Hell Hath No Fury Like a Primate Scorned

© Gary Larson (1985)

Fieldnotes refer to qualitative notes recorded by scientists or researchers while conducting research “out there” in the field, during or after their observation of a specific organism and its activities, or any other phenomenon they are studying. Such notes are intended to be aids to memory and as documentary evidence that supports the understandings researchers come up with about the object of their study.

I have written informally in my journal and more formally in ethnographic fieldnotes for decades. After completing my anthropological training in the 1970s, I thereafter regarded everyday living among my fellow humans as an opportunity to learn something about being human, and to learn something about how to be a better human myself.

Writing in a journal and recording fieldnotes helps me remember and aids my ability to study and benefit from my professional and personal experiences. I hope to benefit or gain something from doing this in terms of cultivating and becoming more consistent in displaying personal virtue, and in terms of understanding human thinking and behavior.

I sometimes fail in terms of behaving virtuously and misunderstand the ideas and actions of my fellows. Nevertheless, I think my anthropological understandings would have been far less accurate and the development of my personal virtues more stunted had I not recorded and reflected on my experiences in writing.

The ancient Stoics tell us there are some things in life that are within our control - our granting or not granting assent to emotions as they arise in us; and our ability to choose to use or not use deliberative reasoning in response to our emotional states as they ebb and flow in various modes and shades of intensity. Our emotions arise constantly during our life experiences. Our reasoned responses to them over which we have control can sometimes become beyond our control. That is, we can fail to exercise reason in responding to arising emotions and surrender behaviorally, partially or totally, to the emotion of the moment – happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, anger, contempt, passion, pride, shame, guilt, embarrassment, or excitement.

In the above comic, Gary Larson shows what might lie in store for an anthropologist, in this case a primatologist, who underestimates the literacy and symbolic understandings gorillas have of humans, and who fails to protect from prying eyes the reasoned evidence and subjective impressions dutifully entered in her fieldnotes.

One must wonder if the gorillas depicted practiced Stoicism in some rudimentary form, and if they did how consistent they were in this instance in responding reasonably to their emotions of surprise and anger. After all, they had graciously allowed the anthropologist to live peacefully within their midst for months only to have her abuse one of their own in her fieldnotes.

Hmm, let’s see, where did I store my old fieldnotes and journals….

You, Me and the Truth Industry Against Modernity

 The Rise of the Truth Industry

Jem Bartholomew

June 28, 2021

New Humanist

The article linked above says much about the modern times we live in. The estrangement we feel from our fellows. The degree to which we are manipulated by others through mass media over which we have little to no control.

The writer makes a distinction between disinformation and misinformation. Disinformation is media content that is deliberately false. Misinformation is content that is accidentally false.

The truth industry is an information ecosystem that emerged in the 21st Century to combat disinformation and misinformation on social media. Fact-checking began in print media newsrooms in the early 20^th Century. Fact-checkers now also include independent, post-media dis-/misinformation exposure efforts that began in the 2000s.

Culled from the article, here is a sample of things dis-/misinformation independent fact-checkers are trying to do:

• document, expose and combat mis- and disinformation;
• fight fake news (computational propaganda); tear down echo chambers and fact-check misinformation;
• fill the [media information oversight] holes left by inadequate government restrictions and tech platforms’ lack of action;
• verify politicians' claims; fact-check political statements; online verification and debunking;
• search for harmful, widely spread, and public figure megaphoned dis-/misinformation in newspapers, drivetime radio, news sites, TV talk shows;
• reinsert shades of grey into information people have presented as black and white;
• persuade misinformed people; discourage elites from repeating falsehoods; drive up standards in journalism;
• present a reputational cost for sexing up dodgy data or spinning the truth;
• shore up faith in public institutional sources of knowledge;
• help glue back together society’s fractured sense of a shared epistemology;
• look at more than untruths; factual but emotive content or partisan narratives are just as powerful when the aim is to change behaviour; truth can definitely be used and warped slightly to suit particular actors’ goals;
• enhance civic discourse;
• create maps of the structural relationships between social media actors;
• drive up media accountability and transparency and spot repeat spreaders of mis-/disinformation;
• look for threats to business models;
• pre-bunk disinformation before it goes viral; work not just when there’s a fire; strive to prevent these fires from occurring; douse the rising flames;
• once a threat is identified, encourage the mustering of political will – from governments and platforms – to tackle it;
• react against the lack of thought about the potential misuse of the information media tools tech companies build and compound by a desire to scale up as quickly as possible;
• address the symptoms and causes of the inability of social media companies to get a grip on misinformation on their platforms, and the unwillingness of governments to regulate them;
• repair the media environment that social media broke.

