How much is enough?

Consumerism refers to economic policies that place an emphasis on consumption and it explains that free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society. The quest for luxuries has been part of human civilization since ancient cultures.



Anti-Consumerism opposes Consumerism.

I haven't met one person that doesnot believe in the following old proverb: "anything in excess is poison" however it is studied in Keynesian Economics that excessive savings can result in a stagnant economy and can even result in depression.

It is almost impossible conserve nature and also have a booming economy. The fuel for a booming economy is consumption of natural resources. More the consumption, better the economy, worse the state of the environment. So whats next to consume? Mars? Lets start looking because we will surely run out of all resources and permanently damage the environment.

Casteism renewed!

The caste-system is still prevelant today in many parts of the world. As we transition from nationality to globalilty, we have now created a new caste system.

For example in USA, we have the following hierarchy:

Citizens - full rights to resources
Green Card holders - some rights
Work and Business Visa holders - minimal rights
Illegal Immigrants - rights?!?

Evolution

Many insects such as cockroaches and micro-organisms such as bacteria and virus that mutiply at a rapid rate also have a high evolution rate. The newer generation genetically becomes stronger and more fit to survive the insecticides or vaccines. So a scary thought arises: Are we slowing our evolution by inventing ways to live longer? Or is this evolution in itself?

As humans we have the most advanced natural gift for survival - memory and communication. We are able to communicate and the knowledge can be passed from one generation to the next. Our parents teach us to walk, talk and later distinguish between good and bad. Then we go on to make our own decisions in life. We learn from many sources like parents, teachers and friends. We constantly learn and retain knowledge but we also make mistakes. Sometimes we make the same mistakes as our parents. I believe when we stop making the same mistakes as others in the past then that is a step towards evolution. We have collectively learned about fire, water and agriculture. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. We have taken many steps towards evolution but the question is, are we there yet?

"The best things in life are FREE" - a solution to the "piracy problem"

During my Computer Science undergrad, one of my professors taught a beginner-level web-design course using W3Schools.com which had the motto "The best things in life are FREE". It fascinated me that such content was available for free!
Later on, we studied Linux and its GNU licensing, and how it helped companies such as RedHat and Ubuntu not only make money but also scare the almighty Microsoft!
The latest "free thing" is wikipedia with over a million views per day! The site sustains itself on just donations! Did you know that the wikipedia donations reached over 1.5 Million?

You get the idea about the first part of my blog title; now, lets dwell into the copyright infringement and piracy issue. I continually read too many articles about how MPAA, RIAA and a gazillion other corporations are catching citizens and suing them for "damages". There may only be a handful of artists that actually care about copyright infringement and actually want the law-suit money. A young garage-band wouldn't get noticed if it weren't for file sharing but lets rest the ethical issue with file sharing for a moment.

Rather than combat piracy, what if the artists gave away the content for free? And then the solution would be for the artists to setup a website to collect donations like wikipedia! If people like the work, they may pay more than a buck for it!! It will increase the artist popularity and may sell out their shows!!

Will the MPAA or RIAA sue the artists for leaving them? You bet!!