Revision as of 11:22, 30 September 2016

Course Description

This is a course about living and dying well. We speak of living and dying well because living and dying are ongoing and contemporaneous in each of us, and we've evidence that acknowledging both is essential to doing either well. We choose this metric because we've evidence that it's shared by most, perhaps all people and that it encompasses most, perhaps all human concerns.

Humans live and die well by discerning and realizing value, by knowing what we want and getting it. Because we are evolving organisms in a dynamic environment, what we value—ends and means of our lives—also changes. We live in an era of unprecedentedly rapid, large, and novel alterations—many, perhaps most, results of human action—to selves, to human society, to other parts of nature, to artifact fashioned from nature, and to information accumulated by humans. Today more than ever before we live and die well by cultivating proficiency in bringing to awareness, questioning, and evolving to be more accurate information about value, especially ideas about how we can know and realize value.

This course is an opportunity to bring information from many disciplines to bear upon three central questions of our lives: "What do I want?" "How can I get it?" and most importantly, "How do I know?" We frequently ask the first two questions about everything from big choices like career and marriage to little ones like what we'll eat for lunch today. We typically pose the third far less often. Perils of this behavior are obvious. If we rely upon flawed means of knowing, what we think we know is more likely error.

All of us have experienced getting what we thought we wanted and feeling disappointed, and all of us have sometimes done what we thought sufficient and come up short. Again and again we think we know how to feel satisfaction only to discover that we're mistaken. With current approaches to value we repeatedly generate overconfidence and error. Though we work to learn from mistakes, we rarely delve deeply enough to re-examine methods on which we rely to address questions of value. Even when we ask, "How do I know," we're often quick to answer with long-held, well-practiced justifications yet to be critically scrutinized to their roots, and poorly able to withstand such scrutiny.

In this course we explore history, philosophy, ecology, economics, sociology, linguistics, psychology, and more to learn how we may apply science, by which we mean behaviors by which we predict with success greater than we can achieve by chance, to discern value more accurately and to realize it more fully.

We begin by framing our inquiry within a larger context of ecology, evolution, learning, culture, and education. We consider how we've come to current ideas about value, about science, and about their relationship. We examine how we underpin personal, social, and environmental well-being and ills with those ideas.

We then present a case for valuescience, and apply it to achieve more accurate understanding of: (1) evolution of cosmos, Earth, and life, and how these are context for our own and other people's lives; (2) human history, present condition, and prospects, and (3) what we want and how to get it. We pay particular attention to cognitive and cultural impediments to valuescience, and to strategies for overcoming these, and we offer opportunity to practice doing so.

If you are engaged, or want to engage in such inquiry and practice, we welcome your partnership in valuescience.

Course Objectives

We aim for each participant to learn to write and speak cogently about each of the following topics, evidencing some familiarity with historical and contemporary trends and events as described in published works of others, and demonstrating independent thought grounded at least to some degree in personal practice:

(1) State a valuescience thesis, beginning with definitions of “value” and “science” to emphasize their nexus, prediction, and concluding with an argument based upon evidence and reason that science is sole demonstrated means to more accurately discern and more fully realize value.

(2) Outline key elements of world-view common today with reference to their historical roots, methods by which they are promulgated and reinforced, interests served by their persistence, conflicts with science, and consequences for human well-being.

(3) Describe how emergent consilience of natural science, social science, and humanities can be basis for constructing a more accurate world-view, for shedding illusion about value and contributing to others' doing so, and for thereby improving our and their lives.

(4) Outline key elements of a consilient science-based world-view, describe how you have altered your own world-view to incorporate more of it as a result of participating in this class, and give examples of how you have relied upon it, how you can rely more heavily upon it, and how you can contribute to others' relying more heavily upon it to live and die well.

Class Details

Time: T/Th, 10:30-11:50
Place: Building 160, Room 322
Units: 3 units, 4 units with optional (highly recommended) lab
Grading Options: Letter, C/NC
Students with Documented Disabilities: Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk. Phone: (650) 723-1066, URL: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae

Instructional Team

Instructor: David Schrom (dschrom@ {stanford})
Teaching Team Members: Robin Bayer (robin@ {ecomagic.org}), (Nick Enge (nickenge@ {stanford}), Hilary Hug (hilary@ {ecomagic.org}), Andrew Nepomuceno (andrew.nepo@ {gmail}), Toan Tran (dtoan@ {alumni.stanford})

Office Hours

We offer regular office hours before (by appointment) and after (drop-in) class Tu and Th from 10 - 10:30am and from 11:50am - 1pm. We are usually able to respond to requests for consultation within 24 hours of the time we receive them, and to schedule in-person conferences within a day or so of receipt of a request. We encourage each student to meet briefly (~15 minutes) with a member of the teaching team bi-weekly, and to bring us your thoughts and questions for individual attention.

People Page

Please use your People Page to tell us about yourself and why you're taking the class, and to post writing, lab reports, and anything else you want to share. Only teaching team members and students enrolled with you in current quarter can see your people pages (as long as [[Category:Autumn16]] is on the bottom of your page. In addition, you may submit writing anonymously (with your name known only by teaching team members). Click here to find your page: People. Please let Andrew know if you have any questions or concerns about the site.

Questions and Resources

This quarter, autumn 2016, we plan to structure class meetings explicitly around preparation for quizzes and final exam. You will have opportunity to review quiz questions with teaching team members and fellow students prior to taking quizzes, and you will receive comment on quizzes after you take them. Quiz and final questions are identical. If you learn to respond to quiz questions successfully, you will be prepared for final. You can find these questions here: Final Exam Questions.

We've included below a course outline from spring 2016 to give you an idea of resources—texts, videos, podcasts, or other media—we'll be referencing in autumn 2016. Specific assignments for autumn 2016 class meetings will be posted at least one week in advance on Next Class. Resources are available online. You can access materials assigned for this course without purchasing anything.

We've collected and in some cases annotated additional materials to facilitate your exploring more fully ideas you encounter in core resources and class meetings. In past quarters, many course participants have found at least some of these worthwhile, and many have introduced us to items new to us that we now offer you. We welcome suggestions for improving and augmenting this collection.

This course is very much a work in progress. We revise it between quarters, and we alter it during quarters we teach as we became more familiar with current enrollees' backgrounds and interests. You can rely upon Next Class page entries updated throughout the quarter to reflect all changes to date. We welcome suggestions for improvement.

Class Meetings

While valuescientists confront a number of challenges, some of which to date have proven intractable (e.g., finding a biophysical value metric), our most common and most limiting impediment to honing valuescience practice is that most of us identify self with ideas incompatible with a scientific approach to value. Shedding these is doubly difficult because they are in substantial part a result of intense and incessant indoctrination to which we've become so desensitized as to take it for granted if we are aware of it at all.

Learning together in an atmosphere of mutual support and trust we are better able to set aside long and closely held ideas and consider different ones. Teaching team and students in this course can create sangha, a community of valuescience practice. If you've prepared thoughts and questions about a day's questions and resources, you're better able to learn and to further others' learning. You are welcome to prepare with others. We aim to afford each student ample opportunity to contribute.

Quizzes

We provide opportunity to demonstrate and clarify learning with weekly or semi-weekly (twice weekly) written quizzes. Quiz questions are taken directly from the final exam to assist you in preparing for the final. We encourage students to use teaching team comments on quizzes to improve understanding and to write a better final.

Quizzes can comprise up to one-third of your grade (25% if you're enrolled in lab). Each quiz is equally weighted. Only quizzes submitted on or before time and date due count towards your grade. If you submit fewer than all quizzes we weight your final exam more heavily in your grade. (e.g., zero quizzes, final weighted an additional 33% [25% for lab enrollees]; half of quizzes, final weighted an additional 17% [12.5% for lab enrollees]).

Project(s)

Students working independently or in teams of 2-4 research and create educational media to communicate key valuescience ideas. A project is opportunity to share something you learned with an audience you think will appreciate and benefit from it. We publish projects with attribution on an open course website. A project comprises 25% of your grade (20% if you're enrolled in lab).

More detail about project purpose, criteria, and grading can be found here: Valuescience Final Project

Sample Video

Final Exam

Each student completes a written, closed-book final exam on Wednesday, December 14th, 12:15pm-3:15pm. We make available on or before first day of class a list of questions from which final exam questions will be drawn. Final Exam Questions

A final exam comprises a minimum of 33% of your grade (25% if you're enrolled in lab) and a maximum of 67% (60% if you're enrolled in lab). With some exam questions you will receive full credit only if you respond with very specific words. With other questions you can earn full credit by evidencing that you've learned ideas well enough to explain them clearly and persuasively.

Lab

We can make knowledge more complete with action. By including a lab component in this course we provide opportunity to experiment with personal change in partnership with others. We use "experiment" to denote consciously chosen behavior that we carefully observe, record, and analyze. Please design experiment(s) to be completed, including recording and analysis, in three hours per week, Stanford's benchmark for one academic unit of credit. Plan to engage in experimental behavior, to journal your practice, and to note differences in other aspects of life that you perceive to be possibly related to practice. For example, you might:

Sleep an additional 15-20 minutes each night
Exercise 40 minutes on each of three days
Meditate 30 minutes on each of four days
Write emails or letters of appreciation for an hour on each of two days
Take a two-hour hike or bike ride once a week
Alter idiolect to affect feeling, thought, and perception (e.g., use negative words less often)
Change dietary pattern (e.g., eliminate corn syrup)
Do an electronic device "fast" (e.g., during meals, for an hour before bed, FB one day per week)
Do some combination of the above.

Choose a lab about which you can be wholehearted. Feel free to mix and match - you may choose to adopt one practice for ten weeks, or you may choose one for two weeks, another for two weeks, or different ones on different days of the week, etc.. Author a life you want with experiment(s) you deem well-suited to you. Please consider what keystone habit (see excerpt from "The Power of Habit" in class 1 resources, below) you might address in lab. For more ideas, see Shake Up Your Life.

Each instructional team member is engaged in her or his lab. We've more than a century of practice among us. We're glad to share this experience. You may also find one or more partners among other course participants.

As soon as you've even preliminary ideas about your proposed experiment(s), please describe them on your People page, and email lab coordinator hilary@ {ecomagic.org} to let her know that you've done so. We look forward to sharing satisfaction generated by being and doing more as each of us intends.

Lab comprises up to 25% of your grade. You can earn up to 100 lab points, which are divided by four to calculate a lab component of your grade. (e.g., Earn 80 lab points; receive 20% of a possible 25% towards your grade.) Lab points are awarded equally for a lab proposal (10 points) and for nine lab reports (10 points each) submitted weekly. Each week you can earn 1 point by submitting by 10am Thursday, 1 point by logging your lab activities, 1 point by reflecting on your lab, 1 point by submitting a plan for next week, and 6 points for lab activity. You can submit a late lab report up to one week late. Penalty for a late report is 1 of 10 possible points. If you submit a late lab report, please write "LATE LAB REPORT" as first line.

If you enter lab after first week of the quarter and/or fail to submit one or more lab reports your lab will count 2.5% less and your final exam 2.5% more for each report fewer than nine that you submit. For example, if you enter lab in week three and submit a proposal and seven lab reports, your lab will count 20% and your final will count 55% of your grade. If you are on track to submit fewer than five lab reports we will drop you from lab and change your enrollment to three units.

More detail about project purpose, criteria, and grading can be found here: Lab purpose, criteria,and grading

Grading

Participants Enrolled for 3 Units

0-33% Quizzes
33% Project
34-67% Final exam

(Please seek explanations above under "Quizzes" and "Final Exam.")

Participants Enrolled for 4 Units (Lab)

0-25% Quizzes
25% Project
25-60% Final exam
15-25% Lab

(Please seek explanations above under "Quizzes," "Final Exam," and "Lab.")

Grading Scale

A+: 97.5 - 100
A: 92.5 - 97.4
A-: 90 - 92.4
B+: 87.5 - 89.9
B: 82.5 - 87.4
B-: 80 - 82.4

Only a few students have earned grades below this level; we extend the pattern if necessary through C(<80) and D(<70).

Grading Alternatives

By arrangement with instructor, students may establish individual criteria consistent with Stanford University academic guidelines for demonstrating learning sufficient to warrant credit and grade.

Work Load

Members of the instructional team aim for every student to earn an A; however, you will be prudent to assume that you will require 6 hours of thorough preparation (reading, writing, discussion and project work) each week outside of class to achieve this objective. If you've enrolled for 4 units, plan to devote 3 hours per week (beyond the 6 hours of preparation) to lab activity and write-ups, for a total of nine hours per week.

If at any point during the quarter you have questions about whether you're earning a grade you want, please ask a member of the instructional team. We strongly encourage you to maintain a record of date and time you begin valuescience work outside class, time you finish, and what you did. In conference, we will likely review this with you. We use this information to assist you in learning more effectively, and to assist us in gauging what we're asking of you and others.

Teaching team members consider learning how to live and die well a privilege and a pleasure. We work to shape a course that you will regard in these ways. Please assist us in doing so by sharing your thoughts, feelings, and questions with us.

Topics, Autumn, 2016

1. Valuescience: What? Why? How?

2. Human Ecology: Framework for Valuescience

3. World-view: Import, Sources, Evolving

4. Paradigm Shift to a Consilient, Science-based World-view

5. Tools for Cognitive Activism

6. Universe, Earth, Life

7. Mind

8. H. sapiens' First 100,000 Years

9. Money and Dominance

10. Scientific World-modeling

11. Biosphere: Conditions and Trends

12. Society: Conditions and Trends

13. Scientifically Consilient Religion and Economics

14. Biosphere and Society: Vision

15. Evolving Self and Society

Course Outline, Autumn, 2016

COURSE OUTLINE FOR AUTUMN 2016 IN PROCESS. COURSE OUTLINE FROM SPRING 2016 BELOW IS INDICATIVE. ASSIGNMENTS POSTED ON Next Class page.

Class 1 - Overview, Education for Living/Dying Well

Note: For learning objectives please See Question 1 in Final Exam Questions

Course syllabus. Please read the syllabus carefully through end of week 1 (class 2). Skim remainder of syllabus for an overview of later course material. Link 5 pp. (through week 1); 20 pp.(weeks 2-10). We've aimed to create a thoroughly descriptive syllabus where you can find information about course format and content, grading, etc..
Schrom, David. "Evolving Science, Evolving Value." Link 1 page. Schrom makes a succinct argument for valuescience. Please read to become able to recreate this argument.
Edwards, David. (2006). "Dangerous Minds." Atlantic Free Press. Link 7 pp. Edwards argues that we shape society with pursuit of profit and power. He asserts that we structure education to strip away freedom and make us willing slaves. He encourages us to see this and break free.
Jensen, Derrick. (2004). "Reading, Writing, Revolution." Orion Magazine. Link 3 pp. Jensen urges us to look deeply within as we contemplate what to learn and how to use it. He cautions that much education is of little worth in learning to live and die well.
Solnit, Rebecca. (2014). “By the Way, Your House Is On Fire.” Nation of Change. Link 10 pp. Solnit ties 9/11 events and responses to climate disruption, noting that survivors of World Trade Center attacks disregarded authorities’ commands and suggesting that we do so now.
Duhigg, Charles. (2012). "Keystone Habits, or the Ballad of Paul O'Neill." (Chapter 4, pp. 46-56). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.Link 11 pp., Duhigg makes a case that some habits are so central that by altering them we can make other change much more readily.

Class 2 - Valuescience: What? Why? How?

Note: For class learning objectives please see questions 1 and 2 in Final Exam Questions

Schrom, David. (2008). Valuescience Booklet. [1] 24 pp. Schrom outlines a basic valuescience argument and briefly touches upon applications to selected fields.
Bonner, John Tyler. (1980). Evolution of Culture in Animals. excerpt. Link for more: Link 5 pp. Bonner, a Princeton biologist more than 30 years into his research and teaching career, steps back from narrow specialized inquiry and describes in sweeping terms and with many examples how animals evolved capacity for teaching and learning, and critical roles of these behaviors in adaptation and evolution.
Schrom, David. (1981). "A Framework for Human Ecology." Link 1 p. Schrom suggests a simple framework for ecological analysis of individual lives and human condition so that we may more accurately foresee consequences of behavior.