It is easy to argue that these efforts are commendable. I think they are noble pursuits in the sense that truth and trust have been fundamental to being human for the greatest portion of Homo sapiens' 300,000 year existence. Have we lied, cheated, and betrayed each other since the beginning? Yes, of course. But the reset position is always a return to the pursuit of truth regarding our physical and social environments, and the building of trust among our fellows, within and between groups.

But something very bad happened to (was done to?) truth and trust at some point in our species' cultural evolution. Something that would eventually contribute to the emergence of social and ecological conditions that would threaten all of humankind and the life-supporting capacity of Earth. When did this change begin?

"Calm Down, Liberal Progressives!" - Are Critics Suffering From Too Much Steak, French Wine, and Quiche?

Peggy Noonan with President Ronald Reagan 

Bill Maher Diagnoses Liberal 'Progressophobia'

Peggy Noonan

June 21, 2021

Bill Maher

I don't share Maher's view presented in Peggy Noonan's piece linked above. That being that ultra liberal progressives are "deeply destructive" as Noonan puts it. They are a nuisance but can only be understood comparatively within the raucous din that is US society.

With the exception of Antifa, liberal progressives are not prone to preemptive violence, gerrymandering, voter suppression, denying that institutional racism exists, and attending rallies bearing Nazi and white supremacist insignia and chanting "you will not replace us". Preserving white privilege and dominance is not on the liberal progressive agenda.

For the most part, ultra liberal progressives can be ignored and out-muscled/out-maneuvered by the Democratic party mainstream. Consider the approaches to governance taken Pelosi and Biden. There is nothing, nothing, on the Right side of the aisle that compares. Look at who the FBI is investigating - white supremacist groups, not the Green New Deal contingent or Black Caucus in Congress. Give me Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over Ted Cruz any, any day! She cares for and acts in the interests of the greatest good for the greatest number. Cruz is an self-serving ideologue who found nothing wrong with the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

As for "progressophobia", surely we can tolerate the liberal progressive's whining that the glass of sociocultural change is half empty. I can abide that far more than I can "Racism? Get over it! We've had the Civil Rights Movement! Stop complaining, we've made progress! Be content with that!"

Maher says "seeing clearly is necessary for actually fixing problems." I agree. But the error of exaggeration liberal progressives make pales in comparison to the anger, hatred, and outrage served up hourly on Fox News and happily consumed by millions of white Americans. We are not blinded by liberal progressive exuberance. It is the disinformation and outright lies of the Right that obscures and delays our way forward in improving US society.

Achieving the Enlightenment project's goals is only furthered by hammering away at obstacles standing in the way. Not laying down the hammer and patting ourselves on the back for the progress we have made. I am willing to grant that more acknowledgement of the progress that has been made may be needed by some on the Left. But in my experience, I have not once heard a liberal progressive leader give a major speech or address the public where s/he did not open by acknowledging that some progress had been made.

Where are the Black Americans asking everyone to calm down, take measure of and show appreciation for the progress we have made? 

I like most of Maher's stuff but I am more and more thinking he is first and foremost a poser, a self-preener who in this case isn't helping the liberal cause. When the lights and cameras are turned off, and Maher's alone with no one laughing at his witticisms and sarcasm, he still ain't Black in America. If/when the shit hits the fan and the US slides into a conservative white-dominated theocracy, we'll see if Maher is still smirking and calling on liberal progressives to reign in their enthusiasm.

I think Noonan, in this piece, suffers from false equivalence:

"Americans are always trying to figure out a way to broaden the number of available lanes to happiness. You can’t do that by mere divisiveness (persons of other colors are bad) or unrelieved bitterness (nothing ever changes)."

The acts of divisiveness and bitterness by the Left are sandbox antics compared to what happened at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA and in DC on January 6, 2021. Give me a horsey, loud progressive over a retrograde conservative any day. The times continue to be a changin'. As humankind adapts and tries new things, a good conservatism is necessary but that lot currently in the US House and Senate and the gaggle in the US population enthralled by Trump ain't it.  

The "transformation and improvement" Noonan refers to in closing her essay never, ever came in the sociocultural evolution of the US without a heaping measure of loud, persistent protest, civil disobedience, and sometimes nasty fights.

Moving the white, Christian US mainstream toward a more pluralistic, inclusive frame of mind has never been a calm, deliberative, incremental, check for progress as we go, process. Changing course on the Titanic did not need a slowed down, deliberative consideration of and appreciation for how nice the cruise had been so far. MLK would not have been nearly as effective in moving the thinking of Americans had it not been for the threats of violence made by Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and other militants. Republican president Theodore Roosevelt himself said "walk softly but carry a big stick." Most times little change comes about in societies without some stomping and, when necessary, some stick.

