A question of utility
A question of utilityPatents are protected by governments because they are held to promote innovation. But there is plenty of evidence that they do not THE Great Exhibition, staged in London in 1851, was intended to show off the inventive genius of Victorian Britain. In doing so it sparked a hardfought debate on intellectual property. On one side were public figures horrified at the thought of inv
Time to fix patents
Time to fix patentsIdeas fuel the economy. Today’s patent systems are a rotten way of rewarding them IN 1970 the United States recognised the potential of crop science by broadening the scope of patents in agriculture. Patents are supposed to reward inventiveness, so that should have galvanised progress. Yet, despite providing extra protection, that change and a further broadening of the regime in
アジアと第二次世界大戦
靖国神社の境内ほど７月の東京の夜を過ごすのに心地よい場所はないだろう。檜つくりの神門は深い色を湛えて荘厳な構えである。銀杏並木の参道を歩けば、両側から蝉の声が聞こえてくる。神門の向こうには菊の紋章を染め抜いた紫幕が垂れ下がる拝殿が見える。道はちょうちんで照らされ、ここにやってきた人の大半はうきうきした夏祭り気分で、浴衣などを着ていかにも華やいだ雰囲気だ。飲み食いを楽しむ彼らのそばを神輿と担ぎ手が通り過ぎるとさらにお祭り気分が盛り上がる。 こういった靖国神社の夏の行事は日本の敗戦日、８月１５日でクライマックスを迎える。まるで１９世紀のロンドン、バーソロミューの市を思い起こさせるように、祭りの間は靖国神社の境内は屋台と人で埋まっている。しかし、ここではみんながそろって楽しい祭り気分に酔いしれているわけではない。深い悲しみが刻まれた表情をした一群は、かろうじて生き残った旧日本軍の元兵士たちや遺族
Read all about us
Read all about usPearson sells the FT, and may sell its stake in The Economist IN RECENT years a variety of global names in journalism have been put forward as potential buyers of the Financial Times. But it came as a surprise when, on July 23rd, the FT’s owner, Pearson, announced that it was selling the newspaper to Nikkei of Japan, for £844m ($1.3 billion). Pearson wants to concentrate on its ed
The internet’s fifth man
The internet’s fifth manLouis Pouzin helped create the internet. Now he is campaigning to ensure that its design continues to evolve and improve in future AT A glitzy ceremony at Buckingham Palace this summer, Queen Elizabeth II honoured five pioneers of computer networking. Four of the men who shared the new £1m ($1.6m) Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering are famous: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, aut
Ark wanted
Ark wantedAfter a flood and a plague of escaped animals, some blame God's wrath. Others blame poor disaster-mitigation infrastructure LAST weekend Begi, a 16-year-old hippo, briefly became the most internationally famous resident of Tbilisi. After a flash flood had inundated the city's Mziuri Park and most of its zoo late on June 13th, the dazed behemoth found herself wandering around the Georgian
The dawn of artificial intelligence
The dawn of artificial intelligencePowerful computers will reshape humanity’s future. How to ensure the promise outweighs the perils “THE development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Stephen Hawking warns. Elon Musk fears that the development of artificial intelligence, or AI, may be the biggest existential threat humanity faces. Bill Gates urges people to be
Mobilegeddon
By LS THE timing is awkward, to say the least. On April 21st Google, the world’s biggest online-search engine, will start implementing another major overhaul of its mobile-search algorithm. This is likely to penalise many websites, which is why some have called the change “mobilegeddon”. It comes less than a week after the European Union accused the firm's search engine of systematically giving fa
Full to bursting
THE Sistine Chapel in Rome is one of the holiest sites in Christendom, the place where innumerable popes have been elected across the ages. It is also a popular tourist destination. The Vatican Museums (of which the chapel is, to many, the jewel in the crown) attracted a record 5.89m visitors last year, almost as many as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is nearly five times bigger
The wear, why and how
The wear, why and howFor smartwatches and other wearable devices to become mainstream products will take more than just time “IN THE beginning was Apple. All things were made by it; and without it was not anything made that was made.” If technophiles were to write their own Testament, these might be the opening lines. Apple’s ability to redefine the appeal of whole categories of computing has attr
How Singapore gained its independence
TRIBUTES are pouring in for Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, who died in the early hours of March 23rd (Singapore time). But Mr Lee’s grand stature belies the oddity of the island city-state, separated from the southern tip of Malaysia by a narrow strait, which he helped to build. Only 30 miles (48km) across at its widest point, it takes up little more than half the space occupied b
The wise man of the East
The wise man of the EastLee Kuan Yew made Singapore a paragon of development; but authoritarians draw the wrong lessons from his success IF YOU seek his monument: look around Singapore. Prosperous, orderly, clean, efficient and honestly governed, it is not the work of Lee Kuan Yew alone. But even his severest critics would agree that Mr Lee, who died early on March 23rd (Singapore time) at the age
The log-on degree
The log-on degreeCollege in America is ruinously expensive. Some digital cures are emerging WILLIAM BOWEN, a former president of Princeton, calls it “Harvard envy”. Other American universities try to emulate the Ivy League, which raises costs. They erect sumptuous buildings, lure star professors with fat salaries and hire armies of administrators. In 1976 there were only half as many college burea
Aerotropolitan ambitions
Aerotropolitan ambitionsChina’s frenzied building of airports includes work on city-sized projects POLITICIANS in London who have been debating for years over whether to approve the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport might find a visit to Zhengzhou—an inland provincial capital little known outside China—an eye-opening experience. Some 20,000 workers are labouring around the clock to bu
No entry
No entryAs the world’s refugee problem grows, Japan pulls up the drawbridge AROUND 9m people have fled their homes in Syria. Over 3m have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. But thousands more have fanned out across the world, some to as far away as Japan. There, they have found the drawbridge up. The world’s third-largest economy has yet to grant asylum to a single Syrian. The treatment meted
A tricky business
A tricky businessData-driven underwriting contains great promise and grave perils INSURANCE rests on the idea of imperfect knowledge. Since its creation in the 17th century, insurers have sought to amass lots of policies in each class of risk they cover. They do so not only to make money, but also to be safer. This is the law of large numbers. Insurers don’t know exactly where risks lie. By insuri
Made in China?
Made in China?Asia’s dominance in manufacturing will endure. That will make development harder for others BY MAKING things and selling them to foreigners, China has transformed itself—and the world economy with it. In 1990 it produced less than 3% of global manufacturing output by value; its share now is nearly a quarter. China produces about 80% of the world’s air-conditioners, 70% of its mobile
Cheap, but not nasty
Cheap, but not nastyIn AirAsia, Tony Fernandes has created an airline in his own image IN 1976 Tony Fernandes, aged 12, found himself being put on a plane to London from Kuala Lumpur by his father, who wanted his son to become a doctor and had enrolled him at a fancy boarding school associated with the medical profession. Mr Fernandes did not become a doctor. Instead, his father's decision to send
Shinzo Abe talks to The Economist
AS HE campaigns for a snap general election due on December 14th, how does Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, plan to put his widely expected victory to use? Will he move faster on economic reform, or concentrate his energies on efforts to change Japan’s war-renouncing constitution? How did he get on with China's President Xi Jinping when the two leaders met in Beijing last month? What are his pl
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