The Awesome Science of Chinonomics

Era 1996. Mi universo giraba alrededor de ese experimento social (la Universidad) en donde juegan contigo a que te dan responsabilidades, tú te estresas por cumplirlas, y al cabo de 4 años y medio te hacen creer --quizás sea éste el elemento más valioso del experimento-- que estás preparado para conquistar el mundo. Redacción Avanzada era   una de esas clases aburridas que te imponen para "pulir tu capacidad de escritura." Nada qué ver con tu área de estudio, pero para poder salir con el "sello de calidad" de graduado de esa Universidad había que llevarla --nada como "sellar" a los educandos cual producto ensamblado en línea de producción industrial para emular la moda de cultura organizacional de la época. La de los 90's era el "Control de Calidad." La meta era producir graduados de homogeneidad robótica: Licenciados e Ingenieros  ISO 9000 En medio de esta estructura de rígida monotonía, una tarea trivial. Escrito de 500 palabras donde

The dollar. The intangible monetary construct concocted  in its paper form in 1861 to finance the civil war is arguably the United States' most precious asset. Its solidity is underpinned by an enviable  rule of law . It gives good ol' U.S. of A the blessing of perennially low interest rates (which elevates the standard of living of Americans to the tune of $100bn annually ), and the ability to throw in the trash can any resemblance of fiscal restrain. Why be frugal when normal market rules don't apply to you? After all, there is no such thing as a U.S. Treasury bond market " vigilante ." Not in the same way they exist  for any other --more normal-- sovereign bond markets, anyway. We live under a de facto Dollar Standard. Nations hoard greenbacks to bulk up reserves (save some very wacky exceptions ) to have dry powder to prop up (or push down , as recently seen) their currencies when they're under attack, or to buy imported goods. It is a very exorbitant p

Technology has always been feared and revered at the same time. It has always been this dual destructive/liberating boogieman/hero that divides people. And with good reason. The way it eases human life can be addictive --sometimes pathologically so. But also disruptive (the word has been used --and abused --  ad-nauseam lately). We know what happens when new things disrupt the way we live our lives. Our conservatism bias (that miniature devil who sits on our shoulder and keeps us stuck at the same jobs for years and years) fights the heck out of it . These days there's been a plethora of analyses about the way technology will reshape  jobs around the world. The topic is ripe with speculation. Will it create an army of destitute willing to wage revolutions to fight to get their stolen livelihoods back? Will it save us from the planet's resource depletion ? Will it allow for people to adapt  and learn new skills to complement the technologies that will automatize (i.e. render

It appears that "hacking" is in the news  lately. Often . And I mean,  big time . The meaning of the word is almost unanimously attached to an act of law-breaking with the clear, malicious intent of stealing someone else's property. But not everyone  grants this buzzword a bad meaning, no. The Zuck is famous for turning its meaning around to make it appear something idealistic --grandiose even. "Hacking," he says, is the trade of heroic, altruistic visionaries who are doggedly determined to make the world a better place --for example, by attempting to  bring internet to the entire Saharan Africa. Forget about the fact that starving people in poor countries and desolate refuge camps can't sustain on a kilobyte diet. Internet, the wacky  technorati  elite trumpets, is to become the end-all-be-all of human prosperity. Hacking, the way I understand it, is gaining access to the inner workings ("the code") of something to be able to manipulate it for