Syllabus

Welcome

The degree to which we live and die well because of what we do in this course is the measure of our success.

Humans live and die well by discerning and realizing value: what we want and how to get it. Because we are changing organisms in a changing environment what we value - the ends and means of our lives - also changes. In our era of unprecedentedly rapid change to social, natural, artificial, and informational environments, becoming more proficient in bringing to awareness, questioning, and evolving ideas about value to be more accurate is key to living and dying well.

In this course we re-examine ideas about value we’ve taken for granted. We consider alternatives, and assess their merits. More importantly we consider ways that we’ve come to current ideas about value, and assess which of these we consider reliable enough to warrant continued use. If you are engaged or want to engage in honing these skills, we welcome your partnership in valuescience.

Class Details

• Time: MW, 11:00-12:15
• Place: Education 210
• 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. Students should 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})
• Assistants: Robin Bayer (robin@ {ecomagic}), Nick Enge (nickenge@ {stanford}), Hilary Hug (hilary@ {ecomagic}), Andrew Nepomuceno (andrew.nepo@ {gmail})

Office Hours

During the quarter, members of the instructional team are usually able to accommodate requests for consultation within 24 hours of the time we receive them. We encourage you to bring us your thoughts and questions for individual attention. We are often available directly after class and we will occasionally ask that you meet with us at this time.

People Page

Please use your People Page to tell us about yourself and why you're taking the class, and to post writings, lab reports, and anything else you want to share with the class. Only students from this quarter can see your people pages (as long as [[Category:Spring15]] is on the bottom of your page. In addition, we give you the option of submitting your writings anonymously (with your name going only to the teaching team). Click here to find your page: People. Please let Andrew know if you have any questions or concerns about the site.

Questions and Readings

We've constructed this course around questions. Many are too broad to address in a single class meeting, and some merit attention for a lifetime. During the quarter, we will post primary and subordinate questions for upcoming class meetings (usually 1 to 4 classes at a time). We encourage you to bring forward your own questions. You can find a comprehensive (short of exhaustive) list of questions you may be asked on the final here: Final Exam Questions

To afford a common basis for responding to questions we offer core readings. Please complete those listed on the Next Class page (or alternatives to which the instructor has consented) so that you'll be prepared to learn and contribute to others' learning as we discuss their contents during our meetings. Readings will be available online or on reserve at the Stanford libraries. You can access the reading for this course without purchasing anything.

For most topics, we've assembled additional readings to facilitate your exploring more fully ideas you've encountered in core readings and discussion. In past quarters, each course participant has found at least some of these worthwhile, and many have introduced us to materials new to us that we now offer you. Please assist us in adding to these resources.

This course is very much a work in progress. We have in the past altered the syllabus, sometimes extensively, during each quarter as we became more familiar with current enrollees' backgrounds and interests.

Class Meetings

We interact with each other to create a valuescience learning community. If you've prepared thoughts and questions about a day's topics and core readings, you're better able to learn and to further others' learning. If a member of the teaching team considers you ill-prepared, s/he may offer you opportunity to receive full credit for class participation by writing. If you accept this offer, please post your writing on your People page in the form of a supplement to your learning log entry for that day. Please begin such supplemental entries with the words: "UNPREPARED CLASS [date]."

If you plan to miss a class, please email robin@ {ecomagic}. To receive credit for classes that you miss, we ask that in addition to completing the regular assignments for the day you devote the equivalent of one class period to doing independent research on the topic of the day, and to recording your sources and findings on your People page in the form of a supplement to your learning log entry for that day. Please begin such supplemental entries with the words: "MISSED CLASS [date]."

Learning Log

Members of the instructional team want to know what you're learning and what you're doing to learn it. Please post learning logs to your People page twice per week (before 11am Monday for Monday's readings and other Monday assignments; before 11am Wednesday for Wednesday's readings and other Wednesday assignments).

For each class session we'll pose one or more overarching questions, and for some we pose additional narrower questions. To receive full credit for your log entry you'll respond to these with reference to core readings. We are less interested in having you affirm or critique an author's writing than we are in reading what new ideas you've been able to extract from it and how you're applying them. Learning log entries can be submitted up to one week late for half credit. You may amend log entries for which you receive less than full credit on the basis of content and resubmit these for additional credit up to one week after you receive comment.

Your learning log will be a basis for the writing portion of your grade (see below). In accordance with Stanford guidelines for academic credit, we suggest that you read for 4-5 hours and write for 1-2 hours each week. We are grateful to students who note beginning and ending times (several if you read and write on more than one occasion) on learning log entries to assist us in assessing the workload of the course.

