Viral Marketing of Humans

Be warned. Africa is officially on the radar screen.

In a recent BusinessWeek magazine, “Embracing Africa” was listed under the Best Ideas section, and the Hollywood stars lined up to shine the spotlight on the continent’s woes. Bono, Chris Rock, Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and more brought their serious star power to the last of the unexploited continents. Other captains of industry followed. Sir Richard Branson began Virgin Nigerian Airways. China hosted a summit of African leaders in Beijing.

We are officially on the verge of exhausting our human resources.

I have been waiting for this news for years. Growing up, the story was the same, only the continents were different. It was almost a game. Turning over the many toys and products that passed through my hands trying to guess the origin of their birth. Back then, “Made in Japan,” “Made in Taiwan,” “Made in Mexico,” “Made in Korea,” were the many markers. Now it seems to be “Made in China.” And it appears as if in the not too distant future, that marker will be “Made in Africa” (pick your particular country of exploitation).

And exploitation it is. I am shocked that the exploitation of the cheap labor in Africa has taken so long. Perhaps all the woes and unrest those stars have called attention to - AIDS, Darfur, etc – has prevented the developed countries from approaching these undeveloped countries sooner. But now, it appears as if we have nowhere else to turn for our cheap labor. The rest of the five inhabited continents are officially off the map as Asia is officially entering the tail end of its harvest.

That leaves only one place to turn – Africa.

Soon we will be reading about the sweatshops of Africa, and given the heat there, they may actually take on a literal meaning too. The poor, unorganized, forgotten people of Africa are about to be harvested for their labor, just as its rich mineral resources have been harvested over the years. And that isn’t all bad. As with every continent where the developed countries have exploited the undeveloped, the standard of living has always risen. Wealth, albeit relative, follows exploitation. In fact, it may be this new attention and exploitation of Africa that saves it from itself and the assumed self-destruction of the path it is currently on.

But the exploitation of Africa isn’t what worries me so much. At this point, we all need to be grown-ups about expoitation and admit that that is how we humans behave. Shame on us. Truly. You’d think that after chewing our way through 5 continents, we’d get it right, or at least more right, by the sixth.

No, that is not what worries me. What worries me is where will we viral humans go after we have used up the last of our cheap resources? What cheap labor force will sate our hunger for ever increasing cheap products?

As is always the case at moments like this in history, there is typically one answer that rises to the challenge – technology and human ingenuity. It is amazing what we humans are capable of when we put our minds to it. Unfortunately for us, we only put our minds to it when the situation before us has reached a crisis point. So, once we have exhausted Africa and the last of our cheap labor here on Earth, I am sure a new technology will emerge that breaks through our current limitations.

And here is where this line of thinking gets truly spooky. Are you ready for the next incarnation of science fiction, or “science future” as I like to call it? Are you ready to live alongside robots providing you with all the creature comforts we humans desire? Ready or not, here it comes.

Africa is the last wall of defense before the robotic world rises up . . . and that wall is about to be breached.

Copyright 2006, Rich Largman, All rights reserved

I Beg to Differ . . . and so did the country apparently

The following is a response to Michael Barone’s piece, “Uneasy for a Reason” published in US News & World Report on 10/30/06. You can read his piece here: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061022/30barone.htm

Yawn. There it is again. References to the boogeyman in order to create fear and unease. If there is anything I am growing weary of, Mr. Barone, it is the tireless references made by people about all the things I should be afraid of in the world – the multitude of ways terrorists can kill or harm me, evil countries, turning the country over to the wrong party, tsunamis, earthquakes, lyme disease, pedophiles . . . stay tuned . . . news at 11:00.

Let’s be real. There have always been boogeymen in our lives, whether it is the 1960s or 2006, and there always will be. The difference is our choice to focus on them and to let them consume us, our minds, our politics, our media . . . everything. As you so aptly pointed out, the world has gotten better, so why are we so cranky and feel it has gotten worse?

