tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56939752024-03-08T02:20:13.560-06:00Networks, dialectics, interconnection, etc.Dialectics, interconnection, networks, complexity, etc., with special emphasis on social, economic, political and environmental implications. Contributions and suggestions welcome.jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-74296491854138792682016-06-10T12:57:00.003-05:002016-06-10T12:58:20.645-05:00Pristine natureApropos the relationship between the mode of production and corresponding ecosystems, discussed in Speculative capital and the ecosystem of globalization, an article by way of The New Yorker this week (6/6/16), "There's no such thing as pristine nature". They make too much of no such thing as pristine nature; but the main point they are making is that humans have always affected and often enough,jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-7712079230151674572011-03-20T10:37:00.005-05:002011-07-14T11:48:14.730-05:00For want of a nail, etc.Some interesting articles in the NYT today on the economics of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan:Stress test for the global supply chain, by Steve Lohr (3/19/2011)"Chain" is misleading, because it really is a network, or a system ("Modern global supply chains, experts say, mirror complex biological systems like the human body in many ways"). Where there is redundancy and resilience, the disruptionsjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-84632051713983132011-03-06T14:21:00.003-06:002011-03-06T15:44:13.632-06:00Computers and chessI continue to be fascinated by the ways in which computers (and new technologies in general) change the terrain in so many (all?) fields. Dylan Loeb McClain's chess column in the March 5, 2011 New York Times, titled "Still No. 1 in the World, by the Thinnest of Margins", comments on the fact that the world's three top-ranked players are only separated by a range of 9 points (out of 2,800 points)jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-44010406602979705932011-02-27T10:34:00.003-06:002011-03-06T14:20:14.419-06:00Wired article on global manufacturingThe latest Wired (19.03) has an interesting article on small to midsize U.S. manufacturers returning production to the U.S.These days, labor, while an important cost, is often not the critical one to determining where to produce, due to continuing advances in automation and robotics. With China's rising labor costs, currency revaluation and quality control problems, the overall cost of making jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-69771448672254875132010-10-03T15:19:00.002-05:002010-10-03T15:31:39.511-05:00Shadow marketsHere is a link to an excerpt from a just-published book, The Shadow Market: How a Group of Wealthy Nations and Powerful Investors Secretly Dominate the World, by business writer Eric Weiner:http://www.ericjweiner.com/shadow-market-excerpt.htmlShadow markets defined by Weiner:[t]he shadow market is a collection of unaffiliated, extremely wealthy nations and investors that effectively run the jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-23134139055343515522010-08-22T11:02:00.003-05:002010-08-22T11:25:55.922-05:00Income Inequality and Financial CrisesAn article from the New York Times: "Income Inequality and Financial Crises".New technologies, the rise of speculative capital, the polarization of wealth ("income inequality" sounds a bit gentler) are all correlative, and arise together in the hothouse of capitalism. And speculative capital can have a small stabilizing effect, or a major destabilizing one if the sloshing of speculation gets so jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-58972992967398341132010-08-15T11:48:00.002-05:002010-08-15T12:10:11.381-05:00Computers. Again.Here are two almost completely unrelated stories (they do both involve computers though):The First Church of Robotics: A column by Jaron Lanier (remember "virtual reality" anyone?), about the fetishization (or religification) of computers and robots, criticizing the devaluation of thought that takes place when people talk about "artificial intelligence," and reminding us that we "must instead jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-13761197993163557622010-08-11T17:10:00.002-05:002010-08-11T17:25:42.729-05:0057,000 monkeysHere is a link to a Pretty Neat New York Times article:In a Video Game, Tackling the Complexities of Protein FoldingBasically, someone turned a software application that looked for ways to fold proteins into a video game, so humans could take a crack at folding strategies. Understanding how long amino acid chains fold into proteins is important to understanding the functions different proteins jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-82835557631107371192010-08-09T08:30:00.002-05:002010-08-09T10:20:09.263-05:00College Inc.The PBS series Frontline aired a deep investigation of for-profit higher education last May, called College Inc. The tagline from the website gives an accurate hint of the show: "Investigating how Wall Street and a new breed of for-profit universities are transforming the way we think about college in America..."An important element of capitalism always has been the hunt for new sources of jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-34452706762175426692010-07-30T12:53:00.001-05:002010-07-30T12:53:23.281-05:00Confusion on Where New York School Performance Stands - NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/nyregion/30tests.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=ySent from my iPadjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-92225195938295235862010-07-22T12:45:00.002-05:002010-07-22T13:02:21.900-05:00InconsistencyInception spoiler alert! Do not read on if you plan to see the movie!I think the movie Inception works because it works so hard to provide a coherent theory to hold the various plot twists and turns together. The first Matrix was more or less coherent, although the sequels, imho, were less and less coherent and, well, not as enjoyable. The coherent theory allows the willing suspension of jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-51873869220503640862010-07-06T08:03:00.001-05:002010-07-06T08:03:26.549-05:00More on high tech manufacturingAnother NYT article on high tech manufacturing in China, and also how the dynamics of capitalism grind on. jdhttp://nyti.ms/av0hSiSent from my iPadjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-80725340938918102092010-07-02T07:55:00.001-05:002010-07-02T07:55:59.402-05:00Changing