Next item(drafted Oct 06),supported by varied Ottawans, is listed often as very broad issues are involved.

Christopher Spencer REASONS WHY ALL SOCIETIES ON EARTH MUST COOPERATE - IN TERMS OF BOTH THEIR WEALTH AND KNOWLEDGE - IN ORDER TO SURVIVE:-Brief paragraphs first identify some genuine and trans-species (but not simply idealistic) physical and emotional human traditions, confrontations, disasters, or prospects that raise globally-relevant threats. These are followed by a few relatively cheap and realistic, but world-wide and trans-human, policies. The challenges reflect the already serious - and often inter-related - concerns of everyone, everywhere: all human beings now face “global” threats in terms of: (a) mobile, unprecedented inter-human violence; (b) widespread, potentially global, mis-health; (c) dangers generated to the earth on which all survive.

(1) All the wealthier societies on the planet now possess grand and growing assets of both physical goods - far beyond essential human needs - and rapidly-expanding scientific/technical/ economic knowledge - enough to create/improve their comfort and health. It now appears possible, and universally profitable in terms of generating the good trade and health of all, to share such quantities of global assets with all who lack them, so all groups could fully address painful and globally-destabilizing needs. Even if competition were the pure motivation of large advanced companies, they would develop globally.

(2) Yet throughout the history of human beings, and contrary to the philosophy of the world’s strongest religions, four social factors have been dominant among the whole species: human groups have been mainly small (families or villages); their members have been grossly ignorant about almost all other groups’ characteristics, strengths and problems; they have exhibited deep and general dislike and often fear towards all other groups; and, above all, have felt no sense of responsibility for them. Violence against, or at least selfishness towards, other groups has been chronic - but is suddenly not beneficial.

(3) Now, for the first time in human history, the entire planet is massively/increasingly interdependent, not simply in terms of ‘globalization’ trade, but also regarding enormous travels/transfers of humans, goods and bacteria between societies. We are also now living in unprecedented planetwide situations where basic global knowledge is both vast and expanding - often via TV/Internet/phones in even isolated villages. All human beings, however rich/poor, educated/formally ignorant, global travellers/physically fixed, are potentially aware of other groups with greater/other power or assets - and/or apparent harm or nonrelationship - in their own societies or another. Any group can feel independent/hurt/frustrated/ opinioned toward another, physically or emotionally. Nature/scale of interdependence: widely unknown.

(4) An unprecedented but expanding global fact is that ills, ranging from the mildly-harmful to the multi-fatal, can now easily be transferred via weapons, explosives, poisons, virus, serious misuse of nature. The deliberate, unknown or accidental transfer of critical action to virtually anywhere else on earth, by land, sea or air - could in future be, deliberately or otherwise, generated or passed by groups or individuals that may or may not wish to inflict some ‘pain’ on others. Victims of such action/accident can be in or from any society at all, and can hurt any type or groups of humans, animals, machines, transport, buildings, towns or key liquids/gases/ foods/medicines/power-sources etc. The effects of deliberate or accidental “spreads” or organized action range from minor diseases to mass murders.

(5) Any group will ultimately be responsible for “using” any of a variety of existing or developable actions against/in any society on earth. Hence an essential way to reduce the world-wide threat - apart from easing sharp and dangerous ill-feelings - must involve help in reducing serious/perceived pain/poverty/ (potential)disease/global misuse. It would also involve obtaining - through cooperative intelligence/law among all regimes everywhere - advance information about relevant threats -since any/all societies may somehow be threatened. But the most defensive and selfishly-beneficial means of easing global threats is for the wealthier/more informed to provide the funds/goods/skills necessary to accelerate equity - by both offering and obtaining relevant knowledge. Richer societies would no longer live safely while ignoring any others’ agonies - nor even suffer from giving assistance. Isolation is no longer an option - anywhere - for any rich and/or traditional society. We must all think, at least minimally, as global citizens.

Economist 09 Dec 06“Mobile Telecoms: Out Of Africa”(67-8):-official summary:“A new kind of telecoms operator is evolving in Africa and the Middle East”. Highlights(from first para):“That mobile phones transforming economic and social life in Africa now widely understood. Less well known are companies leading the charge. Following flurry of deals over past 18 months, five African/Middle Eastern operators now vying for supremacy. These regional powerhouses have worked out how to earn princely sums in world’s poorest places. So far mostly been too busy signing up new subscribers to compete vigorously with each other. But that is now starting to change, and industry preparing for round of consolidation as operators start to attack each other’s markets”; Economist 09 Dec 06“India’s Telecoms Boom: Talk Is Cheap”(68):-official summary:“India leads the world in mobile-phone subscriber growth”. Highlights (from first para): “With 6.6m new subscribers/month, India in grip of unprecedented mobile-phone boom. Figures released Sep showed India had overtaken China in new subscribers/month for first time. India still lags behind China in total subscribers, with mere 136m...compared with China’s 449m. But India’s government confident gap can be quickly closed, and meet target of 500m phone subscribers by 2010"; Economist 27 Jan 2007“Mobile Phones in Africa: Roaming Wide”(48):-official summary:“A plan is afoot to create a pan-African market based on mobile phones”. Highlights:“The technology revolution may be coming to poor countries via the mobile phone, not the personal computer, as it did in rich ones... Africa’s surge in mobile-phone use may unleash the same sort of business energy, but tailored to local needs... TradeNet, a software company based in Accra, Ghana, will unveil a simple sort of eBay for agricultural products across a dozen countries in west Africa. It lets buyers and sellers indicate what they are after and their contact information, which is sent to all relevant subscribers as an SMS text message in one of four languages. Interested parties can then reach others directly to do a deal... Mobile-phone use in sub-Saharan Africa is soaring. Whereas only 10% of population had network coverage in 1999, today more than 60% have it, a figure expected to exceed 85% in 2010... The price of economic development may be junk mail by mobile phone”; Economist 03 Feb 07"North Korea and the Internet: Weird But Wired"(43):-"Kim Jong Il believes there are three kinds of fool in the 21st century: smokers, the tone deaf, and the computer-illiterate... Internet dating is only one of the surprises about the internet in North, a country about as cut off from the virtual world as it is from the real one... In most schools, computer courses are now compulsory. In Pyongyang, visitors are supposed to be able to surf freely