Noonan praises "quiet conversions" and "quiet revivals." Hrmph. Me thinks she has become too accustomed to steak, French wine, and quiche. Maher, too.

Counterculture, Part II: Counterculture Futures Revisited - An Owl & Ibis Presentation By Jim Lassiter

Sincere thanks to those who attended my June 27, 2021 Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds Zoom presentation, and for your participation in the far-ranging discussion that followed. The following are links to the slideshow.

MS PowerPoint (contains music, videos, and slide animations):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AZGFOsPxgmqtzdanWQ_lYHbBv-n-poPz/view?usp=sharing

NOTE: The slideshow works best using MS PowerPoint. See the attached narration, Slides 12 & 13, for when to click on the video images to start them. All other transitions in the slideshow are automated and need not be clicked.

PDF:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JrQvbXhFvF2PAWZMOjxxMLXVoOQerX0S/view?usp=sharing

Narration:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tiFpbVfmyAdK5Nn92OVYlOMOeedLu8ii/view?usp=sharing

Jim

}:> & ~:)

The Role Of Science in Democracies - Should All Truths Be Equally Considered?

Photo: The Hedgehog Review

Scientific Authority and the Democratic Narrative

Jason Blakely

Fall 2020

The Hedgehog Review

The essay above has some merit but I think some of its claims go a bit far. The statement "the various voices that advance various [moral] goods must be given a fair hearing" is one.

Another is "When it comes to the stories informing public policy in a democracy, scientists and nonscientists, experts and laypeople, must be on equal footing.

Batshittery, TV punditry, conspiracy theories, disinformation, intelligent design, theology, medical quackery must all stand on an equal footing with science, reason, and humaneness as learned from history, anthropology, and philosophy in forging the way forward in a democracy?

I think this is a large part of the reason humankind is in the paralyzing dilemma, confusion, and peril it is presently in. The widespread public misinterpretation of cultural relativity and false equivalence are being used by the wealthy and powerful to sow confusion via various media; and in our state of confusion the purveyors of such succeed in commandeering the leadership of society. This is the real power grab that is bringing modernity and the Enlightenment project to an end, not an overreach of science.  The political scientist author of this essay is lending a hand in this degenerative cultural evolution.

They say the best defense is a good offense. Sometimes. These days a good offense is one that confuses you with contradictions and disinformation and has you paralyzed from arguing with yourself and others. In this catatonic state people are more easily controlled and led.

This goes to something I try to address in my book in progress and in my upcoming Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds presentation on Counterculture, Part II - Counterculture Futures Revisited. That being the problem of trying to fix our problems by relying mostly on science, technology, politics, and economics. And the problem of making a better future being impossible without some measures (values) for deciding on what we as living beings want to become other than what we are now, and how we should best treat each other on our way there. More dog-eat-dog, übernationalist, capitalism won't lead us out of our mess.

Some new and improved human relational "oughts" and "shoulds" are needed to guide our science, politics, economics going forward. Debate, engagement, democracy, empathy, pluralism (tolerance) are not enough. Politics, governance, the economy, technology are means, not ends. But they all are hollow and without power if not animated by something cultural. Moral philosophy and social science need to finally up their game; that is, suit up and enter the culture content playing field. In the Ethnosphere there are many "goods" (beliefs, values, practices) we have learned from experience. Again, the so-called "goods" dog-eat-dog, übernationalist libertarian capitalism are not among them. We have proven that these "goods" are ethnocidal and geocidal despite the material progress they have brought humankind. One line in my upcoming O&I presentation describes the problem many in the US do not want to acknowledge: Those who control culture and counterculture, control society. 

The is/ought debate? Out, out damned Hume! Yes, science has a role to play in establishing broad cultural values where members of all societies can find common ground for creating a better future for all. In fact, science may be our only hope of finding solutions amid the din of value confusion, competing ideologies and ideas, and escaping from the determining clutches of the wealthy and powerful. See here.

The future depends on the cultures we create - the ideas, beliefs, values, and ways of behaving we craft now to animate, to humanize our future politics, economics, technology, and social institutions and functions. Leaving the cultural content of the future we envision to the powerful and wealthy, economists, political scientists, theologians, and journalists has led to where we are today - rapidly approaching an economic, ecological dead end.

Pius Health Clinic In Uganda Needs Your Help

 

My wife Immy Rose and I are happy to announce that Pius Health Clinic Uganda Charity, Ltd. was recently approved for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status by the US Internal Revenue Service!

