The modern Indian Economic system is giving rise to Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) mainly Diabetes, Heart Diseases, Stroke, Hypertension, Cancer etc Which are leading cause of Premature Deaths & Disabilities in India.
(Disclaimer: I am complete layperson in this field, so apologies up-front if my questions are undergrad level.)
Are you, or any other readers, able to point me to writers / philosophers who have tussled with what seems to me to be a fundamental problem of human greed and pride, that seems inevitably to lead to collapse and destruction (and rebirth), no matter how well-intentioned the designers are of whatever new system they have in mind to usher in a better life for all humans?
Makes me remember a Lexington article from the Economist from 1998 ("Mark Sanford, surfboarding revolutionary"), where he references the work of Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler (apparently an "18th century Scottish historian too obscure to warrant an entry even in the Encyclopedia Britannica") who claims "the average of the world's greatest civilisations has been 200 years." Whether this is true or not is less relevant for me; what sparked my interest was the following: "These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again into bondage."
Sure part of the answer can be some spiritual awakening, but to me this is essentially a personal experience - we all know what happens when that goes to scale.
So how does one build a system that encourages / enables the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurialism to thrive, while controlling for the greed that inevitably leads to more Delhis?
Or maybe that's just the way it is? Three steps forward and two back is still progress? (Assuming / hoping there aren't catastrophic / cataclysmic four or 10 steps back super-cycles!)
A brilliant review of a seemingly brilliant book. Branko is uniquely able to place such work in its proper context.
The modern Indian Economic system is giving rise to Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) mainly Diabetes, Heart Diseases, Stroke, Hypertension, Cancer etc Which are leading cause of Premature Deaths & Disabilities in India.
Not a word about some of the world's worst air pollution.
Thanks for this, Branko.
(Disclaimer: I am complete layperson in this field, so apologies up-front if my questions are undergrad level.)
Are you, or any other readers, able to point me to writers / philosophers who have tussled with what seems to me to be a fundamental problem of human greed and pride, that seems inevitably to lead to collapse and destruction (and rebirth), no matter how well-intentioned the designers are of whatever new system they have in mind to usher in a better life for all humans?
Makes me remember a Lexington article from the Economist from 1998 ("Mark Sanford, surfboarding revolutionary"), where he references the work of Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler (apparently an "18th century Scottish historian too obscure to warrant an entry even in the Encyclopedia Britannica") who claims "the average of the world's greatest civilisations has been 200 years." Whether this is true or not is less relevant for me; what sparked my interest was the following: "These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again into bondage."
Sure part of the answer can be some spiritual awakening, but to me this is essentially a personal experience - we all know what happens when that goes to scale.
So how does one build a system that encourages / enables the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurialism to thrive, while controlling for the greed that inevitably leads to more Delhis?
Or maybe that's just the way it is? Three steps forward and two back is still progress? (Assuming / hoping there aren't catastrophic / cataclysmic four or 10 steps back super-cycles!)
Check out Sarah Chayes books on corruption and greed:
https://www.sarahchayes.org/
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-return-of-marco-polos-world-9780812986617 is also
enlightening.
As for the final par here, I'm watching "hypersonic missiles".