In this lecture “A Universe from Nothing”, Lawrence Krauss, a good friend of Richard Dawkins and author of many best-selling books on physics and cosmology, discusses the question of “How the universe could have formed from nothing.” Krauss explains the latest scientific knowledge about the origins and future of our universe in a manner that anyone can understand, and he provides powerful answers to the questions theists usually raise in cosmological discussions.
Support Wikileaks
Recommended Viewing
This section contains brief descriptions and links to interesting video material that is available online. The views expressed in these videos, as well as the credit and copyright, in each case belongs exclusively to the filmmaker(s) and/or producer(s).
The Earth is Full (TED lecture by Paul Gilding)
This TED lecture by Paul Gilding should be translated into just about every language in the world and made available to the widest possible audience. It’s a frank discussion that needs to be had about our unsustainable economy and the inevitable crisis that human civilization faces. It also cuts to the core of what this blog, The Examined Life, is all about. The message that Gilding presents is indeed dark, but he’s not a pessimist. In fact he thinks that the human species is remarkably creative and capable of adapting to life on an overcrowded planet. Like Al Gore in one…
Video: Everything is a Remix
The documentary Everything is a Remix, produced by Kirby Ferguson, explores the idea that no idea is original. Ferguson argues that essentially all forms of creativity just remix existing ideas. In his words: Remixing is a folk art but the techniques are the same ones used at any level of creation: copy, transform, and combine. He defines “remix” as “social evolution.” It’s similar to standard evolutionary theory, but instead of genes, it’s memes that are being “copied, transformed and combined.” This cultural development occurs through ideas, behaviors and skills being constantly used and reused. Just like the evolution of beings and species,…
Video: Poor America
While it is by some criteria the richest country on the planet, the US now has 1.5 million children without a home, 50 million people without health insurance, and growing communities of people living in the sewers underneath its glittering cities. This short documentary called Poor America, produced by the BBC, is a revealing, disturbing, but refreshingly frank look at just how bad times are in the US.
Video: The Story of Broke
Annie Leonard has done it again. The Story of Broke is a nice follow-up video to her massive hit the Story of Stuff. It focuses on the economic choices that sustain the dinosaur economy and the political choices people have to create a sustainable future. She has a real talent for taking a complex issue, boiling it down to its essentials, and presenting it in a lively and entertaining fashion. You can watch the Story of Broke either on her website or here.
Video: Meat the Truth
Meat the Truth is a documentary that connects global warming with animal rights and vegetarianism. This from the website for the film: Did you know that transport makes up 13% of global greenhouse gases? No wonder we’re encouraged to drive less! So what about animal agriculture? It turns out livestock production makes up a whopping 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s right — livestock production is responsible for more greenhouse gases than every single car, bus, train, plane, tractor and scooter put together! So why didn’t Gore ask us to eat less meat..? Enter ‘Meat The Truth’, a new documentary revealing the startling…
Video: Capitalism is the Crisis
This description for Capitalism is the Crisis comes from the website for the film: The 2008 “financial crisis” in the United States was a systemic fraud in which the wealthy finance capitalists stole trillions of public dollars. No one was jailed for this crime, the largest theft of public money in history. Instead, the rich forced working people across the globe to pay for their “crisis” through punitive “austerity” programs that gutted public services and repealed workers’ rights. Austerity was named “Word of the Year” for 2010. This documentary explains the nature of capitalist crisis, visits the protests against austerity measures, and…
Video: Earthlings
Earthlings is considered by many to be the best animal rights film ever made. The website for the film contains quotes of praise from a number of animal rights activists, including the god-father of the movement, Peter Singer, who has apparently said “If I could make everyone in the world see one film, I’d make them see Earthlings.” The film can be viewed on-line for free here.
Just how stupid are Americans? (Interview with Rick Shenkman)
It’s a provocative title for a post, but it really just refers to a book entitled “Just How Stupid Are We?” (where “we” clearly refers to Americans) by Rick Shenkman, Associate Professor of History at George Mason University. A brief article by Shenkman on the same theme can be found here and the video clip below contains a relevant interview with Shenkman. His account of the causes, consequences, and solutions to American ignorance is highly interesting. Among the causal factors is the death of civics education in America and the introduction of the TV in 1965, which in turn has…
Video: Speech by Chomsky on academic freedom and the corporatization of universities
On April 6, 2011 Chomsky gave a speech at the University of Toronto mainly focusing on the decline of academic freedom going and the coporatization of universities. In his speech he connects the issue with the larger picture of corporate reality. The recorded Q&A session after his speech is especially worth watching. Quote: There’s, furthermore, no way to measure the human and social costs of converting schools and universities into facilities that produce commodities for the job market, abandoning the traditional ideal of the universities: fostering creative and independent thought and inquiry, challenging perceived beliefs, exploring new horizons and forgetting…
Video: A Farm for the Future
The BBC describes the documentary A Farm for the Future as follows: Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just…
Democracy Now
Democracy Now News Feed
- Israel Considers Attacking Iran and Invading Rafah as Netanyahu Seeks Lifelines to Stay in Power April 18, 2024
- Columbia Students Risk Arrest, Suspension to Maintain Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Campus April 18, 2024
- The New McCarthyism: Congress Grills Columbia Univ. President Amid Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Speech April 18, 2024
- Meet USC Valedictorian Asna Tabassum: School Cancels Commencement Speech by Pro-Palestinian Student April 18, 2024
- Headlines for April 18, 2024 April 18, 2024
- Can UAW Unionize the South? Volkswagen Tennessee Vote Could Change U.S. Labor Landscape April 17, 2024
- No Tech for Apartheid: Google Workers Arrested for Protesting Company's $1.2B Contract with Israel April 17, 2024