PHCUC is a public charity we started to help support Pius Health Clinic, a not-for-profit health clinic in rural eastern Uganda.

We invite you to join us in financially supporting this charitable effort to bring not-for-profit medical care and health maintenance services to people who have the greatest need.

Pius Health Clinic began fully operating on January 1, 2021. Here is a link to the clinic's website where you can find pictures and a description of the clinic and how we got it up and running:

Pius Health Clinic

If you have the MS PowerPoint app, you can view a brief narrated slide presentation about the clinic that includes a short video here:

Pius Health Clinic Slideshow

Immy Rose and I are the sole administrators of the charity and operate it out of our home. We therefore are the only volunteer staff and have no overhead. This means 100% of your charitable contributions will go directly to supporting the clinic. We provide a quarterly clinic budget and medical operations report and an annual report to all contributors.

Immy Rose and I have so far provided the clinic staff salaries out of our personal finances. So far, contributions for purchasing medicines and supplies for the clinic have come from a few caring, generous friends. Each contribution has ranged from $20-$50 per month or from $200-$500 per year.

Any amount you are able to give will be appreciated and make a big difference in people's lives whose health care needs are greatest.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

All charitable contribution payments should be made using the world’s most secure online fundraising platform, GoFundMe. Click on this link:

Pius Health Clinic Uganda Charity, Ltd.

GoFundMe accepts most major credit cards – Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover.

We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the clinic or the charity that supports it.

Become a member of Pius Health Clinic Team by making a financial contribution today!

Thank you!

Jim & Immy Rose Namutosi Lassiter
Administrators
Pius Health Clinic Uganda Charity, Ltd.

Counterculture, Part I: Past, Present and Future - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Jim Lassiter

 

My sincere thanks to those who attended the May 29, 2021 Zoom meeting of Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds. For those who were unable to attend, the following links are provided:

Counterculture Part I Narration

Counterculture Part I Slideshow

Counterculture Part I PDF

Here are excerpts from my the narration of my presentation:

Wikipedia defines counterculture as a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society; sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores. Counterculture has the potential to trigger dramatic cultural changes.

Many equate counterculture with social activism, especially the pursuit of greater individualism and less authoritarianism based on a belief in the possibility of personal and social transformation. This is part of what the notion of counterculture represents and what counterculture can lead to. But counterculture is deeper and more fundamental in human nature.  It is a tradition of breaking with culture, a tradition that predates and initiates all other traditions. It is inseparable from culture.

Today I want to take an anthropological, cultural evolutionary approach to help understand counterculture. That is, look at counterculture as a part of culture itself, a driving force that has led to social and cultural change, good and bad but mostly good, throughout human evolution. I also want us to consider counterculture comparatively. To look at counterculture in different social and cultural settings in order to better understand the full range of how it works and how it sometimes fails.

Returning to Dylan’s song [The Times Are A Changin' in the title slide], what did he mean by the times were changing? The German word zeitgeist captures the meaning well.  It refers to the defining spirit or mood of a particular period in history  as revealed by the ideas and beliefs of that time.  Specific ideas and beliefs are the essential elements of culture – the agreed to, malleable, and shared ideas, beliefs, values, and ways of behaving of human individuals living in groups.

But within each society, there have always been outliers. Individuals with ideas and behaviors that did not line up with the popular thinking of the dominant culture of their times. The doubters. The outright deviants. Those who objected to the status quo. Many dared to voice their alternative ideas. More brazenly, there have been some who took action to change the ideas and actions of others, including the majority, to comply with what they thought was a better way of thinking and behaving.  In doing so such intrepid freethinkers, those quirky deviants, coalesced, shared their ideas with others, and together formed countercultures. Counterculture doubters and objectors still exist today.

One of the questions I try to answer in this presentation is:  Will counterculture survive the current populist, nativist push for authoritarian governance around the world, even within traditionally democratic societies?

...

What follows is my point of argumentation.

Counterculture is presently under a severe and determined attack in the US and globally. It is threatened by a multi-method, multi-front assault from nativist populism, authoritarian politicians, fundamentalist religion, and consumer products and convenience technology placation around the world.

Important aspects of the dystopian societies described in the works of Huxley, Orwell, and Atwood are rapidly becoming reality in the US and elsewhere. In addition to what goes on in Russia, China, Turkey, the Philippines, North Korea, and Uganda consider the growing authoritarianism and nativist populism in Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, India, Brazil, and in many other countries around the world.

The humane ideas within what many call the Enlightenment project that provided the foundational rationale for most countercultural movements in the West are now under evermore brutal attack. Counterculture in the West began in 17^th Century Europe with the Levellers. It was also central to the movements that came after: Bohemianism, the Non-Conformists, the Beat Generation, and the hippies and punks.

