We all know that the Chinese are the neo-colonialists of Africa. They’ve plundered the continent of its natural resources, tossing aside any concern for human rights and doing deals with some of the world’s most unsavoury regimes. The relentless pursuit of growth is China’s only spur.
But is this picture really fair? In Angola, for example, China’s low-interest loans have been tied to a scheme that has ensured that roads, schools and other infrastructure has been built. China has an impressive track record of lifting its own millions out of poverty and can do the same for Africa. And is the West’s record in Africa as glowing as we like to think? After decades of pouring aid into Africa, how much have we actually achieved in terms of reducing poverty, corruption and war? So which way should Africa look for salvation – to the West, to China, or perhaps to its own people?
Posted in Conflict, Economics, China, Africa, Foreign Policy | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com In this talk, design guru Stephen Bayley argues that we need to reinvent Britain as a workshop. Cultures which manufacture are more socially cohesive, respectful and they acknowledge hierarchies. Most important of all, manufacturing teaches, at a fundamental level, the relationship between effort and reward - a moral connection that has been lost in the financial industry.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com Catering for YoYos and accommodating See Saws are just two design challenges created by the UK's ageing society, says Jeremy Myerson. Getting old is as disruptive as adolescence: moving home, changes in health, confusion over new technology and sexual diseases - all require design solutions.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com Christopher Choa, the award-winning urban designer and native-New Yorker, argues that in the 21st century the most successful cities will grow up around airports rather than vice-versa. Living in an "aerotropolis", we will relate to neighbours thousands of miles away. There will be winners and losers -- cities that will thrive and some that could fail.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com Sarah Harper is Oxford University Professor and world-expert on ageing. In this talk she asks whether we want to enter a world where we live for 200 years? Maybe we do, maybe we don't, but it is certainly something we should be discussing, because it is looking like being scientifically possible within a couple of generations.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com 'A vegetarian in a hummer is much less damaging for the environment than a meat-eater on a bicycle'. Today's techniques for rearing livestock are unsustainable, particularly if global meat consumption doubles - as it's predicted to do - by 2050. Artificial meat, argues Professor Mark Post, could be the answer.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com In any city, anywhere, says Patrick Blanc, a naked wall can be turned into a Vertical Garden and be a valuable shelter for biodiversity. Drawing on travels to Taiwan, India and Malaysia, Blanc began developing his living walls inside using mainly tropical plants. Today his green tapestries are being planted externally in an increasing number of cities including New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Tokyo...
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com In this talk, urban shaman Iain Sinclair argues that we live in the age of the Grand Project, when political and economic elites decide that big visions are required to improve districts and cities. The London 2012 Olympics encapsulate this trend towards "retro-futurism" and they will be extremely damaging to East London.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments |
http://www.iq2if.com Phaidon's Amanda Renshaw introduces us to the Art Museum: 10 years in the making; open 365 days a year, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day; it houses 3,000 exhibitions, 650 collections from 60 countries; and is 992 pages long... Take a tour through Phaidon's latest creation.
The inaugural If Conference, from debate forum Intelligence Squared, took place on November 25-26th November in London. More than 30 celebrated scientists, award winning architects, farsighted futurologists and other brilliant minds shed light on the excitements and the dangers of tomorrow's world. Visit http://www.iq2if.com for video and picture highlights and to sign up for information about If Conference 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized, Art | 0 Comments |
CONSPIRACY, PARANOIA & THE NOVEL
A Conversation with Umberto Eco.
* Writing fiction about the real * Exploring the persistence of conspiracies * Adapting "The Name of the Rose" for the internet generation * Grasping the infinity of lists * Exploring the future of books * Losing yourself in a 50,000-volume library
These are some of the topics Umberto Eco will be discussing with Paul Holdengräber, Director of LIVE at the New York Public Library.
Their wide-ranging conversation will in part focus on Eco’s latest work of fiction, The Prague Cemetery. The book is an historical pseudo-reconstruction set in a 19th-century Europe teeming with secret service forgeries, Jesuit plots, murders and conspiracies, and covering everything from the unification of Italy, the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It has been criticised by both the Vatican-backed newspaper the Osservatore Romano and the Chief Rabbi of Rome.
Posted in Literature | 0 Comments |
Standard Podcasts [01:38:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (8996)
