Sep 4

I’ve been very optimistic about the future of China for at least the last ten years. Optimistic not just about it’s economic growth and the commensurate standard-of-living improvement but also optimistic that freedom and democracy will strengthen.

The reason I’ve been so bullish is because of the words of the Chinese leaders themselves. After reading the English translations of many of the speeches given by the leadership, admittedly usually speeches they’ve given while abroad, I came to the conclusion that they were saying the absolute most they could about China’s failings.

I think in essence they have been saying “Yes we know we have human rights deficiencies, yes we know we have corruption, yes we know our people don’t have the freedom that westerners enjoy, but give us time, we are going to progress in a measured, constant way, we need to maintain stability”.

Recently I read about a speech given in China by prime minister Wen Jiabao in which he said :

“China has to resolve the issue of excessive concentration of unrestrained power” and “create conditions for the people to criticize and supervise the government”. He said China should build a society of “fairness and justice.” (3rd September 2010 issue of The Economist)

I think this sort of statement is not the kind of jingoistic hyperbole that you would have expected from Russia during the cold war or from China not so long ago.

I hope and suspect that the Chinese leadership not only are capable economic stewards but also understand that they have to grow their democracy and freedoms along with their economy.

A couple of interesting things I’ve read about China :

Firstly many Chinese don’t tie democracy and individual liberties together in the same way people in the west do.

Secondly I read that in China much is freeing up but the “3 Ts and an F” remain very sensitive. The “3 Ts and an F” are Tibet, Tiananmen, Taiwan and Falun Gong.

reply

Aug 9
Hey Google
Posted by SamH in Crackpot Theories, Off-Topic Rambling on 08 9th, 2010| | 11 Comments »

You used to be a toolmaker.  You used to be all about organising information.  What happened ?

Forget competing with Facebook and go make some amazing new tools.

Creating a successful social networking site is like starting a successful new nightclub, it isn’t about solving problems it’s about being cool, and being cool ain’t what you’re about.

You’ve got cash and smart people so go invent some bad-ass new tool to take on a really big problem.

Google PagePay

Micro-payments, so bloggers can charge half a cent (or pence if you roll that way) for someone to read a full post.

Mirco-payments would change the world, a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t monetizable would become monetizable, a whole bunch of people would be able to get paid for doing what they love.

Solve the “I love to do it but I can’t get paid for it problem”.

Google Cred (ibility)

Use your mad data props and data mining skillz to record and assess predictions made by pundits and public ‘experts’.

Google can tell me what I want to know it’s time it helped me work out who was worth listening to.

“Won’t added accountability cause people to be less likely to make public predictions ???”  Good, if it causes people with back predictive powers to stop talking as if they were experts that’s a win.

And how great is it going to be to find out that the most reliable economic predictor didn’t go to standford, it’s some guy who no one has ever heard of who runs a beans farm in some out of the way place.

Solve the “Who do I listen to” problem.

May 25
Ryan: i’ve tried to get them into a mode of experimentation and measurement, but maybe these ideas you can only become comfortable with by reading slashdot and hacker news for 10 years
me: yes.. slavish addiction to programmer based social bookmarking sites…  its the new mba
Ryan: actually, i think it is
May 14
Left Vs Right
Posted by SamH in Crackpot Theories on 05 14th, 2010| | 1 Comment »
Left Wing
The fundamental belief of the left is that the greatest problem in the world, the problem that causes the most suffering, are the actions of evil selfish people who hoard resources and deliberately make others suffer.


We must stop evil people.
Right Wing
The fundamental belief of the right is that the greatest problem in the world, the problem that causes the most suffering, are the actions of foolish incompetent people to make mistakes and advance policies they don’t understand and would not result in the desired outcomes if implemented.

We must stop foolish people.
May 1
The tragedy of the voters
Posted by SamH in Crackpot Theories on 05 1st, 2010| | No Comments »
In a democracy voters with a greater vested interest in a policy area will, due to it’s increased significance in determining their vote, have an increased influence on the political treatment of that policy area. A small increase in significance can produce a large increase in influence. Voters with the greatest vested interest in policy areas often have incentives that are opposed to the interests of the general community

Or

Everyone says they care about education but a politician knows that teachers are much more likely to decide their vote based on education policy.

Or

Special interests destroy society.

Answer

Strong articulate leaders who are prepared to rally the general community around policies that are counter to the interests of vested interest groups. Using opposing vested interests to counter each other does not work well as eventually they align their interests.
So vote for politicians who are prepared to defy vested interests for the greater good even if you don’t always agree with them. Meaning, vote for conviction politicians.