About the Enlightenment, modernity, and the diamond: Ken Wilber sees the
current Culture Wars as a fight between the two developmental levels to
either side of our own. In brief (very brief) the Enlightenment/modern
culture is his "Orange Meme"-Rational. On one side of it is the "Green Meme"
- Idealist, which has set out to deconstruct both us and the one its
currently fighting, the "Blue Meme" Guardian, i.e. ancient-nation
traditional. Which leave culture wide open for the adolescent/barbarian
types to rush in. And those we will always have with us, since kids usually
go through such a stage.
So we really have two enemies, metaphorically: our fathers and our children.
Pat
Living in a fantasy world - you say that like it's a bad thing.
From: "d.brin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: David Brin's blog
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:00:10 -0700
I thought I'd check in with you brinellers, having neglected you pretty
badly in favor of something I long avoided... a blog.
sigh. I finally gave in and set one up at http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/
... and right off the bat it won a SciFi magazine hot site of the month
award. It's been pretty big.
Anywhay, I thought I'd share with you all my latest posting. Mostly in
order to refer you to my open letter to brain chemistry and addiction
researchers, (described below.)
Here's wishing you all well and a happy summer... and hoping that
civilization endures.
db
===
So much for Diamonds and pyramids and SOA. Again, you can find much of that
at; http://www.davidbrin.com/eon1.html I am sure we'll discuss these
matters again, as we keep trying to come up with metaphors that can serve
as weapons for the Enlightenment, capable of taking on the seductive
insanity of an insipid "left-right political axis."
This blog has (as I feared) turned into a major time sink. While I am
impressed with the intelligence and cogency of many participants, I have no
idea whether there are enough of you to merit such effort, at some cost to
writing novels.
What HAS been positive is that I've been inspired to dredge up some older
projects to put online. One of these will be the "religion" essay that I
plan to post next month, episodically. It's title alone -- "Twelve Modern
Questions About Humanity's Relationship With its Creator In the Context of
an Age of Science" - should provoke interest and argument.
Even before delivering that promised bombshell, some of our discussions
have spurred me to revisit a longstanding frustration, having to do with
the ongoing epidemic of bilious partisanship and romantic dogmatism that
has been polluting our great nation's grand experiment in pragmatism,
propelling the so called "culture war". One place where I've explored this
issue is at: http://www.davidbrin.com/realculturewar1.html....
...but it is a topic with many levels. Those hoping to rescue a scientific
society from indignant jerks might consider ways to use science as a weapon
against indignation itself!
To this end, I have corresponded for years with experts in several fields,
suggesting certain lines of investigation. (I'm not shy.) And now... you
are all invited to drop in and view An Open Letter To Researchers In The
Fields Of Addiction, Brain Chemistry And Social Psychology.
Paste in this address: http://www.davidbrin.com/addiction.html ... and feel
free to tell your biologist pals. I cannot think of any single scientific
result that might do more to help heal society and empower the pragmatists,
while marginalizing screeching dogmatists of every stripe.
.
Well... there are some other things we can try. (We're supposed to be
problem-solvers, right?) So do not let me forget to raise these possible
methodologies:
* a citizen rebellion against gerrymandering
* the "Bill Clinton Gambit"
* "all right, it's a 2. Get over it."
...and others. We gotta start brainstorming, boys and girls. I have been
following reports that show one of the prime tests of the health of
modernism... the market for science fiction novels... is at a low ebb for 4
decades! If anything should be a dangerous sign....
.
And now... after proving my evenhandedness by skewering hypocrisies of the
left... let's have another kick to the right! Or several kicks. There are
so many, we have to stack them efficiently!
(Don't any conservatives have the imagination to picture what would have
happened, if Bill Clinton had tried to get away with even ONE of these
things? The skyrocketing deficits? The relentless secrecy & lying? The mega
scale cronyism and outright thievery? The PORK? Dang, what hypocrites.)
