» internet http://www.catboant.com Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:08:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Global Power Will Shift from West To East http://www.catboant.com/2010/01/02/will-the-next-decade-become-the-chinese-decade/ http://www.catboant.com/2010/01/02/will-the-next-decade-become-the-chinese-decade/#comments Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:03:54 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=537 In today’s Welt online edition (it is in German) Niall Ferguson shares his thoughts on why the “Western World” will loose its world dominance – which it had held for 500 years – and the East, mainly China will surpass.

The major reasons for this shift are (from China’s point of view):

- China’s enormous financial resources (especially in comparison to the US),
- its ceaseless economic growth
- its human capital, its manpower

Or from the US-point of view as Ferguson points it: “A manpower deficit (not enough boots on the ground in Iraq), an attention deficit (not enough public enthusiasm for long-term occupations of conquered countries) and above all a financial deficit (not enough savings relative to investment and not enough taxation relative to public expenditure).”

Together with Moritz Schularick Ferguson coined the term “Chimerica” (China and America) in 2006 describing one of the key issues that caused the financial crises in the Western world: the fact that the US current account deficit was mostly financed by Chinese banks!

Niall Ferguson is also aware of the problems China is facing, e.g. democracy and political issues, but he concludes without any doubts that China will dominate the next decade.

Reading and thinking about the article amplifies many phrases I’ve heard in my last conversations regarding China.

P.S. Just found an english version of the article! Thanks to twitter:-)

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2010/01/02/will-the-next-decade-become-the-chinese-decade/feed/ 0 Tool To Fight Terrorists Or A Harbinger Of Big Brother http://www.catboant.com/2010/01/02/tool-to-fight-terrorists-or-a-harbinger-of-big-brother/ http://www.catboant.com/2010/01/02/tool-to-fight-terrorists-or-a-harbinger-of-big-brother/#comments Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:04:06 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=530 In our 10 Big Question category “Flesh & Machines” were are addressing the topic of “moral machines” as Wendell Wallach has written in his so-called book (see also the interview here).

I personally do think that there is a need for ethical rules to guide the behavior of robots. Since Isaac Asimov – 50 years ago in science fiction – has written the “Three Laws of Robotics” there as been an ongoing discussion to revamp these laws – especially when a military robot kills people after a malfunction.

But there is not only the ethical question, there is also the point: for what reason will “they” mobilize these tools? Will these machines be used to watch US?

If you look for example at videos like the following – produced by the US military – I think this is frightening. And I do think we need a global discussion on that … and I do ask you to address your question right here.

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2010/01/02/tool-to-fight-terrorists-or-a-harbinger-of-big-brother/feed/ 1 Access to Knowledge for Everyone is one of our Biggest Challenges http://www.catboant.com/2009/11/15/access-to-knowledge-for-everyone-is-one-of-our-biggest-challenges/ http://www.catboant.com/2009/11/15/access-to-knowledge-for-everyone-is-one-of-our-biggest-challenges/#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:09:26 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=311 Our conversation with Stephen Downes, Canadian philosopher, futurist and rebel in the world of education.

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2009/11/15/access-to-knowledge-for-everyone-is-one-of-our-biggest-challenges/feed/ 1 Conversation with Lee Bryant http://www.catboant.com/2009/11/12/conversation-with-lee-bryant/ http://www.catboant.com/2009/11/12/conversation-with-lee-bryant/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:32:32 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=309 Yesterday I’ve met Lee Bryant, head of headshift, based in London. I like Lee a lot, we are always exchanging ideas how to make the world a better place :-)

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2009/11/12/conversation-with-lee-bryant/feed/ 1 Rebuilding the World – Don Tapscott http://www.catboant.com/2009/10/24/rebuilding-the-world-don-tapscott/ http://www.catboant.com/2009/10/24/rebuilding-the-world-don-tapscott/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:12:32 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=295 November 13, 2009, we will have a conversation with Don Tapscott on “Rebuilding the World”. So if you do have any questions for Don, please drop a note!

We will record our conversation and make it accessible here.

The new keynote “Rebuilding the World” by Don Tapscott from Sogeti VINT on Vimeo.

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2009/10/24/rebuilding-the-world-don-tapscott/feed/ 0 Collective Power and Politics http://www.catboant.com/2009/10/16/collective-power-and-politics/ http://www.catboant.com/2009/10/16/collective-power-and-politics/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:01:58 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=244 According to Lawrence Lessig this is the key point President Barack Obama will have to prove. You can hear more of his thoughts about Obama’s challenges at the very end of the interview.

