by the meltingpot: Turning back!

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Indeed, what is at work in the recent return of realism is the revenge of geography in the most old-fashioned sense. In the 18th and 19th centuries, before the arrival of political science as an academic specialty, geography was an honored, if not always formalized, discipline in which politics, culture, and economics were often conceived of in reference to the relief map. Thus, in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, mountains and the men who grow out of them were the first order of reality; ideas, however uplifting, were only the second.
And yet, to embrace geography is not to accept it as an implacable force against which humankind is powerless. Rather, it serves to qualify human freedom and choice with a modest acceptance of fate. This is all the more important today, because rather than eliminating the relevance of geography, globalization is reinforcing it. Mass communications and economic integration are weakening many states, exposing a Hobbesian world of small, fractious regions. Within them, local, ethnic, and religious sources of identity are reasserting themselves, and because they are anchored to specific terrains, they are best explained by reference to geography. Like the faults that determine earthquakes, the political future will be defined by conflict and instability with a similar geographic logic. The upheaval spawned by the ongoing economic crisis is increasing the relevance of geography even further, by weakening social orders and other creations of humankind, leaving the natural frontiers of the globe as the only restraint.
So we, too, need to return to the map, and particularly to what I call the “shatter zones” of Eurasia. We need to reclaim those thinkers who knew the landscape best. And we need to update their theories for the revenge of geography in our time.
Here is the link for the whole write up.

Now at 2nd place

My view is that relations between countries in the coming decades are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries rather than other factors. Quite obviously, power will continue to play a central role in global politics, as it always does. But usually there is something else behind conflicts. In the 18th century in Europe, the issues to a large extent involved questions of monarchy versus the emerging republican movements, first in America and then in France. In the 19th century, it involved states identifying themselves through nationalism. In the 20th century, ideology came to the fore, largely, but not exclusively, as a result of the Russian Revolution. We had fascism, communism and liberal democracy competing with each other. Well, that’s pretty much over. Liberal democracy has come to be accepted, in theory at least, around the world, if not always in practice. So the question really is what will be the central focus of global politics in the coming decades? My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states. The full interview is here.

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Every citizen in the City of Richardson will be able to access 756 Kbps of internet connectivity for free, from anywhere in the city. They will be able to access the internet from their homes, schools, restaurants and parks using standard wi-fi connections which are now installed on almost every notebook computer. That is almost as fast as many so-called high speed broadband connections that one pays dearly for today, and several times faster than the various hotspots at your local coffee shops. And I should note that the tax-payers of the City of Richardson are not paying one penny for this, and in fact are going to see additional revenues as a benefit. ... At the beginning of this letter, I suggested that this would be one of the fastest worldwide rollouts of a technology ever seen. It was just 20 years ago that the first cellular systems were being built. The rollout for mesh wireless systems is going to make that look slow. There are several reasons I make this assertion. But they all center on the facts that installing mesh systems will be cheaper and easier than any previous system and the economics in both the developed and especially the developing world will be so radically compelling. Throw in the fact the any astute politician will want to be at the front of this parade (They will all want to say, "I was the man who helped bring free internet to everyone!") and the groundwork is laid for rapid deployment. In Richardson and elsewhere, MeshLinx is offering the basic infrastructure for free. This avoids all the time consuming, political budget battles in the cities. When a service is offered for free, much of the mandated competitive process is eliminated. Next is the low cost of installation of the system. As noted above, Richardson is a city of roughly 100,000 people living in 27.4 square miles. It will "only" cost about $2,000,000 today to lay the wireless blanket I mentioned above. It will cost a great deal less in the future, as MeshLinx is building the pods at a pace of 100 a month today. The maximum output of the US pilot assembly line is 500 a month. When the demand exceeds this (and it will in a very short time) discussions have been held to move volume production to China. Of course, the world will need tens of millions of pods. The cost for a pod will be a fraction of today's cost, with that installation number for a city like Richardson soon being half (or less) the cost of today. What does that $1 or 2 million get you? The infrastructure to be an internet connection, telephone, security, entertainment provider and a whole lot more company. As noted, it will get cheaper as the number of pods being made each month rises, thus lowering their costs dramatically. This technology does have scale. The cost of physically putting up a pod is not a large part of the equation, as you simply need to run a power line, attach a few bolts to a mount on the side of a building or light pole and then off to the next point. Think about the 40,000 homes and businesses in Richardson. If and (hopefully) over time when 10% decide to pay $50 a month for 10-20 Mbps high speed internet access you could see a revenue of $2.5 million a year just from internet access. Now add in all the other income possibilities (phone, entertainment, security and don't forget advertising revenue on the free service!). Think about your town or country. What would service like this be worth? If you are a small city that does not have high speed connections available, how many businesses that could bring jobs do not come your way because they need reliable communications for their work and their employees? If you are in a developing country, where internet access is difficult and expensive, it will open whole new vistas. Couple that with the various programs which want to give cheap laptops to kids in poor countries, and you could see significant social progress in a generation. Here is the link.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Turning back!

I hardly slept 5 hours waking up early in the morning to go to a friend’s place. I went to his place on my bike (I mean, bicycle). When I was near his place, all the while exercising my thigh muscles riding the bike, this friend of mine just whizzed past me from the opposite direction, not seeing me, nor hearing me shouting at him.

I had to turn back and return home empty handed.

While riding the bike it occurred to me that I was in the mood for cooking for yummy dishes. So, I planned in my head to go buying a whole variety of veggies. I wanted to walk to the marketplace. So, grabbing a bag, I came out of my house but another of my friend was there waiting for me. He is the one who wants to sell furniture and he wanted to get my ‘inputs’ regarding the design of his display room. Unexpectedly, I spent nearly an hour discussing various designs with him. By then, my shopping moods were totally soured.

Turning back home, I cooked eggs and potato.

After lunch, I hurried back to my computer to give finishing touches to a piece of English to Manipuri translation for yet another of my friend. I did that and so satisfied, I was on a blog post by Brad DeLong about China. I sailed through that post and was right in the middle of comments where I was beginning to enjoy myself immensely. Just then the light went out. Dutifully shutting down the computer, I went to the next task.

The task is to go to a library to seek the copy of the Times of India of 24th July. I got the key of the bookshelf from the caretaker (no librarian—it’s a sort of small reading room) and started pulling out the back copies of the paper. But the particular copy of the particular paper was nowhere to be found. I tried several times but in vain. And, the caretaker was fuming finding a copy of his papers missing.

I told myself not to get discouraged. Because the next planned task is to go to the theatre!
Actually, I’ve been planning for this occasion for some days now. Because it is the play by Kanhailal. Most of the time, Kanhailal’s plays are staged at his own playhouse in the Langgol hills. But the hill road leading to his playhouse is usually deserted by dusk and something always tells me that the road is not safe after dark. So, I miss most of his plays. But this evening’s play is to be staged at JN Dance Academy.

But, when I reached there at around 5 minutes to 6 pm, which is, by the way, is the scheduled time, there was not a single soul! Not even an announcement for postponement or cancellation. In fact, the hall itself seemed to be under lock and key!

So, I turned back again towards my lonely home!

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

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