Class 3 - Worldview: Import, Sources, Evolving

Note: For learning objectives please see question 3 in Final Exam Questions

Rifkin, Jeremy (1980) "World Views" and "The Architects of the Mechanical World View" pp. 5-9, 19-29 Link 15pp. 25 min

Rifkin is a social and economic theorist and activist, and a prolific author of two dozen books, some of which have been award-winning best-sellers. He defines world-view as a universal characteristic of human societies, discusses what he deems important elements of a current globally hegemonic world-view, traces their roots to writings of a handful of Western European thinkers, and asserts that an emergent world-view is in the process of upending the old.

Tart, Charles. (2001). "Consensus Trance." Waking Up. pp. 85–106. Link 22pp. 35 min

Tart, a psychologist, describes the process of enculturation and cultural maintenance as analogous to that of hypnotic induction, and encourages readers to escape bounds on thought and action imposed by accident of birth to become more consciously constructed selves.

Edwards, David. (1999). "The Limits of the Possible." Burning All Illusions. pp. 1-3. Link 3pp. 5 min

Edwards, a journalist, asserts that the illusion of freedom is an impediment to freedom. He warns us that chains of our era, more subtle than of those prior, are of equal or greater strength, and urges us to question within and without so that we may loosen or break them.

Class 4 - Paradigm Shift to a Consilient, Science-based Worldview

Note: For learning objectives please see question 4 in Final Exam Questions

Enge, Nick. (2011). "How Do We Know?" A Scientist's Bible. pp. 82-91. 10pp. 10 min. Link

Enge gives a readily understandable, lucid, and succinct description of scientific practice, distinguishing it from other ways of knowing.

Wilson, Edward O. (1998). "The Great Branches of Learning," "To What End?" Consilience. pp. 8-14, 291-326. 43pp. Read only highlighted text. 30 min. Link

Wilson issues a call to unify knowledge into a single internally consistent and inclusive world-view. He also explores questions of meaning and purpose, and of ends in general--questions of value--from the perspective of a biologist.

Paradigm Shifts. 15pp. 20 min. Link

Schrom offers observations about past paradigm shifts and those who led them as guidance to any who contemplate or lead a paradigm shift to science-based consilience by practicing and advocating valuescience.

Enge, Nick. (2011). "Why A Modern Scientific Worldview?" A Scientist's Bible. 4pp. 5 min. Link

Enge contrasts the immense scope and predictive power of a modern scientific world-view with other world-views and celebrates the gains we realize by embracing the former.

Wikipedia. (2009). "Propaedia." 3pp. 15 min. Link

The authors of Encyclopedia Britannica organize what they recognize as the accumulated knowledge of the human species, providing us opportunity to reflect upon their rationale for this organization, upon those parts of their scheme we know best and least, upon which are more or less consilient with each other, and upon other possible ways of organizing knowledge. Please think on these things.

Class 5 - Tools for Cognitive Activism

Notes:

For learning objectives please see question 5 in Final Exam Questions
We highly recommend interest readings by Brafman, Kahneman, and Thaler, which we’ve highlighted for your convenience.

"Semiotics." Wikipedia. Read highlights in first three paragraphs, and teaching team note. Link 2 min

"Deconstruction." Read the intro paragraph and the two paragraphs under "According to Derrida." Link 3 min

"Linguistic Relativity." Read first into paragraph. Link 1 min

Whorf, Benjamin Lee. (1956). "The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language." Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. pp. 134-137; optional 137-159. Link 10 min Key paper by a seminal thinker. Beyond page 137 Whorf requires careful reading. If you're interested in linguistic relativity, you may find this extra effort worthwhile.

Magic. (1999). Language We Live. Link People living at Magic, an valuescience-based community, and aiming to cultivate health, cooperation, and environmental stewardship describe deliberate changes to idiolect they're making and advocate, and explain their rationales for doing so.

"Narrative Paradigm." Wikipedia. Read intro paragraph and section titled "Overview." Link 3 min

"Metanarrative." Wikipedia. Read intro paragraph. Link 1 min

"Edward Bernays." Wikipedia. Read intro paragraph and two highlighted quotes. Link 2 min

Cialdini, Robert B. (1998). "Scarcity." Influence: Science and Practice. pp. 213-221 10 min Link -Cialdini shows how people panic in face of perceived scarcity.

Janus, Irving L. (1971) "Groupthink." Psychology Today. 6pp 10min Link - Janus discusses factors in poor decisions by groups and how to improve group decision-making.

"Cognitive Bias" Link. Note how recently that humans have formally developed this field of study.

"Illusion" Link. Yet another hurdle in successfully practicing science.

"List of Cognitive Biases" Link. Here more for you to see the immense range of pitfalls than for you to learn every single one.

Thich Nhat Hanh. (1999). "Stopping, Calming, Resting, Healing." The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. Link pp. 24-27. 4pp., 8min.

"Cognitive Activism." Wikipedia. Read intro paragraph. Link 1 min

Quotations

We do not realize what tremendous power the structure of an habitual language has. It is not an exaggeration to say that it enslaves us through the mechanism of s[emantic] r[eactions] and that the structure which a language exhibits, and impresses upon us unconsciously, is automatically projected upon the world around us." - Korzybski, Alfred. (1930). Science & Sanity. 90
"We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscope flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds—and this means largely by the linguistic systems of our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way—an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language. The agreement is, of course, an implicit and unstated one, but its terms are absolutely obligatory; we cannot talk at all except by subscribing to the organization and classification of data which the agreement decrees. . . . We are thus introduced to a new principle of relativity, which holds that all observers are not led by the same physical evidence to the same picture of the universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are similar, or can in some way be calibrated." - From Whorf, Benjamin; Carroll, John B. (ed.). (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 213- 214.

Class 6 - Matter, Energy, Cosmos, Earth, Life

Objectives

Outline in general terms contents of a scientific worldview with reference to evolution of universe, planet, life, and to basic laws, concepts, and processes by which scientists describe continuing evolution of these.
Describe how you’ve benefitted since beginning this course, and how you plan to continue benefitting by evolving your own world-view to be more consilient with a scientific worldview.

Questions

How do people who rely upon information which can be a basis for successful prediction describe the structure and processes of the world without—universe, life, Earth?

What are three scientific findings from these readings that you might use to improve the quality of your life?
Over what scales of time and space have scientists demonstrated natural laws to apply?
How may we describe in general terms the flow of energy through the biosphere?
What are the first and second laws of thermodynamics?
What limits to, and possibilities for human existence and action can we infer from these laws?
How may we describe the cycling of matter (e.g., water, carbon) through the biosphere?
Over the past 100,000 years, how have humans affected the flow of energy and cycling of matter through the biosphere?
What are geomorphological and biological evolution? What are three notable changes resulting from each?
What is the theory of continental drift? How can we use it to explain human history?
What are several qualities of living things that we can use to distinguish them from non-living things?
What did Dawkins mean by selfish gene?
How might you define carrying capacity? What are several key factors upon which global carrying capacity for humans depends?
What are some qualities of Earth that make it suitable for life?
How may we apply ecology and evolutionary biology to frame human existence?

Readings

Class 6 Core Readings

Huang Twins. (2012). "The Scale of the Universe." 2012 Version 5 mins
AAAS. (1990). "Chapter 4. The Physical Setting." Link 30 mins
AAAS. (1990). "Chapter 5. The Living Environment." Link 15 mins
Curtis, Helena. (1983). "The Flow of Energy." Biology. pp. 157-164. Link 10 mins
Energy Flow Diagram Link 5 mins
Windows to the Universe. (2010). "Carbon Cycle." (review diagram) Link 5 mins
USGS. (2014). "The Water Cycle." (review diagram). Link 5 mins
Ponting, Clive. (1993). "Foundations of History." Green History of the World. pp. 8-18. Link. 15 mins
"A Timeline of Life's Evolution." Exploring Life's Origins. Link <5 mins
Wikipedia. "The Selfish Gene." (read the highlights only, if you like).Link <5 mins
Birdsell, J.B.. (1975) "The Universe and Our Place in It." Human Evolution. pp. 11-19. Link 10 mins
Wikipedia. "Carrying Capacity." (read the highlighted text and whatever else you find of interest.) Link 5 mins

Class 6 Interest Readings

Wikipedia. (2009). "Outline of Knowledge." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Universe." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Laws of Science." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Earth." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Ecology." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Evolution." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Evolutionary History of Life." Link
Wikipedia. (2009). "Human." Link
Powers of Ten Video Link
AAAS. (1990). "Chapter 6. The Human Organism." Link
Wolchover, Natalie. "A New Physics Theory of Life." (28 January 2014). Scientific American, Quanta Magazine.

Wolchover presents MIT researcher Jeremy England's ideas about how matter-energy spontaneously generates complexity in certain circumstances, and how this proclivity can be used to shed light on life's origins, and upon aspects of biological evolution less than fully explained by Darwinian natural selection. Links in this article to related research. Link 10pp., 15min.

Class 7 - Science of Mind

Objectives

Outline in general terms few key elements of a scientific worldview pertaining to how we can use evolutionary biology and contemporary scientific research to understand how we think and feel, and to think and feel more as we intend.

Questions

To what evolutionary factors does Gilbert attribute human failure to respond adaptively to climate change? Knowing these, how can we respond more effectively?
What evolutionary basis does Gilbert use to explain why surrogation is better than simulation?
How can we live better using some of Totman's ideas about justification?
On which of Vaillant's pathological, neurotic, and mature psychological defenses do you rely? How can you become more reliant on mature defenses?
How might we apply Buddhist precepts to evolve valuescience practice?
What ideas about how to live/die well are common to Buddhism and Western science?
How can we apply evolutionary understanding of human touch, body language, courting, mating, and reproductive strategies to our benefit?

Readings

Class 7 Core Readings

Pinker, Steven. (2002) end of "Silly Putty," "Last Wall to Fall." The Blank Slate. pp. 28-58. Link

Gilbert, Daniel. (2006). "If Only Gay Sex Caused Global Warming." Los Angeles Times. Gilbert explains in evolutionary terms our thus far ineffectual response to global climate change. Link. 3pp. 5 min.

Gilbert, Daniel, et. al. (2009). "The Surprising Power of Neighborly Advice." Science. Gilbert explains in evolutionary terms why our attempts to anticipate how we will feel in specified future circumstances is generally inferior to expecting to feel as others similar to us have felt in these circumstances. Link 3pp. 5 min.

Totman, Richard. (1985). "Notes." "Translation." "Distillation." (David's notes on the book, Social and Biological Roles of Language: The Psychology of Justification. Each is more condensed than prior. "Distillation" is on p. 8. 1p. 5 min. "Translation" is on pages 6-7. 2pp. 5 min. If you want to explore further, read "Notes," a page-by-page summary of the book, on pages 1-5. 5pp. 10 min.) - Tolman claims that we derive meaning by acting and justifying action. He describes how we evolve narrative and world-view by standing and explaining stands. In dismissing as pathological "non-negotiable" views, he implicitly endorses science in a broad sense that we use the term in class. In addition he argues that behavior necessary to further a valuescience paradigm shift is at once meaningful and healthful. His writing is dense, which is why I've processed it for you; however, I find it illuminating of our inner world, persuasive, affirming of our venture. Link

Wikipedia. "Defense Mechanisms." Read the introduction (first three paragraphs), "Vaillant's categorization of defense mechanisms," and whatever else you find of interest. 2-10pp. Link 5-20 min.

I like Vaillant's analysis. If you click links to pathological defenses (e.g., delusion, denial, distortion) please consider how you see them evidenced in modern society and in your own behavior. Note connections between language and pathology (e.g., blaming in distortion defense).

Hagen, Steve. (1999). - Hagan writes simply and lucidly about the essence of Buddhism.
- "Introduction," "Journey Into Now," Link pp. 1-11 Please read these pages with an eye to asking how we might claim that Buddhism can be viewed as science. 10 min.
- "Wisdom" Link pp. 63-76 Read this if you want more about Buddhist practice. 20 min.
- "Practice" Link pp. 95-109 Read this if you want yet more about Buddhist practice. 15 min.

Gilsinan, Kathy. (2015). "The Buddhist and the Neuroscientist." The Atlantic. Link 2pp. 2 min.

Gilsinan reports on Richard Davidson's studies of monks, less, experienced meditators, and people trained to be grateful, all of which confirm that well-being is highly correlated with generosity and gratitude.

Killingsworth, Matthew; Gilbert, Daniel. (2010)."A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind." Science. - The authors provide evidence that we benefit by cultivating awareness and presence. Link 1p. 5 min.

Emmons, Robert; McCullough, Michael. (2003). “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. - Evidence that gratitude is highly correlated with general well-being. Link. 1p. 5 min.

Dunn, Elizabeth, et. al. (2008). "Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness." Science. - Evidence that generosity is correlated with well-being. Link. 2pp. 5 min.

"The Roseto Effect." - Remarkable longitudinal study that showed living in loving community to be more important in lowering morbidity and mortality than many now commonly cited risk factors. Link 6pp. 10 min.

Fowler, James; Christakis, Nicholas (2008). “Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network: Longitudinal Analysis over 20 Years in the Framingham Heart Study.” BMJ. Read the abstract and conclusion. Look at the figures if you want. - Authors provide evidence that well-being is contagious. Link. 20pp. 5 min.

Keltner, Dacher. (2010). "The Science of Touch." Greater Good. - Authors confirm importance of touch for human well-being and provide evolutionary arguments to explain their findings. Link 5pp. 5 min.

Widrich, Leo. (2013). "The Secrets of Body Language: Why You Should Never Cross Your Arms Again." Buffer. - Author explains evolutionary roots of various postures and offers advice for using body position to enhance well-being. Link 10pp. 5 min.

Fisher, Helen. (1994). "Courting." Anatomy of Love. - Fisher uses evolutionary biology to shed light on universal human courting behaviors. Link pp. 19-36. 20 min.

Wikipedia. "Incidence of Monogamy in Humans." Data and analysis about human mating strategies. There's a lot of info here. Read enough to gain perspective on your own vision and on the behaviors of those you've known. Link 8pp. 10 min.

Wikipedia. (2009). "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Link 8 pp.

Maslow proposes a schema, widely referenced for more than half a century, characterizing what he discovered to be universal human wants.

Scientific Worldview Outline

Class 7 Interest Readings

Vaillant, George. (2013). "What Are the Secrets to a Happy Life?" Psychiatrist who for 30+ years oversaw the Grant Study, a longitudinal research into the lives of more than three hundred people, describes findings. Link 5pp., 5min.
Wikpedia. Human Mating Strategies Link
Swedell, Larissa. (2012). "Primate Sociality and Social Systems." The Nature Education Knowledge Project. (read first section, "Why Be Social.") Link
Gertner, Jon. (2009, April 16). "Why Isn't the Brain Green." New York Times. Link
Axelbank, Rachel. (2009). "Professor Happiness." Princeton Alumni Weekly. Link
Gilbert, Daniel. (2004). "Why Are We Happy?" TED. Link
Krakovsky, Marina. (2007). "The Science of Lasting Happiness." Scientific American. Link
Fontaine, Nancy. (2007). "Review of Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Susan Begley." Link
Lowenstein, George. (2002). "Behavioral Economics: Past, Present, Future." Link
W.W. Norton and Company. "Reproductive Strategies and Parental Investment." How Humans Evolved.
Campbell, Sherrie. (4 June 2015). Entrepreneur. "15 Traits of Emotionally Intelligent People." Link 4 pp., 5 min.
Patel, Sujan. (26 May 2015) Entrepreneur. "10 Behaviors of Unstoppable Entrepreneurs." Link 3pp., 3 min.
Levitt,Steven. (2015) "To Quit, Force a Moment of Truth." University of Chicago. - Levitt argues that a coin flip is better than waffling on big decisions. Based on data from tens of thousands of people he argues that we are biased against personal change and will more often than not benefit from it when feeling indecisive about it. Link 3pp. 3 min.

