*Wikileaks* (wikileaks)
Posted at 2:03 AM August 17, 2011
Walter
*Wikileaks* (wikileaks)
Posted at 2:03 AM August 17, 2011
Walter
Listened to F. David Peat on Future Primitive. I liked him after a while. Student of David Bohm.
His central metaphor (from item below):
In terms of social or economic systems, action would emerge out of the natural dynamics of the whole system, arising in a highly intelligent and sensitive way and consisting of small corrective movements and minimal interventions. Rather than seeking to impose change externally and at some particular point in a system, gentle action would operate within the dynamics and meanings of the entire system.
As usual made me wonder why he had not taken on board Marx on these questions. The system is biased, not natural.
Found this item: Gentle Action_Surviving Chaos and Change.pdf
Later: Friday, 20 May, 2016
Listened to a podcast about Hannah Arendt Partially Examined Life
The social in here schema is natural, not political which distinguishes us from animals. Bohm may have the same idea.
Not sure I’ve got it but the whole episode is interesting on social roles.
Misses the idea of “bringing your self into a social role”??
Ok, big pharmaceutical companies are not picking this up, but surely if there is something in it, some sort of open source thing would do the trick? Kickstarter? And if the FDA wont approve it, there are other countries who will, surely?
socialscapegoat.com » DCA Cancer Cure?:
DCA Cancer Cure? Posted by Claire Connelly in Technology Leave it to pharmaceutical companies to prioritise profit over curing the second leading cause of death in America and third leading cause of death in Australia alone. Dr. Evangelos Michelaksis discovered that Dichloroacetic Acid (or DCA) – an odourless, colourless, inexpensive, relatively non-toxic, small molecule which was once used to cure rare inherited metabolic diseases, could potentially be used as a non-invasive cancer cure that has zero side effects. When he added it to the water of mice and rats who were given human cancers, Michelaksis found that over a period as short as three weeks, the cancer growths had shrunk by up to 70%. Unfortunately, because DCA isn’t patented, the pharmaceutical companies have no interest in producing the drug:
Evolution does not happen evenly. It may be gradual, but it goes step to step. Sometimes a small change opens up a whole new range of possibilities.
• the opposable thumb
• fire
• alphabet
• law
• printing
• Internet
• next?
I’ve left out a few, but you get the idea, some things change everything.
Ways of organising ourselves into groups to educate and heal have evolved over centuries. There are modalities like psychoanalysis, and TA and Alcoholics Anonymous and the Red Cross and so on, that all have methodologies and the persist with a sort of DNA that allows these ideas to hold together and spread. My hunch is that one of the big changes coming up, and needed, is that there will be a new way to speed up the process that has been working in an ad hoc way. Imagine there were ways to find tool kits online for running groups that were freely available and could be edited by their users (Wikipedia style). Imagine that these could be classified and rated, and they each had their advocates and practitioners who beleived their group could make the world a better place.
I can imagine such a social network emerging from the need to change on the one hand , and our ability to learn from Wikipedia, Facebook and Linux on the other as well as the fact there are already thousands of thriving forms that each in their own way work towards major social change. Could there be one network that transforms all of this into something new? I say one network because some things tend to towards there being only one, and one works best, for example Google, Amazon and the Internet itself is the best example.
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% | Society | Vanity Fair:
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.
From the New Significance – looks ok as a source.
NOAM CHOMSKY: The U.S. and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world. The reason is very simple. Across the region, an overwhelming majority of the population regards the United States as the main threat to their interests. In fact, opposition to U.S. policy is so high that a considerable majority think the region would be more secure if Iran had nuclear weapons. In Egypt, the most important country, that’s 80 percent. Similar figures elsewhere. There are some in the region who regard Iran as a threat—about 10 percent. Well, plainly, the U.S. and its allies are not going to want governments which are responsive to the will of the people. If that happens, not only will the U.S. not control the region, but it will be thrown out. So that’s obviously an intolerable result.
It is impressive really how these things spring up post earthquake.
I would love to find a way to use a Wisdom Council and Sodiodrama as part of the process.
Get involved in shaping the future of our Central City. Start now by giving us your ideas on space, market, life and move – or check out all the other ways to share.
Hmmm…. ???
Elevated Garden City | rebuilding our beloved Christchurch for the 21st century:
Elevated Garden City – the idea The opportunity The earthquakes are an opportunity to create something special in Christchurch. Imagine a garden city where we took the Manhattan rooftop garden to whole new level. Given that most people in the CBD will not want to live and work in high rises, then this new set of low rise buildings give Christchurch the opportunity to build an elevated garden/walkway space that could become one of the world’s iconic cities.
THE PRINCIPLES OF NEW URBANISM
The principles of New Urbanism can be applied increasingly to projects at the full range of scales from a single building to an entire community.
1. Walkability
-Most things within a 10-minute walk of home and work
-Pedestrian friendly street design (buildings close to street; porches, windows & doors; tree-lined streets; on street parking; hidden parking lots; garages in rear lane; narrow, slow speed streets)
-Pedestrian streets free of cars in special cases
2. Connectivity
-Interconnected street grid network disperses traffic & eases walking
-A hierarchy of narrow streets, boulevards, and alleys
-High quality pedestrian network and public realm makes walking pleasurable
3. Mixed-Use & Diversity
-A mix of shops, offices, apartments, and homes on site. Mixed-use within neighborhoods, within blocks, and within buildings
-Diversity of people – of ages, income levels, cultures, and races
4. Mixed Housing
A range of types, sizes and prices in closer proximity
5. Quality Architecture & Urban Design
Emphasis on beauty, aesthetics, human comfort, and creating a sense of place; Special placement of civic uses and sites within community. Human scale architecture & beautiful surroundings nourish the human spirit
6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure
-Discernable center and edge
-Public space at center
-Importance of quality public realm; public open space designed as civic art
-Contains a range of uses and densities within 10-minute walk
-Transect planning: Highest densities at town center; progressively less dense towards the edge. The transect is an analytical system that conceptualizes mutually reinforcing elements, creating a series of specific natural habitats and/or urban lifestyle settings. The Transect integrates environmental methodology for habitat assessment with zoning methodology for community design. The professional boundary between the natural and man-made disappears, enabling environmentalists to assess the design of the human habitat and the urbanists to support the viability of nature. This urban-to-rural transect hierarchy has appropriate building and street types for each area along the continuum.
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More information on the transect
7. Increased Density
-More buildings, residences, shops, and services closer together for ease of walking, to enable a more efficient use of services and resources, and to create a more convenient, enjoyable place to live.
-New Urbanism design principles are applied at the full range of densities from small towns, to large cities
8. Smart Transportation
-A network of high-quality trains connecting cities, towns, and neighborhoods together
-Pedestrian-friendly design that encourages a greater use of bicycles, rollerblades, scooters, and walking as daily transportation
9. Sustainability
-Minimal environmental impact of development and its operations
-Eco-friendly technologies, respect for ecology and value of natural systems
-Energy efficiency
-Less use of finite fuels
-More local production
-More walking, less driving
10. Quality of Life
Taken together these add up to a high quality of life well worth living, and create places that enrich, uplift, and inspire the human spirit.