Sample Learning Log

Final Exam

Each student stands for an oral final exam. You can think of it as analogous to the qualifying exam that candidates for advanced degrees take at the end of their coursework. In it, we ask you to demonstrate competence in presenting the full range of topics we address in the course. You will score well if you can respond briefly and informatively to a wide range of questions based on core readings and respond in greater depth to questions about narrower portions of each broad topic that you found particularly relevant to your life. Here you can find a comprehensive (short of exhaustive) list of questions we've previously asked on the final, as well as a summary of main themes of the course: [1].

Grading

All Participants

Total: 100% (100 pts)

• 40% Writing (40 pts)
  • 16 learning log entries (2.5 pts each; students can earn up to 10 bonus points with up to 4 additional log entries)
    • Graded on evidence of accurate understanding of authors' ideas and how you can apply them to live better.
• 40% Class Participation (40 pts)
  • 20 class periods (2 pts each; in quarters with 19 class meetings students receive 2 free points)
    • Graded on how well you evidence learning and contribute to others' learning by listening and speaking.
• 20% Oral Final
  • 20 pts total
    • Graded on your ability to orally communicate course themes clearly and succinctly.

Lab Enrollees

• 33% Lab (33 pts total)
  • Lab points are awarded both for a lab proposal and nine lab reports submitted weekly. Ten points are awarded for a proposal we accept. Ten points are awarded for each lab report. All points are proportionately adjusted as necessary for students entering the course late. Lab points are multiplied by .33 before being added to your total points for other parts of the course.
  • Points earned in lab and through classroom participation, final, and writings are totaled and multiplied by .75 to normalize grades for lab enrollees

Grading Scale

• A+: 97.5 - 100
• A: 92.5 - 97.5
• A-: 90 - 92.5
• B+: 87.5 - 90
• B: 82.5 - 87.5
• B-: 80 - 82.5

We hope nobody will earn grades below this level, but we will extend this same pattern as far as necessary through the ranges of C (<80), D (<70)

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 reading and writing each week outside of class, regular class attendance, thorough preparation, and thoughtful participation to achieve this objective. If you've enrolled for 4 units, plan to devote 3 hours per week to lab activity and write-ups.

If at any point during the quarter you have questions about whether you're earning the grade you want, please ask a member of the instructional team. We strongly encourage you to include in your Learning Log (see above) a record of date and time you begin to read or write, time you finish, and what you read and/or wrote. In conference, we will likely review your Learning Log with you. We use dates and times on entries to assist you in learning more effectively, and to assist us in gauging what we're asking of you and others.

Lab

Lab

Class-by-Class Topics

1. Overview

2. Valuescience

3. Worldview

4. Language

5. Consilience

6. Cosmos, Earth, Life

7. Mind

8. Biases

9. Economics

10. Religing

11. Peak Everything

12. Cultural Trends

13. Green History

14. Money, Debt, & Banking

15. Futures: Best, Worst, Middling

16. What Global Social Contract?

17. Integration

18. Evolving Self

19. Evolving Society

Reading Assignments

Class 1 - Overview

Objectives

• Define valuescience.
• Describe the evolution of valuescience.
• Explain why valuescience may be essential to successful human adaptation.
• Describe what we do in the course.
• Outline course content.

Questions

With what purposes have we come together and how will we act to realize them?

• What do we mean by valuescience?
• Why are we accelerating the development of valuescience now?
• What aspects of the human condition are we aiming to address with valuescience?
• How do you think you can use valuescience and this course to become more as you intend?
• What are some impediments to your doing so?

Readings

• Course syllabus.
• Duhigg, Charles. (2012). "Keystone Habits, or the Ballad of Paul O'Neill." (Chapter 4). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Link - Duhigg makes a case that some habits are so central to our lives that by altering them we can make much other change more readily. 20 min
• Why, What, How Admin A

Class 2 - Valuescience: What, Why, How?

Objectives

• Present an argument for valuescience.
• Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a product of valuescience practice.
• Sketch a diagram representing an "ecological function" and justify a claim for the special importance of culture in human life, of science in culture, and of valuescience in science.

Questions

• For the purposes of this course, how do we define value and science, and how do we describe their nexus?
• What consequences of defining science and value in these and in customary ways do you perceive?
• How might your argue that value is a critically important aspect of our lives?
• What evidence do we have that familiar ways of discerning value are flawed?
• For what, if any universal values have we evidence?