Class 8 - Science of Mind: Cognitive Bias

Objectives

Define cognitive bias, list several general categories of bias, give examples of specific biases, and describe how we may use awareness and mitigation of bias to live and die well.

Questions

What are three scientific findings from these readings that you might use to improve the quality of your life?
How do you define cognitive bias?
What are three cognitive biases you're aware of exhibiting in your own behavior?
Give an example of when you've exhibited each of these.
What is groupthink?
What are three contexts in which you might be vulnerable to groupthink?
How might you defend against it?
How might we connect consensus trance and groupthink?
What ideas about Stanford shared by members of this community might be results of groupthink, and how might we explore their accuracy and evolve them to be more accurate?

Readings

Class 8 Core Readings

Definitions and Lists 10 min
- "Cognitive Bias" Link. Note how recently that humans have formally developed this field of study.
- "Illusion" Link. Yet another hurdle in successfully practicing science.
- "List of Cognitive Biases" Link. Here more for you to see the immense range of pitfalls than for you to learn every single one.
Cooper, Belle Beth. (2013). "8 Subconscious Mistakes our Brain Makes Every Day—And How to Avoid Them." Fast Company. 10 pp 15 min Link
- For more about cognitive biases, see the interest readings.
"Psychological Science Explains Uproar over Prostate-Cancer Screenings" 1p 5min Link - Summary of research findings about disbenefit of PSA tests, and analysis of public rejection of research. Excellent graphic representation to counter cognitive biases about risk also illustrates counterproductive medicine.
Cialdini, Robert B. (1998). "Scarcity." Influence: Science and Practice. pp. 213-221 10 min Link -Cialdini shows how people panic in face of perceived scarcity.
Brafman, Ori and Rom. (2008). "The Anatomy of an Accident." Sway: The Irrestible Pull of Irrational Behavior. pp. 10-24 15min Link - Authors describe cascade of factors to which seasoned commercial pilot responded irrationally, causing worst aviation accident in history.
Kahneman, Daniel. (2011). "Don't Blink! The Hazards of Confidence." New York Times. 10pp 10 min Link - Kahneman cites numerous examples of cognitive bias.
Thaler, Richard H. and Sunstein, Cass R. (2008). "Biases and Blunders." Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. pp. 17-37. 20min Link - Thaler and Sunstein discuss how predilection for certain ways of thinking compromises human performance and describe how to take advantage of these to shape behavior towards more positive ends.
Janus, Irving L. (1971) "Groupthink." Psychology Today. 6pp 10min Link - Janus discusses factors in poor decisions by groups and how to improve group decision-making.

Class 8 Interest Readings

Dvorsky, George. (2013) "The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational." 10pp 10 min Link Brief description of 12 common cognitive biases.
Baer, Drake and Lubin, Gus. "58 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Everything We Do." Link Succinct descriptions of 58 common cognitive biases.
Goleman, Daniel. (1996). "Foreward," "Introduction," "Serenity." Vital Lies, Simple Truths. pp. 1-25, 51-54. Link
Daydov, Dmitri. (2008). "10 Best Books on Human Irrationality." Link
Herbert, Wray. "Do You Harbor Secret Prejudices?" 2pp 5 min Link Herbert discusses evidence from the implicit assumptions test (IAT) suggesting that in our attempts to eliminate prejudice we've succeeded only in masking it.

Class 9 - World Modeling: Concepts

Objective

Define world modeling as a universal human activity and trace its evolution over the past half century in terms of systems thinking, ecology, and information technology.

Questions

How can you benefit by framing your life using a global ecosystem approach?
How can you use ideas about exponential growth, complexity, ecological footprint, carrying capacity, and overshoot to construct a more accurate world-model?
Describe "The Limits to Growth" modeling process, its outputs, responses to it, accuracy of its outputs when measured against events of four decades after its publication, and its import for our times.

Readings

Why Model the World

"World Modeling." Magic. - Brief overview of world-modeling, how and why organisms do it, how humans might do it better. Link 3pp. 5 min

Systems Thinking

Wikipedia. "Systems Thinking" Link - Description of systems approach with reference to its relatively recent inception. Reading first 5 paragraphs is sufficient.1pp. 2min.

Exponential Growth

Martenson, Chris. "Exponential Growth." Video segment from 8:12 to 10:12. Link - Illustration of exponential growth. (2 min).

Complexity

Wikipedia. "Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies." Link This entry describes a 1996 paper Link by Joseph Tainter in which he argues that energy underpins capacity for adaptation by means of more complex responses, that such responses give rise to more complex problems, and that this cycle eventually runs afoul of energy input limits and leads to collapse. Tainter's argument is akin to Wilson's "ratchet of progress." (5 min)
Ophuls, William. (2013). "Sustainability and Complexity: Are We Doomed to Repeat History?" CSR Wire. Link Ophuls asserts that humans solve problems by increasing complexity, which at some point becomes unmanageable and unsustainable. (5 min)
- Please read this article directly on its home webpage. You can find a highlighed PDF version here Link, but text is truncated.

Overshoot

Catton, William. "The Unfathomed Predicament of Mankind." Overshoot. Writing more than thirty years ago Catton outlines difficulties which have since become more evident and traces their roots in natural systems laws and psychology. Link (20 mins)
Wikipedia. "Overshoot." Link (read the first few paragraphs and whatever else you find of interest.) Brief introduction to concept of overshoot and its applicability to humans. (5 min)

Ecological Footprint

"Footprint Basics - Overview." Global Footprint Network. Link Introduction to concept of ecological footprint. Take a few minutes to view the footprints of a handful of countries in which you are interested. (5 min)

Synthesis: Limits to Growth

Meadows, Donella H.; Meadows, Dennis L.; Randers, Jorgen; Behrens, William W. (1972). The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind. Full book Limits to Growth. Figures 32-48 on pages 132-169 show outputs of model under various assumptions. Figures 47 & 48 show predicted effect of delay in implementing policies: unsustainability. (20 min - look at figures and read captions; read other text as desired) link to view PDF

Strauss, Mark. (2012). "Looking Back on the Limits of Growth." Smithsonian Magazine. Single chart showing reality confirms Limits model from 1972-2000 and showing projections to 2100. (5 min) Link

Bardi, Ugo. (2011). Author's Commentary on "The Limits to Growth Revisited." Resilience. Ugo Bardi reminds us that 40 years later the projections in the Limits to Growth remain valid. (5 min) Link

Class 9 Interest Readings

"Industrialization, Prelude to Collapse" from Overshoot by William Catton. - Catton discusses in detail carrying capacity and overshoot, explaining how we've temporarily expanded population and throughput by expanding and complicating matter-energy conversion in ways that we can sustain for at most decades more, and then only at expense of diminishing opportunity for us and for those who follow. I find his analysis sound and sobering. (20 min) Link

Jorgen Randers interview in which he describes his book 2052 and talks about his prior book Limits to Growth. Randers says we've blown it. Link (10 min)

UK futurist consultancy lays out scenarios for 2025 and 2040. Link (10-100 min)

A new Club of Rome report guided by one of the authors of Limits, Jorgen Randers, offers a variety of scenarios for the next 40 years. (10-100 min) Link

Tainter, Joseph. "Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies." 1996. Link - Tainter argues that we are addicted to complexity, that diminishing returns are available by this strategy, and that we are unlikely to avoid collapse. (This is the full paper to which the Wikipedia article in Core Readings refers. (20 min)

Simmons, Matthew. (2000). "Revisiting 'The Limits to Growth': Could the Club of Rome Have Been Correct, After All?" Simmons reviews the lasting controversy stimulated by "Limits," confirms the soundness of the authors' analysis, and warns that the future will be grim. Simmons includes lots of graphs depicting hard data on energy and economic growth. Link (20-30 min)

Bardi, Ugo. "Tainter's Law: Where is the Physics?" Link A physicist analyzes Tainter's collapse theory from a thermodynamic perspective and shows it to be consistent with the laws of thermodynamics. (15 min)

Brown, Lester. "Global Ponzi Scheme." Energy Reality Essays. Post Carbon Institute. Link 5pp., 5 min.

Class 10 - World Modeling: Status and Trends - Physical Factors

Objective

Describe the status of, and trends in human population, and in quality of the natural environment to lay a foundation for a broad and accurate portrayal of the global human condition.

Questions

What is the ecological function and what strengths relative to other methods of analysis do you consider reasons to apply it to your life?
What consequences for your life do you foresee if human population is beyond carrying capacity?
What dozen examples of resources currently at or past their peak of availability can you identify and how do you plan to adapt to their increasing scarcity?
How might you define energy slave and use this concept to quantitatively describe rates of matterenergy conversion by humans from prehistory to present, to foresee your future?
How do you define EROEI and how can you describe its implications for human ability to sustain complex society and for your future?
What are some estimated EROEI's for historical and present hydrocarbon extraction and for other energy resources, and what implications for you life can you see in these?
What are several other costs (besides energy) entailed in making energy available for human conversion that you think will be important factors in how much energy is available to you in the future?
What several examples of environmental conditions becoming less hospitable to human life can you identify and how do you imagine adapting to these?
Referencing environmental quality, human numbers, and human information, what do you think will be the role of infectious disease in your and the human future?

Readings

Introduction: Radical Change to Human Ecology

Raven, Peter. "Part 1: Overview." Atlas of Population and Environment. Link - Peter Raven addresses human population growth and impacts, and warns of limits. (5 min)

Population: Scale of Human Presence

Harvey, Joe. (1990). "Growth in Perspective." Rocky Mountain Institute Newsletter. p. 4, 7. Link - Harvey draws one-day analogy to 3.5billion years of life on Earth and shows destructiveness of what humans have done and impossibility of continuing. (10 min)
"A Graphic Simulation of World Population Growth." I find this video more useful than the "hockey stick" graph for representing human population increase. Link - (5 min. - start at 2 minutes and go to end)
Worldometers.info - Real time estimates of changes in global, population (births, deaths from various causes), health, spending, etc.. Perspective on trends of our times. Link (5 min)
"The End of the Population Pyramid." The Economist. - Animated video showing population distribution by age evolving from pyramidal in 1970 to more or less columnar in 2060, and explaining role of birth rate changes and life expectancy changes. Link 5min. video.
Vitousek, Peter, et. al. (1986). "Human Appropriation of the Products of Photosynthesis." Bioscience 36(6). Link - Thirty years ago, when we were only 5 billion, humans claimed 40% of net primary terrestrial photosynthesis. (5 min - skim)
Nikiforuk, Andrew. (2011). "You and Your Slaves." Link (3 pp., 5 min)

Resource Depletion: Soil, Energy, Biodiversity

World Economic Forum. "What if the World's Soil Runs Out?" Time Link - Brief review of global soil erosion and degradation, historic and projected, with reference both to acceleration and consequences. 3 pp. (5 min)

Leeb, Steven. "Dangerous Times As Energy Sources Get Costlier To Extract" (3 pp) - A primer on EROEI, and more importantly a hint about RRORI. Link (4pp., 5 min) Alternative version: Link

Graph to Understand Peak Oil. Link - (5 min)
Buchmann, Stephen. "Our Vanishing Flowers." (16 October 2015.) NYTimes. - Buchmann sketches the history of human reliance upon flowering plants and reports that an estimated 68% of flowering plants are threatened or endangered. Link 3 pp., 5 min.
Ceballos, et al. "Accelerating Modern Human-Induced Species Losses: Entering the Sixth Mass Extinction." (Please read "Abstract"; read full text if interested.) - The authors provide evidence that current rates of extinction are 8-100+ those that prevailed for millions of years. Link 1 p., 2 min.
Grantham, Jeremy. (2011). "Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices are Over Forever." Link - Jeremy Grantham, an investment manager for a $100+ billion fund whose multi-decade record of exceptionally high returns earned in large part by accurately identifying price "bubbles," claims that we've entered a trend that will persist for the indefinite future: rising in food, fiber, fuel, and mineral prices. He notes that this is an historic reversal of a trend to lower prices that lasted more than a hundred years. You can read a one sentence "Summary of Summary," a one page "Summary," or the full article. (1-20 min)
Abraham, David. "The Next Resource Shortage?" (20 November 2015). NYTimes. Link - Abraham writes of rare metals and their import in "energy efficient" technologies, noting that supplies are limited, often concentrated in one or two countries, usually are tapped along with other minerals whose economics dominate, and are difficult and costly to extract. He cautions that they may be impediments to realizing dreams of alternative energy based modern society. 4pp., 4min.

Growing Hazard: Toxics, Climate, Disease, Invasive Species

Cormier, Zoe. "Toxic Planet." New Internationalist. - Cormier summarily describes the sources and consequences of increasing toxiciy of the environment. Link 5 pp., 5 min.
Bardi, Ugo. (2011). "Peak? What Peak? Greenhouse Emissions Keep Increasing." Resource Crisis. - Emissions are on track with IPCC "worst case" projections and may be more of a limit than peak oil. - Link (2 min)
Magill, Bobby. (2014). "Arctic Methane Emissions 'Certain to Trigger Warming.'" Climate Central. - In study using widely scattered sites throughout the Arctic, researchers show increased emissions of methane as permafrost thaws. Methane is many times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Link (3 min)
Roston, Eric; Migliozzi, Blacki. "What's Really Warming the World?" Bloomberg News. (24 June 2015.) - Ten graphs with brief captions, all based on the NASA climate model, all designed to demonstrate that "deniers" explanations for global warming are without support from evidence and that human increases in atmospheric CO2 are. Link 2 min.
"Emerging Infectious Disease." Wikipedia. Link - Emerging infectious diseases defined using ten factors from CDC. (5 min)
"Infection Raises Specter of Infections Resistant to All Antibiotics." NYTimes. (26 May 2016) - Here at last, first in China and now in the U.S., a bacterium resistant to carbpenems and colistin, final lines of antibiotic defense. Link 4pp.
Reardon, Sara. (2014). "WHO Warns Against Post-Antibiotic Era." Nature. - World Health Organization researchers warn against "post-antibiotic" era in which microbes run amok in absence of effective treatment. Link (2 min)
"List of Invasive Species in North America." Wikipedia. - Succinct definition of "invasive." List is long and growing at accelerating rate with globalization. I find pathogens especially interesting. Read 1st two paragraphs and skim list. Link 2 pp.,3 min.
"Impact of Invasive Species: Invading Our Lands and Waters." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. - USFWS with this brief overview provides an introduction to the phenomenon of invasive species, which has resulted in massive and accelerating losses. Please look at one or more of the brief case studies. Link 2 pp., 5 min. (for a horror story almost beyond imagining, see Moallem, "There's a Reason They Call Them Crazy Ants," in the Interest Readings below.)

