Evolving Society Other Resources

From Valuescience
Revision as of 18:13, 31 March 2017 by Robin Bayer (Talk)

Jump to: navigation, search

Core Readings

Beyond Debt Money

  • "Positive Money." Link - UK group advocates for monetary reform, including spending money into existence and ending bankers' right to create money. Watch video. Explore site further if you want more. 4 min.
  • Tribe.net. (2007, April 8). "An Experiment in Worgl." Tribe.net. Link 2pp., 2min.
  • Aponte, Inez. (2014). "From Dismal Science to Language of Beauty: Towards a New Story of Economics."Link - Inez Aponte critiques contemporary economics narrative and offers alternative by contrasting oikonomia with khrematistika. - 10pp., 15 min.
  • Tett, Gillian. (2011, September 9). "Debt: It's Back to the Future." FT Magazine. Link - Gillian reviews Debt: The First 5000 Years, a book by anarchist anthropologist David Graeber in which he traces the history of debt, and offers the view that his reports of a "safety valve" to prevent dire consequences of debt may be worthy of attention in our era. 3pp., 3min.
  • "Debt: The First 5000 Years." Wikipedia. Link - This article is mainly a synopsis of a book by anarchist anthropologist David Graeber, in which he argues that money is social relation, rather than artifact, and advocates a renewal of relations he calls "everyday communism." Graeber says, "The sociology of everyday communism is a potentially enormous field, but one which, owing to our peculiar ideological blinkers, we have been unable to write about because we have been largely unable to see it." '3pp., 5min.
  • Popper, Nathaniel. "Can Bitcoin Conquer Argentina?." (29 April 2015) NYTimes. - Popper reports on Argentine use of Bitcoin to circumvent banking and currency regulations and institutions in Argentina, and uses the Argentine example to describe growth to date and potential growth of Bitcoin with reference to larger context of traditional banks and investors in the US and other countries. Link 22pp., 20 min.

Alternative Money and Banking

  • Wikipedia. "Local Currency." Link - basic ideas about local currency theory and global practice. 5 min
  • Wikipedia. "List of Community Currencies in the United States." Link - This list is an indicator of both the diversity and number of experimental local currencies, as well as their fragility and impermanence (note the number that are "inactive"). I consider potentially important the experiences that people gain through such ventures, regardless of whether they endure. 5 min
  • Ellis, Blake. (2012, January 27). "Local Currencies: 'In the U.S. We Don't Trust'." CNN. Link - States are rushing to explore issuance of alternative currencies. 5 min
  • Gatch, Loren. (2008). "Local Money in the US During the Great Depression." Link - Paper by Loren Gatch of Department of Political Science at the University of Central Oklahoma: In this 16-page monograph Gatch details the types of scrip issued during the Depression, the entities that issued it, the interests served by it, and its successes and failures as money. 10-20 min, depending on how much you read
  • "Bay Bucks - The New Economy 2.0." Link - Participants in Bay Bucks promote localism in the SF Bay Area with complementary currency and related initiatives. I consider the books and videos in the "resources" list useful for gaining basic understanding of money and finance, current and potential alternatives. 5 min - ?
  • RT. (2014, January 30). "Strategic Failure: Iceland Allowed 2008 Bank Collapses to Support Households." Link - Iceland lets banks collapse and writes off up to $33,000 of every household's mortgage. 5 min
  • Editorial Board. (22 May 2015). NYTimes. "Opinion: Banks as Felons or Criminality Lite." NYTimes editorial board criticizes the modest penalties assessed banks and bankers after their guilty plea to currency market manipulation. Link 3pp., 3min.
  • Lietaer, Bernard. (2010, March 27). "The Wörgl Experiment: Austria (1932-1933)." Link 2pp., 3min. - How a small German town issued its own currency during the Great Depression and flourished as others floundered. If you prefer a longer version, read this: Mind Contagion."An Experiment in Wörgl." Link 4pp., 5min.
  • Wikipedia. (2014). "Rotating Savings and Credit Associations." Link - Called the "poor man's bank," these groups provide capital to people otherwise unable to borrow, and promote entrepreneurial activity. (For a more detailed analysis of ROSCA's in the US, see Henever, Christy Chung. (2006). "Alternative Financial Vehicles: Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs)." Skim to grasp the basic concept. Link10 min

Cognitive Activism

  • Gergen, Kenneth J.. "Theoretical Background and Mission Statement," "Social Construction: Orienting Principles." Link

Taos Institute. - Gergen lists central ideas shared by people aiming to use the perspective that we socially construct reality to move us towards a socially constructed narrative more consistent with observable phenomena.

  • "Petrolify." Post Carbon Institute. (19 September 2014.) - This satirical parody video begins with typical advertising inducements and ends with a host of ills resulting from product purchase, in this case petroleum. Link 5 min.
  • "Appreciative Inquiry." Wikipedia. Link 3pp., 5 min.

Appreciative inquiry is an approach to change in which people concentrate attention on the best of what is and aim to grow it, rather than upon "fixing" "problems." I think it classic "reframing," worthy of attention as we consciously evolve self and society.

  • "The Most Dangerous Man in America. " Link

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a top military strategist working for the RAND Corporation, leaked a 7,000-page document known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. Disenchanted with the nation's conduct in Vietnam, Ellsberg believed the release of the top secret paper--which outlined the 'secret history' of the war--was crucial to educating the public about the government's lies and misdeeds. This documentary chronicles the media and political frenzy that Ellsberg unleashed, and traces the effect of the leak on public perception of both the war and the White House.

Beyond Single-Occupant Autos v. Mass Transit

  • Cooper, Brad. Kansas City Star. (20 August 2014). "Hitchhiking App Hopes to Tap Into the Booming Sharing Economy."Link 4pp., 4 min.

Jennifer O'Brien, a Lawrence, Kansas resident launched a drive to make hitchhiking safer. For more info: CarmaHop, Hitchwiki.

Redefining Prosperity

  • Wikipedia. "Genuine Progress Indicator." Link, "Happy Planet Index." Link

Alternative Economic Indicators (skim these to grasp basic idea). 5 min

Reshaping Higher Education

  • Shiller, Robert. (22 May 2015). NYTimes. "What to Learn in College to Stay One Step Ahead of Computers." Link 3pp. 3min.

A well-known and respected economist talks about the benefits of general thinking skills and understanding of real-world enterprise as essential elements of higher education if students are to reduce the likelihood that they will be replaced by computers. I read this and thought that he affirmed much we do in valuescience. One thing Shiller omits is that computers are without need to learn how to live well.

Retrieved from "https://www.valuescience.org/wiki/index.php?title=Evolving_Society_Other_Resources&oldid=2252"