For the record, I’m not cranky and “thinking the country is on the wrong track because I expect things to be good,” as you intimate. I’m cranky and think the country is on the wrong track because my thinking, and the thinking of a growing number of Americans, is evolving. We have evolved past the need to have boogeymen to motivate us and we have arrived at a place where we are motivated by something a bit more positive and proactive . . . possibility.

I’m cranky because I don’t believe the solution to high gasoline prices or the energy situation is more drilling. That treats the symptom, just like the ever-proliferating pharmaceutical industry. I am tired of treating symptoms. I want to address the causes.

Drilling for oil is not a solution. Creating a better energy source is.

I’m not “dismayed by continuing violence in Iraq because I expect military interventions to be casualty free.” It’s war for crying out loud! That’s like saying I am dismayed that I had to scramble eggs to make my omelet. Those sacrifices must be expected. What I am dismayed about is that we felt a military intervention was the answer and that that military intervention was a success once a statue was toppled in Baghdad. I’m dismayed that the eggs were cracked for the omelet when what I really wanted was oatmeal.

I’m not dismayed over the fact that our economy has enjoyed “just two brief recessions, low inflation and steady economic growth.” I am dismayed at the fact that all of this has come on the back of ever-increasing personal and national debt. Want a real boogeyman? Try this on for size – “house of cards.” God forbid anyone start calling in their chips. Our financial house of cards will collapse in the most gentle of breezes.

Want another real boogeyman? Try the impending water crisis in this country and around the world. What water crisis you ask? Let’s answer this little test. How many of you reading this letter still drink tap water? And that just addresses the quality issue. The quantity issue is just as big. If you think a war for oil is a worthy cause to sacrifice life and economic resources, wait until we have to fight for one of the building blocks of life rather than a luxury to fuel our Hummers.

No Mr. Barone, I’m not cranky or uneasy because there is yet another boogeyman in my closet. I’m cranky because of the focus on fear rather than possibility. Ever read or hear about the tenet that what you focus on you create? Fear only begets more fear. I’m cranky because we continue to focus on fear and short-term band-aids rather than making the truly hard decisions, rolling up our sleeves, and doing the hard work that will actually create possibilities and solve the problem, rather than simply treat the symptom and create another boogeyman to justify a course of action.

Now that kind of thinking would demonstrate true leadership, something that according to US News & World Report, the American people are in search of.

Copyright 2006, Rich Largman, All rights reserved

Vision Impaired

The mid-term elections are less than a week away and I find myself in the unenviable position of ranking among the politically uneducated. If it weren’t for the vast number of roadside signs dotting my local roads, I don’t think I could have told you who was running for what office.

Shameful really. Having graduated as a political science major from college, I use to rail against the uneducated voter. Now I have become one of them. I always promised myself that I would always vote, for it is the most important privilege granted to any citizen in a democracy. As such, I have only missed two or three opportunities to vote, and those were local school board elections. However, I also promised myself that I would never vote just for the sake of voting, without knowing who or what was at stake. Now I find myself in a situation with these two promises facing off against each other.

I’m inclined to pose the question of despair asking, “How did I get here?” But I know the answer to that question, so no need to pose it. The answer is a long, painful depressing process of watching what I love about this country erode before my very eyes.

It started about 4 or 5 years ago when I put myself on a news blackout. I was tired of hearing all the depressing news about killings, war, catastrophes, genocides, crime, corruption and more that made up our daily news. Jeez, it is a wonder more of us aren’t suicidal and hopelessly depressed! My first action was to stop watching TV news. That helped a bit. My next action was to stop watching TV altogether as I found it was stealing my time and life away, and if looked at closely, there was very little on TV worth giving my precious time. I have been without a TV for over 6 years now. And I have to say, I don’t feel as though I missed much.

Not wanting to be completely uninformed, I continued to listen to NPR radio. Then, one morning, even that became too much. I was tired of getting up every morning and having the first thing I hear be the War Score – Palestinians 6, Israelis 2. Recently, those daily death counts have shifted. Now we keep score of dying Americans and “insurgents,” but the depressing effect is the same. And with that, I switched off NPR. Sure I still listen to it in the car from time to time, but find the war reporting, whether in Iraq, Israel or any other place, just utterly boring. Same shit, different country.