In Summary: Discontinuity Looms

Ahmed, Nafeez. (2014). "Nasa-funded Study: Industrial Civilization headed for “Irreversible Collapse’?" The Guardian.Link - This is one of a growing number of science-based challenges to the technocornucopian/free market "capitalism" world view. (10 min)

Class 10 Interest Readings

Gillis, Justin. "Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly." NYTimes, 30 March 2016. {http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/science/global-warming-antarctica-ice-sheet-sea-level-rise.html?emc=eta1] - Warnings of "worst case" far worse than IPCC published only a few years prior.
Randers, Jorgen. "8 Ways the World Will Change by 2052." Link- Business school professor Jorgen Randers gives opinions in response to 8 questions about changes pertinent to the lives of all he expects over the next 40 years. (10 min)
Link - Matt Ridley argues in the Wall Street Journal the familiar claim "The World's Resources Aren't Running Out" citing prior escapes from predicted shortages and promising more of the same. (5 min)
Link - Stanford researcher demonstrates falling US corn yields with drought, more of which is predicted for US corn belt as humans continue to change climate. (5 min)
Link - In study using widely scatter sites throughout Arctic, researchers show increased emissions of methane as permafrost thaws. Methane is many times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. (5 min)
Mooney, Chris. "Scientists confirm that the Arctic could become a major new source of carbon emissions." Washington Post. Link - Chris Mooney reports on a recently published study whose authors estimate that releases of carbon from permafrost and other Arctic reservoirs may use a third or more of the carbon budget remaining. - 5pp. (10 min)
Urbina, Ian and Fink, Sheri. "A Deadly Fungus and Questions at a Hospital" New York Times Link Outbreak of communicable disease caused by flesh-eating fungus, and spread by improper handling of linens results in deaths of several children at top-rated New Orleans Children's Hospital. (5 min)
Murphy, David. (2010). "Does Peak Oil Even Matter?" The Oil Drum. Link - Murphy argues that EROEI is the critical factor. (5 min)
Post Carbon Institute. "300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds." - Video describing history and consequences of fossil fuel use. Link 5 mins.
U.C.Berkeley. "The Energy Story: Chapter 8, Fossil Fuels." - This chapter, part of a larger work that explains energy from first principles, succinctly outlines the origins, use, risks, and rewards of fossil fuels. Link 20 pp., 20 min.
Mooallem, Jon. "There's a Reason They Call Them Crazy Ants." New York Times. Link Like so many ecological disruptions invasive species pose threats difficult to calibrate. Some become minor nuisances; others, major plagues. As instances of invasion grow odds of catastrophe increase. Imagine Stanford or your home town awash in these critters. (5 min)
Marchione, Marilyn, Associated Press. "Staph germs harder than ever to treat, studies say." Link - MRSA cases rising. (2 min)
CNN. (2013) "New SARS-like Virus is a 'Threat to the Entire World.'" Link. - MERS, an emergent communicable disease, poses global threat. (2 min)
Hannibal, Mary Ellen. (16 October 2015.) "Precarious Ark." Huff Post. Link Hannibal reviews Paul and Anne Ehrlich's book, The Annihilation of Nature: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals, with a reminder of how we routinely proceed with everyday life, imagining that we're making progress even as we impoverish our future with the sixth great extinction. 1 p., 3 min.
Catton, William. (1998). "Malthus: More Relevant than Ever." - Catton explains how people misinterpreted Malthus and why his insight is applicable now. Link 4pp (5 min)
Butler, Declan. "How to Beat the Next Ebola." (5 August 2015.) Nature. - Butler describes the risk of epidemic and current thinking about how to lessen it. Link 14 pp., 10 min.
Kendall, Henry. (1992). "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity." Union of Concerned Scientists. Link (5 min)
Revkin, Andrew. (2011). "In ‘Earth v. Humanity,’ Nobelists Issue Verdict." New York Times. Link - (5 min)
Post Carbon Institute. "Energy Primer." - Concise and thorough overview of energy from thermodynamics to declining availability and its myriad consequences. Link (10-100 pp., 10 min. - 1+ hour)
Jancovici, Jean-Marc. (2005). "How Much of a Slave Master Am I?"; Manicore. - Energy slave calculations. Link
RAP Burruss. (2005). "100-Watt Virtual People." Energy slave calculations. Link;

Class 11 - World Modeling: Status and Trends - Personal and Social Factors

Objectives

Discern, adapt to, and shape trends in individual consciousness and social relations.
Identify key elements of narrative by which we describe and justify behavior that has resulted in current status of, and trends in major elements of an ecological function.
Describe how current increasingly hegemonic narrative poorly reflects our world.

Questions

How do distributions of wealth and income in US today compare with those of past, and with what people imagine them to be and want them to be?
By what mechanisms do a small fraction of US residents exert disproportionate influence and perpetuate ability to do so?
What evidence have we that current hegemonic narrative is delusional?

Readings

Core readings

Wealth and Income Concentration

Norton & Ariely. (2011). "Building a Better America−One Wealth Quintile at a Time." Perspectives on Psychological Science. Link - The authors report that Americans from across various age, background, and political spectra want greater equality, and imagine current inequality to be less than it is. (5-10 min) Alternatively, watch this 6 min video

Rampell, Catherine. (2011). "The Haves and the Have-Nots." New York Times. Link - US and other countries compared by income distribution and absolute income. Single chart shows even US poor to be more affluent than most others. I think dollar comparisons may be misleading. (3pp., 3 min)

Gilson, Dave and Perot, Carolyn. (2011). "It's the Inequality, Stupid." Mother Jones. Link - Pages of simple graphics describing growing concentration of wealth and income in US. (5 min)

Financialization (5 min)

Bartlett, Bruce. (2013). "'Financialization' as a Cause of Economic Malaise." Link Former high-level advisor to federal government cites financialization as cause of economic distress. Good charts on history of finance as fraction of economy and on declining share of national income going to labor. (4 pp., 5 min.)

Secular Stagnation?

The Data Team. (19 November 2014) The Economist. - Graphs and text describing falling real wages and bond yields, declining economic growth, and other indicators of economic stagnation in Japan, Europe, and North America. Link (5pp., 5min.)

Criminalization, Incarceration, Racism

Madar, Chase. (2013). "Tomgram: Chase Madar, The Criminalization of Everyday Life." Link Madar provides a litany of examples of how we are restricting freedom by criminalizing all manner of behavior and discriminatorily enforcing harsh laws. (8 pp., 10 min)

"Forcing Black Men Out of Society." NYTimes editorial board. Link 1.5 million men dead from homicide and incarcerated are absent from black communities with telling consequences. Millions more are undereducated and underemployed. Evidence for continuing, egregiously harmful racial bias is incontrovertible. (3pp., 4 min)

Militarization/Imperialism

Wikipedia. "Military Budget of the United States." Link Read all 4 color graphics (scroll to end of article) to learn what we spend. (2 min)

Wikipedia. "United States Military Deployments." Link Read graphics to learn where we are. (2 min)

Johnson, Richard. "United Bases of America." Link Global deployment of US military. (5 min)

Globalization/Migration

"World at War: 2014 Trends at a Glance." pp. 2-3 UNHCR. - Summary of UN report detailing status and trends for displaced people worldwide, now at an all-time high of tens of millions and growing rapidly. Link 2 pp., 5 min.

Beck, Roy. (2013). "Immigration Numbers." Center for Immigration Truth. Link - Beck outlines the futility of mass immigration as a strategy for alleviating poverty beyond U.S. borders, and argues that we may contribute to poverty here and abroad by it. Video. 6-min.

Gerard, Leo. (2015). "Why the Trans-pacific Partnership is a Rotten Deal" Link US Steelworkers President and Obama appointee to trade post criticizes proposed trade deal. (5 min)

Fullerton, John. (2016). "What Bundy and His Merry Militiamen Can Learn from TransCanada." Capital Institute. Link - Former investment banker turned "regenerative capitalist" explains how we've surrendered sovereignty to promote trade. (2 pp., 5 min.)

Rawlence, Ben. "The Other Refugee Crisis." (9 October 2015.) NYTimes. - Journalist describes growing number of refugees in "temporary" resettlement camps, one of which is now holds 800,000 people. Link (7 pp., 7 min.)

Power Concentration and Dispersal

James, Brendan. (2014). "Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy" Link - Princeton researchers claim US no longer a democracy. Original research report here: Link - Multivariate analysis of US society refutes claims to democracy and supports claims of economic domination by narrow interests and wealthy elite. (2 min for summary; 15 min for original study)
Confessore, N. "Buying Power." (15 October 2015.) NYTimes. - More than half of Presidential campaign contributions in the 2016 election cycle have been make by 158 out of 120 million U.S. households. Link (5 pp., 5 min.)
Confessore, N. "A Wealthy Governor and His Friends Are Remaking Illinois" - We’re now observing effects of unlimited campaign funding at the state, as well as the national level. Link
Agence France-Presse. (2012). "Al-Qaeda blamed for Europe-wide forest fires." Link Forest fire terrorism, perhaps a prelude to other low-cost, low-tech, high damage terrorism. National security through military and industrial strength insufficient. (2 min)

Failure of Old Narrative

Reich, Robert. (2014). "The 'Paid-What-You're-Worth' Myth." Link Robert Reich writes about "the system": According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the $26.7 billion of bonuses Wall Street banks paid out last year would be enough to more than double the pay of every one of America’s 1,085,000 full-time minimum wage workers. The remainder of the $83 billion of hidden subsidy going to those same banks would almost be enough to double what the government now provides low-wage workers in the form of wage subsidies under the Earned Income Tax Credit. The “paid-what-your-worth” argument is fundamentally misleading because it ignores power, overlooks institutions, and disregards politics. As such, it lures the unsuspecting into thinking nothing whatever should be done to change what people are paid, because nothing can be done. (5 min)

Wonkblog, Washington Post. (2013). "Robert Rubin’s graph(s) of the year." Link Graphs showing 1/3 of people in poverty are high school grads; fewer than half of people have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church, the presidency, the medical system, fewer than 1/3 in the Supreme Court, the public schools, the criminal justice system, banks, fewer than 1/4 in tv news, newspapers, big business, organized labor, HMOs, Congress (10%!). (5 min)

Mental Health: Denial, Addiction, Depression, Delusion, Fear

Luhrmann, Tanya. (2014). "Is The World More Depressed?" Link Stanford professor T.M.Luhrmann examines global data on the rise of depression and suicide, and speculates about cause. (5 min)

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - 5/18/2014, Addicted to oil, Dawn Stover. Stover writes that we in the US are addicted to oil. Cites the DSM-V. Link (5 min)

McClennen, Sophia. (2015). "Ted Cruz Isn't an Idiot, He's Delusional and that's Far More Dangerous"Link Journalist claims Ted Cruz is delusional, rather than dishonest or stupid. (4 min)

Brooks, David. (2014). "The Republic of Fear." Link NYTimes columnist David Brooks describes pervasiveness of everyday violence for large segment of humanity and questions whether economic growth and "market capitalism" can substantially limit it. (5 min)

Summary

Tverberg, Gail. (2013). "Rising Energy Costs Lead to Recession; Eventually Collapse" Link Tverberg integrates ecology and economics to predict collapse as inevitable result of energy impoverishment. (10 min)

Interest readings

Cassidy, John. (2010). "What Good Is Wall Street?" The New Yorker. Link - Cassidy argues that much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless, yet they are claiming an ever larger share of national income and are individually receiving increasingly disproportionately large rewards. 24pp.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2011). "Of the 1%, By the 1%, for the 1%." Vanity Fair. Link - Stiglitz chronicles the increasing concentration of wealth and describes its unsustainable quality. (10 min)

Herszenhorn, David and Kotz, David. (2008). "Shocked Disbelief." Link Greenspan's 20/20 hindsight in the same vein as Robert McNamara's admission that US military intervention in Vietnam was "error" is evidence that the old narrative about individual self-interest and common good is failing. (5 min)

Catton, William. (1995). "The Problem of Denial and Ecological Overshoot."- Link - Catton explains mainstream economics as denial of ecological reality. (15 min)

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) (2014). "The Facts About the Koch Brothers."Link US Senator for Nevada Harry Reid reports on research describing the thoughts and actions of the Koch brothers, who use their wealth to shape law and policy to advantage the rich. (5 min)

Yen, Hope. (2013). "Rich-Poor Employment Gap Now Widest On Record" Link

Lowrey, Annie. (2013). "The Rich Get Richer Through the Recovery." Link Income concentration in the US is unprecedentedly high. The 1 percent has captured about 95 percent of the income gains since the recession ended.

Energyskeptic. "Homer-Dixon Key findings on resources and war / violence" Link Resources, war, government failure w/ case studies. Makes the connection between physical factor trends (resource scarcity) and cultural trend (violent struggle, war for resource).

Chomsky, Noam. (2013, August 17). "The U.S. Behaves Nothing Like a Democracy." Salon. Link Chomsky dissects US domestic and foreign policy with an eye to which elements are supported by a majority (few) and which are in furtherance of the interests of the elite. 10 pp. (10 min)

Wolfers, Justin; Leonhardt, David; Quealy, Kevin. (2015). "1.5 Million Missing Black Men." Link 1.5 million men dead from homicide and incarcerated are absent from black communities with telling consequences. (5 min)

Daly, Herman. (2004). "Offshoring in the Context of Globalization." The Social Contract. Link

Hazen, Don. (2013). "The Four Plagues: Getting a Handle on the Coming Apocalypse." Link Criminalization, financialization, militarization, privatization: four plagues. Hazen chronicles these trends and wonders how to reverse them. (20 min)

Weissman, Jordan. (2014). "Jobless in Seattle"Link - Scroll down for graph showing history of minimum wage in real (peaked in 1968) and nominal dollars. Weissman cites perils of higher minimum wage. I find ironic that we argue so vehemently about these and say nothing of the perils of the absence of a maximum wage. (5 min)

Irwin, Neil. (2013). "The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989." Link Median family income in 2012 same as 25 years ago. Lost generation of economic gains for US families.

"Wealth Inequality in America." (2012). Link video of actual wealth distribution in US, what people think it is, what we want. (6:23 min)

Nazario, Sonia. "The Refugees at Our Door." (10 October 2015.) NYTimes. - Nazario describes how U.S. residents tax dollars are being used to pay Mexican government employees to halt, sometimes by violent and oppressive means, the flow of Central American migrants northward. (13 pp., 10 min.)

Daly, Herman. (1991). "Growth, International Trade, and Destruction of Community." The Social Contract. Link Former World Bank economist and advocate of ecological economics explains a quarter century ago the impacts of unrestricted global trade, and in retrospect his predictions are accurate. (5 min)

Daly, Herman. (2003). "Globalization and Its Inconsistencies -- Does Free Trade Mean Free Migration?" The Social Contract. [2] Daly draws attention to the asymmetry between movement of capital and movement of labor across international borders and promises a "race to the bottom." (5 min)

Stanford News Service. "Generation X not so special: Malaise, cynicism on the rise for all age groups." Link Stanford sociologists assert that people of different generations, not just Gen Xers, are feeling malaise and cynicism more commonly. (5 min)

Rossi, Luca. (2014). "Global investor disillusionment rising, says Legg Mason survey." Link Investors worldwide disappointed with returns (as reality of ecological impoverishment penetrates economics and finance.) (5 min)

Denning, Steve. (2014). "Why Financialization has Run Amok." 'Forbes'. Link Steve Demming on why financialization has run amok. (5 min)

Straus, Tamara. (2010). "A Sobering Assessment of Microfinances Impact." Link Micro-finance may do more harm than good. (2 min)

Wikipedia. "Financialization." Link Top chart shows history of finance as fraction of economy. Further down article gives total value of derivatives traded now 100x GDP. (2 min)

Rank, Mark. (2013, November 2). "Poverty in America is Mainstream." The New York Times. Link - Rank presents data on poverty that which are basis for concluding that many more people in the U.S. experience poverty at soome point during their lives. (4pp., 4 min)

Lowrey, Annie. (2013). "The Rich Get Richer Through the Recovery." Link Income concentration in the US is unprecedentedly high. The 1% have captured about 95% of the income gains since the recession ended. Scroll to graph. (2 min)

Bump, Phillip. (12 May 2015) "The Top 25 Hedge Fund Managers Earn More Than All Kindergarten Teachers Combined." The Washington Post. Link - 25 hedge fund managers, 158,000 teachers; nice graphics. (3pp. 3min)

Sen. Bernie Sanders Vermont Progressive Part, VT. (2014). "Immoral Income Inequality." Link US Senator Bernie Sanders decries global and US wealth concentration and offers latest statistics (2013) from Forbes, US Dept of Labor. Three billionaire Republican donors reaped increases in wealth in one year equal to the incomes of nearly half a million school teachers. (1 p., 2 min)

Confessore, Nicholas. (2013). "Tax Filings Hint at Extent of Koch Brothers’ Reach." Link Billionaire brothers use tax loopholes to fund right-wing causes and hide source of gifts. (4 pp., 4 min.)

