tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76271509346438340522024-03-13T05:59:28.328-06:00Taking Readings A reader's journal sharing the insights of various authors and my take on a variety of topics, most often philosophy, religion & spirituality, politics, history, economics, and works of literature. Come to think of it, diet and health, too!Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.comBlogger1458125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-6186909325207306302022-09-14T07:42:00.010-06:002022-09-14T07:48:03.539-06:00Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century by Brad DeLong (and a Big Change)<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> Big Announcement! (Sort of): I'm moving my blogging to Substack. This review & my review immediately preceding that--plus any occasional essays or whatever--will be posted on Substack. You can find me </i><a href="https://sgreenleaf.substack.com/" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">here</a><i>. I'll keep this site open, but soon I won't post anything here. And, although I didn't necessarily intend it, everything (so far as I can tell) that I've ever posted there is now on my Substack feed. But for old-time's sake, here's my review of Brad DeLong's </i>Slouching Towards Utopia<i>. Enjoy here now; then subscribe at Substack. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="post-header" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px;"><h1 class="post-title long unpublished" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: var(--font_family_headings, var(--font_family_headings_preset, "SF Compact Display", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol")); font-size: 1.625em; font-weight: var(--font_weight_headings_preset, bold); line-height: 40.1375px; margin: 0.378em 0px 0px;">Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century</h1><h3 class="subtitle" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--print_secondary, #666666); font-family: var(--font_family_headings, var(--font_family_headings_preset, "SF Compact Display", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol")); font-size: 20px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.16em; margin: 8px 0px 0px;">By J. Bradford DeLong</h3><div class="post-subheader meta-subheader" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; padding: 24px 0px;"><div class="left" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; display: flex; gap: 8px;"><div class="facepile bylines-facepile" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); 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opacity: 0; position: absolute; right: 16px; top: 16px; transition: all 0.2s cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1) 0s; width: 40px;"><br /></div></div></a></figure></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>This book provides a comprehensive narrative of a “long twentieth century” (1870-2010) that further informed my thinking about this era. An outstanding work of narrative history should work like a strong magnet among iron filings, pulling diverse pieces (facts) into a coherent pattern without distorting the given shape (reality) of those diverse pieces. And this is what DeLong has accomplished in this work. He draws together into a discernible pattern (to wit, a story) about the intersection of unprecedented economic realities (improvements, mostly) and their effect on national and international politics, and how various thinkers and political leaders responded to these new realities.<br /><br /><br />Back (well, way back) in the day when I was a political science and history major, I learned a lot about nineteenth and twentieth-century history from some fine professors and reading prominent historians writing about this era. But I realize now that economic history as a sub-discipline and political-economy as a whole were mostly overlooked. The economics of this period of extraordinary economic development and innovation was more or less taken for granted as the backdrop for the political and social history that dominated my curriculum. Until now, has there been a book that has filled this void? If so, I missed it. Columbia historian Adam Tooze has addressed several big chunks of this period quite admirably, but again, no one that I’ve read provides such an informed, comprehensive narrative of the economic and political-economic history of this era.<br />Another merit of this book comes from a point that DeLong makes about himself; that is, he considers himself both an economist and a historian. I assumed his merits as an economist; he’s worked in the Treasury Department and as a professor of economics at Berkley. And at the beginning of the book, there are facts and figures about economic development over the course of human history and about how economic development skyrocketed beginning about 1870 with the advent of business corporations, modern research labs, and cheaper, more efficient transportation and communication systems. But on the whole, the book is surprisingly light on figures, tables, charts, and formulas; you know, the stuff you’d expect to see from an economist. The flip side (the historian side, if you will) of this is DeLong’s narrative skill in recounting the course of events and thinking of this period. DeLong’s prose has a light touch that avoids economics jargon and avoids falling into ponderous academic prose. Indeed, DeLong’s prose includes a certain playfulness, such as his repeated touch phrase “the market giveth, the market taketh away, blessed be the name of the market.” Another instance of this light touch is his seemingly alternating designation of Hayek as both “genius” and “idiot” and as a Jekyll and Hyde. (Designations that seem spot-on from my perspective in the cheap seats. ) DeLong also frames much of his history as a yin and yang between Hayek’s market mania and Karl Polanyi’s emphasis on traditional rights and communities. And while these two deities of modern political-economic thought and their acolytes receive a lot of attention, John Maynard Keynes—the appropriate reverence seems to demand the full name—presides like Zeus or Thor over these two lesser gods. And as the high-god, Keynes seeks to impose order on the economic universe in the course of a continuing struggle against economic chaos left in the wake of the lesser gods (including old Marx). DeLong describes Keynes as brokering a marriage of the insights of Hayek and Polyani. If it’s a marriage that could be made to last, it will no doubt remain fruitful, but in these times, nothing seems stable. And, I should note that not only has DeLong confirmed by priors about Hayek (and the market in general), he has also confirmed my priors about Keynes as one of the great figures of the twentieth century. (My assessment was established after reading Zachery Carter’s work on Keynes, <a href="https://sgreenleaf.substack.com/p/the-price-of-peace-by-zachary-carter-21-06-24">The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes</a> (2020).)<br /><br />I want to also note that I’m impressed with DeLong the historian. Not only does he write an engaging and informed narrative, but he also displays insights into the nature of the historical enterprise. For instance, toward the end of the book, while discussing the Great Recession of 2008, he compares his take with that of Adam Tooze in Tooze’s book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36950522-crashed?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RHjHHzKWT3&rank=1">Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World</a> (2018). DeLong considers how events in that era (as an example) balance between contingency and necessity; choice and structure. Tooze is more a proponent of structure and necessity; DeLong of contingency and choice. DeLong, however, concedes that future historians may come down closer to Team Structure-Necessity. Perhaps, but then we always wonder, don’t we: what if the Archduke had not been assassinated?<br /><br />I could go on further at great length about the contents of this book, perhaps in a later essay. But I might find such an exercise futile and genuinely counter-productive. I can’t write as authoritatively or with as much felicity as DeLong about these events. Ergo, you should go immediately to his book and read it. I’m confident that you’ll find it well worth your time and enjoyably spent.<br /><br /><br /></div></div></div></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-38677384777333037142022-08-19T12:29:00.002-06:002022-08-19T17:50:42.343-06:00Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age by Robert D. Kaplan<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1l5Glqsd8k8uKVypkqZts2hT-5alFipVht26_2yTrn8EIfPfJZ0bbrvxceHEnu5xmQ5KHUdxyQyw79AMM-xviujUBBnPBJzoE9b0EtTxMpX5bzQJF-9-80m_QFy__NHofHG1vXDDrl87hEb68M7LEsDJU68Q0xMwelvY4dS9HdJopZcLHlLh0pWR-NQ/s400/Adriatic%20by%20Kaplan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1l5Glqsd8k8uKVypkqZts2hT-5alFipVht26_2yTrn8EIfPfJZ0bbrvxceHEnu5xmQ5KHUdxyQyw79AMM-xviujUBBnPBJzoE9b0EtTxMpX5bzQJF-9-80m_QFy__NHofHG1vXDDrl87hEb68M7LEsDJU68Q0xMwelvY4dS9HdJopZcLHlLh0pWR-NQ/w263-h400/Adriatic%20by%20Kaplan.jpg" width="263" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Kaplan's most personal & reflective book</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I’ve read many of Robert D. Kaplan’s books, and he’s not an easy writer pigeonhole. Is he a travel writer, or a journalist, or an historian, or a geopolitical strategist, or a literary critic, or a memoirist? In different books—and sometimes all in one book—he qualifies for all of these designations. In fact, in <i>Adriatic</i>, we find Kaplan at his most diverse and his most personal. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The bones of the book come from a journey (in segments) that Kaplan made that began in Rimini, Italy, and then moved onto Ravenna, Venice, and Trieste (all in Italy), then through Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania, culminating on the Greek island of Corfu. The common theme is the ties of these cities and nations—these lands—with the Adriatic Sea; and, in a larger sense, with the Mediterranean and the diverse civilizations and regimes that have existed in proximity to the Mediterranean. Around the Adriatic, Rome, Byzantium, Venice, the Ottoman Empire, Yugoslavia, and other nations and groups have all encountered one another, along with Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Part of the story involves commentary and analysis from another author known as a journalist and geopolitical strategist; lots of reports of conversations with locals—politicians and government officials, academics, historians, and other writers. As one might expect, one comes away with insights into the social, economic, and political situations that Kaplan observes in these lands. All of this is worth the price of admission, but Kaplan’s observations and reporting are not what drew me to read this book twice over. (In reviewing my highlights and notes to write this review, I realized that I gobbled down the book during my first reading, and I would be wise to savor it on a second reading. My hunch proved correct.) </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In fact, several more layers in the book take its value far beyond reporting about current events in each locale. To start with, Kaplan makes his trip into a literary tour. Even before the beginning of his account of his journey, we are introduced to quotes from Italo Calvino; beginning in Rimini, he discusses the work and reputation of Ezra Pound; in Ravenna, we are treated to Dante; in Venice, he discusses Thomas Mann (<i>Death in Venice</i>); in Trieste, James Joyce (where Joyce wrote <i>The Dubliners</i> and other works) and Joseph Brodsky; and eventually on down to Corfu, where he discusses the Nobel Prize-winning Greek poet George Seferis. And in addition to these (and other) literary lights, Kaplan mentions authors most often considered “travel writers." In Corfu, for instance, it’s Lawrence Durrell; in Venice, it’s James/Jan Morris and Mary McCarthy; in Trieste, it’s Sir Richard Francis Burton (the nineteenth-century adventurer and translator) and Claudio Magris; and in (the former) Yugoslavia he cites Rebecca West and her 1941 book, <i>Black Lamb and Grey Falcon</i>. These lists of authors are but a sampler. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span>But there is another layer down in this book. For Kaplan is not a name-dropper; he’s a reader. His admiration for the authors and works that he discusses is frank (</span><span>especially for historians and their histories).</span><span> In fact, he rues his lack of training as a historian and linguist. But he denigrates his own experiences and reporting too much. True, those who haunt archives and who bring to life earlier ages do a great service for which they are rightly hailed. Their work brings history to life, not simply as so many tales from the past, but as a set of events and actions that reveal human intentions and projects in all their magnificent diversity. History provides crucial self-disclosure for the human race, by which we can develop the self-consciousness of our species. Kaplan, through his reading and writing, advances this project with a book like this even more than what he could do via a more formal work of history. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Digging down another level, Kaplan reveals his own quest for self-knowledge and continuing self-criticism. While Kaplan rues that his formal education ended with an undergraduate degree, I fear that graduate school might have spoiled his taste for broad interests and first-hand knowledge. And, he proves himself a committed, life-long autodidact, which is the mark of any truly educated, cultivated person. Certainly, Kaplan has role models who are great writers who’ve not been hampered by their (relative) lack of formal education. (A favorite of Kaplan and mine is Patrick Leigh Fermor, who was kicked out of school as a young man and went on the write some of the finest English-language prose of the twentieth century, and who quoted Horace to a captive German general on Mt Aetna on Crete during WWII—a great story there.) Whether a historian, philosopher, travel writer, or journalist, to be at the top rank one must know when to adjust one’s focus, when to use the microscope and when to use the telescope as one searches for knowledge across a variety of landscapes. Kaplan does this quite well. (Another fine example of this ability is the late historian-essayist John Lukacs, whose focus could shift without blurring from the “Modern Age” to <i>Five Days in London, May 1940</i>.) </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The final aspect of this book is the deepest and perhaps the most rewarding. This is Kaplan writing a memoir, a confession. Kaplan notes that in writing this he was in his mid-60s, and he’d been to many of these locations before. (See his <i>Mediterranean Winter</i> (2004.) In this sense, this book is similar to his earlier <i><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2016/03/about-romania-review-of-in-europes.html" target="_blank">In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond</a></i> (2016), which reviewer Timothy D. Snyder described as revealing</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><blockquote>[T]he confident, poetical Kaplan, striving as ever in his writing for the proverbial, but also a reflective, political Kaplan, seeking at times to submerge his gift for romantic generalization in respectful attention to the ideas of others. That tension — between an aesthetic sense of wholeness and the intellectual acceptance of complexity — is the real subject of the book, both as autobiography and as geopolitics. </blockquote></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So, this book: it’s as much a memoir and autobiography as it is a book of travel and political analysis. As in the earlier book, Kaplan chastises himself for his earlier support of the Iraq War, having (mistakenly) thought that it would entail the overthrow of a dictatorship along the lines of the 1989 fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. But he doesn’t dwell on this mistake or the controversy surrounding his earlier book in the Balkans (<i>Balkan Ghosts</i> (1993) that influenced the Clinton administration, making the President reluctant to become actively involved in stopping the Serbian genocide. (There, Kaplan was an early proponent of intervention, notwithstanding any impression taken from <i>Balkan Ghosts</i> by others.) </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But again, I have to emphasize that Kaplan pulls the camera out further, for a wider focus, for a wider reflection upon himself. A sampling: </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The real adventure of travel is intellectual, because the most profound journeys are interior in nature. (Location 89)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">[I]t is the books you have read, as much as the people you have met, that constitute autobiography. (Location 95)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . .</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Because travel is a journey of the mind, the scope of the journey is limitless, encompassing all manner of introspection and concerned with the great debates and issues of our age. (Location 96)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Travel is psychoanalysis that starts in a specific moment of time and space. And everything about that moment is both unique and sacred—everything. (Location 99)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Originality emanates from solitude: from letting your thoughts wander in alien terrain. I boarded a ferry from Pescara to Split a half century ago to feel alive thus. For this reason I am alone now in a church in Rimini in winter. The lonelier the setting, the crueler the weather, the greater the possibilities for beauty, I tell myself. Great poetry is not purple; it is severe. (Location 106)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The mystery of travel involves the layers revealed about yourself as you devour such knowledge. Thus, travel must lead to self-doubt. And I am full of doubts. (Location 113)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">[A]s I matured and became more interested in abstract matters rather than in atmospherics—in Confucian philosophy itself rather than in merely the setting for it, in the geopolitics of Italian city-states rather than in the art they produced—[Ezra] Pound’s evocative allusions to such matters, idiosyncratic as they might be, arguably nutty and crackpot for significant stretches, kept me from altogether deserting him. (Location 347)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Travel leads to books, and good books lead you to other good books. And thus, I have become an obsessive reader of bibliographies. (Location 385)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . .</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The more I learned, the more aware I became of my own ignorance and autodidacticism. Only in late middle age would I become intellectually comfortable in my own skin, confident that the truest and most revealing insights sometimes involve seeing what was right in front of your eyes as you traveled. The future, I have learned, is often prepared by what cannot be mentioned or admitted to in fine company. The future lies inside the silences. (Location 535)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The train is the perfect place to think and read. (Location 602)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . .</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Even just one day of travel constitutes a moment of lucidity that breaks through the grinding gears of daily habit, so that it becomes a bit more difficult to lie to oneself. I travel in order not to be deceived. Camus writes, “I realized…that a man who’d only lived for a day could easily live for a hundred years in a prison. He’d have enough memories not to get bored.” Very overstated perhaps, but not if that one day was a day of travel. (Location 603)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">[B]ecause there is no redemption, there is only confession. (Location 629) </span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Such a person, such a writer, who strives for such a degree of self-knowledge, self-understanding, who recollects opportunities realized and lost, and who engages in a such on ongoing project of genuine education--of drawing out one's self, as does Kaplan--deserves our admiration for giving voice to so much that we may pass over or have missed in ourselves. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I hope that this gives you a sample of the many layers of this book and the reason why Kaplan would worry about how this book might be categorized in a book store! It’s many books, many styles, all in one book. It’s a terrific read; a travelogue for the mind; a reflection on many times and places. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-37344702406507767622022-08-07T09:21:00.005-06:002022-08-12T14:59:30.966-06:00Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from Within on Modern Democracy by Tom Nichols<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><blockquote><span> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghH32BVpkRWmS1DVf38i_lUO0p_e7p9WqHpEyFRqXtCm4UvobtmV3554hvNO2qS8qCQniO2-rC4sP8U_w0m7ZCW7Y7sDKbSiZU900qdiJRoApScDmo28x5eATYvY-LynT2D9fOVbzeEkINd1kHjiGn3PI5wg4BAiSQ8shFZWn5WcvWaLJFyuUozwQBdg/s500/Our%20Own%20Worst%20Enemby%20cover%20by%20Nichols.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghH32BVpkRWmS1DVf38i_lUO0p_e7p9WqHpEyFRqXtCm4UvobtmV3554hvNO2qS8qCQniO2-rC4sP8U_w0m7ZCW7Y7sDKbSiZU900qdiJRoApScDmo28x5eATYvY-LynT2D9fOVbzeEkINd1kHjiGn3PI5wg4BAiSQ8shFZWn5WcvWaLJFyuUozwQBdg/w265-h400/Our%20Own%20Worst%20Enemby%20cover%20by%20Nichols.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Should have received more publicity on publication</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><br /><br /> The end of democracy will come not with mobs burning the Capitol, or food riots, or juntas of national salvation, or demagogues leading the peasants to burn the castles of the rich. It will end, instead, with highly educated, technically proficient, otherwise decent men and women with families and children and mortgages and car payments who will decide that uninformed, spoiled, irascible voters simply can’t produce coherent demands other than “just get it for us,” and they will act accordingly. <br /><br /><br />This will not happen after a revolution, or a disaster, or a landmark court case—or even after a pandemic. It will happen as part of a million small decisions made every day without the input of the common citizen, as the fulfillment of an unspoken agreement between technocratic elites and the working and middle classes. Rights and participation and transparency will be shelved—as they too often were during the Cold War in the name of national security—as luxuries simply too expensive to indulge. The population will not be impoverished proles, but reasonably educated, comfortable people who have decided that “democracy” means a certain standard of living.<br /><br />Nichols, Thomas M., <i>Our Own Worst Enemy </i>(pp. 214-215). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.</blockquote></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-8755e7b9-7fff-b3f5-e461-f5e38bdd0f78"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we Americans attempt to deal with the crisis of our democracy, we are blessed to have many capable individuals addressing our plight. In no particular order: Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Thomas Edsall, Francis Fukuyama, Yousha Mounk, Max Boot, Tim Miller (and others in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bulwark</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> crowd), Steve McIntosh, George Packer, and others whose names escape me for the moment. Suffice it to say that there are many continuing efforts to better understand our plight. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And, oh, yes, there’s Tom Nichols. Like Applebaum and Frum, Nichols also writes for </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Atlantic</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And like Frum and Applebaum and several of the others, Nichols published a book about this topic in 2017, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Death of Expertise</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I haven’t read that book, but I became familiar with Nichols around that time and have followed his work since then. This includes frequent contributions to </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Atlantic</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and podcast interviews with</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7627150934643834052/3734470240650776762#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charlie Sykes on the Bulwark podcast</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And, to my surprise, I learned that Nichols had published a book in August 2021,</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7627150934643834052/3734470240650776762#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from Within on Modern Democracy</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (OUP). In fact, there’s a bit of an embarrassing story about how I discovered this book, which I detail at the end here.* Suffice it to say that while a year late to the party, I’m glad that I finally arrived. In fact, it may prove to be the best “party” that I’ve attended about this topic. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nichols's argument is straightforward: the greatest problems facing the U.S. and other established democracies come from within, not from abroad. The electorate in the U.S. (and I’ll focus on the U.S., as Nichols does) has been chronically unhappy with elites and the course of the nation. Why is this so? Our situation (at least our material situation) is really pretty good, notwithstanding the challenging events of the first fifth of the twenty-first century: the 9/11 attacks and related events of radical Islamic terrorism; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the crash of 2008; mounting domestic terrorism; the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic crash—all these events were indeed traumatic and cost precious lives and huge amounts of treasure. But for most Americans living in August 2022, life is nevertheless quite good. Again, not to minimize the pain and death associated with the events listed (and others), but Nichols (and I) agree with former Presidents Obama’s statement that there’s never been a better time to be alive. One must acknowledge that our material well-being, as measured by the amount of stuff we have and the quality of life that we can enjoy, is beyond the dreams of even the wealthiest who lived as recently as less than a century ago.</span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what's eating at us? Nichols summarizes his answer in three words: “narcissism, anger, and resentment.”</span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In pursuing this line of thought, Nichols distinguishes himself from others who’ve attempted to diagnose our malaise, including popular opinion. Nichols acknowledges that elites have indeed made mistakes, but then they always do, and the magnitude of those mistakes doesn’t justify the magnitude of the malaise claimed by so many.</span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To arrive at his diagnosis, Nichols, instead of using a searchlight, uses a mirror. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among the unholy triumvirate of narcissism, anger, and resentment, the anger (and resulting grievance) aspect has received the most attention from many commentators. This line of thought goes a long way in explaining the reactions of those who've suffered direct hits to their well-being by way of job losses and declining communities. Many of these losses are rightly attributable to jobs going overseas and to automation (the latter, I think, being the more significant problem regarding jobs). But the number of Trumpists and sympathizers who have suffered these severe losses is rather small. A full explanation of the approximately 40% of the U.S. electorate who vote for Trumpists requires a deeper, more sweeping explanation. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, anyone who knows much about American politics knows that most citizens, including most voters, are shockingly ill-informed about candidates, policies, and how our political institutions function. It’s a fool’s errand to place an articulated, rational set of reasons for the outcome of any election. It’s most often like trying to draw a detailed picture using just black and white (Yes or No? Candidate A or B?) and beginning the picture from a Rorschach ink blob. Nichols illustrates the problems with a couple of tales from my native Iowa: </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce, for example, spoke to a woman who caucused for Sanders in 2016 and then voted for Trump. In 2020, she initially settled on Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as her choice. If Buttigieg didn’t win the nomination, however, she would move from the young, progressive, gay, once-married Buttigieg back to the elderly, right-wing, serially adulterous, thrice-married bigot Trump—a kaleidoscopic change in preferences that only makes sense as a search for a tailored set of narrow promises that would meet her personal satisfaction, rather than the selection of a candidate who must govern across a range of issues. </span><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1306&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Location 1306)</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . . </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another Iowan told the media that she had voted both for Barack Obama and for Donald Trump, “just to shake up Washington, to be honest.” (This is sometimes called the “OOT” voter, the person who voted Obama-Obama-Trump in 2008, 2012, and 2016, respectively.) Had Trump not been available in 2016, she said, she might have gone for—of course—Bernie Sanders. “We’ve just been in a rut so long,” she sighed. </span><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1311&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1311)</span></a></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even as a native and resident of Iowa most of my life (and as a long-time observer of its politics), this makes my head spin. I migrated from Booker to Buttigieg to Biden (I do like those Bs, I guess), but jump to Trump? How can any mind make that leap? But then it wasn’t the mind so much as the emotions that motivated these voters. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Narcissism and resentment (and its manifestation on steroids, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ressentiment</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—thank you, Nietzsche) both reach beyond the surface rationalizations and reasons to reveal the motivating emotional core. I suspect that social scientists tend to shy away from such broad and amorphous concepts that can’t be easily quantified, but happily, Nichols (a Ph.D. in political science and retired college professor) doesn’t shy away from these depths. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In his discussion of narcissism, Nichols draws on the work of American historian and social critic Christopher Lasch. Lasch was active roughly from the 1960s until his death in 1994, and he’s perhaps most remembered for his 1970 work,</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7627150934643834052/3734470240650776762#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Culture of Narcissism</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Nichols cites this work and others in his review of contemporary manifestations of narcissism. One wonders what Lasch would make of our situation today. (N.B. Nichols, like me and others, believes Lasch went too far in his criticisms near the end of his career.) Related to narcissism, Nichols draws on the work of political scientist Edward Banfield to note that when the chips are down, individuals often hunker down into the confines of family rather than seeking out and pursuing the common good. Banfield saw this phenomenon demonstrated in a poor Italian village in the 1950s; Nichols sees this increasingly in contemporary America. Nichols quotes Hannah Arendt to capture the implications of the two different potentials exhibited here: </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idiot is one who lives only in his own household and is concerned only with his own life and its necessities. The truly free state, then—one that not only respects certain liberties but is genuinely free—is a state in which no one is, in this sense, an idiot: that is, a state in which everyone takes part in one way or another in what is common.</span><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=974&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 974)</span></a></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But while there’s plenty of evidence in support of the anger-grievance and narcissism aspect of our current malaise, it’s the resentment aspect that may manifest the most potent motivating and explanatory power to our current malaise. Let me introduce this topic with an extended quote from Nichols: </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Resentment in politics is the externalization of envy. If there is one thing authoritarian governments do especially well, it is the way in which they mobilize resentment as a weapon. Democracy, on principle, is based on the public’s acceptance of regular cycles in which winners and losers exchange places, sometimes unexpectedly. Authoritarians, by contrast, promise stability and equality. They offer placidity by promising, without favor or exception, to make losers of everyone outside of the ruling group. By reducing all citizens to the same miserable condition, they build a constituency among those who are willing to endure oppression as long as the people they hate have to endure it as well. Resentment is about leveling rather than leadership, about vengeance rather than virtue.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1733&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1733)</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;">. . . . </p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Resentment, like narcissism, undermines the civic virtues of tolerance, cooperation, and equal justice, because it fuels demands for rewards and punishments based on jealousy and unhappiness rather than reason or impartial justice.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1739&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1739)</span></a></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And if you thought that mere garden variety resentment seems quite enough to invade and perhaps destroy the garden of democracy, then there’s resentment on steroids: ressentiment.</span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again, Nichols provides an informative overview:</span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a more evocative word, <i>ressentiment</i> (imported from French by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche), that captures this vague but powerful envy of others. Mere “envy” or “resentment” isn’t enough to express the lasting toxicity of ressentiment. As the writer Joseph Epstein has explained, ordinary resentment is a “quick, stabbing thing, set off by an act of ingratitude or injustice, but that can, fairly quickly, melt away.” But ressentiment is of greater endurance, has a way of insinuating itself into personality, becoming a permanent part of one’s character. <i>Ressentiment</i>, then, is a state of mind, one that leaves those it possesses with a general feeling of grudgingness toward life. . . . So much so that those suffering ressentiment come almost to enjoy the occasions for criticism that their outlook allows them.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1741&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1741)</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 12pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . . </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...philosopher Ian Buchanan describes <i>ressentiment</i> as a “vengeful, petty-minded state of being that does not so much want what others have (although that is partly it) as want others to not have what they have.”</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1754&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1754)</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 12pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . . </span></p><p style="line-height: 2.016; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...in the words of the German philosopher Max Scheler, it is existential envy “directed against the other person’s very nature,” and thus unresolvable: “I can forgive everything, but not that you are—that you are what you are—that I am not what you are—indeed that I am not you.”</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.656; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1758&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1758)</span></a></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And if the citations to Nietzsche, Epstein, Buchanan, and Scheler seem too highbrow, here Nichols provides the comment of an American voter as an exemplar: </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[A]more prosaic example of this kind of resentment in modern America is the voter in Florida who was furloughed from her public sector job during a 2019 budget impasse between the White House and Congress. Initially a supporter of President Trump, she turned on her candidate in helpless anger. “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said. “I thought he was going to do good things. <i>He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting”</i> (emphasis added).</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 30pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=1801&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 1801)</span></a></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After addressing the issue of resentment, Nichols touches on nostalgia, the tendency to idealize and attempt to recover an imagined past. The answer to malaise becomes time-travel; escape to the past when things were “better.” But time travel isn’t an option, time’s arrow flies only in one direction. And even if some aspects of the past were in some measure “better,” they can only be re-created, not re-captured. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nichols also notes that democracy and liberalism often prove boring. There’s no </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Le Mis</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> celebrating the endless wrangling of a congress, legislature, or city council. The flag waving and drama of January 6 proved dramatic, even cinematic, but was not democracy, not the rule of law, and not a future that any sane person would want. Again, reason takes a backseat to the emotional engines that prompt some form of salvation through mindless acts expressing inarticulate dissatisfaction with the status quo. (Fascism, anyone?)</span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This work of Nichols is the most convincing, comprehensive assessment of our current democratic dis-ease that I’ve read to date (although there are many works out there on this topic that I haven’t yet gotten to). Nichols has the analytical mind of a political scientist that he combines with a keen, appreciative eye for the contemporary American scene. He reports coming from a modest background, and while he’s critical of his fellow Americans, he’s not dismissive or despairing of them. He wants us, our nation, to succeed, but he realizes the realities of our (largely) self-imposed self-destructive traits. Nichols has no magic wand, no simple answers; I imagine he hopes, like an experienced physician, that the first step forward in alleviating the malady is to properly identify it. </span></p><br /><p style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many aspects of the book that I haven’t addressed here, and there are some avenues that I would like to have seen Nichols explore (for instance, the work of Rene Girard, whose insights about rivalry, memetic desire, envy, jealousy, resentment, and scapegoating, seem to me to be likely quite applicable who what Nichols is exploring. (But in fairness, I’ve only dipped into Girard to date, although I’m planning a deep dive. But we can’t know everything all at once.) Perhaps it’s best to close with a couple of more brief quotes from Nichols: </span></p><span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: georgia; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can we regain this Athenian sense of honor, civic pride, love of community, self-sacrifice, and deep confidence in our way of life? Or are these virtues now to be lost in a dark sea of grievance, resentment, and envy? </span><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=3414&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 3414)</span></a><br /><span style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . . </span> </span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It cannot come from abroad,” Lincoln warned. “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” </span><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=3425&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Location 3425)</span></a></span></blockquote><p> </p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=3425&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08LZF5TL2&location=3425&review=undefined" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></a></p><div style="line-height: 2.016; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">*And now for my big faux pas: Nichols posted a thread on resentment in contemporary American politics. I "liked" the threat and suggested that he write up his perspective in an <i>Atlantic</i> article. His reply: "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">(said much more in a book)" My humble pie response to that revelation was "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My bad! I've now obtained a copy of OUR OWN WORST ENEMY & will seek to rectify my ignorance. Appreciate very much your commentary & analysis." I hope that this review has in some manner rectified my having missed the boat earlier! </span></span></div><div style="line-height: 2.016; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 2.016; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.016; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.016; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span><p><br /><br /></p><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-36369360057409151452022-07-21T10:41:00.035-06:002022-07-21T10:53:11.784-06:00Faith & Reason: Essays in the philosophy of religion by R.G. Collingwood. Edited with an introduction by Lionel Rubinoff<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN6Tc6nud6vdNjU1S8uEWCGRHYiuc1XN8ZjUprjaGMpZjq-ttqqYJzbnIA2wlwvywXsbC3iY3nXfHssCIgqUB22JI10jEKpnK_pwmEU8cD3bMAtdgRrf0Zpg4ELj7SceeGRGkObynPkI6JyKBjfT2j6k2ipZDtBY7CyCDsDwqhI-ESkOL9ANQkuZmfFQ/s4032/Faith%20&%20Reason%20by%20rgc%20&%20Rubinoff.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN6Tc6nud6vdNjU1S8uEWCGRHYiuc1XN8ZjUprjaGMpZjq-ttqqYJzbnIA2wlwvywXsbC3iY3nXfHssCIgqUB22JI10jEKpnK_pwmEU8cD3bMAtdgRrf0Zpg4ELj7SceeGRGkObynPkI6JyKBjfT2j6k2ipZDtBY7CyCDsDwqhI-ESkOL9ANQkuZmfFQ/w300-h400/Faith%20&%20Reason%20by%20rgc%20&%20Rubinoff.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early Collingwood on religion & philosophy</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><br /></p><span style="font-size: medium;">The essays in this book focus on pieces written by Collingwood early in his career. It borrows extensively from his first two books, <i>Religion and Philosophy</i> (1916) and <i>Speculum Mentis</i> (1924). The essays included were also written during this time period.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />Rather than attempt an exposition of Collingwood’s thoughts manifest in this collection, I’ll simply proffer some observations. Having completed this collection, I’m now diving into <i>Religion and Philosophy</i>, which is the only work of philosophy by Collingwood that I haven’t yet read. My excuse for my tardiness is that it was an early work that commentators have generally slighted. However, my first observation is that it presages many of the themes that Collingwood will go on to explore in greater depth throughout his career. The several portions of <i>Religion & Philosophy</i> included in this collection reveal Collingwood’s concern with “forms of consciousness;” the mind as its activity; the importance of thought; distinctions between disciplines (art, religion, natural science, and history); and the relation of those disciplines to philosophy. We are also introduced to Collingwood addressing idealism and “the Absolute” more directly than what I recall in his later works. (“Realism,” on the other hand, while mentioned in these snippets from <i>Religion and Philosophy</i> and <i>Speculum Mentis</i>, gets a more consistent (critical) treatment throughout his career.)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Now for some more random observations and questions.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Collingwood reveals a significant depth of knowledge and appreciation of Christian theology in his writings. How much of this did he receive at Oxford in classes and seminars, and how much of it came from his reading on his own?</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">In reading Collingwood, one obtains the sense that these matters are not strictly a matter of professional interest and curiosity. And from probably the best single introduction to Collingwood now available, Fred Inglis’s <i>History Man</i>, we know that young Collingwood made a deliberate entry (Baptism and Confirmation) into the Anglican fold while a student at Rugby. I suspect this religiosity drives his formidable intellect in addressing the issues of God, existence, Atonement, the Absolute, and other theological and philosophical terms he considers in these selections.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Collingwood addresses philosophical idealism more directly here than in any work I’d read previously. In the late 1930s, Collingwood bristled at being labeled an idealist by Gilbert Ryle. (The accusation really riled up Collingwood.)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Collingwood refers to “the Absolute” on various occasions in this collection of works. It seems to me that the Italians, Croce, Gentile, and De Ruggiero, display their greatest influence on Collingwood during this early period. So far as I can discern, talk of “the Absolute” as a working term fades from Collingwood’s vocabulary after the early 1920s.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Collingwood’s reluctance to be caught up in dichotomies is revealed early in his career. Although it's not until <i>Speculum Mentis</i> that I think that he overtly references a dialectical method for this thinking, I find the seedlings of this attitude are on display here. Yet, while he avoids easy dichotomies, he also reveals his penchant for sharp distinctions. For instance, distinctions between thought and feeling; will and thought; art, religion, science, and history; and so on. Collingwood wields his logical scalpel to reveal distinctions, without intending to sunder relationships that constitute the reality he’s investigating. Collingwood uses anatomy to enhance our understanding of the more important physiology.</span></li></ol></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />I will stop here, as I’ve already begun my plunge into <i>Religion and Philosophy</i> for a complete, careful reading. I intend to provide a more careful consideration of Collingwood’s ideas set forth in that book (and then, I think, back for a second reading and consideration of <i>Speculum Mentis</i>). Before closing, I should say that Rubinoff has done an important service by providing this introduction to Collingwood’s early work at the intersection of religion and philosophy. This collection and commentary enhances our appreciation of Collingwood’s life-long project, and it provides deep insights into philosophy, religion, and Christianity. </span><br /><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-82316552187683027262022-07-04T15:58:00.000-06:002022-07-04T15:58:09.538-06:00The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter: An Appreciation & Reflection for July 4, 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcI3PX0ZfYybG3cRiIP6dv0tL3haofP6iveWlumTIQg_sUNz9jKXrmdPROEiLHXeJQTNphLHxXzbJ1KPLku33SDfyduNCHq4Ki4FMeMyNcxTWR2zBSHF2eQV9UlxJD_PDZ72oWugIfTK_3nxuuQ1ERclrGjO1H8ZvnKrzy2oTUHV9BvdhajfHAkYOZnA/s500/Paranoid%20Style%20in%20Am%20Politics%20by%20Hofstadter.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="320" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcI3PX0ZfYybG3cRiIP6dv0tL3haofP6iveWlumTIQg_sUNz9jKXrmdPROEiLHXeJQTNphLHxXzbJ1KPLku33SDfyduNCHq4Ki4FMeMyNcxTWR2zBSHF2eQV9UlxJD_PDZ72oWugIfTK_3nxuuQ1ERclrGjO1H8ZvnKrzy2oTUHV9BvdhajfHAkYOZnA/w410-h640/Paranoid%20Style%20in%20Am%20Politics%20by%20Hofstadter.jpg" width="410" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">From a piece first published in Harper's in 1964</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I like to celebrate July 4, Independence Day, by reading ( or most often re-reading) a great work in American history. This year, I re-read Richard Hofstader's essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." Now whatever might have led me to choose this particular essay for this time, you might ask--if you've been living in a cave far from any inkling about contemporary American politics. And note the original publication date: 1964. This date might not mean much to you, but for me, it marked the start of a political coming of age story. In that year, my father, a life-long Republican party loyalist got in the midst of the battle for the soul of the Republican Party. He was a "moderate" Republican in the year when Barry Goldwater and his more radical (so-called "conservative") supporters sought to gain the Republican presidential nomination and take over the party. My dad took a leave from his regular job (in a public opinion research firm) to work for the campaign of Gov. William Scranton (R-PA), who became the leading moderate candidate after the collapse of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's campaign for the nomination. As a result of his position with the Scanton campaign, my dad went to San Francisco to the Republican National Convention, and he took my mom and I with him. My mom had lived and worked in San Francisco during and after the war before returning to her small hometown in Iowa to marry and raise four kids, thus, this was a great treat for a wife and mother. And me? As the oldest of their four kids, it was really a part of an ongoing apprenticeship in politics. And, in the course of the education, I learned a bit about Goldwater, Phyllis Shafley (<i>Not a Choice But an Echo</i>), and John Stormer's <i>None Dare Call It Treason</i>. Not that I read these books (I was neither that nerdy nor that bright), but I had a sense of how whacky these folks were. Yet, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must inform you that my dad, as a loyal Republican, worked on behalf of the Republican ticket that year in which LBJ crushed Goldwater. (Goldwater only carried his home state of Arizona and the Deep South.) I, as the young apprentice, debated on behalf of the right-wing Goldwater against a classmate for a mock election in my 6th-grade class. LBJ crushed Goldwater in our mock election even worse than in the national popular vote--in a town and county that Goldwater carried! An inauspicious start to my career in advocacy, to say the least. In sum, it's all very personal. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But to return to the point, Hofstader's essay is not just informative, but it takes me back and allows me to appreciate the fact that the "paranoid style in American politics" is nothing new, although now it has now developed into an acute, life-threatening variant. Can we learn something from the foray into American history? Indeed we can. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">(N.B. I will quote liberally from Hofstadter's essay: he makes his case better than I can explain it, and given that most readers won't go read the entire original, you can at least get the Cliff Notes version here (with more quotes that Cliff Notes can print). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hofstader opens his essay with these terms and observations: </span></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div><blockquote><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span>Behind such movements [referring to the "far right wing" in 1964] there is a style of mind, not always right-wing in its affiliations, that has a long and varied history. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the qualities of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. . . </span><span>It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant. . . .</span><span>In the paranoid style, as I conceive it, the feeling of persecution is central, and it is indeed systematized in grandiose theories of conspiracy. </span></span></div></blockquote><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=57&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I trust that from these three opening quotes you can appreciate the reason that I find this topic and this essay so pertinent to today. In short, what we're experiencing currently isn't so unique, though I have to say that the threat from the paranoid right is much greater then it was even then. </span></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">[T]here is a vital difference between the paranoid spokesman in politics and the clinical paranoiac: although they both tend to be overheated, oversuspicious, overaggressive, grandiose, and apocalyptic in expression, the clinical paranoid sees the hostile and conspiratorial world in which he feels himself to be living as directed specifically against him; whereas the spokesman of the paranoid style finds it directed against a nation, a culture, a way of life whose fate affects not himself alone but millions of others. <a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=58&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">(Location 58)</a></span></blockquote><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=58&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Indeed, clinical paranoia is an individual phenomenon; political paranoia is a political phenomenon. The greatest question, in either instance, is the source of this disorder. Is it deeply rooted in all humans and only waiting to emerge, or is it an emergent phenomenon that is dependent upon circumstances and perceptions? I'd venture (and I don't believe that Hofstader would disagree) that it's a combination of both human "nature" and the human situation. </span></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></i><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Style has to do with the way in which ideas are believed and advocated rather than with the truth or falsity of their content.</i> <a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=68&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">(Location 68)</a> [Emphasis added.]</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In other words, and as Hofstader states specifically, the paranoid style can be found on both the extreme right and the extreme left. It's a <i>style</i>, not a <i>substance; </i> or at least not a substance that's an articulated political stance anchored in a coherent rational argument. </span></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"></div><blockquote><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">[T]he paranoid style has had a consummatory triumph [that] occurred not in the United States but in Germany. It is a common ingredient of fascism, and of frustrated nationalisms, though it appeals to many who are hardly fascists and it can frequently be seen in the left-wing press. The famous Stalin purge trials incorporated, in a supposedly juridical form, a wildly imaginative and devastating exercise in the paranoid style.</span></div><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=94&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">(Location 94)</span></a></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thus, regardless of its place on the political spectrum from left to right (if we choose to use this popular but limited metaphor), the paranoid style can emerge. Again, it's not a set of beliefs so much as a style. </span></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=94&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"></a></span></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><blockquote style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A distorted style is, then, a possible signal that may alert us to a distorted judgment, just as in art an ugly style is a cue to fundamental defects of taste. <i>What interests me here is the possibility of using political rhetoric to get at political pathology.</i> One of the most impressive facts about the paranoid style, in this connection, is that it represents an old and recurrent mode of expression in our public life which has frequently been linked with movements of suspicious discontent and whose content remains much the same even when it is adopted by men of distinctly different purposes. <a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=83&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">(Location 83)</a> [Emphasis added.]</span></blockquote><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As I emphasized in the quote, Hofstadter finds the "political pathology" revealed in the "political rhetoric." In the course of the essay, Hofstader will range widely over the history of the Republic to identify and explore instances of this pathology. Without directly saying so, Hofstadter demonstrates the old adage that history never repeats itself, but it often rhymes. Or in the words of the Bible, there's nothing new under the sun. <span><b>("</b><span style="color: black; white-space: normal;">The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. </span></span><span style="color: black; white-space: normal;">Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.</span><span>" </span><span>Eclessiastes 1:9-10 (KJV).) This is why we read history: not out of mere curiosity, but out of a need to understand ourselves; for self-knowledge, collectively and individually. </span></span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following quote, drawing upon the insights of his American contemporary, the sociologist Daniel Bell, captures the essence of what we're seeing today from the radical right: </span></span></p><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But the modern right wing, as Daniel Bell has put it, feels dispossessed: America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion. The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialist and communist schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners but major statesmen seated at the very centers of American power. Their predecessors discovered foreign conspiracies; the modern radical right finds that conspiracy also embraces betrayal at home. <a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=320&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">(Location 320)</a><span> </span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hofstadter goes on: </span></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">For the vaguely delineated villains of the anti-Masons, for the obscure and disguised Jesuit agents, the little-known papal delegates of the anti-Catholics, for the shadowy international bankers of the monetary conspiracies, we may now substitute eminent public figures like Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower, Secretaries of State like Marshall, Acheson, and Dulles, justices of the Supreme Court like Frankfurter and Warren, and the whole battery of lesser but still famous and vivid conspirators headed by Alger Hiss. <a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=329&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">(Location 329)</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=329&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"></a></span></div></div><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Of course, the choice item in this list is Alger Hiss, whom we now know, upon the opening of the Soviet archives, was in a fact an active Soviet agent. In short, Whittaker Chambers and Richard Nixon were actually on to something, which goes to show you (forgive me), but even paranoids have enemies. But as the list above indicates, Joe McCarthy, Robert H. Welch, Jr. and his John Birch Society and their ilk were off their rockers. </span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">After completing a tour of American history with examples of the paranoid style, Hofstadter provides us with a summing-up: </span></p><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div><blockquote style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">LET US NOW ABSTRACT the basic elements in the paranoid style. The central image is that of a vast and sinister conspiracy, a gigantic and yet subtle machinery of influence set in motion to undermine and destroy a way of life. One may object that there are conspiratorial acts in history, and there is nothing paranoid about taking note of them. This is true. All political behavior requires strategy, many strategic acts depend for their effect upon a period of secrecy, and anything that is secret may be described, often with but little exaggeration, as conspiratorial. The distinguishing thing about the paranoid style is not that its exponents see conspiracies or plots here and there in history, but that they regard a “vast” or “gigantic” conspiracy as the motive force in historical events. History is a conspiracy, set in motion by demonic forces of almost transcendent power, and what is felt to be needed to defeat it is not the usual methods of political give-and-take, but an all-out crusade. The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of this conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point: it is now or never in organizing resistance to conspiracy. Time is forever just running out. Like religious millenarians, he expresses the anxiety of those who are living through the last days and he is sometimes disposed to set a date for the apocalypse.
