Eben Alexander recently wrote this article in Newsweek magazine describing the amazing experiences he had while in a coma, experiences which he claims prove that consciousness survives the brain, that there is life after death, that heaven is real, and that there is a divine and all-loving God. He writes, for instance, the following: In the fall of 2008, however, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death… There is no scientific…
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This section contains posts describing noteworthy news items or commentary from other websites.
Earthship Biotechture 101
Here are a few helpful links for those who are interested in learning more about earthships and perhaps building one of their own. In the first place, there are existing earthships that can be rented as hotel rooms on a weekly or nightly basis. There is this earthship in France which one can rent or buy and these rentals in New Mexico. For those who want to learn, there are internships opportunities as well as an Biotecture Academy offering training and degrees. Here’s a website keep track of progress on an earthship being constructed in Manitoba of all places. And the following…
Sustainability and freedom
Although it does snow in New Mexico, most people who watch the Garbage Warrior or witness the biotecture communities sprouting up in places like Taos probably think that earthships are fine for hot dry climates but wouldn’t really work in places like Canada. This short video clip nicely debunks that idea. The Potter’s earthship is in Bancroft Ontario which gets extremely cold in the winter, going as low as -35 Celsius. But as the Potters attest, they are perfectly comfortable in their home. And after building it, for very little money, they discovered that it not only sheltered them and…
On most metrics, the US is a dog
The provocative title of this post is not an opinion but a quote from a recent book by Howard Steven Friedman, a statistician and health economist for the United Nations and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The book, entitled “The Measure of a Nation,” compares the US’ standings on a variety of metrics concerning health, safety, education, democracy and income equality to those of 13 carefully chosen competitor OECD nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain and the UK, all of whom have populations of at least ten…
Criticism of The Spirit Level
Earlier this year the RSA hosted a debate on The Spirit Level, the highly influential book by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson. That book and the subsequent TED lecture by Wilkinson provided what seemed to many like an extraordinarily strong case for the idea that income inequality is the driving force in social dysfunction and that reducing income inequality will benefit virtually everyone in wealthy societies, even those at the top of the economic pyramid. The sobering RSA debate presents evidence and arguments to the contrary, from Christopher Snowdon and Peter Saunders. The main critique that Snowdon and Saunders advance, a…
Why the US and Israel are the greatest threats to peace
One of the most remarkable things about Noam Chomsky is his ability to distance himself from conventional assumptions and biases. Throughout his career, not only in his political writings but also his work in linguistics and the philosophy of language, he engages in thought-experiments which ask what conclusions an objective observer, a Martian, for instance, would draw were he to examine the problem at hand without the usual biases and presuppositions. This strategy is on display once again in a characteristically insightful piece by Chomsky recently posted on Alternet entitled “Why the US and Israel are the greatest threats to…
The Israeli lobby and how it operates
In his blog post entitled “The Israel lobby and how it operates,” Lawrence Davidson provides a simple, step-by-step account of how the Israel Lobby works its magic on the US Congress. This account provides a clear and compelling answer to a question that perplexes many observers of US foreign policy, the question of exactly why the American political establishment doggedly supports the state of Israel even though Israel is pursuing objectives that run contrary to US national interests. Davidson ends with an apt quote from Cicero: “Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit,” translated as: “No fortification is such that…
Anonymous leaks alleged governmental surveillance data
The Anonymous collective recently released one million and one Apple UDIDs, the unique device identifiers used by Apple for its iPhones, iMacs, iPads, etc. Within their release-statement, Anonymous gave detailed information on the origin of these UDIDs, claiming that they came from an FBI computer. In fact the database they accessed had information on and from more than 12 million devices. Before publishing this information Anonymous edited out personal data such as names, cell numbers, addresses zip codes, etc. leaving only the data columns, which would enable users to look up whether their devices are listed or not. According to…
Applying the laws of robotics to smart phones
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the visionary science fiction author Isaac Asimov. In his books and stories these rules were introduced to ensure robots would serve the goal to maximize human well-being, serving their direct masters in the first place and secondarily any other human being. These rules read as follows: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.A robot must…
Iceland Was Right, We Were Wrong: The IMF (by Jeff Nielson)
Jeff Nielson has published an article well worth reading on the global financial crisis and its economic consequences. Originally published in The Street, the article explains the alternative strategy Iceland implemented to combat it’s dire situation after the financial meltdown and concludes that Iceland was not only different but right, which in turn suggests that everyone else was wrong. The following is a selection of paragraphs from the full article, which can be found here: Now in what may be the greatest economic “mea culpa” in history, we have the media admitting that this government/banking/propaganda-machine troika has been wrong all along. They have…
Stiglitz on economic inequality
The issue of economic inequality has been receiving quite a lot of attention in the past few months–at least in the progressive media. This is no doubt due in part to the Occupy movement and to the anti-austerity protests in Europe, which have really thrust the issues of inequality and economic justice into the spotlight. More so than at any point in the last several decades, there is a real public thirst for understanding the causes and consequences of economic inequality and what can be done to reverse it. The Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz is one of several academics who have…
Alternatives to capitalism?
