The movie is fantastic. Just go watch it.
Also learned that, while Chris Nolan can direct, he should be relying on his brother Jonathan Nolan to write absolutely every flick he makes (J has been part of every C film that was phenomenal 0 Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight).
(Interstellar with Spielberg at the helm and J. Nolan writing is something I am very much looking forward to.)
I think Jeff is wrong on this one. If you’re only looking at the narrow slice of the picture that is readily clear, it is sure to reveal a collection of upward sloping trendlines. The Indian economic ecosystem is simply not vibrant enough to flourish on its own.
The problem is you’re missing out on all the noise the country is generating - political, economy, societal instability, etc. Structural instability coupled with a plethora of dissidents wielding advanced destructive capability in an era of declining energy availability will crash that economy.
As opposed to what Jeff implies, demand destruction in India and China won’t allow for “a more gradual response to energy scarcity” but will actually exacerbate the situation.
This is an instance of what happens when what should be a private corporation is constrained by an ancient hierarchical structure.
That said, Generals Robert H. McMahon, Duncan J. McNabb, Arthur J. Lichte, and Kenneth D. Merchant are all assholes and should be immediately fired.
Here’s a book I want to get an early copy of. (B/C it would make a very interesting juxtoposition with Arquilla’s book. )
Pissed off, for no released reason, he cut the city off from its own network. Impressive.
Elementary steps, which would have made sense in 2003. (Until coopted or destroyed.)
Brilliant analysis of the US economic system.
The democratization of web technology is supposed to enable more, rich, meaningful connections between individuals and allow flat groups to emerge based on commonalities. In the case of Congress, tech allows individual representatives to meet with and engage much larger percentages of their constituencies than ever before.
Phone records, PDA calendars, email - all are public domain and can be updated in real time. "Leaders" should be pushing for more accountability and transparency through this tech - built entirely without their help. Instead, the ultra elite inside are focused on making Congress as fundamentally unrepresentative as possible by shutting down members’ ability to engage their constituencies. (They see the writing on the wall. Power diffusion renders them useless.)
Someone should take the ability to legislate tech away from everyone involved in this debacle.