, one is how Australia’s mining boom suddenly halted as a result of the Chinese slowdown:

…Australia’s resources minister has said that the country’s resources boom, one of the biggest drivers of its economic growth, is “over.” His comments come after BHP Billiton posted a 35% dip in profits and delayed plans to expand its Olympic Dam mine. There are concerns that a slowing global economy may hurt demand for coal, metal ores and other commodities. A slowdown in its mining sector, one of the biggest employers, is likely to dent Australia’s economic growth. ‘You’ve got to understand, the resources boom is over,’ Martin Ferguson told ABC radio on Thursday…”

On the other hand China will continue to slow down as long as the consumer demand is weakening from Europe and the US, and all these changes are augmenting each other in an ever growing vicious cycle.

Any Solution Needs To Take Into Consideration The Global, Interdependent Nature Of The Human Network

The global economy has no chance for any revival as long as the individual nations continue with their fragmented, polarized worldview of ruthless competition. Humanity has reached the stage when only a coordinated, mutually responsible and considerate planning and action can provide any short or long term results.

Through learning about the nature and principles of the present interdependent human system based on factual, scientific information, politicians and people capable of changing public opinion could provide the positive motivation all over the globe for the transition from a self calculating mindset to an approach that considers the well being of the whole a priority above individualistic and nationalistic interests.

Image: “A Downward Spiral” by Peter Lee on Flickr.

Posted on

Is It Possible We Can Actually Extend Our Empathy To The Entire Human Race As An Extended Family? [RSA Video]

Is It Possible We Can Actually Extend Our Empathy To The Entire Human Race As An Extended Family? [RSA Video]

Bestselling author, political adviser, and social and ethical strategist, Jeremy Rifkin, says we must “begin rethinking human nature” and “bring out our empathic sociability so that we can rethink the institutions of society and prepare the groundwork for an empathic civilization.”

Empathy Is:

  • the acknowledgement of death and the celebration of life and rooting for each other to flourish and be.”
  • based on our frailties and imperfections, so when we talk about building an empathic civilization, we are not talking about utopia.”
  • about the ability of human beings to show solidarity.”

Empathy Evolves

  • There was no such thing as Germany, there was no such thing as France. These are fictions but they allow us to extend our families so that we can have loyalties and identities based on the new complex energy communication revolutions we have that annihilate time and space.”
  • Is it really a big stretch to imagine the new technologies allowing us to connect our empathy to the human race writ large in a single biosphere?”

Science Shows:

  • All humans are soft wired with mirror neurons” meaning, “if I’m observing you – whatever it is – the same neurons will light up in me as if I’m having that experience myself.”
  • We are soft wired not for aggression, violence, self-interest, utilitarianism” rather, “for sociability, attachment, affection, companionship, and the first drive is actually the drive to belong.”
  • We are “soft-wired to experience another’s plight as if we are experiencing it ourselves.”

The Goal Is To:

  • Begin thinking as an extended family.”
  • Rethink the human narrative.”
  • Bring out our core nature.”
Posted on

Scientist David Suzuki Says Exponential Economic Growth Is Suicidal

Scientist David Suzuki Says Exponential Economic Growth Is Suicidal

Facts Of Life

You know there are a lot of things we can fix in this world; we can do something about…”

David Suzuki is a scientist, environmentalist, broadcaster, and co-creator of the David Suzuki Foundation.

But some things are facts of life… those are things we have to accept and work ourselves around.”

Exponential Growth

One of these facts, Suzuki stresses, is exponential growth:

If something is growing at 1% a year it’ll double in 70 years. 2% a year it’ll double in 35 years; 3% a year in 24 years… anything growing exponentially will double in a predictable length of time. Now I’m going to show you why all this stuff about… ‘We got to keep the economy growing’… is ultimately suicidal.”

Click Here To Watch The Video [3 min. 26 sec.] Of Suzuki Explaining Exponential Growth

A System Analogous To The Planet

  • 1 test tube full of food = the planet.
  • Bacteria who eat the food= humans.

The Experiment:

  • 1 bacterial cell is introduced into a completely full test tube.
  • According to exponential growth it will divide every minute.

So at times zero there is 1 cell (bacteria). 1 minute there are 2 (cells). 2 minutes there are 4. 3 minutes there are 8. 4 minutes 16.”

60 Minute Growth Cycle

At 60 minutes the test tube is completely packed with bacteria and there’s no food left. So we have a 60 minutes growth cycle. When is the test tube only half full?”

  • 59 minutes: 50% full.

Even though it’s been chugging along for 59 minutes it’s only half full but one minute later it’ll be completely filled. So that means that…”

  • 58 minutes: 25% full.
  • 57 minutes: 12.5% full.
  • 55 minutes: 3% full.

Living In The 59th Minute

Our home is the biosphere. It’s fixed and finite. It can’t grow. And we’ve got to learn to live within that finite world. Every scientist I have talked to agrees with me: We’ve already passed the 59th minute.”

All quotes courtesy of the test tube video with David Suzuki.

Posted on

Children See, Children Do

Children See, Children Do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4gmdl3zNQ

This video illustrates what our future may look like, depending on the examples we give to others.

Children learn by example, and so do adults.

This knowledge is true power, but have we been using it for good or bad?

Children See, Children Do

“Children learn by trying to do something, by failing, and by being told about or by copying some new behavior that has better results. This perspective is founded on the simple but central insight that children are trying to do something rather than to know something. In other words, they are learning by doing.” – Dr. Roger Schank, from Engines for Education

“The idea of public education depends absolutely on the existence of shared narratives and the exclusion of narratives that lead to alienation and divisiveness. What makes public schools public is not so much that the schools have common goals but that the students have common gods. The reason for this is that public education does not serve a public. It creates a public.” – Dr. Neil Postman, from The End Of Education

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” – H.G Wells