Readings

Class 2 Core Readings

• Schrom, David. (2008). Valuescience Booklet. - Schrom outlines a basic valuescience argument and briefly touches upon applications to selected fields. Download
• Schrom, David. (1981). "An Ecological Function." - Simple framework for ecological analysis of the situation of a person or of humankind. Link
• Wikipedia. (2009). "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." - A widely used framework for characterizing human desires. Link
• Bonner, John Tyler. (1980). Evolution of Culture in Animals. excerpt. - A Princeton biologist more than 30 years into his research and teaching career steps back from his narrow specialty and describes in sweeping terms with many examples how animals evolved capacity for teaching and learning and the critical role of these in evolution. Link for more: Link
• Walker, Marshall. (1963). "A Survival Technique." Nature of Scientific Thought. pp.14-20. Link

Class 2 Interest Readings

• Graham, Paul. (2007). "How to Do Philosophy." - Y-combinator incubator founder Graham offers some down-to-Earth advice and encouragement to budding valuescientists and roots it in his own experience as a person who majored in philosophy for most of his college career. Link
• Harris, Sam. (2007). "We Are Making Moral Progress." - A vehement advocate for a scientific approach to morality makes his case that others are adopting it to good effect. Link
• Valuescience Study Guide
• Why, What, How Admin B

Class 3 - Worldview: Source, Impact, Choice

Objectives

• Outline your and the hegemonic world-views by responding to the seven basic questions of world-view.
• Describe how people form and reform our world-views.
• Identify risks and benefits of world-view, giving examples of failures resulting from errors of world-view.

Questions

• What costs and benefits do we accrue from worldview?
• What shall we mean and understand by worldview?
• How do we construct and sustain a worldview?
• How conscious are we of the contents of our worldview, or even of the fact that we have one?
• How have humans evolved the current globally hegemonic worldview?
• What are some examples of worldview as impediment to accurate perception?
• How readily do we alter ideas related to worldview?

Readings

Class 3 Core Readings

• Rifkin, Jeremy (1980) "World Views" and "The Architects of the Mechanical World View" pp. 5-9, 19-29 Link 15pp. 25 min
• Tart, Charles. (2001). "Consensus Trance." Waking Up. pp. 85–106. Link 22pp. 35 min
• Edwards, David. (1999). "The Limits of the Possible." Burning All Illusions. pp. 1-3. Link 3pp. 5 min
• Questions of Worldview Summary Link <100 words 5 min (Think about these questions. Maybe learn a bit of vocabulary.)
• Gardner, Howard. (2006). "The Power of Early Theories." Changing Minds. 49-69. Link 21pp. 35 min

Class 3 Interest Readings

• Parry, Robert. (2014, March 14). "The Danger of False Narrative." Consortium News. - Parry discusses how media personnel have slanted information about Ukrainian-Russian relations, with reference to prior slanting of information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Link 9pp. 15 min
• Levitt, Steven D. (2005). "The Hidden Side of Everything," Freakonomics. 2-19. Link 13pp. 20 min
• Rheingold, Howard. "Charley Tart on Consensus Trance." Link 5 pp 10 min Last three paragraphs are Tart's ideas about religion, values, altered states, and cultivated awareness/compassion.
• Project Worldview. (2013). - Exercise to characterize one's own or others' worldviews by selecting applicable descriptors from a menu. Link.
• Worldview Study Guide
• Worldview Admin

Class 4 - Language: Foundation and Constraint

Objectives

• State the Whorfian hypothesis of linguistic relativity and give evidence from at least three scientific studies to support a claim that it is an accurate description of human experience.
• Identify one or more elements of your idiolect that you can alter to be more compatible with being as you intend.
• Describe how propagandists manipulate language to shape thought and perception and give at least one historical and one contemporary example.

Questions

• How can we gain by being more attentive to language?
• How shall we describe interplay of language with worldview, and with thought and perception generally?
• How do we evolve language individually and collectively?
• What personal and social consequences of linguistic evolution can we identify?

