Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Building a Sustainable Economy in Norther Ireland
Muslim Pounds and Sense
The economy is in bad shape and we are all going to have to work harder to make ends meet.
As a result we are not going to have much time to think about why we find ourselves in this situation but, of course, that is exactly what we need.
So here I am on a plane from San Francisco to Chicago, sitting beside a dad and his daughter as they work their way very amicably through her high school history assignment, and I find myself with some time to devote thinking about our current economic woes.
There are, it appears to me, two main reasons why we find ourselves where we do.
The first is the fact that the unregulated flow of vast amounts of capital around the world earned such large commissions for the worlds leading financial institutions that they turned from financial engineers in to financial plumbers.
The second was having given up on what they use to do, creating wealth for their clients by thinking about how the world works and making smart investments, they still had to pretend to make smart investments. This they did by telling each other it was a great idea to lend our money in vast quantities to bank who in turn lent this money to people that any old-school bank manager could tell you would not be able or willing to make their repayments if times got tough. To make matters even worse they then sliced’n’diced these loan and bundled them with other financial instruments. This had the effect of breaking the link between our money and the asset it was supposed to be backed by and allowing people attribute wholly unreasonable values to these instruments freed from the constraints of the real world.
In the aftermath we hear much talk about the need for better regulation of the financial markets and we hear many experts pouring forth on this and that proposed solution, generally variations on a theme proposing a return to the good old days of government-centric top-down enforcement.
However, one approach that could be adopted and that is known to work is to follow the tenets of the Muslim faith as they pertain to financial matters.
Investors and funds that do are said to be Sharia compliant and, as many of you know, such funds do not invest in porn or gambling. However, they also do not invest in financial instruments whose value is not backed by a direct link to a tangible asset. As a consequence Muslim investors like to invest in property and traditional businesses with tangible assets.
If this person-centric and bottom-up approach were adopted it would be hard to see how institutions, no matter how unregulated by government, could inflict as much damage on the wider economy as they have managed to do in recent times.
In proposing this as a possible way forward, it must be recognized that in many ways Sharia compliant investment has hampered economic development in Muslim countries because it tends to discourage investment in the development of less tangible knowledge-based or service-based assets. It must also be recognized that Sharia law also systematically excludes women from fully playing their part in society and demonises followers of other faiths.
Ironically, one of the topics the father and daughter next to me on the plane have been considering is the great depression and how the US developed new economic models that were in their time very innovative and far seeing in an attempt to prevent such social and economic dislocation in the future.
Perhaps it is time to be even more innovative and even futher looking.
Donald Fitzmaurce
As a result we are not going to have much time to think about why we find ourselves in this situation but, of course, that is exactly what we need.
So here I am on a plane from San Francisco to Chicago, sitting beside a dad and his daughter as they work their way very amicably through her high school history assignment, and I find myself with some time to devote thinking about our current economic woes.
There are, it appears to me, two main reasons why we find ourselves where we do.
The first is the fact that the unregulated flow of vast amounts of capital around the world earned such large commissions for the worlds leading financial institutions that they turned from financial engineers in to financial plumbers.
The second was having given up on what they use to do, creating wealth for their clients by thinking about how the world works and making smart investments, they still had to pretend to make smart investments. This they did by telling each other it was a great idea to lend our money in vast quantities to bank who in turn lent this money to people that any old-school bank manager could tell you would not be able or willing to make their repayments if times got tough. To make matters even worse they then sliced’n’diced these loan and bundled them with other financial instruments. This had the effect of breaking the link between our money and the asset it was supposed to be backed by and allowing people attribute wholly unreasonable values to these instruments freed from the constraints of the real world.
In the aftermath we hear much talk about the need for better regulation of the financial markets and we hear many experts pouring forth on this and that proposed solution, generally variations on a theme proposing a return to the good old days of government-centric top-down enforcement.
However, one approach that could be adopted and that is known to work is to follow the tenets of the Muslim faith as they pertain to financial matters.
Investors and funds that do are said to be Sharia compliant and, as many of you know, such funds do not invest in porn or gambling. However, they also do not invest in financial instruments whose value is not backed by a direct link to a tangible asset. As a consequence Muslim investors like to invest in property and traditional businesses with tangible assets.
If this person-centric and bottom-up approach were adopted it would be hard to see how institutions, no matter how unregulated by government, could inflict as much damage on the wider economy as they have managed to do in recent times.
