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The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

nytimes.com

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Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#101

Post by mc32 »

Implied but not stated directly is that because vast reduction in disease and proportionate increase in life expectancy people are having fewer children so that the small resources people have don't have to be divided into smaller slices but rather into larger slices.

Globalization, the boogeyperson of lots of people, has allowed some income redistribution to the developing world -has the developed world not globalized, it's not a given that had the developed world hoarded their industry and jobs the poor countries would have done as relatively well as they have.

It's also surprising to not see much comment on the interesting phenomenon where countries which had relatively good economies in the early 20th century (Mexico, Argentina, etc) went way down hill after WWii, partly severe corruption and simple non-investment due to antiquated policies and emphasis on natural resources rather than technologies.

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#102

Post by webXL »

danharaj wrote: post #88
WalterBright wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the classic tragedy of the commons. Nobody owns the waterways and the air, and hence individuals have neither the power nor incentive to protect them.

It is reasonable to believe that the tragedy of the commons is caused by society being organized around private ownership, not the nature of the commons itself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons#Critici...

Without private ownership, resources cannot be traded to their highest utility. Politicians ultimately are left to figure that out (when they get around to it, of course).

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#103

Post by nfoz »

clarkmoody wrote: post #73
mninm wrote: post #35

"We cover planes that crash, not planes that take off." It always fascinates me how much my world view and the world view of those around me is based on the exceptional and not the mundane. The news outlets report the news assuming that the audience knows what's normal. When the news is used to become informed about the world many people come away with a skewed impression of reality. I am of the opinion that people w…

Context is dangerous to news & politics. Numbers are even more dangerous. So the likelihood of your wish coming true is almost nothing, at least in the mainstream news outlets. You'll get tons of context in long-format blogs and podcasts, where the purpose of the content is to educate. The primary purpose of media news is to make money, hence the bent toward entertainment more than anything. Data from the FBI[1] list…

> The primary purpose of media news is to make money

My main news sources are: - CBC (Canadian crown corporation), - BBC (UK Royal Charter), - TVOntario (Ontario crown corporation), - Democracy Now! (independent non-profit), - PBS (independent non-profit), - crowd-sourced for-profit sites (HN, reddit)

I live in NYC, and it's always really strange to see how prevalent for-profit media is here when there are so many better options.

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#104

Post by ef4 »

Max_Horstmann wrote: post #6

Since this is HN, here's a question: what role could technology play in eliminating extreme poverty by 2030?

Really disruptive tech: telepresence that's finally almost as good as the real thing.

I expect luddite attempts to ban it as soon as they realize it means that everyone in the world is now free to work with anyone else, borders be damned. It would lead to massive economic growth as whole countries that have lacked access to high-productivity jobs suddenly gain access.

This is really just the technology version of a solution to ending poverty that we could apply today, if we wanted to: open borders. Let anybody work wherever they can find a job, and global poverty would end incredibly fast. By some credible estimates, it would double global GDP almost overnight, by letting workers go to where the work is.

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#105

Post by drumdance »

13thLetter wrote: post #84
api wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bubbles always go higher than anyone expects, and those who attempt to call the top always look like fools for a time. Fossil fuel extraction is a bubble. That's just grade school math: finite supply, constant and increasing demand. But when will it pop and what happens then? That's a lot tougher to know, and so far all attempts to call a top have been wrong. But a crash will come. How bad will depend on just how far…

It won't "pop" because that's not how economics works. If the alarmists are correct and peak fossil fuels is just around the corner, then after the peak the cost of fossil fuels will gradually go up until alternatives -- alternatives that we know about and can make use of relatively quickly -- make more economic sense. At some point, certain sources of oil will become economically viable which aren't now. At a higher…

I keep pointing this out to a friend of mine. It's not like one day someone's going to say "oh, shit! we ran out! sorry, no more oil." It will just get more and more expensive.