Beachy, Ben & Wallach, Lori. (2013). "Obama's Covert Trade Deals." Link Advocates of trade regulation decry secrecy and favoritism in upcoming TPP. (3 min)

Vox. "Why Does the US Have 800 Military Bases Around the World?" Link 4 minute video

Photobucket. "Iran Wants War: Look How Close They Put Their Country to our Military Bases." Link Image of Iran encircled by US military bases. (1 min)

"Gary Webb." Wikipedia. Link - Webb uncovered CIA complicity in Nicaraguan Contra drug smuggling of cocaine which fueled the crack epidemic in LA and other major cities. For daring to challenge the hegemonic world-view he was suppressed, fired, and blacklisted.

"Short History of Property, Labor, Wealth, Profit, and Taxation." Turning the Tide. - Author does especially good job of presenting the history of income taxation in the US. link

Urban Institute. (2012). "Nonprofit Sector is Growing Faster than Rest of the Economy." LinkCharitable sector fastest growing in economy. We know that "the market" is inadequate to address issues we consider important. We're resurrecting gift. (5 min)

Volunteering and Civic Life in America. (2013). "Volunteering and Civic Life in America 2013 National, Regional, State, and City Information." Link Stats on increase in volunteering. (5 min)

Coleman, Flynn. (2013). "Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfuless: "Trends" That Could Change Everything." Link Mindfulness trend in myriad aspects of society, including business and medicine, may portend and reflect important change. (5 min)

Dropp, Kyle; Kertzer, Joshua; Zeitzoff, Thomas. (2014). "The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S. to intervene." Link- The less able Americans are to locate Ukraine on a map, the more likely they are to advocate military intervention there. (5 min)

Styles, Ruth. (2014). "The models in masks: Shocking images show women forced to don medical garb for fashion event in smog-hit city of Nanjing." Link Images of addiction. Evidencing little appreciation for a rapidly worsening predicament, people continue to imagine advantage in dressing expensively when air pollution has become bad enough for government officials to insist that we wear surgical masks to filter out particulate. (Incidentally, I've yet to see evidence that these are effective.) Check out these "fashions" and models. (5 min)

Madar, Chase. (2013, December 8). "The Overpolicing of America." TomDispatch.com. Link - Madar provides a litany of examples of how we are restricting freedom by criminalizing all manner of behavior and discriminatorily enforcing harsh laws. (15 min)

Lowrey, Annie. "Study Finds Greater Income Inequality in Thriving Cities." NYTimes. Link - Rich are richer in boom towns where technology and finance are large parts of economy. Poor are as poor or poorer as elsewhere.

Class 12 - How We Got Here: The First 100,000 years

Objectives

Describe in general terms evolution from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture, from feudal society to commercial and industrial society, outline consequences of each of these transitions with respect to the physical environment and to human consciousness and social relations.

Questions

What kinds of property did hunters and gatherers have?
What kinds of social structures (scale, organizing principles) are common in hunting and gathering groups?
During what fraction of human history was hunting and gathering the sole mode of subsistence?
What evidence do we have for the health and welfare of hunter gatherers?
By when did agriculture become a basis for permanent human settlements with hundreds or thousands of inhabitants?
What advantages in competing for resources did these people have over those who hunted and gathered?
What is the "subsistence compromise" and what are the motives of people who practice it and its key consequences?
What were some key changes in thinking and action by which Europeans transitioned from feudal manor-based agriculture to urban commerce and industry?
Why is any of this of use to us as we contemplate how to adapt to, and influence the physical and social trends of our era?

Notes
While most of us have learned that hunter-gatherers are "primitives" who lived lives inferior to our own, we've evidence that they may understand better than we how to live and die well. While hunting and gathering may be a lifestyle capable of supporting only a small fraction (1%?) of current human population, viewing it as a means by which we existed for 99+% of human tenure can be a way to put everything since dawn of agriculture in different perspective.

With cities, property rights, and labor specialization that followed widespread adoption of agriculture we've made other social and personal changes that persist to this day, and that in many cases growing numbers of us view as pernicious. As we become more aware of these we're questioning how we might evolve, mitigate, or altogether eliminate them to adapt more successfully.

Agricultural peoples command more energy and with it greater ability to manipulate people and things around us. Continuing into an industrial age we've accumulated artifact to create a positive feedback loop of increasing energy conversion and environmental manipulation based on more extensive and rapid resource exploitation and rising EROEI. As we deplete resources and proliferate hazards we see that persisting on this path is impossible. We can use understanding of other times and places to see beyond the current hegemonic world-view and better understand what we want--our values--and to predict consequences of various actions and shape experiments for adaptation.

Readings

Core Readings

Shepard, Paul. (1998). "10,000 Years of Crisis." The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game. pp. 1-26. link - Shepard portrays the shift to agriculture as a key element in decline of humanity and planet. (40 min)

Diamond, Jared. "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race." - Link (3 pp, 5 min)

Seavoy, Ronald. Famine in Peasant Societies. Link Read highlighted text and skim the rest. (30 min) - Seavoy argues that peasants prefer periodic famine to leisure. On the basis of examples drawn from diverse places and times he asserts that the only way to induce them to work hard enough to extract surplus from them is to deny them a "subsistence compromise," which he defines as working enough to feed everyone during normal years, and accepting that some will die during years of poor harvest.

"Swing Riots. Wikipedia. Link - Swing riots in early 19th century England resulted from enclosure, mechanization, burdensome mandatory tithe, and rent, and were instrumental in evolution of workhouses as means to control the poor. (5 pp, 10 min)

Heilbroner, Robert. (1999). "The Economic Revolution." The Worldly Philosophers. pp. 18-41. Link (Also available at Stanford Libraries.) - Heilbroner chronicles the emergence of mercantilism in Europe that marked the beginnings of a transformation from agrarian to industrial society, and from tradition-based social relationships to money-mediated society. (25 min)

Interest Readings

Riversong, Robert. Summary of: Ponting, Clive. (2007). A New Green History of the World. Excellent, relatively lengthy summary of a book about human global history written from an ecological perspective. Link 20pp.
McAlpin, Michelle. Review of Seavoy, Ronald E. (1986). Famine in Peasant Societies. pp. 237-239. Link - McAlpin recounts how Seavoy explains peasant commitment to leisure over security even to the point of accepting periodic famine, and why this commitment makes denial of the "subsistence compromise" essential to sever peasants from the land and enlist them in the commercial exchange economy. (5 min)

Class 13 - How We Got Here: Selected Myths from a Dominant Narrative

Objective

Describe how we've created myths around work, "consumption," democracy, technology, education, and domestic and foreign policy to conceal violent, coercive, inegalitarian, destructive aspects of society, and to create an appealing and convincing narrative to which many of us subscribe in whole or in part.

Note

In our last class meeting we painted the human past with a very broad brush, re-examining a handful of transitions that many deem important elements of progress. In this class we examine more closely challenges to a narrative underpinning and springing from a current hegemonic world-view that most of us share in whole or part. We ask which, if any, of these or other challenges may represent more accurate depictions, and how we may benefit by editing our own, and contributing to changes in common narrative to incorporate elements of them.

Questions

What are some ways that Ponting alleges that we in the First World have created the Third World?
What parallels can you draw between aspects of the Mexican-American war that Zinn describes and recent wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan?
What are some significant instances in the past twenty years of officials in the US government lying?
Whom do you think benefitted, and whom do you think lost as a result of these lies?
What evidence do we have to support or refute Gatto's claims about education in America?
What alternatives to "manufactured demand" and "conspicuous consumption" can you imagine as strategies to adapt to increasing availability of energy and technological prowess during the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

Core Readings

Narrative

Schrom, David. "Narrative."Includes excerpts from articles on narrative thought. Link

The Third World Needs Our Help

Ponting, Clive - "Creating the Third World." Green History of the World. Link (30 min)

We're Peace-loving Defenders of Freedom

Zinn - We Take Nothing By Conquest, Thank God! - Link - A look at the Mexican American War. (10 pp. 10 min.)
Riversong, Robert. (2015). "The A-bomb Myth 70 Years Later." Link - Riversong provides ample evidence, including quotations from diverse military and diplomatic personnel who participated in this and related World War II decisions, that widely accepted reasons for dropping atomic bombs on Japan, namely the impossibility of winning the war without an invasion of the Japanese homeland and the huge casualties expected in this invasion, were propaganda to enlist public support, and that the real reasons had more to do with jockeying for post-war position vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. 10pp.

We're an Open Society

Bradlee - Why Governments Lie - Link (bitter reflections on Vietnam War). (2pp., 5min)
Richardson, John H.. Esquire. (7 July 2015.) "When the End of Civilization Is Your Day Job." - Climate scientists have growing evidence that our situation is much more dire than currently portrayed, even by IPCC reports. When they speak out, they are harassed to the extent of being threatened with federal prosecution. - Link (5pp., 8min.)
Phillipps, Dave. NYTimes. (19 June 2016.) "Decades Later, Sickness Among Airmen After a Hydrogen Bomb Accident." - Story of 1600 airmen who cleaned up a corner of Spain after a B-52 bomber crashed with four hydrogen bombs aboard and two exploded, releasing several pounds of plutonium over fields around the small coastal village of Palomares. (10pp., 10min.)

Education Exists to Develop Individuals' Potential

Gatto - Underground History of American Education, Chapter 2, An Angry Look at Modern Schooling, pp. 58-71. A public school teacher who won numerous awards, including NY State Teacher of the Year, delivers a well-researched critique of the structure and purposes of education in the US. The entire book is, I think, illuminating. - Link (14 pp, 15 min.)

The More We Convert Nature to Artifact, The Better We Live

Heinberg - The Brief Tragic Reign of Consumerism - Link (read only to "What Can Possibly Go Wrong?") (2 pp., 5min) - Description of how we've become wed to consumption.

We're a Free Society

Edwards, David. - Dangerous Minds Link (5 pp, 5min.)

We're Making Life Better With Technology

Futures That Never Were - Link- Read any of the articles that show up at this search. All seem tragically optimistic as we contemplate the reality of anthropogenic climate disruption c. 2015. There's tons more on this site about promises made for technological progress, the vast majority of which have proven far off the mark. Read and ask why, after the nearly 150 years of failed prediction documented on this website, we're still trumpeting "technological innovation" as a path to a better future, and why we continue to devote so much human life and other resource to it? (2pp., 5min)

If We Work Hard, We Thrive

Where Race Lives - Link- In this excerpt from a PBS series, Race, the Power of an Illusion, we can see how we've promoted segregated housing, disadvantaged non-European-Americans with law and policy, and pervasively, perniciously disadvantaged them. (5pp. 15 min).
McClelland, Edward. "RIP, The Middle Class." Salon. 1946-2013 - Link- Edward McClelland chronicles the rise and fall of the US middle class during the post-WWII half century. (9pp., 10min).

Interest Readings

Stone, Oliver. "Untold History of United States - Bush & Obama: Age of Terror." - Stone pieces together official documents and statements to show how U.S. Presidents Bush and Obama have conducted military operations in violation of international law with devastating effects upon the U.S.'s reputation, and on people and places overseas and in this country. Bush makes remarkable statements, including some in which he claims Divine authority. Link 60-minute video

Riversong, Robert. "Betrayal at Pearl Harbor." - Riversong describes how Roosevelt allowed Pearl Harbor attack to draw US into war in Europe. LINK

Class 14 - How We Got Here: God and Mammon

Objectives

Describe monetary underpinnings of contemporary personal and social existence.
Trace history of US monetary system with reference to repeated controversies.
Critically assess corporate form of enterprise as it exists in the US today.
Propound an analysis of religion as a psychological and social phenomenon, and critically evaluate its historic and present roles in human society.

Questions

NOTE - Please think carefully about how you might write a thorough response for each question in two sentences or fewer.
How do we in the US create money?
Why is growth of commercial transactions essential to our monetary system?
What are some social and environmental effects of such growth to date?
How do you think that an anthropologist might argue that the US (now global) monetary system is based upon manipulation of the many by the few made possible by ignorance and superstition?
What connections can you draw between English workhouses and Federal Reserve Policies favoring owners of wealth over salary and wage earners?
What fundamental change in corporate accounting for profit does Kelly propose?
Why does buying and selling stock have little to do with funding enterprise?
List three ways that Kelly alleges that current corporate structure results in perpetuation of privilege for the few at the expense of the many?
How does Harris argue that we impose maladaptive limits on reason with faith?
What connections might you draw among world-view, consensus trance, and adherence to one or another religious doctrine?
When were the words "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and how do you think Totman (The Psychology of Justification) or Cialdini (Influence) might say we shape children's ideas of meaning and purpose by mandating that they recite the pledge each school day?

Notes

Since early times humans have generated ideas about religion and governance, commonly making these interdependent bases for exerting power over each other. From priests and pharaohs of ancient Egypt, to popes and kings of medieval Europe, to contemporary presidents and mullahs, dominant individuals in religious and governmental institutions have partnered in acquiring and wielding authority.

As we shifted from feudal, largely agrarian existence into increasingly commercial, urban, industrial ways of living, the dominant have used money and banking, and corporate organization to wield power. Despite rejection of religious authority by a growing fraction of the population, between five and six billion people continue to adhere to beliefs promulgated by religious authorities and underpinning those authorities' power.

The current states of both human society and the rest of the environment in which we are embedded reflect underlying structure based upon ideas about money, banking, corporate organization of enterprise, and religion. Humans developed most of these ideas in environments with 1/10th to 1/4th as many people as live today, with far fewer and mostly less dire hazards, and with easier access to diverse key resources.

We've mounting evidence that our ideas are maladaptive in the present era, and will be even less adaptive in the future. A major challenge of this century is to understand the shortcomings of current ways of thinking about religion, wealth, and governance, and to reshape them to be consilient with a scientific world-view so that we may have basis for successful adaptation.

Core Readings

Money and Banking (50 min)

Enge, Nick. (2010). "Money Makes the World Grow." Link - Enge provides a lucid, concise description of a central difficulty in our monetary system. (5 min)
U.S. National Debt Clock - History of Money and Banking Link - Quotations from well- and lesser-known political and banking figures revealing the power of, and opposition to our current monetary system. (skim - 10 min)
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country - Link -William Greider describes Fed power and criticizes the Fed governors for favoring the affluent and concealing their motives. (video) 15 min.
Eisenstein, Charles. (2008). "Money and the Crisis of Civilization." Reality Sandwich. Link - Eisenstein describes how our current monetary system is inextricably tied to unsustainable aspects of our society, and suggests ways to prepare for and contribute to its replacement. (20 min)
Reuters. (11 June 2015). "Zimbabwe Offers New Exchange Rate: 1 for 35,000,000,000,000,000." The Guardian. Link 3pp. 3 min.