In proposing this as a possible way forward, it must be recognized that in many ways Sharia compliant investment has hampered economic development in Muslim countries because it tends to discourage investment in the development of less tangible knowledge-based or service-based assets. It must also be recognized that Sharia law also systematically excludes women from fully playing their part in society and demonises followers of other faiths.
Ironically, one of the topics the father and daughter next to me on the plane have been considering is the great depression and how the US developed new economic models that were in their time very innovative and far seeing in an attempt to prevent such social and economic dislocation in the future.
Perhaps it is time to be even more innovative and even futher looking.
Donald Fitzmaurce
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Aresa Named World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Post-Catholic Creativity
In his book The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida highlights the flaws in the conventional assumptions about the relationship between investment, technology, human capital and economic growth.
For the developed economies, job creation and economic growth is possible only in sectors where there exists’ the capacity to create and use new knowledge. Furthermore, those individuals capable of creating and using new knowledge – The Creative Class - are attracted to open and diverse communities where difference and experimentation are celebrated.
Individuals such as artists and musicians have always been seen as part of the creative class. But as Florida points out, scientists and entrepreneurs share many of the same motivations and articulate many of the same needs. As a consequence, they also form part of the creative class.
For this reason, cities and regions must aspire to being the types of places that members of the creative classes are attracted to. Such places are tolerant and open and have an appreciation for all types of creativity. Most importantly, they must promote and facilitate meaningful interactions between artists, musicians, scientists and entrepreneurs.
In a more recent study, entitled Europe in the Creative Age, Florida has examined the state of the creative class in Europe. His findings are very enlightening.
The creative class makes up more that 25% of the work force in seven of fourteen European countries, and nearly 30% in three – the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland. Creative class workers outnumber traditional blue-collar workers in these three countries, and also in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark.
The creative class is growing rapidly in the majority of European countries, but Ireland outpaces all other nations with a 7% annual growth rate since 1995.
Not all European countries, however, are undergoing the transformation implied by the above statistics. For example, in Italy and Portugal less than 15% of the members of the workforce are in the creative class.
On this basis, it might appear that there is much to be happy about from the Irish point of view. Despite significant progress, however, Ireland still has a long way to go and occupies a position in the bottom third of the table. In short, there is much more to be done before Ireland could hope to compare with the leading Scandinavian countries.
A deeper analysis of the data used to assess Ireland increased capacity to create and use new knowledge shows that our performance in some key areas needs to improve significantly.
Specifically, while the number of people who are creating and using new knowledge is increasing rapidly, the number of people with a primary degree or higher is relatively low as is the number of scientists and engineers working as researchers in industry.
Furthermore, we are still spending a relatively small proportion of our nation’s wealth on research and development and we are still failing, in part as a consequence, to produce sufficient numbers of patentable innovations that are exploited by industry.
The cross-party consensus that exists to increase funding for research and development and for the protection of intellectual property by public and private research organizations offers some grounds for optimism. These grounds would disappear immediately, however, if we were to return to the stop-go approach to funding research and development that characterized the approach of successive governments in the past.
Most interestingly, perhaps, Ireland scores very poorly on tolerance. We are as accepting of minorities as most other European countries. Also we are as accepting of others views and lifestyles. Where we differ markedly from our European neighbours, however, is in our adherence to traditional religious and social views. Specifically, in our views toward God, religion, nationalism, authority, family, women’s rights, divorce and abortion. In these respects we are most similar to parts of the US, specifically those parts of the US shunned by the members of the creative class and characterized by level of development typically associated with the poorest regions of the world.
What is different here is that there is no cross-part consensus on, or indeed even any cross-party debate, on the relationship between our ability to foster the growth of the creative class that will underpin economic and social development and our adherence, explicitly or implicitly, to traditional views that evidence suggests militate against such growth.
Growing evidence would seem to suggest that in some respects we will be forced to choose between economic development, based on the emergence of a strong and vibrant creative class, and adherence to our traditional, specifically Catholic, views.
This perspective should further invigorate the debate about our changing sense of ourselves in Ireland and our relationship with our past and the nature of our future.
Donald Fitzmaurice
For the developed economies, job creation and economic growth is possible only in sectors where there exists’ the capacity to create and use new knowledge. Furthermore, those individuals capable of creating and using new knowledge – The Creative Class - are attracted to open and diverse communities where difference and experimentation are celebrated.