That left me with my Internet news headlines. This form of information actually works for me. I can scan the headlines, from different news sources, and click on those that appeal to me most. Needless to say, it is sad to report that if I took a sampling of the world headlines over the past 5 years, we would find that nothing much is changing. Death. Conflict. Israel. Palestine. Iraq. America. With an occasional natural disaster or terrorist attack thrown in for excitement and to make sure we haven’t all fallen asleep.

What I can definitely say about the beloved news is that RARELY is anything reported that gives me hope in the world. Well, except for that light and fluffy piece all news agencies throw in at the end of their broadcast to make sure we don’t pull out a razor and slit our wrists due to the depressing state of the world. And then it is off to Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy, to numb our minds and forget about the hell around us.

Can you blame me for going on a news blackout?

So how does all this tie into my disintegration into one of the voting illiterates? Well, as I see it, politics and politicians have followed the same trend as the decline of mass media. If there are inspiring leaders in our national government, they must be hiding behind the apparent masses of corrupt, uninspiring front-men. Pork barrel, you-scratch-my-back-I-will-scratch-yours, what’s in it for me, how can I get re-elected, state-first, country second (unless we have to vote to go to war), vision-less, hopeless leaders is all I see. They seem to be more interested in breaking down each other and their opposing parties rather than building up a country . . . rather than creating a vision . . . rather than blazing a new American trail that addresses the problems that confront our country and the world today and in the future.

Absent someone who is going to paint a picture of possibility for me, it is hard to listen to all the drivel that spews forth from their mouths as they grab the grandstand on C-SPAN. I mean seriously, when is the last time you heard something from our government and leaders that inspired you! Made you feel something other than, “Oh, more of the same ol’ shit.”

So, can you blame me for being ignorant during this election? I am tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils. My expectations of politics and politicians have fallen so low that I don’t even bother to listen anymore.

And to think, I once cared enough that I wanted to be the next U.S. senator from the state of New Jersey.

Damn, if only one of them would preach a vision I could get excited about.

Copyright 2006, Rich Largman, All rights reserved

Change the Way People Think . . .

“Change the Way People Think, and Things Will Never be the Same” -- Steven Biko

In early August I traveled to California on business. I took a recent issue of a magazine with me that featured the war in Congo. I didn’t want to read it, but I thought it was important to read. The war there had killed 4 million people in the last 8 years and currently has the distinction of being the deadliest war on the planet.

Truth be told, I have yet to get around to reading the article. It just seems too depressing. I can only hope that included in that number of 4 million dead are the multitudes of Hutus and Tutsis that were killed during the ethnic cleansing that occurred in neighboring Rwanda and Burundi, but sadly, I do not think that is the case. At its peak, the hatred between those two tribes killed over 80,000 people a day. PER DAY! That is 55 people per minute. Roughly 1 per second. For 10 days straight! 24 hours a day!

Imagine killing every man, woman and child in San Francisco. Or Pittsburgh. Atlanta. Or Denver. Boston. Or Seattle. Every single person. Imagine that and you will begin to understand the scope of this killing. And, for many of those cities you would have to do it almost 2 or 3 times over.

Horrific!

And yet, this is just another example in the long line of examples of how we humans interact with each other. I am not sure whether to be ashamed . . . or amazed.

On the plane ride home, with war heating up again in the Middle East, I stared at the magazine yet again, still refusing to open it. Instead, I found myself getting angry over the lack of love and understanding that exists within our species. I am sick and tired of the immature, un-evolved way in which we handle our disagreements, disputes and differences. It is as crude as the medieval forms of medicine would appear to us now. Why has our thinking in this area not evolved past when that first stone or spear was thrown at a neighboring tribe?