Readings

Class 4 Core Readings

• 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. - Key paper by a seminal thinker. Beyond page 137 Whorf requires careful reading. If you're interested in linguistic relativity, you may find the effort worthwhile. Link 10 min
• At least one of the following three articles by Lera Boroditsky: Boroditsky, Lera. (2006). "Language and Perception." World Question Center. - Stanford researcher acknowledges surprise at power of language-thought-perception interdependence. Link Boroditsky, Lera. (2009). "How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think." The Edge. - Many examples of linguistic relativity by SU linguist. Link Boroditsky, Lera. (2011). "How Language Shapes Thought." Scientific American. - Boroditsky gives examples from contemporary U.S. events. Link
• Deutscher, Guy. (2010). "Does Your Language Shape How You Think?" New York Times. - Deutscher recaps history of Whorfian hypothesis and gathers findings from numerous researchers. Link
• Magic. (1999). Language We Live. - Changes to idiolect advocated by people living in ecologically-based community and aiming to cultivate health, cooperation, and environmental stewardship. Link
• Donges, Jan. (2009). "You Are What You Say." Scientific American. - Donges describes how word choice and syntax can be used to ascertain a speaker's/writer's mental state. Link
• Slashdot. (2009). "Babies Begin Learning Language in the Womb." - Brief article with links to research reports that babies emerge with vocalizations tuned to the mother's tongue. Link
• Lakoff, George. (2003). “Metaphor and War, Again.” Alternet. - Lakoff discusses how people in the U.S. government uses particular words to frame the war in Iraq in a manner that elicited popular support. Link

• Linguistic Relativity Study Guide
• Linguistic Relativity Admin

Class 4 Interest Readings

• "Frank Luntz." Wikipedia. - Article about right-wing cognitive activist. Link
• "George Lakoff." Wikipedia. - Article about left-wing cognitive activist.Link

"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.

• Robb, Alice. (April 23, 2014.) "Multilinguals Have Multiple Personalities." Link
• Orwell, George. (1946). "Politics and the English Language." Link
• Pennebaker, James. (2007). "Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Program." Link 1 Link 2
• Google N-gram Viewer - Here we can search a large library for given words and obtain a graphic display of changing frequency of use. I see this as a window onto trends in thought. Search for example: "free market, externalities." Link
• Wikipedia. (2009). "Linguistic Relativity." - Easy introduction to the concept. Detailed history of its development. For an overview, read the first paragraph, then skip down and read "Present Status." Link

"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."

From Alfred Korzybski (1930). Science & Sanity. 90

Class 5 - Science & Paradigm Shift To Science-Based Consilience

Objectives

• define science as we do in this course
• describe how practicing science is different from other ways of knowing
• describe how humans are furthering a paradigm shift to a consilient science-based worldview which we can make a basis for more accurately discerning what we want and for more fully realizing it

Questions

How shall we recharacterize and practice science to reshape our worldviews to live better and contribute to others' doing so?

• What shall we mean and understand by a scientific worldview?
• How might you make the case that a paradigm shift to a consilient science-based worldview is currently underway?
• What elements of your world-view have you yet to make consilient with a science-based worldview?

Class 5 Additional Questions

Readings

• Enge, Nick. (2011). "How Do We Know?" A Scientist's Bible. 15pp. 20 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. 60 min.Link - Wilson issues a call to unify knowledge into a single internally consistent and inclusive world-view. He continues to explore 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 us as we contemplate or actually lead a paradigm shift to science-based consilience by practicing and advocating valuescience.
• AAAS. (1990). "The Scientific World View." 1pp. 5 min.Link Authors writing under the mantle of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science draw our attention to some of the most fundamental precepts of a modern scientific world-view, illustrating in the process how we may take such basic elements for granted.
• 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 me 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.
• Sagan, Carl. "Last Interview with Charlie Rose." - Sagan warns that widespread scientific ignorance coupled with accelerating development of technology is a "combustible mixture" and advocates for science as a "way of thinking." 2:33 min http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyFw8UF85A&feature=youtu.be

• Reconsidering Science Admin
• Scientific Worldview Admin A

Class 5 Interest Readings

• Gilbert, Daniel. (2006) "Journey to Elsewhen." Stumbling on Happiness. pp. 3-29. Link
• Magic. "Reflections on Science, Value, and Loving." Link
• Wikipedia. (2009). "Science." Link
• Wikipedia. (2009). "Scientific Method." Link
• Shermer, Michael. (2006). "Wronger Than Wrong: Not All Wrong Theories are Equal." Link
• Wilson, E.O. (1998). "Scientists, Scholars, Knaves, and Fools." (Argument for Valuescience) Link
• Walker, Marshall. (1963). "A Survival Technique." Nature of Scientific Thought. pp.14-20. Link
• Glantz, Kalman & John K. Pearce. "Overview." Exiles from Eden. pp. 3-11 Link
• Wikipedia. (2009). "Consilience." Link
• Wikipedia. (2009). "Consilience (book)." Link
• 2Think. "Reconstruction in Philosophy by John Dewey." Link
• 2Think. "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge." Link
• Dawkins, Richard. (1996). "Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder." The Edge. Link
• Pinker, Steven. (2002) end of "Silly Putty," "Last Wall to Fall." The Blank Slate. pp. 28-58. Link