Individuals such as artists and musicians have always been seen as part of the creative class. But as Florida points out, scientists and entrepreneurs share many of the same motivations and articulate many of the same needs. As a consequence, they also form part of the creative class.
For this reason, cities and regions must aspire to being the types of places that members of the creative classes are attracted to. Such places are tolerant and open and have an appreciation for all types of creativity. Most importantly, they must promote and facilitate meaningful interactions between artists, musicians, scientists and entrepreneurs.
In a more recent study, entitled Europe in the Creative Age, Florida has examined the state of the creative class in Europe. His findings are very enlightening.
The creative class makes up more that 25% of the work force in seven of fourteen European countries, and nearly 30% in three – the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland. Creative class workers outnumber traditional blue-collar workers in these three countries, and also in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark.
The creative class is growing rapidly in the majority of European countries, but Ireland outpaces all other nations with a 7% annual growth rate since 1995.
Not all European countries, however, are undergoing the transformation implied by the above statistics. For example, in Italy and Portugal less than 15% of the members of the workforce are in the creative class.
On this basis, it might appear that there is much to be happy about from the Irish point of view. Despite significant progress, however, Ireland still has a long way to go and occupies a position in the bottom third of the table. In short, there is much more to be done before Ireland could hope to compare with the leading Scandinavian countries.
A deeper analysis of the data used to assess Ireland increased capacity to create and use new knowledge shows that our performance in some key areas needs to improve significantly.
Specifically, while the number of people who are creating and using new knowledge is increasing rapidly, the number of people with a primary degree or higher is relatively low as is the number of scientists and engineers working as researchers in industry.
Furthermore, we are still spending a relatively small proportion of our nation’s wealth on research and development and we are still failing, in part as a consequence, to produce sufficient numbers of patentable innovations that are exploited by industry.
The cross-party consensus that exists to increase funding for research and development and for the protection of intellectual property by public and private research organizations offers some grounds for optimism. These grounds would disappear immediately, however, if we were to return to the stop-go approach to funding research and development that characterized the approach of successive governments in the past.
Most interestingly, perhaps, Ireland scores very poorly on tolerance. We are as accepting of minorities as most other European countries. Also we are as accepting of others views and lifestyles. Where we differ markedly from our European neighbours, however, is in our adherence to traditional religious and social views. Specifically, in our views toward God, religion, nationalism, authority, family, women’s rights, divorce and abortion. In these respects we are most similar to parts of the US, specifically those parts of the US shunned by the members of the creative class and characterized by level of development typically associated with the poorest regions of the world.
What is different here is that there is no cross-part consensus on, or indeed even any cross-party debate, on the relationship between our ability to foster the growth of the creative class that will underpin economic and social development and our adherence, explicitly or implicitly, to traditional views that evidence suggests militate against such growth.
Growing evidence would seem to suggest that in some respects we will be forced to choose between economic development, based on the emergence of a strong and vibrant creative class, and adherence to our traditional, specifically Catholic, views.
This perspective should further invigorate the debate about our changing sense of ourselves in Ireland and our relationship with our past and the nature of our future.
Donald Fitzmaurice
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Life 2.0 in Ireland
Rich Karlgaard is the publisher of Forbes Magazine and the author of a regular column “Digital Rules”.
Over the past decade he has observed a trend in the US, which has seen a growing number of experienced and successful entrepreneurs abandoning the traditional technology hotspots of San Francisco, Boston and the other major costal cities. These entrepreneurs are heading for smaller cities and towns located in the American heartland.
In his book Life 2.0, he tells the stories of some of the entrepreneurs who have made this choice and how they and their families have benefited professionally and personally.
Andrew Field is one such entrepreneur. He runs a very successful dot.com-business in Montanna, one of America’s least populated states. His business printingforless.com links customers wanting high-volume full-color printing runs, with the owners of the very expensive presses needed for such jobs. Since moving to Montana, Andrew and his family have built a house near Yellowstone national park, participate fully in the life of their local town Livingston, and they feel they experience a better quality of life.
Connie Paraskeva is a specialist in development issues who works with her clients dotted around the world from her home in Bismark, North Dakota. Having moved from Washington back to the town in which she was raised, not only is she able to continue to grow her business but also to look after her elderly mother. Every couple of months she hops on a plane and travels to Washington, or to the countries around the world where she is managing projects. Overall she also feels her quality of life has improved significantly.
