Decline. And the characteristics that contributed to those declines were Massive National debt, United States has 23 trillion and growing. Just the interest on it alone is greater then the Gross Domesticproduct of some nations. I like President Trumps state of the union speech the other night except for one thing. He didnt talk about cutting a single Government Program or even the rate of increase in spending. This is the only nonpartisan thing that happens in this town is spending area you can always get agreement on more. The second contribution to the decline of great nations and superpowers is uncontrolled immigration without assimilation. We want people to come to america but we want them to come legally and in an orderly fashion and then to the assimilated like the immigrants of the past and become fully american, not hyphenated americans as we have to often today and then theres the loss of a moral sense contributing to the decline of great nations. In America Today as cole port
We just have taken whatever fever dream of a Technology People had in the 1960s and said right, were going to take that in our current pocket. Its never how technological change works. Very often its how we think about it. As we see our lives the way we behave, the way we interact with people at political institutions,our organizations , the office, we see that and we imagine what technology does is it just drops in and it replaces one little bit of what we do and nothing else changes. This is similar to theblade runner problem we have. You have artificial humans and yet people are still making calls from payphones. So we always or almost always adapt to take advantage of the new technology and the adaptation process is not always pleasant but it always happens. Its usually necessary and we prove to be very adaptable and contorting ourselves to make the Technology Work for us or being contorted because you work for an organization, you have to do what the boss of the Organization Says
Tv military historian Michael Hankins talks about Fighter Pilot culture. From the National World war i u museum in kansas city, mystery. Its my pleasure to welcome dr. Michael hankins. He directs courses on air power history and national strategy. He recently publicshed an artice in the air power history journal and is writing a book that exposes the relationship between pilot culture and the development of military aircraft. He earned his phd from kansas city university. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me in welcoming dr. Michael hankins. [ applause ] all right. Ill try to not keep you from the reception. Ill be quick. I wanted to start off by talking about something that happened about a year ago, last june in 2017. There was an air force f15 flying over syria. This is not what you expected to hear in a world war i lecture. Stay with me. It shoots down an iranian drone, an unmanned air vehicle. About two weeks later, a second almost identical event happened and i dont know about yo
Start talking about technology. The first thing is im well aware that many of you have no idea who i am and so thank you for showing up out of the spirit appear to gossip. I think it speaks very well of you that i know theres some really, really big names at the festival and i feel very honored to be among them so thanks for coming. So who am i . A few things. I write a column called the undercover economist for the financial times. Thats the pink newspaper thats really good. I recommend it. Thank you, sir. The second thing is i present bbc radio. I present a show for the Bbc World Service called 50 things that made the modern economy. All about numbers and i would think about numbers and how numbers sometimes lead us astray and sometimes help us understand the world. I also have a podcast with a gentleman called Michael Lewis and them gentleman called Malcolm Gladwell called Cautionary Tales which is all about things going wrong come sometimes in tragic ways and sometimes in amusing w
Writers festival. This is 45 minutes. Please welcome tim harford. [applause]. Thank you very much everyone. Host i dont believe in long preambles but i thought i should say a few words. I am well aware the many of you have no idea who i am printed as a thank you for showing up on the spirits of pure curiosity. It speaks very well of you. Even though its a really big name for the festival. I feel very honored to be amongst them. So who am i, few things. Already called the undercover columnist for the Financial Times. It is really good. I recommend it printed thank you sir. [laughter]. The second thing is im with radio. I chauffeur the media world service, fifty inventions that shaped the modern economy. And how we think about numbers and how numbers sometimes lead us astray. They help us understand the world. And i also have a podcast with a gentleman called Michael Lewis and malcolm. Read Cautionary Tales force all about things going wrong and sometimes in amusing ways. And what we can