This book, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, from 1992 totally amazed me. Both by what I learned, and by how how I learned it. I’m not going to tell you much about what it said. You must read it yourself! The learner in the story responds to an ad saying “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” Suffice it to say that it’s a powerful lesson about the predicament we’re in. And it complements our understanding of what Susan Sontag told us about the white race being the cancer of human history. But […]
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Understanding how our brain works can be powerful!
Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot I’ve been dipping into this weirdly named book for the last 20 years – finding each suggestion valuable. It’s written by Richard Restak, who is both a psychiatrist and a brain scientist. He’s been writing for both academics and a wider audience since 1977. His essential argument is that we should all learn as much as possible about how the brain works, and then use this knowledge to increase our capabilities. And Restak then becomes our guide to both. The book contains 28 relatively brief and readable chapters with exhortations like “think of the […]
Continue readingWelcome! Why This?
Image credit: Rachel Bollen A continuing blog which asks questions that might lead us to a deeper understanding of our predicament, and points to the power of bottom up change. The baby-boomers – and I include myself – have ‘had it so good’. We’ve seen the warnings, and we’ve looked the other way. We’ve allowed ourselves to become trapped in a spiral of consumption and travel that destroys the biosphere and drives up inequality. We’ve told ourselves we’re doing enough by switching to hybrid/ electric cars, buying Fairtrade and carbon credits, and giving to charity. To put it kindly – […]
Continue readingHow Change Might Happen: from what Kuhn says about big changes in science
We can learn from Thomas Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. There are clear parallels between the paradigm shifts in science and those in political & economic thought.
Continue readingHow we might reach a better world? The story of Emergence.
Across the whole of nature, including human society, we see amazing creativity and cooperation at moments when there are significant changes in some parts of the environment. At times like this we see new forms of cooperation between the different actors, and even new forms of life, creating a new pattern of existence in this new space.
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