Rich and poor nations
Scott Alister McKinley
A while back I remember Erik musing about why there exist rich and
poor nations, and whether the relative exponential growth rates will
forever leave certain places behind.
Well, there is an interesting article on Slate that talks about an
aspect of this that seems to have some truth to it. Basically, it
argues that nations that successfully establish an infrastructure of
trust among economic players are able to accomplish more than systems
where everyone is constantly worried about being stabbed in the back.
As a mathie, I am particularly charmed by the article's use of game theory.
http://www.slate.com/id/2174706/
Later,
Scott
Brandon Downey
read, called _The Birth of Plenty_:
In some sense, it could be taken as a statement of, 'what are the
necessary preconditions for people to consider large scale cooperation
rather than large scale distrust?', but the more general questions it
asks are: What are conditions necessary for the explosion of economic
growth we have seen in the world since roughly 1800? [To the tune of
2% per year].
His claim is that there are four institutions which have driven
'modern' economic growth of this magnitude:
1. Scientific rationalism
2. Easy availability of capital markets
3. A notion of a right to private, easily transferrable ('alienable') property
4. Easy availability of transport and communication [both technology
and politics play a role in this]
He has a number of interesting things that fall out from this thesis
-- one interesting one being that what we think of as modern
democracies only emerge as stable regimes as a *result* of these
things, rather than being a necessary precedent for economic growth.
*
Regardless of whether or not the four things he outlined are 'the'
things, it is a pretty crazy that if you draw a curve of GDP over
time, it's basically flat until the late 1700s, then begins exploding
-- and has _kept_ exploding, right up until today, even including
several major depressions, world wars, etc., at a weirdly consistent
2% average per year.
- Brandon
Louis Jeansonne
out are "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond and "What's So Great About
America" by Dinseh D'Souza. The first book attempts to explain the course
of history based on the shapes of the continents, and it's pretty
convincing.
I'd like to start an unrelated thread: I'm curious to know which, if any,
television shows the people on this list watch regularly, and also if anyone
has found any new shows that look promising this season.
Brandon Downey
The Office
Heroes
House
BSG (when it's on)
Mythbusters
Dexter
Shows new this season that I tried but found so-so:
Journeyman (aka, Quantum Leap 2.0, but no Al or Ziggy)
Bionic Woman (fairly uncompelling, despite the hot bionic woman)
Shows I periodically watch when nothing else is on:
Supernatural (so bad it's good)
Various Laws and/or Orders
Futurama reruns on Adult Swim
*
Michael Ostling
Richard Vath
former Ms. Mars on Heroes this season. And the Pushing Daisies pilot
was very good, if that's your sort of thing.
Louis Jeansonne
worth checking out?
Lost is the best show I've ever seen, Heroes is almost as good. I'm
surprised no one listed CSI; it's one of the only shows to glorify science.
In one episode of the New York version, the main character actually stated,
in a non-joking fashion, "Go with your head, not your heart." Seeing that
aired in prime time gave me hope for humanity.
For DVD viewing, I highly recommend Alias and West Wing for anyone who
hasn't seen those shows.
Sitcoms have become so horrible; the only one I will watch is How I Met Your
Mother.
Brandon Downey
>
> Interesting lists, pretty consistent with what I watch. Mike, is the 4400
> worth checking out?
>
The only reason I didn't put it on my list was because the season
finale was this summer, and it's not clear if it's coming back.
When I heard the premise, I thought, 'eh.', and I watched an episode
or two, and thought, 'So, the USA network was smart enough to realize
that you can fool people into thinking it's Seattle if you fool it in
Vancouver!". But after a season or so, I came back and started
watching it, and found I liked it.
It's not amazing in the way that BSG, Lost, or Heroes is amazing, but
I found myself enjoying the premise a lot more, and it has one of my
favorite minor genre actors, Jeffrey Combs (who you may remember as
'Weyoun' from ds9, or more recently had an amazing voice role as The
Question during Justice League Unlimited's run on the Cartoon
Network.)
> Lost is the best show I've ever seen, Heroes is almost as good. I'm
> surprised no one listed CSI; it's one of the only shows to glorify science.
