Niall Ferguson: The 6 killer apps of prosperity
Trki, Kody, Cheaty do
http://www.ted.com Over the past few centuries, Western cultures have been very good at creating general prosperity for themselves. Historian Niall Ferguson asks: Why the West, and less so the rest? He suggests half a dozen big ideas from Western culture -- call them the 6 killer apps -- that promote wealth, stability and innovation. And in this new century, he says, these apps are all shareable. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.
Komentarze
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Edge of Chaos!!!
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The west died some time ago. The brown invaders and the children of the west are living off of its bones...
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The worst is actually this guy calls this idea '6 killer apps'. What a name. I guess someone told him that would sell more books.
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Dear Mr Ferguson, there are thousands and upon thousands of patents being held suppressed and by all governments of the west due to "National Security". Also, we have no access to top secret technology, so who knows what they're up to. Then again someone in your employment is in the know <nudge nudge, wink wink>
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Asians and Africans are now in the conquest of Europe, by the millions. Watch them invade and in time destroy all of Europe. Watch them get into political control of England, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Then they will try to conquer and bring into submission the rest of Europe. All in the name of their God, Allah.
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Western countries got rich, because:
1) They exploited the knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans
2) They exploited the knowledge of a Semitic religion called Christianity
3) They exploited the people of the African continent (slavery)
4) They exploited the lands of peaceful people (colonies)
People forget that Asia and the Middle East were weakened or destroyed by the Mongols and Muslims. This made them vulnerable to the Europeans. The Europeans did nothing new. They were simply driven by greed and took advantage of their relatively strong position. And look what's happening now? Asian countries rise to the top while Western countries fall behind, even though they don't suffer from war or instability. Why is your 'superior' European model not working now? Oh wait...maybe because there's nothing to steal anymore from other people and the free money and labour is gone. -
It is very satisfying when he talks down to the TED audience again and again.
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Neill Ferguson's book "civilization" , give a more clear and well supported answers to the questions that commentators are raising. For example, one critic pointed out that Ferguson does not give enough credit to the free market. In his book the Concept of Free Markets falls under the apps of the consumer society, and competition. Other Critics state that Ferguson doesn't mention that land owners in Latin America were Spanish, and or were descendants of Conquistadors, this too is answered in his book. Considering that this was only a 20 min presentation he was not able to provide more explanation and support for his theories. Before you criticize the man theory i suggest you read his book, civilization the west and the rest.
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Six killer apps of prosperity for capitalists:
1) Stealing and plundering.
2) Exploitation of human beings and natural resources.
3) Killing.
4) Military power.
5) Technology.
6) The state and the police to protect capitalist's booties and to bail them out. -
I have to take issue with his overarching theory that it was these 6 apps and not geography that mostly influenced western development. For a start he cites East & West Germany as an example, but he’s forgetting that the Americans gave WG a massive cash injection and helped them develop but also, because EG was communist in structure the wealth they generated was spread out more. OK they only had trabants but they all had one, in the west only a few lucky folk had a Mercedes.
Then he cites North Korea, but NK was just as developed as the south, some even say more so until the early 80’s when Soviet Russian power began to wane and they couldn’t access their resources. But then you have to take in the fact that, because the western states had sanctioned and blocked their trade routes elsewhere, this also effected their development.
There are so many holes in this theory I’d need a terabyte hard drive just to get the first chapter down. Ian Morris’s theory of geography makes much more sense. The Americans and western states were firmly in control at that time because of their geographical locations and set the standard. It’s like Ferguson has sat down and thought, how can I create a theory for western development that incorporates my ideological outlook. -
"The Great Divergence is over Folks."
No, there is another great divergence, and that is the rapidly widening gap between the rich and poor within society, not between societies.
And the fact that the differences between societies is shrinking means that divergence(among people within societies) will likely increase in both pace and magnitude.
Is the free market(capitalism) just a euphemism for "Survival of the fittest"?
