> Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. (John Updike) I just finished reading a very long email from a friend in India. He was responding to a question about the impact of the election of Modi. He was quite positive, but with a couple of reservations. The first was familiar because so many countries are suffering through the same situation. For one reason or another, the coffers are empty and many badly needed programs cannot be executed. The second was surprising and much more awakening. He spoke about… Read More
Continue ReadingBe Prudent when Consulting Experts
Paul Krugman has an interesting column today (8/1/14) in which he argues that politicians ignore the consensus of experts and choose to get their advice only from those that are aligned politically with them. (Surprise?) > Am I saying that the professional consensus is always right? No. But when politicians pick and choose which experts — or, in many cases, “experts” — to believe, the odds are that they will choose badly. Moreover, experience shows that there is no accountability in such matters. Bear in mind that the American right is still taking its economic advice mainly from people who… Read More
Continue ReadingDiscovering the Real “Real” World
After much deliberation and hesitation, I have decided to write another book about the same concerns I have expressed in both of my earlier ones: the failure of our present culture to produce flourishing. My reasons are (1) the message still needs to be put out there, and (2) I believe I have come to a much clearer and more powerful way of expressing it. Like all good engineers, I continually am searching for structure to attach ideas that pop up, to make the links among them explicit, to bring them alive. With no apologies for what I have already… Read More
Continue ReadingScience Can’t Dictate Moral Actions
“GMO labeling bill lacks a scientific justification” headlined *The Boston Globe*’s lead editorial on 7/30/14. Here is the first paragraph: > Advances in crop biotechnology over the past 20 years have multiplied the range of so-called genetically engineered foods in the average citizen’s diet. Despite reassurances from the international and US scientific community about the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the anti-GMO movement continues to gain ground, and has arrived at the state Legislature in the form of a proposal that would create new food-labeling regulations. But until there is a solid scientific reason to believe that genetically modified… Read More
Continue ReadingInstitutional Hypocrisy
The lead article in the 7/20/2014 NYTimes Review section is by Arthur, not David, Brooks. Brooks is President of the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. The headline, “Love People, Not Pleasure” pretty much tells the whole story. What is most interesting to me is the source. The AEI is a well-known as a wellspring of neoconservative thinking, and was very influential in George Bush’s Presidency. Brooks begins with a quote from Abd Al-Rahman III, caliph of 10th-century Córdoba. > “I have now reigned above 50 years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies,… Read More
Continue ReadingUnsustainability in Unusual Places
I am going to physical therapy for a painful back. My therapist is a voluble woman with a deep interest in flourishing. She offered a most interesting piece of data on the deteriorating state of human Being. She has noticed over her 25 years or so of practice that people’s posture and general musculo-skeletal health has gotten increasing worse. She sees that very young children cannot squat with ease. This may sound unimportant but squatting is a common position for much of the global population and is important in maintaining bodily health. Bad posture is often the result of long-term… Read More
Continue ReadingOur Hidden Civil War
Maybe you saw this recent little news [item](http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/dicks-pick-trucks-meme-rollin-coal/): > “Rollin’ Coal” Is Pollution Porn for Dudes With Pickup Trucks > Diesel drivers in rural America have been modifying their trucks to spew out black soot, then posting pics to the Internet. They hate you and your Prius. I thought that a few millennia might teach us not to use nature to punish our enemies. Only the medium has changed, perhaps because most of our water comes through pipes. But not entirely as open water reservoirs are a prime terrorist target. Seriously, it is a pretty sad day when people in… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Devil Is in the Details
One of my favorite targets for critical blogs is David Brooks. I generally find Brooks worth reading, either because he has stumbled into something interesting or he is far from the mark. Today, his [column](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/opinion/david-brooks-social-science-palooza-iv.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region) was in the latter category. As a preface, I may simply be in a terrible mood today because it hasn’t stopped pouring for a long time, the radar map says it won’t for perhaps another day, and my roof started leaking again. In lieu of celebrating July 4th, Brooks was celebrating social science: > A day without social science is like a day without sunshine.… Read More
Continue ReadingAll about Care (2)
I am more and more convinced that the way to flourishing is through Being. Understanding Being takes us onward to care, a central concept in my framework to move modern society out of the unsustainability trajectory. This poses a big problem because Being is an elusive concept both per se and in practice. Being is to humans as water is to fish. It is the medium within which we exist, but cannot be aware of it until we are removed from it. Fish can never understand that they live in water because they lack the cognitive capability, and would quickly… Read More
Continue ReadingEmpathy and Truth Are Companions
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks just like a nail. In my case, right now, I am immersed in existentialism and everything I read reeks of it. Here’s what I mean. Linda Greenhouse’s column in the NYTimes today was a commentary on the just-issued decision to ban warrantless cellphone searches. Her theme was that when the issue at hand is something the justices can relate to personally, the opinion could be said to more humane, less ideological. Here’s the closing paragraph. I had planned to conclude my discussion of the court and the search cases with a… Read More
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