The Shape of Things to Come

Who pays for science and how much?

brycegalbraith — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:04:40 +0000

Here’s a bit of a ‘Goldilocks’ kind of question for you — is science research taken seriously enough? By ‘taken seriously’ read ‘funded adequately’? Or, do you think it is funded too much? Or is it about right actually? For this question please do not automatically think ‘technology’ but think pure science research across different fields.

Scientific research might have a long history but funding scientific research is very much a modern phenomenon. In different countries there are a variety of institutions involved in granting funding. This week we’ll discuss the public and private funding of scientific research in different countries.

Where: Meridian Cafe, Prism Lila in Second Life
When: 11am, Sunday, January 8, 2012

2012 Global R&D Funding Forecast, R&D Magazine. Dec. 16, 2011

National Institution of Health Budget

National Science Foundation Budget

New Year’s Day discussion

brycegalbraith — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:00:35 +0000

Happy New Year! When we met last time we discussed some of the most important stories and trends of 2011, and the previous decade or so.

As we start the new year we’ll turn that topic around to consider the coming year. What will be the important stories and trends to watch in the coming year? Why?

End of 2011 Wrap-up Discussion

brycegalbraith — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:22:15 +0000

The current events of the day are just the most recent expressions of historical forces. Some events represent a continuity of a trend, while others represent a break with the past. Often we may struggle to decide which is which.

In our last meeting for 2011 we’ll look at the year and the decade gone by discuss the major stories and whether they represent a continuation of trends or the end of something, and perhaps the beginning of something else.

What do you think is the real important story? Was it widely reported on? Or barely mentioned? Join us to discuss these and related questions.

When: 11am SLT/PDT, Sunday, December 11, 2011
Where: Meridian Cafe in Prism Lila, Second Life

A shift of the geopolitical pivot…

brycegalbraith — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:42:23 +0000

Early in the twentieth century Halford John Mackinder put forth a geopolitical model of the world that argued that emphasized the heartland of Asia. In the first half of the twentieth century our attention tends to focus on Europe with the two world wars. The Middle East and Central Asia has had much of our attention of late. Where will the next focal point of world events be?

This week we’ll discuss some of the recent news on Southeast Asia and discuss whether the really key area of the globe in the next few decades will be centered on the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.

When: Sunday, November 20, 2011 @ 11am PST/SLT

Where: Meridian Cafe in Prism Lila, Second Life <140, 27, 351>

Related Links

China ‘constructive’ on South China Sea rows, says US, BBC News, Nov. 19, 2011

Bernard K. Gordon, The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Rise of China, Foreign Affairs, Nov.7, 2011

Vice Adm (Retd) GM Hiranandani, External Naval presence in Indian Ocean, Indian Defence Review, March 4, 2011

This next is an older article from 2009 on the South China Sea…
Who’s right in South China Sea spat?, BBC News, March 13, 2009.

The Arab Spring 10 months later

brycegalbraith — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:59:13 +0000

2011 has been an eventful year in the Middle East and North Africa. It is now some ten months into the ‘Arab Spring’ and long-standing regimes have now fallen in Tunisia, Egypt, and now Libya. Conflict remains ongoing in Syria and Yemen. To add to this, on Friday the United States announced that all troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011, bringing an almost decade-long war to an end.

One of the things that historians do is to organize history into different periods that can be said to be different in important ways from each other. While it is also true it is very difficult to discern longer term trends when in the midst of them, it seems safe to say that 2011 will be one of these points of discontinuity between periods.

Where: Meridian Cafe in Second Life
When: Sunday, Oct. 22, 2011 @ 11am PDT/SLT

Libya’s interim PM says he’ll resign

Qaddafi’s End, the Mideast’s Future
– This page contains links to 5 opinion pieces

Death of Qaddafi Revives Opposition, and Hope, in Syria

Financing Questions Shadow Tunisian Vote, First of Arab Spring

Egypt sets parliamentary poll dates

Iraq war: timeline

China’s Space Program

brycegalbraith — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 08:17:59 +0000

This past week China launched an unmanned satellite, and over the next two years plans to launch other craft to dock with it. This week we’ll look at where China’s space program is and consider how significant this is.

Where: Meridian Cafe in Prism Lila
When: Sunday, October 2 @ 11am PDT/SLT

Ten years after 9/11

brycegalbraith — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:53:45 +0000

A decade is a useful length of time to start to gain perspective on a historical event. There has been a prevailing view that 9/11 changed everything; that it was a watershed event. In what ways was this the case? If everything changed after 9/11, what ended exactly?

This week on the anniversary of 9/11 we’ll look at the 9/11 attack ten years later and reconsider the significance of the event both from the perspective of the United States but also in broader global history.

Where: Meridian Cafe in Prism Lila
When: Sunday, September 11 @ 11am PDT/SLT

Of Wars and Mercenaries

brycegalbraith — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:39:44 +0000

Mercenaries are not new of course, but today we tend to call them private security companies. According to a 2007 article in the Independent this is a $120 billion global business. The extensive role of private security companies in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have received increased attention in recent years, but these companies are active around the world. A UN agency has been investigating the links between conflicts in Africa and private security forces.

This week we’ll discuss these private armies and how they fit into the world’s conflicts. Where do these private armies come from? Where, if at all, do they fit into international law? And of course, as always, we’ll ask what the significance of this is over the longer term.

Where: Meridian Cafe, Prism Lila, Second Life
When: 11am PDT/SLT, Sunday, July 17, 2011.

Mars as a new frontier

brycegalbraith — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:32:40 +0000

Recently I read about the unexpected response an article at the Journal of Cosmology had on an idea for a one-way trip to Mars. The actual prospect of colonizing another planet with all the accompanying technical challenges and up-front costs would still be significant. But it occurred to me that such a venture would give the world something we haven’t seen in a while: a frontier.

Would this be a good thing or inhumane to do as a one-way trip? Or just utterly impractical even to consider?

A more general article on this topic can be found at the PBS Nova website: NOVA: A One-Way Trip to Mars?

Where: Meridian Cafe in Prism Lila, Second Life
When: 11am PDT/SLT, Sunday, June 26, 2011

Open Discussion

brycegalbraith — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:28:22 +0000

Topic of discussion to be chosen by participants that arrive.

Where: Meridian Cafe in Prism Lila, Second Life
When: 11am PDT/SLT, Sunday, June 12, 2011