Why we may be measuring the wrong things

When it comes to GDP, I'm sceptical. Not sceptical of the metric, but sceptical that it is truly measuring how well off we are. Here in this article, Robert Fogel argues that China will end up being the dominant economy in the world in the next 30 years. That's well and good, but I think he is missing something when he states:

"In another way, Europe's culture confounds economists.Citizens of Europe's wealthy countries are not working longer hours to makehigher salaries and accumulate more goods. Rather, European culture continuesto prize long vacations, early retirements, and shorter work weeks overacquiring more stuff, at least in comparison to many other developed countries,such as the United States. In my observation, those living in most WesternEuropean countries appear to be more content than Americans with the kind ofcommodities they already have, for example, not aspiring to own more TVs perhousehold. Set aside whether that's virtuous. A promenade in the Jardin duLuxembourg, as opposed to a trip to Walmart for a flat-screen TV, won't helpthe European Union's GDP growth."

Yes, this is right. It won't help GDP growth, but it is good living. So why is it that good living is not measured by GDP? Personally, it seems necessary to incorporate happiness in our measure of GDP. I know this going on now in certain areas. I think it needs to accelerate.

Doing the right things rather than doing things right

Having just read Nicolas Carr's article asking whether Google (or the web) is making us Stupid I'm struck with its prescience, particularly with how it relates to the question of why we do anything. To paraphrase the famous line, doing things right is very different from doing the right thing, and so it is important to question a tool like the web. Perhaps finding such and such restaurant faster is a good thing, or booking a flight via my blackberry is cool, but what if the conversation at that restaurant is horrible? What if we leave feeling unhappy? What if we are taking a flight to the wrong place? With the wrong person?

Carr's point is that the web is changing how we think. Just like the man with the hammer who thinks everything is a nail, so to is the web making us view everything through "binary code" eyes and brains. Carr suggests that we should all take a big step back, perhaps also take a moment to quiet our minds and our lives, and recall that the world we make is supposed to be in service of our greater purposes, and not some kind of social treadmill that gives us something to do, but gets us nowhere.

So, while Google may make an artificial intelligence out of the web, that intelligence will still have to figure out why it exists. Just like we have to. And it seems, once we have that in place, that finding the right tools will flow naturally from there. And then a wicked-fast Google search won't be such a bad thing.

The beauty of language

Sitting in intensive French lessons has me thinking a lot about learning to swim, because in both areas, I feel very heavy. It seems that diving into language is like learning to swim, according to those I've talked to, both require immersion, practice, training, and, most importantly, patience.

A friend told me that the most important thing about learning to swim is to remember not to fight the water. I think the same is true with language. You can't fight it, you have to accept it. Once you've done that and you let it wash over you, you can appreciate it's beauty, flavor and nuance. And only then can you swim, and swim well.

On the logic of moving to another country

On the plane to Belgium to start my new career, I find myself reflecting on moving about the world, especially as I leave behind places so familiar as Los Angeles and San Francisco to start a new life in a place decidedly unfamiliar.

Why should I want to do such a thing as this? Well, it’s not because I’m some diehard business world adrenaline junky who likes to uproot my life for the “thrill,” and it’s definitely not because I’m running from anything in California. Truth be told, it comes down to a desire to understand the world at more than an academic level, and judging from great minds of the past and many of those who have given me advice, this type of culture clash can create some incredibly creative periods.

To be global in the truest sense of the word is to know life and this planet for what it is. Not for what we think it is, or what we imagine it might be. And I mean, the World here. I think I have as much to learn about California in leaving as I do the rest of the world.

I’m paraphrasing T.S. Eliot here when I say that this is the “end” of one chapter in my life, but it also the “beginning” of another. The end is where we start from and, as it is likely we all end up back at the beginning, at least through this experience we can truly know the place for what it is.

The goal here is to know truth, and once that truth is known, to use it to build a truly happy existence.