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The Hidden Messages of the Power Elite’s Cultural Apparatus
The Hidden Messages of the Power Elite’s Cultural Apparatus To be crucified is to suffer and die slowly and agonizingly. It was a common form of execution in the ancient world. It is generally associated with Rome’s killing of Jesus and carries profound symbolic spiritual meaning for Christians. In its figurative sense, it refers to […]
Acceptance, Forgiveness, Gratitude
Acceptance, Forgiveness, Gratitude Since I’ve come to the (tentative) conclusion that we have no free will (and that in fact there is no ‘self’ to have free will), it’s utterly changed the lens through which I see the world. I now see that our behaviour is completely conditioned by our biology and our culture, given the […]
The Paradox of Individualism and Hierarchy
The Paradox of Individualism and Hierarchy In the early 1970s, Geert Hofstede discovered something interesting. While analyzing a work-attitude survey that had been given to thousands of IBM employees around the world, Hofstede found that responses clustered by country. In some countries, for instance, employees tended to prefer an autocratic style of leadership. But in other countries, […]
Permaculture and Money – Part 3
Permaculture and Money – Part 3 The Practice of Being Open In part 1(1) of this series, we explored the relationship between money, psychology and violence, while in part 2(2) we looked at some ways in which the stories we tell as a culture to do with money could be seen as encouraging destructive patterns of behaviour. Looby […]
The One True Thing
wikimedia The One True Thing Until you understand it, it will rule your life. Until you see clearly how the rules of society work, you will be trapped within a system of control. What you mistake for reality is instead a fabricated simulation, designed to keep you trapped right where the system wants you. Your […]
Society As Platform — A New Frontier in Complexity Science
Society As Platform — A New Frontier in Complexity Science Cities are profoundly complex incarnations of cultural evolution. Image Credit: Vincent Laforet Humanity is now confronted with new challenges unlike anything we have experienced before. Our evolved history as a species has not prepared us for what is happening now. It is time to start seeing culture as […]
Culture and climate
Culture and climate My purpose is to show that if cultures are to end further acceleration of the climate change they are causing, then new ways of life must be found, which no longer cause it. Tinkering with improvements to our current ways of life is futile. We must each of us change how we […]
Culture and Behavior May Clue Climate Change Response
Culture and Behavior May Clue Climate Change Response Photo Source Dan Costin | CC BY 2.0 Behavior acculturated to ancestral norms, originally necessitated by occupation, is the focus of a new study in China with interesting ramifications for climate change. In general, farming requires more stable relationships than, say, herding with the constant movement of animals. Now the […]
The tales of history are a dead-end road
The tales of history are a dead-end road Culture is what people do. It decays when people stop culturing. Changing a culture means changing what we do. Often, that will need a step by step transition as we negotiate obstacles. Even though we follow some backward meanders, the river may flow on. But there are […]
3 Stoic Lessons That Can Help Heal Our Toxic Political Culture
Statue of philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius 3 Stoic Lessons That Can Help Heal Our Toxic Political Culture Back in the days of Ancient Rome and Greece, the founding fathers of the stoic school of philosophy taught the importance of rationalism. Emotional. Tribal. Irrational. These are just three adjectives which could be applied to the political discourse […]
Character, Not Control, Is the Antidote to Evil
Character, Not Control, Is the Antidote to Evil Every hero is a potential villain who chose differently. Humans are dangerous creatures capable of great evil. This inescapable truth bombards us every time we turn on the news. The weight of this knowledge bears down on every human soul, and with every tragedy, we are starkly […]
Film in the Anthropocene
Film in the Anthropocene Film is of course the art form of Industrial Civilization and its mass culture, whether as a simple historical fact, a manifestation of technical possibility, or in the various ideologies it is adept at expressing. But it is also the art form of the Anthropocene. I am overstating the case somewhat, […]
The 10 Habits of Logical People
The 10 Habits of Logical People The authentically logical person keeps his logic rooted in truth and never lets it devolve into mere verbal trickery. Becoming a logical person is not just a matter of memorizing and applying formulas, or learning how to tell the difference between a valid and an invalid syllogism. Rather, it […]
Is Free Speech in the US Doomed?
Is Free Speech in the US Doomed? To understand why an idea should be rejected first requires that the idea be understood. Crowds of students gathered at the University of California-Berkeley in September armed with protest signs and chanting, “Speech is violence! We will not be silent!” Who were these students so passionately protesting against? […]
Free Speech Leads to Tolerance and Prosperity
Free Speech Leads to Tolerance and Prosperity The protection of free speech, including and especially offensive speech, is vitally important to a country’s well-being. J.S. Mill was an early advocate for our current view of free speech. He wrote, “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary […]
