Sensei Michael

 A good post in Quora: https://qr.ae/pyLVmK Basically when the youths of today no longer see they have the same hope for a better life that their parents have, the nation goes boom.

I have previously written about why Singapore (and in fact many nations) are going through difficult times politically. I have found a nice graphic recently that displays this very well. I encountered this graphic when reading about the rise and fall of dynasties in China. Singapore, like China then, started from a lower wealth and population base back when we started our journey as a nation. Under capable men, backed by a population willing to make the necessary sacrifices for their future, Singapore grew rapidly...and ran into the present situation. Singapore's relative productivity level (relative to what it was in the growing years) has fallen as our population numbers and demands grow beyond what we can provide for. Population demands is especially interesting - what used to satisfy no longer does, and the populace clamour for bigger, better things. It is like the satiation effect of a drug. You want more and more as the previous "high" no longer satisfies. Wealth c...

I consider myself a student and follower of Mr Xenakis and his works on Generational Dynamics . It has influenced how I see my children and students and my relationship with them, and also how I see the politics of my country Singapore (where I am a political and community activist). Generational Dynamics is based on a simple idea: That societies and nations make mistakes and then learn lessons from those mistakes. But generations grow older, retire and die, and are replaced by new generations who are too young to remember those mistakes and those lessons. When that happens, the mistakes are repeated. Generational dynamics explains a lot about history. It basically implies that people will ALWAYS forget the lessons of history, because of how generational memory of history create generation gaps, and how these generational gaps create forces that change history. It also explains why history tends to repeat itself about every 80 years, and why the Chinese saying 富不过三代 (wealth does not tr...