Word: humanity
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...including our own behavior, our own culture, other people's lives. With people like Perkus - the most exaggerated collectors or self-appointed experts - there's a poignancy to it. I love that kind of behavior, and I guess I'm guilty of it myself at times. It's the human condition taken to one very absurd extreme, like someone finding a dusty old VHS tape of a Steve Martin comedy from the '80s and deciding, "There's the answer, it's inside that. If I just penetrate this artifact, I'll finally get what I need...
...extinction crisis, the sixth great wave in its history. But unlike major extinction events of the past - like the Permian-Triassic event 250 million years ago, in which 70% of all terrestrial species were wiped out, probably because of an asteroid impact or a similar natural disaster - this time human beings are the cause. Hard numbers are difficult to find, but many scientists believe Earth's species are going extinct at a rate that is up to 1,000 times higher than before human beings came on the scene. (See how animals are under siege...
Meanwhile, human beings have also been working to counteract the effects of their development and growth as well as man-made climate change. Measures like the U.S. Endangered Species Act, habitat-protecting nature reserves and hunting prohibitions are all designed to slow the rate of extinction and preserve dwindling species. But a new paper in the journal Biological Conservation says we may not be trying hard enough. A team of Australian researchers led by environmental scientist Lochran Traill finds that current conservation policy tends to underestimate the number of individuals needed in a population of endangered species to keep...
David Shambaugh paints a rosy picture as the People's Republic of China turns 60 [Sept. 28]. Let's not forget that China is a communist dictatorship with a one-party system, a rubber-stamp congress and a judiciary under the control of the Party. Human rights are routinely trampled, even though they are written into the constitution; dissidents are jailed for long periods of time. The Chinese government did not hesitate to send tanks against its own people in 1989, and we have seen what the government can do against the Tibetans and the Uighurs when they dare rise...
...China en masse because of very cheap labour, minimal regulation and the ability to externalize other costs, namely the environmental impact. This has then indirectly improved China's lot. How has China otherwise added value or changed the world for the better in modern times? Innovations? Improvements to the human condition? Global benevolence? Becoming the world's temporary sweatshop and biggest copycat does not place one in the league of great nations or ensure superpower status. So, on turning 60 what is going to be your real contribution to the world, China? Spare us another goose-stepping parade, please. Marcus...