• Reconsidering Science Interest Reading Study Guide A

Class 6 - Scientific Worldview: Matter, Energy, Cosmos, Earth, Life

Objectives

• outline in general terms the contents of a scientific worldview with reference to evolution of universe, planet, life, and to basic laws, concepts, and processes by which scientists describe the continuing evolution of these
• describe how you’ve benefitted since the beginning of the 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 might you organize an outline of human knowledge?
• 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 - 1h 50mins

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 first two paragraphs).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 first few paragraphs 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

Class 7 - Science of Mind

Objectives

• Outline in general terms the contents of a scientific worldview with reference to key aspects of how we have evolved, and can continue to evolve self.

Questions

• What are three scientific findings from these readings that you might use to improve the quality of your life?
• How do you define self-justification? What are Totman's main ideas about self-justification?
• How might you make the case that Buddhism can be part of a scientific worldview?
• How do you define psychological defenses? What are three examples?
• How can we use evolutionary biology to understand human courting, mating, and reproductive strategies?

Readings

Class 7 Core Readings

• Totman, Richard. (1985). "Notes." "Translation." "Distillation." These are David's notes on the book, Social and Biological Roles of Language: The Psychology of Justification. Each is more condensed than the prior. "Distillation," which 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. Link

• Wikipedia. "Defense Mechanisms." Read the first few paragraphs and whatever else you find of interest. I like Vaillant's analysis which is outlined down the page. If you click the 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 the connection between language and pathology (e.g., blaming in distortion defense). 2-10pp. 5-20 min. Link

• Gilbert, Daniel. (2006). "If Only Gay Sex Caused Global Warming." Los Angeles Times. 3pp. 5 min. Link.

• Gilbert, Daniel, et. al. (2009). "The Surprising Power of Neighborly Advice." Science. 3pp. 5 min. Link

• Killingsworth, Matthew; Gilbert, Daniel. (2010)."A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind." Science. 1p. 5 min. Link

• Widrich, Leo. (2013). "The Secrets of Body Language: Why You Should Never Cross Your Arms Again." Buffer. 10pp. 5 min. Link

• Hagen, Steve. (1999).
  • "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.

• 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. 1p. 5 min. Link.

• Dunn, Elizabeth, et. al. (2008). "Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness." Science. 2pp. 5 min. Link.

• "The Roseto Effect." 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. 20pp. 5 min. Link.

• Keltner, Dacher. (2010). "The Science of Touch." Greater Good. 5pp. 5 min. Link

• Wikipedia. "Incidence of Monogamy in Humans." 8pp. 10 min. Link

• Fisher, Helen. (1994). "Courting." Anatomy of Love. pp. 19-36. 20 min. Link

• Scientific Worldview Outline

Class 7 Interest Readings

• 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.

Class 8: Science of Mind 2, 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

• 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" 2pp 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 which also illustrates counterproductive medicine.
• Cialdini, Robert B. (1998). "Scarcity." Influence: Science and Practice. pp. 213-221 10 min Link
• Brafman, Ori and Rom. (2008). "The Anatomy of an Accident." Sway: The Irrestible Pull of Irrational Behavior. pp. 10-24 15min Link
• Kahneman, Daniel. (2011). "Don't Blink! The Hazards of Confidence." New York Times. 10pp 10 minLink
• Thaler, Richard H. and Sunstein, Cass R. (2008). "Biases and Blunders." Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. pp. 17-37. 20min Link
• Janus, Irving L. (1971) "Groupthink." Psychology Today. 6pp 10minLink

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

Class 9 - World Modelling: 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 do you deem exponential growth, complexity, ecological footprint, carrying capacity, and overshoot important to world modeling?
• Describe "The Limits to Growth" modeling process, its outputs, the response to it, the accuracy of its outputs, and its import for our times.

Readings

Why Model the World

• "Why Model the World?" Magic Link (5 min)

Systems Thinking

• Wikipedia. "Systems Thinking" Link - description of systems approach with reference to its relatively recent inception. 5pp. (5min).