Worse than the current state of humanity however, or the lack thereof, are the hordes of people who tell me that my thinking and expectations for how the human species should interact are not realistic or based in this reality. They tell me my beliefs are naïve.

Thankfully, that never stopped Ghandi.

Still, don’t expect me to choose or accept your “reality” when it comes to how I believe our species should interact. When I consider human interaction I am not coming from a reality, but rather a possibility. My thinking and actions come from a vision and commitment to how things could be. And that is most likely why I see a path to change, while most everyone else only sees and accepts a path to more of the same.

And that is what disturbs me most about the future of the human species; the unwavering belief and acceptance that the current reality is how the world works, and thus, we constantly recreate it as such.

It is not until we fundamentally shift that belief and the way we think – and believe that we can come from love, trust and understanding – that change will occur. So long as people keep choosing the current “reality” rather than the possibility, we will always have what exists now. Always.

So the big question here is whether or not everyone knows that. Are we as a species even aware of this choice between reality and possibility? Because if we are not even aware of it, then clearly we cannot make a choice about it. All we can do is continue to act out the present reality.

And that is why I continue to hammer home these points about who we currently are being as a species and what else is possible, for in order to make a choice, we must first become aware that we even have a choice available to us. Once we are aware of that, then we truly have an opportunity to demonstrate our self-declared superior intelligence as a species.

Copyright 2006, RL, All rights reserved

What is the Human Role Here on Earth

I sat at the edge of a pond the other day. It was dusk and the night sounds were coming to life. The crickets were chirping. The cicadas chimed in. Birds busied themselves in the last rays of light. Fish and turtles sent bubbles to the surface of the water. Bees gathered the last bits of pollen for the day. Spiders spun webs among the plants, preparing for the night’s catch. Swifts swooped over the water catching bugs, every now and then dipping their little beaks into the water to take a drink. A great blue heron swooped overhead, passing by the pond for what was perhaps a better fishing hole.

And as I sat there, watching all of this unfold, I marveled at the perfection of nature. Always in balance, everything serving its purpose. As the bees pollinated the flowers, I thought about the various species of humming birds, some whose beaks are so perfected that they can, and will, only pollinate a specific species of flower that is shaped exactly like their beak. Everything truly in balance, with purpose . . . and perfection.

So this got me wondering. If all species on this planet seem to serve a purpose and keep something about this ecosystem in balance, what is it then that is our purpose on this planet? What is it that we, the human species, are keeping in balance?

I have not yet come up with an answer to that question, and that bothers me a bit. It bothers me because of something my Dad pointed out many years ago. It was something so profound that it has stuck with me all these years.

My Dad is a scientist. A chemist. And as we chatted on the front lawn one evening those many years ago, he put forth the thought that perhaps man is like a virus, using up the host until it, along with the virus, dies or moves on to another host.

That really isn’t the pretty picture of balance and perfection I hoped for. But all these years later I still can’t seem to find a better model that fits our role here on this planet. Huh. There just isn’t much that is beautiful about a virus.

Now I find myself wondering if we will have the means to find another host to exploit, or if perhaps we will soon perish as life on this planet dies, and the planet shakes us off like fleas, to once again start life anew as it has done before.

Copyright 2006, RL, All rights reserved

War - An Outdated Modality

Ahhhhh. All is good in the world. After 5 long years things are finally back to normal. It has been such a long time since I woke up and all the top headlines were about Israel and the Palestinians. Back then, typically it was a daily body count – how many Israelis or Palestinians died in fighting the day before. I stopped keeping score after a while. I got so sick and tired of it, I actually went on a news blackout. Let’s face it, it wasn’t news. It was a running total. Kinda like watching those billboards keeping track of the national deficit getting higher and higher by the nanosecond.

A few years back, things got a bit more interesting, but at its core, the news headlines were pretty much the same, only the nationalities shifted. Now we were tracking how many Americans and Iraqis were dying each day.

So, it is with much anticipation and joy that I see the world returning to normal and once again I can go to bed at night with the security of knowing all is good in the world.

