the Beijing Olympics should be the last 20th century Olympics.

London (and Paris could have done the same) should be the first 21st century Olympics.

being two-time Olympic host veteran, and with nothing in particular they need to prove to the world (as far as i can see), London would be the perfect place to dial down the whiz-bang hollywood/broadyway theatrics and distinguish itself with a truly revolutionary Olympics.

that would be an Olympics that celebrates human achievement, but puts it in the proper perspective as ultimately being dependent on the health of the entire planet (the ecosystem as well as all the people who live in it).

the Beijing Olympics is the jaw-dropping logical conclusion of a tradition that puts human (and, implicitly, national) achievement above everything else, including nature, the commonality of all people across the planet, the well-being of the athletes themselves, even (to some extent) the very joy and health benefits of athleticism.

the London Olympics could be the start of a new tradition that celebrates human achievement within nature and irrespective of nationality, ethnicity, religion, and the rest of it.

of course, these themes already exist in embryonic form.  but London has a chance to make it more explicit, for example, by eliminating, or at least minimizing, the absurd excesses of large-scale, whiz-bang theatrics, and by focusing on making the Olympics 2012 a completely sustainable undertaking with minimal consumption of unrenewable energy and resources and minimal pollution.

the focus would be on doing better while doing less:  ingenuity, resourcefulness, perseverance, and cooperation; creativity, optimism and hope in the face of adversity and scarcity; and emphasis on a more humble human presence on the planet, in harmony with the rest of the ecosystem.

with such themes in mind, London should not care a whit about wow-ing spectators with a billion fireworks, flying angels, armies of performers, and giant animations (as cool as those were).

Olympics 2012 should wow us with showing the world how much can be done with as little as possible.

A Japanese city would be a great city to carry on such a new Olympic tradition after London, as the Japanese pride themselves for their resourcefulness and ingenuity in the face of scarcity.

(actually, Paris, also a two-time Olympic host veteran, would have been just as well placed to do this.  too bad someone did not have the vision to propose a dual London-Paris hosting.  that would have been a significant step into making the Olympics truly trans-national.

also, i wonder if it would be too radical or crazy to introduce a new category of athletes, a sort of "People At Large" category: refugees, multinationals, non-nationals, and so on, basically those who either by force of circumstance do not have a nation or prefer not to identify with any single nation, but with humanity in general.)

Cynicism is intellectual treason.

Nokia does aesthetics. LG does aesthetics. The phones aren't as hyperaesthetic as the iThing, but for the money I'd rather have a Nokia with a real keyboard than an iPhone with a virtual keyboard that looks bleeding-edge cool but is impossible to type on.