. . . . </span></div></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The apocalypticism of the paranoid style runs dangerously near to hopeless pessimism, but usually stops short of it. Apocalyptic warnings arouse passion and militancy, and strike at susceptibility to similar themes in Christianity. Properly expressed, such warnings serve somewhat the same function as a description of the horrible consequences of sin in a revivalist sermon: they portray that which impends but which may still be avoided. They are a secular and demonic version of adventism. . . . Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, the quality needed is not a willingness to compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Nothing but complete victory will do. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated—if not from the world, at least from the theater of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for unqualified victories leads to the formulation of hopelessly demanding and unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same sense of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.</span></blockquote><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This enemy is clearly delineated: he is a perfect model of malice, a kind of amoral superman: sinister, ubiquitous, powerful, cruel, sensual, luxury-loving. Unlike the rest of us, the enemy is not caught in the toils of the vast mechanism of history, himself a victim of his past, his desires, his limitations. He is a free, active, demonic agent. He wills, indeed he manufactures, the mechanism of history himself, or deflects the normal course of history in an evil way. He makes crises, starts runs on banks, causes depressions, manufactures disasters, and then enjoys and profits from the misery he has produced. The paranoid’s interpretation of history is in this sense distinctly personal: decisive events are not taken as part of the stream of history, but as the consequences of someone’s will.
</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hofstader goes on the identify the importance of converts who have defected from the side of the enemy--the Free Masons, the Catholics, the Communists, and have converted to the side of righteousness. Hofstadter comments </span><p></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><blockquote><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another recurring aspect of the paranoid style is the special significance that attaches to the figure of the renegade from the enemy cause. The anti-Masonic movement seemed at times to be the creation of ex-Masons; it certainly attached the highest significance and gave the most unqualified credulity to their revelations. Similarly anti-Catholicism used the runaway nun and the apostate priest, anti-Mormonism the ex-wife from the harem of polygamy; the avant-garde anti-Communist movements of our time use the ex-Communist. In some part the special authority accorded the renegade derives from the obsession with secrecy so characteristic of such movements: the renegade is the man or woman who has been in the secret world of the enemy, and brings forth with him or her the final verification of suspicions which might otherwise have been doubted by a skeptical world. But I think there is a deeper eschatological significance attached to the person of the renegade: in the spiritual wrestling match between good and evil which is the paranoid’s archetypal model of the world struggle, the renegade is living proof that all the conversions are not made by the wrong side. He brings with him the promise of redemption and victory. In contemporary right-wing movements a particularly important part has been played by ex-Communists who have moved rapidly, though not without anguish, from the paranoid left to the paranoid right, clinging all the while to the fundamentally Manichean psychology that underlies both.<br /></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=468&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"></a></span></div><p></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thus, for instance, the infatuation of the anti-Communists with someone like Whittaker Chambers and the loathing of his evil doppleganger, Alger Hiss (who really was of the devil's party). </span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hofstader next turns to the elaborate "proofs" undertaken by those working in the paranoid style: </span></p><p><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the impressive things about paranoid literature is precisely the elaborate concern with demonstration it almost invariably shows. One should not be misled by the fantastic conclusions that are so characteristic of this political style into imagining that it is not, so to speak, argued out along factual lines. The very fantastic character of its conclusions leads to heroic strivings for “evidence” to prove that the unbelievable is the only thing that can be believed. Of course, there are highbrow, lowbrow, and middlebrow paranoids, as there are likely to be in any political tendency, and paranoid movements from the Middle Ages onward have had a magnetic attraction for demi-intellectuals [e.g., Steve Bannon]. But respectable paranoid literature not only starts from certain moral commitments that can be justified to many non-paranoids but also carefully and all but obsessively accumulates “evidence.”
. . . .</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">The typical procedure of the higher paranoid scholarship is to start with such defensible assumptions and with a careful accumulation of facts, or at least of what appear to be facts, and to marshal these facts toward an overwhelming “proof” of the particular conspiracy that is to be established. It is nothing if not coherent—in fact, the paranoid mentality is far more coherent than the real world, since it leaves no room for mistakes, failures, or ambiguities. It is, if not wholly rational, at least intensely rationalistic; it believes that it is up against an enemy who is as infallibly rational as he is totally evil, and it seeks to match his imputed total competence with its own, leaving nothing unexplained and comprehending all of reality in one overreaching, consistent theory. It is nothing if not “scholarly” in technique. McCarthy’s 96-page pamphlet McCarthyism contains no less than 313 footnote references, and Mr. Welch’s fantastic assault on Eisenhower, The Politician, is weighed down by a hundred pages of bibliography and notes. The entire right-wing movement of our time is a parade of experts, study groups, monographs, footnotes, and bibliographies.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> . . . . </span> </span></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div><blockquote><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What distinguishes the paranoid style is not, then, the absence of verifiable facts (though it is occasionally true that in his extravagant passion for facts the paranoid occasionally manufactures them), but rather the curious leap in imagination that is always made at some critical point in the recital of events.</span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>. . . . </span></p><blockquote><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What is missing is not veracious information about the organization, but sensible judgment about what can cause a revolution.</span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>. . . . </span></p><blockquote><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The singular thing about all this laborious work is that the passion for factual evidence does not, as in most intellectual exchanges, have the effect of putting the paranoid spokesman into effective two-way communication with the world outside his group—least of all with those who doubt his views. He has little real hope that his evidence will convince a hostile world. His effort to amass it has rather the quality of a defensive act which shuts off his receptive apparatus and protects him from having to attend to disturbing considerations that do not fortify his ideas. He has all the evidence he needs; he is not a receiver, he is a transmitter.</span></div></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=507&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What triggers the paranoid style. Hofstadter weighs this question and ventures an answer after having noted Norman Cohen's The Pursuit of the Millenium, which documents extreme religious and political movements in medieval times: </span></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The recurrence of the paranoid style over a long span of time and in different places suggests that a mentality disposed to see the world in the paranoid’s way may always be present in some considerable minority of the population. But the fact that movements employing the paranoid style are not constant but come in successive episodic waves suggests that the paranoid disposition is mobilized into action chiefly by social conflicts that involve ultimate schemes of values and that bring fundamental fears and hatreds, rather than negotiable interests, into political action. Catastrophe or the fear of catastrophe is most likely to elicit the syndrome of paranoid rhetoric. <a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=522&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">(Location 522)</a> </span></blockquote></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Are we now in fear of catastrophe? For different reasons and with varying degrees of probability, we are (and in some instances should hold such fears). </span></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As much as I've quoted from Hofstadter's essay, there's a good deal more to it (although it's not very lengthy). Reading and reflecting on this essay reinforces my intuition that it would prove relevant (if I may use that 60s term) to our own times. </span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">. . . . </span></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=394&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"></a></span></p><p style="color: #1f1f1f; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><a class="location-text" href="https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01KW9AWY2&location=83&review=undefined" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-43741526677180241332022-06-25T08:52:00.002-06:002022-06-25T08:54:35.285-06:00Thoughts on the Law, the Legal Process, Constitutional Interpretation, Rhetoric & Evidence, Originalism, and Dobbs <span id="docs-internal-guid-56454ad6-7fff-7757-bbe6-37cdd09cb006"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some thoughts: </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Law is a set of codes & standards of conduct enacted through speech. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. To be effective, the law must have legitimacy; to wit, people must recognize the validity of the courts & the state in promulgating & enforcing the laws. Of course, force becomes the final arbiter, but every regime needs to economize on the use of force. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. In order for a system of laws to be effective, they must be seen as (in some measure) legitimate, just, & predictable (non-arbitrary). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Courts at all levels write opinions or speak from the bench seeking to justify their decisions (at least in American courts). All of these statements seek to justify a decision, from small claims to the Supreme Court. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Decisions must be justified by reference to the evidence in the case (testimony and non-testimonial exhibits) and application of the law(s) to the particular case; i.e., what is the appropriate law to apply. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. Our laws come from acts of the legislature (Congress, state legislatures, city councils, etc.) and from judicial precedent (common law). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7. Every decision requires an “interpretation” of the law to the circumstances; sometimes it's quite simple because the law (precedent or statute) is quite specific, and sometimes the law is frustratingly vague. But each decision requires an act of interpretation and application of the relevant law. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8. And while there are some principles & maxims about how to interpret & construct the laws, they are few & not often binding; and this is especially so in matters of constitutional law. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9. In arguing a legal position, a lawyer or judge is constrained only by the rules of sound rhetoric. The judge or lawyer can call upon precedent, logic, experience, common sense, intuition, or other considerations that the decision-maker (the judge or jury for the lawyer; the parties & the public for a judge) considers legitimate and persuasive. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10. The consequences of a decision always play a role in the decision-maker's final decision; sometimes those consequences are acknowledged and apparent; sometimes consideration of the consequences is </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sub-silentio</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And consideration of the consequences goes beyond the parties to the lawsuit and considers the public and posterity as well. (E.g., What precedent does this set?) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11. “Originalism” in constitutional law is an interpretive and rhetorical conceit. Originalism seeks to fix the meaning and application of a constitutional provision to the meaning and intention claimed to have been held by the original drafters of the provision. In some instances, there is no contention about such a provision; for instance, in order to qualify to serve as president, a person must be at least 35 years of age and born in the U.S. The statement of this provision is precise, concise, and utterly unambiguous. As to “right to bear arms,” “due process of law,” and “cruel and unusual punishment,” to take three familiar examples, the issue becomes more complex. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12. My preferred argument against an originalist-only interpretation and application of the more ambiguous terms in the Constitution (e.g., “due process” and “cruel and unusual punishment”) is that the Framers—and those who later amended the Constitution—were not so foolish as to believe that their words were not open-ended and therefore would need constant interpretation and application. Would they not have known and even encouraged those coming after them to revise, refine, and further elucidate those concepts? Indeed, would they not consider posterity utterly foolish if posterity did not continue the project of building and refining a constitutional order? The ink was barely dry on the original Constitution before Madison (its primary author) drafted a bill in Congress to amend the document (the Bill of Rights). And Chief Justice John Marshall in the early 1800s went about refining and elucidating the Constitution through Supreme Court decisions. To think that the Framers and their progeny, especially the Reconstruction Congress that drafted and sent to the states the 14th Amendment, wanted us to freeze their concepts in time in an insult to those individuals, an unmerited insult. (The 14th Amendment applies “due process” and “equal protection” provisions to the states.) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15. In fact, for law in general, and for constitutional jurisprudence in particular, there is no definitive mode or method of interpretation and application of constitutional provisions. The standard is one of persuasiveness within the legal and political community and with the public, as well. (The length of Justice Alito’s majority opinion in </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dobbs v. Jackson</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is indicative of the importance and difficulty of justifying the Court’s decision to overrule </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roe</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Casey. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">16. Originalism is a fig-leaf that seeks to conceal the pre-determined result position in the case of </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dobbs v. Jackson</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Overall, originalism is a tool that works to roll back the expansion of constitutionally guaranteed rights established by the Supreme Court in the 20th century. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-57983542069064015342022-06-20T14:09:00.002-06:002022-06-20T14:11:15.079-06:00The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition (1969)<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95XgExXBKhg0O03xg00j-1O9Rfgt3sK8rxdmMFlJ9aeKg6hU36mYu5qnp1aQ0XDZSZwprsp7kVyVWyqmIJ2q7Hu9GikK6Hau9CsPwoAJL9qw_M0DvCa-4IL5unRb3sV64u7cfdHjy6QrG-fqcCWsyiwdT0HOt_FT5-oFYjEpke6f4JBzvOTT3A72Riw/s350/Making%20of%20a%20Counter%20Culture%20by%20Roszak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="221" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95XgExXBKhg0O03xg00j-1O9Rfgt3sK8rxdmMFlJ9aeKg6hU36mYu5qnp1aQ0XDZSZwprsp7kVyVWyqmIJ2q7Hu9GikK6Hau9CsPwoAJL9qw_M0DvCa-4IL5unRb3sV64u7cfdHjy6QrG-fqcCWsyiwdT0HOt_FT5-oFYjEpke6f4JBzvOTT3A72Riw/w253-h400/Making%20of%20a%20Counter%20Culture%20by%20Roszak.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1969 publication; my first reading spring 1972</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">I first read this book in the spring of 1972 for a course entitled "Introduction to Political Philosophy" (or "Theory" or "Thinking"). The line-up of reading was what you'd expect: Plato's <i>Republic</i>, Machiavelli's <i>The Prince</i>, Marx (<i>Basic Writings</i>, Feuer), Mill's <i>On Liberty</i>, and one that didn't fit the mold: Roszak's <i>The Making of a Counter Culture</i>. All the readings were stimulating and enlightening, but it was Roszak's book that most intrigued me. I was a freshman in college (University of Iowa) from a small town in Iowa. I grew up with parents active in Republican politics, and I'd been to two Republican national conventions by the time I was 16 years old. I knew a lot about American politics and current events, but I'd never thought deeply about the underpinnings of politics and political thought, nor about the roots of what I was beginning to see around me at the University of Iowa. Most of what I knew of the wider world--and the disruption going on within the U.S. and elsewhere--had come to me via television. Roszak's book gave some shape to the hippies, the counter culture, and the politics going on around me. However, Roszak doesn't spend much time addressing politics in his book; Richard Nixon gets little (if any) notice, but neither does Tom Hayden, the SDS, or the Port Huron statement. Instead, it focused upon "technocracy," the "myth of objective consciousness," and thinkers that were critical of the American main stream in which we lived. Heady stuff. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Earlier this spring I happened upon a copy of the Anchor mass-market paperback and decided to pop for it at the princely sum of $4. Now I've read it, and I now have a sense, reaching back exactly 50 years ago, of why it captured my attention. Roszak doesn't spend much time on the sociology of hippiedom or youth culture. He concentrates on the intellectual foundations upon which this counter-culture was based. Thus, I was introduced to the work of Herbert Marcuse and Norman O. Brown and the "dialectics of liberation;" Allen Ginsberg and Alan Watts and the "journey to the East . . . and points beyond;" Timothy Leary (and others; but no Ram Dass) regarding "the counterfeit infinity and the use and abuse of psychedelic experience;" and Paul Goodman and the "visionary sociology" of "exploring utopia." In addition, in briefer considerations and notes, I was introduced to Jacques Ellul and Lewis Mumford, among others. In discussing all of these thinkers and others, Roszak deals an even hand: he provides a careful and considered exposition of their thinking before undertaking any critique. His eye is at once appreciative and critical. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">In his final two chapters, "The Myth of Objective Consciousness" and "Eyes of Flesh, Eyes of Fire," Roszak lays out his underlying critique of "technocracy" and "the myth of objective consciousness." In a nutshell, the culture that puts an emphasis on efficiency, nuclear deterrence (and thus armament), objectivity, rationality, bureaucracy, and technology is one that stunts the human personality, the complete human. Thus, Roszak's critique points to those who seek to escape this one-sided and ill-formed culture: starting with his quote of Blake and then considering others. But the final two chapters are mostly Roszak's essay that riffs on the thinkers listed above and others like them. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Does this book still resonate with me? Yes, indeed it does. Early this year I embarked upon Iain McGilchrist's masterwork, <i><a href="https://channelmcgilchrist.com/the-matter-with-things/" target="_blank">The Matter with Things: </a></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://channelmcgilchrist.com/the-matter-with-things/" target="_blank"><i>Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World</i>,</a> and as you may discern from the title, it deals with many of the same issues as does Roszaks book: how we perceive the world, interact with it, and mold it. Indeed, when Roszak wrote this first book our greatest threat was that of instantaneous nuclear annihilation. Of course, we still experience that threat, but now we've added the threat of slow civilizational death from climate change and other degradations of the environment. And politically, we've gone from having a man in the White House who had the grace to attempt to hide his crimes that attempted to undermine democracy, unlike the recent one who blatantly trumpeted his crimes. Thus, we live in world where authoritarianism isn't a threat that emanates from a monolithic communist block but is one that arises in the U.S. and elsewhere from indigenous sources. And because all politics lies downstream from culture, we may deduce that our technocratic culture has failed us. We appear as deer in the headlights: frozen, unable to move as multiple threats bear down upon us. The call went out back in the 1970s from Roszak to William Irwin Thompson and others and continues with the likes of William Ophuls and Iain McGilchrist, among the many who have critiqued and warned--indeed, prophesied--as to where we we're headed. Going back to this source of my journey has proven worthwhile. It reminds me that so much remains to be accomplished. </span></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-64773256250382858612022-05-19T21:33:00.001-06:002022-05-19T21:33:17.637-06:00Electrifying The Titanic: The Shipwreck of Industrial Civilization by William Ophuls (2021)<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwx9783Q-nTXPLNa8dZhDIhuP9cz9WcSYS-odPhqLb1Ohyq-VSTCXJGecBEk7IXPpZ0ZdjEEJE0X5rKhkSmin5JsZBZcbiqDa-ye5im2iAnXybQgT_rzIQtAuuceyJ-2Tvd8IvMYgZLxw0FeR5qUz6jDd10k-ta7i9k1bKUGOQeOyCEy1SkT5vN-4PXg/s1600/Electrifying%20the%20Titanic%20by%20Ophuls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwx9783Q-nTXPLNa8dZhDIhuP9cz9WcSYS-odPhqLb1Ohyq-VSTCXJGecBEk7IXPpZ0ZdjEEJE0X5rKhkSmin5JsZBZcbiqDa-ye5im2iAnXybQgT_rzIQtAuuceyJ-2Tvd8IvMYgZLxw0FeR5qUz6jDd10k-ta7i9k1bKUGOQeOyCEy1SkT5vN-4PXg/w250-h400/Electrifying%20the%20Titanic%20by%20Ophuls.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2021 coda to Apologies to the Grandchildren</td></tr></tbody></table></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This booklet (50 pages) is vintage William Ophuls. Brief, pungent, to the point. In fact, it’s probably best seen as a coda to </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2020/10/apologies-to-grandchildren-reflections.html" target="_blank">Apologies to the Grandchildren: Reflections on Our Ecological Predicament, Its Deeper Causes, and Its Political Consequences </a></span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(2018). I recommend reading </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apologies</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> first, but then I’d recommend reading his entire body of work. So, start where you will, but start. </span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-30cf564d-7fff-830f-22fd-3990d47de2db"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Electrifying the Titanic, </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ophuls breaks no new ground. His theme throughout his books, especially those published in this century (beginning with </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/back-to-future-review-of-platos-revenge.html" target="_blank">Plato’s Revenge</a></span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) share a common theme: our industrial civilization is destined for a reckoning, and the reckoning will not see the survival of industrial civilization. The causes are many, including some causes suffered by civilizations in the past. Our civilization is outrunning its resources, including the resources needed to address its “waste.” Of course, it’s become obvious to all but those most determined to remain obtuse that we no longer are looking at the reality of climate change as a reality ahead of us; we are in the midst of it. And to allow the human project to survive, we will need to see a complete change in our ecological, economic, social, and political systems. Entire worldviews need to change. