The ancient Babylonians started the madness we now know as skyscrapers that reach to the skies as a monument to man's ego and technological advancement.

At a rumoured height of only 300 feet, the Tower of Babel did not quite get close to God. But it earned them the curse of the confusion of a multiplicity of languages.

The Babylonians would be shocked to discover that their tower would today be like a mere anthill compared to the humongous structures we construct today, structures that reach the dizzying heights of 400 metres and above.

For years, the West dominated the race to poke the skies. Back in school it was constantly drilled into our heads that the Empire State Building, the ill-fated World Trade Centre and the Sears Tower were the tallest buildings in the world. They were all in America.

They spoke of the might of America, its capacity to dominate the world in every sense, even by the sheer physicality of the buildings that graced its cities.

But in recent times, the madness of reaching for the skies has shifted eastwards.

Malaysia's Petronas Towers enjoyed a brief spell in the 1990s as the world's tallest buildings before giving way to Taiwan's Taipei 101.

Other Asian giants include Shanghai's Jin Mao Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre and Hong Kong's Two IFC. Two IFC and Taipei 101 have, as the figure in the latter suggests, 101 floors.

The engineering arrogance that drives man to build these structures seems to parallel the general state of the economy and national self-worth.

For years, the US had the momentum until the economic rot started to set in a decade ago. With the slide of the dollar, the escalation of credit and general indebtedness, the Americans have seemed to give up the Babel contest.

In the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis, Asians have reigned as the latter day Babylonians. The region seems to have found a new confidence, a belief in itself, in its ability to achieve anything it sets its mind on.

China is seething with so much confidence that they plan to fly to the moon and plant the red flag on its barren landscape like Neil Armstrong did in 1969 for America.

With a successful moonwalk just a couple of weeks ago, it cannot be long before the quest for the skies becomes a lunar achievement.

Meanwhile, the Babel momentum has now shifted away from Asia and to the Gulf, the land of the original Babylonians. The madness has come full cycle.

The literal and allegorical references to Babylon in the Bible as the land of excesses are now being lived out in Dubai, which boasts a 700-metre tower that upon completion will reach a mind-boggling 160 floors.

This will quickly be followed by a monstrous tower a kilometre high. Jeddah plans to construct a tower almost two kilometres high.

At this rate, some builder somewhere will surely reach God.

Africa hasn't featured much in these conquests, and is content to watch from the sidelines. Africa's tallest buildings jostle in at a modest 50 floors.

Terrorist attacks of the 9/11 type and the biblical curse of confusion are perhaps the better-known risks of this business of reaching for the skies.

The issue that has not been well publicised is how pressure on the land squares with the effects of global warming as sea levels rise.

In Bangkok they do not have too many of these sky-aiming structures, but they are now quite familiar with the notion of a sinking city, even as demonstrators pursue the more urgent business of engaging the police and the government in running battles around the streets.

Shanghai has both the third and the sixth tallest buildings in the world. The city is built on marshy ground, at the mouth of the Yangze, Asia's longest river. It is probably not the best location for skyscrapers with Babylonian ambitions.

More than sixty years ago, the authorities realised that the city was sinking due to excessive pumping of ground water.

A bizarre decision was taken to pump treated water back into the ground. It helped stabilise the ground for decades. But now, the city has started to sink again, under the weight of numerous gargantuan towers.

This is a common cyclical phenomenon in a country anxious to play in the biggest leagues in whatever endeavour you care to think about. If it's not health, it's the environment.

All easy fodder for the grand goal of notching up yet another proud achievement - the biggest this, the fastest that, and on and on it goes.

The prospect of land subsidence as sea levels rise is going to be a major challenge for this particular city. Babel becomes the man who built his house on sand.

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There can't be more bizarre ways to treat a smoking addiction than beating the hell out of the smoker and hopefully expel the demons of the addiction. This is what some people did in Malaysia recently.

A chain smoker and his wife who suffered from asthma and liver disease received the thrashing treatment from relatives who smashed their heads on a table, and beat them senseless in an effort to cure them. They both died.

Two lives lost to rampant superstition amongst rural communities miles away from the glittering Petronas Towers that define the Kuala Lumpur skyline.

Professor Ken Kamoche is an academic and writer.