In the 21^st Century ultra-conservative and nativist populist backlash attacks have forced counterculture to become a multi-front defensive action, a struggle for counterculture’s existence and the survival of efforts to achieve the more humanistic of the Enlightenment ideals. Counterculture is now an effort to preserve and strengthen the possibility of a humane, democratic, progressive type of society; and, hopefully, by extension, a more democratic, pluralistic, and cosmopolitan global civilization.

There are likely to be dark times in the future of the US and the rest of humankind caused by forces leading the attack against counterculture.

My assumptions or premises:

1.         Counterculture is a necessary part of culture.

2.         It is in our human nature to safeguard and ensure individual freedom and egalitarian democratic socialist group governance.

3.         This is our best way for being and remaining human and humane.

4.         Counterculture can be appropriated for harming true countercultures.

5.         Counterculture can be suppressed but never eliminated within human groups.

6.         Those who control culture and counterculture, control society.

Here is my conclusion based on my foregoing assumptions or premises:

Countercultural movements are under increasingly brutal attack. For your personal wellbeing and that of humankind and Earth defend, join, and/or support countercultures if you value individual freedom, equality, and dignity.

"I just don't know who to call out anymore"

"I just don’t know who to call out anymore"

Jim Lassiter

May 13, 2021

The lament of the hunter-gatherer now inside the walls
Of the first city-state of Mesopotamia.
The face-to-face accountability of his former life
As a nomadic band member
Now only a mythic memory.

Personal accountability was now mediated
By the written laws and money
Invented and controlled by the elite.

He was now civilized but something primal
In his humanness had died.
His now lonely soul subconsciously stretched
Toward Bethlehem awaiting deliverance
And a return to fraternité.

But true salvation and restoration of his humanity
In the arms of his Abrahamic brothers and sisters
In their love of their one true God,
Never came.

After Rome, darkness fell.
But comfort did not come in the Renaissance,
Nor during the well-intentioned Age of Reason.

Mammon Modernity was the coup de grâce
Atop a slowly steaming mountain
Of consumer trash.

Now in the Information Age we are him.
Rootless, powerless in the gyre
Awaiting the next rough beast.

And darkness will fall again
And the tide shine blood red, again.

Our science, tools powerless,
The God mute.

From the toxic stench of global collapse
We will stagger forth and remember Buber.

And turn to our comrade,
Extend an open hand and once more,
As we did millennia ago within the dusty, sweaty band,
Softly ask: “We?”

Confronting Authoritarians at Home and Globally

 

How To Fight Authoritarianism

Wesley K. Clark

April/May/June 2021

Washington Monthly

The approach in the above article is good for the international aspects of authoritarianism. But the greatest threat is from homegrown authoritarians, here and abroad. 

Consumer capitalism’s affordable products and the patriotic drumbeats of our politicians touting nationalism have fueled our aggressive potential such that we can now only think nationally/tribally/racially.

We in the US and the rest of the West are blinded from our better humanitarian brotherly/sisterly nature by shiny stuff and the myths of social Darwinism and human and white exceptionalism.

We want our consumer comforts and privileges now and forever, and will fight and vote in authoritarians to help keep them. Freedom to remain within the comfort of our relative plenty is all that matters. Equality and brother-sisterhood, at home and overseas, are nowhere near as important to us. 

It will take much more than a treaty with the EU and UK to fix this illness that has now overtaken all of humankind. There may not be a reasoned persuasion cure. 

This disease may have to just run its course. That is, until the masses of the world achieve some level of middle class prosperity. A comfort level where the possibility of a better more humane way of being human emerges in their minds and hearts. A more reasonable, practical, and compassionate worldview that replaces the current dog-eat-dog capitalism, nationalism, tribalism, and racism mantra.

After all, it was not until middle class America reached a certain level of prosperity between 1942 and 1972 that we in the US would tolerate and listen to the Civil Rights and hippie movements‘ arguments for a more humane eco-friendly way of living. The persistence of Martin Luther King and warnings of Malcom X helped a lot. Even after that nearly half the people in the US still remain unpersuaded.

The beliefs and values in hearts and minds are hard to change. To reform them toward alignment with the moral arc of the universe toward justice is difficult. It takes reasoning humanistic leadership, hard work, persistence, and sometimes a fight. And time and some luck.

"Recent US Immigration Policy Changes" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Gregory Smith

Kudos to Gregory Smith on his outstanding Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds presentation on April 24, 2021 on recent US immigration policy changes from Trump to Biden and their implications!

