Introduction

Through this blog I will attempt to exhibit ideas that I find interesting and pertinent to the world today and that are derived from art, archticture, environmentalism, science, engineering, and topics that may not have concise titles but are related to misconceptions in data analysis and the scientific method that arise in contemporary culture which deserve more exposure.

To start us off I am including a talk from TED.com given by architect and co-author of the book Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough.  There's an excerpt from the book that I found interesting that outlines a fundamental problem in a worldwide system to regulate industry in order to decrease waste and pollution.

"In Systems of Survuval the urbanist and economic thinker Jane Jacobs describes two fundamental syndromes of human civilizations:  what she calls the guardian and commerce.  The guardian is the government, the agency whose primary purpose is to preserve and protect the public.  This syndrome is slow and serious... It represents the public interest, and it is meant to shun commerce...  Commerce, on the other hand, is the day-to-day, instant exchange of value.  The name of its primary tool, currency, denotes its urgency.  Commerce is quick, highly creative, inventive, constantly seeking short- and long-term advantage, and inherently honest:  you can't do business with people if they aren't trustworthy.  Any hybrid of these two syndromes Jacobs characterizes as so riddled with problems as to be 'monstrous.'  Money, the tool of commerce, will corrupt the guardian.  Regulation, the tool of the guardian, will slow down commerce."