Documents human development 96 results

"The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) mobilized global commitments to promote health, socioeconomic, and sustainable development. Trends indicate that the health MDGs may not be achieved by 2015, in part because of insufficient coordination across related health, socioeconomic, and environmental initiatives. Explicitly acknowledging the need for such collaboration, the Meikirch Model of Health posits that: Health is a state of wellbeing emergent from conducive interactions between individuals' potentials, life's demands, and social and environmental determinants. Health results throughout the life course when individuals' potentials – and social and environmental determinants – suffice to respond satisfactorily to the demands of life. Life's demands can be physiological, psychosocial, or environmental, and vary across contexts, but in every case unsatisfactory responses lead to disease. This conceptualization of the integrative nature of health could contribute to ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation across actors and sectors to improve individual and population health – leading up to 2015 and beyond."

"There is a widely held conception that progress in science and technology is our salvation, and the more of it, the better. This, however, is an oversimplified and even dangerous attitude. While the future will certainly offer huge changes due to such progress, it is far from certain that all of these changes will be for the better. The unprecedented rate of technological development that the 20th century witnessed has made our lives today vastly different from those in 1900. No slowdown is in sight, and the 21st century will most likely see even more revolutionary changes than the 20th, due to advances in science, technology and medicine. Particular areas where extraordinary and perhaps disruptive advances can be expected include biotechnology, nanotechnology, and machine intelligence. We may also look forward various ways to enhance human cognitive and other abilities using, e.g., pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering or machine-brain interfaces - perhaps to the extent of changing human nature beyond what we currently think of as human, and into a posthuman era. The potential benefits of all these technologies are enormous, but so are the risks, including the possibility of human extinction. This book is a passionate plea for doing our best to map the territories ahead of us, and for acting with foresight, so as to maximize our chances of reaping the benefits of the new technologies while avoiding the dangers."

"In The Untrapped Mind, two leading futurists reveal the breakthrough thinking techniques they've developed to liberate the mind from its old assumptions, and sensitize it to the earliest signals of change. Edie Weiner and Arnold Brown show how to overcome both personal and institutional biases, to see the big picture. Learn how to recognize when trends aren't linear, and when tomorrow won't be 'just like today'. The authors show how a football game can help clarify priorities in attracting and retaining customers; how the history of railroads can put the Internet into perspective; how the 'Law of LargeNumbers' helps one recognize the drivers behind such powerful forces as deviancy and terrorism; and much more."

"This article examines the impact of the International Labour Organization's concept of Decent Work on development thinking and the academic literature. We attempt to answer the question of what makes a development initiative successful by comparing the decent work approach to the United Nation Development Programme's Human Development concept (in conjunction with the human development indicator). We consider that the latter has been one of the most successful development concepts ever to have been launched, while the impact of decent work by comparison has been limited. Our hypothesis relating to the question of what makes a development initiative successful has three fundamental components: first, a solid theoretical foundation has to justify the launch of a development concept. A second vital factor is the availability of sufficient national and internationally comparable data that enables researchers and policy makers alike to apply the concept, preferably by means of a synthetic indicator. Third, the political will and institutional structure of the development institution that launches a concept is a key factor, particularly if data availability is limited as countries then have to be persuaded to generate new data."

"This report introduces the OECD's beta AI Capability Indicators. The indicators are designed to assess and compare AI advancements against human abilities. Developed over five years by a collaboration of over 50 experts, the indicators cover nine human abilities, from Language to Manipulation. Unique in the current policy space, these indicators leverage cutting-edge research to provide a clear framework for policymakers to understand AI's potential impacts on education, work, public affairs and private life."

"¿Dónde ocurren realmente las cosas? En todos los lugares del mundo menos aquí, en todos los instantes futuros menos ahora, nos dice Alba Rico. Esta radical deslocalización de los hombres con respecto al mundo sitúa a la humanidad en una perspectiva posthistórica y en un tiempo prepolítico y presocial. Sin embargo, Penúltimos días, lejos de un tono alarmista o apocalíptico, es ante todo una reflexión, lúcida y a contratiempo, de los reversos éticos y políticos del mercado, invirtiendo también el sentido en que podemos entender conceptos como el de "deuda", "lujo", "placer", "libertad" o "creencia""

The 21st century is presenting unprecedented challenges to human development. Rapid advances in science and technology are having a widespread impact in all walks of life from jobs, industry, finance to education, health and leisure. Add to this, the tendency towards systemic crises affecting the financial and economic systems and we find ourselves in a dynamically complex environment where uncertainty, unpredictability, challenges and opportunities are the norm rather than the exception. This complex world demands a new type of education; an education that equips people to face the challenges they will find along their lives. This paper calls it education for life and discusses both (i) its fundamental tenets and (ii) the main features of a physical-virtual environment for its realization. This environment is called Phyrtual InnovationGym and is part of the strategic work of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Rome, within the Italian school system. The InnovationGym represents both: (1) an environment to realize the concept of education for life, and (2) a mechanism to stimulate a gradual systemic innovation across the Italian school system. ""

"Digital technologies have permeated modern life, and their impact on creative work has been revolutionary. This revolution, as widely noted, has disrupted the making, distribution, and consumption of creative output. On the downside, key concerns include Internet-induced piracy and inequality. Yet digital technologies also accelerate opportunities. So, how can these opportunities be reaped to promote creative work for development? Suggestions here include closing the digital gender gap, promoting appropriate intellectual property rights, and providing digital literacy. More needs to be done to understand the benefits and limitations of digital technologies on creative work for human development."

"Capitalist society in its progression stage has created a pronounced contradiction.On the one side, productive forces and technology have been developed towards a more humane social stage while, on the other, surplus value has come to belong exclusively to the private owners of capital. This has led to class stratification and moral dilemmas. The consequences of these contradictions lie in various forms ofalienation, as well as in the positions and outcomes of labour and labour struggle.The materialisation of this process is verified in the form of giant corporations and is conditioned by social development (industrial revolution and internationalisation processes). The effects of such social, economic and technological development have led to a deepening of the global class structure and to social reification, expressed in three classes: workers; managers; and capital owners. Constellations of divisions are based on the role that individuals actually adopt in certain economic relationships and social life, and their position in the realm of productive forces."