Exponential Growth

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

Complexity

• Wikipedia. "Complexity, Problem Solving, and Sustainable Societies." Link This entry describes a 1996 paper 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. (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)

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)

Overshoot

• Catton, William. "The Unfathomed Predicament of Mankind." Overshoot. 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)

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

• 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. (20 min)

• Simmons, Matthew. (2000). "Revisiting 'The Limits to Growth': Could the Club of Rome 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)

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 relative rates of matterenergy conversion among people from prehistory to the present, to foresee the shape of 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 energy extraction that you think will be important factors in how much energy is available to you in the future?
• What examples of hazardous environmental conditions becoming exponentially more dangerous can you identify and how do you imagine adapting to these?
• How might you analyze the future of infectious disease with reference to environmental quality, human numbers, and human information and to your own life?

Readings

Population, Scale of Human Presence

• Worldometers.info Link Real time estimates of changes in global, population (births, deaths from various causes), health, spending, etc. (1-5 min)
• "A Graphic Simulation of World Population Growth." Link - (5 min. - start at 2 minutes and go to end)
• Catton, William. (1998). "Malthus: More Relevant than Ever." Link 4pp (10 min)

Climate Volatility

• Bardi, Ugo. (2011). "Peak? What Peak? Green House Emissions Keep Increasing." Resource Crisis. Link - Emissions on track with IPCC worst case projections and may be more of a limit than peak oil. (5 min)
• Magill, Bobby. (2014). "Arctic Methane Emissions 'Certain to Trigger Warming.'" Climate Central. Link - 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. (5 min)

Disease

• Reardon, Sara. (2014). "WHO Warns Against Post-Antibiotic Era." Nature.Link - World Health Organization researchers warn against "post-antibiotic" era in which microbes run amok in absence of effective treatment. (3 min)
• "Emerging Infectious Disease." Wikipedia. Link - Emerging infectious diseases defined using ten factors from CDC. (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)

Invasive Species

• 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)

Biodiversity, Human Appropriation

• 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)
• 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)

EROEI, Energy Slaves

• Read one of the following: Jancovici, Jean-Marc. (2005). "How Much of a Slave Master Am I?"; Manicore. Link; RAP Burruss. (2005). "100-Watt Virtual People." Link; Nikiforuk, Andrew. (2011). "You and Your Slaves." Link (10 min)
• Graph to Understand Peak Oil. Link - (5 min)
• Peak Energy & Resources, Climate Change, and Preservation of Knowledge. "EROEI Downward Spiral" (3 pp) Link - A primer on EROEI, and more importantly a hint about RRORI. (5 min) Source article at: Link

Soil

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

Commodities - food, fiber, fuel, minerals

• Grantham, Jeremy. (2011). "Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices are Over Forever." Link - Investor extraordinaire Jeremy Grantham predicts unending rise in commodity prices. (20 min)

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)
• 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)

Class 10 Interest Readings

• 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)

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

Objectives

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

Questions

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

Readings

Core readings (2h 5min)

Wealth and Income Concentration (34 min)

• 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)

• 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 are misleading. (5 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)

• Rank, Mark. (2013, November 2). "Poverty in America is Mainstream." The New York Times. Link - Rank presents data on poverty that is incompatible with widespread misunderstanding of the phenomenon. (5 min)

• 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. Scroll to graph. (2 min)

• 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. (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. (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. (5 min)

Criminalization, Incarceration, Racism (15 min)

• 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. (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. (5 min)

Militarization/Imperialism (10 min)

• 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)

• 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)

Globalization/Immigration (8 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)

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

Power Concentration and Dispersal (9 min)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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 (10 min)

• 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 (19 min)

• 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 (10 min)

• 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

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

Class 12 - How We Got Here Part 1

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 the dawn of agriculture in a different perspective.

With the cities, property rights, and labor specialization that followed widespread adoption of agriculture we've adopted 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 commanded more energy and with it greater ability to manipulate people and things around them. Continuing into the 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.

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)

• "Swing Riots. Wikipedia. Link - Swing riots in early 19th century England resulted from enclosure, mechanization, burdensome mandatory tithe as 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 the transformation from agrarian to industrial society. (25 min)

Class 13 - How We Got Here Part 2

Objective

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

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 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?

Readings

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.)

We're an Open Society
Bradlee - Why Governments Lie - Link (bitter reflections on Vietnam War). (2pp., 5min)

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. (2pp., 5min) 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.

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 and disadvantaged non-European-Americans with law and policy, and how pervasive the effects of this disadvantage has been. (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. (3pp., 5min).

Class 14 - Historical Perspective - How We Got Here

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• Recount a narrative of the evolution of our current social and economic systems in which you challenge the current dominant narrative.

• Better understand the monetary underpinnings of our system and their key role as a foundation for much of our personal and social existence.

Questions

• How have we in the "1st world" created the "3rd world"?