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sounds too much like Chicken Little’s warning that the sky is falling? I wish that I could believe that, but I fear—yes, fear—that Ophuls is on to something. We seem destined to keep our heads in the sand as long as possible to extend the status quo that's melting (literally) before our eyes. We have leaders who acknowledge the problem, but who are unable to move the procrastinators, gamblers, and Pollyannas. We need to slam on the brakes before we collide head-on with reality. Of course, if this seems too harsh, too “alarmist,” then don’t read Ophuls. Ophuls writes with the voice of an Old Testament prophet or (as he apparently is), a Buddhist master who brooks no excuses. I believe that Ophuls is a Buddhist meditation teacher as well as a leading thinker in the field of ecology, civilization, and politics. His book on Buddhist meditation is aptly titled </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/10/tough-love-buddhist-style-review-of.html" target="_blank">Buddha Takes No Prisoners</a></span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. So if you’re looking for solace and encouragement, go elsewhere. On the other hand, if you’re willing to hear a prophetic voice, listen up! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again, this isn’t the place to start reading Ophuls, but still, he covers some basics. In short, we can’t continue to consume at the rate that we have been. Much of our efforts will now have to go into preserving what we have, not expanding our capabilities. A replacement bridge, for instance, adds to GNP but it doesn't expand our capabilities. Much of what we do to keep our economic machine humming along involves piling complexity onto complexity in an effort to solve, or more often, simply to postpone resolving our problems. At some point—forced by circumstances—we’ll have to reduce and simplify. Unfortunately, our path of development has kicked the lower (simpler) rungs of the ladder out from beneath us, which will cause a sudden fall and preclude a climb down. When all is said and done, Ophuls believes that we humans will once again become primarily an agricultural species. (In an earlier work, borrowing, I believe, from William Irwin Thompson, Ophuls hopes for something like “Bali with electronics.”)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But is a dignified retreat or realignment of our civilization possible? Ophuls isn’t optimistic. He notes that the American constitutional system doesn’t fit well in our contemporary world. Indeed, he describes the U.S. constitutional regime as “antiquated.” Also, the civil society upon which Tocqueville saw American democracy based has declined precipitously. We lack an “authoritative standard of virtue.” And addition to the disorder of our current political regime, we have “thermodynamic debts” as a result of “degradation, decay, and disorder." All of these factors bode a “time of troubles” ahead. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recognizing that our political regime is likely to fail the current challenges, the best advice that Ophuls has to offer is the practice of Machiavelli’s </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">virtu</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; that is, strength of heart and mind in the face of daunting fate. We will live again in the world of Thucydides, in which the strong will prey upon the weak. We will need Machiavelli’s ethics—a willingness to use evil in the pursuit of a higher good—even more in the future than we have in the past. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is the analysis of Ophuls correct? Over the course of his books that I’ve read, I find his case convincing. I’d love for him to be proven wrong; but I fear he’s being proven right. If I could wave a wand and awaken the world to our plight; make the human race utterly sensible; and make politics truly functional for the greater good, I would happily do so. But I can’t do this; no billionaire can do this (and even those hoping to do so). All we can do is muddle through, hoping that we act before our situation deteriorates too much further, as indeed it is deteriorating—despite improvements—by the minute. Truly, Ophuls is a prophet crying in the wilderness hoping to turn the people from their folly, their idolatry. But prophecy is neither fortune-telling nor mere forecasting. It's a call to create the future via an appreciation of the consequences of our choices. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’d all be wise to weigh the words of this prophet. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-66713262277841739622022-04-21T13:04:00.001-06:002022-04-21T13:05:06.416-06:00The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities by John J. Mearsheimer<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYITZKWrq98NrJLVQ6T1y2yt2YG_rIpCd-HzYOayxDUJaGdzl0f_Gg70lO0JBZ4OPZZchC0EVW0qpsFJOzn1wV3cev6lbIuFYhnPm7DSPzBEngYgKKrB_NwDhsukFaTT-QMkwed-8VThbpHCSf1sCMkJibmJsi893_FtjLRanO-AtACcNm7eWaxRbG2A/s475/Great%20Delusion%20cov%20by%20Mearsheimer.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYITZKWrq98NrJLVQ6T1y2yt2YG_rIpCd-HzYOayxDUJaGdzl0f_Gg70lO0JBZ4OPZZchC0EVW0qpsFJOzn1wV3cev6lbIuFYhnPm7DSPzBEngYgKKrB_NwDhsukFaTT-QMkwed-8VThbpHCSf1sCMkJibmJsi893_FtjLRanO-AtACcNm7eWaxRbG2A/s16000/Great%20Delusion%20cov%20by%20Mearsheimer.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mearsheimer's most recent (2018) book</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECrg87xw6zZz-Pwvv8lBH34euZuDpFjOO0Y3mxnILGqcm0znwrIQ5gyaQypt-ml6ZLPPqQ9lS4FL8aYp4tWDG-9X6Q6_dRJjZNhuxybgzBwvr8asf5t1bIGEahfSijL_Crc9qvgFO6quMlk589kKTFwv3M3K7zuQyGnEg8HzQoxsxw0M56Mi1WtqsTw/s1024/Mearsheimer%20image.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECrg87xw6zZz-Pwvv8lBH34euZuDpFjOO0Y3mxnILGqcm0znwrIQ5gyaQypt-ml6ZLPPqQ9lS4FL8aYp4tWDG-9X6Q6_dRJjZNhuxybgzBwvr8asf5t1bIGEahfSijL_Crc9qvgFO6quMlk589kKTFwv3M3K7zuQyGnEg8HzQoxsxw0M56Mi1WtqsTw/w400-h225/Mearsheimer%20image.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Mearsheimer: controversial IR theorist, especially viz. Ukraine-Russia</td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John Mearsheimer, a professor of international relations at the University of Chicago, has been in the news of late. Such notoriety seems unlikely for what would otherwise be an obscure professor (outside the world of academia and government). But Mearsheimer is a proponent of what he terms “offensive” and “structural” realism as the best understanding of how nations behave toward one another. In short, a conceptual framework that attempts to gauge whether we will enjoy peace or suffer war. Among Mearsheimer’s opinions, based on his conception of realism, has been a long-standing series of warnings about NATO expansion toward Russia and about the West becoming too involved in the status of Ukraine. This concern about NATO expansion and Ukraine, in particular, is not recent. He wrote about the topic extensively in 2014, when Putin grabbed Crimea from Ukraine and began his effort to eventually grab the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. But Mearsheimer’s concern with Ukraine goes back even further. In 1993, Mearsheimer published an article in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Foreign Affairs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> arguing that Ukraine should retain the nuclear weapons that fell into its hands with the collapse of the Soviet Union. (“</span><a href="https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mearsheimer-Case-for-Ukrainian-Nuclear-Deterrent.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Case for a Ukrainian Nuclear Deterrent</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”) In this piece, Mearsheimer presciently argues:</span></span></p><p><b id="docs-internal-guid-f121ef56-7fff-ab2a-2b56-ee767cc9c9c8" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;">A nuclear Ukraine makes sense for two reasons. First, it is imperative to maintain peace between Russia and Ukraine. That means ensuring that the Russians, who have a history of bad relations with Ukraine, do not move to reconquer it. Ukraine cannot defend itself against a nuclear-armed Russia with conventional weapons, and no state, including the United States, is going to extend to it a meaningful security guarantee. Ukrainian nuclear weapons are the only reliable deterrent to Russian aggression. If the U.S. aim is to enhance stability in Europe, the case against a nuclear-armed Ukraine in unpersuasive. (p.50-51.) </span></blockquote><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mearsheimer continues: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A war between Russia and Ukraine would be a disaster. Great power wars are very costly and dangerous, causing massive loss of life and worldwide turmoil, and possibly spreading to involve other countries. The likely result of that war? Russia's reconquest of Ukraine would injure prospects for peace throughout Europe. It would increase the danger of a Russian-German collision, and sharply intensify the security competition across the continent. </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A conventional war between Russia and Ukraine would entail vast military casualties and the possible murder of many thousands of civilians. Russians and Ukrainians have a history of mutual enmity; this hostility, combined with the intermixing of their populations, raises the possibility that war between them could entail Bosnian style ethnic cleansing and mass murder. This war could produce mil lions of refugees clamoring at the borders of Western Europe. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition, there are 14 operational nuclear reactors in Ukraine that might produce new Chernobyls if left unattended or attacked during a conventional war. The consequences of such a war would dwarf the death and suffering in the Balkans, where more than 50,000 people have died since the summer of 1991. Needless to say, if nuclear weapons were used the costs would be immeasurable. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is also the threat of escalation beyond the borders of Russia and Ukraine. For example, the Russians might decide to reconquer other parts of the former Soviet Union in the midst of a war, or might try to take back some of Eastern Europe. Poland and Belarus might join forces with Russia against Ukraine or gang up with Ukraine to prevent a Russian resurgence. The Germans, Americans or Chinese could get pulled in by their fear of a Russian victory. (Doubters should remember that the United States had no intention of fighting in Europe when war broke out in 1914 and again in 1939.) Finally, nuclear weapons might be used accidentally or purposefully against a third state. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The security environment in Europe would certainly become heated and competitive in the wake of a Russian war with Ukraine. Other great powers would move quickly and sharply to contain further Russian expansion. The Russians would then think seriously for security reasons about controlling their many smaller neighbors. Other great powers would move to check them. Ukrainian nuclear weapons are the only reliable deterrent to Russian aggression. </span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One might expect the burden of deterring a resurgent Russia to fall to an American-dominated NATO, in effect, bringing back the Cold War order that kept Europe at peace for 45 years. (p.52-54.) </span></span></p></blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I could continue the quote for some length, but I assume by now you have Mearsheimer’s point, and you appreciate the accuracy of his analysis. (I highly commend the entirety of the article to you. And if you want more articles by him, go to his website: </span></span><span style="font-family: Droid Serif, serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.mearsheimer.com/">https://www.mearsheimer.com/</a>. And be sure and appreciate the faux portrait. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">) </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why all of this background for a review of Mearsheimer’s most recent book, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Great Delusion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2018)? First, I want you to understand why I chose to read this book. Given all that Mearsheimer has stated about Ukraine and Russia, I wanted a deeper background. This book does have some discussion of the situation in Ukraine that meshes with his previous writing on the topic. Also, I’d read his </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The Tragedy of Great Power Politics</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> near the time of its original publication in 2001, and I found it an accessible and comprehensive guide to Mearsheimer’s thinking about realism. And like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The Tragedy</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The Great Delusion</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a comprehensive, learned, and accessible guide to Mearsheimer’s thought about liberalism in foreign policy. And--spoiler alert--he thinks very poorly of it. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before going further with Mearsheimer’s critique of liberalism in foreign policy (especially in contemporary U.S. foreign policy), I should make it clear that Mearsheimer clearly states his preference for a liberal democratic nation-state. But his enthusiasm for liberalism ends at the water’s edge. For in addition to liberalism, two other factors contend with liberalism (and other forms of domestic political arrangements) in guiding a nation’s behavior towards other nation-states: nationalism and realism. And to jump again to a Mearsheimer conclusion: both considerations of nationalism and realism trump liberalism’s aspirations when it comes to issues of foreign policy. This is so even in U.S. foreign policy, despite ongoing U.S. aspirations to establish a liberal hegemony throughout as much of the world as possible. </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mearsheimer is excellent in providing a taxonomy of contemporary liberalism. He identifies “modus vivendi liberalism, which is essentially classical liberalism defined by primary concerns for negative liberty or “freedom from” and that tends toward libertarianism, and “progressive liberalism,” which is concerned with providing its citizenry with opportunities and promotes conceptions of positive freedom, or “freedom to,” the ability to live in an environment that maximizes opportunities and that uses government to provide such an environment. Mearsheimer also identifies two close relatives of liberalism, utilitarianism and “liberal idealism” (which was very prominent in nineteenth-century Britain via T.H. Green and others). Mearsheimer concludes that “progressive liberalism” is now the dominant variety, with, for instance, the application of Keynesian and monetary economics to smooth economic turbulence. (We saw this in spades with the economic stimulus during the height of the COVID pandemic.) </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But while Mearsheimer expresses no significant reluctance about the practice of progressive liberalism domestically, he finds liberal attitudes inadequate when trying to apply its principles abroad. The reality of nationalism and the structure of the international political arena (anarchical) don't work with liberalism. Here, too, Mearsheimer, thoroughly, fairly, and accurately presents the realities of nationalism and realism. Nationalism, now reflected in the dominance of the nation-state system, is a potent force that all states must reckon with, both domestically and in foreign relations. As Mearsheimer notes, nationalism has overwhelmed ideas of class and ideology in defining relations among nations in ways that both liberal democracies and Marxist regimes couldn’t appreciate. Vietnam fought a war with the French and then the U.S. based much more on nationalism than on commitment to Marxist doctrine. Then after defeating the U.S., Vietnam battled its Marxist neighbors China and Cambodia. I should note (as Mearsheimer does) that Vietnam currently enjoys good relations with the U.S. because the Vietnamese (as good realists) share a common commitment with the U.S. and other nations to check Chinese power in Southeast Asia. This current relationship with the U.S. enhances, not threatens, Vietnamese nationalism. </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to serving as a leading exponent of the realist tradition in international relations (a lineage that can be traced back to the ancient Greek, Thucydides), Mearsheimer is an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy as practiced by recent Republican and Democrat administrations. Why? Because, as he argues at length in this book, liberalism doesn’t work as an export. Only in a unipolar world (a world with only one dominant great power) could such a project be undertaken, as it was in the immediate post-Cold War era. But now, with the rise of China and the residual military might of Russia, we no longer live in a unipolar world. And, as Mearsheimer points out, in any event, U.S. efforts to export democracy to unwilling nations have failed miserably at great cost to the U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan provide only the two most recent and dramatic instances of failure to forcibly export democracy and the rule of law. And for its effort, the U.S. has suffered a decline in its own democratic norms and commitment to the rule of law. </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mearsheimer prosecutes a strong case. He makes a persuasive argument. He emphasizes the structural imperatives reflected in realism. In brief, there are the strong and the weak among nations, and there is no 9-1-1 to call in the event of an emergency. Therefore, there’s an imperative to be among the strong, including the use of alliances. All true, I agree. But in weighing threats and the power dynamics behind any threats, Mearsheimer doesn’t address the nature of regimes, at least not directly. He doubts democratic peace theory, economic interdependence theory, and international institutions theory as guarantors—or even as promotors—of peace. But he neglects to consider how regimes contribute to the mix. For example, as he notes, liberal democracies have to jump through more hoops—including pleasing (or cajoling) their voting public—to pursue any foreign adventures. Of course, it's been done; the U.S. provides too many examples. But popular descent can throw sand in the works, unlike authoritarian regimes like Putin’s Russia, where dissent, even internal (intra-government) dissent is quashed. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But more importantly to an argument about the limits of realism, some borders, once hotly contested, have become pacific. In the early nineteenth century the U.S. took the territory it coveted from Mexico, and many in the U.S. had their eyes on Canada during that same period. But now no armies patrol those borders. (In the U.S., border patrols and vigilantes monitor, but that’s because so many in Latin America want to come to the U.S., not because the U.S. covets those territories or the U.S. fears an invasion by the Mexican army.) And could any president to date have gotten the U.S. behind a war to conquer Canada? The imperialist ideology of the nineteenth and early twentieth century might have garnered some support for such ventures (witness the result of the Spanish-American War), but now? I think not. The nature of our regime, including the electorate, has changed. In realist theory, Canadians should perpetually be nervously scanning their southern border: their neighbor to the south is bigger: bigger population, bigger economy, bigger armed forces (including nukes), and it’s more militaristic. Yet, the Canadians, I don't believe, live in fear of a U.S. invasion. How does realist theory explain this? As far as power dynamics go, is this so different from Russia and Ukraine? </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Let’s consider a hypothetical. Canada remains Canada, but the U.S. falls to an authoritarian regime. A strongman [sic] has taken over. Predictably, except for a privileged few (let’s call them oligarchs or plutocrats if you’re old-fashioned), things are going poorly in the U.S. The economy is a wreck, people are constrained from exercising their traditional rights, and popular discontent is on the rise. Americans have begun looking north to how well Canadians are doing with a government committed to liberal democracy and the rule of law. In fact, the migration of U.S. citizens to Canada has increased dramatically. The U.S. rulers begin talking about how the U.S. and Canada are really much the same, with so many shared traditions. Really, the strongman [sic] argues, the Manifest Destiny of the U.S. (taken out and dusted off) is to encompass the whole of North America. Might a U.S.-Canadian war break out? </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mearsheimer would suggest the more likely scenario would be if Canada decided to become an ally of China. Then the U.S. would consider war against Canada to stem a Chinese encroachment so close to the U.S. (citing the Monroe Doctrine, no doubt). But while I wouldn’t disagree with Mearsheimer's counter-scenario, I don’t believe that it negates mine, nor would I consider his scenario the more likely. My point is that regimes make a difference. The culture, the political system, the traditions, the discourse, and all the beliefs of those active in a nation-state count toward whether and to what extent a realist paradigm becomes the dominant mode of relations between (or among) various nation-states. The constitutions and cultures of Japan and Germany are different now than they were at the beginning of WWII. Their geography didn’t change, but their regimes did, including the friends they kept (the alliances that they joined). Also, the popular culture in each nation was greatly pacified by the defeat both suffered in the war. These and other factors greatly affected the policies and actions of their decision-makers. Of course, realistic considerations have always played a role in their thinking, and of late, significant trends toward re-armament have gained traction in both Germany and Japan; but even so, they move only slowly and cautiously. </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So is Mearsheimer right that the West is at “fault” for the current war in Ukraine? Let me ask you this: A person enters a neighborhood known for its muggers, and the person knows of this danger. The person has every right to be there and to be free from harm. The person chooses to walk through the neighborhood, and sure enough, gets mugged. Is the person at fault? Does the person who exercised a perfectly legitimate right in a peaceful, non-threatening manner deserve the blame? By the way, the mugger, upon being confronted, defended himself by saying that he didn’t want “their type” in our neighborhood. Besides, the mugger says, the person kept bad friends (hostile to the mugger and his group), and they might have weapons. Again, is the person mugged at fault? Should the cops, who warned the person not to enter this bad neighborhood, decline to act because the person acted foolishly in picking this route? “Rights be damned, you’re a fool, and you have to pay the price,” says the cop standing down. Is this the course the cops should take? </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To be clear, Mearsheimer isn’t arguing in favor of Putin’s invasion, nor does he support Putin’s cause. Mearsheimer is only saying that the whole bad situation could have been avoided with the exercise of greater prudence (to wit, a realist analysis of the dynamics of the situation). He has a point, but we're in it now. The cops have arrived (or at least are providing assistance to the person amid the mugging), so how far should they—should we—go? How much should we--the U.S., NATO--risk in defense of Ukraine? Should the mugger walk away with the victim's purse, or even the victim's life, with impunity? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There are no easy, clearly right or wrong answers here. And, however you come down on these issues, Mearsheimer’s analysis provides a bracing tonic against wishful thinking and continuing fantasies. Liberalism, especially U.S. liberalism that seeks export abroad, is called to question in a detailed and knowledgeable exposition that challenges the status quo. We’d all be advised to take heed and govern ourselves accordingly. </span></span></p><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-28132037202883952222022-04-21T07:04:00.000-06:002022-04-21T07:04:02.396-06:00Putin and climate change: 2 maladies, 1 treatment: A Guest Op-Ed from the Pueblo Chieftain by Stephen N. Greenleaf<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Below is an op-ed piece that was published in THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN on 20 March of this year. The only update I might add is that I've learned more about the persistent and compelling evidence of the harm caused by air pollution from burning fossil fuels. The switch away from fossil fuels addresses three maladies instead of just two. It would prove a trifecta win and not just a twofer. What was published: </i></span></p><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Putin and climate change: 2 maladies, 1 treatment"</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Your Turn</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stephen Greenleaf</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Guest columnist</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The term 'polycrisis' describes the current state of the world. It denotes the fact that we find ourselves in the midst of more than one crisis at a time. Most recently, we faced the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic dislocation caused by the pandemic. Now, we face the return of war to Europe with the brutal invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime. And we still have the continuing (and increasing) reality of climate change with which we must deal, which we haven’t yet done on the scale required.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the face of these multiple challenges, we can deploy a response that would effectively address two huge concerns with one stroke: We immediately and aggressively reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As to the immediate threat of Putin’s aggression, a reduction of our consumption of fossil fuels aids the current sanctions regime that seeks to starve the beast. More than one commentator has described Russia as 'a gas station with nukes.' We can shut down (or at least cripple) the gas station by not buying the gas.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To be clear, at present, the U.S. is a net petroleum exporter. We purchase relatively little petroleum from Russia, and a complete cut-off will not limit U.S. supplies of oil or gas. The restrictions on imports from Russia won’t have much direct impact on U.S. energy prices, although worldwide we can expect higher prices.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is because the market for petroleum is worldwide, with multiple global players, like Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and other petroleum exporters will affect oil and gas prices by deciding how much petroleum to produce. Also, the volatility in oil and gas prices, with sharp increases and drops, is a continuing characteristic of the global fossil fuels market. Increasing America’s oil and gas development and drilling, which some propose as a response to Putin’s aggression, would not have any significant impact on the high prices we are seeing at the pump now.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As long as we are dependent on fossil fuels, we’ll continue to be subject to manipulation of supplies and prices by the Gulf States and other large producers, like Russia. A clean energy economy would be our surest path towards stable and lower energy prices, and true energy independence from foreign producers.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Over the longer term, decreased use and dependence on fossil fuels will mean fewer dollars for Putin. Of course, reduced demand would result in fewer dollars paid to all fossil fuel providers, including oil and gas companies in the U.S. But they know (and have known for a long time) that the world must eventually drastically reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Indeed, those European nations who oppose Putin’s aggression now have — and will increasingly have — access to cheaper alternative systems of energy, including renewables and other forms of clean energy. Accelerating the shift to renewable energy appears to be part of their short- and long-term strategies for opposing Russian aggression.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In addition to the moral and strategic imperatives to reduce fossil fuel consumption to counter Putin’s menace, accelerating our shift to renewable energy will reduce the pollution that fuels increasing global climate change. We have procrastinated in making the necessary transition to cleaner energy for over 30 years. Now the opportunity for gaining a strategic advantage over a hostile adversary should spur us to take the necessary actions that we have so long delayed. More foot-dragging only aids Putin and costs us more.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And remember, greater domestic production of fossil fuels in response to Putin’s aggression would put us further behind in facing up to climate reality. This merely threatens to pull the pin on a slow-motion grenade that will hurt us all. In short, the more petroleum that remains in the ground, the safer we all become. For the well-being—and even survival—of our children and grandchildren, we need to walk away from the fossil fuels that finance Russian aggression and that poison our Earth.