A summary of this morning's reading

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rogoff64/English
On how artificial intelligence is poised to reach "escape velocity" and have the same kind of transformational effect on the world economy as has had the emergence of China and India.

My reflection: The best part of this is that it might make top-level university education more affordable for everybody. The worst is a question the author doesn't even ask: Such a leap in productivity will involve losses as well as gains. Who will lose, and who will gain? What if this reinforces the present trend, where low-skilled workers lose more and more of their opportunities? What's going to happen to the cohesion of our societies? Aren't they already fragmented to the point where large blocks of the inner-city populations are feeling worse than useless?




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/health/02case.html?em
On how old age isn't what young people think.

My reflection: All the more reason to keep going for those walks together.




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/health/02baby.html?em
On preventing hearing loss in children - and how important it is to start when they're young.

My reflection: The article isn't that important, but it illustrates something: There's a big change going on here. In my parents' generation, and the one before, safety margins were thin. Knowing how dangerous life was, people they gave their children less freedom. Today we actually have a much better starting-point for steering our children in the right directions, but our culture has changed, and children are given much wider latitude for self-destructive behaviour.




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/science/02evo.html?em
On how human culture affects evolutionary changes in human beings. The article focuses on how closeness to dairy animals cause the emergence of genes for handling lactose.

My reflection: This slots nicely in with Nicholas Kristof's article from a few days ago, so I sent the author this letter:

Thank you for "Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force". Since you're interested in the subject, I'd like to point to one more important example: The general rise in the toxic load around us.

Nicholas Kristof pointed out a few days ago, in an excellent article, how this rise may be the driving force behind the current autism epidemic. (The incidence of autism has gone up by a factor of 20 in the last 25 years). Mr. Kristof is absolutely correct in this. An example he didn't mention is the Somalis: Somali immigrants have one of the highest autism rates in the USA, while autism is virtually unknown in Somalia. It's the change in the environment that does it.

The implication for your subject is: Autistic individuals don't reproduce. They may live just as long as other people, but they are not desirable mates, and they wouldn't be good at caring for their offspring.

So, what's going on right now is that we're chopping off an entire branch of the human genetic tree: We're in the process of eliminating the genetic material that can't handle the modern toxic load.

Yours sincerely
Jørgen Klaveness
Autism Dad / Attorney / Fitness Entrepreneur
Norway

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/opinion/02brooks.html?em
David Brooks draws a line from Norway's recent success in the Winter Olympics, back to a wartime survival story. His conclusion is that "There is also an interesting form of social capital on display. It’s a mixture of softness and hardness. Baalsrud was kept alive thanks to a serial outpouring of love and nurturing. At the same time, he and his rescuers displayed an unbelievable level of hardheaded toughness and resilience. That’s a cultural cocktail bound to produce achievement in many spheres".

My reflection: David Brooks is probably jumping to conclusions, but I was still deeply touched by his story, deeply grateful that I was born here, and worried that today's affluence is going to destroy the spirit that he describes. Every improvement in the human condition will also produce a hidden loss.



:-J
Jørgen