by the meltingpot: CIVILIZATION'S COURT(enhancing the PEOPLE'S COURT).

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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.

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.

Sunday, November 14, 2021

CIVILIZATION'S COURT(enhancing the PEOPLE'S COURT).

I woke up when it was completely dark--when the dawn is yet to show its soothing face.As I lazed around,struggling to get down from the bed,an idea suddenly struck me.CIVILIZATION'S COURT.

It suddenly occurred to me that CIVILIZATION'S COURT exists in Manipur!

The banning of Hindi films happened because they are being tried in a CIVILIZATION'S COURT!That court gave the ruling that Hindi films are the agents of pernicious ideas and cultural practices from an aggressive CIVILIZATION and there are enough grounds to ban them all in Manipur.

As I was being enlightened by this new discovery,my decades-old complaints to my society came flooding back to me.I will try to discuss only two of them for this post.

1) This particular complaint have actually been oppressing me right from my youth.I distincly remember the consistent failures,despite my best efforts,to form teams.I was in my early twenties.I was mad at finding out that our society seems to be very hostile to the idea of 'team'.It was exactly at the time when I had the chance to devour the book,'Made in Japan',by Akio Morita.What greatly impressed me at that young age was the apparently effortless transition from a family business to a great Japanese company.Back then,it was clear to me that SONY was a company for Japanese society(not a Morita family enterprise).

That made me dream.I was absolutely certain at that time--I was NOT interested in forming MY company.But a company of my society where the best of our society are welcomed and where the right atmosphere of creativity is created.

So,there was a youth,dreaming of forming a great company but still,unable to form a simple team.Naturally that youth is at his maddest mad!

For decades now,I have been left perplexed by the question--why no teams can be formed in our society?

As I went deeper into the question,I come to point my finger to a single 'nugget of wisdom' of our society.This 'nugget' is so valuable that it has been passed down from father to son(probably in a whisper),that too,in a surreal atmosphere,enhanced by the stillness of night,right after supper,when a father can grab a rare and brief chance of an one-way conversation with a son.

The 'nugget' goes like this--'Namanaba ama netharamdradi nang chongkhatpa ngammoi'.Three things follow.

a) It tells us that all your friends are the potential targets of 'nethatpa'.This is directly antagonistic to what a team is.

b) It is ok,both morally and ethically,to exploit others(including those who consider you to be a friend).

c) It is a social must to live a life emulating 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'.It is scary because it teaches young people to lead a life of split personality.(The reason is that the son is to pretend that he is the true friend all the while planning to destroy him).

Now,let's go back in time--in Mao's China.Suppose Mao's People's Court is trying a father for openly propagating 'the neithatpa' theory.We can assume,with a fair degree of probability,that the father is guilty of an idea espousing feudal remnants culture.It is legitimate for that People's Court to give a fitting punishment to the father because one of the primary premises for forming the Court itself is to annihilate the elements of feudal remnants in all its forms.

Just like this,Manipur's Civilization's Court can ban Hindi films because its mandate is to check the pernicious ideas coming from foreign civilizations.

Now,how about a People's Civilization Court?

If our society mandates the forming such a Court,the new institution can surely give punishment to the father for espousing a pernicious social practice,enabled by a equally pernicious idea from a foreign civilization--even if he doing that in a 'whisper'.(I still think that this 'nugget' came from a foreign civilization in a recent past.The reason for this deduction is that our society's ethical base is 'Chainarol',which is being made more robust by incorporating the precepts contained in the just discovered 'Nuya'--for 'Nuya', please refer to several of my past posts by searching the keyword 'Nuya' in this blog).

It would be revolutionary if we can give punishment to those espousing anti-team(and,by further deduction,those directly or indirectly responsible for 'Ani-thokpi' culture).I think that it is safe to say that all our social institutions are facing direct assault on their more or less solid ethical bases.That assault comes from foreign civilizations.Anyone who,willingly or unwillingly,serves as conduit for the pernicious foreign civilization premises,enabling equally pernicious social practices,should be given fitting punishment.

2) It is flabbergasting for me to observe that all the educated women shed all their education and knowledge off at the kitchen door.Once inside the kitchen they all transformed themselves to bigots,blindly following ages-old social practices.Their education and knowledge have zero impact on how they cook,what they cook and how they bring forth as the main diet for our society.They all have the knowledge that it is bad to eat 'mountains' of white rice twice a day.But they are still cooking in a way that primes our society to consume 'mountains' of white rice two times in a day.Is it not easy to infer for any educated person that it is impossible NOT to eat 'mountains' of white rice if paired with a good 'yongchaak alu eromba'?

Is this happening because we are being drilled into living a life of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?

In our particular case,all our traditional ways of eating neatly situate in Dr Jekyll's world.And all the modern knowledge of nutrition are mandated by our society to settle in the world of Mr Hyde.

The problem goes even more deeply in our society--the total disconnect between theory and practice. People are still shirking their responsibility off by simply saying---'Theorygi wanida,kannade'.All our knowledge gained from schools and colleges are being grouped as 'theory'.And,the way we are carrying out our daily duties,howsoever corrupted it might be,is grouped as a socially acceptable 'practice'.These two groups are made to settle in two watertight compartments.Effectively,we are witnessing a situation where our hard-earned knowledge(and,thus,techs) have zero impact how we live our daily life.

It is an amazing stuff---totally surreal!

But our newly-minted People's Civilization Court can notify that 'theory-practice' disconnect is the direct result of invasion of foreign civilizations and thus a cognizable offence.

That would be a revolutionary way of solving all our social ills---come,People's Civilization Court;you are eagerly awaited!!

by the meltingpot

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This is the 3rd