Saturday Links

1. Lots of news outlets picked up on this story about technology displacing humans. In The Future, Machines May Have All The Jobs. We all know where this leads.

Seriously, technological innovation always creates dislocations. Fear of machines replacing humans goes back to the beginning of the industrial revolution. The economy has always adapted, and I expect it will again.

2. Has the ideas machine broken down?

"The idea that innovation and new technology have stopped driving growth is getting increasing attention. But it is not well founded."

3. Business Insider reports that The Worldwide Demographic Cliff Is Going To Be Brutal

Alas, that won't help, as this graph compiled by statistician Simon Hedlin shows. The total dependency ratio (children and retirees, compared with those of working age) fell in all G20/OECD nations bar Germany and Sweden between 1960 and 2010. In the next fifty years, it will rise in all those nations, bar India and South Africa. In most nations, the ratio will rise by 40% or more; there are huge increases in dependency in parts of Asia (China and South Korea) and in eastern Europe. Britain and America are towards the bottom of the table, but their problems are big enough.

There are many implications. With more dependents to care for, it is very hard to imagine how we will pay down our debts. And it is also very hard to imagine how one can possibly expect government spending to shrink significantly.

4. San Antonio plans one of the nation's first bookless libraries

"... BiblioTech, a $1.5 million Bexar County paperless library will have scores of computer terminals, laptops, tablets, and e-readers – but not a dog-eared classic or dusty reference book in sight. 

"Think of an Apple store," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who led his county's bookless library project, told NPR when describing the planned library.

The 4,989-squre-foot, digital-only library, one of the first of its kind, will feature 100 e-readers available for circulation, 50 e-readers for children, 50 computer stations, 25 laptops, and 25 tablets for on-site use. Patrons can check out e-readers for two weeks or load books onto their own devices.

"A technological evolution is taking place," Wolff says. "And I think we're stepping in at the right time."..."

5. Some good thoughts on The 10 Things Entrepreneurs Waste The Most Time On

6. College freshman survey: finance worries up, liberalism down

"UCLA's survey of incoming college freshmen shows fewer identify as liberals and an increasing number saying the economy significantly affected their college choice."

7. Walter Russell Mead on The End of the Religious Right?

"In some ways, this shift isn't as dramatic as it might first appear. Even though younger evangelicals are increasingly walking away from the religious right, they are still self-identifying as Republicans (54 percent) more than Democrats (26 percent). Younger Christians still agree with the religious right on the issues but reject the movement's tactics, tone, and narrow focus on social issues."

8. Scientific American: The Liberals' War on Science. How politics distorts science on both ends of the spectrum.

"Surveys show that moderate liberals and conservatives embrace science roughly equally (varying across domains), which is why scientists like E. O. Wilson and organizations like the National Center for Science Education are reaching out to moderates in both parties to rein in the extremists on evolution and climate change. Pace Barry Goldwater, extremism in the defense of liberty may not be a vice, but it is in defense of science, where facts matter more than faith—whether it comes in a religious or secular form—and where moderation in the pursuit of truth is a virtue."

9. How did Fido become domesticated by humans? Dog evolved 'on the waste dump'

10. Any volunteers? Harvard Professor Seeks Woman Willing To Have A Neanderthal Baby

11. A fascinating history of high heels. Why did men stop wearing high heels?

That's all for this week. Like the Kruse Kronicle on Facebook.

Comments

[ZZMike]

Some thought (back then) that the industrial revolution would free us from the burden of toil, so hat we would all be free to beocome philosophers, to write poetry and music and think lofty thoughts.

That didn't exactly work out as planned, but this new Information Revolution will surely do that, when all the dirty jobs (and all the rest) are done by machines.

[JHM]

Regarding 8, it was often interesting to me while doing my Environmental Science degree that often times the professors, who worked with the scientific literature and data, were often more moderate than their students (on both the left and right sides).

I remember one biology prof talking about work she did in Indiana with deer overpopulation. Some students were quite shocked to learn she had recommending "culling" to control populations. Others were equally shocked to learn that she supported the reintroduction of wolves into some of their previous natural habitats.

I think a great many people come to environmental issues generally already decided, and well before science is ever involved. I guess it's just human nature to decide first and justify it later.

[Michael W. Kruse]

I think it is human nature. It takes discipline and energy to check our inclinations and seek understanding. That is why I think science is such an important part of a liberal arts education. It gives the tools that facilitate critical thinking and learning. But the will to use them has to be cultivated as well.