By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 22 Sep 20
Changmiania liaoningensis, buried while sleeping by a prehistoric volcano. Image Source.Although the sensitive can feel it in all seasons, Autumn seems to thin the veil between the living and the dead. Writing from the dying cusp of summer and the longer bardo marking humankind’s uneasy passage into a new world age (a transit paradoxically defined by floating signifiers and eroded, fluid categories), it seems right to constellate a set of sleeping beauties, both extant and extinct, recently discovered and newly understood. Much like the “sleeping beauties” of forgotten scientific research, as described by Sidney Redner in his 02005 Physics Today paper …
Sleeping Beauties of Prehistory and the Present Day Read More »
Changmiania liaoningensis, buried while sleeping by a prehistoric volcano. Image Source.Although the sensitive can feel it in all seasons, Autumn seems to thin the veil between the living and the dead. Writing from the dying cusp of summer and the longer bardo marking humankind’s uneasy passage into a new world age (a transit paradoxically defined by floating signifiers and eroded, fluid …
Sleeping Beauties of Prehistory and the Present Day Read More »
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 17 Sep 20
According to a recent study published in Science, you can take a female rhesus monkey (or “macaque”), put her in a terrarium, then gradually add more monkeys over time, the one who was there first will then generÂally have the highest social status while the newcomers will have lower status—much like in Norbert Elias’ and John L. Scotson’s 1965 clasÂsical sociological study of an English small-town comÂmunity, The EstabliÂshed and the OutÂsiders. The estabÂlished were oftÂen, quite simÂply, the peoÂple who had lived in the commÂunity the longest while the newly arrived were the outsiders. The following is a slightly …
According to a recent study published in Science, you can take a female rhesus monkey (or “macaque”), put her in a terrarium, then gradually add more monkeys over time, the one who was there first will then generÂally have the highest social status while the newcomers will have lower status—much like in Norbert Elias’ and John L. Scotson’s 1965 clasÂsical …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 11 Sep 20
I have a younger relative who lives with schizophrenia (unfortunately not the first or only case in the family). If he doesn’t take heavy medications he can hear voices, hallucinate and easily get overwhelmed. His medicaÂtion makes him tired and leaves him with a short attention span, so it’s difficult for him to work within an adÂvaÂnced economy. Living in a welfare state, he gets all he needs in terms of food, shelter, medical attention; even a little money to go to punk conÂcerts twice a year and have a few beers now and then. Yet his life can only …
I have a younger relative who lives with schizophrenia (unfortunately not the first or only case in the family). If he doesn’t take heavy medications he can hear voices, hallucinate and easily get overwhelmed. His medicaÂtion makes him tired and leaves him with a short attention span, so it’s difficult for him to work within an adÂvaÂnced economy. Living in …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 8 Sep 20
I’m excited to announce the publication of my new book, coauthored with John Mackey and Carter Phipps: Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business. This popular business book (published by Penguin/Portfolio) explores the vision, virtues, and mindset needed for aspiring conscious leaders, providing a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership in business and society. My coauthor John Mackey is CEO of Whole Foods Market and coauthor of the acclaimed 2013 book: Conscious Capitalism. And my coauthor Carter Phipps is cofounder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution and author of the 2012 book: Evolutionaries. It is a well-established truth that an organization’s potential is constrained …
Conscious Leadership, my new book coauthored with John Mackey and Carter Phipps Read More »
I’m excited to announce the publication of my new book, coauthored with John Mackey and Carter Phipps: Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business. This popular business book (published by Penguin/Portfolio) explores the vision, virtues, and mindset needed for aspiring conscious leaders, providing a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership in business and society. My coauthor John Mackey is CEO of Whole Foods Market …
Conscious Leadership, my new book coauthored with John Mackey and Carter Phipps Read More »
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 3 Sep 20
This first and most obvious form of inequality in our days revolves aroÂund income, wealth and access to material resources; the ability to acquire goods and services from others. Because material wealth has long been the main focus of struggles for equality, it merits less discussion here. It is, of course, no less important. For instance, it is perhaps the single most wideÂly accepted finding within social science that greater ecoÂnomic inequÂality (often measured by the so called “Gini coefficient”) has a solid correÂlation with violent crime, much more so than poverty in itself, and that lower economic inequality is …
This first and most obvious form of inequality in our days revolves aroÂund income, wealth and access to material resources; the ability to acquire goods and services from others. Because material wealth has long been the main focus of struggles for equality, it merits less discussion here. It is, of course, no less important. For instance, it is perhaps the …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 26 Aug 20
