Archive for the ‘economics’ category: Page 179
Jan 16, 2017
World’s eight richest people have same wealth as poorest 50%
Posted by Derick Lee in category: economics
Last year, Oxfam said the world’s 62 richest billionaires were as wealthy as half the world’s population. However, the number has dropped to eight in 2017 because new information shows that poverty in China and India is worse than previously thought, making the bottom 50% even worse off and widening the gap between rich and poor.
The world’s eight richest billionaires control the same wealth between them as the poorest half of the globe’s population, according to a charity warning of an ever-increasing and dangerous concentration of wealth.
In a report published to coincide with the start of the week-long World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam said it was “beyond grotesque” that a handful of rich men headed by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates are worth $426bn (£350bn), equivalent to the wealth of 3.6 billion people.
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Jan 15, 2017
Chinese humanoid robot turns on the charm in Shanghai
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: cyborgs, economics, finance, robotics/AI
“Jia Jia” can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked, and her creator believes the eerily life-like robot heralds a future of cyborg labour in China.
Billed as China’s first human-like robot, Jia Jia was first trotted out last year by a team of engineers at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Team leader Chen Xiaoping sounded like a proud father as he and his prototype appeared Monday at an economic conference organised by banking giant UBS in Shanghai’s futuristic financial centre.
Jan 12, 2017
An Aging Population Is Stalling Productivity
Posted by Steve Hill in categories: biotech/medical, economics, life extension
Once again the figures show that young to old disparity in the population is the problem not overpopulation. We really need to develop rejvenation biotechnology with all haste.
Once again overpopulation isnt the problem it is the disparity between young and old in the workforce. This makes rejuvenation biotechnology a suitable solution to avoid economic collapse.
“The world is experiencing unparalleled population aging. This poses problems for productivity and growth, unless we do something about it”
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Jan 9, 2017
Don’t Thank Big Government for Medical Breakthroughs
Posted by Steve Hill in categories: biotech/medical, economics, government, life extension
Grassroots funding of fundamental science and private enterprize will lead the way in rejuvenation biotechnology not the traditional funding sources from Government which are shrinking every year.
It is important to understand that innovation and progress is unlikely to come from the Government and the traditional grant system which is shrinking every year. Rejuvenation biotechnology will likely be funded with a mix of fundraising for fundamental breakthrough technologies followed by private enterprize taking discoveries to market. This is why supporting science is critcial as relying on the Government to innovate and drive progress is unlikely to yield results anytime soon.
“Today, researchers compete for government grants at increasingly shorter intervals and with diminishing chances of success: Less than 1 in 5 grant applications succeeds. This inhibits risk taking.
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Jan 7, 2017
‘New York 2140’ Is a Sci-Fi Vision of the World Reshaped
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: climatology, economics, sustainability
If a trip to Venice is your ideal holiday, then you’re going to love the future.
Most of us, however, will be quite sobered by Kim Stanley Robinson’s upcoming novel, New York 2140, a near-future projection of a world reshaped by climate change. Sea level has risen by 50 feet, flooding the Big Apple and countless coastal cities around the planet. Thousands of species have gone extinct.
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Jan 4, 2017
Indian government to endorse universal basic income ‘as way forward’, says leading UBI advocate
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: economics, government
India is going to endorse a Universal Basic Income (UBI), according to a leading advocate of the system.
The world’s largest democracy will release a report in January stating that UBI is “basically the way forward,” according to Professor Guy Standing, who has worked on universal income pilot projects in India.
If implemented, India would join Finland in providing free money to citizens.
Jan 3, 2017
What happens if we pay everyone just to live?
Posted by Shane Hinshaw in category: economics
Think universal basic income is a pipe dream? Experiments all over the world are already showing its potential to transform society for the better.
Leader: “Why you should worry about intelligent machines”
Jan 3, 2017
Can Bitcoin Flourish with a Capped Supply?
Posted by Philip Raymond in categories: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, economics, finance, internet
The answer may be counter-intuitive: Not only can Bitcoin be widely adopted under a supply cap, its trust and integrity are a direct result of a provably limited supply. As a result, it will flourish because it is capped.
Everyone Can Own and Trade a Limited Commodity, IF…
…if it is both measurable and divisible. Bitcoin has a capped supply just as gold has a capped supply. Although both assets will be mined for some time into the future, there is only so much that will ever be uncovered. Thereafter, the total pie cannot grow.
But the transaction units will continue to grow as needed, because the pie is divisible into very, very tiny units:
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Jan 2, 2017
Is the Danube Civilization script the oldest writing in the world?
Posted by Aleksandar Vukovic in categories: economics, habitats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qJbdVynGmg
Older than Sumerian script? The Danube Valley civilization is one of the oldest civilizations known in Europe. It existed from between 5,500 and 3,500 BC in the Balkans and covered a vast area, in what is now Northern Greece to Slovakia (South to North), and Croatia to Romania (West to East).
During the height of the Danube Valley civilization, it played an important role in south-eastern Europe through the development of copper tools, a writing system, advanced architecture, including two storey houses, and the construction of furniture, such as chairs and tables, all of which occurred while most of Europe was in the middle of the Stone Age. They developed skills such as spinning, weaving, leather processing, clothes manufacturing, and manipulated wood, clay and stone and they invented the wheel. They had an economic, religious and social structure.
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