Work and Reward (20 min)

Wikipedia. "Workhouses." Read the intro and the section entitled "Modern View." Link - Roots of 'social Darwinism', class, and the 1% in 17th-19th century England. "Poverty ... is a most necessary and indispensable ingredient in society, without which nations and communities could not exist in a state of civilisation. It is the lot of man – it is the source of wealth, since without poverty there would be no labour, and without labour there could be no riches, no refinement, no comfort, and no benefit to those who may be possessed of wealth." Patrick Colquhoun, English aristocrat. -- We've stopped openly thinking this way, though we continue to act this way. (skim 5 min)
Kelly, Marjorie. (2001). Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy. - Link- Gideon Rosenblatt has summarized the book. Kelly begins with parallels to royalty, continues with discussion of world-view and paradigm shift, and proceeds to critique the current status and operations of corporations and to propose radical reforms. In the first six chapters Kelly treats history and present; in the final six she looks to the future. I predict that the ideas she sets forth here will become common currency over the next several decades. Please read at least the first six chapter summaries. 6pp. (15 min)

Deligion (45 min)

Harris, Sam. "Reason in Exile," The End of Faith. Link Harris makes a strong case that faith and reason are incompatible, and that when we embrace the former we pose a threat to human well-being. 39pp (40 min)
Wikipedia - "Pledge of Allegiance." - How may we reconcile the "freedom of religion" so clearly promised in the Bill of Rights with a requirement that students in schools across the country are compelled to choose between publicly citing the pledge with its reference to god, and declining to do so in the face of immense pressure exerted through countless subtle and less subtle rewards and punishments? Link Read just the introductory paragraph and the sections entitled: Origins, Addition of "under god," Controversy, Legal Challenges 5pp., 5 min
Carney, John. (9 November 2009). 'Business Insider.' "Lloyd Blankfein Says He Is Doing 'God's Work.'" - Goldman Sachs CEO alleges that bankers are assisting in "creation of wealth," a "virtuous cycle." Link 2pp., 2min.

Interest Readings

F2015 resource: Video on money creation 7.5 min - Link
F2015 resource: Two graphics: lobbying, return on lobbying investment - Link
"When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money." -- Cree Prophecy
Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. Link
Cassidy, John. "Who Needs Wall Street." New Yorker. Link - In "Who Needs Wall Street" John Cassidy explains why most of what investment bankers do is socially worthless. 10 pp (20 min)
Greider, William. Alternet. "Exposing the Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Makes Money Out of Thin Air." Link- 15pp, (15min)
"Monetary reform." Wikipedia. - Link - Brief overview of proposals for monetary reform. See, especially, "Examples of Government Issued Debt-Free Money." 5pp, (5min)
"The Ascent of Money." - [3] - BBC documentary tracing the history of money. (4 hours)
Monks, Robert A. G.. "Careless Language or Cunning Propaganda?" - Monks, a member of the social and financial elite who has held positions of power and influence in government and business, decries the "doublespeak" of corporate governance, alleging that executives have used diverse strategies to concentrate wealth in their hands at the expense of stockholders, other employees, and people outside the corporation. Link 17pp., (15 min.)
Dawkins, Richard. "Enemies of Reason." [4] - Two-part documentary in which Dawkins contrasts science and religion. (2 hours)
Chomsky, Noam. "Magna Carta Messed Up the World; Here's How to Fix It." (29 May 2015). Reader Supported News. With broad strokes Chomsky traces 800-years of Anglo-American legal history regarding freedom and property and describes the fictions by which we've limited the former for most and elevated it for the holders of the latter with devastating results for our common condition. Link 6pp., 6 min.
Davidson, Adam. "You're Not Supposed to Understand the Federal Reserve." (20 October 2015). NYTimes. - Davidson gives a brief history and description of operation of the Federal Reserve, explaining how its power is distributed through a number of regional banking institutions and affects every aspect of the economy. Link 4pp., 4 min.

Class 15 - Making Religion and Economics Consilient with Science

Note

In this class we take a step towards reconciling with a modern scientific world-view two currently prevalent ways of discerning value by suggesting reforms to each that are rooted in natural and social sciences. In economics we give special attention to biophysical economics because of its advocates' long history of insistence upon consilience. Earlier in the quarter we touched upon behavioral economics, evolutionary economics, and ecological economics. We consider these overlapping emergent disciplines that lie within a literal definition of biophysical economics. In the case of religion, we again propose a literal definition, and invite individuals to consider how each of us may engage in religious reformation to evolve religion to be more fully based upon science, and thus make it a more universally accessible basis for living fully and well.

Questions

Steady-State Economics: A New Paradigm Herman E. Daly

1. According to Daly, how is the economy related to the ecosystem?

2. How does Daly define a "closed" system? An "isolated" system? Is the ecosystem open or closed?

3. What powers the vast majority of the material biogeochemical cycles on which life depends?

4. Contrast Daly's description of how the economy is related to the ecosystem with the neoclassical-Keynesian view.

5. How does Daly describe an economy in sustainable development (a steady-state economy)?

6. Daly estimates the size of the economy (in 1993 when he wrote this article) relative to the Earth ecosystem in terms of the percentage that humans preempt of net primary production (photosynthesis) by land-based ecosystems. What is this number?

7. According to Daly have we reached carrying capacity? Have we exceeded it? What is his measure?

Economic Terms and Concepts Examined

8. Define the following economic terms from an ecological perspective (as they are defined in the reading): value, wealth, income, capital, interest, profit. Be precise in your responses.

"Biophysical Economics," Encyclopedia of Earth

9. What is generally acknowledged as the first school of economic thought? When and where did this develop? What is its first principle?

10. Define biophysical economics.

11. From an ecological perspective explain why economists for 250 years largely ignored physiocracy and subsequent biophysical economics to develop what we call neoclassical and Keynesian economics. Reference your responses to questions 1 and 4 in your response to this question.

12. Why do you think people have been giving increasing attention to biophysical economics during the late 20th and early 21st centuries? Reference your responses to questions 1 and 4.

"A New (and Ancient) Kind of Religion," Nick Enge

13. What is the Latin root of the word religion? Based on this root, what is the literal meaning of the word religion? Why do you think that many use the noun religion but have yet to even conceive of the verb relige?

Exercise

Go to wordnik.com and search for "capital." How might we make the definitions for capital we find here more consilient with a scientific worldview? Use the ecological function in your responses.

Readings

Core Readings

Roberts, David. "None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use." Grist. April 2013. Link 2pp (5min)
Cleveland, Cutler. "Biophysical Economics."Encyclopedia of Earth. Link Read highlighted parts, skim the rest. 5pp (10 min)
Daly, Herman. "Steady State Economics: A New Paradigm." Johns Hopkins University Press. Link 6pp (15 min)
Magic. "Economic Terms and Concepts Examined." Link 8pp (20 min)
Krugman, Paul. (2011). "Markets Can Be Very, Very Wrong." New York Times. Link 2pp (5 min)
- If you're interested in the details of this analysis, see: Muller, Nicholas Z., Robert Mendelsohn, and William Nordhaus. (2011). "Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy." American Economic Review, 101(5). Abstract. Link
Rees, William. "Economics vs. The Economy." Post Carbon Institute. (23 June 2015.) - Rees distinguishes the abstractions of economics from the reality of an economy the functions wholly within a finite ecosystem. He describes economics as a social construct that poorly reflects material phenomena, and advocates for a paradigm shift to ecological economics. After listing six qualities of humans and the natural world, he critiques how poorly these are reflected in contemporary economics. Link 5pp., 5 min.
Chetty, Raj. (2013, October 20). "Yes, Economics is a Science." The New York Times. Link - Harvard economist argues that economics is increasingly evidence-based and experimental, though he notes large areas of disagreement about central issues.

Enge, Nick. "A New (and Ancient) Kind of Religion." Link 2pp (7-8 min)
Andrews, Frank; Enge, Nick. (2010). "Foreword," "Preface," "Loving—A Heartfelt Yes!" The Art and Practice of Loving. p. 1-20. Link - Andrews takes a fresh look at loving, drawing together wisdom from many traditions and practices.
Gyatso, Tenzin (also known as The Dalai Lama). (2005, November 12). "Our Faith in Science." The New York Times. Link - Dalai Lama writes that Buddhism must be conformed to science, and while he disavows a fusion of religious ethics with scientific inquiry, he calls for a science-based secular ethics (valuescience).

Interest Readings

Gronewold, Nathanial. (2009, October 23). "New School of Thought Brings Energy to 'the Dismal Science.'" New York Times. Link - Grunwald chronicles conference of biophysical economists, providing thumbnail sketch of their thesis, historical context, and reason to heed them.
Nolt, James. (5 November 2015.) "What's Wrong With Economics?" Link - A Senior Fellow at World Policy Institute critiques economics as a celebration of "free markets" based upon false assumptions, pretending to be positive, though entirely normative. 3 pp, 5 min.
Nolt, James. (12 November 2015.) "Ideological Bedrock of Economics." Link - Nolt summarizes evolution of economics from classical to neo-classical, explaining how each form was constructed to reflect a temporal context, and decries "refusal to acknowledge pervasive private power." Power, difficult to quantify, was excluded in favor of price and quantity as economists sought the legitimacy of mathematics to support claims that theirs is a positive science. 5pp., 8 min.
Nolt, James. (19 November 2015.) "All Prices Are Political." Link - Nolt explains how a handful of powerful owners distort markets, making a mockery of traditional economic theory. 5pp., 8min.
Nolt, James. (26 November 2015.) "Demand from Where." Link - Nolt exposes the lie of consumer power. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (3 December 2015.) "Supply or Cost?"Link - Nolt argues that cost decreases as production increases, and that this departure from supply curves postulated in economics is sufficient to effectively destroy the efficient market hypothesis. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (10 December 2015.) "Cost and Competitive Power."Link - Nolt argues that private owners avoid free markets as well as they're able. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (17 December 2015.) "Private Power and Price Stability."Link - Regulatory power, public and private, not supply and demand, underpins price. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (24 March 2016.) "Understanding Value." Link - Nolt claims classical economists through Marx were correct to emphasize cost, and dismisses supply and demand in favor of struggle between debtors and creditors. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (31 March 2016.) "Valuing Capital." Link - Nolt claims credit conditions strongly influence prices of everything, including money itself. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (7 April 2016.) "Valuing Nature and Real Estate."Link - Nolt notes impact of credit conditions on real property and natural resource prices, and observes that in an inflationary environment, a growing fraction of national income is shifted to property owners and the financial sector. 3pp., 5min.
Nolt, James. (2015.) "Crises and the Myth of the Money Supply." Link - Nolt explains how bankers use power to extend or withhold credit to control everyone else. 23pp., 30min.
Nolt, James. (2015-2016.) "Polarizing Political Economy." World Policy - With blog begun in 2015 Nolt explains how wealthy people shape our world by extending or denying credit.
Barber, Nigel. (2011). "Does Religion Make People Happier?" Psychology Today. Link - Barber explores the putative link between religion and happiness and offers evidence that wealth and sharing trump religion as predictors of happiness.
Hauser, Marc; Singer, Peter. (2005). "Morality without Religion." Free Inquiry. Link - Hauser and Singer argue that we can approach morality and ethics scientifically (i.e., with valuescience).
Bloom, Paul. (2012). "Religion, Morality, Evolution." Annual Review of Psychology. Link - Bloom argues that we can attribute diverse effects to religion, some of which will be widely termed "moral" and others of which will be equally widely termed "immoral."
The Economist. (2008, March 19). "The Science of Religion: Where Angels No Longer Fear to Tread." The Economist. Link - EU funding study of biological basis for religion. Summary of prior research to understand "religious experience" scientifically.
Harkin, Sean. (2010, October 21). "Evidence-Based Economics." World Finance. Link - A cell and molecular biologist turned financial risk consultant calls for evidence-based economics.
Costanza, Robert, et. al. (1997). "The Value of the World's Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital." Nature 387 Link
Daly, Herman. (1968). "On Economics as a Life Science." The Journal of Political Economy 76(3). Link
Brooks, David. (2011). "It's Not About You." New York Times. Link
Franzen, Jonathan. (2011). "Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts." New York Times. Link
Seligman, Martin. (2004). "Eudaemonia: The Good Life." The Edge. Link
Brooks, David. (2009, May 12). "They Had It Made." New York Times. Link
Shermer, Michael. (1992). Excerpt. The Soul of Science. Link
Daly, Herman. (1991). "Growth, International Trade, and Destruction of Community." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (1995). "Review of "Small is Stupid."" Population and Development Review. Link
Daly, Herman. (1995). "The Irrationality of Homo Econimus." Developing Ideas. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "Policy, Possibility, and Purpose." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "Selected Growth Fallacies." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "The Economics of Julian Simon." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "Globalization and Its Inconsistencies -- Does Free Trade Mean Free Migration?" The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "Steady-State Economics Concepts, Questions, Policies." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "Population and Economics -- A Bioeconomic Analysis." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2003). "Uneconomic Growth in a Full World." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2004). "Offshoring in the Context of Globalization." The Social Contract. Link
Daly, Herman. (2005). "Economics in a Full World." Scientific American (September 2005). Link
Daly, Herman. (2008). "The Crisis." Adbusters. Link
Daly, Herman. (2008). "A Steady State Economy." Sustainable Development Commission. Link
Costanza, Robert; Daly, Herman. (1992). "Natural Capital and Sustainable Development." Conservation Biology 6(1)." Link
Mill, J.S. (1848). "Of the Stationary State." Principles of Political Economy. Link
- Highlighted version here Link

Class 16 - Evolving Self: Reconsidering Addiction

Objectives

Define addiction broadly and apply that definition to identify meta-addictions in contemporary society.
Identify information with which we underpin these addictions and more accurate information by which we may begin to shed them.

Questions

State two definitions of addiction proposed by authors of the readings and suggest a few implications of each.
How might we characterize ideas about love, growth, manipulation (energy, technology), money, individualism, doing, and living long as addictions, and how might we begin to shed these?

Note

In four final classes we consider how we may evolve self and society using valuescience to live and die well. We begin in this class by reframing addiction to better understand it as a root of suffering, and by examining how we may address ideas underpinning current addictions to shed them. We ask why and how love can be instrumental in recovery, how we can replace insatiable desire with a sense of "enough," and how we may become more comfortable accommodating in situations where we now manipulate. Then we explore proposals for reform of money and their basis in, and implications for social relations. Finally we reflect upon being and how we may enjoy it more fully so that we become better able to accept death. As in several previous classes we're aiming to provide students a sampler of ideas and resources, seeds you can nurture if and when you choose to do so as you continue on your paths.

Readings

Core readings

Overview

Magic, Thoughts on Addiction Link 5pp (10 min)
Kotler, Steven. (2015). "The Truth about Addiction: We're All Junkies Now." Link - Broad view of addiction, edging towards "habitual maladaptive behavior" and all that we imply with this definition. - 3pp, 3min.
Stover, Dawn. (2014). "Addicted to Oil." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Link - Author proposes to treat fossil fuel dependency as substance addiction, uses DSM-V to substantiate diagnosis, and iterates proven approaches to addiction treatment. 3pp., 3min.
Duhigg,Charles. (2014). The Power of Habit. Link - One-page description of book in which author describes how to form and break habits, and why this skill is important. 1p., 1min.

Love

Firestone, Robert. "The Fantasy Bond." Psychology Today. Link 2pp., 2min. If you want more on this topic, see "The Fantasy Bond: A Developmental Overview," Link1 "Hunger Versus Love," Link2 and "Point of View," Link3 The Fantasy Bond, Robert W. Firestone, pp. 35-56, 365-389 [47 pgs].

