Saturday, September 24, 2011

Class #10 9/23/11

Today's class had similar ideas to previous classes that we are becoming better as a world economically. We are much better off than we were 10 years ago and before then. We started off class by learning that Moore's law expect processing states that the speed of computer chips will double every year. We have actually progressed faster than this. The last decade has been better for us as a country with war deaths. There are less war deaths right now than any previous war. This is due to better medical care for wounded soldiers as well as better protection and equipment.

We tripled the amount of food that we have grown in the last 50 years did it on the same amount of land as back then. This means that the density of food on farm land is 3x as great as 1960. Every resource is cheaper and more abundant than it was 15 years ago and earlier in time.

Though many scientists have the fear of us hurting the environment, The environment is better today than ever. This is due to us cleaning rivers and pacing bills such as the clean air act. Scientists have known about the green house affect for 200 years now and took a while to act on it.

Money does not buy happiness which is why Butan tries to increase their GDH(gross domestic happiness) Rizzo told us that social and political liberation is where happiness comes from. One thing that is bad about our technological advancements is that the world suicide has increased. This is partially due to better and faster techniques. There has been a recent slowdown in economic activity. The difference between our grandparents is much greater than us and our parents. When the depression hit in 1929, it made us similar to the conditions that we lived in in WW1. It forced people to live like their parents.Subsaharan Africa is currently going through the biggest increase in growth in the last 30 years for themselves.

Industrial commercial revolution can be though of as the transition from stagnation to accelerating growth. This didn't affect all of the world in the same way. We get richer as a population.

One unintended consequence of food increases is that fertility increases because of it. There are two theory's that go along with increase in population and food. The first is the classical theory stating that we use up our increased productivity with more people. There is also the modern theory which states that there is a continuous improvements in technology, human knowledge, and human capital allows productivity to out pace population. Before the industrial revolution, there were few property owners compared to today's amount. Poor children worked to help their out with paying bills. The rich kids did not need to work because their parents would give them money if they needed it.

The reason that people go to school is to get a better job. Poor countries don't do this because there are no businesses to work in that would need a high school or college degree.

The transfer of both love and money goes from the parents to the kids. There are falling fertility rates. The average country has a fertility rate of 2.1. It is said that the world will reach its maximum population in 2050. The reason that the industrial revolution happened was because of cooperation between many different groups and people.

1 comment:

  1. Very detailed class summaries. Good work. Just make sure you are able to pick out the main one or two ideas from each class.

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