There are a number of factors why this trend is being observed.
First, is the widespread availability of broadband and low-cost air travel. The availability of broadband not only allows Andrew Field to receive and send documents for printing, but also allows Connie Paraskeva to use email to effectively manage projects across many time-zones. The availability of low-cost air travel means that they can both go and see clients when necessary.
Second, the cost of establishing and operating a business in the smaller cities and towns in the American heartland is significantly lower. One important reason for this is that employees can accept lower salaries, while still being able to afford a house and to send their children to college. Another, is the substantially lower cost of professional and other services needed to setup and grow a business.
Third, the quality of life is generally enhanced. A major factor is the lower cost of living, which ensures that despite earning lower salaries they are better off. Often this allows one spouse commit to being full-time in the home, or allows a decision to start a family.
Fourth, is the closing of the sophistication gap. Many people who have made this transition have remarked upon the fact that having come to live in a smaller city or town, with greater disposable income and more free time they have been much more active in the cultural and artistic life of their new home. At the same time, the increased availability of national and international media, the opening of high quality restaurants and cafes and the growth local cultural and artistic activity have brought many of the advantages of living in a big city to where they live.
What opportunities do these factors and the trend they support imply for us here in Ireland.
For one, they imply an opportunity for communities in the more remote parts of this country, in partnership with the economic development agencies, to build a sustainable economic development strategy that protects and promotes their traditional values and the natural beauty of their surroundings.
This strategy should seek to target successful entrepreneurs who wish to share in the values and beauty of their community and to build a business there. By their very nature, these businesses will have strong ties to the local community, and will offer the prospect of long term economic benefits.
It should be noted that this strategy is also fully aligned with the interests of agriculture and tourism, both of which will be sustained by preserving the traditional values and natural beauty of these communities. In this context it is interesting that a recent survey found that visitors to Ireland were disappointed that, increasingly, Ireland looked like many other places they might choose to visit.
It should also be noted, however, that in order for communities to exploit this opportunity significant investment will be needed in broadband infrastructure. Also in the road infrastructure that connects these communities to the regional centres and airport
So next time a traditional industry closes in Donegal or Leitrim, with the loss of jobs and the hardship this means for these individuals and their families, the local elected officials and business leaders might reflect before they demand that the Minister and the IDA find them a drop-in replacement.
Instead, they might consider demanding that the government knock down the closed plant and build the wired luxury homes and state-of-the-art national schools that will attract the growing number of entrepreneurs seeking to experience the enhanced quality of life to be found in such communities.
Donald Fitzmaurce
Over the past decade he has observed a trend in the US, which has seen a growing number of experienced and successful entrepreneurs abandoning the traditional technology hotspots of San Francisco, Boston and the other major costal cities. These entrepreneurs are heading for smaller cities and towns located in the American heartland.
In his book Life 2.0, he tells the stories of some of the entrepreneurs who have made this choice and how they and their families have benefited professionally and personally.
Andrew Field is one such entrepreneur. He runs a very successful dot.com-business in Montanna, one of America’s least populated states. His business printingforless.com links customers wanting high-volume full-color printing runs, with the owners of the very expensive presses needed for such jobs. Since moving to Montana, Andrew and his family have built a house near Yellowstone national park, participate fully in the life of their local town Livingston, and they feel they experience a better quality of life.
Connie Paraskeva is a specialist in development issues who works with her clients dotted around the world from her home in Bismark, North Dakota. Having moved from Washington back to the town in which she was raised, not only is she able to continue to grow her business but also to look after her elderly mother. Every couple of months she hops on a plane and travels to Washington, or to the countries around the world where she is managing projects. Overall she also feels her quality of life has improved significantly.
There are a number of factors why this trend is being observed.
First, is the widespread availability of broadband and low-cost air travel. The availability of broadband not only allows Andrew Field to receive and send documents for printing, but also allows Connie Paraskeva to use email to effectively manage projects across many time-zones. The availability of low-cost air travel means that they can both go and see clients when necessary.
Second, the cost of establishing and operating a business in the smaller cities and towns in the American heartland is significantly lower. One important reason for this is that employees can accept lower salaries, while still being able to afford a house and to send their children to college. Another, is the substantially lower cost of professional and other services needed to setup and grow a business.