through the 30m official texts,... local version of the Library of Congress. [Some cyber cafes] are packed with children playing computer games. But the world wide web is still largely absent. [Those few] North Koreans with access to the outer world are supposed to plunder the web to feed Kwangmyong - a clever way to disseminate technical information to research institutes, factories and schools without losing control... In some places, North‛s internet economy seems to be overheating. Near the northern border, Chinese cell phones/prepaid phone cards needed are a hot black-market item, despite government efforts to ban them"; Nayan Chanda Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization(New Haven: Yale Univ Press 07):-this fascinating survey of the development of globalization since 6000BCE is valuable as a unique reminder - to specialists in history, politics, economics, religion, movement, technology, science, etc - of how their own knowledge relates to other specialized information, and to the present/future of the intense/expanding relations across this planet. (This aim corresponds exactly with my purpose in this information source.) Style is amusing, and novel in all areas but one's expertise, so it is delicious/constructive in all unstudied fields and hence globally constructive. Final para offers view that fits closely with that in Christopher Spencer Oct 06(op.cit.):"We benefit from all that the world has to offer, but we think only in narrow terms of protecting the land and people within our national borders - the borders that have been established only in the modern era. [All that separates us] from the rest of the world... cannot change the fact that we are bound together through the invisible filament of history. [W]e know how we have reached where we are and where we may be headed. We are in a position to know that the sum of human desires, aspirations, and fears that have woven our fates together can neither be disentangled nor reeled back. But neither are we capable of accurately gauging how this elemental mix will shape our planet's future. Still, compared to the past... we are better equipped to look over the horizon at both the dangers and the opportunities ...There is no alternative to rising above our tribal interests: over the centuries to come, our destinies will remain inextricably bound together. [W]e can attempt to nudge our rapidly integrating world toward a more harmonious course - because we are all connected"; Economist 29 Sep 07"Civil Liberties: Surveillance and Privacy: Learning to Live With Big Brother"(62-4):-official sum: "[L]ooks at the new technologies for collecting personal information, and the dangers of abuse". Highlights:"[S]marter technology... that has been designed to fight 21st century war is being used in the fight against crime [-] police are experimenting with use of miniature remote-controlled drone aircraft, fitted with video cameras and infra-red night vision, to detect 'suspicious' behaviour in crowds... Most of the time, convenience of electronic technology, and perceived need to fight the bad guys, seems to outweigh any worries about where it could lead. [R]adio-frequency identification (REID) microchips implanted in human beings to... keep track of old people/give employees access to high-security area... Some want everyone implanted with REIDs as answer to identify theft. [E]lectronic devices already being used to keep tabs on ordinary citizens as never before... The more data collected/stored, greater the potential for 'data mining'... to discover patterns/predict future behaviour. [On] 11 Sep 01, it became widely accepted that against deadly/globally networked enemy, every stratagem was needed [and that] processing personal information... suddenly seemed indispensable. [US] FBI could soon access 20b pieces of information, all churned/sorted/analysed to predict who might one day turn into terrorist. New version, STAR, using information drawn from both private/public databases... In age of global terror, when governments desperately trying to pre-empt future attacks, such profiling has become a favourite tool. But... inaccurate when comes to individuals [and] unreliable when sniffing out terrorist plots, which uncommon/rarely well-defined profile. [M]istakes are rife... Another worry: information on people used to be gathered selectively.,. now indiscriminately. [C]ameras less important issue than emergence of 'database state'[:] personal records of citizens encoded/too easily accessible. DNA also increasingly popular tool to help detect terrorists/solve crime. [P]roposed best way to prevent discrimination is to include whole population in DNA database... But DNA less reliable as a crime detection tool than most people think... More disturbing for most [US citizens] are greatly expanded powers government has given itself over 6 years to spy on [them]. [After legal debate,] ordinary will continue to be spied on without need for warrants - now legal. [In Britain, seems] to worry people[:] sheer volume of information now being kept on them and degree to which accessible to an ever wider group of individuals/agencies... Most democratic countries now have comprehensive data-protection and/or privacy laws[:] strict rules for collection/storage/use of personal data. Intelligence agencies... usually exempt [and] no data ever really secure. [E]rosion of individual privacy has accelerated enormously since [01] but security say many terrorist plots foiled and lives saved. Privacy is a modern 'right' [though] few outside civil-liberties community seem really worried about its loss now [and] the potential for abuse is huge and the safeguards paltry"; Economist 13 Oct 07"Civil Liberties: Freedom of Speech: The Tongue Twisters"(66-7):-official sum:"The difficulty of reconciling traditional freedoms of expression with the new demands of national security". Highlights:"In countries at war, freedoms of the press and of speech often restricted... Al-Qaeda's attacks of 11 Sep 01, by precipitating a 'war on terror', also raised questions - both legal and moral - about the role of the media in free societies. Several Western governments used national security as justification for limiting certain sorts of public information/public speech. Press itself has... sometimes refused to accept limits on its freedom of expression;.. sometimes has accepted them. If [accept] the lip service almost all countries pay to a free press - 160 UN members have ratified International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - then freedom of expression has had a tough time... UN for first time issued statement condemning the targeting of journalists and calling for the prosecution of their killers... To some degree, the global increase in the number of journalists being killed, kidnapped and otherwise harassed may signify that more journalists at work, and growing bolder... Attacks on media, Freedom House points out, are not only bad in themselves; they are also a sign of worse to come: other democratic institutions. In repressive countries, internet has often been greeted as a wonderful way to bypass government control... For a while, relatively immune to regulation[, but] an academic think-tank says that censorship of internet has spread from just a handful of countries five years ago to 26 nations. Some... now blocking entire internet services. It is not surprising that such countries are suppressing freedom of expression... US gives greater protection to freedom of expression than any other country... Even so, a Century Foundation [man claims,] Bush's