K-SEC
Meeting Summary
January 19, 2015
Here is a summary of the materials we read at the K-SEC meeting on Jauary 19, 2015
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A. Attendees (in ABC order):
Ishiguro, Kanzawa, Kotake, Nishimura, Nishiwaki, Okai, Sadayasu, Sekiguchi, Terasaki, Tomozawa, Tsurumoto, Umemura (Total of 12)
B. Materials read:
1. What’s in a name: JAXA wonders what to call Hayabusa 2 destination - Kanzawa
Mainichi Shimbun article dated January 11, 2015 reports that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Hayabusa2 asteroid exploration project is facing a critical decision: what should the asteroid be called?
The asteroid, the destination of Hayabusa 2, currently has the provisional designation "1999JU3." JAXA will decide its official name, but it'll have to follow detailed rules set by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Under the IAU rules, an asteroid's name must not be the same as another asteroid; must be easy to pronounce; must if at all possible be only one word; be 16 letters or less; and abide by public standards of order and decency. In addition, if an asteroid is named after a politician or military figure, that personage must in principle have been deceased for 100 years or more. The IAU also rejects commercial names.
More than 600,000 asteroids have been identified in our solar system and all sort of names have been used. It is quite common to use names inspired by mythology like Izanagi, Amaterasu, Yamata No Orochi, etc. In some cases, names of the scientists who made a significant contribution in finding a particular asteroid are used. JAXA does not have the name for the asteroid yet.
2．”Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty - Kotake
This is a Guardian interview (Owen Jones) of French economist, Thomas Piketty, whose book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, has become the most influential book ever published by an economist in a generation (according to Jones).
The book, which was published in August 2013, focuses on wealth and income inequality in advanced economies since the 18th century. Based on his 15 years of research using the mass of data, Piketty presents the reasons why modern capitalism makes wealth more concentrated at the top of the society. He argues that when the rate of return on capital (r) is greater than the rate of economic growth (g) over the long term, the result is concentration of wealth, and this unequal distribution of wealth causes social and economic instability. Then, Piketty goes one step further and proposes a global system of progressive wealth taxes to help reduce inequality and avoid the vast majority of wealth coming under the control of a tiny minority. But he does realize this will be “utopia” and cannot easily or perhaps never be implemented.
The book is voluminous (nearly 700 pages) but considered easy to read without much mathematical models that most economists like to use. He even says
“economists do so just to look scientific and try to impress other people.”
Some people say the Piketty’s theory is a revolution in economic theories but he is not without accusations from others for being too dangerous and anti-capitalistic. But the book is unlike other ordinary books on economics and has a lot of references to history, culture and philosophy. It is selling like a hot cake world-wide and pushing Piketty to stardom.
3．Bio series – Raoul Wallenberg - Sadayasu
We read a biography (Wikipedia) of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish businessman and later a diplomat. He was born to a very prominent Swedish family in August 1912. As a diplomat of Sweden, he is said to have saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews who were about to be massacred by Nazi in the last phase of the World War II. However, with the war approaching its closure, he was mysteriously captured by Soviet army which was advancing into Hungary in early 1945. We never heard of him since. If he was killed, who killed him when and where was he killed? It is still a mystery. Meanwhile, the United States awarded him an honorary citizenship in 1981 for his humanitarian efforts. Israel did the same in 1968.
PS 1). He is likened to Chiune Sugihara of Japan who was a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania at the similar time frame and issued Japanese visa to thousands of Jews freeing from Nazi aggression. Both Wallenberg and Sigihara did it against the orders from their Governments.
PS 2) Raou Wallenberg’s great grandfather (Gustav Wallenberg) was also a diplomat and was once stationed in Japan.
C. Role assignment for February 2, 2015
Current Topic – Sekiguchi
Current Topic – Tsurumoto
Special - Tomozawa
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