by the meltingpot: Where the personal and the public intersect

Now Reading!

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.

This is the 3rd

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.

Thursday, April 02, 2015

Where the personal and the public intersect

Years back,I was confronted with a pretty big personal problem.

I know it's a lame statement because everybody always have some sort of personal problems.But I've started out with this statement to highlight how my friends had reacted to my personal problem then.And,to put this story in right perspective,I must hasten to add that many of friends are now business leaders,thought leaders and social leaders.

!)Some of my friends thought I myself was the problem!

That's quite understandable because I have this feeling that I am not an easy person to make acquainted with!But they should had gone a little deeper than that facet of mine which was mainly informed by the reigning social etiquette and mores.Part of the reason why they didn't do was their refusal to go beyond the tangible.They didn't( and still do not) like the intangibles in life.

For most persons,that should have been the end of that episode.But by the incident of birth,I (and my family) happen to stand right in the focus of a vicious propaganda onslaught of one of the most prominent feudal lords of Manipuri society.Gradually,I discover that what all of my friends had known me(me,the person,the tangible) was actually the several layers of smears of generations of propaganda onslaught by a feudal lord.

Now comes the most intriguing part.How can many of friends become thought leaders,social leaders when they can't even see through the propaganda of a mere feudal lord?

This is a bewildering question.But the sense of bewilderment subsides(at least,for me) when I experience that all the professors of Manipur with whom I have had personal contact are so full prejudices!What on earth are the prejudicial professors?This can only happen inside a 'box' erected by nazism,that is Indian.The success rate of propagation of India's nazism is directly proportionate to the degree of how well they erect such 'boxes'.In plain words,such 'boxes' are the 'special category' playing fields where you can have prejudicial professors!

All my friends,by virtue of becoming unquestioning residents of the 'box',can become thought leaders,social leaders while they are still incapable of seeing through the propaganda of a mere feudal lord.All my friends,alas,could not(and still cannot) intellectually jump out of the 'box' erected by India's nazism.

2)The remainder of my friends did not want to take side.

I,myself did not want any of my friends to come to my side.So,I never did talk to them about my big personal problem.Again,for most persons,it would be the end of that episode.But all of my friends then were either student activists or social activists.That fact adds a new tenor and tone to the above statement.I still strongly feel that what they did then was a conscious effort to take the middle path--the great middle way.That is precisely the principle which, I think,forms the pinnacle of indian nazis propaganda.

In other words,all of my friends have graduated from wholesale swallowing of the propaganda of a mere feudal lord to the more socially accepted doses of finer propaganda emanated out of India's nazism!Finer propganda like peace talk!!

I'll wrap up my personal story with another statement that I managed to wrestle through my big personal problem with the help of two men--one I met in person and the other,in his writings.I'll mention only the later.Through Noam Chomsky writings I came to understand that all 'power centres' inherently try to project their stories to their surrounding.This apparently ordinary sounding precept immensely helped me in understanding and tackling my big personal problems.

Now, I would use the words 'power centres' to connect with what is personal to what is social to me.

My childhood is,in the main,the story of constant threat from feudalism,which is the 'powe centre' in its shabbiest form.As a queer case of sudden transportation form the personal domain to that of the public,I'm, right now, sensing serious threats to my society from various 'power centres'.

Reminiscing of my childhood,blogging now is an exercise of escaping the the influence of 'power centres' because media houses are 'power centres' in themselves.For the first time in human history,an ordinary citzen can publish stuffs( with the every possibility of finding substantial readers),all the while steering clear of various 'power centres' of the society.Inthis sense,blogging is revolutionary(but,I'm not saying bloggers are all revolutionaries!)

But I have no chance of escaping.We can see how several 'power centres'have conspired together to respond to my last post.They have planted a story in a leading newspaper.They forced a newsreport to appear on the pages dated 1st April 15 based on a conversation happened way back in December 2014!This particular newsreeport gleefully talks of peace talk with New Delhi.

In the context of my last post,the newsreport intends to drop enough hints that the Indian state would not only persuade the Kachin Independent Army not to ratify the Burmese ceasefire document but also would persuade more rebel groups of Manipur to join the likes of peace talk,presently engaged by NSCN(IM).

That they have taken this subtle route of dropping the hints means that the Indian state have already made big gains in persuading several rebel groups to the idea of peace talk with New Delhi.But the said rebel groups would not come out openly for peace talks.instead,they would stay back within the folds of rebel ecosystem and try to wreck the whole superstructure of Manipur's rebellion tradition from inside of it.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd