Category: Earth Intelligence

10 Global Values That Are Old and Stale, and How to Replace Them

Scillia Elworthy

Huffington Post, 23 April 2014

Two hundred and thirty remarkable people from North and South gathered in Reykjavik from April 9-12 to share actions for effective change on the issue of “the power of love and compassion in governance.”

CONCLUSION:

I presented the gathering with 10 values or norms that have governed our (Western) actions for centuries, and which have contributed to the state of the planet today, and then proposed what we can replace each one with the kind of values that could enable better decisions — decisions that could get us out of the mess we're in:

I presented the gathering with 10 values or norms that have governed our (Western) actions for centuries, and which have contributed to the state of the planet today, and then proposed what we can replace each one with the kind of values that could enable better decisions — decisions that could get us out of the mess we're in:

1. (old value) “Humans have the right to do as we like with the Earth” — replace with “humans become responsible stewards of the Earth, in order to preserve its beauty and diversity.”
2. (old value) “Science and the rational mind are what matter most” — replace with “the human body, mind, feelings and soul are all one, interacting constantly, and the entire package is consciousness.”
3. (stale value) “Continuing economic growth is essential” is replaced with “growth in consciousness is now more urgent.”
4. “Survival of the fittest” — so dated — becomes “it's more efficient to replace competition with co-operation for the greater good.”
5. “Good fences make good neighbors” becomes “building trust is the most effective and least costly form of security available today.”
6. “Might makes right” is replaced with “common security is safer and cheaper than an international system based on weapons and superior power.”
7. “Short-termism is fine” becomes “our decisions now take account of future generations, as the oldest indigenous traditions have told us for centuries.”
8. “The technical fix will always be invented in time to resolve serious problems” gives way to “the greater intelligence is not only available to us here and now, but is infinitely more powerful than human intelligence.”
9. “Women are too emotional to deal with the real issues of business and world affairs” fades away, because “the capacities of the deep feminine and the deep masculine — in both men and women — are now seen as vital for human survival on the planet”.
10. “Consuming is our right” (and our addiction!) gives way to the realization that “what we really desire is to satisfy the human need for meaning and beauty.”

The author of the attached book review is a brilliant writer as well as one of the last of the great 20th Century scientists. “The Case for Blunders” is an important subject, because the confusion of theory with facts is perhaps the most persistent “Orientation” problem misshaping the OODA loops driving contemporary political discourse in economics, social policy, and defense policy as well as in the practice of institutional “big” science (where scientists are forced to cope with the conformist pressures of publication, gatekeeping, obtaining grants, etc). Dyson explains how practice of good science resolves this confusion in a constructive way.

The Case for Blunders

Freeman Dyson

New York Review of Books, 6 March 2014

Review: Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein—Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe, by Mario Livio, Simon and Schuster, 341 pp., $26.00

Science consists of facts and theories. Facts and theories are born in different ways and are judged by different standards. Facts are supposed to be true or false. They are discovered by observers or experimenters. A scientist who claims to have discovered a fact that turns out to be wrong is judged harshly. One wrong fact is enough to ruin a career.

Theories have an entirely different status. They are free creations of the human mind, intended to describe our understanding of nature. Since our understanding is incomplete, theories are provisional. Theories are tools of understanding, and a tool does not need to be precisely true in order to be useful. Theories are supposed to be more-or-less true, with plenty of room for disagreement. A scientist who invents a theory that turns out to be wrong is judged leniently. Mistakes are tolerated, so long as the culprit is willing to correct them when nature proves them wrong.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Freeman Dyson – Great Science Demands Great Blunders and Good Losers – Nature Never Loses and Always Plays Fair”

Not all politicians are the corrupt morons we find at the Federal level in Washington. Here are six cities around the world trying to reorganize how their communities function. I take it as good news, although I think it should be noted that not one of these cities is to be found in the U.S.

6 of the Greenest Cities in the World
SARAH WOLFE – Global Post/Salon

Solar-powered buses. Carbon neutral buildings. Motion-sensitive lights and water faucets.

Sounds like something out of ‘The Jetsons.”

But cutting-edge technologies like these are already the norm in some of the world’s greenest cities, where the environment takes precedence over industry and the debate over sustainable living has long been decided in favor of it.

As the world celebrates Earth Day, GlobalPost takes a look at six cities that are among the most environmentally friendly based on their energy sources, transportation options, sustainable planning and other factors:

LIST ONLY:

Oslo, Norway
Copenhagen, Denmark
Adelaide, Australia
Masdar City within Abu Dhabi, UAE
Cape Town, South Africa

Read full article.