A PDF copy of Greg's slideshow, "Origins & Impacts of Trump Administration Immigration Policy Changes, Initial Biden Administration Responses and the Rocky Road Ahead on the Southern Border and Beyond" may be viewed here. A writeup of Greg's accompanying narrative is here.

In his most informative talk Greg covered recent changes in immigration law, policy, and procedures and their impact on admissions, interpretations of the four protected grounds of asylum and refugee adjudications, detention and removal, the migration crisis at the US-Mexico border, and factors affecting migration in the Western hemisphere and beyond and what might be done about them.

The discussion that followed, also moderated by Greg, was excellent.

Thank you, Greg! Well done!

}:> & ~:)

"Politics and Knowledge in the Nihilistic Days of 1920 and 2020" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Richard Moore

 

Kudos and many thanks to Richard Moore for his Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds presentation, "Politics and Knowledge in the Nihilistic Days of 1920 and 2020!"

A link to the PDF of Richard's Saturday, March 27, 2021 slideshow can be downloaded here.

Here is Richard's presentation hypothesis:

Since before and after the written word, Sapiens have repeatedly found themselves in Threatening Times and have reached back to their Elders for guidance. The options chosen by the Elders have been Finite for each of their pending Disasters and may be a helpful guide for each Future Generation.

Following his introductory slideshow, Richard aired a portion of the video of UC Berkeley political theory professor Wendy Brown's lecture, Politics and Knowledge in Nihilistic Times: Thinking with Max Weber - "Knowledge." This lecture may be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXm_0DxoS_k&t=3858s

Key within Brown's lecture was her view of the role of education and the use of knowledge. Brown thinks individual students and society at large are best served when students are influenced by answers to and discussions centered on the following questions:

1. What am I living for? Why am I here today?

2. What kind of world do I want to live in?

3. How should or could humans order our common arrangements and our relationships with the nonhuman world at this juncture in world history?

Richard’s presentation and the discussion that followed established yet another landmark within O&I.

I say this in the sense that it succeeded in having the Confluence henceforth consider nihilism, a complex subject to say the least, in a more comprehensible and useful manner. That is, in the context of knowledge and politics (power), not philosophy.

Hereafter I think everyone who attended will better understand nihilism, if/when they ever come across the term again. Not as an arcane philosophy, rather as a contested matter. A contest over the importance and usefulness of knowledge and values fought in the breach between politicians and the wealthy on the one hand who want to quantify values and control resources including people; and on the other, by individuals who wish to deeply consider and construct values for guiding their personal lives and for living well among their fellows, and within the rest of Earth’s ecosystem.

The latter, personal emphasis on values is an exercise of freedom, a dwindling freedom left to us in the modern world of techno-commercial control. Many think this individual freedom regarding the progressive, humane use of values may be our only hope for retaining any of our humaneness following modernity's inevitable collapse, and the anarchy, democratic socialism, or tyranny that become our options.

Great job, Richard!

}:> & ~:)

The Evolution of Governance

Somebody is lying as to what is really in President Biden’s COVID stimulus plan legislation, the New York Times:

“A Look at What’s in Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Plan”

New York Times, January 14, 2021.

Want to get beyond the media gatekeepers? Read the 591-page bill yourself, here. The list of the bill’s contents alone runs for nine, small print, single-space pages. Here is a sample of the text from page 10 and 11. The rest of the bill is just as crystal clear to the average US voter as this excerpt.

(5) to make payments for necessary expenses

related to losses of crops (including losses due to

high winds or derechos) pursuant to title I of the

Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster

Relief Act, 2019 (Public Law 116–20), as amended

by section 116 of the Continuing Appropriations

Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–59) and as further

Amended by subsection (c) of section 791 of the

Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020

(Public Law 116–94) for crop losses in crop year

2020.

Forget all the previous legislation referred to in this excerpt. One can find and study up on that. But what exactly are “expenses,” “derechos,” and “losses?” Who defines expenses and losses, sets their thresholds, and pegs dollar amounts to them? On what basis? I know what a derecho is but nothing about agricultural losses and expenses. I guess the US Department of Agriculture is left to figure that out.

Or you can do the research. Coincidentally, a friend of mine yesterday sought and read multiple website articles on the bill and came up with the following list outlining the contents of the legislation in basic vocabulary. My friend is not typical of the average American voter in terms of education and research skills. He’s an engineer. It took him about an hour to research and put this table together. American voters, most of whom are less highly educated and have less skills in researching, would likely take much longer assuming they had the will and interest to do. Most don’t.

                

Maybe it is my Republican Congressman Drew Ferguson here in Georgia, USA who is lying.

