Selected Presentations & Appearances
a keynote address and slide show, starting with legacy of the Enlightenment period of the 18th Century and onset of major changes in ideological challenges of what had been patterns of authority, and small scale communities. Demographic changes in sharp urban growth and lower infant mortality took place within two generations in political, economic and cultural changes, making urban citizens ripe for feeling world was in continuous process of change (Baudelaire coined it "Modernity" in 1864). Nationalism appeared as a prime vehicle of the state seeking to expand its resources and provide a new collective identity for citizens in the nation-state.. A more aggressive form of nationalism became imperialism, expanding the European nation-state to become empires in Asia, Africa and spheres of influence in the Middle East. Two world wars led to their retrenchment. A new start on modernization began with the United Nations in 1945, which combined as its mission, peace-keeping, with a new form of altruism: lifting the poorest of the poor countries in 8 "millennium development goals" with specified targets in various areas, from eradication of poverty to improvement in condition of being a woman. In 2015, a larger set of goals and strategic evaluations were devised. My address ends considering China as the continuing driver of development by its cultural matrix and new investments in high-technology.
a keynote address and slide show, starting with legacy of the Enlightenment period of the 18th Century and onset of major changes in ideological challenges of what had been patterns of authority, and small scale communities. Demographic changes in sharp urban growth and lower infant mortality took place within two generations in political, economic and cultural changes, making urban citizens ripe for feeling world was in continuous process of change (Baudelaire coined it "Modernity" in 1864). Nationalism appeared as a prime vehicle of the state seeking to expand its resources and provide a new collective identity for citizens in the nation-state.. A more aggressive form of nationalism became imperialism, expanding the European nation-state to become empires in Asia, Africa and spheres of influence in the Middle East. Two world wars led to their retrenchment. A new start on modernization began with the United Nations in 1945, which combined as its mission, peace-keeping, with a new form of altruism: lifting the poorest of the poor countries in 8 "millennium development goals" with specified targets in various areas, from eradication of poverty to improvement in condition of being a woman. In 2015, a larger set of goals and strategic evaluations were devised. My address ends considering China as the continuing driver of development by its cultural matrix and new investments in high-technology.