dark days (2000)...

( first ten minutes, about )

it is a fundamental doctrine of the ideological system that we cannot apply to ourselves the standards we rightly apply to enemies // chomsky

l'étoile bleue...

another big idea...

international capital mobility, coupled with free trade, allows corporations to escape from national regulation in the public interest, playing one nation off against another. since there is no global government they are, in effect, uncontrolled. the nearest thing we have to a global government (IMF-WB-WTO) has shown no interest in regulating transnational capital for the common good. their goal is to help these corporations grow, because growth is presumed good for all--end of story. if the IMF wanted to limit international capital mobility to keep the world safe for comparative advantage, there are several things they could do. they could promote minimum residence times for foreign investment to limit capital flight and speculation and they could propose a small tax on all foreign exchange transactions (tobin tax). most of all they could revive keynes’ proposal for an international multilateral clearing union that would directly penalize persistent imbalances in current account (both deficit and surplus), and thereby indirectly promote balance in the compensating capital account, reducing international capital movements. // herman daly, adbusters

happy effing birthday, sami...

the boy w/ the incredible brain...

( for anyone who hasn't seen this yet )

darwin, d.n.a. and destiny...

next thursday, feb. 12, marks the 200th birthday of charles darwin, probably the most influential scientist in intellectual history. darwin's theory of evolution has been making trouble for a century and a half, and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. darwin's dangerous idea dethroned mankind as the pinnacle of all creation, and knocked god the creator right out of the sky. apart from the folks who cling to intelligent design, most of us now accept the fact that the human race evolved through eons of natural selection. most of us also figure that human evolution has pretty much stopped. we assume that we are essentially identical to the people who emerged in africa 50,000 years ago, and any differences that may have evolved between different groups of humans are trivial. it's culture that drives human development now. or maybe not. the new explosion of genetic evidence strongly suggests not only that we have continued to evolve, but that some of our evolutionary adaptations have been remarkably significant and swift. and some have played a major role in shaping human history... // margaret wente, 02.06.09, globe and mail

infomania, 02.05.09...

misc. malaysia...