Enough

Monbiot, George. (2014). "The Impossibility of Growth." Link - Monbiot describes why collapse is inevitable and necessary. 3pp., 3 min.
"We Need to Talk About Growth." Persuade Me (I'm asking you to read sub-headings 1. and 10. Read more if you like.) (27 February 2014) - Australian Michael Rowan discusses the necessity for an end to growth, quoting people from Adam Smith to Sarkozy to support his case, and calculating both the consequences of various scenarios in which we continue growing and prospects for prosperity in its absence. Link 2pp, 2min; 20pp, 20min if you read it all.
Jackson, Tim. "Prosperity Without Growth." Link - Summary of Tim Jackson's book, "Prosperity Without Growth." Look especially at Box 1 on last page. Those of you who've been asking as we moved through the quarter, "How shall we deal with all this?" may find in Jackson's proposals basis for individual and collective action. 9pp., 10min.
Hagens, Nate. (2011). "Fleeing Vesuvius: The Psychological Roots of Resource Overconsumption." (I'm asking you to read the "Conclusion" section. Read more if you like.) - Nate Hagens explores our appetites for novelty and status, tracing their long evolutionary history and their relationship to addictive contemporary behaviors by which we expend more and more resource for less and less satisfaction. Hagens integrates broad understanding of evolution of Earth and life with growing evidence from neurobiology to explain, and to propose exits from our current predicament. Here as in Stover's and Jackson's writings we see clearly how change within us and change without us are necessary to each other. Link 2pp, 2min; 18pp, 20min

Accommodation

"Zero Carbon Britain." Link - The creators of this site have a fairly detailed plan for bringing Britain's carbon budget into balance without reliance upon fossil fuel or nuclear fission. This summary is dense. Skim it to grasp the main ideas. Mark Jacobsen of Stanford and colleagues have developed similar proposals for each of the 50 States. 6pp, 6min. (I consider this an evidence and reason-based response to MacKay's near-insistence upon using nukes. Link 1p., 3min.)
Crabb, Peter. (2008). "Technology Traps." Link - Peter Crabb asserts that technology is a trap into which we've fallen, and that we're avoiding a fundamental issue of how to satisfy human wants with available resources. - 2pp, 5 min
Gunter, Linda Pentz. (2013). "Pandora's False Promises: Busting the Pro-Nuclear Propaganda." Read executive summary. Look at whatever else you want. Yes, counterarguments are many; however, we anticipate that those who reap narrow benefit from nuclear fission power will continue to inundate us with these, and we want to expose you to a viewpoint less readily accessible. Link 1p., 2min

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.

Beyond Individualism

Grant, Adam. (2013). "Does Studying Economics Lead to greed?" Link - Various researchers have found that people who study economics become less concerned about others. Economics remains a primary framework for assessing value. Biophysical economics is means to evolve economics to reinforce understanding of interdependence of individual and common good. 6pp., 5min.

Being

Johnson, Carolyn. (2014). "People Prefer Electric Shocks to Time Alone with Thoughts." Link - Dan Gilbert and colleagues have shown that people prefer electric shocks to being alone and quietly thinking about whatever we choose. 3pp., 3min.
Thich Nhat Hanh. (1999). "Stopping, Calming, Resting, Healing." The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. Link pp. 24-27. 4pp., 8min.
Brooks, David. (23 October 2015). "Lady Gaga and the Life of Passion." - Brooks writes of passion, bravery, fulfillment, meaning, completion, coherence, fervent curiosity, unquenchable thirst for wholeheartedness, escaping the tyranny of public opinion, and living without fear. Link 5pp., 5min.

Simmons, Michael. "Ten Ways Successful People Deal With Stress Differently." TIME. (11 June 2015.) - Suggestions for chilling. Link 4pp., 4 min.

Death and Dying

Palet, Laura Secorun. (13 September 2014). "A Cheerful Mortician Tackles the Lighter Side of Death." NPR Books. Link. Interview with Caitlin Doughty, author of Smoke Gets in your Eyes and Other Lessons of the Crematory. A thesis of the author is that we need to have more contact with death and dead bodies, to get more familiar and comfortable with our own dying. She is trying to reduce embalming and caskets, in favor of at-home wakes, burials in a mere shroud, and cremation ceremonies attended by the family, where a family member gets to press the button to incinerate the corpse. 4pp., 5min.

Maynard, Brittany. (2 November 2014). "My Right to Death with Dignity at 29." CNN Opinion. Link - Brittany Maynard, a 29 year-old woman with incurable brain cancer committed suicide and made a statement for right to death with dignity. 3pp., 5 min

Ezekial, Emmanuel. "Why I Hope to Die at 75." The Atlantic. Link - Ezekial Emmanuel, a highly respected physician, writes about the duration of a good life, and extended morbidity consequences of medical care aimed at prolonging life. On the basis of this article officials of the AMA initiated a process to revoke an award they'd earlier given Ezekial for medical ethics. 19pp., 20 min

Class 17 - Evolving Analysis, Evolving Practice

Objectives

Understand why ours is an era requiring radical change.
Describe specific techniques for changing individual behavior.

Questions

What are three arguments for sweeping change in world-view and behavior that the authors of these readings make?
What are three impediments to evolving an accurate, science-based world-view they identify?
What are three possible ways they propose to mitigate or surmount them?
What are some techniques for personal change described in the readings that you currently use or might you use to benefit you and others?

Core Readings

Evolving a More Accurate Analysis

Konnikova, Maria. "I Don't Want to Be Right." The New Yorker. (19 May 2014.) Link - Konnikova reports on research about resistance to changing inaccurate beliefs and ways to overcome it. Hidden take-home message: people who feel worthy are better able to see self and world more accurately. 9 pp., 10 min
Speth, Gus. "Change Everything Now." Orion, September/October 2008. Link - Co-founder of Natural Resources Defense Council and former Dean of Yale School of Forestry calls for mass political action to fundamentally restructure corporations and society. 6pp., 6 min. (For more essays from the Orion series, "Change Everything Now," follow links at Link
Lehrer, Jonah. "Why We Don't Believe in Science." The New Yorker. (7 June 2012.) Link - Learning to override arational mental predispositions with thinking based on fact and reason is a teachable skill. In its absence we rely often on naive "intuition" and previous belief, however counterfactual (cognitive biases). Lehrer also reports on research showing that often learning accurate information entails unlearning contradictory, much of which may informed by genes or early experience which we accepted uncritically and with which we are now identified. I read this as more reason to question deeply. 5pp, 5min
Sachs, Adam. Grist. (24 August 2009). "The Fallacy of Climate Activism." Link - Sacks calls global warming one of many symptoms, declares the fight against it a failure, and calls for radical truth and radical change. To change other behavior we'll change discourse, speaking "truth" to power. 6pp., 6min
Alpervitz, Gar. "The Next System Question and the New Economy." Solutions. (Volume 4, #5, October 2013) Link- Alpervitz makes a case for systemic, rather than superficial change, and gives examples of how we've already begun. The creators of this website have collected and generated much thoughtful work about where we go from here. 2pp, 3 min
Wikipedia. "Dunning Kruger Effect." Link- When we're ignorant and incompetent we think we know and perform better than we do; when we're knowledgeable and competent we think we perform less well. This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect (cognitive bias). Although the Dunning–Kruger effect was put forward in 1999, Dunning and Kruger have noted similar historical observations from philosophers and scientists, including Confucius ("Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."),[3] Bertrand Russell ("One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision", see Wikiquote),[12] and Charles Darwin, whom Dunning and Kruger quoted in their original paper ("ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge").[2] Geraint Fuller, commenting on the paper, noted that Shakespeare expressed similar sentiment in As You Like It ("The Foole doth thinke he is wise, but the wiseman knowes himselfe to be a Foole." (V.i)). 2pp., 2min.
Graeber, David. "Give It Away." Link - David Graeber of Yale reviews the concept of "gift economy" described by Marcel Mauss in a landmark essay, and details why he thinks Mauss and his modern day intellectual heirs are profoundly radical and pose a threat to key economic ideas in the dominant narrative. 10pp, 15 min
Pizzi, Ed. "Shallow Analysis: The Los Angeles Times Water Footprint Visualization." (28 May 2015). Los Angeles Times. Pizzi offers a thoughtful critique of a nominally "scientific" analysis of water required to grow different foods. I consider this an excellent example of how to practice science to read and qualify material published in the popular press. Link - 7pp., 7min.

Changing Habits

Keys, Alicia. "Time to Uncover." (3 June 2016). LennyLetter.com. - Keys writes of becoming make-up free. Link 3pp., 3min.
Aamodt, Sandra; Wang, Sam. (2008, April 2). "Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind." New York Times. - Link - Aamodt and Wang say that we've limited willpower and advise us to use it wisely and increase it with practice. 5 min
Jampolsky, Gerald. (2004). Love is Letting Go of Fear. Link. - A pediatric oncologist writes about ways to become more as we intend. I find illuminating his insight about love and fear being opposites. Skim read what you like from these excerpts. 10 min
Morin, Amy. (2013, December 3). "Five Powerful Exercises to Increase Your Mental Strength." Forbes. Link - Advice I consider sound about becoming better able to practice valuescience. 5min
Baer, Drake. (2014, March 16). "How Incredibly Lazy People Can Form Productive Habits." Fast Company. Link - Tips for habit formation. 5 min
Boroson, Martin. (2011). "How to Meditate in a Moment." Link - Meditating in a moment to bring greater calm to any situation. 5 min
Enge, Nick and Power, Richard. (2013). Waltzing: A Manual for Dancing and Living. 15 min total
- "Dance for your Partner." Link- Enge describes Abraham Maslow's concept of synergy, as the merging/transcendence of selfishness and altruism.
- "Giving." Link- Enge describes the benefits of giving.
- "Gratitude." Link- Enge describes the benefits of gratitude
- "Dancing in the Rain." Link- Enge describes the benefits of radical acceptance.
Scott, Robyn. "The 30 Second Habit with a Lifelong Impact." Link - The author describes a procedure for distilling and clarifying social experience which she claims has proven beneficial for her and others. 5 min
Barker, Eric. (30 April 2014). "Time Management Skills are Stupid. Here's What Really Works." The Week. Link - Advice on working smarter (e.g., like an athlete!) by emphasizing energy rather than time. 5 min
Fogg, BJ. "Tiny Habits." Link Stanford professor BJ Fogg provides a formula for forming habits. 5 min
- Follow this format to create your Tiny Habit recipes. “After I [existing habit/anchor], I will [new tiny behavior]” Once you identify a tiny behavior you want, you then find where it fits in your life. Plan to do the new tiny behavior after an extremely reliable habit you have, an “anchor.” Matching the new tiny behavior to an anchor routine is vital. You may require several trials get this match right. And that’s okay. You can revise until you do. 5 min
Roberts, David. (October 2014). "Reboot or Die Trying." Outside Magazine. Link - A star blogger unplugs. 10 min.
Oettingen, Gabrielle. (24 October 2014). "The Problem with Positive Thinking. New York Times. Link - Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen reports that a balance between imagining desired outcomes and contemplating obstacles yields a better life than either untrammeled "positive thinking" or unremitting "realism." 5 min.
Arends, Brett. (18 September 2014.). "A Full Night's Sleep Can Really Pay Off—in Salary and Investments." Wall Street Journal. Link - An extra hour of sleep per night is worth a year of education in terms of annual earnings. 5 min.

Interest Readings

Brown, Brené. TED. Link - Brene Brown on the power of vulnerability. (20 min)
Bianchi, Jane. (10 April 2014). "How the Boston Marathon Bombing Inspired a New Life Path." Insights by Stanford Business. Link - Stanford GSB grad '82, survived injury in Boston Marathon bombing, shifted gears, and offers advice for living. 5 min
Mooney, Chris. (2011). "The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science." Link 16 min
Arrien, Angeles. "The Four-fold Way." (excerpts). Adrien, an anthropologist reports on four archetypes common to shamanic traditions in diverse societies, and offers suggestions for how we may incorporate qualities of these into our own lives to live/die well. Link 10p., 10 min

Classes 18 & 19 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

Objectives

Analyze ideas for personal and social change using a valuescience framework.
Identify some that you consider conducive to your and others' living and dying well.
For each, describe the evidence and line of reasoning by which you draw your conclusion.

Questions

Select three readings and use valuescience to briefly assess the merits of the changes their authors propose.

Readings

Each day I encounter reports of how people are evolving self and society to reflect valuescience. These readings are a small sample of ideas and practices. If you're alert, you'll encounter many others. Enjoy!

Evolving Vision and Plan

"Weaving the Community Resilience and New Economy Movement: Voices from the Field." Post Carbon Institute - Almost twenty people representing organizations working to these ends collaborate to outline lessons learned and directions they're headed. I found useful their lists of approaches and common ground elements. People looking for meaningful livelihood may find these suggestive. Link 26pp., 30 min.

Taking a Stand

Jensen, Derrick. (2006). "To Give Our Brightest Deepest Truth." Link 7 min

Reducing Population

Engelman, Robert. (2011). "An End to Population Growth: Why Family Planning Is Key to a Sustainable Future." Solutions for a Sustainable and Desirable Future. Link - Engelman performs a careful and well-supported analysis of the possibility and promise of ending population growth short of the 9 billion so many consider inevitable. 20 min
"Condoms Fight Climate Change But Nobody Wants to Talk About It" - Woodrow Wilson Institute scholars describe link between population and climate change and difficulty of publicly making it. Link 4pp., 4 min.

Cognitive Activism

Gergen, Kenneth J.. "Theoretical Background and Mission Statement," "Social Construction: Orienting Principles." 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. - Link
"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. - 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. Link 3pp., 5 min.
"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." - Jennifer O'Brien, a Lawrence, Kansas resident launched a drive to make hitchhiking safer. For more info: CarmaHop, Hitchwiki. Link 4pp., 4 min.

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 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. 3pp. 3min.

Leading Away from Materialism

Kasser, Tim. (2002). Excerpts. The High Price of Materialism. pp. 4, 22, 28, 40-42. Link - Kasser argues that we're too attentive to the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy and paying a grim price for ignoring what lies above. He backs his case with statistics from around the world spanning several decades. 10 min
Kurutz, Steven. (2014, April 16). "Square Feet: 84. Possessions: 305." New York Times. - Link - Another choice on the menu of the type of home in which you want to live and with what you want to fill it. 10 min
"Urban Homestead" Link. - Ideas for living a dream. Look at "Facts and Stats" page, and whatever else you like. 10 min
Goldberg, Carey. (1995). "Choosing the Joys of a Simplified Life." Los Angeles Times. Link - Introduction to voluntary simplicity. 5 min
Schor, Juliet. (2011, September 2). "Less Work, More Living." Yes! Magazine. Link 5pp., 5min.
Smith, Richard. (2013, November 14). "Sleepwalking to Extinction: Capitalism and the Destruction of Life and Earth." - An historian frames our times as part of a much longer human story, decries our delusion and denial, and notes signs that we may awaken to realize an "eco-socialist vision" and preserve future possibilities we very much want. Excerpt: "But we can’t stop because we’re all locked into an economic system in which companies have to grow to compete and reward their shareholders and because we all need the jobs." Link 17pp., 15min.
Kaplan, Jeffrey. "The Gospel of Consumption." Orion, September/October 2008. Link - How we've come to be obsessed with working and buying, making historical reference to an early 20th century experiment with a 30-hour week by workers and managers at the Kellogg company. 15 min
Harmsen, Peter. (2014, May 29). "Swedes Test Future: Less Work, More Play." AFP. Link - Swedes are experimenting with a 30-hour work week. 5 min
Braw, Elisabeth. "Communal Living Projects Moving from Hippie to Mainstream." (11 May 2015). Guardian. - Braw notes rising popularity of co-housing world-wide, remarks that people often choose it first for reasons of ecological footprint or cost and then discover its social pleasures, and connects it to the larger "sharing economy." Link 3 pp., 3 min.