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It’s unfortunate that Congress has not yet adopted a carbon fee and dividend scheme that will collect a price on carbon that would be paid back to Americans as a dividend. These significant dividend payments would help ordinary Americans ride out the price instability baked into the global fossil fuels market, including a transition away from it to a clean energy system. And, with a price on carbon, the U.S. could lawfully apply a carbon border adjustment that would aid American businesses that run efficiently and on clean energy (and overall, that tend to be cleaner than many foreign competitors).</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But it’s not too late to adopt and apply this win-win-win — for democracy, the Earth, and American consumers — solution. We can convert our current polycrisis into an opportunity to improve the lives of all Americans. We can act to help preserve democracy and the rule of law. And we can establish a cleaner, safer, and cheaper energy system that at the same time helps create a safer, more hospitable climate for our children and grandchildren.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stephen Greenleaf is a retired lawyer living in Colorado Springs, who’s involved in advocating for national policies to address climate change."</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Copyright © 2022 The Pueblo Chieftain, Pueblo, CO. 3/20/2022</span></div></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-43741514348340664582022-03-31T10:08:00.000-06:002022-03-31T10:08:42.958-06:00Max Weber's "Politics as a Vocation:" The Concluding Paragraph<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgecKHJzUJ5Jq6jhkALhAg91cjICOKXoq-2OejFA9bI4HKIbH87Gk5RgFI4KVaxS_WoytY4JzuxSXU-0fxvHfkK8LvziyVSQityflYeuJ-e4GX63GNnMnXmGZtPerZfYe_H94nYY7UnIJ3UNuTSfdgiCDo6wdkeDjP4Nr6CXzpqdDtTU9GL8VcJWyiOdQ/s246/Max%20Weber%20headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="173" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgecKHJzUJ5Jq6jhkALhAg91cjICOKXoq-2OejFA9bI4HKIbH87Gk5RgFI4KVaxS_WoytY4JzuxSXU-0fxvHfkK8LvziyVSQityflYeuJ-e4GX63GNnMnXmGZtPerZfYe_H94nYY7UnIJ3UNuTSfdgiCDo6wdkeDjP4Nr6CXzpqdDtTU9GL8VcJWyiOdQ/w450-h640/Max%20Weber%20headshot.jpg" width="450" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max Weber: 1864-1920</td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /> The following quote is the concluding paragraph of Max Weber's lecture (and later essay), “Politics as a Vocation,” first delivered in Munich in 1918 as fighting in the Great War had drawn to a close. This essay is one of the most important and stimulating reflections on political life that I know of. I return to it on occasion for perspective. The entire essay is less than 30 pages. I commend it to you. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div><blockquote>Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective. Certainly all historical experience confirms the truth --that man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible. But to do that a man must be a leader, and not only a leader but a hero as well, in a very sober sense of the word. And even those who are neither leaders nor heroesmust arm themselves with that steadfastness of heart which can brave even the crumbling of all hopes. This is necessary right now, or else men will not be able to attain even that which is possible today. Only he has the calling for politics who is sure that he shall not crumble when the world from his point of view is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer. Only he who in the face of all this can say 'In spite of all!' has the calling for politics.</blockquote></div></span></div><div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-85738308728454166432022-03-30T14:14:00.000-06:002022-03-30T14:14:11.448-06:00Liberalism in Dark Times: The Liberal Ethos in the Twentieth Century by Joshua L. Cherniss<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxufbCmoLen4xc9Vza78PTjhar2CA0WdKzonsq6ZRQ_e0LCK7915x9lR2NKbxBnrkQt2IdmKUKaqi_4aar7AGamiAWXspxHBJthLNVwYiQjF6JsIbzeJ6BRl-MMQHooMqkFU55khG2HbCh-9WlPZsJ34Thwa7B5vOIp_pJxGHiGBBAgfixJbjAjBvvw/s400/Liberalism%20in%20Dark%20Times%20Cherniss.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxufbCmoLen4xc9Vza78PTjhar2CA0WdKzonsq6ZRQ_e0LCK7915x9lR2NKbxBnrkQt2IdmKUKaqi_4aar7AGamiAWXspxHBJthLNVwYiQjF6JsIbzeJ6BRl-MMQHooMqkFU55khG2HbCh-9WlPZsJ34Thwa7B5vOIp_pJxGHiGBBAgfixJbjAjBvvw/w420-h640/Liberalism%20in%20Dark%20Times%20Cherniss.jpg" width="420" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2021 publication<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Every once in a while we stumble into a book that seems tailor-made for the occasion. Over the Christmas holiday, I bought this book, having recently read a favorable review of it. (I don't recall where, alas.) And given that my reading list remains backed up for years (and I fear well beyond any reasonable hope of clearing in my lifetime), I could have chosen to start any number of worthy books. But I chose this one. Why? I can't say for sure, but in looking back, I believe that the invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime, along with the continuing threat of Trump and his ilk, played a role. But by whatever prompt, I'm very pleased that I selected and read this book. It is, as I referenced above, tailor-made for the times. <p></p><p>I also selected this book because I recognized the names of those whose thought it explores: Max Weber, Albert Camus, Raymond Aron, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Isaiah Berlin, along with many other figures discussed or cited in this book. I sometimes rue that education--my education-- was wasted on my callow youth, but--take heart teachers--sometimes planting a seed, even if it takes decades to fully bloom, brings about the desired blossom. Professor and instructors in the departments of History and Political Science introduced me to all of these thinkers, if not by direct assignment, then by reference. Indeed, the subtitle of this book refers to “dark times,” a term deployed by one of their peers, Hannah Arendt, which, along with the idea of a “time of troubles” were introduced to me as a student. When I think back, the 70s were not an easy time. American politics had to deal with the social and political turmoil of the 60s and the continuing competition between the liberal democratic regimes and the Marxist camps. Also, we experienced Watergate, the Vietnam War, and continuing forms of political unrest through much of the world. And the totalitarian threat remained real. Stalin had only died the year of my birth, while Mao still ruled in China. Thus, the thinker-actors considered in this book were all still quite topical in the 1970s. </p><p>In addition to a thorough and considered examination of the legacy of these thinkers, Cherniss deploys a vocabulary that resonated deeply with me. Ethos, ethics, stance, posture, dirty hands, ruthlessness, and other such terms were prominent in the final political theory course I took as an undergraduate. (Hat tip to Professor (then Instructor) John S. Nelson for this class.) From where I am now, and in accord with Cherniss's argument, I find that these terms, these concerns, this mode of addressing the world of politics, goes to the very heart of the political enterprise. Not that laws, institutions, policies, and such don't count. They do. However, politics is a very human endeavor marked by speech and thus persuasion. Violence, the negation of politics, always lurks in the background, and one must understand that war (violence) isn't the continuation of politics by other means, but the cessation of politics, which comes about when politics fails. Thus, political leaders must contend not only with the plurality of views and words, but they must deal with violence or the threat of violence. There are, of course, political leaders, who, like Mao, believe political power emanates from the barrel of a gun. And some who wield the power of government believe that the utopian ends often justify ruthless means. This “realism” led to some of the greatest atrocities known to humankind. Terms like “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” seem too sterile when addressing the horror perpetrated by individuals and regimes in the twentieth century, but we must start somewhere. </p><p>In brief, all of these individuals opposed ruthless individuals and regimes and those who claimed to be only “realistic” and were excessively “Machiavellian.” (Poor Niccolò, I think, gets a bum rap with this usage, but the usage remains as if written in stone into our political vocabulary.). Cherniss provides detailed expositions of the thought of Camus, Aron, Niebuhr, and Berlin. (The consideration of Weber is less detailed, and Cherniss includes Gyorgy Lukacs as a foil to Weber's outlook.) Cherniss dubs these five thinkers, and others of their perspective, as “tempered liberals.” (With some hesitation expressed about Weber's bona fides as a liberal.) That is, these thinkers attempt to walk the tightrope between naïveté and excessive “realism” and “Machiavellianism.” They do so by attention to persons and situations, and they recognize the reality of competing values and goods. They tend to particular observations and appraisals, and they shy away from systems of thought and purely logical conclusions. They tend to write essays instead of tomes. They work to avoid suffering while recognizing that sacrifices often prove necessary. As one reads about each of these figures, one can see from our current position that they didn't always get things right (to the extent that we can identify what's right). But overall, they provided markers against which political actions could be appropriately judged. </p><p>I should note that Weber's distinction between the “ethic of ultimate ends” and the “ethics of responsibility” is an insight and a guide that has been with me for a long time. And I never seem to go very long without thinking about the hard decisions political officials must make, such as whether to take half a loaf or none in regard to some legislation. Or whether to rest with some evil for the sake of peace or decide that some good merits the sacrifice of lives. So also with the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, perhaps the thinker amongst these five of whom I've read the most and the deepest. Like Weber and the others, Niebuhr walks a tightrope between realism (which include a theological position grounded in original sin) and the need for justice. And while Weber and Niebuhr have provided the greatest influence on my thinking from amongst these five, Cherniss's work prompts me to want to explore Camus, Aron, and Berlin in more depth. I realize that as much as I appreciate and admire Cherniss's summary and exploration of their work, his exposition points to the depth of what he's exploring. He allows me to see that there's much more in each of these thinkers than what he can share in a chapter. </p><p>Finally, I asked myself: “Is this a work of history or of political theory?” The answer, I suggest, is that it's both. And that is as it should be. All political thought of lasting interest arises from the politics of the age in which it is produced. To understand concerns with ethos, ethics, dirty hands, stances, and the like is to be of a time. As throughout the parade of human life, we live in a world that is at once unique in the fleeting now and yet that follows paths laid down by generations before us. History provides a rough guide, but only a rough guide, a map of the terrain without the details. Thus, history provides a path to self-knowledge, both collectively and individually, but it doesn't provide a running commentary. We have to explore the sites on our own. And while history doesn't repeat itself, it does rhyme. (I know this is an old chestnut, a cliché, but it harbors too much truth to ignore.) Thus, while we are not repeating the 1930s, we can certainly discern its echoes as a land hungry dictator marches his armies without justification into a neighboring nation in Eastern Europe. And in the wider world, democracy and liberalism have been under attack and have seemed to wane. Even in the U.S., where fascist-style populism and authoritarianism threatened but was turned aside during the Great Depression, has recently experienced fascist-style populism allowed demagogue and wanna-be authoritarian to gain the presidency. And even as I write this little man (intellectually, morally) leads polls for the presidency despite the continuing revelation of his overtly criminal activities. So, yes, “tempered liberalism” is needed once again. We can't simply repeat the thoughts of these exemplars, but we can gain a great deal of wisdom and insight from their work, and we can hope that Joshua Cherniss continues to guide us in our quest. </p><p>N.B. This book receives the highest ratings from me on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57423855-liberalism-in-dark-times" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Liberalism-Dark-Times-Liberal-Twentieth/product-reviews/0691217033/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews" target="_blank">Amazon </a>(and anywhere else I could say so.) </p><p><br /></p><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-75697516977468440232022-03-30T08:52:00.000-06:002022-03-30T08:52:09.772-06:00"How to Defeat Putin & Save the Planet" by Thomas Friedman w/ Introductory Commentary<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> T<span style="background-color: white; color: var(--primary-text); white-space: pre-wrap;">his is a MUST-READ piece from Tom Friedman. In short, he agrees with me and I with him. To wit, we need to move quickly away from fossil fuels to score a double-win. First, we can stop funding both sides of so many wars. We do so by our “addiction” (his word--appropriate) to fossil fuel. We finance petrostates like Putin's Russia, Saudi Arabia, the late Saddam Hussein, the thugs in Venezuela, and the Iranian regime. Need I go on? Our addiction to fossil fuels warps our entire foreign policy. </span></span></p><div class="" dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_e5" style="padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And the other half of the win? Climate change. This past month, temperatures in Antarctica have been 70F degrees above normal. In the Arctic, 50F above normal. I hope you don't own any oceanside property. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But some good news: renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels. By going electric--soon, fast--we can reduce the cost of energy that we use. We can also use less energy (let's be frank: we Americans are energy hogs) and we can develop more efficient systems. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Finally, the Biden Administration, like administrations before them, can stop going hat-in-hand to petrostates begging for more or less oil production, depending on the circumstances. The fossil fuel giants can see the end of their cash cow in sight & begin making plans for their demise. They have the money, and they've had the time to plan for the wind-down of their polluting ways. But we, the American people, have to accept that we must undertake this transition and that the price of fossil fuels will (and should) increase. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Now's the time. We can reduce a twin pair of evils by acting decisively now.</span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="l9j0dhe7" id="jsc_c_e6" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="b3i9ofy5 l9j0dhe7" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="j83agx80 soycq5t1 ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 gpro0wi8 datstx6m k4urcfbm" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/opinion/how-to-defeat-putin-and-save-the-planet.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1iDHct0A52UMRHE7_vQSqPk9wW8-P7fHnkTGhZ6OzbfsFUtF9wXSWmaow" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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width: 20px;"></i></span></div></div></div></div><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 a8c37x1j p8dawk7l" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/opinion/how-to-defeat-putin-and-save-the-planet.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1iDHct0A52UMRHE7_vQSqPk9wW8-P7fHnkTGhZ6OzbfsFUtF9wXSWmaow" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="b3i9ofy5 s1tcr66n l9j0dhe7 p8dawk7l" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); 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word-break: break-word;"><span class="a8c37x1j ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 ltmttdrg g0qnabr5" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Thomas Friedman</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></a></div></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-61858047442928394982022-03-11T09:24:00.004-07:002022-08-31T21:30:24.356-06:00The Ups and Downs of Humanity: Can We Ever Exit the Roller-Coaster? <div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4XvqywEgJryuPxsCWc7JKnpLOLOInA8osg1Ii4oJ-Pkh8VQelsHb0p3ZLAwB6hCkkzKcK073DrnZpRyrrF0rw0Je4d24jARhNmAj2ZP_xz3T8yXJQnJk62uOZVxjtqLSa5LpxO9nbE5iMjoefBisn78k8avmMYpTSa-vmK8XTknHG3eVH2wJZQcLMZA=s810" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="810" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4XvqywEgJryuPxsCWc7JKnpLOLOInA8osg1Ii4oJ-Pkh8VQelsHb0p3ZLAwB6hCkkzKcK073DrnZpRyrrF0rw0Je4d24jARhNmAj2ZP_xz3T8yXJQnJk62uOZVxjtqLSa5LpxO9nbE5iMjoefBisn78k8avmMYpTSa-vmK8XTknHG3eVH2wJZQcLMZA=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Machu Picchu: One of many examples</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like many who are interested in politics and history, I’m intrigued by the patterns and courses of political and other historical events. Who drives history? Is there an “end” to history? Is there (or will there be) a final stage of development from which no further significant change will occur in the human project? Or is there an end as in goal, the realization of an ideal to which we can only continue to aspire? (This is a key issue when we think about how to assess Francis Fukuyama’s well-known—and frequently mocked—work, </span><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/thank-you-john-ralston-saul-end-of.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The End of History and the Last Man</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (more on this work later). </span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1b11ddf6-7fff-1d87-9431-e1767fb296f6"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lots of thinkers have identified patterns and goals in the course of historical events. The identification of cyclical patterns predominated from archaic times well into the Axial Age and the development of long-running cultures and civilizations. Like seasons, civilizations rose and fell. Early on, these patterns are found in chronicles of the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties, St. Augustine, the medieval Muslim thinker Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), and others. The tradition continues into modernity with Vico and Gibbon. In the twentieth century, some of the best-known figures in this tradition were Oswald Spengler (</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Decline of the West</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and Arnold Toynbee, with his monumental </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Study of History</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Both of these two twentieth-century thinkers build their theories on biological metaphors of growth and decline in the individual. One late-twentieth-century entry into this field was Joseph Tainter, who published his work, </span><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/joseph-tainter-collapse-of-complex.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Collapse of Complex Societies</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in 1988. Tainter, an anthropologist, argued against Toynbee and others whose work he found too “mystical” or “literary.” Instead, Tainter argues that a society increases complexity to address declining returns on investments for energy. (Abbreviated EROI: energy return on investment; i.e., the amount of energy a society expends to capture a given amount of energy for use.) In short, societies jerry-rig solutions to capture enough energy (food and fuel) to continue functioning. In time, however, the complex schemes to maintain standards collapse under the weight of the accumulated complexity. Soils deteriorate, forests are cut, water supplies dwindle or become polluted, and so on. </span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-1b11ddf6-7fff-1d87-9431-e1767fb296f6"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the early twenty-first century, the work of biologist and Cliodynamics founder, </span><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2016/11/peter-turchin-prophet.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter Turchin,</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has gained attention. (Cliodynamics is the use of large data sets and statistical analysis to history to discern large-scale patterns and trends.) Turchin, along with historical sociologist Jack Goldstone, developed a theory of demographic-structural change that considers elite overproduction, population pressures, increasing immiseration of the laboring classes, and other factors to account for social unrest and revolution. These are the circumstances that bring down social, political, and economic regimes. Turchin also helped revive interest in the work of Ibn Khaldun, a medieval North African, who identified a pattern of initiative and decline within dynasties and regimes.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(For Turchin’s use of Ibn Khaldun and his identification of overall patterns, see his</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2006); from an eerily accurate forecast of current American troubles and set into a complete theory, see Turchin’s</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2017/03/ages-of-discord-structural-demographic.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ages of Discord: A Structural-Demographic Theory of American History</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2017); and for an update co-written with Jack Goldstone during the turbulent 2020 election season (and thus before the January 6 attack) see </span><a href="https://www.noemamag.com/welcome-to-the-turbulent-twenties/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Welcome to the “Turbulent Twenties’”</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (20 Sept. 2020).) </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">With the advent of modernity—the European discovery and exploitation of the Americas and other parts of the world and the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions—another train of thought arose, that of Progress. The idea of progress largely displaced cyclical theories of history that provided accounts of rise and decline. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Modernity and the attendant belief in a sense of progress began in Northern Europe and spread around the globe to the point where many of its beliefs and characteristics are nearly universal. At the same time, historical consciousness arose; that is, our ability to understand ourselves and our species as creatures in time that make decisions that create—at least in significant part—our future. Progress is cumulative; knowledge and materials of wealth begin to accumulate, such that each succeeding generation enjoyed a higher standard of living and (unevenly) shared welfare than the generation before it. This unprecedented increase in human welfare wasn’t shared equally (or equitably) within nations (i.e., between classes) nor between nations (i.e., rich and poor; “North” and “South;” “East” and “West”). Yet, from where we stand now in the twenty-first century, aggregate human welfare is immensely greater on an individual and aggregate basis than ever before in the human story. Ordinary people in widely dispersed locales throughout the globe know levels of material abundance and physical well-being that no royalty or aristocracy could have dreamed of achieving even a hundred years ago. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">But is there a worm in the apple? Have we as a species broken the chains of cycles? Are we on the path of endless Progress? As I write this, it most certainly seems not. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But before exploring the above questions, there are other lines of thought that we should consider: dialectic thought and logic (Hegel and Marx provide the most prominent of examples); evolution (Darwin & Wallace); and process philosophy and thought (Whitehead & Hartshorne). Each of these trains of thought, beginning with Hegel in the late nineteenth century, adopts, at least in principle, some concept of progress. In Hegel, this is first conceived as “dialectic.” A short while later, the theory of evolution and natural selection set forth by Wallace and Darwin makes its appearance. The Hegelian-Marxist dialectic doesn’t arise from the study of biology but it begins by claiming to have identified the pattern of society and thought that moves toward a more or less ideal resolution. And while Hegelian and later Marxist conceptions of the movement of the dialectic became increasingly important in the nineteenth century, the idea of the dialectic was joined (and in many ways complemented by) the theory of evolution and natural selection. (Both theories were influenced by Malthus's theory of population and scarcity; Darwin accepted it, Marx contested it.) The theory of evolution by natural selection came into the public limelight with Darwin’s publication of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Origin of the Species</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1859). With Darwin’s expositions of evolution and those of his supporters, evolution moved onto the main stage, influencing not only biology, but also philosophy, social sciences, political thought, and history. At least in the English-speaking world, Herbert Spencer, along with “Darwin’s bulldog,” T.H. Huxley, became the foremost proponents of Darwin’s insight. Unfortunately for the application of evolutionary perspectives and insights outside of biology, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, evolution became associated with Social Darwinism. This ideology misapplied Darwin’s insights in an attempt to justify social privilege, economic hierarchies, and racism. So while evolution became the unquestioned principle of biology, its application to society and culture became suspect. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">However, while the association with Social Darwinism stymied the application of evolutionary thinking to society and culture, evolutionary thinking continued on the fringes of social and political thought and philosophy. Figures like Henri Bergson, C.S. Pierce, William James, and Alfred North Whitehead all incorporated evolutionary thought into their own thinking. Whitehead’s “process philosophy” is an especially clear example of the marriage of evolutionary thought and contemporary physics to appreciate the continuing process of change at work in the universe. These thinkers didn’t write much about society, economics, or politics. But their insights and inspirations were applied by their successors to human affairs. Appreciations of change, creativity, and evolution were gaining traction, albeit slowly. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Also in the twentieth century, thinkers outside the mainstream made similar contentions: the Indian independence leader and teacher Sri Aurobindo set forth the first iteration of “integral philosophy.” The French Jesuit paleontologist, Teilhard De Chardin, identified the “noosphere” (a collective human mind of sorts) as an evolutionary phenomenon. The English solicitor and member of the Inklings, Owen Barfield, developed the concept of the “evolution of consciousness.” The Swiss thinker Jean Gebser developed a taxonomy of cultural changes that he dubbed “structures of consciousness.” These thinkers and others applied evolutionary thinking to humanity and, on the whole, helped create a hopeful, aspirational attitude about humankind even through the bloody, war-torn, and ofttimes horrific twentieth century. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">The heirs to these developmental and evolutionary thinkers from Hegel through Barfield (the most recently deceased (1997) on the list above) are the Integral thinkers, beginning with the work of Ken Wilber first published in the late 1970s. For those of you not acquainted with Integral thinking, in a nutshell, it's a school of thought that focuses upon evolutionary and developmental changes in individuals and groups (societies, cultures). I should be quick to add that individuals and societies proceed along a course of development at different rates and settle at varying levels of attainment. Individual lives display differing physical, mental, and spiritual levels of attainment. Also, individuals vary greatly in levels of attainment: some may be great athletes or scientists while remaining emotionally and spiritually stunted. And humankind as a whole has developed (evolved?) from its earliest manifestations through to today, with some societies realizing a totally new and often extraordinary level of knowledge and consciousness. In short, we know more about our world and ourselves than our ancestors and have a greater range of action and control than ever before. And not just concerning our physical environment, but also the level of our knowledge of our minds, our relationships, our emotions, and our relationship to reality as a whole. