Education By The Numbers

I am always awestruck at how much information can be conveyed with a simple infograph. I mean, you could spend hours or more searching for the stuff you need (actually that's what the people behind infographs are doing, no doubt) or you could get it all wrapped nicely in an infograph.

The latest one I discovered is about the state of Education around the Globe. Something I was always curious about but too lazy to do the research (lack of time is also presend, but like my sensei used to say, there's no such thing as I can't do it, just I don't want to).

So, kudos to the teachers who deserve it and to all the students as well.

Education-infographic

The Leading Innovators

Let's see who are the most innovative industries and countries in the new millenia. I mean, there won't be any surprises at the top. The most noteworthy one is the absence of China, mainly because "if focuses on the internal market at first". Oh, come on! Will they ever open themselves fully to embrace the rest of the world? The government can't keep them out of the loop like this forever. Or can it? That's for a different type of post and blog altogeher so I'll stop here.

Good-worlds-leading-innovators

Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization

Neuroscientist and fiction writer David Eagleman presents "Six Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization."

Civilizations always think they're immortal, Eagleman says, but they nearly always perish, leaving "nothing but ruins and scattered genetics." It takes luck and new technology to survive. We may be particularly lucky to have Internet technology to help manage the six requirements of a durable civilization:

1. "Try not to cough on one another." More humans have died from epidemics than from all famines and wars. Disease precipitated the fall of Greece, Rome, and the civilizations of the Americas. People used to bunch up around the infected, which pushed local disease into universal plague. Now we can head that off with Net telepresence, telemedicine, and medical alert networks. All businesses should develop a work-from-home capability for their workforce.

2. "Don't lose things." As proved by the destruction of the Alexandria Library and of the literature of Mayans and Minoans, "knowledge is hard won but easily lost." Plumbing disappeared for a thousand years when Rome fell. Inoculation was invented in China and India 700 years before Europeans rediscovered it. These days Michelangelo's David has been safely digitized in detail. Eagleman has direct access to all the literature he needs via PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Books. "Distribute, don't reinvent."

3. "Tell each other faster." Don't let natural disasters cascade. The Minoans perished for lack of the kind of tsunami alert system we now have. Countless Haitians in the recent earthquake were saved by Ushahidi.com, which aggregated cellphone field reports in real time.

4. "Mitigate tyranny." The USSR's collapse was made inevitable by state-controlled media and state-mandated mistakes such as Lysenkoism, which forced a wrong theory of wheat farming on 13 time zones, and starved millions. Now crowd-sourced cellphone users can sleuth out vote tampering. We should reward companies that stand up against censorship, as Google has done in China.

5. "Get more brains involved in solving problems." Undertapping human capital endangers the future. Open courseware from colleges is making higher education universally accessible. Crowd-sourced problem solving is being advanced by sites such as PatientsLikeMe, Foldit (protein folding), and Cstart (moon exploration). Perhaps the next step is "society sourcing."

6. "Try not to run out of energy." When energy expenditure outweighs energy return, collapse ensues. Email saves trees and trucking. Online shopping is a net energy gain, with UPS optimizing delivery routes and never turning left. We need to expand the ability to hold meetings and conferences online.

But if the Net is so crucial, what happens if the Net goes down? It may have to go down a few times before we learn how to defend it properly, before we catch on that civilization depends on it for survival.

 

 

My View Of The Sino-Google-ian Conflict

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via economist.com

Given that I didn't have the time to write about the Google-China incident this week (in part due to promotions at work - finally!) I take the opportunity to do so with the help of this cartoon from Kal.

I ahve to point out that I consider the chinese government responsible not some "rogue group" - that's a laugh!

I wasn't a big fan of Google's last declarations regarding privacy and all. But they made me change my mind a little after announcing this week that they are no longer willing to collaborate with the chinese after a group of hackers cracked their security and stole some data - it's been covered by all major publications under all aspects, just google it! :-)

I totally support them. In fact, I would go as far as to challenge all other western companies who value human rights and all the things that make western society so great to pull out of China altogether.

What could such an act accomplish? Maybe show the chinese that they don't rule as much as they thought. It would cause great pains on all levels but it's a lesson that the West can show and handle.

The hive mentality show this past few days by the chinese made me resent them once again after changing my opinion in the past. They need to work on people "skills" if they want to actually play a role in the future of the planet. Or else people won't mind paying extra for freedom of speech!

This is my opinion. Make them beg! Freedom is the most important thing in our society. And I consider it priceless. It isn't free it's a must. And we must sanction those who try and stifle it.

So, let's take action. It might turn out to be a bumpy road but the end result will be worth it.

Peace! Freedom! And speak out your minds!