Wednesday, July 30, 2014

urban density applied intensity: future time orientation exemplified

Ed Dunn's Global Urban Collective

9 comments:

CNu said...

lol, loving the entangled telepathic snap, crackle, and pop of the psychic aether this morning. Yes, that's what he said alright. It's a most interesting paradox to have the capo de tutti capi of breath and britches preacher/lawyer/politician/activist presidents go hard on the manifold failures of the 2nd/3rd line inheritor misleadership stooges domestically - and then turn around and deliver the same message to the 2nd/3rd line parasites who've been mismanaging affairs of state in Africa post-colonialism. Mining pearls from the comments:Nobody is "blaming the white man", but just as you cannot solve Europe's integration & violence issues without dwelling on Europe's violent past. You cannot solve Africa's fundamental problems without dwelling on Africa's past.

The two most significant historical events in Sub-Saharan Africa after the "Bantu explosion" are the slave trade and European colonialism. European colonialism shaped the modern African state and the modern African state has even less internal coherence than Sykes-Picot states.

I'll give you an example - I come from "Nigeria", "Nigeria" is a made up name for a geographical area that includes people who have absolutely no desire to live together, people who have very little in common. It is an arbitrary creation, grappling with identity issues.

It is clear that ethnic identities are so much stronger & you cannot simply "impose a state" on people who have no desire to live together - so all the aid and "capacity building" is largely a waste of time - Africa has to go through it's own process of genuine state formation before any true progress happens.

And this will take generations.

I'm looking forward to the first Western politician who understands & reflects this reality, not those who insist, in vain that ex-colonial administrative units will form the basis of enduring states in Africa.

Obama has absolutely nothing to add to a very nuanced debate on Africa's future & Africa's past.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/30/-sp-obama-africa-colonial-excuses-poll

CNu said...

That's money for real though - from those comments:The US is a central banking company with all the trappings of nation-state. I take it to mean we need to start looking at in-group organization at the level of cities-as-businesses, as well. If you live in a city with resource, space, educational - or other - balance sheet deficiency - it may be time to seriously consider relocating to an area on the deck of the titanic that is not so encumbered.

BigDonOne said...

Normally civilized folks dealing with infrastructure failures ---> http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Ferry-woes-continue-after-breakdown-of-MV-Tacoma-in-Puget-Sound-269217571.html

BigDonOne said...

BD would say it's more like high-IQ folks maximizing their quality of life consistent with available resources while they last.... Sustainability, post-Ebola, should be vastly improved with only the genetically resistant remaining to be fed, thirst-quenched, transported, etc.....

woodensplinter said...

We high-IQ folks live in the high-density style whose praises CNu was singing from Vancouver. As for you profligate peasants, banishing yourselves to the furthest removes from your own city centers has made you a heavily-armed global laughing stock.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Brother CNu:

Please explain your 'Culture Of Competency" label.


Thanks

John Kurman said...

You realize, since you and yours are genetically inferior, that you will one of the first in the US of A to crash and bleed out?

umbrarchist said...

Does this qualify as Depreciation? The Laws of Physics care about no one. LOL

John Kurman said...

Well, he's supposed to be a smart guy, and if *I* can figure out that It's Africa, Stupid, he and his Ivy League staff should be able to the same. India and China so far kicking our ass, and even Norway has been doing the Big Brother/Big Sister thing with Tanzania since the late 80's. That continent is where the future lies...

Fuck Robert Kagan And Would He Please Now Just Go Quietly Burn In Hell?

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