Third, the quality of life is generally enhanced. A major factor is the lower cost of living, which ensures that despite earning lower salaries they are better off. Often this allows one spouse commit to being full-time in the home, or allows a decision to start a family.
Fourth, is the closing of the sophistication gap. Many people who have made this transition have remarked upon the fact that having come to live in a smaller city or town, with greater disposable income and more free time they have been much more active in the cultural and artistic life of their new home. At the same time, the increased availability of national and international media, the opening of high quality restaurants and cafes and the growth local cultural and artistic activity have brought many of the advantages of living in a big city to where they live.
What opportunities do these factors and the trend they support imply for us here in Ireland.
For one, they imply an opportunity for communities in the more remote parts of this country, in partnership with the economic development agencies, to build a sustainable economic development strategy that protects and promotes their traditional values and the natural beauty of their surroundings.
This strategy should seek to target successful entrepreneurs who wish to share in the values and beauty of their community and to build a business there. By their very nature, these businesses will have strong ties to the local community, and will offer the prospect of long term economic benefits.
It should be noted that this strategy is also fully aligned with the interests of agriculture and tourism, both of which will be sustained by preserving the traditional values and natural beauty of these communities. In this context it is interesting that a recent survey found that visitors to Ireland were disappointed that, increasingly, Ireland looked like many other places they might choose to visit.
It should also be noted, however, that in order for communities to exploit this opportunity significant investment will be needed in broadband infrastructure. Also in the road infrastructure that connects these communities to the regional centres and airport
So next time a traditional industry closes in Donegal or Leitrim, with the loss of jobs and the hardship this means for these individuals and their families, the local elected officials and business leaders might reflect before they demand that the Minister and the IDA find them a drop-in replacement.
Instead, they might consider demanding that the government knock down the closed plant and build the wired luxury homes and state-of-the-art national schools that will attract the growing number of entrepreneurs seeking to experience the enhanced quality of life to be found in such communities.
Donald Fitzmaurce
More Human Less Human
At a recent conference in London, organized by the think-tank DEMOS and the Welcome Trust, the topic was the politics of human enhancement and life extension.
Human enhancement describes a family of related technological developments, including drugs and implants, which will significantly enhance mental and physical performance. Life extension relates to the drive to understand and slow the process of aging.
Much of what is written and talked about in respect of these topics describe futures, which are populated by designer babies who grow in to super-intelligent super-athletes with a life expectancy of well over a hundred years.
While it is certain that we are many decades from such a possible future, it is no longer certain that such a future will not come to pass.
This possible future is being made more likely by the emergence and convergence of key enabling technologies; including biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology. Together these technologies offer the real prospect of developing drugs and devices that will alter our bodies allowing them demonstrate enhanced performance for longer.
One high-profile actor in this future is the US Army, supported by leading US universities, which is funding programs such as the Future Force Warrior. A particular focus of this program is on enhancing the mental and physical abilities of the soldier and on negating the adverse effects of stress and fatigue. It has been said that if the US military could operate at peak performance for a two-day period that they could win any war.
Another high-profile advocate of this possible future is Aubrey de Grey. He is a researcher at Cambridge who believes that it will soon be possible to control the biochemical processes in our bodies that lead to aging, and that this will result in our living much longer. He has even gone so far to suggest progress in this field will be so rapid, that the first person to live to the age of a thousand may already have been born.
However we ourselves are not innocent bystanders, as evidenced by the increasing use of plastic surgery to enhance our appearance and drugs to improve our exam performance.
The number of people seeking plastic surgery in the UK has increased dramatically, with operations in BUPA hospitals up by 32% last year. The British Association of Aesthetic Surgeons reported an overall increase of 50%, with the number of men undergoing procedures more than doubling. In case we feel this trend does not apply here, Irish based aesthetic surgeons are all increasing capacity ahead of an expected SSIA bonanza.
The US National Institute of Drug Abuse recently reported that more than 5% of students in the final year of high school were abusing methyphenidate (Ritalin). It also estimated that about one in six of these students stole Ritalin from fellow students who had been prescribed this drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Their willingness to abuse this prescription drug stems from experimental and anecdotal evidence that it can significantly improve exam performance. In light of these developments, many eminent educators are suggesting that it is only a matter of time before students, like athletes, are tested for performance enhancing drugs.
