Society As Platform — A New Frontier in Complexity Science
Our evolved history as a species has not prepared us for what is happening now. It is time to start seeing culture as a complex system that evolves according to Darwinian principles.
Society featured
‘Télescope’, A Café without Smartphones: “They’re Filling our Lives with Emptiness”
I recently put out a call looking for places, events or venues that are creating wifi-free spaces, places where people can intentionally get away from smartphones and the distraction they bring into our lives, some time to cultivate the attention.
The Climate is Changing; Colleges and Universities must Adapt
Like every other institution in our society, colleges and universities are affected by the changing climate. They face new threats to campus infrastructure, and to the safety of students, faculty and staff. But while colleges and universities grapple with these problems, they can also be part of the solution.
Feeling Resilient in Tumultuous Times
Without emotional resilience, people will not survive. Not only do we need to ‘think through’ this process of breakdown, we need to feel our way through it. In fact, our proclivity for thinking first and perhaps allowing a bit of emotional expression later on is a pattern that has helped get us into this dire predicament.
The Midterms Show the Way to Victory is Through Vision, not Reactivity
The midterm election brings activists both good news and bad news, but one thing is certain: Reactivity lost. Focusing on the terribleness of Trump did not win the day.
The ‘New’ Climate Politics of Extinction Rebellion?
So what, if anything, sets the ‘extinction rebellion’ apart from previous campaigns? There are at least three ways in which XR occupies a remarkable position in this context, relating to its framing of the problem, its understanding of who has the responsibility for taking action to deal with it, and its strategic call for making those responsible act.
A Rebellious Hope
While this new rural economy is coming to life, its success is uncertain. It will likely be an uneven, difficult, and slow transition if there’s a transition at all. It will take people of uncommon vision, commitment and patience to make it happen.
A Renaissance of Localism
People are at last beginning to pay attention to localism. The idea behind the term is old—ancient even—but it appears to be “having a moment,” so to speak, in this fractured and divisive era.
The Sun: A Mystery (Excerpt)
A murdered ranch employee. A vanished suspect. A stolen rodeo horse. A black helicopter. Angry environmentalists. Menacing oil-and-gas developers. A Sasquatch hunter gone astray. A mysterious billionaire. A missing can opener…
Kali Akuno on Imagination and “The Ways We Can and Must Resist”
As one of the co-founders and now Executive Director of the non-profit division of Cooperation Jackson, Kali Akuno is working to transform the city into ‘a beacon of radical politics’.
Why I’m Rebelling against Extinction (wait, should that really need explaining..?)
Maybe there’s seemed to be a disconnect between the message we’ve been bringing – that this society is knowingly causing the harshest catastrophe in history – and the actions we’ve been taking? Maybe if the wider public see that hundreds feel the need to go to jail over this, they might start to seriously ask why? With these stakes, it’s worth a shot.
Jacques Ellul: A Prophet for Our Tech-Saturated Times
By now you have probably read about the so-called “tech backlash.” Facebook and other social media have undermined what’s left of the illusion of democracy, while smartphones damage young brains and erode the nature of discourse in the family. Meanwhile computers and other gadgets have diminished our attention spans along with our ever-failing connection to reality. The … Read more