• How may we view the most recent 10,000 years of human evolution as regress rather than progress?

• What is the "subsistence compromise" and how do we enable or limit its practice today?

• What are some important factors in the "economic revolution" in Europe that Heilbroner describes?

• How might we connect denial of the subsistence compromise, poverty, and "economic development"?

• How do we create money in the US, and what are some consequences of creating it in this way?

Readings

Core Readings (2h 10 min)

• Ponting, Clive. (1993). "Creating the Third World." Green History of the World. pp. 194-224. Link - The "1st world" has been created by simultaneously creating the "3rd world." Understanding this is key to charting a course to a future in which all thrive. (30 min)

• 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. (30 min)

• 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)

• 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 the transformation from agrarian to industrial society. (25 min)

• Wikipedia. "Workhouses." 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)

• 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)

• 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)

Interest Readings

• "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

• Zinn, Howard. (1980). "A People's History of the United States." Link. - A history told from the perspective of those who were unable to buy ink by the barrel and newsprint by the trainload.

Class 15 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• Develop a vision for self and society.

• Shape a plan for realizing that vision.

Questions

• How might we more broadly define addiction, apply that definition to ourselves and to contemporary society, and shed, and contribute to others' shedding addiction?

• How may we embrace responsibility and enjoy freedom by living in a manner increasingly consistent with natural law?

• How may we promote cooperation so that we may more effectively alter individual and collective behaviors to adapt more successfully?

Readings

Core Readings (2h)

Cultivating Big Picture Consciousness

• Magic. "Thoughts on Addiction." Link - Examines history and current status of addiction. Proposes evolutionary approach. Discusses means to shed addiction. 10 min

• Solnit, Rebecca. (2014). “By the Way, Your House Is On Fire.” Nation of Change. Link - Journalist ties 9/11 to climate disruption, noting that survivors of former disregarded authorities’ commands and suggesting that we do so now. 7 min

• Monbiot, George. (2014). "Career Advice." Link 7 min

Read one of the following three articles by Derrick Jensen:

• Jensen, Derrick. (2006). "To Give Our Brightest Deepest Truth." Link - Jensen identifies the illusion of freedom as a central element of consensus trance and calls upon us to seize real freedom by being fully responsible for our and others' well-being and challenging those who threaten it. 7 min

• Jensen, Derrick. (2009). "Forget Shorter Showers." Link 7 min - Jensen calls for collective action to achieve individual change.

• Jensen, Derrick. (2004). "Reading, Writing, Revolution." Orion Magazine. Link - Jensen urges us to look deeply within as we contemplate what to learn and how to use it. 7 min

Becoming as We Intend - Opportunities for Daily Practice

• Mooney, Chris. (2011). "The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science." Link 15 min

• Guise, Stephen. (2014). "How Simple Mini Habits Can Change Your Life." Tiny Buddha. Link - Using small changes to alter big habits.

• 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

• Duhigg, Charles. (2012). "Keystone Habits, or the Ballad of Paul O'Neill." (Chapter 4). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Link - Duhigg makes a case that some habits are so central to our lives that by altering them we can make much other change more readily. 20 min

• Smith, Emily Esfahani. (2014). "Masters of Love." The Atlantic. Link - Observations about those who sustain and those who destroy intimate partnerships with others. Kindness rules. 10 min

• Feloni, Richard. (2014). "14 Habits of Exceptionally Likeable People." Business Insider. Link - Summarizes chapter from work of Napoleon Hill. We include this in readings as a sample of the enormous body of valuescience available as we contemplate attaining satisfaction at every level of Maslow's hierarchy. 5 min

• Barker, Eric. (2014). "6 Subtle Things Highly Productive People Do Every Day." Business Insider. Link. 5 min - how to do what you want

Actions for Social Change

• 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

• 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. 7 min

Roots of Cooperation vs. Competition

• 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

Class 16 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• List a handful of ideas underpinning corporate organization and proposals for changing them.
• Make arguments for and against guaranteed income.
• Give a few examples of alternatives to current practices related to money and finance.

Questions

• How might we act to reform money, banking, and corporate structure?
• How might we more fully share risks and rewards of living resulting from accident of birth?

Readings

Core readings

• Kelly, Marjorie. (2001). Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy. Summary available here at Alchemy of Change: Link - In this 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 propose radical reforms. I predict that the ideas she sets forth here will become common currency over the next several decades. 30 min

• 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

• Tribe.net. (2007, April 8). "An Experiment in Worgl." Tribe.net. Link - How a small German town issued its own currency during the Great Depression and flourished as others floundered. 15 min

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

Class 17 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• Describe ways to lessen adverse human impact on the biosphere.
• Give examples of how others have, and we can consciously evolve self and society.
• Discuss meaning and purpose, how we generate them, and their role in living and dying well.