While we may not be happy the US military is investing in enhanced human capacity to fight a war, the same research will also contribute to enhancing the performance of a pilot flying a plane that has developed engine trouble or a surgeon undertaking a long and difficult life-saving operation.
While we may be hugely concerned at the implications for all living things on this planet of significantly increased human life-expectancy, it is very likely that most of use would welcome the increase quality of later life this would likely enable even if this was associated with a cap on lifespan.
So in contemplating the potential that the emergence and convergence of the key enabling technologies has to enhance humanity, what principles could guide us as we attempt to come to terms with this possible and even probable future. I would suggest two.
One principle, repeatedly stated by philosophers since David Hume, that should guide us is the following: Nothing can be inferred about what humans ought to be from what they are. This is different from arguing that nothing can be inferred about what human can be from what they are. For example, because we currently have a life expectancy of close to eighty in this country, does not allow us infer that this is what it ought to be in the future. However, our growing understanding of the process of aging means we can expect to radically alter life expectancy.
Another principle is that scientist, engineers and technologists alone can not be allowed to define what humans ought to be based solely on what they can be. This is clearly the role of the wider community, engaged in a process that engages all the stakeholders.
Already, it is clear that the issues surrounding human enhancement are set to be hugely challenging. And, not surprisingly, it is a topic that has attracted the attention of social scientists and economists. Of late, governments and their agencies have started to take an interest. It is now time to initiate a debate on these issues in Ireland.
Donald Fitzmaurce
Human enhancement describes a family of related technological developments, including drugs and implants, which will significantly enhance mental and physical performance. Life extension relates to the drive to understand and slow the process of aging.
Much of what is written and talked about in respect of these topics describe futures, which are populated by designer babies who grow in to super-intelligent super-athletes with a life expectancy of well over a hundred years.
While it is certain that we are many decades from such a possible future, it is no longer certain that such a future will not come to pass.
This possible future is being made more likely by the emergence and convergence of key enabling technologies; including biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology. Together these technologies offer the real prospect of developing drugs and devices that will alter our bodies allowing them demonstrate enhanced performance for longer.
One high-profile actor in this future is the US Army, supported by leading US universities, which is funding programs such as the Future Force Warrior. A particular focus of this program is on enhancing the mental and physical abilities of the soldier and on negating the adverse effects of stress and fatigue. It has been said that if the US military could operate at peak performance for a two-day period that they could win any war.
Another high-profile advocate of this possible future is Aubrey de Grey. He is a researcher at Cambridge who believes that it will soon be possible to control the biochemical processes in our bodies that lead to aging, and that this will result in our living much longer. He has even gone so far to suggest progress in this field will be so rapid, that the first person to live to the age of a thousand may already have been born.
However we ourselves are not innocent bystanders, as evidenced by the increasing use of plastic surgery to enhance our appearance and drugs to improve our exam performance.
The number of people seeking plastic surgery in the UK has increased dramatically, with operations in BUPA hospitals up by 32% last year. The British Association of Aesthetic Surgeons reported an overall increase of 50%, with the number of men undergoing procedures more than doubling. In case we feel this trend does not apply here, Irish based aesthetic surgeons are all increasing capacity ahead of an expected SSIA bonanza.
The US National Institute of Drug Abuse recently reported that more than 5% of students in the final year of high school were abusing methyphenidate (Ritalin). It also estimated that about one in six of these students stole Ritalin from fellow students who had been prescribed this drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Their willingness to abuse this prescription drug stems from experimental and anecdotal evidence that it can significantly improve exam performance. In light of these developments, many eminent educators are suggesting that it is only a matter of time before students, like athletes, are tested for performance enhancing drugs.
While we may not be happy the US military is investing in enhanced human capacity to fight a war, the same research will also contribute to enhancing the performance of a pilot flying a plane that has developed engine trouble or a surgeon undertaking a long and difficult life-saving operation.
While we may be hugely concerned at the implications for all living things on this planet of significantly increased human life-expectancy, it is very likely that most of use would welcome the increase quality of later life this would likely enable even if this was associated with a cap on lifespan.
So in contemplating the potential that the emergence and convergence of the key enabling technologies has to enhance humanity, what principles could guide us as we attempt to come to terms with this possible and even probable future. I would suggest two.