attempts 'to intimidate/punish the media, or at least to manipulate/mislead it, represents one of most concerted assaults on [constitution]"[, and] number of documents being stamped secret or classified has almost quadrupled... For many,.. administration has tilted balance too far towards maintaining'certain information...in confidence'... In Britain, freedom of expression has been under attack... It has now gone further [than US]... At first meeting of UNGA, delegates described freedom of expression as 'the touchstone of all human rights'. In practice, that freedom has never been totally unfettered... Under European Convention on Human Rights, freedom of expression is subject to a wide range of possible restrictions, including national laws banning speech likely to incite/'stir up' hatred against people... Since 01, these sorts of restrictions expanded to apply to Muslims... Free-speech critics insisted some element of intent be involved, claiming otherwise religious works... could be deemed unlawful... Sometimes the press has decided to censor itself... Attempts to gag press in democratic countries usually fail"; Vijay Vaitheeswaran"Special Report: On Innovation: Something New Under the Sun"(1-20) The Economist 13 Oct 07:-official sum:"Innovation, long the preserve of technocratic elites, is becoming more open. This will be good for the world". Highlights: "Rapid and disruptive change is now happening across new and old businesses. Innovation is becoming both more accessible and more global. This... releases the untapped ingenuity of people everywhere and could help solve some of world's weightiest problems... North America still leads the world in research spending, but the big labs' advantage over their smaller rivals and the developing world is being eroded by two powerful forces. First is globalisation, especially the rise of China and India... Second is rapid advance of information technologies, which are spreading far beyond internet and into older industries. [I]nnovation can involve plenty of clever gadgets/gizmos. [I]nnovation is not... invention. New products might be an important part of the process, but they are not the essence of it. Much innovation happens in processes and services. Novelty of some sort does matter, although it might involve an existing idea from another industry or country... OECD says innovation can be defined as 'new products/business processes/organic changes that create wealth or social welfare'. [Firms'] R&D organisations... had successes, and many companies still spend... on corporate research[, but] the process is slow and insular. [Now R&D] is giving way to the more democratic, even joyously anarchic, new model of innovation[; and] move to an open approach to innovation is far more promising. [S]tudies do show that a large and rising share of growth - and with it living standards - over recent decades is the result of innovation. Innovative firms also tend to outperform their peers... Indeed, OECD experts believe most innovation has been caused by globalisation and new technologies[:] in 1990s, 'innovations - in technology as well as products and business processes - boosted productivity. As productivity rose, competition intensified, bringing fresh waves of innovation'. That is why innovation matters. [T]he 'knowledge economy' is becoming more important. Indeed, rich countries may not be able to compete with rivals offering low-cost products/services if they do not learn to innovate better and faster. But... it is not necessarily a zero sum game. Because the well of human ingenuity is bottomless, innovation strategies that tap into hitherto neglected intellectual capital and connect it better with financial capital can help both rich and poor countries prosper... In an age of mass innovation the world may even find profitable ways to deliver solutions to the century's greatest needs, including sustainable clean energy, affordable and universal healthcare for ageing populations and quite possibly entirely new industries. The one natural resource that the world has left in infinite quantity is human ingenuity"; Economist 05 Jan 08"Global Migration: Keep the Borders Open"(Edit.8-9):-off.sum:"The backlash against immigrants in the rich world is a threat to prosperity everywhere". Highlights: "[A]round the rich world, immigration has been rising to the top of voters' lists of concerns - which, for those who believe that migration greatly benefits both recipient and donor countries, is a worry in itself".[Editorial draws top attention to"Special Report: Migration" (Unique 1-16):-the 8 sections' titles/off.sums:"Open Up"/"Despite a growing backlash, the boom in migration has been mostly good for both sending/recipient countries, says Adam Roberts". "Of Bedsheets and Bison Grass Vodka"/"Rich economies gain from high levels of migration, but the benefits are unevenly spread". "The Politics of the Gun"/"Migration has once again become a touchy political issue". "Keep Out"/"Voters like the idea of tougher borders, but the cost is high and the benefits are limited". "Send Me a Number"/Migrants' remittances help ease poverty back home, but they are not a cure-all". "You Don't Have To Be Rich"/"Developing countries attract migrants too". "Circulate Or Integrate?"/"A choice of migration policies". "The Long Term"/"Too much or not enough?" Other relevant items in same issue: "Briefing: Germany's Jews: Latkes and Vodka"(40-2)/"Immigrants from former Soviet Union are transforming Jewish life in Germany". "Immigration Controls: Guarding British Soil"(47-8)/"Britain's immigration regime, long one of Europe's most liberal, is to tighten up. Will it secure the jobs of British workers - or those of MPs?"] [M]ost often migration is about young, motivated, dynamic people seeking to better themselves by hard work [and h]istory has shown [it] encourages prosperity. Tens of millions of Europeans who made it to the New World in 19th and 20th centuries improved their lot, just as... today. Many migrants return home with new skills, savings, technology and bright ideas. Remittances in 2006 were worth at least $260b - more in many countries than aid and foreign investment combined. Letting in migrants does vastly more good for the world's poor than [foreign aid]. The movement also helps the rich world... Indeed, advanced economies compete vigorously for outsiders' skills... Low-skilled are needed too, especially in farming, services and care for children and the elderly. [So w]hy the backlash? Partly because politicians prefer to pander to xenophobic fears than to explain immigration's benefits. But not all fear of foreigners is irrational. Voters have genuine concerns... To keep borders open, fears have to be acknowledged and dealt with... [I]t is not just futile but also foolish to build taller fences to keep them out. Better [to open] more routes for legal, perhaps temporary, migration... Politicians in rich countries should also be honest about, and quicker to raise spending to deal with, the strains that immigrants place on public services... The social integration of new arrivals is also crucial... Better to seek ways to isolate the extremist fringe... Above all, perspective is needed. The vast population movements of past four decades... have offered a better life for millions of migrants and enriched receiving countries both culturally and materially. But... politicians need... to deal honestly with the problems sometimes caused"; Economist 19 Jan 08"Democracy in Retreat: Freedom Marches Backward"(Edit.12):-off.sum: "Why the setback is likely to be temporary". Highlights:"[US] Freedom