Learn from the mistakes of others

In response to: Book review: 'The Long Emergency' by Peter McMahon, posted 11 April 2006:

I wrote:

The real impending crisis is the end of economics as economists have become comfortable with.

The basis of our economies is not so much a particular cheap fuel, but a reliance on certain social constructs. If those constructs collapse, or are overthrown, we face the same excitement as the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

At the moment, some societies - or at least segments of them - seem to be shifting the "means of production" away from purely physical to more ephemeral means. Much of our economic modelling is based upon the idea that resources are limited, and are valued according to supply and demand.

With intellectual products, the difficulties lie in enforcing the scarcity (through "Intellectual Property" regimes) and in their 'unreliability'. Putting more brains on a problem doesn't necessarily solve it faster, or better, or at all.

The content and the quality of education - and experience - are very important, but they're "mere" enablers. Both are required, but not sufficient, preconditions for a "knowledge economy" or whatever we're calling it today.

The emergency is artificial, not the least because we're trying to hold on to an old model of our own constructed reality. Something that cannot, and will not, last. Knowing that, we still fear the uncertainty of change - despite it being our oldest and most constant friend - and instigated by our own hands/minds.

In response to: Book review: 'The Long Emergency' by Peter McMahon, posted 11 April 2006:

I wrote:

The real impending crisis is the end of economics as economists have become comfortable with.

The basis of our economies is not so much a particular cheap fuel, but a reliance on certain social constructs. If those constructs collapse, or are overthrown, we face the same excitement as the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

At the moment, some societies - or at least segments of them - seem to be shifting the "means of production" away from purely physical to more ephemeral means. Much of our economic modelling is based upon the idea that resources are limited, and are valued according to supply and demand.

With intellectual products, the difficulties lie in enforcing the scarcity (through "Intellectual Property" regimes) and in their 'unreliability'. Putting more brains on a problem doesn't necessarily solve it faster, or better, or at all.

The content and the quality of education - and experience - are very important, but they're "mere" enablers. Both are required, but not sufficient, preconditions for a "knowledge economy" or whatever we're calling it today.

The emergency is artificial, not the least because we're trying to hold on to an old model of our own constructed reality. Something that cannot, and will not, last. Knowing that, we still fear the uncertainty of change - despite it being our oldest and most constant friend - and instigated by our own hands/minds.

[JURIST] The US military should take a greater, perhaps sometimes even temporarily a leading role in disaster recovery, and policy steps should to be taken to facilitate this, according to a 228-page White House report [table of contents and full text; fact sheet] released Thursday on lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina disaster [JURIST news archive]. Noting that the military response to Hurricane Katrina had been slowed by Defense Department policy and federal law, the study authored by White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend [official profile] recommends that the Defense Department develop recommendations for revising the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan [DHS backgrounder] to delineate the circumstances, objectives, and limitations of when DOD might temporarily assume the lead for the Federal response to a catastrophe. It also recommends that DOD revise its internal procedures to allow commanders, in appropriate circumstances, to take initiative without a request from local authorities.

The report also includes a call for the US Justice Department to "examine Federal responsibilities for support to State and local law enforcement and criminal justice systems during emergencies and then build operational plans, procedures, and policies to ensure an effective Federal law enforcement response" and a recommendation that "Legal and liability impediments to the use and coordination of non-governmental and private sector resources during a catastrophic event should be removed."

Reuters has more.

military aid to the civil power. gee, what a concept.

mind you, the usa has - and certainly has had - some odd domestic arrangements regarding the use of military assets and personnel. the invention of the so-called 'department for homeland security' has done little to improve the effectiveness or the efficiency of getting military assistance. not that giving the leadership of the federal emergency management agency to some horse guy helped much.

being able to watch all of this from afar probably allows me to watch with fascination, rather than abject horror. or perhaps not. with our government's love affair with all things usa, i wonder how emergency management australia is reponding to this (of being responded for, as our hands on pollies tend to do).

perhaps i'm getting  (more) cynical in my mid-thirties?

[JURIST] The US military should take a greater, perhaps sometimes even temporarily a leading role in disaster recovery, and policy steps should to be taken to facilitate this, according to a 228-page White House report [table of contents and full text; fact sheet] released Thursday on lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina disaster [JURIST news archive]. Noting that the military response to Hurricane Katrina had been slowed by Defense Department policy and federal law, the study authored by White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend [official profile] recommends that the Defense Department develop recommendations for revising the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan [DHS backgrounder] to delineate the circumstances, objectives, and limitations of when DOD might temporarily assume the lead for the Federal response to a catastrophe. It also recommends that DOD revise its internal procedures to allow commanders, in appropriate circumstances, to take initiative without a request from local authorities.

The report also includes a call for the US Justice Department to "examine Federal responsibilities for support to State and local law enforcement and criminal justice systems during emergencies and then build operational plans, procedures, and policies to ensure an effective Federal law enforcement response" and a recommendation that "Legal and liability impediments to the use and coordination of non-governmental and private sector resources during a catastrophic event should be removed."

Reuters has more.

military aid to the civil power. gee, what a concept.

mind you, the usa has - and certainly has had - some odd domestic arrangements regarding the use of military assets and personnel. the invention of the so-called 'department for homeland security' has done little to improve the effectiveness or the efficiency of getting military assistance. not that giving the leadership of the federal emergency management agency to some horse guy helped much.

being able to watch all of this from afar probably allows me to watch with fascination, rather than abject horror. or perhaps not. with our government's love affair with all things usa, i wonder how emergency management australia is reponding to this (of being responded for, as our hands on pollies tend to do).

perhaps i'm getting  (more) cynical in my mid-thirties?

fema could not have been surprised by the need to respond to the aftermath hurricane katrina.

surely fema's own louisiana disaster history alone would be enough evidence to establish that it would be likely to be required, wouldn't it?

fema could not have been surprised by the need to respond to the aftermath hurricane katrina.

surely fema's own louisiana disaster history alone would be enough evidence to establish that it would be likely to be required, wouldn't it?