Link to PDF of article "The statistician´s guide to Utopia: The future of growth"

My 2008 article "The statistician´s guide to Utopia: The future of growth" is available in full-text (PDF) here.

Interview on individual utopianism

On Wednesday this week I met with Jostein Gjertsen of NRK P2´s Verdibørsen for an interview on individual utopianism. The interview will air in less than a week.

Link to future of growth article (PDF)

In the right-hand sidebar with an overview of articles available online, I have added "The Statistician´s guide to utopia: The future of growth" (2008).

Norwegian article on world population in 3rd millennium now available online

My article (in Norwegian) "Statistikerens guide til utopia II: En demografisk analyse av øko-visjoner om befolkningsnedgang i det tredje årtusen" is now available online in full-text, in University of Stavanger´s Open Research Archive. See PDF here.

Lecture on green economics/the future of growth in Kristiansand 23/2

Tomorrow I will give a brief lecture/introductory talk on "Grønn økonomi - Visjoner og muligheter" [Green economics - Visions and possibilities] at a seminar/theme night organised by The Green Party in Kristiansand, Norway, along with André Tribbensee. My talk will be based on my 2008 article "The statistician´s guide to Utopia: The future of growth".

Defining "utopian realism"

In an email exchange via the biosemiotics email list (web address now added to "Some related academic links", right margin) related to my recent blog post "Why I joined the ISCB", Edwina Taborsky asked me to define what I mean by "utopian realism", the name of this blog. My reply read like this:

[A] utopia is commonly understood as a desirable yet unachievable - impossible - future state, e.g. of a society. By "utopian realism", I mean an attitude to the state of the world that is realistic (e.g. attainable, likely) in the long term. In the short term, a state closely resembling status quo is typically what is most likely to occur. In the long term, however, it is often very unrealistic to envision a continuation of a state closely resembling status quo - and conversely, the possible future states of society etc. which we regard as totally unrealistic today, are often more likely to materialize in the long term than is the status quo. A utopian realist, then, is one who takes the long view, who has the courage to fight for desirable ideas and states of affairs (no matter how their short-term prospects look like), and who has the insight that the status quo is just a passing phenomenon.

Fun fact

Google "mainstream economics angus maddison" and you will find my paper 'THE STATISTICIAN'S GUIDE TO UTOPIA: THE FUTURE OF GROWTH' (kudos to Academia.edu).

Growth, global species articles offered by Encyclopædia Britannica

I see that Encyclopædia Britannica is offering access to my articles The global species and The statistician's guide to Utopia: The future of growth as "additional content". In order to access the full-text PDF one has to become a Britannica Online Premium Member. According to the info given, such membership gives access to 300.000 magazine articles - mine two included.

In a content note, Encyclopædia Britannica says about each article that it "has not been reviewed by the editors of Encyclopædia Britannica."

Where is this content from?

Journals and periodicals are supplied by EBSCO Information Services. These articles appear as they did in the original publication, often as a PDF scan of the original document, and have not been reviewed or altered by the editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Depending on the publication, the original author may have been stating facts or opinions.

Why is this content at Britannica?

Britannica Online offers a variety of content in addition to the Encyclopædia Britannica. This additional content is from high quality sources and provides a valuable service for our users, but visitors are reminded to consider the sources when conducting research. Items from Encyclopædia Britannica are written by Nobel laureates, historians, curators, professors, and other notable experts and checked by our editors to ensure balanced, global perspectives.

The wolf wars: Vision 2040

The article-in-the-making I referred to a month ago, "Visjon 2040: Fra overlagt rovdrift til Utopi Buane" was finished, as a first draft at least, December 3rd (30.000 characters). Samtiden, the Norwegian general journal, once again responded quickly. They welcome a second, revised version of the text. If the revision goes according to plan (to be submitted early January), the article can hopefully be published in issue 2 or 3 of 2011.

Contents
* En hybrid forteller
* De to Norger
* Rendalen og verden
* Konspirasjon og kunnskap
* To natursyn
* Nederlagets symboler
* Levende bygder - på trygd
* Sannheten om sau og ulv
* Fra status quo til hva nå?
* Ikke mer skjebnetro!
* Rasjonelt og rasjonelt, fru Blom
* Rikdommens paradokser
* Norge 2040 (Utopi Buane)

Society for Utopian Studies

There actually is a Society for Utopian Studies (based in Toronto) - publishing a journal called Utopian Studies!

About the Society
Founded in 1975, The Society for Utopian Studies is an international, interdisciplinary association devoted to the study of utopianism in all its forms, with a particular emphasis on literary and experimental utopias. Scholars representing a wide variety of disciplines are active in the association, and approach utopian studies from such diverse backgrounds as American Studies, Architecture, the Arts, Classics, Cultural Studies, Economics, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Gender Studies, History, Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Urban Planning.

Although many Society members are involved in social activism or communitarianism, the purpose of the Society itself is to study utopianism rather than to pursue utopian projects. The Society sponsors an annual scholarly meeting and publishes the journal Utopian Studies and a newsletter, Utopus Discovered, which contains information about upcoming conferences and workshops, and details on publications in the field.

RePEc; MPRA

I have registered at the RePEc author service, which ties economists in to its bibliographical database. All RePEc material (articles, books, work papers etc.) is freely available - not just to registered users.

In the same process, I have registered the University of Tartu Faculty of Philosophy at RePEc - and I am making The statistician's guide to Utopia I: The future of growth available through the Munich Personal RePEc Archive (MPRA) (and in effect EconPapers).