House's closely watched annual review confirms 2007 was the second year during which freedom retreated in most of the world, reversing a democratic tide that had looked almost unstoppable during 1990s following collapse of communism and breakup of Soviet Union. [Attention then stressed on: "Measuring Liberty: When Freedom Stumbles"(63-4):-off.sum:"Civil and democratic rights are in retreat, says an organisation with strong, though not uncontested, views on the matter".] [N]ews is grim[, b]ut can be a mistake to extrapolate too much from the advances and retreats of a single year or two. [T]wo brighter observations. First, most people in most places still want democracy [-] evident not only in what people say, even in conservative Muslim countries[, but] also reflected in what people do[Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq]. [C]ountries now riven by political violence ... does not prove their voters cannot grasp the democratic idea... Where the strong are willing to use violence to thwart popular will [Myanmar] or provoke violent reaction [Kenya], idea itself is harder to squash or suborn. In many newly democratic parts of the world [Latin America], its roots are spreading wider and burrowing deeper. [S]econd, there are many reasons why societies advancing fitfully towards democracy can suffer setbacks[: the] transitions are disorderly [Russia, Iraq]. But autocracies suffer setbacks too [Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh]. Freedom House may well be right that democracy is on the back foot right now. In the longer run, its appeal is undiminished". Particularly relevant is Johns Hopkins University's Francis Fukuyama "A Quiet Revolution: Latin America's Unheralded Progress"Foreign Affairs Vol.86/No.6 (Nov/Dec 07). This is careful/positive review of Michael Reid Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul(Yale Univ. Press 07) 352 pp. Review's official summary:"Latin America is deepening its democratic institutions, integrating into the global economy, and finally addressing endemic social inequalities - in short, turning into something of a success story even as most outsiders look the other way"; Economist 02 Feb 08"The Internet in China: Alternative Reality"(69-70):-off.sum:"China will soon boast more internet users than any other country. But usage patterns inside China are different from those elsewhere". Highlights:"[By end-07,] internet users... reached 210m,... up by more than 50% on 06 and more than 3 times number for India... Within few months,.. China will have more users than US[ and,] at just 16%, rapid growth likely to continue for some time. [N]o surprise, but done in a very different way from other countries [-]largely result government's repressive approach towards information/entertainment. News is censored... Internet itself also tightly controlled. Access to many foreign websites restricted; Google's site filters its results to exclude politically sensitive material... Yet it is limitations... that make internet so popular in China[:] internet fills gaps and provides what is unavailable elsewhere, particularly for young people. More than 70% of Chinese internet users are under 30, precisely the opposite of US. [O]bvious use is to distribute free pirated films/TV shows/music... China's censors... unable to stem flow of pirated foreign media. [P]iracy starting to worry government,.. because availability of free foreign content is holding back development of domestic media industry. [M]aking money online, biggest market involves delivery of mobile-internet content to mobile phones. Over 1/2billion mobile-phone users; more than 1/2 then use phones to buy ringtones/jokes/pictures... Another big field: online multiplayer games [-]so popular, government started worry aboutimpact on adults' productivity/children's education... Although constraints on... hard news, internet sites provide steady supply of gossip, features, dabs of propaganda, slightly salacious stories/photos; constantly testing boundaries of what is permissible. [M]ost dynamic area, and hardest for outsiders to understand, is online communities. [F]or many users in China, internet not truly a worldwide web; only as wide as China[, but] internet community evidently a world unto itself"; Economist 09 Feb 08"Technology and Development: The Limits of Leapfrogging"(Edit.12-3):-off.sum:"Spread of new technologies often depends on availability of older ones". Highlights: "Mobile phone frequently... good example of technology's ability to transform the fortunes of people in developing world. [I]t has enabled [poor] countries to skip the fixed-line technology of 20th century and move straight to mobile technology of 21st. Alas, mobile phone turns out to be rather unusual... There are some other examples of leapfrog technologies that can promote development - local small-scale electricity generation based on solar panels or biomass, for example - but may not be many. World Bank points out it is presence of a solid foundation of intermediate technology that determines whether latest technologies become widely diffused. [See: "Briefing: Technology in Emerging Economies: Of Internet Cafés and Power Cuts"(75-7):-off.sum:"Emerging economies are better at adopting new technologies than at putting them into widespread use".] Computers/broadband links not much use without a reliable electrical supply, and latest medical gear is not terribly helpful [if] lacks basic sanitation and health-care facilities... World Bank looked at 28 examples of new technologies that achieved a market penetration of at least 5% in the developed world, and found 23 of them went on to manage a penetration of over 50%. Then considered 67 new technologies that had achieved a 5% penetration in the developing world, and found only 6 of them went on to reach 50%. Although new technologies are often adopted by a small minority in poor countries, they then fail to achieve widespread diffusion... World Bank concludes: capacity to absorb and benefit from new technology depends on availability of more basic forms of infrastructure. Clear implications for development policy[:] with technology, as with education, health care and economic development, short-cuts are rare"; Economist 12 Apr 08"Special Report on Mobile Telecoms: Nomads At Last"(Special 1-18):-off.sum:"Wireless communication is changing the way people work, live, love and relate to places - and each other, says Andreas Kluth". Highlights of introductory essay: "Urban nomads have started appearing only in past few years. [T]hey are defined not by what they carry but by what they leave behind, knowing that environment will provide it... Modern nomads carry almost no paper because they access their documents on their laptop computers, mobile phones or online. Increasingly, don't even bring laptops. Many... travel with only 'smart phone'. If need arises for large keyboard, they sit down in front of nearest available computer anywhere in world, open its web browser and access all their documents online. [As] many nomads are frequent flyers, [airlines] now introducing in-flight Wi-Fi... A modern nomad...may never have left [location since] how far he moves is completely irrelevant. [N]evertheless has a new and surprisingly different relationship to time, to place and to other people... Sociologists are trying to figure out how mobile communications are changing interactions between people [since] has implications for society at large. [Others] investigating... whether it makes young people... more autonomous or more dependent... Activists are trying to piggyback on