One principle, repeatedly stated by philosophers since David Hume, that should guide us is the following: Nothing can be inferred about what humans ought to be from what they are. This is different from arguing that nothing can be inferred about what human can be from what they are. For example, because we currently have a life expectancy of close to eighty in this country, does not allow us infer that this is what it ought to be in the future. However, our growing understanding of the process of aging means we can expect to radically alter life expectancy.
Another principle is that scientist, engineers and technologists alone can not be allowed to define what humans ought to be based solely on what they can be. This is clearly the role of the wider community, engaged in a process that engages all the stakeholders.
Already, it is clear that the issues surrounding human enhancement are set to be hugely challenging. And, not surprisingly, it is a topic that has attracted the attention of social scientists and economists. Of late, governments and their agencies have started to take an interest. It is now time to initiate a debate on these issues in Ireland.
Donald Fitzmaurce
Friday, March 03, 2006
Joining the Ranks of the Self-Retired
Encouraged by government, we are spending longer in formal education to acquire knowledge skills. We are also working harder to create wealth. Finally, we are contributing more of our personal wealth to pensions to maintain our standard of living when we retire.
The problem is that this linear view of our working life is increasingly one which is not seen as sustainable. Also, it is increasingly seen as one which is too rigid and at odds with a good work-life balance.
Consider some relevant facts. Life-expectancy in Ireland has increased from 66 in 1950 to 77 in 2000, and is expected to exceed 81 by 2050. At the same time, the retirement age has decreased from 70 in 1950 to 65 in 2000. Add to this the fact that we are spending more time than ever before in formal education, with the average age of a person entering the work force increasing significantly since 1950, and one vision of the future that emerges is the following.
In the not too distant future, we could well spend the first thirty years of our lives preparing for entry to the workplace at the expense of more rounded personal development; the next thirty years working with increasing intensity at the expense of any semblance of a balance between this and other aspects of our lives; and the last thirty years of our lives struggling to maintain a standard of living in the face of exploding energy and healthcare costs.
Some readers may suspect that I am now about to go on to describe how government and employers should help us avoid this possible future. In fact, what I want to do is propose that we take matters in to our own hands and become self-retired.
To join the ranks of the self-retired, all that is required is that one realizes that it is increasingly within our power to redistribute some of the quality time that will be available to us in our retirement throughout our working lives. Specifically, that it is within our power to decide when we are retired, and that this may well be at different times throughout our lives. Times when it is important that we put our families first, that we go back to university to renew our intellectual capital, or that we pursue an important personal goal. It is clear, that by choosing this path, we would be agreeing to defer that time at the end of our lives when we would be retired in the conventional sense.
There are two factors, which make the notion of becoming self-retired an idea whose time has come.
First, as the transformation of Ireland in to an open knowledge economy competing in global markets proceeds apace we and our colleagues find ourselves increasingly time and knowledge poor but information and resource rich. While at the same our retired colleagues are increasingly time and knowledge rich but resource and information poor.
Second, the increasing availability of broadband infrastructure and the evolution of web-based services, allows virtual communities of individuals to be created and allows the members of these communities to interact in ever more satisfying and productive ways.
As a consequence, it will be increasingly attractive for individuals to choose to redistribute their retirement years throughout their working life and, in order to fund this choice, to continue to work beyond the nominal retirement age.
Evidence of this trend is provided by the success of InnoCentive, a company recently identified by the Economist as one that is leading the way. InnoCentive, an internet company spun-out of Ely Lillie, allows scientists and engineers in pharmaceutical and life-science companies to post research and development problems for other scientists and engineers and offer a reward for the best solution. These scientist and engineers, often themselves recently retired from such companies, compete to propose and demonstrate the best solution to the problem and to win the reward. These rewards, in some cases, can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When I met one of the founders of InnoCentive, Darren Carroll, he told me about a recently retired research chemist who had signed up to solve a very challenging problem set by a major pharmaceutical company. The challenge was to simplify the synthesis of one of their most important drugs. To meet this challenge, he set up a small laboratory in the shed at the bottom of his garden and worked there between 6 am and noon each day. Eventually he posted his solution on the InnoCentive website. This solution was reviewed by the company who posted the challenge. They were amazed, his solution would allow them significantly reduce the cost and time required to make their drug. Since then, the pharmaceutical company has not only paid the reward, but also retained the ‘retired’ chemist as a consultant. With the resources available to him under this contract, he has employed a young chemist from a local college, and together they are attempting to solve more challenges.
