As the owner of a fitness club, I have a unique opportunity to talk in depth with people about their health.  Good health is arguably the most important aspect of living a healthful life.  Despite this, most of us routinely fail to get the exercise we know we need.  The excuses are diverse: “I’m too tired,” “I’m too busy,” and the ever-popular, “I don’t have time.”  The problem with these…

Unfortunately for the progress of the human race we seem to know very little about how to govern ourselves and the result is a lot of guesswork without apply much science or logic. But there is a means for better understanding of how our system of society or macroeconomics actually functions, which I have developed and which I can supply.

The past history of macroeconomic thought contained several impotant steps toward this development of this science, but it fell short in recent…

Most people in the West believe that Pakistan is an unstable country on the verge of imminent collapse or an explosion of violence. It is consistently portrayed—by politicians, policymakers, and…

A very interesting book review over at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists caught my eye this morning. In it, Tad Daley takes a look at the dawn of the nuclear disarmament movement as documented by Lawrence Wittner in his 2009 book Confronting the Bomb. Wittner takes as his jumping…

Last week, the Global Peace Index 2012 (GPI) indicated that the world is more peaceful this year than in 2011. But how should we interpret this in light of the more sober conclusions of the latest Happy Planet Index (HPI)?

The Global Peace Index…

If you are having difficulties viewing the webcast, please click here.

Carnegie UK Trust presents original research on the relationship between advocacy groups, citizens, and international organizations that regulate trade, markets, and consumer policy.

To watch this and other Carnegie Council videos AFTER the event, go to our…

A few days ago, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker tweeted a link to the 2012 Global Peace Index (GPI), a metric published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, saying "the world is more peaceful in 2012." The GPI calculates peace using 23 indicators, including political terror, internal conflicts,…

(It's 6:00 a.m., any day of your choice in August…

If you are having difficulties viewing the webcast, please click here.

According to innovative diplomat Carne Ross, many of our government institutions are short on money, ideas, and efficiency. What can we do, ourselves, to create lasting and workable solutions? How can we also find senses of meaning and community, both so elusive in the…

Rain

A liquefied slice of heaven fell on a rose petal one day

It toggled, turned, danced and swayed

As it moved, it shone different shades of red and purple hue

The shades changed as it made its way gliding down the velvety rue

Then another drop of diamond fell gently on the red carpet as it exuded sweet perfume

That one too made its way to…

If you are having difficulties viewing the webcast, please click here.

Tibi Galis, executive director of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, discusses the question "What does it mean to prevent genocide?" and the distinction he sees between genocide prevention and military intervention policies.

To watch this and…

LIVE WEBCAST June 12, approx 1:15 PM ET (UTC/GMT -4 hours)

If you are having difficulties viewing the webcast, please click here.

In 1930, Keynes predicted that by 2030, we'd be working a 15-hour week; but he underestimated our appetite for wealth. Robert and Edward Skidelsky explain why Keynes was mistaken, and…

We are very pleased to announce the newest class of Global Ethics Fellows (bios below). We will be considering one more class of fellows before the end of the summer—again focusing on geographical and topical diversity—so please send us any other…

A brief commentary on Serbia's newly elected President that my wife and I co-authored for The Montreal Review:

Serbia is headed down the drain-again. Or so the analysts would have you believe. The surprising defeat of Serbia's Western-oriented, pro-reformist President Boris Tadic (47.31%), by the former arch nationalist, Tomislav Nikolic (49.54%) in the presidential elections…

If people in the Middle East could democratically choose what country they lived in, would they choose the one they are in now?

Amidst all the talk of an Arab Spring, the fragility of the Arab state is often forgotten.

Whereas developed…

We called him 'Bapu' and he called us 'Bapu' too! Every time we visited Hanuman Sarange's farm, Bapu would greet us "Ram Ram Bapuuu" with a faint smile on his wrinkled face. A few months passed like this and when we got some time alone, I asked bapu about his life and how he ended up with his brother. He started talking, looking away in void, as if his life story was…