Shifting Toward Authoritarianism
(Copyright 02-05-2025) by Joseph Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) A peculiar and troubling trend is developing among the younger generations within the U.K. and the U.S. as they enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century. Generation Z (aka Gen Z) and a significant slice of the Millennial generation seem willing to forgo many, if not […]
A World at War
(Copyright 09-11-2024) by Joseph B. Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) Global conflict is on the rise. In 2023, the world experienced the highest number of state-based conflicts since 1946, while the past three years (2021-2023) were identified as the most violent in the last three-plus decades, dating back to 1989. While the number of countries involved in […]
The Final Frontier?
(Copyright 2024) by Joseph B. Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) On September 8, 1966, the National Broadcasting Company aired the first episode of Star Trek, opening with the now iconic phrase: “Space, the final frontier,” promising to take viewers “where no man has gone before.” Indeed, for the next three television seasons, the show sought to exploit the […]
Death by Debt
(Copyright 2024) by Joseph B. Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) On December 29, 2023, the U.S. government’s “total public debt outstanding” (the national debt) surpassed the $34 trillion mark for the first time, according to a report released by the Treasury Department on January 2, the first business day of 2024. This enormous figure represents the […]
Where Have All the Babies Gone?
(Copyright 2023) by Joseph B. Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) As the world hurtles deeper into the twenty-first century, demographers are increasingly concerned about a dangerous trend and its inevitable impact on our global society. Demography, the statistical study of human populations, reveals that the developed world is aging while producing too few babies. This short-sighted tendency is […]
A Matter of Trust
(Copyright 2023) by Joseph B. Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) Of late, “artificial intelligence” (AI) is dominating the news. With the recent rollout of ChatGPT (one of the most potent and advanced forms of AI), anyone with a computing device and an Internet connection can directly interface and “converse” with the chatbot—much as with another human—and […]
American Education: A System Destroyed
(Copyright 2023) by Joseph B. Baity (Charlotte, North Carolina) Once upon a time, before World War II, American schools, from elementary through university, were the world’s envy. Year after year, the American education system, including public and private institutions, topped most, if not all, global rankings. Little wonder the post-war American economy, fed by well-educated […]