* This one is supplied by Russ Daggatt: We are creating terrorists:
New investigations by the Saudi Arabian government and an Israeli think
tank -- both of which painstakingly analyzed the backgrounds and
motivations of hundreds of foreigners entering Iraq to fight the United
States -- have found that the vast majority of these foreign fighters are
not former terrorists and became radicalized by the war itself.
The studies, which together constitute the most detailed picture available
of foreign fighters, cast serious doubt on President Bush's claim that
those responsible for some of the worst violence are terrorists who seized
on the opportunity to make Iraq the ''central front" in a battle against
the United States. ''The terrorists know that the outcome [in Iraq] will
leave them emboldened or defeated," Bush said in his nationally televised
address on the war at Fort Bragg in North Carolina last month. ''So they
are waging a campaign of murder and destruction." The US military is
fighting the terrorists in Iraq, he repeated this month, ''so we do not
have to face them here at home."
However, interrogations of nearly 300 Saudis captured while trying to sneak
into Iraq and case studies of more than three dozen others who blew
themselves up in suicide attacks show that most were heeding the calls from
clerics and activists to drive infidels out of Arab land, according to a
study by Saudi investigator Nawaf Obaid, a US-trained analyst who was
commissioned by the Saudi government and given access to Saudi officials
and intelligence.
A separate Israeli analysis of 154 foreign fighters compiled by a leading
terrorism researcher found that despite the presence of some senior Al
Qaeda operatives who are organizing the volunteers, ''the vast majority of
[non-Iraqi] Arabs killed in Iraq have never taken part in any terrorist
activity prior to their arrival in Iraq."
As I've often said, I do NOT contend that it's proved that our rulers have
been suborned by a foreign power. But seriously, is incompetence any longer
as effective or likely an explanation for (say) the savage demolition of
our alliances and military readiness and officer corps and social
cohesion... while recruiting enemies at such a furious (and apparently
deliberate) rate? Which theory is gaining ground? The rational one of
outrageous, shortsighted incompetence? Or the outright screeching paranoid
explanation? The explanation that creepily fits every single fact.
.
Of course, this was all based on preventing use of Iraqi Weapons of Mass
Destruction against us, right? Hmmm... Well, here's an interesting item. A
suspected chemical weapons lab has been found in Mosul. One of recent
origin. Presumably for use against US soldiers. So while Pres. Bush never
found the WMDs he used as a pretext for this war, that very war is now
generating the WMD we were supposed to be worried about! Ironies abound.
Still, one has to sympathize. Like when VP Dick Cheney took a lot of flak
last year for saying that the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes".
Now SoS Condoleeza Rice is saying that the insurgency is "losing steam."
No wonder this administration holds open press conferences at a rate lower
than any other administration in a century. (Can conservatives defend even
THAT factoid? At all?)
.
...and finally.... on the direct topic of Modernism and its Enemies...
Stefan has provided another wonderful mini-rant, about what has been
rightfully called "the American Taliban". From the same guy as last time.
This fellow is apparently on a real roll. Keep your eye on him. He may be
the next Bruce Sterling (hopefully just as smart and on-target, but nicer).
"Remember Republicans? Sober men in suits, pipes, who'd nod
thoughtfully over their latest tract on market-driven fiscal conservatism
while grinding out the numbers on rocket science. Remember those
serious-looking 1950's-1960s science guys in the movies -- Republican to a
one.
"They were the grown-ups. They were the realists. Sure they were a bummer,
maaaaan, but on the way to La Revolution you need somebody to remember
where you parked the car. I was never one (nor a Democrat,
really, more an agnostic libertarian big on the social contract, but we
don't have a party ...), but I genuinely liked them.
"How did they become the party of fairy dust and make believe? How did they
become the anti-science guys? The anti-fact guys? The anti-logic guys?"
For the rest of this piece, go to:
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2004/12/i-miss-republicans.html
--- next... more clearing the decks....
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