Some will view the prospect of redistributing their retirement years throughout their working life, and joining the ranks of the self-retired, as not practical or as too risky. Others, a growing number, will see this as an opportunity to create a more satisfying and more sustainable lifestyle for them and their families.
Donald Fitzmaurice
The problem is that this linear view of our working life is increasingly one which is not seen as sustainable. Also, it is increasingly seen as one which is too rigid and at odds with a good work-life balance.
Consider some relevant facts. Life-expectancy in Ireland has increased from 66 in 1950 to 77 in 2000, and is expected to exceed 81 by 2050. At the same time, the retirement age has decreased from 70 in 1950 to 65 in 2000. Add to this the fact that we are spending more time than ever before in formal education, with the average age of a person entering the work force increasing significantly since 1950, and one vision of the future that emerges is the following.
In the not too distant future, we could well spend the first thirty years of our lives preparing for entry to the workplace at the expense of more rounded personal development; the next thirty years working with increasing intensity at the expense of any semblance of a balance between this and other aspects of our lives; and the last thirty years of our lives struggling to maintain a standard of living in the face of exploding energy and healthcare costs.
Some readers may suspect that I am now about to go on to describe how government and employers should help us avoid this possible future. In fact, what I want to do is propose that we take matters in to our own hands and become self-retired.
To join the ranks of the self-retired, all that is required is that one realizes that it is increasingly within our power to redistribute some of the quality time that will be available to us in our retirement throughout our working lives. Specifically, that it is within our power to decide when we are retired, and that this may well be at different times throughout our lives. Times when it is important that we put our families first, that we go back to university to renew our intellectual capital, or that we pursue an important personal goal. It is clear, that by choosing this path, we would be agreeing to defer that time at the end of our lives when we would be retired in the conventional sense.
There are two factors, which make the notion of becoming self-retired an idea whose time has come.
First, as the transformation of Ireland in to an open knowledge economy competing in global markets proceeds apace we and our colleagues find ourselves increasingly time and knowledge poor but information and resource rich. While at the same our retired colleagues are increasingly time and knowledge rich but resource and information poor.
Second, the increasing availability of broadband infrastructure and the evolution of web-based services, allows virtual communities of individuals to be created and allows the members of these communities to interact in ever more satisfying and productive ways.
As a consequence, it will be increasingly attractive for individuals to choose to redistribute their retirement years throughout their working life and, in order to fund this choice, to continue to work beyond the nominal retirement age.
Evidence of this trend is provided by the success of InnoCentive, a company recently identified by the Economist as one that is leading the way. InnoCentive, an internet company spun-out of Ely Lillie, allows scientists and engineers in pharmaceutical and life-science companies to post research and development problems for other scientists and engineers and offer a reward for the best solution. These scientist and engineers, often themselves recently retired from such companies, compete to propose and demonstrate the best solution to the problem and to win the reward. These rewards, in some cases, can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When I met one of the founders of InnoCentive, Darren Carroll, he told me about a recently retired research chemist who had signed up to solve a very challenging problem set by a major pharmaceutical company. The challenge was to simplify the synthesis of one of their most important drugs. To meet this challenge, he set up a small laboratory in the shed at the bottom of his garden and worked there between 6 am and noon each day. Eventually he posted his solution on the InnoCentive website. This solution was reviewed by the company who posted the challenge. They were amazed, his solution would allow them significantly reduce the cost and time required to make their drug. Since then, the pharmaceutical company has not only paid the reward, but also retained the ‘retired’ chemist as a consultant. With the resources available to him under this contract, he has employed a young chemist from a local college, and together they are attempting to solve more challenges.
Some will view the prospect of redistributing their retirement years throughout their working life, and joining the ranks of the self-retired, as not practical or as too risky. Others, a growing number, will see this as an opportunity to create a more satisfying and more sustainable lifestyle for them and their families.
Donald Fitzmaurice
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
ePlanetVentures Founder Featured in Red Herring
Nice article about Asad Jamal, one of the founders of ePlanetVentures in Red Herring
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
The Naked Scientist Podcast on Nanotechnology
I recently appeared on an edition this excellent BBC program devoted to nanotechnology. The presenter Dr. Chris Smith is one of life's true enthusiasts. Download Broadcast