> In one episode of the New York version, the main character actually stated,
> in a non-joking fashion, "Go with your head, not your heart." Seeing that
> aired in prime time gave me hope for humanity.
Basically, I've been police procedural-ed to death. It's a good show,
but I have no need to watch it.
>
> For DVD viewing, I highly recommend Alias and West Wing for anyone who
> hasn't seen those shows.
>
> Sitcoms have become so horrible; the only one I will watch is How I Met Your
> Mother.
>
>
As a sort of meta-observation: One of the most encouraging trends in
television as a drama is one made possible by discussions forums, file
sharing, and rising DVD sales -- the story arc!
While widely derided (rightfully so, in cases), American daytime soap
operas were among the most narratively complex shows on TV for
decades. They had character arcs, huge ensemble casts, season-long
plots, and a dizzying array of character motives and actions. (Not
always consistent, of course).
That's why a show like Dallas was a big deal in the 80's -- for the
first time, we started to see the soap opera narrative structure on
television shown during prime time. Compare the complexity of a sitcom
like the Office to sitcoms from previous decades (where if they
changed at all, happened along seasonal boundaries), or hell, even
compare Lost to the X-files.
Complicated shows drive repeat viewing -- which means more DVDs get
sold, or more shows get downloaded over the internet (legally or not),
and people congregate to discuss the shows with an audience outside of
their immediate circle.
The next big step is to unlock the television show from the bounds of
weekly primetime, and start distributing it over the internet. We're
approaching the point that you probably could support a popular show
by iTunes store sales -- or even streamed (with ads) to your DVR. I
predict there will be a bifurcation, as the smart shows get smarter --
and the dumb shows get *really* dumb, as network TV becomes the domain
of people who are generally too out of date (or slow) for Tivo and the
internet.
>
>
> >
>
Scott Alister McKinley
Netflixers should queue it up.
Other than that all I ever watch is the Daily Show, Charlie Rose and
SportsCenter.
Oh, and evangelical preachers ... have any of you ever seen Dr. Gene
Scott? Most of y'all know I'm staunchly agnostic; but to my eyes,
I've never seen someone articulate the case for reasonable
Christianity. He's also nuts. Occasionally completely out of his
mind.
Oh ... and I used to watch Blind Date. The early episodes were
genius. At least half of my wisdom stems from Therapist Joe.
-- Scott
Michael Ostling
Richard Vath
the price of admission.
(By the by, I really liked this guy's other failed shows: Wonder
Falls and Dead Like Me. Worth Netflixing if you're not already
familiar).
-Rich
Michael Ostling
Richard Vath
Chris Macaluso
It disappoints me that you think sitcoms have become unwatchable. I think the The Office and 30 Rock are two of the funniest, wittiest and most well written TV shows I've ever seen. Seriously, if you don't watch 30 Rock, you are missing out. And the American version of The Office has exceeded expectations and I think surpasses the British version, as brilliant as it was. Really, you should give those two a shot.
Also, while we're mentioning good DVDs to get from netflix, you can't go wrong with Extras. It's Ricky Gervais', from The Office, latest work. There have been two seasons so far on HBO. I'm not sure there will be another. I read an interview in which he said he may not make a third season. He seems to get tired of the story lines after a couple of years and moves on to other projects.... he did the same thing with The Office.
I have been slightly disappointed with The Office this season. Just slightly. I think it's still very funny and well written, but I'm setting the bar very high for that show. Especially after some of the past episodes. I don't know if any of you are big fans, but you can watch this season's episodes for free on NBC.com along with all of the 30 Rock episodes. Also, the past three seasons of The Office are on Itunes (I think they are there still). Definitely check out the following episodes: Diversity Day and Health Care from season 1, Conflict Resolution and The Fire from season 2 and Safety Training from season 3. All brilliant, pee in your pants funny.
how 'bout them Tigers!
mac
From: vath...@umich.edu
Subject: [Holiday's] Re: Television
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2007 17:32:11 -0400
To: hol...@googlegroups.com
Thomas Stuckey
-T