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you believe that this is an optimistic outlook, you've reached a fair conclusion. Looking back over the scan of human history (our time on this Earth as thinking beings—beings who can express themselves—we see huge gains in human knowledge, abilities, and consequently, human welfare. Integral thought, represented foremost by the work of Ken Wilber and Steve McIntosh, make strong cases for its perspective, detailed and comprehensive. Also, outside the circle of proponents of Integral Philosophy, other thinkers share this fundamental optimism. For instance, those identified by Carter Phipps as “Evolutionaries” in </span><a href="https://sngthoughts.blogspot.com/2021/12/evolutionaries-unlocking-spriitual.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his 2010 book of that title</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Across a wide variety of thinkers under the Integral umbrella and more broadly within Phipps’s catalog of Evolutionaries, we see a tale of human progress. (I suspect that most of these individuals eschew or would at least avoid the term “progress” because of its somewhat antiquated and checkered past, but still, in the end, the differences from some past uses of the term are not so great.) </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The short twentieth-century” (1914-1991) witnessed a titanic three-way struggle between liberal democracy, fascism, and totalitarian communism. (More garden-variety forms of authoritarianism—strongmen, military juntas, and various forms of monarchy and aristocracy—all continued to exist but failed to compete in the great political-economic struggles of the twentieth century.) With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, liberal democracy was widely declared the winner. The liberal democracies, with the rule of law, democratic forms of decision-making, markets, conceptions of human rights and national self-determination, and individual freedoms (thought, expression, movement, etc.) became the dominant model on the world stage. Francis Fukuyama, writing first in a 1989 article, and then in a book, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The End of History and the Last Man</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1992), identified this triumph as a resolution of Hegel’s dialectic of master and slave (also sometimes translated from German as “lordship and bondage”). Fukuyama’s conception of the struggle for recognition is based on an interpretation of Hegel tendered by the twentieth-century French thinker Alexandre</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Koj%C3%A8ve" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0645ad; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Kojève</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This variety of Hegelian dialectic identified an ongoing struggle for “recognition” among peoples and individuals as the motor of history. (Marx later converted Hegel’s ideas on this matter into his concept of class struggle as the dynamic of history.) Fukuyama argued in his 1992 book that with the decline of communism as an attractive system and the seeming triumph of liberal democracy, the Hegelian dialectic of lordship and bondage had been resolved. The liberal democracies then ascendant had achieved a sufficient degree of universal recognition to have realized “the end (as the purpose) of history.” </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Fukuyama noted in his book, this didn’t mean that events would no longer occur, and in that sense, history would continue. And he also noted the potential for a worm in the apple. He reminds of this in the title of the book, which is all too often truncated: “the end of history </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the last man</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” “The last man” nods toward Nietzsche’s concern about contentment in bourgeois society. And, as we all now realize, history did not stop. In fact, in many of the most significant events since 1992, we’ve witnessed history going backward: the genocide in the Balkans in the 1990s; radical Islamic terrorism in the early twenty-first century; a nearly worldwide financial collapse in 2008; a pandemic in 2020; and as I write this, a revanchist, strong-man regime in Russia has invaded a neighboring nation with only the flimsiest fig leaf attempting to cover its naked aggression. Contrary to whatever hope we might have held about the “end of history” as an end to violence and domination, we seem to be going backward. Why? </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Evolution is directional toward greater complexity. Increased complexity (at least up to a point) creates greater powers within a species by way of creating a greater array of adaptive behaviors and tools. And within humanity, biological and then cultural evolution has provided us with powers for self-guided creation. But species have flaws and vulnerabilities. A species must address vulnerabilities by genetic or behavioral adaptation to the changing environment, or the species crashes and burns; to wit, it becomes extinct. Biological evolution doesn’t provide an encouraging guide for us humans. Change in the environment is constant, but the magnitudes of diverse changes vary greatly. Contemporary humanity lives in the Anthropocene Age, in which humanity’s actions have themselves become a significant factor in molding our physical environment. The astonishing increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that fuel global temperature increases—and thus global climate change—provides the most obvious and alarming aspect of the reality of the Anthropocene. Can we adapt to or alter these changes that we have fueled? Can we alter our behaviors and actions that have triggered these changes? Can we stop ourselves from further imperiling our well-being as an entire species? </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">If not, why not? </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">To some extent, we must learn to guide our own evolution. But can we do this? Are there “bugs” in the human operating system or in our programs of society, politics, and economy, that remain so deeply impeded within our collective psyches that they prevent us from taking effective actions to preserve and enhance our well-being? I proffer that we have bugs both at the deep level of our operating systems, bugs that are a part of human nature and the human condition; i.e., the situation that we are born into in the way of history, society, economic relations, and political relations. Can we debug humanity?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">One fundamental reality facing each person is that of impending death. Individuals of all species experience death and thus a limited lifetime. We humans know of our mortality, even as we often work to shunt it aside, out of our awareness. Entropy creates the inevitability of death. It reflects the fact that any physical system runs down. Thus, no matter how fortunate we are and how careful we are, the reality of entropy will inevitably express itself as death, regardless of our physical, mental, or spiritual attainments. As embodied creatures, our reality is marked by the absolute finitude of time and energy available to us. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">But as a species, or as a group, the time and energy horizons available to us, while not infinite, are nevertheless nearly limitless. In principle, at least, we humans should have access to sufficient time and energy to allow us—if we act wisely—to continue to adapt to our environment. We have, in increasing measure, gained the ability to shape ourselves. After all, what is education but the molding of a person with the knowledge of the culture that has been accumulated over the eons? (Or it should be.) What is any endeavor of self-development other than an effort to increase our knowledge and skills to shape our destinies through greater knowledge and wisdom? Any skills we gain allow us opportunities to shape ourselves and our environment in the most favorable ways. What is the value of the development of historical consciousness if not to gain of self-knowledge as a species and as a party of any sub-group (culture, civilization, nation-state, etc.)? And the same applies to individuals. We have gained—and continue to gain—greater knowledge about ourselves, collectively and individually. And because this project of self-knowledge is not complete, we can appreciate that one aim of the human project has been, and will remain for a long time to come, the achievement of self-knowledge. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what is the value of self-knowledge? Is it a matter of mere contemplation? A thing of beauty valuable only as a completed achievement? I think not. Not because self-knowledge isn’t in itself a thing of beauty—I have no doubt that it is (although, to be honest, I’m a long way from it.) No, we realize the value of self-knowledge in action more than through contemplation. Self-knowledge, from its most primitive manifestations to its most enlightened manifestations, is at the root of any reality of goodness, truth, and beauty. Only to the extent we act—consciously, intentionally, purposefully—can we realize self-knowledge and appreciate its value. The philosopher R.G. Collingwood </span></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1889-1943)</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> asserts that “all history is the history of human thought”. And what we think (at many levels) is manifest not only by our words but also by our deeds, our </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">res gestae (</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">deeds done). But note that communicating by words or images also constitutes a type of deed. In one manner of viewing the issues, all thoughts are a form of deeds; some manifest, most not. Thus, history consists of deeds, human actions marked by some level of thought and intention. History is not some grand design or a natural process but an account of human thoughts manifest as deeds. The natural processes that surround us and that we inhabit provide the scenery of human actions in which we humans create the stuff of history. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">So, the question is whether at this juncture of the human story, have we the ability—the power of thought and action—to shape our future and overcome the confining residue of our collective and individual greed, foolishness, and ignorance. Have we, as individuals, acting collectively, sufficient self-knowledge to act to save ourselves from the quandary into which we have placed ourselves? Can we—will we— act to deliver ourselves from the grave dangers that we have created? Yes, it’s possible that we can rectify our situation, that we can extricate ourselves from the plight into which we’ve placed ourselves. But how? </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Let me circle back here. If decline, decay, collapse, and such are a matter of entropy, the dissipation of energy within a system, then what we need is negentropy—-a flow of energy into a system. In what form? Foremost, we require energy in its most ethereal of forms: enthusiasm, drive, purpose, goal, thought, goodwill, determination. Here I harken the spirit of William James. We must realize that we are facing “the moral equivalent of war.” And, I hasten to add, I don’t believe that I’d have had the temerity to make this assertion but for the example in Ukraine that we’re now witnessing. In the face of brutal, overwhelming force, the leaders and people of Ukraine have refused to capitulate to the evil that has been brought to bear upon them. And in the rest of the world, especially in the liberal democracies, we’ve seen a coming together with a unity of purpose arising from a shared revulsion at the level of transgression and brutality displayed in the invasion. This shared response has triggered a willingness (so far) to sacrifice in the face of this manifest evil. Few (if any) thought this response possible before it became manifest. This Great Refusal will no doubt dissipate in some measure. It, too, will prove subject to the pressures of entropy, of decay, as time and hardships and frustration take their toll. But maybe it will prove enough to turn a tide. Maybe. It provides a necessary dose of hope that we can succeed when the chips are down. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/developmentalpolitics/posts/522241949466855/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">posted an initial query based on these musings on the Developmental Politics group Facebook page</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and I received several thoughtful responses to my musings. Among the responses was one from </span><a href="https://www.stevemcintosh.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Steve </span></a><span style="color: #1155cc;"><u>McIntosh, the</u></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> leader of the Developmental Politics group, the head of </span><a href="https://www.culturalevolution.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Institute for Cultural Evolution</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and a leading Integral thinker. McIntosh commented in response to my post: </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Decay, the force of entropy, is continuously breaking things down. Human history accordingly evinces regular events of destruction. Some of this is “creative destruction” (making way for something better). But often, we see merely “destructive destruction” (which counts as regression).</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Cultural evolution is not predetermined, it is highly contingent and primarily “up to us.” So naturally, its course is marked by both growth and degrowth. Nevertheless, something more keeps coming from something less over the long term. The abiding possibility of cultural failure and regression (and its frequent occurrence), however, is necessary for freedom’s exercise to have moral meaning.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was particularly struck by McIntosh’s statement that “cultural evolution is not predetermined; it is highly contingent and primarily ‘up to us.’” This strikes me as undoubtedly true, and a really good news/bad news statement. Yes, human action can make a difference, but human indifference and ignorance (which precludes meaningful action) can muck it all up. Humanity, looking backward, especially over the last 250 years, has been riding a rocket of material development and knowledge acquisition that has gained momentum as it seeks to escape the pull of gravity. But have we enough thrust to escape the gravity of finitude? Of our own inherent weaknesses? </span><a href="https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/event/pathways-to-planetary-health-forum-eric-beinhocker-on-the-new-economic-paradigm/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Economist Eric Beinhocker talks about the “great transition” </span></a><span style="color: #1155cc;"><u>ahead; and</u></span><span style="color: #050505; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> indeed, we do face one. If we pass it, we will look upon our past as a comedy, a happy ending. But if we fail, we will look upon the human project as a tragedy: so much promise, so much effort, wasted because of flaws that were within our power to alleviate. I want a comedy; I fear a tragedy. I keep plugging away in my small way—as I'm sure anyone reading this does—to realize the comedy and avoid the tragedy. But the crucial point is not to speculate about the outcome, but to act to create it. Now, more than ever in human history, we have the power, the capacity, to write our own ending. Which ending do we intend to pursue? </span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Where do we start? There will be no single convincing, comprehensive answer to this query. But that being said, we need to start everywhere. We need to change our conditions through individual and collective (political) action. We need to realize that for all the perfection and accomplishment we imagine, we have some very stark, persistent, and deadly traits that we will need to continue to deal with far into the future. And we need to get started down these multiple tracks to reach our multiple goals. The clock is ticking.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><br /></span><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-35647829338691482802022-02-28T11:50:00.003-07:002022-02-28T11:50:41.569-07:00Letter from Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) About Climate Change & Legislation<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p><i> <span style="font-size: medium;">Below is the email that I received from the office of Colorado Senator Michael Bennet on 24 February 2022: </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Dear Mr. Greenleaf,</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thank you for writing me regarding climate change. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Climate change is an urgent threat to our health, environment, national security, and economy. As extreme events and natural disasters like wildfires and drought become more frequent and severe, so do the effects that climate change has on our daily lives. Putting in place policies to cut climate pollution and increase resilience is not only critical to protecting Coloradans today, but for safeguarding our environment for future generations and capturing the economic opportunities of a 21<sup>st</sup> century clean energy economy.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In 2019, <span style="color: #212121;">I joined 10 of my Democratic colleagues to establish and serve on the Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis. After dozens of meetings and public hearings with experts, labor unions, mayors, environmental justice </span>communities<span style="color: #212121;">, and </span>tribal and <span style="color: #212121;">native </span>leaders<span style="color: #212121;">, the Committee issued its main report </span>in August 2020 titled <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.democrats.senate.gov%252fclimate-report%26redir_log%3D603188302629335&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw3I6vlyvID3avGB91PnznIv" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.democrats.senate.gov%2fclimate-report&redir_log=603188302629335" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><em>The Case for Climate Action: Building a Clean Economy for the American People</em></a><em><span style="color: #212121;">. </span></em><span style="color: #212121;">This report calls </span>for action<span style="color: #212121;"> to reduce emissions to achieve 100% global net-zero emissions no later than 2050;</span> stimulate economic growth by increasing federal spending on climate action; and create at least 10 million new jobs. For more information about the Committee’s report, click <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.bennet.senate.gov%252fpublic%252findex.cfm%252f2020%252f8%252fbennet-senate-democrats-climate-committee-release-new-report-on-climate-action-plan-to-build-clean-economy-for-american-people%26redir_log%3D44425484341253&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw1LVpUicmpY6cDxg_LloTFG" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bennet.senate.gov%2fpublic%2findex.cfm%2f2020%2f8%2fbennet-senate-democrats-climate-committee-release-new-report-on-climate-action-plan-to-build-clean-economy-for-american-people&redir_log=44425484341253" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #212121;">. In November 2019, I </span><span style="color: #1f497d;">also </span><span style="color: #212121;">joined the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan group of Senators committed to crafting and advancing bipartisan solutions to climate change. I believe that this is an essential step in creating durable solutions to climate change in the Senate. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #212121;">As your Senator, I have championed efforts to reduce climate pollution, promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, and protect against the impacts of climate change. </span>This year, I reintroduced the Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act and the PEOPLE Act to put people to work cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells, strengthen bonding protections, and expand opportunities for local input into lease sales on public lands. <span style="color: #212121;">I also reintroduced the CORE Act to bolster our outdoor recreation economy and protect over 400,000 acres of public lands in Colorado, as well as reintroducing legislation to restore protections to the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain and prevent oil and gas exploration and development activities.</span> Last Congress, I led a bipartisan bill to provide a tax credit to help families and businesses make investments that will make their homes and businesses safer and more resilient in the face of natural disasters like wildfires and flooding. I also support efforts to set a national goal of conserving 30% of U.S. lands and oceans by 2030. This ambitious plan is an important roadmap to protecting our wildlife and addressing the climate crisis. In the 2018 Senate Farm Bill, the Agriculture Committee included several of my amendments addressing conservation and soil health, forest management, and supporting rural clean energy<span style="color: #212121;">. For a complete list of my priorities that were included in the 2018 Farm Bill, click </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.bennet.senate.gov%252fpublic%252f_cache%252ffiles%252f6%252f5%252f657f2ba0-440e-43ca-88d1-81815612ee73%252f6917CE2D8272B31D4299E99065DA4593.bennet-final-2018-farm-bill-conference-report-summary.pdf%26redir_log%3D131285921841152&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw0YH54RVyUohyDAGDpPDc0l" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bennet.senate.gov%2fpublic%2f_cache%2ffiles%2f6%2f5%2f657f2ba0-440e-43ca-88d1-81815612ee73%2f6917CE2D8272B31D4299E99065DA4593.bennet-final-2018-farm-bill-conference-report-summary.pdf&redir_log=131285921841152" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here.</a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I am eager to work with the Biden Administration to rectify the previous Administration’s harmful actions to weaken and eliminate U.S. initiatives to combat climate change and to work together on new policies to cut climate pollution, increase resilience, and create jobs and economic opportunities, especially in communities where it is needed most. Shortly after taking office, President Biden advanced a number of important executive actions to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad. This included rejoining the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, assembling world leaders at an international climate summit where he pledged to cut climate pollution in half by 2030 on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050, and establishing Interagency Working Groups focused on key issues like economic revitalization in coal communities. He has also begun working to restore scientific integrity and transparency at federal agencies, and advancing policies to build the infrastructure needed for a clean energy future, while creating good paying union jobs and prioritizing equity and environmental justice. Following the President’s executive actions, I joined my colleagues in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.bennet.senate.gov%252fpublic%252f_cache%252ffiles%252fd%252fe%252fdec12413-2f87-4343-bcc4-b3dbe565fe37%252fD517D7E8CFFE8C9D32DCD0170941FBB0.scc-bennet-mceachin-letter.pdf%26redir_log%3D795902138251968&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw1df5dZSQ7X96a_8iPFRkJp" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bennet.senate.gov%2fpublic%2f_cache%2ffiles%2fd%2fe%2fdec12413-2f87-4343-bcc4-b3dbe565fe37%2fD517D7E8CFFE8C9D32DCD0170941FBB0.scc-bennet-mceachin-letter.pdf&redir_log=795902138251968" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">letter</a><span style="color: #212121;"> to the Administration to emphasize the importance of accurately evaluating the cost of carbon pollution to strengthen our interagency response to the climate crisis. In February 2021, I released a </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.bennet.senate.gov%252fpublic%252f_cache%252ffiles%252f8%252f5%252f8542e7aa-e409-47bb-86ff-82b7357d89b3%252f2D37893568C7CDF825F2C3E4E47FD6F9.wil21224.pdf%26redir_log%3D202533695323801&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw1Pr7HQDy9ZzJAZ0KyEHIGu" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bennet.senate.gov%2fpublic%2f_cache%2ffiles%2f8%2f5%2f8542e7aa-e409-47bb-86ff-82b7357d89b3%2f2D37893568C7CDF825F2C3E4E47FD6F9.wil21224.pdf&redir_log=202533695323801" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">discussion draft</a><span style="color: #212121;"> of legislation to mitigate the effects of threats to our public healt</span>h that climate change poses. In <span style="color: #212121;">April, I joined my Senate colleagues to reverse the Trump Administration’s harmful rollback of rules to limit powerful methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. I <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttps%253a%252f%252fwww.youtube.com%252fwatch%253fv%253d-L6lD-P_R0c%26redir_log%3D452983810076284&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw0BNQtatkicr0dlVr5Dqi1h" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3d-L6lD-P_R0c&redir_log=452983810076284" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">spoke on the Senate floor</span></a> about the need to sensible [sic] methane policy that will protect our health and environment, while creating jobs and spurring innovation. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If you have any further questions or need assistance finding accurate information, my offices are here to help.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #212121;">For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my website at </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?%26cid%3DSenBennet%26crop%3D17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525%26report_id%3D%26redirect%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fbennet.senate.gov%252f%26redir_log%3D279947199569174&source=gmail&ust=1645822631240000&usg=AOvVaw2T4CAqJcZvGK31ehOLtfdR" href="https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=SenBennet&crop=17198QQQ55185937QQQ17754877QQQ7468525&report_id=&redirect=http%3a%2f%2fbennet.senate.gov%2f&redir_log=279947199569174" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://bennet.senate.gov/</a><span style="color: #212121;">. Again, thank you for contacting me.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Sincerely,</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" class="CToWUd" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/lMEYnE8HWLHoTAEEHuy0gtPOtfyTFhCC6doABm70ORT4XWJhJ8uis6FdA6IuirVCmqlA0bsj700nJTsHePeF52r6euWfvv9xMT0bSJsQEYSzJwgBA9gsiQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/Customers/SenBennet/MBsigT.png" /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Michael F. Bennet<br />United States Senator</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i>My only gripe with this letter: he doesn't endorse a carbon fee & dividend scheme, which he's spoken of favorably on several occasions. I suspect that this has something to do with the political consequences associated with gas prices that have risen recently, & more particularly, further possible increases arising from the Russian war against Ukraine. But I remain cautiously optimistic. </i></p><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-36077228395933892112022-02-25T11:09:00.000-07:002022-02-25T11:09:17.641-07:00David Brooks on the Weakness of the Democracies <div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="b3i9ofy5 l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="j83agx80 soycq5t1 ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 gpro0wi8 datstx6m k4urcfbm" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/opinion/liberalism-democracy-russia-ukraine.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR0ZokqIrSM2AUPQup9plgrRyZ3pyuJbBK5VdKrae0QhRyRpeav_HrUlHwY" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why our era has grown so ugly.</span></span><span class="a8c37x1j ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7 ltmttdrg g0qnabr5" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></a></div></div><div class="" dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_7j" style="padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This piece by David Brooks goes into the “must-read” category. I'm not sure that he nails it thoroughly, but it's an NYT editorial page piece, not a full-blown essay or book. I agree that he's on the right track or at least one of the right tracks. Here's the prime takeaway: </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></div></div><blockquote><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The events of the past few weeks have been fortifying. Joe Biden and the other world leaders have done an impressive job of rallying their collective resolve and pushing to keep Putin within his borders. But the problems of democracy and the liberal order can’t be solved from the top down. Today, across left and right, millions of Americans see U.S. efforts abroad as little more than imperialism, “endless wars” and domination. They don’t believe in the postwar project and refuse to provide popular support for it.