For years, we have all watched, as the so-called ‘Cookie Monsters’, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon etc got too big and powerful – with devastating effects on individual privacy and sectors like retail and journalism etc. In the clamour of the presidential election, you may have missed last week, that the US Govt has lodged a (long overdue) lawsuit against Google – basically for violating anti-trust laws which protect fair competition. An enthusiastic user of Google throughout its 20 years, I’ve watched the gradual decline of an idealistic enterprise into a ruthless global money machine. The reason we have these ‘out of control’ tech giants is what E.F. Schumacher called ‘the modern idolatry of giantism’ – we simply let them get too big.
The sci-fi write, Isaac Asimov, famously defined the fundament of Robotic Law: “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human to come to harm”. (Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 AD) In the post-capitalist, wellbeing economy of the future – ‘the common good’ will enjoy this same status and protection, from commerce which ‘plays dirty’ for profit – i.e. “A business may not injure the common good”.
I’ve just finished a marvellous novel called Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (843 pages); set in the 1880s, it tells of an epic (fictional) cattle drive from the Rio Grande (Mexican Border) to the highlands of Montana (almost Canada). Just like the outlaws of that frontier, the Google gang are troublesome bandits who won’t be long tolerated.
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The Ipsos Mori poll of 58% for independence is the highest ever – and has inevitably stirred the pot. One of the most ‘balanced’ supporters of the indy cause is journalist Joyce MacMillan whose column last week calls for a cross-party movement with the credibility of a constitutional convention. She suspects that we Scots will vote overwhelmingly SNP in 2021 – deservedly so; but the last thing the Yes movement now needs is a plan drafted by the dominant faction within a single party. We need a new body with the heft to begin drafting our new constitution; this convention would not only be cross-party – but across all the diversity of our civil society.
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This an eight-minute video of George Monbiot, exposing the shameless corruption at the core of the Westminster Govt’s handling of the Covid pandemic. With Monbiot, you get what it says on the label – a one-sided diatribe against the ’gilded elite’ – and their wealth and privilege; but these things need said.
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The refusal to feed children during the holidays is such a colossal PR blunder that we have to wonder how dysfunctional this cabinet really is. This Tribune article takes a closer look at the issue of child poverty; argues that, like the historic £34 billion of cuts to social security – it’s a political choice.
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A reader sent me this five-minute video clip from Twitter; of US economist Adam Posen explaining what Brexit will do to the UK economy after December; it’s called ‘This is what you voted for’ – very scary. The FT says that a Biden victory would change Downing St’s handling of Brexit negotiations.
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Voting in the US election will be this Tuesday Nov 3rd; This is the Telegraph’s Guide: US Election in a Nutshell. Even if Trump is cast into the wilderness, we all need to understand better the nature of his appeal. This piece tries to understand who he is pitching to – what they want.
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Satish Kumar writing about the philosophy of Fritz Schumacher:
“It was logical and natural to produce, consume and organize as locally as possible, which inevitably meant on a smaller scale. Therefore, to him the question of size was an overriding and overarching principle. Beyond a certain scale the people involved are disempowered and a bureaucratic machine takes over. Large hospitals, large factories and large businesses lose the purpose of enriching human wellbeing and become obsessed with maintaining and perpetuating the organization for its own sake. Therefore, it could be said almost invariably that if there is something wrong, there is something too big. As in economics, so in politics. So Schumacher believed in small nations, small communities and small organizations. Small, simple and non-violent were his three philosophical precepts.”
