Poptech 5

Before and after the afternoon break we had a couple of interludes of entertainment.
Zeroboy, the mouth that roared. Amazing vocal special effects.
Then the “Bouncing Babies” game where the audience collectively tried to catch babies falling out of a burning building by leaning right or left to move a fireman’s net. Didn’t work.

Emerging World views

Thomas Barnett
Describes a world order polarized between the “core” states that embrace globalization and the “Gap” states that do not. Spoke about the need for a new set of rules for dealing with politically bankrupt states. He argues that the US military is a ‘great first half team’ playing in a game where the opponents insist on keeping score until the end. World needs an executive apparatus (from the G-20 nations) between the UN Security council and the striking power of the US Military. It also needs a massive multilateral peacekeeping force and a world reconstruction fund that’s administered along the lines of the World Bank by the same executive.

Joseph Chamie, an optimistic UN demographer, and Phillip Long, a pessimistic independent one, told us about population trends and what they boded for our future

My apologize for the lack of links in these posts, but I am operating on limited battery power and without a mouse. I promise I'll come back and flesh things out...