Are we in trouble?

Is this generation in lots of trouble?

Is everything going to be worse for us, compared to our parents?

I could say that this is a possibility.Our parents and grandparents fought for a better future, now we have to fight to keep it!

The sad story is that the earth could be getting a non-desirable place to live. It’s not the hurricanes or even the global warming I am talking about. It’s only getting too crowded with lots of wastes around us. Even if we dont care about losing a part of biodiversity (by extinguishing a few more species), it’s bad thing for human people as well!

The world could be changing to be more environmentall, to protect or to create a viable environment for all of us – and for our children.

Take a look at  World Changing! – worldchanging was founded on the idea that real solutions already exist for building the future we want. it’s just a matter of grabbing hold and getting moving.

On the other hand it’s getting better.

The percentage of people living in absolute poverty worldwide is obviously dropping.They get more access to clean water and education. Most of us will be able to buy more than our parents could. We consume more and better quality goods. It seems that there is less possibility for a world war now , than a few years earlier. World is getting a better place to live – one step at a time!

I am not yet convinced that the world as we know it will end sometime soon from a huge hurricane or tsunamis striking every coast of the planet.I feel that the solution lies inside human nature – it will be studied by scientists and engineers will solve the problems in ways that will make the next generation live in a cleaner environment than we did!

Picture by Rick Smit, titled: Forest in Netherlands

Is change good or bad?

I always thought that change, especially when it comes to big technological leaps forward, is a good thing. I ve come to believe that this is not true.

I think that people dont want to see changes unless they re a part of it. And they rarely are a part of it.

People should know when the world is changed around them. But they dont have time and they dont have the need to do so. And they reject change. They believe that the world is the same as it has been in the 20th century. They refuse to see that we live as citizens of the world. They refuse to understand how this changes everything. They refuse to see how our lifes are extended everyday by a few minutes. They dont want to see that the world is a nice place to live, and it wasnt always so.

It s this change that makes people frightened and anxious. But it’s a good thing to me. It’s hard to embrace everytime but it’s good to know that change is good.

Google buys YouTube

Breaking news..

In this article it says it’s confirmed , while here you can see the rumor spreading!

I am not sure if that’s true – however I think it was ( or will be) the right thing to do for Google.

1) Videoblogging is definitely going to be a big part of the future of the web. Google videos was a failure, while youtube is the most popular of its king right now. They re stepping into the market of the future big time – acquiring the market leader of the present time.

2)Google has already failed bigtime with some ideas. Why not buy somebody else’s ideas? ( I guess it’s becoming like Microsoft afterall)

3) Google will figure out some way to make money out of it. I am pretty sure about that. They are the leaders in ads and that’s their main source of income. I dont have the slightest doubt they ll find a way to drain more cash off youtube.Right now youtube is losing 1$ million per month, but google could make a cash-cow out of it in the next year.

Open Source vs Communism

I am really sick and tired of people comparing open source software to Communism. This doesn’t make any sense at all to me.Is OSS the rage against free market? No. Open source software is the cure from the free market for overpriced end-user software . Open source promotes groups working together and open standards. Nothing to do with communism, nothing to do with socialism. No free-market supporter objects cooperation!

Proof Number 1 : Open Source commercial software is probably more expensive than windows.It’s not a free contribution to society.Even if it was, that would be charity – nothing to do with marxism. Check this out. They re not charging for the use, they re charging for support. Different model, still want to make a living.

Proof Number 2: Eric Raymond , anarcho-capitalist open source movement founder.

If Ubuntu for instance was communist, it would be funded with the money of all of us, we would have to use it everywhere (monopoly, no other distros) and the poor coders would have to persuade for the “social need” for the kernel to reach the next version.

Social Networks is the answer. So what was the question?

Here Ebrahim Ezzy is talking about social networks

He says that social networks are hot and indeed they are. But what I was really wondering about is if there’s a need for social networks, then which need is that ?

What “Read / Write Web” says is that “people mentor each other through the formation of communities”, ” they network and inspire each other by example and input” ” Social networks protect people from the vastness of cyberspace and offer tools to find each other, organize and share information, or just keep in touch with friends.”

I like the second sentence. People network and inspire each other. We need inspiration , we need to copy an idea and move it a step forward. I guess we don’t want to “organize and share information”. At least I don’t remember myself saying “I like internet because i enjoy organizing and sharing information” .We need places for meeting other people and for inspiration. And that’s a part of freedom I guess.

Politics and the net

Should we get ready for huge changes in politics caused by the Internet?

Eric Schmidt , the boss of Google Inc. wrote in Sun tabloid explaining how life will be much harder for politicians. It will soon be easy enough to check if the statements made by anyone is factual or not. So is that the end of lies? I don’t know.

However I am absolutely certain that the Internet will immensely contribute to everyone’s information. Maybe we should be even more suspicious of the governments who censor or block Internet access.

125 years since Ludwig von Mises was born

One of the most notable economists and social philosophers of the twentieth century, Ludwig von Mises was born 125 years ago on the 29th of September of 1881. I would like to quote some of his words in his essay “The Anti-capitalistic Mentality” . It is a non-economic , mostly socio-psychological essay studying the anti-market bias.

“What makes many feel unhappy under capitalism is the fact that capitalism grants to each the opportunity to attain the most desirable positions which , of course, can only be attained by a few.Whatever a man may have gained for himself , it is mostly a mere fraction of what his ambition has impelled him to win. There are always before his eyes people who have succeeded where he failed. There are fellows who have outstripped him and against whom he nurtures, in his subconsciousness, inferiority complexes. Such is the attitude of the tramp against the man with a regular job, the factory man against the foreman, the executive against the vice-president, the vice-president against the company’s president , the man who is worth three hundred thousand dollars against the millionaire and so on. Everybody’s self-reliance and moral equilibrium are undermined by the spectacle of those who have given proof of grater abilities and capacities….”

Rooster Report Trailer

Optimistic forecast: “this video will be a spark of life in greek videoblogs”

Pessimistic forecast: “this video will be a pleasant memory in the future, though nobody else will remember it”

For a new liberty

I have been reading Murray Rothbard’s “For a New Liberty : A Libertarian Manifesto” and I was amazed by some staggering views that are mentioned in there.

First of all, he sets the central axiom of the libertarian creed. “No man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else.”

This moral rule, according to Rothbard, should apply not only to the citizens but also to the state.

“…the libertarian refuses to give the State the moral sanction to commit actions that almost everyone agrees would be immoral, illegal, and criminal if committed by any person or group in society. …”

“… The State habitually commits mass murder, which it calls “war,” or sometimes “suppression of subversion”; the State engages in enslave ment into its military forces, which it calls “conscription”; and it lives and has its being in the practice of forcible theft, which it calls “taxation.”…”

What follows is clear-cut explanation of how this moral rule applies in everyday life leading to a “no-state” society.

I start to believe this book is not only an amazing manifesto of libertarian ideas, but also an interesting exercise for the mind.