WE’ ve started as usual with our question; “How has yourunderstanding of “WE” changed since the rise of the Internet? And has it changed at all?” Besides WE our topic was Lessig’s newest initiative changecongress.org and his efforts to get “lobby” money out of the game! changecongress.org was launched March 2008 and will hopefully have a significant impact on the 2010 election.

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2009/10/16/collective-power-and-politics/feed/ 0 David Weinberger’s take on information, emergence, science … http://www.catboant.com/2009/03/18/david-weinbergers-take-on-information-emergence-science/ http://www.catboant.com/2009/03/18/david-weinbergers-take-on-information-emergence-science/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:58:36 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=140 According to wikipedia David Weinberger is an American technologist, professional speaker, and commentator, probably best known as co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto (originally a website, and eventually a book, which has been described as “a primer on Internet marketing”. Weinberger’s work focuses on how the Internet is changing human relationships, communication, and society. He currently serves as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2009/03/18/david-weinbergers-take-on-information-emergence-science/feed/ 0 Isaac Mao on Sharism, Religion and Culture http://www.catboant.com/2009/03/05/isaac-mao-on-sharism-religion-and-culture/ http://www.catboant.com/2009/03/05/isaac-mao-on-sharism-religion-and-culture/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:15:19 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=128 Last week – in our first round of interviews to get this whole project here started – we’ve talked to Isaac Mao, the first chinese blogger and a Berkman Fellow. His idea and theory of sharism almost seems like the “ultimate vision” of our movie!

So please enjoy this interview with Isaac!

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2009/03/05/isaac-mao-on-sharism-religion-and-culture/feed/ 2 Conversations (chinese) – 对话 http://www.catboant.com/2008/12/29/conversations-chinese/ http://www.catboant.com/2008/12/29/conversations-chinese/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:37:03 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=503 “新时代伊始的对话”是一个网站项目，它邀请每位来访者提出对于他们个人而言最为重要的问题，网友可在以下10个频道内进行提问：

>>> 政治
>>> 教育
>>> 科学
>>> 宗教
>>> 经济/市场
>>>“同一个世界”
>>> 身体/机器
>>> 资源短缺
>>> 文化碰撞
>>> 网络社会

每位浏览者都可以为自己喜欢的问题投上一票，对于频道内票数最多的热门问题，我们将在网站社区内组织在线讨论。
参与者可点击评论输入问题，同时也欢迎输入中文，我们将进行相应的翻译。
对我们来说，重要的是让全世界的网友都能参与其中；来吧，现在就开始！

]]> http://www.catboant.com/2008/12/29/conversations-chinese/feed/ 0 disclosure / privacy / terms of use http://www.catboant.com/2008/12/28/disclosure-privacy-terms-of-use/ http://www.catboant.com/2008/12/28/disclosure-privacy-terms-of-use/#comments Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:46:26 +0000 ulrike http://www.catboant.com/?p=500 Disclosure Statement

No one pays me to write this blog, to produce these videos or to say particular things in it. I don’t run ads. I am completely independent.

I simply do it because I want to do it and because I feel it is necessary to do it!

How I make money

I make a living by being a consultant.

Tech

I use wordpress for this blog. Sometimes Michael Wald and Dominik Wind are helping with the tech stuff. Special thanks to them!
The blog is hosted on my webserver at 1und1.

Terms of Use

Whenever you add content to this website you allow me without any further permission to use this content for the web-movie project described here.

I will give you credit for that, but I won’t pay you for it.

Of course you can use your original content for whatever you want to use it!
Everything what is published on this website can be used by everybody as long as it is within the frameset of the choosen CC licence.

Privacy

Everything is transparent on this blog. You don’t have to login for anything. So whenever you choose to publish anything here, everybody will see your name, pseudonym.
I am not collecting any data!

My promise

I use my judgment if I choose the people with whom I have the conversations. Some of them were recommended from my peers whom I completely trust. I will be honest with you and never write something I don’t believe in because someone is paying me as part of a relationship you don’t know about.

I promise whenever somebody is uploading any kind of content to this website I will respect the content as it is mine – as long as it doesn’t violate any laws and rules.

If you don’t like this or disagree, let me know.

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