The Liminal Learning Portal

So once you’ve learned to question the world and to pick it apart you begin, with sincere irony, to reconstruct it playfully. You begin learning the art of mastering the many placebo effects around us, for the benefit of our own happiness and sanity, and for the benefit of others. Another quote would be in order, one by the American novelist, David Foster Wallace: “Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might …

“By now — if you have read the previous articles that outline the eight pathways to a new planetary paradigm of education — a vision of the future of global education has begun to crystallize. Briefly put, I have roughly suggested an educational system that: 1. Emphasizes the cultivation of a multi-dimensional ecological relatedness. 2. Works to counter and adapt to the disruptions of technological innovations. 3. Leverages tech for purposes of tailoring education to the individual and supporting learning through modeling. 4. Emphasizes inner work and creates safe spaces for this to happen, while cultivating trust and training teachers …

“A fundamental issue of being a refugee is that one’s citizenship is often not fully recognized; one ‘falls between the cracks’ and is thus deprived of the rights and services bestowed upon citizens of different countries. Without clearly identifying people as citizens, state structures are often inept, and sometimes oppressive, towards the sans papiers. It may thus be beneficial to create an internationally funded schooling system that enrolls people without such requirements, giving each an identity number, and tracking their progress longitudinally: which courses have they taken, what are their interests and special needs, and so forth. Such a system …

“A fundamental issue of being a refugee is that one’s citizenship is often not fully recognized; one ‘falls between the cracks’ and is thus deprived of the rights and services bestowed upon citizens of different countries. Without clearly identifying people as citizens, state structures are often inept, and sometimes oppressive, towards the sans papiers. It may thus be beneficial to create an internationally funded schooling system that enrolls people without such requirements, giving each an identity number, and tracking their progress longitudinally: which courses have they taken, what are their interests and special needs, and so forth. Such a system …

“Learning capacity” could become a school subject throughout the years, actively and deliberately drilling and repeating tasks that pertain to learning how to learn. It is, naturally, hard to imagine a more boring subject: repeating speed-reading techniques, practicing memory, going through notes, structuring work plans. The very word “drilling” makes chills go up spines – and it sounds as though all has been forgotten about making education embrace more of the intuitive and playful. But drilling the capacity to learn may very well be a sound investment that ultimately pays off even in terms of fun and playfulness: if children …

THE WAR STANDS BETWEEN PETROSTATE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES AND RENEWABLE ENERGY Russia is the only major country that would actually benefit from climate change in the long term. Or, rather, the same may be true of Canada. A warmer planet is one where the temperate zone on the northern hemisphere would climb further northwards, which would unlock untold areas of agriculturally viable lands within Russia, while making other countries more dependent on its exports. Considering that Russia has fewer large coastal cities, and that it is also too far away from the North Atlantic Gulf stream to feel the effects were …

“As the Greta Thunberg movement of school strikes has put on display, the young generation around the world worries about their future in terms of ecological sustainability and the possible collapse of ecosystems and societies. It is not a farfetched question to ask: – What might education and schooling look like if students of life were to feel that going to school (or other corresponding outlets of education), rather than striking, was the best way to activate oneself for a sustainable and ecologically rich future? Viewed from this perspective, the very emergence and persistence of the Greta Thunberg-inspired movements highlight …

DON’T MISTAKE THE WEST’S SOCIOLOGICAL FAILURES FOR GEOPOLITICAL WEAKNESS NATO and the West has appeared weaker than they really are, geopolitically and economically speaking: with the failures in Iraq, Afghanistan (couldn’t even beat the Taliban, despite magnitudes greater military and economic might), unsuccessful interventions into Syria, a losing grip on influence over Africa, an internally quarreling EU, and internal culture wars leading up to the storming of Capitol Hill last year. However, these failures are largely sociological failures, i.e. failures to understand and manage social and cultural forces, not signs of lacking economic and military prowess per se. Lack of …

AVOID A NUCLEAR WAR — BY HELPING RUSSIA TO SAVE FACE! In the end, it is true that: – Russia has a ten times stronger military than Ukraine (at least on paper). – The Russian government (and the apparatus it relies upon and shares interests with) will be very desperate to not back down. – Other countries are unlikely to directly intervene. – Putin is threatening us with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. Thus, a complete military victory by Ukraine is, after all, unlikely. Even with crowdsourced support around the world, even with a morale boost of the Ukrainians unparalleled …

RUSSIA IS TO BLAME — BUT UNDERSTANDING IT IS CRUCIAL Western media, and international media at large, do a fairly poor job at bringing nuance and understanding to the Russian side of this cruel equation. For instance, we are continuously informed about Ukrainian civilian losses, as well as Russian losses of military personnel, but the media is vague, silent, or unrealistic about Ukrainian military losses. We should have no illusions about the impartiality of reporting. It stands to reason — and viscerally feel — that Russia is an unlawful aggressor in this situation. But to seek to understand Russia (and, …