Mental exercise

From an overhead view we see Africa divided into countries. Visualize as it is geographically, a live continent. Slowly all the "hot spots" of armed conflict appear as beacons in red. The intensity of color is based upon length of conflict and intensity. Then come the areas of instability where armed conflict could break out or just was recently resolved in an orange. How much of the continent and its people are affected by these areas? (A lot) Next we fly over the continent looking at everybody. The poverty, the hate, the greed, the compassion, the love, the utter hopelessness of the situation so many find themselves, a kaleidoscope of human life. We also see the natural and insecurity embodied in it. All these motives, all these things, we feel them, we see it. What is this? What is the answer contained in the sum total of all this life? What is too big for a person to conceptualize/grasp and project solutions on?

Is planning over-complicated on the macro-level? Visualize like SimCity. Zoom in, zoom out, and treat people like automatons. I would say that the problem with development is related to the ability to perceive. The larger your view, the more you have turn people and things into numbers. Once everything is just a collection of statistics, you lose the dynamic of how they act/react in the real world. There has to be a level of disassociation. You can't plan for every single individual. You need to be able to see the dominoe effects of actions from an overhead perspective.

Imagine city planners working in a blimp, or zeppelin, anything that hovers above a city that is just below the cloud level, maybe lower. As construction is taking place and the city developing, they can see how the entire city, more like a larger portion of it, is affected organically. They become trained to see, to project, what projects will do to the overall dynamic of areas. By seeing it in a more complete way, it simply isn't a matter of numbers, and things can be done on more of a micro-level too.

I really like this idea.

Corporate maleficence

Just watched a show about the collapse of the "sang pon" (spelling is way off) shopping center in Korea. I am not sure what year it happened, but it was fairly recent, 90's or sooner. The day before it collapsed a building inspector, wisely, deemed the building structurally unsound and should be evacuated. The owners covered it up with spackle and then moved out, only closing one floor of a five story structure. 501 people died in the collapse. Many things were done wrong in the building. It is hard to imagine such arrogance. Though, recently in Japan there was a huge scandal about false earthquake safety data for maybe hundreds of apartment buldings that put thousands in danger to preserve profits. The owners got jail, as did many involved in the building/approval process. But, the damage was done and many people suffered. Everyday companies commit atrocities, largely environmental, and think nothing of it. How did the development of our, the West/capitalism, economic system lead to this? Oh wait, that what is largely designed for, as these costs are superluous to the equations of profit. But this system was not predetermined. I am not arguing for Communism. No no, innumerable atrocities have been committed in the name of Communism, or ideology in general.

When will our global system become humanistic, or more ecologically focused? By that I mean when will it care about the system it resides in and not just about what can be produced by exploiting what exists here and now.

Overheating

Sorry about the long break, I was on vacation this time, not just lazy as usual.

China's construction boom has turned into an adventure into the ridiculous. Well, it already was ridiculous, but now even the central government is trying to stop it/rein it in. The economy is growing at around 10% and the central government is worried about overheating. So, they tell banks to cut down on their lending, especially for construction and real estate projects. They also restrict foreign investing, which is focused on luxury housing, according to the article. But, governors, mayors, and local officials will have none of it. They pressure local institutions to fund their pet projects which are insane in scope and have no economic justification. All this construction is distoring the materials market, probably steering it toward a big crash.

Like the earlier 20th century China, fiefdoms are merely being built by the local officials. It is all based on prestige and power grabbing. Nobody cares about the common Chinese. They toil away at their low wage job making stuff for the West while those with power get rich and feel important. This is no different than in America, except for there isn't even the pretense, other than the Communism being "for the worker", that this boom is for the people. If lives improved and wages went up, who would make everything? China is producing enough capacity to build about 2 million more cars than it has demand for. Where will these cars go? How many loans will be forced upon local banks to get regional producers solvent?

The history of China is about those with power controlling the masses through ideology while enriching themselves. The whole Confuscian system is based on classifying people and putting them in their proper place while respecting people with power. It was/is based on merit. Merit is easier to build with money, though the system preaches hard work and perseverance. The latter aspect allowed it to endure and validated it to a degree. But, there was always those that were born into wealth, respect, and power. Today it is no different. The sons and daughters of the party's elite have been free to wield their influence to gain wealth and power, like George W....

The only protection that the world has against the twin behemoths of China and America is to insulate itself through smart planning. These two countries won't change without revolution or catastrophe, both inevitable. Everyone must prepare by encouraging renewable resources and redesigning the economic model to not reward consumption. The world is aging and the developed countries have run out of time to follow the traditional model. Quality of life, not quantity of stuff, must be the future agenda.