nature of manufacturingGood description of how the nature of manufacturing is changing, from today's (7/2/10) NYT:http://nyti.ms/9ICCpKjdjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-63510676108262653122010-06-28T09:53:00.001-05:002010-06-28T10:01:33.545-05:00NYTimes: BP Loses Trading-Floor Swagger in Energy MarketsAs an indication of the role of speculative capital in industrial corporations, note the high percentage (20% or $2 to $3 billion) of its profits that BP took in from it's trading operations.jd From The New York Times:BP Loses Trading-Floor Swagger in Energy MarketsThe future of BP's trading unit is uncertain as oil spill costs mount and rival firms try to lure away traders.http://jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-16663517821424624392010-06-20T11:50:00.004-05:002010-06-20T12:34:32.013-05:00NYTimes.com: What Is I.B.M.'s Watson?Interesting article that shows how the universe of possibilities expands as technology develops -- cheaper, faster, more, more, more. And that it enables hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of people to add to information Out There.jd MAGAZINE | June 20, 2010 Smarter Than You Think: What Is I.B.M.'s Watson? By CLIVE THOMPSON The category is artificial intelligence. This jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-3820271797717698232010-06-17T18:19:00.001-05:002010-06-17T18:19:22.803-05:00NYT: The genome at 10From The New York Times:THE GENOME AT 10: Awaiting the Genome PayoffThe Human Genome Project has not produced the promised cornucopia of new drugs.http://nyti.ms/dm9RBiA couple of observations:1. A revolution in the instruments of production is at the same time a revolution in the instruments of science. 2. Perhaps one of the problems is reducing the human being to a chemical machine. jdjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-758108678027602012010-05-31T17:14:00.000-05:002010-05-31T17:15:08.617-05:00Not if, but whenIt is impossible to overstate the tragedy that is spreading over the Gulf of Mexico, now in its second month, and likely to continue through the summer. There are no surprises there, sadly, either. It was not a question of "if", but of "when". Drill in hard to reach, risk-prone areas, with a more and more precarious chain of technology, with a built-in drive to cut corners -- not if but when.The jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-66998335251124986662010-05-14T21:46:00.002-05:002010-05-14T22:07:54.398-05:00NYT on job market shiftCheck out the recent New York Times article, "In Job Market Shift, Some Workers Are Left Behind" (5/12/10) for an insightful (I think) description of the changes in work pushed along by new technologies in the current economy, and the social wreckage that that entails.jdjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-47434167583182791262010-04-10T12:18:00.002-05:002010-04-10T12:24:47.295-05:00Magnetar and meltdownAnother episode on This American Life about the Big Meltdown, this one about the hedge fund Magnetar and its deals both contributed to and profited from the mortgage security market collapse:Inside JobThe program will shortly (Sunday 4/11 7p) be available from iTunes or the link above.jdjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-45630794411809292752010-03-26T17:27:00.003-05:002010-03-26T17:31:29.704-05:00Follow-up on synthetic biology/As a kind of follow-up to my previous post on synthetic biology, here is a link to a very good (I think) discussion of the mechanical thinking behind the synthetic biology field: How to Manufacture the Notion of Synthetic Life, by Steve Talbott (whose work I very much like).jdjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-44337149258822897752010-02-15T12:36:00.002-06:002010-02-15T12:50:24.630-06:00DIY genetic engineeringHere is a link to an Interesting Article from Sunday's (2/14/10) NYT Magazine: Do-It-Yourself Genetic Engineering. The article describes the bubbling new field of synthetic biology, a a step or two beyond traditional genetic engineering -- instead of adding new genes to existing species to change their properties, synthetic biology is more about assembling new organisms from genetic legos.It's jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-68498899071769084332010-02-06T08:34:00.002-06:002010-02-06T09:39:32.453-06:00Fresh Air interview with Ed ThorpThe Fresh Air radio program recently featured Ed Thorp, mathematician and author of the classic card-counting book, Beat the Dealer, and Scott Patterson, Wall Street Journal reporter and author of the new book, The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It.From the interview, Patterson's book sounds like a re-hash of how mathematical models, supported jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-12558192202589940432010-01-25T19:08:00.002-06:002010-01-25T19:25:08.376-06:00Garry Kasparov, chess and computersCheck out The Chess Master and the Computer, by former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, from the February 11, 2010 issue of The New York Review of Books. The article is very good -- insightful, reflective, maybe even inspiring. Here are a couple of quotes, but I recommend the whole thing.On the effect of computers on chess, and the quantification of the world:The heavy use of computer analysis jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-16706761384480901222009-09-27T14:09:00.003-05:002009-09-27T14:18:18.267-05:00Giant Pool of Money radio programThe NPR radio program This American Life aired an update to their "The Giant Pool of Money" program from a year ago (called appropriately, Return To The Giant Pool of Money. The producers did a nice job, I think, on the details of the collapse.The podcast is available from iTunes, and should be available from the show's website here shortly.jdjdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693975.post-53959239614835184792009-09-12T12:56:00.003-05:002009-09-13T08:14:41.369-05:00A couple of updatesI realize this blog has been very quiet over the past couple of years. Or rather, I have not posted very much. Despite the enormity of the financial crisis, I don't think there is anything new, or unexpected there. Yes the details of how the latest act began and played out are of some interest, and the jockeying over the possible restructuring is somewhat revealing. But overall, it was all to be jdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085126297255347466noreply@blogger.com0