Exploring Energy Alternatives

Rocky Mountain Institute. "Reinventing Fire: Electricity." Link - Writers at organization directed by Amory Lovins describe how to implement transition to a distributed electricity generating system with broad social and environmental benefit. 5pp., 5min.
Shwartz, Mark. "Stanford scientist unveils 50-state plan to transform U.S. to renewable energy." Stanford Report. (26 February 2014) Link - Mark Jacobson of Stanford has devised 50 plans for 50 states to convert to 100% solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, and hydro power by 2050. I hope he's right. 5 min
Anderson, L.V.. "What If Everyone in the World Became a Vegetarian?" Mother Jones (1 May 2014) Link - Anderson presents a rough yet useful analysis of the mixed effects of a universal shift to a meatless diet. 5 min

Generating Meaning and Purpose

Seligman, Martin. (2004). "Eudaemonia: The Good Life." The Edge. Link - A leading figure in the positive psychology movement opines about the characteristics of a life lived well. 15 min
Frankl, Viktor. (2000). "Preface," "Experiences in a Concentration Camp." Man's Search for Meaning. Link Link pp. 7-25. 20 min
Das, Ram. (1971). "Journey," Remember, Be Here Now. Link. Link- A Harvard psychology professor becomes a spiritual teacher. "Journey" is the story of his transformation. "From Bindu to Ojas" is a topsy-turvy agglomeration of text and images with which he attempts to bridge normal everyday experience to that of his new found consciousness. I find in these writings encouragement to look beyond what I currently think and feel to the possibility of a life richer than I now imagine. Skim both and read what you want. 10 min
Davidson, Sara. (autumn 2006)."The Ultimate Trip." Tufts Magazine - Link - Brief biography of Richard Alpert/Ram Das. 10 Min
Roush, Wade. (2008, July 23). "Stever Robbins on How to Be a Happy Entrepreneur." Xconomy. Link. - A personal coach/business consultant on "value" and how he works with his clients to ensure that they attend to the upper levels of Maslow's hierarchy. 10 min
Brooks, David. (2009, May 12). "They Had It Made." New York Times. Link - Brooks reviews the Grant study and comments on the divergent life paths of seemingly promising young men. 5 min
Shenk, Joshua. (2009, June 1). "What Makes Us Happy?" The Atlantic Link - Reflections on the lives of men who were undergraduates at Harvard in the early 1940's and were part of a longitudinal study about mental health shed light on how we change over a lifetime and how we live and die more or less well. 40 min
Poswolsky, Adam. "4 Tips to Help Millenials Find Meaningful Work." Fast Company. - Link- Poswolsky writes that we CAN create right livelihood by experimenting and learning. As we become more competent and accomplished we find new opportunities. 5 min
Jacobs, Tom. (13 May 2014). "Sense of Purpose Lengthens Life." Pacific Standard. Link - Jacobs reviews a well-done study in which researchers found purpose a buffer against mortality risk across adult years. 5 min
Khazan, Olga. "How Meaningful Activities Protect the Teen Brain from Depression." The Atlantic. Link - Researchers studying teens find evidence that kindness and meaningful service to others are protective of mental health.
Monbiot, George. (2014). "Career Advice." In Monbiot's words, "You know you have only one life. You know it is a precious, extraordinary, unrepeatable thing: the product of billions of years of serendipity and evolution. So why waste it by handing it over to the living dead?" Link 5pp., 5min
Scranton, Roy. (2013, November 10). "Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene." The New York Times. Link
Huffington, Arianna. (2013, September 23). "Are You Living Your Eulogy or Your Résumé?" The Huffington Post. - The author opines, "[W]hile it's not hard to live a Third Metric life -- redefining success beyond money and power to include well-being, wisdom and our ability to wonder and to give -- it's very easy not to." Link 5pp., 5min.

Reconceiving The System

Wikipedia. (2013). "Partnership and Domination Models." Wikipedia. Link - Two contrasting templates for social organization. For more info see, Riane Eisler's The Chalice and The Blade and her website. Link - 5 min
Kick It Over. Adbusters. - Adbusters project with their characteristic mix of provocative text and images to overthrow orthodox economics. - Link Images. 5min.
Smith, Yves. "Was Marx Right?" Truthout. (14 April 2014) Link - Commentary on concentration of wealth in the US, 1970-2014, ending, "as long as there is a sufficiently large remnant of the American middle class, still socialized to identify with the established order, no matter how beleaguered they are, it’s hard to see how any organized, large scale uprising could occur." 10 min
Cowen, Tyler. (15 May 2015). NYTimes. "Don't Be So Sure the Economy Will Return to Normal." Link George Mason University economist cautions that discontinuities in economic development are underway, and that more loom, and warns that the shape of the outcome remains difficult to foresee. 3pp. 3min.
Daly, Lew. The Week. 'What if Economic Growth is No Longer Possible in the 21st Century" - Lew Daly of Demos makes a case for redistribution as a necessary alternative to growth in an era when the latter is no longer possible. Link 5pp. 5min.
Wingfield-Hayes, Georgie. "Capitalism: The Inner Battle." Occupy Wall Street. Georgie Wingfield-Hayes draws parallel between change of narrative by which slavery was rejected and one underway by which current exploitation is being rejected. Link 2pp, 5 min.

Changing Business

Alburty, Stevan. "The Ad Agency to End All Ad Agencies." Fast Company. - Link- Alburty describes how a group of employees refused a corporate takeover and created their own venture--the ultimate strike--which they imbued with their values. 10 min
Kjerulf, Alexander. "5 Simple Office Policies that Make Danish Workers Way More Happy Than Americans." Link- Kjerulf describes governmental and corporate policies that exist in Denmark and might well exist in the US. We can work towards these in whatever livelihood we choose and with collective action to influence enterprise and government policies. 5 min
Bader, Christine. (21 April 2014.) "Why Corporations Fail to do the Right Thing." The Atlantic. Link - A corporate insider writes about obstacles to altering current destructive patterns of behavior evident in people operating and supporting businesses. 10 min
Email Newsletter. Schumacher Center for a New Economy. (29 May 2015). "Plugging Leaky Buckets." - Schumacher staff plug "localism" with story of success of "Buy Eugene." Link 3pp., 3 min.
Cohen, Patricia. "One Company's New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year." (14 April 2015). NYTimes. - Link - CEO of Seattle firm, Gravitas, announces $70k minimum wage for all employees.

Changing Government

King, Mary Elizabeth. "Gene Sharp Is No Utopian." Satyagraha Foundation for Nonviolence Studies - Link- King summarizes the ideas and work of Gene Sharp, whose books about peaceful change have been widely read and applied. 10 min
Sharp, Gene. "From Dictatorship to Democracy." Albert Einstein Institution. Link- Sharp explicitly describes how to make a democratic revolution. Appendix I: "The Methods of Nonviolent Action" lists 198. This is a 90-page book that has been translated into dozens of languages and is widely credited by leaders of revolutions in several countries. For all who wonder, "What shall we do?" Sharp provides plenty of suggestions. 5 min to read Appendix 1
Caballero, Maria. (2004, March 11.) "Academic Turns City into Social Experiment." Harvard Gazette. Link. An example of peaceful, positive social change. 15 min

Eliminating Racism

Yancy, George and Mills, Charles. (16 November 2014). "Lost in Rawlsland." New York Times. Link - Charles Mills, a Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at Northwestern, explores past and present racism. "Whites have not merely an unrepresentative group experience, but a vested group interest in self-deception. Sociologists have documented the remarkable extent to which large numbers of white Americans get the most basic things wrong about their society once race is involved." 10 min.

Health Care

Mowe, Sam. (24 April 2014). "The Long Good-bye." The Sun. Link - Interview with Katy Butler, author of Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death, in which she discusses death and dying with reference to the American medical system. 15 min

Cognitive Activist Art

Jordan, Chris. (2008, February.) "Turning Powerful Stats into Art." Ted Talk. Link - An artist visually represents some of the human and matterenergy trends of our times in order to assist us in seeing and grasping who we are and what we are doing, and to motivate us to ask, "What and how shall we change to become more as we want to be." 10 min
"Not an Alternative." Link - Gutsy artists communicate radicalism in ways from which we may draw inspiration. (see also: Link) Browse "Projects" portion of site. 5-10min.
"Journalism is printing what someone else [more powerful than you -ds] does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell 5 sec. (Read quotation only.)
Shem, Samuel. (28 November 2012). "Samuel Shem, 34 Years After 'The House of God'." The Atlantic. Link- Stephen J. Bergman, MD, PhD, novelist, radical critic of medical training and practice looks back at 70 and reflects upon what is important to him in medicine and life. Bergman's speaks to his own experience practicing peaceful and courageous resistance.
Shem, Samuel. (3 December 2002). "Fiction as Resistance." Annals of Internal Medicine. Link- A physician writes of how he came to understand that he knew less what he wanted and how to get it, and of the importance and meaning of taking a stand for empathy and love. NOTE: He's a psychiatrist fascinated with how people change. (5pp, 5min)

Evolving Religion

Dennett, Daniel C. (2006). "Five Hypotheses about the Future of Religion." Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. p. 35-36. Link - Dennett offers five alternative futures for religion. 2 min
Lee, Adam. (2013, November 27). "Why People Are Flocking to a New Wave of Secular Communities: Atheist Churches." Alternet. Link - Atheism is fastest-growing "religion" in US, and people are creating secular "churches" (often based upon scientific religion) in order to enjoy sangha in ethical practice. 8 min
Tarico, Valerie. (18 November 2014). "Does Religion Cause More Harm than Good? Brits Say Yes. Here’s Why They May be Right." Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Link - Former evangelical Valerie Tarico reports on research that reveals a majority of Britons perceive that religion does more harm than good, and related studies. 5 min.
Brooks, David. (22 May 2015). NYTimes. "Building Spiritual Capital." Brooks discusses research about spirituality with or without the context of religion. He and the researcher are tip-toeing towards, though short of "science-based religing."Link 3 pp., 3 min.
Kirchgaessner, Stephanie. (26 May 2015). Guardian. "Vatican: Ireland Gay Marriage Referendum Vote Defeat for Humanity." - Irish voters, most Catholic act to reform church and state while high Vatican official resists "reformation" essential for Roman Catholicism to become a religion consilient with a modern scientific world-view. Link 3pp., 3min.

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

Rethinking Philanthropy

Koru Kenya Link- Here's an example of a small NGO working in diverse ways and at many levels to improve the human condition. I think we can make it inspiration to think creatively about how we can give. 5 min
Appel, Jacob and Karlan, Dean. "More than Good Intentions." Innovations for Poverty Action. Link - Economists Jacob Appel and Dean Karlan illustrate with case studies the necessity for valuescience in philanthropy. Read review and Chapter 1. 30 min.
Ridley, Matt. (25 July 2014). "Smart Aid for the World's Poor. Wall Street Journal. Link - Matt Ridley reports on Bjorn Lomborg's rankings of poverty alleviation proposals. What shall we make of such "cost/benefit analysis"? 5 min.
Illich, Ivan. (1968). "To Hell with Good Intentions." Link - Ivan Illich tells US "do-gooders" to stay out of Latin America unless they want to be tourists and spend money. 20 min.
Piller, Charles; Sanders, Edmund; Dixon, Robyn. (2007). "Dark Cloud Over Good Works of Gates Foundation." Los Angeles Times. Link - Critique of Gates Foundation investment policy conflicts with its giving showing how foundation money is invested to finance the very ills foundation grant money is intended to remedy. 10 min
"Hunger and World Poverty." Link - Self-billed as people with "a practical approach to ending poverty," creators of this site offer statistics on major causes of death among poor people and concrete ways to reduce mortality among the poor. 5 min
Heinberg, Richard. "Sustainability Metrics, Growth Limits, and Philanthropy." Post Carbon Institute. (25 June 2015.) - Heinberg calls on philanthropists to fund shift to sustainability and warns that endowments will be worthless in a depleted environment and collapsed society. Link 5pp., 5 min.

Socialism

Wikipedia. (2014). "Basic Income." Wikipedia. Link - An excellent summary of arguments for and against and world-wide experiments and advocacy. 10-20 min, depending on how much you read
Foulkes, Imogen. (2013, December 17). "Swiss to Vote on Incomes for All - Working or Not." BBC News. Link - Foulkes describes upcoming Swiss referendum on guaranteed income. 10 min
Jesse, David. (2014, March 19). "Pay It Forward: Plan Would Allow Michigan Students to Attend College for 'Free.'" Detroit Free Press. Link - Jesse describes proposal to fund higher education for all from earnings of high-income graduates. 10 min
Wheeler, David R.. (18 May 2015). "What If Everybody Didn't Have to Work to Get Paid?" Atlantic Monthly. Link - Wheeler writes of the international movement for guaranteed basic income, citing examples of crowd-funding now underway that demonstrate alternatives to waiting for people in government to act. Who among you will seize this idea and act on it? 5pp., 5min.
Wikipedia. "Second Bill of Rights." Link "FDR's second bill of rights" - Roosevelt imagined us shaping a government designed to ensure social welfare to an extent greater than that enjoyed Western European peoples today. His vision stands in sharp contrast to our current reality, and may be useful to current youths in developing perspective about changes is US politics during the last half-century or so. 5 min
Krugman, Paul. (25 May 2014.) "Europe's Secret Success," NYTimes. Link - Krugman accuses US media personnel of systematic misrepresentation to discredit European welfare states, and notes their successes in employment and well-being. 5 min
Daly, Lew. (7 July 2014)."Our Mismeasured Economy." NYTimes. Lew Daly of Demos analyzes the often unacknowledged economic benefits of public spending/investment. Link 3pp., 3min.

Miscellaneous Topics

The Yes Men. (2008). "Special Edition of The New York Times." Link Includes stories describing a future in which we held Obama to the values he espoused while campaigning: single-payer national health care, abolition of corporate lobbying, maximum wage for CEOs. (Please note that the site has been corrupted making much of the first page redundant; however, clicking through to any of the pages in the box on the upper left of the front page will bring up a multi-page PDF with the rest of the paper as published.) See this link for more 7 min
Jensen, Derrick. (2009). "Forget Shorter Showers." Link 5 min - Jensen calls for collective action to achieve individual change.
Sapolsky, Robert. (2006). "A Natural History of Peace." Foreign Affairs. - Link - Sapolsky describes social structure in primates with an eye to explaining cooperation and competition. 15 min
Graeber, David. (2014). "Why America's Favorite Anarchist Thinks Most American Workers Are Slaves." Link - David Graeber calls for a guaranteed income. The Making Sen$e program of PBS Newshour, of which this is one example, includes a number of other proposals for reducing inequality in wealth and income. 5 min
Original Mothers' Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe. Link - Mother's Day, initiated by a feminist, pacifist, suffragette as a call to peace, has been hijacked into yet one more orgy of consumption. 5 min
"Change Everything Now." Link- More essays from contributors to Orion about roots of current predicament and ways out of it.

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 == Course Description ==
-abc la la la
 This is a course about living and dying well. We speak of living and dying well because living and dying are ongoing and contemporaneous in each of us, and we've evidence that acknowledging both is essential to doing either well. We choose this metric because we've evidence that it's shared by most, perhaps all people and that it encompasses most, perhaps all human concerns.

Difference between revisions of "Syllabus"

Revision as of 11:22, 30 September 2016

Contents

Course Description

Course Objectives

Class Details

Instructional Team

Office Hours

People Page

Questions and Resources

Class Meetings

Quizzes

Project(s)

Final Exam

Lab

Grading

Participants Enrolled for 3 Units

Participants Enrolled for 4 Units (Lab)

Grading Scale

Grading Alternatives

Work Load

Topics, Autumn, 2016

Course Outline, Autumn, 2016

Class 1 - Overview, Education for Living/Dying Well

Class 2 - Valuescience: What? Why? How?

Class 3 - Worldview: Import, Sources, Evolving

Class 4 - Paradigm Shift to a Consilient, Science-based Worldview

Class 5 - Tools for Cognitive Activism

Class 6 - Matter, Energy, Cosmos, Earth, Life

Objectives

Questions

Readings

Class 7 - Science of Mind

Objectives

Questions

Readings

Class 8 - Science of Mind: Cognitive Bias

Objectives

Questions

Readings

Class 9 - World Modeling: Concepts

Objective

Questions

Readings

Class 10 - World Modeling: Status and Trends - Physical Factors

Objective

Questions

Readings

Class 11 - World Modeling: Status and Trends - Personal and Social Factors

Objectives

Questions

Readings

Class 12 - How We Got Here: The First 100,000 years

Objectives

Questions

Readings

Class 13 - How We Got Here: Selected Myths from a Dominant Narrative

Objective

Note

Questions

Core Readings

Interest Readings

Class 14 - How We Got Here: God and Mammon

Objectives

Questions

Notes

Core Readings

Interest Readings

Class 15 - Making Religion and Economics Consilient with Science

Note

Questions

Exercise

Readings

Class 16 - Evolving Self: Reconsidering Addiction

Objectives

Questions

Note

Readings

Class 17 - Evolving Analysis, Evolving Practice

Objectives