Should those who cannot successfully market and sell themselves be condemned to perish? -
The other points below in comments argue that the "West" is pre-eminent only because of it's pillaging of the rest - particularly the Americas. But in a sense, this argument proves Ferguson's hypothesis. To carry out those conquests Europeans needed to have already mastered enormous areas of science, politics, economics and trade. They needed to be masterful navigators, ship builders, military tacticians, armourers etc etc. It's probable that Ferguson gives a biased, even right wing view of history. And that the schematic at play behind his work is all about the inherent superiority of Europe. But does that matter? We all reflect our upbringing and values, and we can all use our faculties to untangle truth from exaggeration. But I find it hard to dispute his main points. They are simple, concise and pretty well grounded in historical fact. Institutions are crucial - if you get out a map of the world and analyse country by country the stability of a nation or otherwise and the institutions it contains you will very quickly determine a few simple facts. 1 - Theocracy is bad. 2 - Democracy is better. There is more war in non-democratic countries. People have fewer rights in non-democratic countries etc etc. These are simple ideas, but they're fundamentally sensible, and to refute them, or avoid them, or be threatened by them leaves you isolated and adrift in a world which is progressing without you. The reactionary politics of the middle east, whilst certainly fuelled by jealousy of the vulture like activities of the capitalist west, are also fuelled by enormous anger and insecurity as all the values that are held dear fail to provide safety, prosperity and success and only create corruption, feud and resentment. Of course the west has preyed on the middle east, like a vulture preys on a weak beast. But the beast is weak for a reason. If reason is not the main tool in decision making there will be blood. Simple. Until reason dominates over faith and superstition good governance is a dream.
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Of course he's constrained by the 20 minute time frame but I don't think property rights have become more complicated at all. They have become more varied certainly, but the principles remain the same. To hold intellectual property rights for example, in either an invention or a play or a piece of music is an enormous incentive. Interestingly, the biggest assailants of property rights today are not Marxist revolutionaries in the west, but illegal downloaders on the internet, most of whom would view themselves as libertarians who have a "right" to this material and that information should flow freely. I work in the theatre and the questions around royalties and rights are central to the issues of the industry as ownership over content is the prime motivator for production, of course, because it denotes the principle stakeholder in any return on investment. The principle is the same whether the property is physical, intellectual, or even futures. Our rights in these things or ideas is where a huge percentage of trade exists. And in the case of IP, it is hugely attractive because the capital investment is extremely low compared to heavy industry for example. I don't feel he's being racist in pointing out the chain of ideas that lead to economic success and prosperity. It is virtually self evident. Ideas matter and the separation of church and state was and is a fundamental necessity in creating common sense at the core of governance, over faith. That's really all he's saying.
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I agree with many of Niall Ferguson's viewpoints and have similar views as a economist!
However, I disagree with some of the assertions he makes and forms his conclusions. Firstly, he doesn't address how developing economies are bound to grow faster than developed economies due to the catch-up effect and how such effect accounts for a great amount of relatively faster growth that the developing economies have seen. This explains how the "Great Re-Convergence" is inevitable to a great degree no matter which institutions we have. While Mr. Ferguson explains the basis of private property as key, he doesn't go into the scope of the private property rights beyond the traditional property rights. Property rights are much more complicated these days with the emergence of things like complex intellectual property, environmental rights, right-of-ways, pollution emission rights, airspace, etc.
Finally, Mr. Ferguson doesn't address how he got his calculations for his data and closer examinations bring more questions about his methods. For eg., the U.S./China and Great Britain/India comparisons will bring about the results he is trying to say no matter what since India has grown slower than China. Plus, the sources for past economic statistics for China and India during the past three decades are very vague and full of propaganda, something Mr. Ferguson doesn't mention at all! -
Ferguson is an educated fool like Dr. Goebbels and his books must be burned in flames. He is nothing more but the propaganda minister of the Rothschilds bent on creating racist divisions in order for the global elite to remain in power. Such a waste of talent. There is no west and there is no east. Everyone is different and important no matter where and which time in history you were born.
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I'm very grateful for men like Mr. Ferguson. We live in a time of intellectual homogeneity and politically correct newspeak. At the very least, it's nice to hear someone saying something different.
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Why don't you just admit that it is the free market that made us wealthy? are you afraid of pissing off the lefties?
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The vission of Ferguson about the diference of West and East Germany is very simplist. East Germany was the most poorest part of Germany, and this country feeded the entire of East of Europe. Also, the Germans developed Mercedes Benez before of the instalation of comunism in East of Germany.
In addition, Ferguson did not tell that in Latin America the difference of land ownership was linked with the race. -
He forgot to quote Winston Churchill when he said in 1919: "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes".
Is Latin America the West? I don't know he says. In Latin American schools and universities you only learn western languages and culture. What an idiot.
Mr. Ferguson is smart but a pick+choose historian that hypes up supremacists. -
Had China stumbled upon America first Ferguson would be herding sheep in Scotland. The bloody conquest of America changed everything.