Archive for July, 2010

Creating jobs: be small and entrepreneurial

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Back to basics: The normal or most common infrastructure of companies should be many small, diverse companies run actively, innovatively, with new ideas, technology, methods in an entrepreneurial spirit.

Everything rises, fades and goes away – again and again. This cycle must be followed by businesses, and there is nothing wrong with that. People must understand it too – the job or career you have will involve changes, maybe big changes – may be many job changes. You have to be active, dynamic, on the lookout, follow the times. You should also think of the possibillity of starting your own company.

If there were only big companies you become vulnerable. They also rise, fade and go away. When the big company closes the workers are sent off, and a whole area has problems.

Social systems can smooth out the effects for a while, but the essence is that renewal in an entrepreneurial way is the only way out. Public job creation is a costly and financially untenable solution. The government can ease the pain, but not solve the real problem.

So beware of big companies creating many jobs – you may get hurt.

So what is conducive of entrepreneurship? The right mindset, small-scale finance, acceptance of upstarts and new ideas – a set of factors that must be there and well maintained. And making the right politics: Pave the way for innovation  and change by reducing bureaucracy, build tax breaks, establish good teaching, and leave people alone to run their businesses – and governments should not compete with their own people.

Global politics – promoting equalization

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

The big players are building relations crisscrossing the world – there is a big powerplay that is kept running. The most active player is the US with its tradition of defending itself on other people’s soil – never on its own – this is an amazing achievement. But China, Brazil, India are increasing their efforts to promote politics, resource use, markets, likability for future use.

Sometimes it is necessary to make war, said Peace Prize winner Obama. This thinking is now making fiscal trouble for the US, and the consequences will gradually be seen.

Balancing the world nations against each other in power play is not a good principle of world development, and very costly too.

We need new ways, and it is hard to say what they should be. Cooperation, consultation, consensus are key words. Balancing the influences of nations is another concept leading to a strengthening of a world coordinator – a healing institution.

An equalization process continues in the world: The economies of countries with many people are progressing steadily and their economies will soon be the biggest too. The consequence is that the West, especially the US, will not dominate any more.

But these countries, especially the US, own development processes that are innovative and efficient and with aggressive business tactics. Brain power counts too.

So what can we expect: A continuation of power play or will we see something better? Globalization by tactics, domination, suppression or globalization in a new new sense of togetherness?

Your creativity is hidden – you don’t use it – and you suffer

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

There is enormous power within you – we are all creative persons. By using your will you can create the life you want, the experiences you want, start the projects you want, become the person you want to be.

You should primarily keep this power to your self to build what you want, secondly you should share it, but you must never give it away for free to people claiming your creativity for themselves. That leads to servility and reduced life quality, and ultimately sadness.

Being creative and utilizing your power may create fear in you, and overcoming this fear is a huge challenge that you must face and overpower. Not doing this will lead to a life of boredom and loss.

So what is life about: Work in the service of others reaping your creativity, or a life filled with what you want, your own creation? The choice is simple: Renew yourself, create a new life for yourself.

Everyone has talent and ability, but use them sparingly and for many reasons: Demands of society, the present-day organization of work, the financial system that is for the few.

This has to do with the individual, but what if you could find ways to use your will and creativity in cooperation with others for a common goal that would give you and all  participants equal value? We have ample time to engage in such networks, to create content for our life, to improve life for ourself and others, even to improve the Earth. Such networks of creative and brainy people could even start solving the big issues we are facing, independently, with no strings.

Big words maybe, naive too, but what if we start with ourself, building confidence and ability and then proceed from there.

Remember also that one day it will all be over – use your time well.

The pictures are moving

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

New cameras are entering the market all the time, and the rate of technological development is awesome.

The electronics in cameras are becoming computers – they assist you in composing pictures, recognise faces and other objects, help you with aperture and speed, measure light, suggest improvements, store and track your pictures. Memory cards are growing in size unbounded, video requirements being what they are.

Touch screens are being introduced, and the number of buttons and handles are reduced, resulting in improved ease of handling.

Video functions have been introduced for many DSLRs, and are improving all the time. Now camcorders and DSLRs are converging too – imagine doing video with the lense and sensor quality of a DSLR. Mounts are being stanadardized so that lenses can be interchanged and move between types of equipment.

So keep up the good work – this is well done.

And mobile phones are improving vastly as cameras and video-recorders, cameras now have bluetooth, wireless communication: convergence is coming.

Stillness – get in contact with yourself

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Have you thought of having moments or times of stillness in your life, all by yourself?

By stillness is meant a quiet environment, a mind that is undisturbed, enough time to spend, comfortable surroundings and ambience, noiselessness, pleasant air, even nice fragrances. All your attention can be focused on yourself.

People who meditate say that sometimes they are near to stillness.

Stillness was used several thousand years ago by many people – both West and East – as a part of attempting to find a reality beyond what we experience with our senses or to achieve a higher degree of consciousness. This has become mystic in our times, but surely it should not be so.

Stillness now may be useful in order to withdraw from a hectic life for a while, reduce stress or just plain sit thinking, structured or unstructured or even be a dreamer. You may also float into sleep as part of such a relaxing routine.

You should not need a learned technique to find stillness – just find a place and time to empty your mind or slow it down some turns – to make it clear and ready for a good life.

Why is there terrorism?

