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The Rust Belt
The Rust Belt made the eastern USA rich and prosperous. From 1850 to 1980, the largest American companies were located near the Great Lakes: US Steel, Ford, General Motors, etc. Millions of Americans worked in these factories, at first in difficult conditions, then these conditions improved thanks to the organization of workers into unions. These…
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We’re all in it together
The Republicans, Richard Nixon with the opening up to China in the 1970s and Ronald Reagan with the relocation of manufacturing to Mexico in the 1980s, put quantities of products on the market at lower prices than before. This was presented as a gift to purchasing power. It gave people more disposable income. Landlords then…
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Is Artificial Intelligence good for humans?
Our understanding of how the brain and AI (Artificial Intelligence) work has advanced considerably. The best model of the human brain we have today dates from the 1970s and is based on neural networks. For each characteristic, a knowledge or emotion is associated. We reconstruct concepts whenever we need them. Our memories are linked to…
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What I am worth depends neither on market nor on race
Today, to be worthy you have to…be good-lookinghave a well-paid jobown your own homehave lots of new clotheshave a huge carhave talented childrenknow how to cook trendy dishes with lots of accessorieshave the latest iPhonego to the beauticianwork outhave plastic surgerygo on vacation abroadtake selfiesbe whitehave followerspursue long studieshave perfect teethbe computer literatebe skinnyalways buy…
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Living with dignity
Far-right ideas are gaining influence around the world. Center and right-wing parties are adopting their ideas. They are attractive because they propose to restore dignity by affirming national identity. Indeed, many areas have been abandoned (public services, healthcare, transport, etc.) in favor of the cities. The people who live there are deemed at fault by…
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My electronic device is slowing down and my power consumption is increasing
No, your devices (phone, tablet, computer) are not less efficient. They just have more work to do and as a result are slower and consume more power. They don’t provide you with any more services. Twenty years ago, you could already watch videos, make calls, look at classified ads and consult the press online. There’s…
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EU-Mercosur
Under the EU-Mercosur agreement, goods circulate freely without controls or taxes. There is a health risk for consumers in Europe. We will be creating production conditions that are deplorable in social, human health, animal welfare and environmental terms. For example, 27% of the pesticides used by Brazilian farmers are banned in Europe. Many companies in…
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The power of a King’s Speech
“King Charles III is a constitutional monarch, meaning that he is Head of State. Although his political and executive powers are limited, the Monarch plays a central role in the life of the nation and has a lot of important responsibilities”. (The Role of the Monarch: https://ndla.no/subject:1:9b93cd9e-a45c-428c-a8fb-b4955169efdf/topic:0b7ab7e5-14c7-4118-b81e-c7d27df3aa6d/resource:ad73b390-5142-49e7-ba86-ef25c74d2e28) But what are these responsibilities? What is this…
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Fashion
On average, it takes 10,000 litres of water to produce 1 kilo of cotton, or 2,500 to 3,000 litres for a standard T-shirt (250 to 300 grams of cotton). That’s a lot of water consumption for such a small piece of fabric! 4% of the world’s drinking water is used to produce our clothes. The…
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Stop the all-concrete approach
Concrete dominates today’s buildings. And yet it has major shortcomings. It consumes a lot of water and energy, produces a lot of CO2 and lasts only 80 years at best for reinforced concrete. What’s more, it doesn’t provide sufficient protection from the heat, leading to increased use of air conditioning, which in turn exacerbates global…