the ubiquity of nomadic tools to improve the world, even as they worry about same tools in the hands of the malicious. Special... explores ramifications of mobile technology rather than the technologies themselves. [N]ew generation of wireless technologies is already poised to take over[, and] the airwaves are now among society's most important assets... Research in Motion [has] launched iPhone, with its radically new and user-friendly touch interface[;] Google received 50 times more web-search requests from iPhones this year than from any other mobile handset... Now mobile phone is on course to replace PC as the primary device for getting online. [M]ore than half world's population now subscribe to mobile-phone service, so the internet at last looks set to change whole world. [M]ost wonderful thing... is that consumers can increasingly forget about how it works and simply take advantage of it". Other essays' titles/off.sum:"Labour Movement": "Joys/drawbacks of being able to work from anywhere"."The New Oases":"Nomadism changes buildings, cities and traffic". "Family Ties":"Kith and kin get closer, with consequences for strangers". "Location, Location, Location" :"It matters". "A World of Witnesses":"When everybody becomes a nomadic monitor". "Homo Mobilis":"As language goes, so does thought". Editorial:"A Wireless World: Our Nomadic Future"(16)draws carefully on Special Report, and concludes:"Will it be a better life? In some ways, yes. Will liberate ever more knowledge workers[; but those] who are 'always on' all too often end up - mentally - anywhere but here. [M]ight bring you much closer to family/ friends; but may make it harder to bring in outsiders... As for politics, tools... can improve the world [e.g.] turn practically everybody into a potential human-rights activist... But same tools have dark side[i.e.]promises heaven of new freedom but also... hell of constant surveillance"; Economist 31 May 08"Mobile Telecoms: Halfway There"(68-9):-off.sum:"How to promote the spread of mobile phones among the world's poorest". Highlights:"[Very soon] the number of mobile phones in use will exceed 3.3 billion, or half the world's population. No technology has ever spread faster around the globe: took less than two decades to reach this degree of penetration. [Already plans] on getting the other half connected. [T]hat means finding ways to make mobile phones more affordable... The single largest barrier... is the cost of a handset... Cheapest phones now cost less than $30[;] voice-only handsets could fall to $10 in five years. But affordable phones are only part of the picture[:] operators in developing countries have been inventive in efforts to reach rural customers... For operators to make a profit at such low prices, network infrastructure must be cheap to install and operate [e.g.] share network infrastructure to cut costs; small, low-cost base-stations specially for use in developing world. [A]lso new business models, such as having a local entrepreneur run a base-station and provide services [billing and handset maintenance]. Yet... governments keep adding costs - mainly by levying taxes and customs duties. Particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa [where] average ratio of tax payments to operator revenues is 30% [and] on average the mobile industry... contributes 7% of national tax revenue. [E]asy to explain: governments have to tax something, and mobile phones are an easy target, since operators' billing systems do all the hard work. [Yet] global mobile penetration will reach 75% by 2011 [-] a potent force for economic development in the world's poorest countries. But more can be done to exploit it... By cutting back on mobile-specific taxes and tariffs, governments can help [economic growth/access to communications]".

The Economist 30 Aug 08"Poverty: The Bottom 1.4 Billion"(70):-off.sum:"The world is poorer than we thought, the World Bank discovers". Highlights:"In Apr 07, World Bank announced that 986m worldwide suffered from extreme poverty - first time count dropped below 1b. On 26 Aug 08, grim news to report: 'developing world is poorer than we thought'. The number of poor was almost 1.4 billion in 05[, but simply meaning] that the plight is now better understood. Bank has improved its estimates of the cost of living around the world, thanks to a vast effort to compare the price of hundreds of products... in 146 countries. In many poor countries the cost of living was steeper than previously thought, which meant more people fell short of poverty line... The researchers now prefer a yardstick more typical of the 15 poorest countries that have credible poverty lines. By this definition, people are poor if cannot match the standard of living of someone living on $1.25 a day in US in 05... Discovery of another 400m poor will not satisfy some of the bank's critics, who think it still undercounts poverty. Its cost-of-living estimates are based on the prices faced by a 'representative household', whose consumption mirrors national spending. But the poor are not representative. [Since buying in smaller quantities, pay more]". Also directly relevant to serious global poverty: "Global Health: The Price of Being Well"(59-60):- off.sum:"Is it time for a new paradigm for health and development? A heavyweight panel with an egalitarian ideology claims to have found one". Highlights: "[R]eport released 28 Aug 08 by [Commission on Social Determinants of Health which] asked by WHO to take a broad look at the question of inequality and health. [P]anel issued a call to arms: 'Closing the gap in a generation'. [L]ife of a slum dweller...is generally shorter, nastier, more brutish than the earthly span of a rich person... But why, asks panel, [does the poorer] tend to die more than two decades sooner?.. Explanation, according to [panel], is not merely a matter of income. Nor can it be reduced to the varying capacities of health systems. In addition,.. there are social/political/economic forces that ostensibly have little to do with health but can still end up determining 'whether a child can grow up and develop to its full potential and live a flourishing life, or whether its life will be blighted'. To reduce the risk of latter, the experts have drawn up a long wish list. They call on governments to improve the quality of everyday life, particularly for women/girls in poor countries, through investment in child care/education, and by insisting on better working conditions. They stress the need to 'tackle the inequitable distribution of power/money/resources' - through better governance, support for civil society, and more equitable economic policies. [Article discusses several criticisms of report, but concludes:] it would be a pity if the new report's saner ideas were obscured by the authors' quixotic determination to achieve perfect political, economic and social equity". Global poverty from aid point of view: Economist 06 Sep 08"The Future of Aid: A Scramble in Africa"(69):-off.sum:"Donors and recipients try to get to grips with the chaos in international aid". Highlights:"The development-aid business is a shambles. High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra agreed on that.The meeting was the first follow-up by 100-odd countries/agencies/NGOs to an accord on making aid more effective, reached in Paris in 05. [O]fficial development assistance has been rising modestly[, but] the problem is that aid is fragmenting: too many agencies, financing too many small projects, using too many different procedures. [OECD reports] 18 poor countries each has 25 or more official donors[;] number