Pem’s Tech Blog

Since this blog has long lost any particular focus, just thought I’d throw this post out there, since sometimes I watch a video and take some notes during it.

“The boundaries between people are overwhelmed by our connections. Your prosperity can expand America’s prosperity. Your health and security can contribute to the world’s health and security. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere.”

This is a very important basic economic concept. The simple idea is that in a healthy civil free modern world, trade should be based on a non-zero-sum game (win-win, mutual benefit for both sides). To some extent, there is not a fixed limited amount of resources. Exploiting others (such as getting someone else to fall behind) is not the only way to get ahead. It is less productive for some to get ahead at the expensive of others; it is more productive for everyone to get ahead.

My general personal thought is that this can be achieved by reducing global population growth of humans, and increasing work done by automation such as robots and computers . If we can increase the robot/computer to human ratio, then long-term, robots and computers will do so much work that we will be free to just enjoy life or work on advancing other things further. For example, we can end violence and disease, cure aging, pursue interests, explore the universe, and increase the quality of life per individual for all individuals.

Here are some other quotes from the speech:

“The true sign of success, is not whether we are a source of perpetual aid that helps people scrape by. It’s whether we are the partners in building the capacity for transformational change.“

“Democracy, opportunity, health, and the peaceful resolution of conflict.”

“We all have many identities of tribe and ethnicity of religion and nationality. But defining oneself in opposition to someone who belongs to a different tribe or worships a different prophet, has no place in the 21st century. Africa’s diversity should be a source of strength – not a cause for division. We are all God’s children, we all share common aspirations, to live in peace and security, to access education and opportunity, to love our families and our communities and our faith, that is our common humanity”