ethics
Progress and Unintended Consequences
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008So, what happens when the very actions that we each individually take to improve our lives in the end cause detrimental consequences to all of us? The sage might say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and she might be right. But, does it have to be that way? Are we […]
Assigning a Value to Life
Monday, May 19th, 2008Why considering a monetary value of life is not only acceptable, but morally necessary
Typically, the first time we consider someone placing a monetary value on protecting a life, the risk of death, or other similar circumstances, we cringe. The mere mention of life in the context of money seems cruel and far too calculating. Rightly, […]
Review - The End of Poverty
Sunday, April 13th, 2008The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Out Time by Jeffery Sachs, is an optimistic, forceful argument for the economic potential of developing countries and the necessity of increased in aid from rich countries to realize it.
Jeffrey Sachs is an accomplished macro-economist, currently at Columbia University, who has experience helping poor countries get on track […]
How Do We Define Progress?
Thursday, April 10th, 2008Back in the good old days…
Cultures seem to have their own ideas about what progress truly is and whether it exists at all or is just an illusion. Americans, in general, seem to have faith in progress over time, yet many continue to just as strongly express nostalgia for times past. Others have a more […]
Review - Development As Freedom
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, provides a powerful argument that development and progress cannot be measured on the basis of economic output and consumption alone, that personal freedom is a very important and in some areas predominate variable in determining whether progress has been or will be […]
Appropriate Technology and Development
Friday, April 4th, 2008Please, That’s Not Appropriate Here…
Appropriate Technology, a somewhat condescending (from the receivers point of view) title for a movement that arose in the 1970s, focuses on providing an improved intermediate step on the technology staircase between developing and industrialized countries. While some of these ideas have been expressed for many decades (see The Ugly American […]
Welcome to True Progress
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 Onwards and Upwards
Do we know what we are doing? Maybe the right question is do we ever know what we are doing? What are the true consequences of our actions today and tomorrow and hundreds of years from now? Are we responsible for those consequences or should we never be concerned with them?
I believe that […]