Questions

• How have authors or subjects of readings for this class meeting reduced their own ecological footprints or advocated that we do so?
• What are some techniques for personal and social change described in the readings for this class meeting that you consider promising?
• Which of the ideas about meaning and purpose included in today's readings do you currently use or might you use to benefit you and others?

Readings

Core Readings (2h)

Fewer People/Less Matterenergy Throughput - Choose Any Three From This Section

• 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
• 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

Finding Meaning and Purpose - Choose Any Three From This Section

• 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
• 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
• 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

Strengthening Willpower/Developing Desired Habits

• 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

Social Change/Effective Communication

• Caballero, Maria. (2004, March 11.) "Academic Turns City into Social Experiment." Harvard Gazette. Link. An example of peaceful, positive social change. 15 min
• 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

Interest Readings

• 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
• 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

Class 18 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• State 3 attitudes conducive to living and dying well
• Discuss existing & proposed ways people are reshaping work and religion
• Give examples of impediments & means to realizing a valuescience based society

Questions

• Why meditate?
• How might we apply valuescience to make both earning a livelihood and religing consilient paths to fulfillment at all levels of Maslow's hierarchy?
• How can you overcome & assist others in overcoming internal and external impediments to seeing self and world more clearly and acting to further common good?

Readings

Core Readings

Cultivating Peace Within (35 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.

• 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

• 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

Living with Meaning and Purpose (25 min)

• Goldberg, Carey. (1995). "Choosing the Joys of a Simplified Life." Los Angeles Times. Link - Introduction to voluntary simplicity. 5 min

• Wikipedia. "Genuine Progress Indicator." Link, "Happy Planet Index." Link - Alternative Economic Indicators (skim these to grasp basic idea). 5 min

• 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

Impediments/Means to Seeing Self & World More Clearly and Acting to Further Common Good (60 min)

• 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 change. 10 min

• 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. 5 min

• 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

• 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. 10 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

• 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

Interest Readings

• Brown, Brené. TED. Link- Brene Brown on the power of vulnerability. (20 min)

Class 19 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• Give examples of alternative currencies with distinguishing characteristics of each and the social and geographic contexts in which people use them.

• Describe a few mechanisms by which we obstruct our ability to collectively imagine and realize economic change.

• Describe a few practices by which we can alter habit to be more effective in securing present and future satisfaction.

Questions

• What effects do you foresee if we make local currencies a medium for a substantial fraction of transactions?
• How does the principle of least effort apply to the readings about 30-second habits, working smarter, and 3 tiny habits?

Readings

Alternatives to current economic practices (65 min)

• 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

• 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. 5 min

• 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. 15 min

• 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

• 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

• "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 - ?

• 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

Action for social change (30 min)

• "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.)

• Speth, Gus. "Change Everything Now." Orion, September/October 2008. Link - Dean of Yale School of Forestry calls for mass political action to fundamentally restructure corporations and society. 10 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

• 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

• "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

Cultivating “big picture” consciousness (25 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

• 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

• 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

Becoming as we intend - opportunities for daily practice (20 min)

• 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

Interest Readings

• 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

• 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 they 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)).[15

• 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- More from the same person, on Fiction as Resistance and the meaning of taking a stand for empathy and love. NOTE: He's a psychiatrist fascinated with how people change.

• Orion. "Change Everything Now." Link- More essays from contributors to Orion about roots of current predicament and ways out of it.

• "Not an Alternative." Link - Gutsy artists communicate radicalism in ways from which we may draw inspiration. (see also: Link)

• 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.

• 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

Class 20 - Evolving Self, Evolving Society

THIS IS THE CLASS PLAN AS OF FALL 2014. WILL BE CHANGED FOR SPRING 2015

Objectives

• Describe a few proposals for dying better than we do today.
• Make a case for valuescience-based philanthropy.

Questions

• What are some ways you might become more comfortable with dying?
• How might we apply valuescience to further common good?
• What are some ways you might change to become more as you intend?

Readings

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. 5 min.

• 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 brian cancer committed suicide and made a statement for right to death with dignity. 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 the 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 the AMA had earlier given Ezekial for medical ethics. 20 min.

Effective Philanthropy

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Becoming As We Intend

• 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.

Blunt Words About Sensitive Topics

• 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.

• 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.