"Batshit Crazy: Is There a Solution to Mass Delusion?" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Pam Dewey

 

Kudos to Pam Dewey on her outstanding presentation, “Batshit Crazy – Is There a Solution to Mass Delusion?” at the February 27, 2021 meeting of Owl & Ibis – A Confluence of Minds. Here is Pam’s description of her presentation containing an Internet link to the video.

There are several Mass Delusions currently affecting large segments of the US population:

Large numbers of followers of the QAnon "complex" of multiple conspiracy theories are convinced that vast numbers of celebrities like Tom Hanks and politicians such as Hillary Clinton are part of a secret cabal that rapes babies and children, sacrifices their bodies to Satan, and drinks their blood. 

 

A large segment of Evangelical Christians are convinced that God Himself placed Donald Trump in the presidency in 2016, as almost a Messianic figure who would not only "Make America Great Again," but would "Make America Christian Again." 

A large proportion of those people along with others are also convinced that the 2020 election was stolen by a massive effort by Democrats to falsify election results, and that Donald Trump was actually elected by a majority of millions of voters. 

 

Many are also convinced that Trump has a secret plan to use the US military to take back the presidency in the near future.    All these delusional speculations are wreaking havoc on American society, destroying relationships among families and friends, led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, and are ultimately threatening the whole institution of democracy in America.

This video, originally designed as an introduction to a group discussion session, explores the question ... is there a solution to mass delusions such as those inflicting America now?  The first section provides a brief overview of the history of mass delusions, past and present. The second section introduces the social/psychological phenomenon of "Cognitive Dissonance" as a factor in understanding mass delusions. And the final section examines the origin and progress of a recent incident of American mass delusion to see how it may help explain certain aspects of the current mass delusions running amok in American society. https://youtu.be/hKXcikNqQTw - Pam Dewey 

Great job, Pam! Thank you!

"May You Live in Interesting Times" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by John Cruickshank

Congratulations and kudos to John Cruickshank on his January 30, 2021 Owl & Ibis presentation, "May You Live in Interesting Times!" Here is a link to a PDF of John's presentation:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h_oWiLC2uC4j8qKTqBHEGS3TKVXlXdMg/view?usp=sharing

Here's a link to the articles in John's presentation, as he promised:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/114GDOKzMTg-dwUUs2ZVxK2U6N1T5TfYG?usp=sharing

The approach John took - going to the experts but engaging them in a manner that made sense to him, and in a way that challenged him to re-examine his various points of view and his overall worldview - is an approach other members of the Confluence also use.

To me, this method goes to the essence of why I started O&I in the first place. There are tons of experts in the world whose ideas we could capture and display before each other. But unless we take some time and dig deeper, that is, deeper into how the experts' ideas impact and move our hearts and minds, we miss out on one of the most important reasons for participating in education and learning, IMHO.

Great job, John!

}:> & ~:)

"On the Kindness of Strangers" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Steve Yothment

Congratulations to Steve Yothment for his highly informative presentation "On the Kindness of Strangers" at the December 26, 2020 meeting of Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds.

A PDF of Steve's presentation is here and on the O&I website menu bar under "Links to O&I Slideshows and Docs."

Steve's talk highlighted the contents of the new book The Kindness of Strangers: How a Selfish Ape Invented a New Moral Code (2020) by psychologist Michael E. McCullough. 

The after-presentation discussion was excellent and covered topics as follows, among others:

• Is kindness towards others including strangers instinctive, learned, or a combination of both?
• Various takes and examples concerning the three recurring themes in the book - reciprocity, reputation, and reason - as prime motivators for kind and altruistic behavior toward others.
•  Donation recipient entitlement.
• The problem of corruption in nations receiving international assistance from other countries; and organizations mentioned by John Hendershot such as Charity Navigator and Give Well that monitor assistance uses and abuses.
• Doug Nichols recommended the related book Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help Others, Do Work That Matters, and Make Smarter Choices About Giving Back (2015) by William MacAskill.

Here is something I recently wrote on nature-nurture, a matter raised in the early chapters of The Kindness of Strangers.

Well done, Steve! Thank you!

"So he professes Stoicism. Indeed. You wouldn't know it by his actions."

The Stoic Emblem

From The Humanist Contemplative

What the Stoics Did For Us

Massimo Pigliucci

November 28, 2017

New Humanist

When my thinking and behavior fail me in my estimation and what I infer to be the estimation of others I care about, as well as those for whom I don't give a fig, Stoicism has not failed me nor have I failed Stoicism.

The Stoic lifeway does not promise perfect thinking or consistent happiness for attempting the thoughts and acts it guides us toward. Nor does it offer eternal life or reincarnation as a 'higher' life form upon our death as rewards for our Earthly efforts, as some large and small religions do.