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The real problem is in the seedbeds of democracy, the institutions that are supposed to mold a citizenry and make us qualified to practice democracy. To restore those seedbeds, we first have to relearn the wisdom of the founders: We are not as virtuous as we think we are. Americans are no better than anyone else. Democracy is not natural; it is an artificial accomplishment that takes enormous work.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Then we need to fortify the institutions that are supposed to teach the democratic skills: how to weigh evidence and commit to truth; how to correct for your own partisan blinders and learn to doubt your own opinions; how to respect people you disagree with; how to avoid catastrophism, conspiracy and apocalyptic thinking; how to avoid supporting demagogues; how to craft complex compromises.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Democrats are not born; they are made. If the 21st century is to get brighter as it goes along, we have to get a lot better at making them. We don’t only have to worry about the people tearing down democracy. We have to worry about who is building it up.</span></div></div></blockquote><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="l9j0dhe7" id="jsc_c_7k" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="b3i9ofy5 l9j0dhe7" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="j83agx80 soycq5t1 ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-28417137888011212082022-02-22T22:50:00.003-07:002022-02-22T22:50:42.487-07:00"Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet" (2021): My Reflections<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="b3i9ofy5 l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="j83agx80 soycq5t1 ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 gpro0wi8 datstx6m k4urcfbm" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGb6wQtNjblk%26feature%3Dshare%26fbclid%3DIwAR2_ieuIe9hD5I4PRbIl9Du7O5IgGH68lpDDSzxmGfE_CNN2aoZlHbVK9QE&h=AT2RAMXrc1cYdoEdZf9WItcS_L-LYY9UZZmNBDFvDONQQKGYqG-iCgemdNgQR0d96YquWZPU2lvBGWvK5rKs7a78moy5CLBKL5WVr1eHxQ-Nlg6Jy5iBJjhuVsCgExZJPuZ2&__tn__=H-R&c[0]=AT11L8a3upxjMTzxtQwm3w5-fAkOQx1ZGoopZCrGkid_J14UjeBY_2frUj4JQC63SDaLFAya6-UAwSHoFZ8dictfTXaYHSVHjBfG5LHiyxW12PBVyI_lwEzpqx6Nw0U16-cn1rXLtyiONpveMpkm6G0LoA" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 1px; position: relative;"><span dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet | Official Trailer | Netflix</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></a></div></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--primary-text); white-space: pre-wrap;">Watch this movie and share your reaction. Are you scared? Indifferent? Angry? Baffled? This documentary doesn't intend to crush hope, not by any means. But we humans have infected our planet with a severe cancer. We are the agents, the source of the disease. Yet, we, too, can act as physicians. We can heal ourselves. But why don't we? Why are we as a species so irrational? Why are we so myopic (short-sighted)? It's not from ignorance, except perhaps to the extent that we can rightfully label our ignorance as self-deception. The question is no longer what is happening, or what will happen (within broad parameters), but what are we going to do about it? Action, meaningful action, requires political action at every level, from the local to the planetary. So far, we've done a poor job of it. We think that we as a species are immortal, that our way of life can't collapse. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me? I'm baffled and angry. Baffled that we're so irrational, both actively (lying to ourselves & others) and passively in the sense that we're letting our ourselves be governed by demons of our own making. And I'm angry at those who perpetuate the lies, the ignorance, and the irrationality.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can someone based on sound evidence and arguments point me in another direction? If so, please do. I'd like to think more highly of my species.</span></span></p><div class="l9j0dhe7" id="jsc_c_7f" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="b3i9ofy5 l9j0dhe7" style="background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="j83agx80 soycq5t1 ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs l9j0dhe7" style="display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-26822576996949396292022-02-14T09:44:00.001-07:002022-02-14T09:44:20.965-07:00 Thoughts 14 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLO8Ye05GKHGLQRP-TtEUd4hjJazzfr4SbZq_AKQ6_nfGvZk4SFD7bD9xzBoCDLsg_TdQsHJ-9HIyab0Au340HE3nc3PEESwpLnBt22-Ptgwo4uJloq2L5gRE66pE6Fx5hZva_vLMaTIXksccrQEniQVoNvGwxPm41Zxzlq6aSbkq2DpNmS4yO500RaA=s475" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLO8Ye05GKHGLQRP-TtEUd4hjJazzfr4SbZq_AKQ6_nfGvZk4SFD7bD9xzBoCDLsg_TdQsHJ-9HIyab0Au340HE3nc3PEESwpLnBt22-Ptgwo4uJloq2L5gRE66pE6Fx5hZva_vLMaTIXksccrQEniQVoNvGwxPm41Zxzlq6aSbkq2DpNmS4yO500RaA=w266-h400" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Would a panel of the wise—Confucius, Gautama Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and Socrates—conceivably approve of our current way of life?</div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[W]e have a wide latitude of choice within the limits set by the flow of solar energy. It is possible in principle to create an agricultural civilization founded on yeoman farmers instead of exploited peasants or slaves—that is, the kind of small-hold, egalitarian, salt-of-the-earth farming society that Thomas Jefferson envisioned for the United States. I have imagined such an agrarian civilization, which I call “Bali with electronics.” In short, we can have benign and culturally rich societies without energy slavery. True, these societies may not offer the kinds of permissive freedoms that many enjoy today; individuals will have to find their freedom within the prevailing moral framework, not apart from it. But in return they will get back the autonomy, agency, and integrity that were lost in societies given over to distraction and consumption.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; font-weight: 400; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /></span></span></a><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-weight: 400;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"></a><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">‘But aren’t you dichotomising?’ I have not invented that hateful thing, a dichotomy. Some people are just against what they call ‘dichotomising’, feeling it is ‘simplistic’. But such a view is itself simplistic. There are, after all, different types of dichotomies. Some are inevitable, such as between plants and animals – even though there exist microscopic life forms that defy such categorisation. Some are entirely spurious. Elsewhere I have quoted whoever it was who said that ‘there are two types of people in this world: those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don’t’. Dichotomising has its problems.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81nveP8pLwL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/11079246?highlight=231870378" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Shutdown</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adam Tooze</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Given the scale of the fiscal interventions in 2020, if the political will had been there, it would not have been unreasonable to talk about a new or at least a renewed social contract. There were elements in the giant flow of money that were undoubtedly novel.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Le-2kFbqL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/10375540?highlight=213188423" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pope Francis</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">For “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God.”</div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81JZqz2TwwL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/4610266?highlight=86373338" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Wedge</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Scott Carney</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The three main building blocks of human experience are time, emotion and sensation. The brain must account for all three factors in order to encode information from the outside world.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51qZh3HjtEL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/186123?highlight=5738177" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">William Walker Atkinson Premium 7 Book Collection</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The muscles, bones, ligaments, feet, hands and nerves, etc., are agents for carrying out the mandates of the mind.</div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51d6iRWmIYL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/186336?highlight=5757018" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Powerful Hypnosis - Revealing Confessions of a Rogue Hypnotist</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Rogue Hypnotist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">If someone firmly believes ‘I am a smoker,’ they will not be able to stop smoking. If they lack self-belief that they can stop smoking, they may or may not succeed in the long term.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-52589693236269263292022-02-11T07:23:00.001-07:002022-02-11T07:23:28.057-07:00Thoughts 11 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTTJKlA1Rwi1JCoDpp5sRqx2fkG827aqOV-xffVwKUPljZDAcTD6ADfj1QKvv7S1H0eiImGVJqrvzs25ytBbGlFwcbXsZWTd7wYYWq-BSc9hJj2BEyP7a4ZPRJgH2adNBBqsELTmUT_5XRSNp_x4YIOyeOGm8UIOVOPu28_nTzqiYrrtLWZy_k7HjONA=s364" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="318" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTTJKlA1Rwi1JCoDpp5sRqx2fkG827aqOV-xffVwKUPljZDAcTD6ADfj1QKvv7S1H0eiImGVJqrvzs25ytBbGlFwcbXsZWTd7wYYWq-BSc9hJj2BEyP7a4ZPRJgH2adNBBqsELTmUT_5XRSNp_x4YIOyeOGm8UIOVOPu28_nTzqiYrrtLWZy_k7HjONA=w350-h400" width="350" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">[T]here are emergent phenomena from the whole interconnected system at the hemisphere level, and neuroscience increasingly recognises that we should think in terms of complex widespread networks.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The hemispheres are massively more intraconnected within themselves than they are connected to one another. So, as in life, science needs both narrow focus and broad vision.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">This book is about what goes on at a higher level than that of intrahemispheric regions alone – though a very significant intrahemispheric distinction that will emerge regards the inhibitory effect of the frontal region of each hemisphere on its own posterior cortex. Nonetheless, this should not be thought of in purely antagonistic terms, but in dialectical terms, whereby something new is brought about through their joint action.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[T]oday’s world population of 7.6 billion is far too large to be supported by the flow of solar energy, so a benign future depends upon a radical reduction in numbers. In addition, agrarian civilizations are no paradise.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Jean-Jacques Rousseau pinpointed the fundamental contradiction of a life devoted to consumption by saying, ”For the impulse of appetite alone is slavery, and obedience to the law one has prescribed for oneself is freedom.”</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81P9cw8Df2L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/8981143?highlight=183885624" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Doom</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Niall Ferguson</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The disaster [Chernobyl] had both active and latent causes, some of which were undoubtedly of a uniquely Soviet nature. The reactor’s operators took excessive risks in a way that exemplified the “We can do it no matter what” mentality instilled by Soviet propaganda since 1917, and especially in the late Stalin and Khrushchev eras, the formative years of the key actors. The design flaws of the reactor itself, and the operators’ unawareness of its potential instability, were also consequences of the peculiar political economy of the planned economy. Yet in some respects, as we shall see, Chernobyl could have happened anywhere.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/419b1gKHpLL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/10179376?highlight=248855067" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Evolutionaries</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Carter Phipps</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Too much chaos doesn’t lead to higher order, just more chaos and disorder.</div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41wfcfrbNPL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/3344149?highlight=69901908" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Life of the Mind</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hannah Arendt </p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">If, as I suggested before, the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to “demand” its exercise from every sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-56223738068902278162022-02-09T08:26:00.006-07:002022-02-09T08:26:47.276-07:00Thoughts 11 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqmUnWBv6rONjT3YYA_VO5XmyqrTKBs6HW3QDm67MsIS4NIpA1HPru7pPadMm-WYkviIpspo4DjRW5JIn6mhbieO4VZwxf-S2UpsIh4Kw_I-gZ3tGXMtAdD0PY2NyEbLlooeFi1QdFmsLgKr0dE9nW7DgADhGjNddntY7BDP1LATx-k6H6tfVBwSsJoA=s475" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqmUnWBv6rONjT3YYA_VO5XmyqrTKBs6HW3QDm67MsIS4NIpA1HPru7pPadMm-WYkviIpspo4DjRW5JIn6mhbieO4VZwxf-S2UpsIh4Kw_I-gZ3tGXMtAdD0PY2NyEbLlooeFi1QdFmsLgKr0dE9nW7DgADhGjNddntY7BDP1LATx-k6H6tfVBwSsJoA=w266-h400" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are hurtling toward a day of ecological reckoning. We should have acted many years ago to contain the damage and build a bridge to a different kind of civilization. Now we are faced with an increased population, worse pollution, dwindling resources, progressive biological destruction, much greater complexity, compounding debt, and enormous inertia in the system—a nexus of problems that have no separate solutions, only an aggregate solution requiring a total revolution in our way of life.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">As generals have learned, even the best war plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy, but having planned is essential, because it forces you to imagine different scenarios and to prepare for the worst. In other words, planning is an inoculation against stupefaction and panic, so when things do not go according to plan, you are less likely to lose your head and quicker to make the necessary adjustments.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Hf9le27BL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/186102?highlight=255094714" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Immoderate Greatness</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Gibbon: it was “the loss of freedom, of virtue, and of honour,” not the barbarian invasions, that doomed the [Roman] empire of the West.</div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">I frequently emphasise that both hemispheres are involved in absolutely everything we do. It cannot, however, be an argument against hemisphere differences.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[T]here are emergent phenomena from the whole interconnected system at the hemisphere level, and neuroscience increasingly recognises that we should think in terms of complex widespread networks.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><img class="highlight-dropdown-button" src="https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/new_icons/chevron-down-alt-thin.a0ebfe57a28f.svg" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; filter: opacity(0.7); float: right; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; left: 46px; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px; position: relative; top: -12px; white-space: normal;" /><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/419b1gKHpLL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/10179376?highlight=250155334" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Evolutionaries</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Carter Phipps</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[James] Fowler’s work examines religion, in the broadest sense of that complex term, as the way in which we think about and relate to the ultimate nature of existence. Under that definition, even many forms of modern atheism and naturalism are really better classified as modernist forms of religious expression (Stage Four in Fowler’s construction). After all, they often represent strong conclusions about the ultimate nature of being upon which whole systems of cultural rules, norms, and ethics are constructed.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71HnDD2JlTS._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/10219741?highlight=229307705" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Last Best Hope</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">George Packer</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;">It will be a long time before we know whether the protests of 2020 can come anywhere close to fulfilling their ambitions—not just to change policing and criminal justice in America, but also to bring full equality to Black Americans. Because structures of oppression are much too big for any one of us to budge, in a sense white people are, as usual, off the hook. Systemic criticism produces gestural politics. During the pandemic the San Francisco Board of Education took on the project of changing the names of Abraham Lincoln High School, Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School, and dozens of other “problematically” named schools, while keeping isolated and demoralized children out of all schools, whatever their names. Mastheads and tables of contents changed, pictures and statues were taken down, glass ceilings shattered, but no one honestly expected to do much about the material conditions of misery.</div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><img class="highlight-dropdown-button" src="https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/new_icons/chevron-down-alt-thin.a0ebfe57a28f.svg" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; filter: opacity(0.7); float: right; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; left: 46px; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px; position: relative; top: -12px; white-space: normal;" /><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/511wMR3ixqL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/3001786?highlight=85696059" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hannah Arendt</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Before Montesquieu’s discovery, the only principle of change connected with forms of government was change for the worse, the perversion that would transform an aristocracy (the government of the best) into an oligarchy (the government of a clique for the interest of the clique), or overturn a democracy that had degenerated into ochlocracy (mob rule) into tyranny.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91yyXtg+afL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/10111973?highlight=205143572" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Science and the Modern World</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Alfred North Whitehead</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The doctrine which I am maintaining is that the whole concept of materialism only applies to very abstract entities, the products of logical discernment. The concrete enduring entities are organisms, so that the plan of the whole influences the very characters of the various subordinate organisms which enter into it.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61Ys%2BwxptTL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/amazon_redirect/4240" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Great Leveler</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Walter Scheidel</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Four different kinds of violent ruptures have flattened inequality: mass mobilization warfare, transformative revolution, state failure, and lethal pandemics.</div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-17088754127375681352022-02-08T06:42:00.001-07:002022-02-08T06:42:15.375-07:00Thoughts 8 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ldFQqL4l_J8xh16AWkyuILusNCUWwYU1iAg2OVPc2Pkt7nEg7V4bEXQbw8bGCMc3E306tYqFjIeuPIQrQmsdKqCan2h3entROUl8pywfK1mDjFMqxITsvqXqTDe5Ry_xQ5mbl09242VYrlZrVfsHh9MqBmD0Gk6sNU6M1qLDImPp-TsbLXQRtAyBQg/s364/The Matter with Things by McGilchrist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="318" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ldFQqL4l_J8xh16AWkyuILusNCUWwYU1iAg2OVPc2Pkt7nEg7V4bEXQbw8bGCMc3E306tYqFjIeuPIQrQmsdKqCan2h3entROUl8pywfK1mDjFMqxITsvqXqTDe5Ry_xQ5mbl09242VYrlZrVfsHh9MqBmD0Gk6sNU6M1qLDImPp-TsbLXQRtAyBQg/w350-h400/The Matter with Things by McGilchrist.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><p></p><p><img class="highlight-dropdown-button" src="https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/new_icons/chevron-down-alt-thin.a0ebfe57a28f.svg" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; cursor: pointer; filter: opacity(0.7); float: right; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; left: 32px; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px; position: relative; top: -12px;" /></p><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">Understanding the structure of the brain and how it functions can help us see the constraints on consciousness, much as, to use another metaphor, the banks of a river constrain its flow and are integral to its being a river at all, without themselves being sufficient to cause the river, or being themselves the river, or explaining it away. All experience in this life as we know it (and this applies whether we conceive the brain as the originator, or as a transducer, of consciousness) comes to us through the brain, and is therefore inevitably constrained, and shaped, by it.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">It is not the changes in the brain itself that matter, but the way in which we use it. An analogy might be with a radio set: to begin with you try different channels, but after a while you begin to tune into only one. The other channels are still there – it’s just that you are no longer listening to them.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Even if we avoid oblivion, the result would be a dark age whose darkness would be roughly proportional to the extent of the overshoot. To avoid such a fate, humanity must either achieve a total technological mastery over nature via the perfection of artificial intelligence and robotics, an outcome that has been dubbed the Singularity, or make a relatively fast transition to a high-level agrarian civilization, precisely the options posited many years ago by Harrison Brown.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[A] state of total technological mastery is probably not achievable owing to basic physical and biological laws, such as the Entropy Law and the Law of the Minimum. Technology cannot sustain a “machine civilization” or even a “digital civilization” out of thin air.9 In addition, as noted by Brown, the Singularity would be a regimented, collectivized dystopia. (The digital panopticon of today is but the merest harbinger of such a future.)</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81oeEQ3eGxL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/9877336?highlight=208819071" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Developmental Politics</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Steve McIntosh</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">According to John Rawls, for example, pursuing our own interests may be necessary, but only those acts that are motivated purely for the interests of others can be recognized as intrinsically moral.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GZMEe2iFL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/836207?highlight=58572698" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Art of Learning</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Josh Waitzkin</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Depth beats breadth any day of the week, because it opens a channel for the intangible, <span class="inline-keyphrase showing" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> unconscious</span>, creative components of our hidden potential.</span></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Z8blLNjXL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/2006106?highlight=52360338" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Way of Zen</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Alan W. Watts</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">This is not a philosophy of not looking where one is going; it is a philosophy of not making where one is going so much more important than where one is that there will be no point in going.</div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71tUEu8M-qL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/7656263?highlight=144135051" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Case for Keto</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Gary Taubes</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text short-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">As informed physical trainers will tell their clients, you cannot outrun a bad diet.</div></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-68673598165880327812022-02-07T08:29:00.004-07:002022-02-07T08:29:45.909-07:00Thoughts 7 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLMgfSkAAJ7Mhy3aopYOIT5Bm8IVz9QHnYr6c_JAFkpLzEyeHo9SehMzZ7MDcOEwdMHzQRjLuZoiLLgo8J5Qf673uhLYILpi3krNE6kSkTO8GW1Dto0sjn_Qti3m_qxEgujpda9jITj589gDzDXyE0jP7Y9Teeuf8D5OdSjedbQcamapBU3nFCz1QNyw=s475" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLMgfSkAAJ7Mhy3aopYOIT5Bm8IVz9QHnYr6c_JAFkpLzEyeHo9SehMzZ7MDcOEwdMHzQRjLuZoiLLgo8J5Qf673uhLYILpi3krNE6kSkTO8GW1Dto0sjn_Qti3m_qxEgujpda9jITj589gDzDXyE0jP7Y9Teeuf8D5OdSjedbQcamapBU3nFCz1QNyw=w266-h400" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/653764?highlight=24838403" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">[C]rowds are moved by simple ideas, striking images, and repeated slogans that drive out deeper thought. To make matters worse, the anonymity of crowds induces individuals to behave viscerally, discarding both prudence and morality. In addition, because crowds are moved by images that are not logically connected or rooted in fact, members of crowds have a hard time distinguishing between reality and illusion. Thus, said [Gustave] Le Bon, Crowds are only powerful for destruction. Their rule is always tantamount to a barbarian phase. A civilization involves fixed rules, discipline, a passing from the instinctive to the rational state, forethought for the future, an elevated degree of culture—all of them conditions that crowds, left to themselves, have invariably shown themselves incapable of realizing.</span><span class="highlight-edited-indicator" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #979797; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> </span></span></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-edited-indicator" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #979797; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/653764?highlight=24838413" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Thomas Hobbes became the author of modern political economy by abandoning virtue as the purpose of politics and making economic development into the end of government.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">I do not attempt to ‘explain’ experience at all in the causative sense. Nor do I invoke the brain in order to tell us what experience ‘really is’, which it never could, but to illuminate the constraints on our understanding, which it can.</div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81oeEQ3eGxL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/9877336?highlight=211019452" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Developmental Politics</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Steve McIntosh</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The point is that we shouldn’t allow the ongoing work of overcoming modernism’s pathologies to alienate us from the real transcendence that modernist values continue to offer.