LyrArc Article Gist
Carr's account of the distraction promoted by the Internet, services like Google and Twitter in a book called "The Shallows." He says Google is in the business of distraction and Twitter is neurological heroin. His account is very well informed and researched say reviewers of his book. Research is cited frequently. a neuroscientist is quoted by Carr that our brains are being trained to pay attention to crap. And scarier still, Carr shows what this does to humans ordinary tendency to relate to others, empathy and feeling the emotions of compassion for others. The more distracted we become we don't experience these emotions in the same way. He shows how the working memory has room for only a limited number of items 2-4 items, and whereas a book reader can take his own time to process, the web can lead one to do this speedily and in a scattered way. So the manner in which previous generations absorbed information is now disturbed, making it harder to concentrate. The emphasis, as it is for any new technology, is how to use it wisely, and avoid its misuse. The statistics show Americans spending an average of 8.5 hours per day using the PC, TV or Smartphone, and checking their emails 30-40 times per hour, and teenagers receiving or sending 2,272 monthly text messages, which may suggest that things are beyond a wise limit....

LyrArc Article Gist
Crude oil or crude world. This book by Peter Maas "Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil," shows how places like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea suffer from the lack of infrastructure and jobs, as the oil industry does not create many jobs and the companies and the ruling classes in these countries are the main beneficiaries. Nigeria's anticorruption official, Nuh Ribadu, is cited in the WSJ, with an estimate of $380 billion of $400 billion in oil revenues in Nigeria over 3 decades being wasted through corruption and misuse of funds, with little money going into infrastructure and jobs. Manufacturing in China, Vietnam, and Malaysia for basic consumer products from textiles to shoes, creates jobs even at low wages, making the people in these countries better off as wages rise. Oil on the other hand creates few jobs and companies do not move upscale manufacturing tech products in the next stage of manufacturing, leaving the people as worse off as before. The margins are thin in manufacturing, whereas much of the oil revenue can be deposited in accounts of influential individuals. Mouwad in the NYT points out 93% of profits go to the government in Nigeria, only 7% to western oil companies. Even in countries which have tried to root out corruption through socialist experiments such as Venezuela and religious parties such as in Iran, the failure to integrate with the globalized economy and extremist policies leads to lack of development and backwardness. This shows that the best way to develop is through emphasis on education, science and technology, building a culture that thrives on modernization and technological advancement over several decades, even if this means starting with basics and continually moving forwards into higher technologies. Japan, South Korea and China moved from shoes and textiles to iPads and smartphones, Japan starting in the 60's, S. Korea in the 80's and China in the 90's. ...