It is my self evaluator, my conscience, that has failed me due to my misapplication of it or its miscalibration of focus or tolerance. The miscalibration of one's conscience is a problem both long-standing and something inherently human - a tendency to go out of calibration from time to time from any number of causes.

As for my estimation of my social standing, many say such should be of no concern to me, ever. So do the Stoics when they assert the only concern an individual should have is cultivating one's personal virtue. In doing that, the Stoics say, the estimation of others will more often than not take care of itself.

If others misjudge us, it is not of our doing and something beyond our control, and therefore should not be of any concern to us. It certainly should not concern us in thought or action until their misjudgments result in actions of theirs that do fall unequivocally within our realm of control. And then it is only our thoughts and actions, not theirs, that we may choose to control.

Absolute triumph over one's thinking, behavior, and one's desire for happiness only occurs, we are often and correctly told, among saints and sages. 

But it is good for us to recall that saints are theological renderings of the surface impressions theologians form of those they tell us are saintly. The person behind and represented by those tellings is no different from each of us in terms of being imperfectly human in everything they are and attempt. Saintliness occurs among all humans as something lived, as a matter of degree not kind.

Sages also exist, more often than not in the judgements and renderings of our learned, more secular-inclined fellows. As with saints, a close look behind pronouncements of sagacity and the conferring of sagehood on a person reveal the same fallibilities of saints - wisdom, like saintliness, is in us all varying only in degree, not kind.

Even saints and sages sometimes in their earthly life stand naked, foul, failed, and ashamed.

Personal success or failure exists on a continuum. One's ever-changing place on that range of accomplishment depends on the degree of one's effort and persistence at living by the principles of Stoicism, the lifeway being considered here, and on matters beyond one's control.

Achieving completely perfect thinking and happiness for the rest of one's life without instances of failure, to some degree or other, cannot be achieved through Stoicism. But the Stoic way of organizing and directing one's personal and social efforts comes closest to such an ideal and ​reduces the number and degree of personal and social results that are less than perfect.

The essay linked above by philosopher and biologist Massimo Pigliucci describes what Stoicism offers.

"Confirmation Bias/My Side Bias," an Owl & Ibis Presentation by Ed Outlaw

Kudos to Ed Outlaw for his superb November 28, 2020 Owl and Ibis - A Confluence of Minds presentation, "Confirmation Bias/My Side Bias." A PDF copy of Ed's PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Ed's points of argumentation were:

1a: Confirmation Bias is common and significant in the way people think about political issues on both sides in our current politically polarized environment.

1b:This is both a cause and an effect of political polarization, leading to a cycle that perpetuates a politically divided community.

2a: Understanding one’s own Confirmation Bias can make a person’s political beliefs stronger, better-founded, and more convicted (counterintuitively).

2b: While at the same time working against political polarization.  

The discussion that followed explored a number of areas. Here are a few:

- Ed's points of argumentation were unopposed.

- When one is objectively on the "right" side (moral high ground) of a moral, political or social issue, is one a victim of confirmation bias or are they simply correct?

- Is US society at a moral impasse, especially in a political sense?

Congratulations and thanks, Ed!

Jim

O&I Admin

}:> & ~:)

"Our Responsibility for Climate Change Induced Migration" by Doug Nichols, An Owl & Ibis Presentation

Kudos to Doug Nichols on his Saturday, October 31, 2020, Owl & Ibis – A Confluence of Minds presentation, “Our Responsibility for Climate Change Induced Migration.”

In his multi-media presentation Doug began by focusing on human population growth and the increase of harmful climate change since the Industrial Revolution. He then informed the Confluence of the unintended consequences of these two major demographic and ecological transformations on human migration; and the ensuing impact of migration on the world’s political, economic, and existential present and future.

A stimulating discussion followed where many facets of migration and climate change were explored. Notable was unanimous agreement that what was most urgently needed, of all options most likely to succeed, were cooperative global responses versus the now trending competitive nationalistic approaches. In closing, Doug presented his point of argumentation as follows:

We should demand that the United States:

     1. Rejoin the Paris Agreement leading an acceleration of actions to limit the growth in average global temperature to 1.5°C.

     2. Join and help lead the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration - guided by the Basic Principles.

PDF copies of Doug’s slide show in two parts and the text of his narration may be found on the O&I website and here:

   Migration and Climate Change, Part I

   Migration and Climate Change, Part II

   Migration and Climate Change Narration

Congratulations, Doug, on an outstanding presentation!

Jim

Owl & Ibis Founder and Administrator

}:> & ~:)