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#106

Post by sgc »

beatpanda wrote: post #72
letitgo12345 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While money buys political access, a large part of the responsibility does rest with the voters (who are mostly ordinary people, not big money) who keep voting for reps (or don't vote) who support regressive policies. Also big money doesn't control the govt -- there are lots of times where they don't get their way -- immigration reform being a prime example where nativist sentiment has stalled it for more than a deca…

I think you are insufficiently cynical to understand immigration reform. The current state of immigration reform, where politicians demand (and are getting) increased enforcement without any expansion of a legal right to work in the U.S., works great for companies in labor-intensive industries. On the one hand, you get a workforce willing to get paid less than the legal minimum, and you don't have to pay things like…

I think you are too cynical to be able to understand it.

What you propose they are doing is the equivalent of inviting the fox into the hen house to give the other roosters a run for their money--it is Russian roulette. I doubt anyone using undocumented labor wants more enforcement, although certainly a low-wage state would welcome enforcement for a "competitive"/"fair" advantage over higher-wage states (like California, with its massive undocumented labor pool).

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#107

Post by aianus »

narrator wrote: post #26

I think the average American is going to be shocked in the next couple of years when the rest of the world passes us by. The technological capability of developing nations has increased rapidly. Our rate of technological progress is slowing down. For example, Intel is having difficulty scaling down process technology past 14nm while the fabs in China are catching up at 28nm.

> For example, Intel is having difficulty scaling down process technology past 14nm while the fabs in China are catching up at 28nm.

It's much, much easier to "catch up" than to actually innovate.

With the education system and culture in China and India there's no way they're going to pass us by. Those are countries where having an original thought and arguing with your teacher gets you kicked out of school.

Hell, in China you need a license to put up a website.

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#108

Post by Steko »

malchow wrote: post #22
baddox wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you referencing in regards to poverty? I would have guessed that the recent reduction in poverty is largely attributable to wealthy nations reducing efforts to centrally plan the economies of poor nations.

The conceit of the article -- borne out by economic history -- is exactly that: it's the reduction of efforts to centrally plan, and the rise of entrepreneurial, capitalistic efforts to advance, that has reduced poverty. [1] [2] [1] https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/deirdre-mccloskey-... [2] https://ricochet.com/perhaps-the-most-powerful-defense-of-ma...

The article is actually fairly silent on the reasons so read into it what you will. If anything the author is endorsing his friend's book without giving away the thesis and if the link is accurate it covers a wide range of factors.

As for Deirdre McCloskey, as Noah Smith says,"do not believe things that Deirdre McCloskey says just because she says them."

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/deirdre-mccloskey...

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#109

Post by p_monk »

manachar wrote: post #4

It's really weird to me how commonplace the attitude of "It is what it is" and "Government can't do anything". The air and water quality in the US is vastly better since the passage of laws that created and empowered the EPA (Created by the Republican President Nixon). The endangered species act has had many similar successes. I live on Maui. The waters are now filled with Green Sea Turtles and Humpback whales that w…

The creation of the EPA, (and OSHA, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, Highway Safety Act, FOIA) was created because people demanded it, not because a Republican President was benevolent.

Ralph Nader, and the organizations who were influenced by his work, took advantage of the social upheaval in the late 60s/early 70s to make these laws pass.

Even though activist voices are as loud as they've ever been, we have a government that no longer fears movements. I've heard the Nader generation of activists make this point regularly. Power has been sharply shifting from people (activists organizations, labor unions) to business since the late 70s.

Re: The Most Important Thing: Decline in poverty, illiteracy and disease

#110

Post by corysama »

Max_Horstmann wrote: post #6

Since this is HN, here's a question: what role could technology play in eliminating extreme poverty by 2030?

Long ago, I saw this TED talk as a Long Now talk. I still find it inspirational. The big take-away for me is that a for-profit company can make a lot of money by helping even extremely poor people become less poor.

https://www.ted.com/talks/iqbal_quadir_says_mobiles_fight_po...

http://longnow.org/seminars/02008/may/21/technology-empowers...

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