The debate over whether Google’s excerpting content on its search result pages is a violation of copyright law, i.e. whether Google is effectively stealing content, overlooks the much more valuable asset that Google is appropriating. Google makes money less by its ability to display that snipet of content and much more by its ability to… Continue reading
Date archives "May 2009"
Neotraditional approaches (2): Public Finance based on Early Christian Teachings
Article: Alanna Hartzok. Earth Rights Democracy: Public Finance based on Early Christian Teachings. Christianity and Human Rights Conference. Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. November 2004 Below is an example of how an insight in spiritual tradition, can inform contemporary policy-making. Alanna Hartzok: “This paper makes a case for a new form of democracy based on human… Continue reading
Long term decline of energy economy since 2005
No living or manufactured thing exists on this planet without energy. It enables flowers and people to grow. We need energy to mine minerals, extract oil or cut wood and then to process these into finished goods. Without energy the goods would not exist so we can think of each product as containing “embodied energy”…. Continue reading
How the P2P epistemic revolution disrupts the ecology of academic scholarship
Essay: Signs of epistemic disruption: Transformations in the knowledge system of the academic journal, by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis. First Monday, April 2009 This excellent overview article discusses 3 breaking points. The first 2 challenges that are related to the peer to peer transformations, i.e. open access and open peer review, are familiar. The… Continue reading
The neotraditional economics project (1): introduction
In this new section, I want to investigate, with the assistance of Hungarian Prof. Janos Mate, the possible congruence between pre-material and ‘post’-material economics, i.e. peer to peer influenced economics. For an introduction to my motivation, see the mini-essay: The Importance of neotraditional approaches in the reconstructive transmodern era Unlike modern economics, traditional, religiously-inspired economic… Continue reading
Vinay Gupta on Swine Flu preparedness
Vinay posted these recommendations in Global Swadeshi, and they seem to make eminent sense. Don’t forget they only apply when the disease appears in a serious form in your own country. I will keep track of information sources (but not news), via this tag. Vinay Gupta: “Right now, there are four things you should do…. Continue reading