Good Reads: on optimism, rise of a global middle class, and geek revivals
The Eeyore Era
Scan the headlines at your local news stand these days, and you鈥檇 think we鈥檙e doomed.
The economy has gone through a 鈥渃orrection,鈥� and now may be sent to correctional school for good measure.
Wars are breaking out all over, in many cases spontaneously.
Young people can鈥檛 seem to find jobs, but they do find time to play 鈥�Angry Birds,鈥� sometimes during job interviews.
And let鈥檚 not even talk about the Red Sox.
Yes, we are doomed.
But before someone turns off the lights on this big bright world of ours, let鈥檚 consider a few things that aren鈥檛 going so poorly. helpfully lists a few of these in an article well worth reading, for those waiting to kvetch on your local call-in talk-radio program. Here鈥檚 a sampling that gives one pause for thought.
While 鈥淎merica is prone to bouts of 鈥榙eclinism,鈥欌�� the Economist writes, 鈥渁nyone who prefers their glass half-full can find grounds for optimism.The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner has just landed in Washington, DC. It will be decades before China can make such a machine. The IMF is predicting average growth of over 2% for 2012 and 2013, not meteoric but not bad for a mature economy. America has a young workforce, with plenty of skilled people knocking at the door to come in. It still has more of the world鈥檚 best universities than any other country. It is the world鈥檚 largest producer of natural gas and its biggest food exporter. Amid the gloom, the economy is getting 'Better, Stronger, Faster', argues Daniel Gross, in a book of that name published this week.鈥�
Rise of the global middle class
Here鈥檚 another sign of hope. Economists have found a new way of measuring the size of a country鈥檚 middle class, that key grouping of people who have salaried jobs, who pay taxes, send their kids to school and then to college, who vote and then hold their leaders accountable for their actions. The new way to measure this middle class? Car ownership.
According to a piece by , the global middle class is growing fastest in the developing world, creating brand new markets for products still made in the USA. (This does not include Angry Birds, which was developed in Finland.)
鈥淭he middle class in the developing world is rising,鈥� Mr. Ali and Mr. Dadush write. 鈥淭he only question is how high it will go and how fast it will get there. About 85 percent of the world's people live in developing countries, yet they accounted for only 18 percent of global consumer spending just a decade ago; today, they account for nearly 30 percent. Consumer spending in developing countries has been increasing at about three times the rate in advanced countries, and we're not just seeing a growing demand for necessities, but also for middle-class staples such as meat, toothpaste, cell phones, and air-conditioners.鈥�
Geek revival
One more reason for hope: Geeks are getting organized.
Here in the US, science has gone from being a national savior (remember the Apollo missions to counter the Soviet Union鈥檚 Sputnik) to its current status as pariah. Science is blamed for ruining our economy (all that dreadful research linking industry with global warming), our environment (all those nifty machines in industry that created global warming), and even our value system (Big Bang theory, dinosaurs, abortion, Tom Cruise.)
The pushback against science is not just an American phenomenon, of course: It鈥檚 global. But with the publication of a new book by Mark Henderson called 鈥淭he Geek Manifesto,鈥� we now have a strong argument for smart people to get involved in the grubby world of politics, standing up for good public policies that are based on facts rather than gut feelings and prejudice.
Here are , selected in a book review by Stuart Farrimond, a lecturer at Wiltshire College, published on the website Gurumagazine.org.
鈥�...86 percent of physics teachers don鈥檛 have a physics degree; only one of the UK鈥檚 650 MPs has a science background; and 拢19 million ($30 million) was spent on useless 鈥榖omb detection鈥� dowsing rods in Iraq 鈥� at the cost of lives.鈥�
What is required, writes magazine, 鈥渋s for those citizens who value science to rise up and force it onto the mainstream political agenda.鈥�
鈥溾�ven if we don't see protesting crowds waving bright orange copies of his book before Parliament, it is impossible not to admire Henderson's focused anger at the lack of science in policy-making and his passion to change things. If this inspires just one more scientist to enter politics, it will have done its job.鈥�
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