UnforÂtunately we live in a universe where equality is an even trickier and more complex goal than freedom. By its very nature, equality is ridÂden with yet greater inherent contradictions, with yet more intricate paraÂÂdoxes. Negative rights (“freedom from”) are less comÂÂplicated than positive rights and entitlements (“freedom to”). It is easÂier to draw consistent lines for what people may not do to one another (physical abuse, theft, imprisonment, enslavement, and so forth) than for what we are obliged to do for one another (help in times of need, secure basic subsistence, provide education, healthcare, and so forth). But we …
UnforÂtunately we live in a universe where equality is an even trickier and more complex goal than freedom. By its very nature, equality is ridÂden with yet greater inherent contradictions, with yet more intricate paraÂÂdoxes. Negative rights (“freedom from”) are less comÂÂplicated than positive rights and entitlements (“freedom to”). It is easÂier to draw consistent lines for what people may …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 21 Aug 20
In America’s current political climate, it seems as if there is no common ground left. So rather than searching for nonexistent common ground, we need to find authentically higher ground. In response to this challenge, a new “post-progressive” political perspective is emerging. Post-progressivism seeks to include the best and transcend the worst of progressive politics and culture. This post-progressive perspective is described in a rational frame in my recent 1,200 word article in Areo Magazine. However, I also describe this post progressive perspective in a more emotional frame in the following “plea” to my fellow Americans: Staking Out Higher Ground …
In America’s current political climate, it seems as if there is no common ground left. So rather than searching for nonexistent common ground, we need to find authentically higher ground. In response to this challenge, a new “post-progressive” political perspective is emerging. Post-progressivism seeks to include the best and transcend the worst of progressive politics and culture. This post-progressive perspective …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 20 Aug 20
Announcing a new book by ICE principals John Mackey, Steve McIntosh, Carter Phipps: Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business. Mackey is CEO of Whole Foods Market, and McIntosh and Phipps are cofounders of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. Together they explore the vision, virtues, and mindset needed for aspiring conscious leaders, providing a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership in business and society. It is a well-established truth that an organization’s potential is constrained by the capacities of its leader. One of the best ways to improve an organization is therefore to evolve the personal and professional capacities of those who lead …
Conscious Leadership—New Book by ICE Principals Read More »
Announcing a new book by ICE principals John Mackey, Steve McIntosh, Carter Phipps: Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business. Mackey is CEO of Whole Foods Market, and McIntosh and Phipps are cofounders of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. Together they explore the vision, virtues, and mindset needed for aspiring conscious leaders, providing a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership in business and …
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By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 20 Aug 20
Introduction: A History without Time Chapter theme song: Time, Hans Zimmerman. Â Q: What is history? HF: History is the past. But it can only be told in the present. Of an infinity of possible stories and interpretations of past events, we somehow conjure up specific histories. Our understanding of these past events propose meaningful sequences; we must guess at thin threads of cause and effect, or at the very least a kind of resonant melody; and we must weave this fabric of meaning through time. This holds true in the history of our personal lives, in the history of …
Introduction Chapter to the Next Hanzi Book: The 6 Hidden Patterns of History Read More »
Introduction: A History without Time Chapter theme song: Time, Hans Zimmerman. Â Q: What is history? HF: History is the past. But it can only be told in the present. Of an infinity of possible stories and interpretations of past events, we somehow conjure up specific histories. Our understanding of these past events propose meaningful sequences; we must guess at …
Introduction Chapter to the Next Hanzi Book: The 6 Hidden Patterns of History Read More »
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 18 Jul 20
Will Peoples’ Response to the Emergencies of the Coming Decades be Warm? Or Cold? Will Peoples’ Response to the Emergencies of the Coming Decades Be Warm? Or Cold? Find a Way. Photo: Nora Bateson13 min read Nora Bateson & Mamphela Ramphele The crises of the moment do not need further description here. Suffice to say that the complexity of the overlapping crises of inequality, health, justice, technology, ecology and culture are producing emergencies that the institutions of the last centuries cannot contend with. How will the next decades play out amidst these crises? More importantly, what is possible for societies …
Will Peoples’ Response to the Emergencies of the Coming Decades be Warm? Or Cold? Will Peoples’ Response to the Emergencies of the Coming Decades Be Warm? Or Cold? Find a Way. Photo: Nora Bateson13 min read Nora Bateson & Mamphela Ramphele The crises of the moment do not need further description here. Suffice to say that the complexity of the …