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Infinite Worlds: A Journey through Parallel Universes | 2015
Infinite Worlds: A Journey through Parallel Universes | 2015 Ambakisye-Okang Dukuzumurenyi 21 Views • 5 years ago

The multiverse hypothesis, suggesting that our universe is but one of perhaps infinitely many, speaks to the very nature of reality. Join physicist Brian Greene, cosmologists Alan Guth and Andrei Linde, and philosopher Nick Bostrom as they discuss and debate this controversial implication of forefront research and explore its potential for redefining the cosmic order. Moderated by Robert Krulwich and featuring an original musical interlude, inspired by parallel worlds, by DJ Spooky.

This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

The World Science Festival gathers great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that allows a broad general audience to engage with scientific discoveries. Our mission is to cultivate a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.
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Original Program Date: June 13, 2009
MODERATOR: Robert Krulwich
PARTICIPANTS: Alan Guth, Brian Greene, Andrei Linde, Paul D. Miller, Nick Bostrom

Introduction with Brian Greene 00:00

Musical interlude 25:15

Participant Introductions 33:49

How do we know there was a Big Bang 35:50

How do we get from a single universe to a multiverse. 47:14

Is the universe expanding and how fast? 01:00:25

What does six dimensional space look like? 01:08:00

How do we know there is a multiverse? 01:13:48

Bryce DeWitt on the multiverse concept 01:24:40

What if we assume the universe is the simulation hypothesis? 01:37:14

This program is part of The Big Idea Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

The African Debt Trap: China’s Profitable Business of Enslaving Africa | 2021
The African Debt Trap: China’s Profitable Business of Enslaving Africa | 2021 Ambakisye-Okang Dukuzumurenyi 31 Views • 5 years ago

The President of Sri Lanka started pushing to build a new port in a small town at the south end of Sri Lanka because ambitious projects like this make you look like a good, caring politician. The only problem was that everyone, including their own government studies estimated that the port wouldn’t be profitable. But then the President announced that the project had been greenlighted - with help from none other than China.

The port opened in 2012, and the forecasts were right - no one was interested in using this new port. And it’s finances were in the hole. So the President went back to China for another loan, this time for $757 million.So what did they do? They took out another loan from China, this time for $1 billion dollars, to help pay off that upcoming debt payment. It’s safe to say that Sri Lanka found itself at the mercy of the Chinese government. It was drowning in debt payments and was left with an expensive port no one wanted to use. And now, China owns 85% of that port and managed to squeeze 15,000 acres of land around that port as well.

Debt traps, debt diplomacy is nothing new. China is probably just taking a page out of the original master at this game: the US. Why did the US go through all this effort to indebt these Less-Developed Countries, or LDCs? Simple: when you’re a global superpower, you need a lot of resources to stay on top: oil, energy, raw materials, nations under your influence so you can call them up when you need something like votes at the UN, and so on.

Today, China is in a similar position - they’re desperate for energy, money, and resources to continue their astronomical growth to the top.Who knows in the long run what will happen with China's colonialism. China has the ability to be forceful when needed, especially in their sphere. History would say China will follow the old model, but things have radically changed before. China is making mistakes but continues to sell these projects.

Mos Def - Umi Says
Mos Def - Umi Says Angela Malele 25 Views • 5 years ago

People's Party with Talib Kweli arriving soon!
A weekly interview show with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics.
1st episode on Sunday, June 9th at youtube.com/UPPROXXvideo

From 1999 Album: "Black On Both Sides"

Born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn, NY, Mos Def began rapping at age nine and began professionally acting at age 14, when he appeared in a TV movie. After high school, he began acting in a variety of television roles, most notably appearing in 1994 on a short-lived Bill Cosby series, The Cosby Mysteries. In 1994 Mos Def formed the rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics with his younger brother and sister, and signed a recording deal with Payday Records that didn't amount to much. In 1996 his solo career was launched with a pair of high-profile guest features on De La Soul's "Big Brother Beat" and Da Bush Babees' "S.O.S." A year later, in 1997, Mos Def released his debut single, "Universal Magnetic," on Royalty Records, and it became an underground rap hit. This led to a recording contract with Rawkus Records, which was just getting off the ground at the time, and he began working on a full-length album with like-minded rapper Talib Kweli and producer Hi-Tek. The resulting album, Black Star (1998), became one of the most celebrated rap albums of its time. A year later came Mos Def's solo album, Black on Both Sides, and it inspired further attention and praise. Yet, aside from appearances on the Rawkus compilation series Lyricist Lounge and Soundbombing, no follow-up recordings were forthcoming, as the up-and-coming rapper turned his attention elsewhere, away from music.

During the early 2000s, Mos Def acted in several films (Monster's Ball, Bamboozled, Brown Sugar, The Woodsman) and even spent some time on Broadway (the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog). He simultaneously worked on the Black Jack Johnson project with several iconic black musicians: keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic), guitarist Dr. Know (Bad Brains), drummer Will Calhoun (Living Colour), and bassist Doug Wimbish (the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Living Colour). This project aimed to reclaim rock music, especially the rap-rock hybrid, from such artists as Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who Mos Def openly despised. What made Black Jack Johnson so anticipated though was not so much the supergroup roster of musicians or even Mos Def himself, but rather the lack of black rock bands. Following the demise of Living Colour, there were few, if any, that had attained substantial success. Mos Def hoped to infuse the rock world with his all-black band, and during the early 2000s, he performed several small shows with his band around the New York area. In October 2004, he finally delivered a second solo album, The New Danger, which involved Black Jack Johnson on a few tracks.

Two years later, after a few more acting roles — including the Golden Globe-winning Lackawanna Blues and the Emmy-winning Something the Lord Made, both of which were made-for-television movies — Mos Def released his third solo album, True Magic (2006). A contract-fulfilling release for Geffen, which had absorbed Rawkus years prior, the album trickled out in a small run during the last week of 2006. Bizarrely, the disc came with no artwork and was sold in a clear plastic case — though its single, "Undeniable," did manage to grab a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance. The Ecstatic, released on the Universal-distributed Downtown label, followed in June 2009; at that point, Mos Def had significant acting roles in Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind (in which he co-starred with Jack Black) and Cadillac Records (he played Chuck Berry).

Extended & Updated Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_def

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