About Me
editSoftware Developer, Toronto Canada
MSc Physics, McMaster University
I consider myself to be one of the people who see the world in all it's shades of grey. I'd consider my opinions to be built by "pure logic" based on some of our most cherished Western Democratic principles. Think I can be non-POV, but do believe there are fundamental right and wrongs in the world. Maybe not the same ones you do :) Politically in the center or slightly left of center (Canadian POV) and yet on global politics probably closer to Neocon.
Took microeconomics, appreciate and understand it. Capitalism is the best method of organizing society's resources that we've yet discovered or that human beings can operate in without devolving into tyrrany and injustice -- and yet we definitely need laws and societal morays to prevent corporations from comitting wrongs (and wtf is up with CEO's making $50m per year? They're not that irreplaceable or unique FFS. We've definitely got some work cut out for us in reigning them in.)
Believe that global trade is accomplishing the one thing that everyone wishes they could just snap their fingers and make go away ... eliminating poverty. Look at India and China for example. At the same time recognize that countries like Indian and China had better get organized and get unionized to prevent their citizens from being taken totally advantage of ... just like we did 100-150 years ago. There's no way we can legislate it away here, even Corporations themselves can't do it since the factories are locally run and money is money. It'll require the citizens of those countries to take actions to protect their own rights.
Am not worried at all about the "loss of jobs" in the west, because it's no different than the Industrial Revolution or what happened to the Buggy Whip Manufacturers. Yes we'll have to adapt. Yes things will change. But someday India and China and the rest of the world will be full of middle class just like us.
Actually, that's one thing to worry about. What the heck is going to happen to the prices of things once there is no cheap labour left in the world??? Better hope we have AI driven robots ready to fill the factory floors :)
One other thing to worry about - corruption. After visiting both Russia and China in the past year and with lots of co-workers telling me about India, I predict that China will reach first world status (much like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, etc) before the other two. India *might* reach first world status someday, but it'll depend on whether or not they can kick the endemic corruption throughout their society. Both will beat Russia. Russia's corruption is too highly placed and too ... vicious. The Russian Society doesn't have the same "we'll learn from our mistakes and from others and from the past" drive built into western society.
Contributions to Wikipedia
editMy contributions are mostly corrections to things I notice in articles, and small updates to pages that have gotten a tiny bit out of date. I find myself reading more and more of wikipedia as I come across things in life and in media (news, digg/slashdot, movies, tv, etc etc) that I want to know more about. And as I read these articles sometimes I notice things that are obviously wrong and/or that could be improved upon -- and so I try and help.
I'm definitely only making small contributions. I've never written a full article/page -- but that's probably because I've never gone looking for a page that didn't exist yet!!
I have made anonymous contributions to wikipedia in the past - wish I could remember what they all were. Here are a few that were made anonymously (either didn't bother to login, or forgot I wasn't logged in until after the edit was done.)
Wikipedia Wishlist
editJavascript page submission spell checker - like digg. But unlike digg the spell checker should have a page by page "history/local-dictionary" so that we don't all screw with each other's dictionaries and/or the local page "ignore this spelling" doesn't affect too much else.