of aid projects financed [up] to 80,000 over past 10 years... UN reckoned 37,000 international NGOs in 00 [- more now. I]ncreasingly important to the aid business, NGOs spent $27b of aid in 05. Total official assistance $84b is evidence of western generosity, but it is swamping poor countries... Paris declaration laid down number of principles for making aid work better... Some of targets are sensible[: e.g.] donors... using their own experts (not local people) to build, run and evaluate operations. [B]iggest problem: too many aid agencies; challenge is coordinating them. [B]est way of coping with the fragmentation of aid is for recipient countries to lay down a set of national development priorities and ask donors to fit in with their plans... Still, the picture is not all doom and gloom[: e.g.] by 06, the no-strings-attached share of aid had reached 53%". Economist 20 Sep 08"Global Business: In Praise of the Stateless Multinational"(Edit.20):-off.sum:"Not without its flaws, but infinitely preferable to the state-bound version". Highlights: "[T]he idealistic spirit of international cooperation [is described by interviewed executives of two outstanding] emerging-market multinational[s.] Lenovo and Arcelor Mittal are at leading edge of a new phase in the evolution of the multinational corporation"[, as argued in "Special Report on Globalisation: A Bigger World"(unique pages 1-26). Introductory essay's official summary: "Globalisation is entering a new phase, with emerging-market companies now competing furiously against rich-country ones. Matthew Bishop asks what that will mean for capitalism". Other essay titles:-off.sums:"The New Champions":-"Emerging markets are producing examples of capitalism at its best". "Ins and Outs":-"Acronyms BRIC [Brazil/Russia/India/China] out all over". "The Empire Strikes Back":-"Why rich-world multinationals think they can stay ahead of the newcomers". "Oil, Politics and Corruption":-"Bad capitalism carries its own risks". "The Rise of State Capitalism":-"Coming to grips with sovereign-wealth funds". "Cities in the Sand":-"A new sort of investment partnership". "Opportunity Knocks":-"As long as the protectionists don‛t spoil it". Back to Editorial:] "Today the goal is to create... the 'globally integrated enterprise' - a single firm in which work is sourced wherever it is most efficient. [S]enior managers will increasingly be spread around the world, which will require them to learn new tricks... Some people assume that stateless multinationals inevitably compete away standards in a race to the bottom. It is true that multinationals tend to shop around for taxes, but in other ways they are usually sticklers for good behaviour. Encouragingly, firms from emerging markets are finding that a globally integrated company needs a single culture... A globally integrated firm cannot allow corrupt practices by employees in some countries and not others, so it must outlaw them everywhere. [I]t cannot enforce religious practices/holidays/different ways of life, so it must preach tolerance. [T]he real threat comes from overly chummy links between a state and its multinationals... Rather than fear the stateless corporation, people would be wise to do all they can to make them feel at home". Also relevant:"Emerging Markets:Beware Falling BRICs"(92). Economist 22 Nov 08"Mobile Phones: The Battle for the Smart-Phone's Soul"(76-7):-off.sum: "Competition heats up to provide the software that powers mobile phones". Highlight:"[N]ot all is doom and gloom in the mobile-phone industry. On the contrary, it is going through two important shifts that promise to generate much growth and profit in the years to come. First, even though overall sales may fall in 2009, sales of 'smart' phones - those that allow you to surf [and use in many ways] the internet... are booming. [T]he market for smart-phones will grow... to $95 billion in 2013... Second, and more important, as handsets get smarter the nature of the industry will change. It will be less about hardware and more about software, services and content. [T]his is why... a fierce battle between operating systems for handsets has broken out... The best outcome... is a continuing battle... And it is by innovating rapidly that the mobile-phone industry has the best chance of weathering recession". Economist 18 Apr 09"Technology and Medicine: Fixing Health Care"(Edit.13-4):-off.sum: "Technology has been a culprit behind runaway health costs. It might now help tame them". Highlights:"[D]emand for health care will only grow [globally, and rich and poor] governments are already having to adjust. The snag is the cost[, with two reasons] repeatedly: distorted payment systems.,.and a lack of proper competition. Medical device manufacturers often expect reimbursement for expensive new equipment on [strange] 'cost plus' basis, and drug companies enjoy temporary monopolies on new pills." Editorial then recommends: "Special Report on Health Care and Technology" (SR pages 1-18). Its chapters' titles and official summaries are as follows:"Medicine Goes Digital"(SR 3-4):-"The convergence of biology and engineering is turning health care into an information industry. Will be disruptive, says Vijay Vaitheewaran, but also hugely beneficial to patients". "HIT or Miss"(SR 4-6):-"Health reformers have long wanted to digitise medical records. They are getting closer". "Flying Blind"(SR 6-8):-"Digital medicine will improve medical care - and it may possibly revive drug discovery". "Getting Personal"(SR 9-11):-"The promise of quick and cheap genome sequencing". "A Doctor in Your Pocket"(SR 11-4):-"Developing countries are using mobile phones as a way of leapfrogging to personalised medicine". "Fantastic Journey"(SR 15-7):-"Medical technology is making medicine more portable, precise and personal". "Health 2.0"(SR 17-8):-"The arrival of digital medicine is already empowering patients - but will it also lead to better health?" Editorial again: "[Change is] finally under way, prompted by a host of information/communication technologies that should make health care much more portable, precise and personal. Spread of electronic medical records and emergence of a 'smart grid' for [medical information] should bring more transparency... Personal medical monitors and other devices should make it easier to treat expensive chronic diseases... Change is also being prompted by the willingness of doctors/politicians, especially in poorer countries, to apply at least some economic tests to medical spending". See: Health Care in China: Will Patients be Rewarded?"