Malthus

I've been more than a month without posting and although I would have liked to write something more about the MWC all the travels and social compromises refrained me to do so.
I would like to write, nevertheless, about something that appeared in a conversation in one of my last business trips. It was about the present financial crisis and its relationship with the energy crisis. The argument was that as our hunger for oil and other resources is so big and our wastes would need three planets to be naturally degradated, we are facing the end of our economic and technological progress.
My point was that this is actually what was pointed by Malthus: The catastrophe in front of a peak on demand and scarcity of resources. Malthusian theories demonstrated wrong because they did not take into account one endogenous factor, i.e. Technological progress.
It is right that we have a problem of scarcity with the present resources and that this trend is not sustainable in the long run, but the solution is not stopping the wheel from spinning, but invest in research and apply an economic rationallity to the resources and reflex in its price the actual costs of consuming these resources.

From a Physics perspective we have not reach in any way the limit of energy consumption nor of space occupied: Only a small fraction of the energy that comes from the sun would be necessary to supply the present energy needs and vast areas of the earth remain deserted.
This does not mean that things will get on track alone and we have to do nothing. We have a tough task in front of us, but if we realize of the importance of the problem and strongly believe that altogether we can find a solution, it will come.

Rural Internet

As I have commented in previous post I have switched my Telefonica ADSL connection to Tele2 and also have a flat rate with my Vodafone N95 so I can access my mail, facebook and all when on the road. Anyhow, when I travel on Holidays with my laptop, I have a Simyo SIM card to connect to the Internet and browse full screen and access some services that are quite uncomfortable to do it from the N95 screen.
Simyo offers a prepaid rate for 1? per day that is great for sporadic use, like mine. Just have to do a recharge every six months, from 10?, and that's all! Additionally Simyo uses the Orange Spain radio network to offer their services and, I think, maximun bandwidth is 3,6 Mbps, so it is a full HSDPA service.
Beside this, and as the idea of this post, is to introduce the test speed I have done where I am at present spending Christmas Holidays. After a week in Tenerife, I am in Touro. If you don't know where it is, don't worry, Google Maps does the job. It is a small town in the middle of rural Galicia. This territory is quite difficult to deploy good landline coverage so Mobile Internet is quite a good solution. Since I have been coming regularly to this place I have lived the different evolutions of the Mobile Networks services. From simple GSM circuit data services, limited to 9,6 kbps in early 2000's, to first GPRS deployments, UMTS and HSDPA. Anyhow, at present I am using a simple 3G Motorona E770v phone to connect, so bandwidth is theoretically limited to 430Kbps on the downlink. After the test, with full coverage indicated by the handset, I got the following values

They are not that bad, actually is like an early ADSL (256-64Kbps... remember? :-) ) and allow me to browse quite conveniently so I think it's a great and low cost solution to access to the Internet sporadically in a simple way.

SIM Machine

Today, at Luton Airport in London, I have found an interesting machine. It was a regular automatic can selling machine but instead of Coke cans it contained SIM cards and SIM Accessories! From cards of several European and Middle East operators, to a TurboSIM to unlock Nokia phones and SIM carriers...

This is one of the possibilities that the SIM card enabled and unleashed in the past, even without knowing, but that empower the mobile phones use and that increase the possibilities of users, and also of operators in most of cases, of using the technology to the most convenience for them.

One of the things that surprised me more was a SIM card of Orange Spain on sale in the machine. The point is that in Spain before buying a SIM card you must present your ID card and register it, so you can not be an anonymous user of a mobile phone for security reasons. This regulation stem from the Madrid bombings in 2004. Because this I wonder whether you can use the machine bought card directly from it or you have to do a previous activation in a physical shop in Spain, what would take convenience to the buy of the SIM card in the Airport...

Another of the most suprising items was the TurboSIM to unlock the Nokia phones... This simple device has become a common device and now not only Geeks use it to use their branded iPhone with whatever carrier!

New Apollo Program

Some days ago I read in the Time magazine that Obama is really committed to start a New Apollo Program related to achieving for the US energetic independence. This is a Kennedy's size program and I really agree that a superpower like the US must be involved in any big achievement regarding this topic in the present time.
Europeans are really committed to the ITER initiative to find an alternative to Oil in Nuclear Fusion. The US has also relationship with this project but I see the approach of the US more broad. I guess that several different approaches will be established in the first times, then select two or three of them, the most promising, and progress them to final stages. Just then will be a bet for only one of them, but once it is seen its final viability.

And all this in a 10 years time frame. I think that this is fairly possible and it could bring two things to the present world: An objective to fight for in turmoil times and a long term solution to Oil dependence. I am sure it will not mean ending with Oil, oil is useful for several applications, but it can reduce the widespread presence of it. An in times of economic crisis public investment and spend is capital to find the way out.

Related to this today I found an interesting video in youtube on conmuting in DC...



Bravo Obama!

Israel

These days I am on a business travel in Israel. I must say that I have become a converted. I really find this country interesting and that its people is doing a hard work in order to get along. For sure, there are things I do not like about "the problem" but this young country is able to show the rest of the world incredible things, like how in 20 years they have formed the most wealthy region of startup and technology (IT, security and bio) enterprises. For sure there are some things to change, and to regret, but I am optimistic about it. Hope to come back some more times and show how this economically flourishing country becomes the flourishing of democracy in Middle East.

Globalization and Inequality

Recently I had the opportunity to read a brief note on the results of a work of the International Monetary Fund that has two news. One of them is good and the other is bad. I know that the IMF is not an independent NPO that has no interests in globalization, but I want to think that the papers published are actual independent science.
The bad news is that globalization, and more specifically technology, has a negative consequence in the inqualities of the world. That is, as technology and direct foreign investment gets into a country, inequality rises. Notwithstanding increase global trading reduces it.
The good one is that although it is true that globalization negatively influences inequality, as the Gini coefficients show, the overall states of the population increases in absolute terms. That is, the poor are less poor and the rich get richer.

I have been always of the idea that globalization, the good one, is positive for the world. The conscience that we all are in the same planet. fight for the same things and have the same fears may save the planet from a final war. Additionally, global trade has given prosperity to the world in absolute terms. Never has been as many people as today living with the standard of living we have. Of course, never has been also so many poor people. Anyhow globalization, from my point of view, may take the solutions to some of the present problems of the world. Opening trade barriers in the developed countries, especially those that refer to farming and agricultural products, will increase the possibilities of poor countries to produce products for what they are competitive enough and that can profit. Of course, the process of globalization must change, but rising new trading barriers and strengthening the national borders will not get the solution. The possibility of killing 6 billion people in the world to go back to the eighteenth century is not acceptable.