Monday, July 19th, 2010

There has always been acts of violence in the world, small scale, isolated incidents aimed at certain problems and disagreements. Now we have world terrorism, organized on a large scale, aimed at the West – this is how it is presented.

The real content of terrorism against western countries – the West – is hard to see. We hear a lot and see preciously little – so far. The rest of the world – the major part – is watching.

The cold war has been replaced by the the war on terrorism. The reasons given for terrorism are sometimes religious, or global, national or local, or based on broad security issues. It is instigated by the US. Everything is collected under the terrorism umbrella – wars in Irak, Afghanistan, 9-11, London bombing etc. There are groups of people keeping this activity going – no states. Somebody is financing the activity, but information is scant. It is not precise at all – it is a chimera – and we hear a lot about it.

If the claims of terrorism are true we should be eager to find the causes, and if possible remedies. We need a solution – we must try to end it. This can be done through dialogue, talks, contact. Nations must be involved, no country protects terrorists. But this is obviously naive.

We are now wasting life, resources and time on futile activity – a huge question is arising: what is going on?

Terrorism is also a construction – it is not to be solved – it is wanted by the instigators – it gives focus – it keeps attention away from other matters – it is good for other things too – it can be kept up forever.

So what is the solution to the terrorist problem? Let the big nations of the Earth join the game properly, infuse security policy with some new ideas – let China, India, Brazil et al. balance the game – the results will be remarkable. We need the new era to start now.

It is sad that lives are lost for obscure reasons.

Locals and global action

Monday, July 19th, 2010

People are local, what they do is local, the consequences of the action is mostly local. People mostly like to decide for themselves.

Now global thinking is becoming pervasive in the wrong way: Locals are being told what to do by outsiders – they tell you because they know, they say. The outsiders come from many places, but they are not in your place or representing you. They seldom tell you about the rightness of what they say, often the truth is hidden or in doubt. Politicians are also becoming global, finding global rightness that does not fit with the locals. There is risk of a divide.

This will not work. The only way to achieve a common global solution is to make people understand, see what is right and do what is acceptable also locally. Maybe the global solution is impossible to enforce in some localities?

What makes it troublesome is that what is right is no longer agreed upon. There is a obvious forcing of the truth that creates negative reactions and uncertainty. We find people that without debate know what others must do. They will not engage in dialogue about the content and empiricality of what they say.

Climate action, sustainability, war on terrorism, finance are examples – they all must clear the hurdle of local acceptance before global solutions can be pondered.

So why push so hard – it is better to find what is right, enlighten people, keep it transparent, communicate, build acceptance – then maybe some global action is possible.

Have there ever been any global solutions? Will there ever be? Is it really desirable to have global solutions? Or is it just a smokescreen set up to avoid doing anything locally?

Antarctic – nothing there?

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

7 countries have claimed land in the Antarctic – 14 million square kilometers of it.

The claims have not been settled, only research agreements have been entered into.

Whaling is over for good, and there seems to be little of economic value in the area: tourists are there, fish, krill. No oil? Maybe some minerals?

There is environmental interest with a big icecap and 86% of all the fresh water in the world.

Seemingly no strategic or security issues? So keep the world cold and the Antarctic will stay a low-interest place. Or maybe there is more?

Somebody should surely oversee what is going on in the area: is there overfishing, environmentally harmful activity? The UN maybe?

Africa rising (I)

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

The world championships of soccer in South Africa are over. Everything went well.

This is a symbol for the future: we can see emerging strength and self-confidence, working towards a balance with the other continents.

17 African countries have been independent for over 50 years. That is a very short span for a nation. We can see human rights advancing, political systems improving, basics like education, clean water and electricity coming more broadly.

So let us support African self-development away from aid to fully African controlled societies.

Well done Africa.

New knowledge for all – the good society

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

A scientist or researcher finds out about reality and what is true. Knowledge is advancing all the time, but the general public has difficulty in knowing how far we have progressed and what is true. New knowledge must be popularized, made public, accepted by the public and understood by the public to be of use.

Original knowledge is found all the time – it must be made public all the time.

The knowledge of the world is accumulating ever faster. We find out how things work and develop, we know about the details and the larger systems. Life sciences are growing fast so that we know more and more about networks, interconnectedness and holistic systems.

Genomics, metabolomics and all the other -omics are developing fast, nanotech is there, history is better understood, the understanding of the human brain is advancing, climate models are becoming more and more complete.

Researchers, technologists and experts of all kinds know their subjects fairly well, although incompletely. This knowledge must be made public in step with advancing knowledge.

This has traditionally been done through schools, books, the popular media.

A broad lack of understanding of new developments seems to be developing in society now – we don’t know what is going on any more – that is for the experts. Use of strategic information control to serve given interests are another dangerous factor. The politicians are like the general public – they follow the experts.

This must be changed. Knowledge must be popularized and spread more evenly or society will lose.

A big challenge is to make people interested in knowledge and able to understand it too. Societies will become unbalanced, undemocratic, ridden by special interests – lobbyists -  if we do not achieve better knowledge distribution.

We need new ways in the form of new thinking and institutions to educate the general public. Public schools, universities can do it, good writers can do it. Intellectuals used to be important too – where have they gone?

Everyone of us must be looking for a solution for broad development and distribution of knowledge – it is deeply seen about making a good society for all, and necessary too. Knowledge must be understandable, distributed, transparent, with a known source, real. Enlightenment is what follows.