In this brief article first published in the Guardian, Richard Wolff, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts and New School University, discusses the amazing success of the Mondragon Corporation of Spain and its potential as a model of social organization in a post-capitalistic economy. Key differences between businesses working within the MC framework and typical corporations are (1) the democratic nature of the decision-making process within the organization and (2) the limits on income inequality between workers. Imagine all businesses in a country working within the MC framework and you have a realistic and intriguing alternative to capitalism. Here…
Recent thoughts on the climate crisis
A small sample of some the important things that have been said recently on the state of the climate crisis and the failures of political leaders to address the root causes or even acknowledge the seriousness of the problem: 1. Democracy Now interview with Bill McKibben (environmentalist, author, founder of the remarkable grassroots climate campaign 350.org) 2. Approaching a state shift in the Earth’s biosphere (ground-breaking article in Nature written by over 20 environmental scientists) 3. Is humanity pushing Earth past a tipping point? (a simplified, less technical summary of the aforementioned article in Wired magazine) 4. Democracy Now interview…
Living off the grid in Costa Rica
Al Gore popularized the idea that there is one profoundly inconvenient truth about life in the developed world, namely, that it is unsustainable. His point, which is now common knowledge, is that our societies and economies are based upon the consumption of fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, which in turn brings about a cascade of consequences that undermine the very lifestyles that we currently enjoy. In response to Gore, it should be noted that there is also one rather convenient truth that is easily overlooked, namely, that in certain parts of the world at least it…
Global Land Grab (by Terry Allen)
Global Land Grab by Terry Allen, senior editor at In These Times, documents and analyzes the attempts that certain countries (primarily China, India and South Korea) are making to purchase tens of millions of acres of farmland from some of the poorest countries in Africa, South American, and South Asia to grow crops for export. What is taking place is, in effect, a new form of colonialism under the guise of business transactions. Allen writes: The “new colonialism” is less like a crusade and more like an ordinary business transaction floated on a promise of “win-win.” The deal-makers include international agribusinesses, investment banks,…
Population control or population justice?
Over at the National Radio Project, another amazing example of independent media with a social conscience, there is a fascinating audio segment on the question of population control within the context of environmental sustainability (Population Control or Population Justice?). It is (one hopes) becoming increasingly clear that limitless economic expansion is not possible on a planet of finite resources and that if environmental catastrophe is to be avoided human societies need to radically overhaul their economies and abandon the fixation on economic growth. Hence the increasing interest in the concept of de-growth among ecologically oriented economists, people like Herman Daly and…
Sam Harris on racial profiling
Sam Harris is no stranger to controversy, but with his recent defense of racial profiling it seems that he has really stuck his foot on it and alienated a good deal of his former fan-base. Harris suggests that people who are (or look like they are) Muslim should receive a higher level of security screening at airport check-in counters than non-Muslims. Needless to say, this suggestion offends many secular liberals, who may approve of Harris’s spirited attack on religion in general, but not his more specific attack on Islam. To his credit, though, he was willing to engage in debate…
Does Google censor the internet?
The answer is “yes.” The evidence for this comes from a report prepared by Google itself, which will be released next week. According to the Wall Street Journal, the report shows that: Google received more than 1,000 requests from governments around the world in the second half of last year to take down items such as YouTube videos and search listings, and it complied with them more than half the time, according to information provided by the company. One example of the sort of censorship Google engages in concerns a request by the Thai government to remove YouTube videos insulting the…
Democracy Now
Democracy Now News Feed
- Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister: Deliberate U.S. Policy of "Destroying Cuban Economy" Drives Migration April 24, 2024
- Climate Activists Blockade Citigroup HQ in NYC to Demand Banking Giant Stop Funding Fossil Fuels April 24, 2024
- Months Ago State Dept. Panel Exposed Israeli Units' Rights Abuses, But U.S. Arms Keep Flowing April 24, 2024
- Naomi Klein: Jews Must Raise Their Voices for Palestine, Oppose the "False Idol of Zionism" April 24, 2024
- "Seder in the Streets to Stop Arming Israel": 100s Arrested at Jewish-Led Protest Near Schumer's Home April 24, 2024
- Headlines for April 24, 2024 April 24, 2024
- Labor Organizer Jane McAlevey on UAW's Astounding Victory in VW Tennessee & Her Fight Against Cancer April 23, 2024
Online Now
The description to this video reads “Journey into the world of contemporary online social interaction” and could be seen as a short, but compelling cinematic interpretation of many issues and concerns outlined in Sherry Turkle‘s groundbreaking “Together Alone: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other“. This video will resonate with many of the so-called “digital natives”. In light this video’s targeted viewers, it is very interesting to read some of the comments made by reddit users after it was posted there. The comments vary along the entire spectrum: Even without their devices, I’ve seen coworkers ignore…
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