Check out these headlines from Reuters today:

* G8 Prepares to tackle MidEast Crisis
* Hizbollah rockets his Haifa
* N. Korea rejects U.N. sanctions vote
* U.N. nuclear “referral” not constructive
* India puts off peace talks with Pakistan

Splendid! Just splendid.

God, it simply amazes me how stupid we can be as a species sometimes. We think we can, and do, control the world. How pathetic. We are merely specs of dust on the nearly infinite continuum of life on this planet. We’ve been here barely the blink of an eye, and yet that blink has stretched tens of thousands of years. You’d think in all that time, we might have learned something about how to solve our conflicts between each other. Unless, of course, we finally want to accept the assumption, perhaps fact, that the human species is a warring, angry, hostile life form here on this planet, destined to kill each other, and everything around us, until the end of our time here.

I’m no historian, but from my small, little, teeny, tiny, insignificant view of the world, it kinda feels like war is an outdated modality as a way to solve disputes and conflict. I mean, come on! How long does it take us to figure this out? And we claim to have the biggest brain on the planet. Pitiful. Simply pitiful.

I don’t know about you, but I am willing to consider, and concede, the fact that blasting the hell out of each other no longer works as a way to solve our disagreements and problems. Come on, people, wake up! It might be time for all of us, and our “brilliant” leaders to consider other ways to work through our issues. I don’t need to live for millennia to figure this one out. 30 or 40 years is enough of a sample size for me. And good lord, do we have enough examples yet? Pick just about any part of the world and you will find some conflict raging where the way to a solution is violence and killing.

Let’s be realistic about this. This modality known as war is not a cause . . . or a deterrent . . or a strategy. Once we initiate killing as a solution to a disagreement, the true underlying belief/hope/motivation in our heart and minds is that we will exterminate those that think differently than us. Bomb them into seeing things our way!

Wow. Tens of thousands of years on this planet and that is the extent of our evolution.

Brilliant! It makes me so proud to be a Homosapien.

Do I have some thoughts on the matter? Perhaps how to evolve past this pre-historic way of being? Sure! But there is no sense in putting those ideas forth until our species is aware and conscious and willing to admit who they are currently being, and then are wanting of a different way to live here on this planet.

Until that time though, well hey . . . war is a great method for population control, and maybe that is the bigger picture of how it fits into our existence here. And oh, the irony! In order to survive here on this planet, we need to kill each other!

Now THAT is truly brilliant!

Copyright 2006, RL, All rights reserved

Leadership 101 - It's Quotable

Ten Quotes and Questions to ask of yourself and your leaders.

1. Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. – Japanese Proverb

Do you/your leaders have a clear vision and intention?

2. Men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up. – Henry David Thoreau

Are you/your leaders merely complaining and giving opinions . . . or enthusiastically looking to make a difference?

3. If you go on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll go on getting what you’ve always got. – Dr. Lair Ribiero

Are you/your leaders venturing out and embracing bold new ideas, or are you/they simply re-treading an old, worn tire?

4. You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. – Rwandan proverb

Who are you/your leaders, on the inside? What do your/their actions, behaviors and thoughts reveal about them?

5. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. – William Jennings Bryan

Are you/your leaders choosing your/our destiny and creating it, or waiting for it to come by and carry you off to your life?

6. Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. – Voltaire

Are you/your leaders living a free and empowered life, or acting as a victim, complaining as if someone else is the cause of your/their life?

7. They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. – Edgar Allen Poe (Eleonora)

Are you/your leaders limiting your/their thinking and what is possible? Everything! . . . everything in this world was created from a thought.

8. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. – Martin Luther King Jr.

Where do you/your leaders stand? Have they shown you strength and inspiration in these moments?

9. The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. – Chinese Proverb

Are you/your leaders putting forth ideas, or striking out with words and actions, thereby revealing their cards?

10. Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be. – Goethe

How are you/your leaders treating those around you? Are you relating to their magnificent possibility, or their past, filled with preconceived judgments and assumptions?