(45):-"The government's plans are still something of a mystery". "Dialysis in China: Free for Now"(45):-"How to embarrass government into providing health care". "Health Care in India: Lessons from a Frugal Innovator"(67-8):-"The rich world's bloated health-care systems can learn from India's entrepreneurs". Back to Edit:-"Britain... has championed use of basic economic appraisals[, and] Obama wants to expand comparative effectiveness studies and health technology assessments... Arrival of digital medicine promises to shake medical establishment to its roots,[handing] much more information over to patients themselves. But biggest savings will [come] from application of basic economics". Economist 26 Sep 09"The Power of Mobile Money"(Edit.13):-off.sum:"Mobile phones have transformed lives in the poor world. Mobile money could have just as big an impact". Highlights:-"[M]obile phones... in few short years became tools of economic empowerment for world's poorest. Compensate for inadequate infrastructure,.. allowing information to move more freely, markets more efficient, unleashing entrepreneurship. All has direct impact on economic growth [World Bank: extra 10 phones per 100 people in typical poor country boosts GDP by 0.8%]". More than 4 billion handsets are now in use worldwide, three-quarters in the developing world. For the major trends that are changing the current world, see also in this issue "A Special Report on Telecoms in Emerging Markets"(SR pages 1-19). Chapters' titles and official summaries: "Mobile Marvels"(SR 3-4):-"Poor countries have already benefited hugely from mobile phones. Now get ready for a second round, says Tom Standage". "Eureka Moments"(SR 4-8):-"How a luxury item became a tool of global development". "The Mother of Invention"(SR 8-12):-"Network operators in the poor world are cutting costs and increasing access in innovative ways". "Up, Up and Huawei"(SR 13-5):-"China has made huge strides in network equipment". "Beyond Voice"(SR 15-8):-"New uses for mobile phones could launch another wave of development". "Finishing the Job"(SR 18-9):-"Mobile-phone access will soon be universal. The next task is to do the same for the internet". Highlights:"The reason why mobile phones are so valuable to people in the poor world is that they are providing access to telecommunications for the very first time... The developing world's rural poor will account for most of the growth in the coming years[, and] the total reach 6 billion by 2013. Three trends in particular are reshaping the telecoms landscape. First, the spread of mobile phones in developing countries accompanied by the rise of home-grown mobile operators in China, India, Africa, Mideast that rival or exceed the industry's Western incumbents in size... Second trend is emergence of China's... telecoms-equipment-makers,.. which have entered the global stage [and] now have a growing reputation for quality/innovation... Third trend is development of new phone-based services, beyond voice calls/basic text messages, now becoming feasible because mobile phones are relatively widely available". To return to Editorial: "[A] new opportunity beckons: mobile money, which allows cash to travel as quickly as a text message... Mobile-money services [can] allow small retailers [in the developing world] to act rather like bank branches. They can take your cash, and by sending a special text message, credit it to your mobile-money account. You can then transfer money via text message to other registered users, who can withdraw it by visiting their own local shops. You can even send money to people not registered; they receive a text message with a code that can be redeemed for cash... Most successful example of mobile money is in Kenya [but] similar schemes are popular in Philippines and South Africa... Extending mobile money to other poor countries, particularly in Africa/Asia, would have a huge impact[:] faster/cheaper/safer way to transfer money than the alternatives... Mobile money also provides a stepping stone to formal financial services for billions who lack access to savings accounts/credits/insurance... Financial innovation has a bad reputation at the moment [RECESSION], because exotic derivatives were one of the causes of the credit crunch. But mobile money and other new ideas that could help the poor [see "Briefing: Financial Innovation and the Poor: A Place in Society" (83-4)] provide a useful reminder that financial innovation in itself is not always a bad thing... Some banks... have come to see mobile money not as a threat but as opportunity. [It] presents a shining opportunity to start a second wave of mobile-led development across the poor world". Economist 26 Sep 09"Climate Change: Avoiding a Crash at Copenhagen"(Edit.18):-off.sum "How to get negotiations on the right track for a deal". Highlights:"The diplomatic process leading up to the climate-change conference in Copenhagen in Dec is gathering speed[: at preparatory meetings] before try[ing for] a successor to the Kyoto protocol. [For report on a new plan to control serious carbon emissions:"Airlines Pledge to Cut Emissions: Almost Virtuous" (80):-off.sum"IATA, the trade body for airlines,.. promised that by 2050 the industry would cut its carbon emissions to 50% of 2005 levels".] [While] so much energy... is good[,] much is misdirected... if [they]continue to follow [flawed Kyoto] precepts too slavishly... Over past year [there] have been... efforts to avert serious climate change[, e.g. in US, Japan, China]. [For more on US/Chinese positions see also"Climate Change at the UN: Fine Words"(36).] But [US Senate, which must] ratify international treaties, [includes] many senators who do not much like [US draft] Waxman-Markey bill to curb emissions, and it is unlikely to be passed before the summit, if at all. [A] bust-up in Copenhagen would make it harder to get legislation passed next year. There is an alternative: moving the negotiations onto a different diplomatic track... Kyoto's approach has not... paid off... partly because the treaty left out big emissions sources such as deforestation. [See "Paying to Save Trees: Last Gasp for the Forest" (93-5):-off.sum"A new climate treaty could provide a highly effective way to reduce carbon emissions by paying people to not cut down forests".] [But Kyoto also faced problems] because potential participants were put off by the idea of internationally binding commitments. [Another proposed route:] All countries would come up with a 'national schedule' of programs, such as cap-and-trade and low-carbon regulations. Developed countries would also specify an amount by which they mean to reduce their emissions. These commitments would have the force of domestic law, but would not be subject to international sanctions... US legislators would find this more palatable; so would developing countries, which fear internationally binding commitments could be used as justifications for imposing tariffs on them. [For examples of already desperate states, see "East Africa's Drought: A Catastrophe is Looming"(59-60):-off.sum"Governments are at their wits' end to keep their hungry people alive... With rivers down to a trickle or drying up completely, dams are running out of water; some are empty. Turbines have shut down. Electricity throughout east Africa is patchier than usual... The high price of food and water is making governments more disliked... The drought cycle in east Africa has been contracting sharply".] Kyoto, in truth, has no teeth [and/or] it will not be enforced... China, while resisting... targets, may have done more to curb emissions growth than any other country in recent years... There is not much time before Copenhagen, but there is enough to open up an alternative track". Economist 03 Oct 09"Farmland and Climate Change: Seasonally Adjusted"(73-4):-off.sum "Global warming will make it harder to feed the world in 2050". Highlights:-"Oxfam has... compiled a litany of laments by poor farmers [in which they all say similar things:]'moderate, temperate seasons are shrinking... rainy seasons are shorter and more violent... making it more difficult to grow crops [and] difficult for them to know when best to plant'. As the earth warms up, many have feared that farmers will pay a high price... Higher temperatures might turn arid shrub lands into deserts, while improving the growing season in colder steppes[Canada/Russia]. [International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), US think tank,] has reached some sobering conclusions. In parts of the developing world, some crop yields in 2050 could be only half of their 2000 levels. Irrigation