Posted by: joelfirenze on: January 23, 2012
We are all concerned about technology and innovation. We want to get a sense of how things will develop and to hope that we can anticipate the developments to come. The offerings by Kevin Kelly and W. Brian Arthur aim to help people get a sense of how technology develops. Kelly would know – he [...]
Posted by: joelfirenze on: January 23, 2012
A single idea by itself doesn’t stand for much, but one often finds a series of ideas, that when brought together, have powerful implications. The 4 books above, when brought together, represent a compelling story about the trajectory of the world that we are on. Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies tells of the fundamental reasons [...]
Posted by: joelfirenze on: January 16, 2012
There has been a bit of a debate in Singapore about whether ministers and political appointees are paid high enough or not. The reason for this debate goes all the way back to the last time revisions were made to the salary structure over many years, the last one being made in 2007 (before the [...]
Posted by: joelfirenze on: January 8, 2012
Joel Garreau’s Radical Evolution is probably the best nuanced book on technological developments. Garreau examines four spheres of technology evolution: 1. G – genetics; 2. R – robotics and artificial intelligence; 3. I – information – the ongoing developments in “cyber” space; 4. N – nanotechnology – the increasing miniaturization of components down to [...]
Posted by: joelfirenze on: January 3, 2012
Someone vague familiar with systems thinking might think this to be a warning. Systems thinking must be some very big academic subject with a lot of information to plough through. Not so. The primer is a cute little book, barely over 200 pages, in a comfortable font size with straight writing. Donella Meadows writes [...]
