humanity
so accepting of Zombie Mode
I see it on their faces every day. It is worn on the numerous blank stares I walk by going to class at UBC. It hangs on those who sit next to me on the bus, staring into nowhere. Zombie Mode. That singularity of mind which is exemplified by destruction of all attentiveness to environment [...]
Kenneth Boulding’s Three Laws of the Dismal Science
I consider myself a highly optimistic person, so I like to temper my optimism by reading through economist Kenneth Boulding’s three laws from time to time. Boulding once said, “Anyone who thinks that steady growth can continue indefinitely, is either a madman or an economist.”
why we consume alcohol
This is definitely the most brilliant economics paper I’ve read in a while.
First the abstract,
It is argued that drug consumption, most commonly alcohol drinking, can be a technology to give up some control over one’s actions and words. It can be employed by
trustworthy players to reveal their type. Similarly alcohol can function as a “social [...]
entering the Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
As of September 2008 we’ve officially entered the end of the oil age. Our economic system based on infinite growth has run into the limits of the physical world. Now that our social systems must rapidly adapt to a new reality of energy scarcity, we must pay special attention to the humans within those [...]
the vanishing of a species?
While I’ve read many books on the problems facing humanity, Geologist Dr. Peter Greetner’s The Vanishing of a Species? was a unique experience. Published posthumously by his son Nick, The Vanishing of a Species? is a look at the problems of the mid to late 1970s that ironically we still face almost forty years later. [...]
models for transformation
Self-transformation is the most important challenge we face as humans. The growing complexity of modern crises require a new breed of human thinking that few are willing to embrace. Because of these challenges, I was intrigued by the idea of Dr. Robin Robertson’s Indra’s Net, combining the mathematics of chaos theory and the mythological language [...]
quote of the day: on technology and learning with C.P. Snow
C.P. Snow’s lecture on the Two Cultures is a classic. Here is another great quotation from C.P. Snow,
Collapse, coming to a theatre near you… hopefully before things fall apart
As independent journalist Michael Ruppert sits in a chair, in a dark room, smoking and saying alarming things my remote desire for business as usual went up in the smoke from the end of his cigarette. I’ve seen Chris Martenson’s Crash Course a few times. I’ve seen the 45 minute version of it too. I’ve [...]
the antidote for determinism
Like the current era, the United States of the mid-70’s and early 80’s were tinged with a new batch of thinkers making strong cases for the reorganization of society. Interestingly, this period corresponds to the time when the United States peaked in domestic oil production. Economic growth slowed to a crawl and people were considering [...]
its all about the terminology
Sometimes a ritual is all in how you look at it. Charles Eisenstein argues that we should think of a ritual as an act of transformation,