might not help: climate change will hit irrigated systems harder than rain-fed ones. And the hope that gainers from climate change will outweigh losers looks vain. [IPCC] says the oceans' surface temperature will rise by around 1.6°C by 2050. However this says nothing about the temperature and rainfall patterns that would result on farmland... In developing countries, IFPRI found, irrigated wheat in 2050 would yield 28-34% less than in 2000. For irrigated rice, the declines would be 14-19%... China's farming may... be more resilient than it sometimes appears. But South Asia, the world's most heavily populated region, looks vulnerable: IFPRI forecasts a possible 50% fall in its wheat yield in 2050... As patterns of production shift,.. more important to liberalise farm trade... But overall,.. the yield declines are so great that only another Green Revolution would be enough to offset them. [L]ooks possible: the technology to double or triple many crop yields exists in laboratories. The problem is to get it into the fields... G20 [has just] promised to put more taxpayer money into farm research, and other help for agriculture". Much regardless of climate-caused food challenges, see for instance "UN: World Hunger on the Rise for a Decade"Associated Press 14 Oct 09:-"Declining aid/investment in agriculture caused a steady increase in world hunger for more than a decade before the economic crisis pushed the ranks of the hungry to a record 1 billion,.. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned in [its State of Food Insecurity report for 2009]... FAO says global food output will have to increase by 70% to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050. To achieve that, poor countries will need $44 billion yearly of aid to agriculture... to increase access to irrigation systems, modern machinery, as well as to build roads and train farmers". "Fuel Subsidies: Fossilised Policy"03 Oct 09(74):-off.sum:-"The G20 decides to end subsidies on fossil fuels". Highlights:-"[At recent] meeting,.. world leaders decided to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies in 'medium term'... The G20... account for 80% of greenhouse-gas emissions. Most subsidies come from its poor and middle-income members[:] those outside OECD spend $310 billion a year on such subsidies, mainly for petrol... The subsidies mainly benefit middle-income and higher-earning urban types; the rural poor use little fossil fuel... Subsidising fossil fuels has many [practical] flaws... Rich countries subsidise... by much less. [Yet apart from financial savings,] eliminating fossil-fuel subsidies would result in a 10% reduction in global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050". "[US] Regulating Greenhouse Gases: Enter the [Environmental Protection Agency or]EPA"03 Oct 09(38-40):-"EPA has announced that if Congress won't legislate to cut greenhouse gases, it will regulate anyway... A Supreme Court decision earlier this year required EPA, once it had established that carbon dioxide was a pollutant, to start regulating emissions from vehicles. Now administration has authorised EPA to start regulating gases from stationary sources too - power stations and industry, the origin of most emissions and backbone of US economy. The proposed rules, which would take effect in 2011, will focus on the country's biggest power stations and require them to prove that they have employed the best available technologies, or face penalties for not doing so. [A]dministration hopes matters will not get to that point[, but] if a bill were not passed before the climate conference in Copenhagen in Dec[, US] can take EPA's intervention, along with other measures, and argue that they add up to a substantial package of cuts". George Magnus The Age of Aging: How Demographics Are Changing the Global Economy and Our World(Singapore: John Wiley & Sons 09):-the official summary of the book's aims cannot be improved:"[It] explores a unique phenomenon in the history of mankind, and therefore one which is taking us all into uncharted territory. The combination of low or declining birth rates and rising life expectancy is producing rapid aging of the world's population and stagnation in the number of people of working age in Western societies. [It] examines the broad economic effects of aging, the main proposals for addressing the implications, and how aging societies will affect family and social structures". The style is carefully accurate and very rarely uses technical words, but the text contains concentrated facts/arguments all the time, i.e. it's not light reading. For these circumstances, I suspect most readers would consume each section slowly - but they can be read individually. Here are selected sub-titles: "Falling fertility, family structures, and modern times. Climate change, food, oil, and water join the fray. Global population changes. Aging and dependency. The demographic dividend for poorer countries. How the rich world is aging. Will labor shortages crimp growth? Will we be able to finance retirement? Later retirement is more than just a matter of law. Age-related spending: pensions/healthcare. Aging in emerging and developing nations. Economic consequences. Angry young men in an unstable region. Where globalization and demographics meet. Will immigration solve aging society problems? Demographic issues in religion and international security. Insecurity, inequality, and changing family structures. Jack A.Goldstone"The New Population Bomb: The Four Megatrends That Will Change the World"(31-43) Foreign Affairs Vol.89/No.1 (Jan/Feb 10):-official summary:"Twenty-first-century will be affected by four major demographic trends: the relative demographic weight of the world's developed countries is dropping; those countries' labor forces are aging and declining; the populations of the poorest, youngest, and most heavily Muslim countries are growing the most; and for the first time in history, the world is becoming more urban than rural. Policymakers will have to adapt current global institutions to these new realties". Goldstone is Virginia E. and John T.Hazel, Jr., Professor at the George Mason School of Public Policy. Jagdish Bhagwati"Banned Aid: Why International Assistance Does Not Alleviate Poverty"(120-125) Foreign Affairs Vol.89/No.1 (Jan/Feb 10):-Review Essay of Dambisa Moyo: Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa (Farrar, Straus & Giraux 09, 208pp. $24.00). Official summary:"The idea that foreign aid can be used to promote development seems reasonable. But as the Zambian economist Moyo argues, it is flawed - not just because corrupt dictators divert aid for nefarious or selfish purposes but also because even in reasonably democratic countries, aid creates perverse incentives and unintended consequences". [In other words, while the deeply experienced and global-level economist Bhagwati ultimately rejects Moyo's proposal to terminate all aid within five years, he shares many of her criticisms of its errant policies by identifying several unfortunate motives that drove the donations. He also feels that she does not assign sufficient blame to the terrible faults of many of the African leaders involved.] Bhagwati is Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and University Professor of Economics and Law at Columbia University. He served on the UN secretary-general's Advisory Panel on International Support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development 2005-06. For an annotated guide to this topic, see "What to Read on Foreign Aid" at www.foreignaffairs.com/readinglists/foreign-aid.