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91jPnbvWH3L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/4706692?highlight=89256274" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Commanding Hope</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thomas Homer-Dixon</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Here are two criteria [for choosing a path into the future:] any path we choose should take us towards a future that’s likely, as best we can judge, to be enough to genuinely reduce the danger humanity faces; and, second, the path should also be feasible, in the sense that it gives us a good chance of reaching that desirable future, which means surmounting or bypassing likely political, economic, social, or technological roadblocks along the way. These criteria are often at odds, leaving us trapped in what I call the enough vs. feasible dilemma.</div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81nveP8pLwL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/11079246?highlight=230307285" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Shutdown</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adam Tooze</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">The emerging infectious diseases paradigm, proposed by scientists from the 1970s onward, was, like the models of climate change and earth systems ecology that emerged at the same moment, a profound critique of our modern way of life, our economy, and the social system built on it.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/813XZWTjpiL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/6659001?highlight=120587415" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Price of Peace</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Zachary D. Carter</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;">Hayek assembled a ferocious, scholarly attack on Keynes and the New Deal, not as an empirical analysis or a work of economic theory but as a political treatise. The book, titled <i>The Road to Serfdom</i>, would in time be recognized as a foundational text of modern conservatism, though Hayek resisted the label all his life. To Hayek the word conservative connoted the “paternalistic, nationalistic, and power-adoring tendencies”4 of British Tories. He preferred to think of himself as a “classical liberal” inspired by Locke, Hume, and Smith—many of the same figures who animated Keynes. Keynes had tried to redefine liberalism for the twentieth century with <i>The End of Laissez-Faire</i>, sketching ideas that came to fruition in the New Deal; Hayek wanted to offer an alternative liberal vision.</div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81JZqz2TwwL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/4610266?highlight=87124019" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Wedge</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Scott Carney</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">While I would never discount the great achievements that Western medicine has given overall to human health, if we spent half as much money and time trying to invent a better placebo—or, maybe more accurately, better ways to train our immune system to protect our bodies—we’d likely discover entirely new ways to treat disease. This is, of course, where it’s beneficial to consider the relationship between the environment and human physiology as a wedge to help control and strengthen the immune system itself.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1MlP3pIKXL._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/6749674?highlight=121832426" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Time of the Magicians</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wolfram Eilenberger</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[Aby] Warburg’s theory of culture, which was based primarily on the medium of the image and pictorial representation, the human urge to give symbolic expression to our deepest and most existential anxieties—to give them a solid form and by doing so to make them amenable to innovation or treatment—is actually the source of all culture and learning. Even in its most sublime and abstract achievements, in art and science, the human mind can never entirely overcome culture’s origins, the feeling of existential anxiety and of being subject to the overwhelming forces of nature that, we suppose, surround us and overpower us.</div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-80590640618131788742022-02-04T09:29:00.001-07:002022-02-04T09:29:17.169-07:00Thoughts 4 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBy7mYKYSw9RQatUAqQpa5Cj-upxMCipBTIN--xZDjiJu7AX04CeQM6WfDhlGrKGufXVjeeiE_4H4__LsHuR1Ejrk73GN_VQGi9utVw-Ojp4DBhIxjTqynuHSSKEaTeZrLdp4OlOOpK53WJ_ZuoCfqtW5UJvhscP1aOEQfOUO79oH4RfHlPqzpl9sRfA=s364" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="318" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBy7mYKYSw9RQatUAqQpa5Cj-upxMCipBTIN--xZDjiJu7AX04CeQM6WfDhlGrKGufXVjeeiE_4H4__LsHuR1Ejrk73GN_VQGi9utVw-Ojp4DBhIxjTqynuHSSKEaTeZrLdp4OlOOpK53WJ_ZuoCfqtW5UJvhscP1aOEQfOUO79oH4RfHlPqzpl9sRfA=w350-h400" width="350" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do not suggest that the brain originates anything. I do not know that the brain ‘causes’ consciousness: it might or might not. For example, it might transduce, or otherwise mediate, consciousness. I have my own view on that, which I will come to in a later chapter. But it is a matter of likelihoods: I know of no way of proving the point one way or the other, since the observable facts would look the same whether it gave rise to, or simply mediated, consciousness: just as an alien could not tell merely by looking in the back of the TV set whether it gave rise to, or transmitted, the material it shows.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[I]f you ask me why I robbed an old lady, I could reply: ‘I needed the money’, ‘I had just watched a violent video’, ‘I inherited my dad’s psychopathic tendencies’, ‘I was high on crystal meth’, ‘I heard a voice tell me to do it’, ‘I was brought up in a subculture where it was considered normal to steal’, ‘the government cut my welfare payments’, ‘my serotonin levels were depleted’, and so on. What counts as a possible cause depends on the context of the question.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Sadly, this patent reality [of climate change, environmental degradation, & the limits to industrial civilization] continues to be mostly denied in societies made up largely of the passively uninformed and the passionately misinformed.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Unfortunately, rational behavior is not characteristic of addicts and ignoramuses, so the warning signs of overshoot are denied or rationalized away by a divided, distracted, and deluded populace, and this would not change even if 100 percent of the world’s scientists were to issue a warning to humanity. So far from trying to solve our problems, we persist in the behavior that makes them worse.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><i>But we're not at 100% of qualified experts agreeing on the reality of climate change. According to climate change expert Professor Jerry Schnoor of the University of Iowa, we're only at 99.9%. (#sarcasm)</i></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91jPnbvWH3L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/4706692?highlight=87505181" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Commanding Hope</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thomas Homer-Dixon</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Once our hope is focused on a story about the future that’s anchored in clear-eyed realism, we need to perform a bit of magic— to turn our hope “water” into hope “wine,” so to speak.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2B0poBNydL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/8634865?highlight=168049197" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Fear Itself</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ira Katznelson</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">Intense uncertainty, the kind that makes the usual sense of the term status quo virtually irrelevant, became a source of fear. No one quite knew whether the era’s constellation of crises indicated “a state of greater or lesser permanence, as in a longer or shorter transition towards something better or worse or towards something altogether different.”</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-56115373247969697562022-02-03T18:29:00.002-07:002022-02-03T21:45:51.722-07:00Responding to Carter Phipps About Climate Change: "Don't Look Up" (or Just Looking Up) Isn't Enough<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><br /><br /><br /><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The essay I wrote below is in response to </span><a href="https://post-progressive.org/article/its-the-comet-stupid/" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">this review essay written by Carter Phipps</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the <a href="https://post-progressive.org/" target="_blank">Post Progressive Post website</a>. The film "Don't Look Up" gave rise to Carter's essay, but he goes on from the film to a wider lens view of the issues of climate change. It's really a terrific consideration of the issues involved, especially regarding the hard political, economic, and ethical choices we must make. Recognizing the danger is just the first step. My essay (below) is in the manner of a concurring opinion. I very much agree with almost everything he contends, but I seek to expand upon his excellent lead. I highly recommend reading his article first, and then my response if you're so inclined. </span></div><br /><div><span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carter, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks for your very thoughtful and considered essay about “Don’t Look Up” and your reflections that the film prompted. You’ve written a terrific essay. It’s prompted some reflections on my part that I share below. It’s in the way of a concurring opinion, not a dissent. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This film also strikes me as an example of preaching to the choir, which, on first reflection, seems like a waste of time. They are the saved. And yet, even those who seem among the elect suffer from periods of doubt and discouragement. Sometimes their faith, the strongest among the members of the congregation, needs reinforcement and affirmation in the face of discouragement and doubt. “Don’t Look Up” is a film for the choir members, and like you, I doubt it will serve to garner many converts. How to convert those who’ve not yet accepted the word—the reality— we speak of? This is the Cassandra problem, the challenge of the prophets. It is—and has been, in its various manifestations throughout history—a challenge of the greatest urgency in the face of imminent threats. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m quite in agreement that a fundamental challenge lies in dealing with climate change and environmental degradation as a set of political issues. (Climate change is the most obvious and pressing subset of the wider issue of environmental degradation.) Climate change is a political challenge in the immediate sense as a set of concerns about the operation of political institutions. In the wider sense, political issues shade into issues of culture and its manifestations as worldviews, mass psychology and behavior, and political economies. Let me address each in turn. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the immediate sense, we’re dealing with a failure of American political institutions. Extreme polarization and a refusal to adapt our democracy to changing circumstances have rendered many of our institutions, especially Congress, virtually moribund. While I agree that public opinion has come around in some measure to acknowledge the reality of climate change, the conversion—to the extent some have been converted—is largely notional at this point. Many may recite the creed, but few live the faith. (And most of the credit for recent conversions must go to Mother Nature, who, with her wildfires, Derechos, droughts, heatwaves, polar vortexes, floods, tornados, and hurricanes—to mention only her loudest outbursts—deserves the credit for most recent conversions.) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I contend that we must repair American democracy if we are to create a polity that can address the deeper, more fundamental issues raised by climate change. Of course, we must also address long-festering issues as well, such as racial equality, economic inequality, crime, immigration, etc. But if we don’t fix the fundamentals, anything else will become irrelevant. In particular, we need to end legalized bribery (a/k/a unlimited campaign contributions), gerrymandering, the filibuster, assure ease of voting, and assure a fair and accurate count of votes. And, going further, we need to re-think the public space, which is now more virtual than physical, and consider how voices can be heard. We need to move away from rule by plebiscites and opinion polls to a greater sense of a shared dialogue and decision-making. But these are institutional and procedural changes that we need to make to avoid an authoritarian regime led by an unholy alliance of demagogues and venal elites. But we also need to go further upstream. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Going further upstream is what the Institute for Cultural Evolution and the Post-Progressive Alliance are about at present. (I hope I have that right!) In short, I’m not sure any improvements to our governing institutions and procedures will be worth a tinker’s dam unless we come to grips with the pair of fraternal twins that haunt humanity: fear and anxiety; anger and ressentiment. These plagues upon our psyches, as collectively and individually, underlie much of the popular discontent we now witness. I suspect that these demonic twins are a part of the background noise of individuals and societies throughout human history, but sometimes they burst into the mind with the screech of a home fire alarm, overwhelming the mind and distorting thought. I believe our world is in the midst of such an outburst. The human herd is spooked by it. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And why shouldn’t we be spooked? We know the dire predictions we face with climate change, protestations of denial or fantasies of easy-outs notwithstanding. (You’re right, denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.) We’ve seen our financial system collapse (again, for the oldest among us). And while many prosper in our economy, all too many Americans have suffered mightily. Life expectancies within some groups of Americans have declined, their deaths the result of declining communities and the entailing despair these declines generate. And, of course, their despair is spurred (“treated”) by drug pushers in the guise of physicians and drug companies. We’ve suffered failed forever wars and are now looking at the prospect of war in Europe (again) and perhaps (again) in the Pacific. We’ve experienced a pandemic disease that we mishandled and by our mishandling we’ve morphed it into an endemic disease—a forever disease to go with forever wars. We’ve suffered terrorist attacks on commercial, political, and military institutions by atavistic martyrs from abroad. But with greater regularity and consequence, we experience terrorist attacks on churches, synagogues, and schools (and elsewhere) by domestic terrorists—fellow Americans—who act alone and at random. We allow these terrorists to arm because we foster a culture of paranoia and a cult of gun worship. Our idolatry about guns (“Second Amendment rights”) worships a Moloch that requires the sacrifice of random human victims. We see the Capitol building sacked by barbarians at the behest of a demagogue and his henchmen (and women). The U.S. has the mightiest military ever, and we were once a beacon of freedom, hope, and security to the rest of the world. Yet on January 6, our republic was laid prostrate before the barbarians (loosely organized by the outgoing administration) as they attacked our Congress as it went through the ritual procedures of establishing the legitimacy of the newly elected government. No living persons had witnessed this kind of attack on our Constitution. And do we continue to live under the threat of nuclear Armageddon? Yes, we simply choose to believe (evidence suggesting the contrary notwithstanding) that no leader will want to trigger a nuclear </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Götterdämmerung. </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, while we enjoy unprecedented economic wealth and abundance, we also know that many of us face a future where many human workers will become redundant, unneeded. Our society has increasingly realized the role of the sorcerer’s apprentice, deploying our technologies willy-nilly with little control over their courses and consequences. Fears of automation and increasing human irrelevance have led to cries of alarm for a couple of centuries, but even the boy who cried wolf eventually encountered a wolf. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether we will experience any of these nightmare scenarios (and untold others), we cannot know. The future is never what it used to be. But we do know that climate change is happening now, before our eyes. We are </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">en media res</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The only remaining questions are how bad will it get (all our best efforts notwithstanding), and how effectively—peacefully, efficiently—will we make the transition to a new energy regime. A new energy regime will certainly alter our culture, economy, and politics in significant ways. I, for one, from my comfortable middle-class life, hope that the transition proves smooth and peaceful. But the longer we wait, the more likely that radical, abrupt changes will occur, even if unbidden. Each day that passes increases the risk of greater disruption; greater disruption in our climate, our society, our economics, and our politics. Some of that disruption could pave the way for a better world, but that’s a long-shot wager. Humans don’t make wise decisions when motivated by fear, anxiety, anger, and ressentiment. Current trends in our world are toward the atavistic, the authoritarian. Our advancing technologies, without the wisest guidance, are as likely to enslave us as to liberate us. We can still—I think, I hope—steer our great ship away toward a safe harbor, but time is running out. Our ship, our nation, our world, cannot turn quickly. We cannot put on the brakes—a ship has no brakes, only more or less momentum. Our size and momentum allow only for gradual turns. We cannot zigzag like a speed boat. We must seek safe harbor before we take we suffer irreparable damage. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So how do we do this? How do we make the changes, the deep changes, that are required of us? How do we persuade people to invest in creating a livable future? How do we disarm the fear, anxiety, anger, and resentment? How do we curb the greed, indolence, and indifference among the elites? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t know. Like most of life’s great problems and challenges, there is no single answer. Only possible answers, tentative answers, best bets. For me, for all of us, the evidence of the reality of climate change is beyond a reasonable doubt. A failure to act on our part would constitute a criminal act; an act done intentionally, with malice aforethought. We are beyond negligence in this case; ignorance of the risk and its likely consequences isn’t an available defense. We have no justification for inaction. But what then is our remedy? What judgment should we render? Here we can only act, test, and revise. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the present, no remedy should be off the table. Quickly taper fossil fuel use, of course. Put a price on carbon with a dividend of the proceeds paid to everyone to prevent an undue burden on low and middle-income families. Pursue nuclear power innovations. Consider geoengineering and carbon sequestration. (I’m skeptical, but pursue them.) Use the market as well as the political sphere. Consider a new ethic for a new era that will likely have less abundant energy than we’ve experienced in our lifetimes. How can we fairly and efficiently distribute what will likely prove a less abundant resource (energy)? Again, we’ll need not only to pursue technological innovations, but also innovations in our culture, our economy and economic thinking, and in our ethics and politics, our practices and institutions. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is possible, just possible, that we—humanity—and this Earth, this oasis of life with which we are entrusted, might just come out on the other side of this crisis with a better world. It’s a long shot, but it’s worth the effort. But we need to start now. Right now. </span></p><br /></span><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7627150934643834052.post-57318389317959700062022-02-03T09:34:00.000-07:002022-02-03T09:34:04.787-07:00Thoughts 3 Feb. 2022<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="height: 0px; position: fixed; width: 0px; z-index: 1499;"><div class="resolved" data-reactroot="" style="all: initial;"></div></div><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzasz0FfSppG9_ArWu3Jv_zXXPbblkPwFQ0SKId-m7JxykgBzmHb0OhDk1jNomhqDouU_NboWA9owxEdv0L2znMYZdz7J91JywBwOaJngHtOTA8OQr-JUU4Ybdt8d9rLzt9joMt9Rf9RZQ5c7A-_XlJMOuhFN4tLSSqEnTA-UIYGNoU19NsKxD_U0VVg=s475" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzasz0FfSppG9_ArWu3Jv_zXXPbblkPwFQ0SKId-m7JxykgBzmHb0OhDk1jNomhqDouU_NboWA9owxEdv0L2znMYZdz7J91JywBwOaJngHtOTA8OQr-JUU4Ybdt8d9rLzt9joMt9Rf9RZQ5c7A-_XlJMOuhFN4tLSSqEnTA-UIYGNoU19NsKxD_U0VVg=w266-h400" width="266" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><img class="highlight-dropdown-button" src="https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/new_icons/chevron-down-alt-thin.a0ebfe57a28f.svg" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; cursor: pointer; filter: opacity(0.7); float: right; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; left: 32px; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px; position: relative; top: -12px;" /></p><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TC6%2BfvheL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Apologies to the Grandchildren</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">William Ophuls</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">[W]hat allowed the Industrial Revolution to be such a success? The answer is sixfold. First, most obvious, it began with an abundance of high-grade resources. Second, the original bads, such as industrial waste, were relatively small compared to the atmosphere or the rivers into which they were discharged. The harm did not go unnoticed, but the damage seemed minor compared to the benefits. Third, the benefits and costs of industrialization were not distributed equally. The industrialists and their allies profited greatly, the natural world and the poor, disadvantaged, or colonized paid the price. Fourth, due to inertia in the system, a major portion of the costs of industrialization were shoved into the future. As with the climate regime, the effect of current industrial activity does not always become apparent until decades later. Hence grandchildren pay for the ecological sins of grandparents. Fifth, even the slowest rate of growth is exponential. Thus the absolute amount of both goods and bads grows steadily over time, doubling and doubling again until the burden of bads becomes impossible to sustain. Finally, sixth, economic growth involves an inescapable increase in complexity whose management requires ever more time, energy, resources, and money—a burden that, again, grows larger over time, forcing the society to run harder and harder just to stay in the same place.</div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">That industrial civilization is being strangled by a slowly tightening noose of ecological scarcity has been apparent to anyone who cares to examine the evidence without prejudice. Sadly, this patent reality continues to be mostly denied in societies made up largely of the passively uninformed and the passionately misinformed.</span></span></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">Regrettably we would rather speak falsely, if doing so means we do not seem to contradict ourselves: we realise that it is much simpler for our point of view to be dismissed as self-contradictory than untrue.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 2rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 652.049px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CN6I4aa8L._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 56px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Matter With Things</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iain McGilchrist</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;">[W]e are under almost irresistible pressure to adopt a view consistent with one hemisphere’s take or the other: it is too risky to draw, as we should, on both. And second, one of these takes, namely that of the left hemisphere, is very much simpler – indeed it is simplistic; and therefore far easier to articulate. It sees matters as black and white, ‘either/or’. The right hemisphere sees the nuances, as well as that we often must embrace two superficially incompatible truths in a ‘both/and’ – one, moreover, that includes embracing both its own take and that of the left hemisphere: altogether a far harder, and more complex, view to articulate.</div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71HnDD2JlTS._SY160.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/10219741?highlight=229307703" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">Last Best Hope</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">George Packer</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;">This activism [left progressivism] shifted the scene from blighted urban neighborhoods and prisons to human resources departments, anti-bias training sessions, and BIPOC reading lists. It was less interested in social reform than a revolution in consciousness. The pandemic almost disappeared from mind as millions of white people experienced the kind of collective moral awakening that comes over Americans in different periods of our history. These awakenings can take on the contours of religious experience, a particularly American one—sin, denunciation, confession, atonement, redemption, heresy hunting, book burning, and the dream of paradise. Moral awakenings leap backward over the worldly philosophers of the eighteenth century, the secular and rationalist Founding Fathers, to our origins in the Puritan ancestors.</div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GZMEe2iFL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/836207?highlight=50370261" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">The Art of Learning</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Josh Waitzkin</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">In my opinion, intuition is our most valuable compass in this world. It is the bridge between the <span class="inline-keyphrase showing" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">unconscious </span>and the conscious mind, and it is hugely important to keep in touch with what makes it tick.</span></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><div class="is-flex media-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-family: Mulish, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; white-space: normal;"><div class="w-10" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 456.076px;"><div class="media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; min-width: 50%; text-align: inherit;"><img class="highlight-title-image media-left" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51pMOjbgKwL._SL200_.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; flex: 0 0 auto; float: left; height: 50px; margin-right: 1rem; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.75; position: relative;" /><div class="is-flex align-items-start " style="align-items: start; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;"><a class="media-content " href="https://readwise.io/bookreview/586416?highlight=43471528" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; flex: 1 1 auto; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="is-flex" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span class="highlight-title " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text); display: inline; font-size: 1rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; word-break: break-word;">59 Seconds</span></span><p class="highlight-author " style="box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--text-light-grey); font-size: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Richard Wiseman</p></a></div></div></div></div><div class="highlight-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 1rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Time and again, the same pattern emerged. Those who spent a higher percentage of their income on others were far <span class="inline-keyphrase showing" style="border: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--primary); font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">happier </span>than those who spent it on themselves.</span></div></span></div></div></div></div><span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<br /></span></span></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="highlight-text long-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Charter, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>Stephen N. Greenleafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00360074903309197387noreply@blogger.com0