Thanks for the good advice, Dave. I missed the Hubbard one, but Bellamy and Heinlein are deep in my memory.
On Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 12:21 AM Prof David West <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Merle, > > I am sorry, but the curriculum is long buried on a Zip drive somewhere in > a container in Utah. > > An idea for your science fiction writer consortium: write a novel that was > mostly utopian with enough conflict to make it interesting and readable > that could be a point source for something like the Bellamy clubs. There > are three SF novels that I know of that prompted significant social action: > > Bellamy's Looking Backward of course; > Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, which led to the founding of the > Church of All Worlds - still extant; and > Hubbard's Battleground Earth, which gave us Scientology. > > The latter one points out the dangers of such an effort, but the first two > were pretty positive. > > davew > > > > On Mon, Feb 10, 2020, at 7:38 PM, Merle Lefkoff wrote: > > Very interesting and a great idea, Prof. West. Do you still have a copy > of your curriculum for the honors course? > > I'm just back from Ottawa, where I met with the Board of the Canadian > Institute for Conflict Resolution. I discussed our (CED's) new generative > dialogue process based on "the adjacent possible", and we now have a new > partnership with them to develop facilitator training for leading community > dialogues on climate impacts and survival strategies. I am also meeting in > Seattle next month with a science fiction writer who is part of a > consortium of the best current science fiction writers, offering courses to > help aspiring sci/fi/fantasy writers think about the future. I have a > feeling that their curriculum might help our facilitator training. > > On Mon, Feb 10, 2020 at 11:26 AM Prof David West <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Nick, > > A model for the kind of enlightened discussion / social action of the type > you might want to see put in place. > > The Bellamy Clubs. Several thousand were formed in a loose confederation > across the US — all inspired by Edward Bellamy's book (Science Fiction by > the way), Looking Backward. They were a kind of socialist-utopian society. > > I taught an honors course on "Utopian and Dystopian futures in literature > and Film" with Edwards grandson, Michael Bellamy. > > davew > > > > > On Mon, Feb 10, 2020, at 7:00 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > Glen, Marcus, > > > > Thank you for your always surprising suggestions, for your thoughts > > outside the box. > > > > I confess to being attracted to the pristine hypocrisy of > HireAThug.com. > > > > Speaking of Thuggs, I wonder how many of you know about the Wide > > Awakes. These were a paramilitary organization that paraded in the > > streets of Northern Cities for Lincoln during the 1860 election. Black > > capes and torches and staves. Wikipedia has a lovely entry, > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Awakes > > > > Here is their banner: > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Awakes#/media/File:Wide_Awakes_Banner.tif > FRIAM mentalists should go for the slogan, "mind, eye" and the animal > behaviorists amongst should endorse the rampant ferrets. > > > > It seems like a bad idea whose time has come > > > > I wonder if the New Wide Awakes could become the youth organization of > > the Lincoln Project (https://lincolnproject.us/, that organization of > > centrist republicans that has dedicated itself to electing an > > anti-trump senate and president, even though, they concede, that > > requires them to vigorously support democrats in the current cycle. > > > > Nick > > > > > > > > > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of u?l? ? > > Sent: Monday, February 10, 2020 9:04 AM > > To: FriAM <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Up and Out vs Down and in > > > > You've hidden the most important part of your question at the very > > bottom: "in the next year". As always, the system contains feedback > > loops. And each loop has its own speed. There are lots of things you > > can do in the next year that won't show any impact *within* the year, > > but may show impact beyond the year. If you're worried about the next > > president, or the next, etc., then those are viable answers to your > > question. There are *some* things you can do during the year that > > *might* show impact within the year. But just as there's a temporal > > scope to any action, there's also a *spatial* scope to any action. I'd > > argue that the actions you might take this year that might show impact > > within the year, will have limited spatial scope. > > > > So, I'll treat you like one of my clients and answer your question with > > a question. 8^) What do you *want* to see happen within the year? And > > your stated objective can't be vague like "reverse the authoritarian > > pandemic". What does that even mean? No, you have to state a particular > > and specific objective in order to answer my question. > > > > For example, one action *I* can take this year, that may show some > > impact this year, but more likely in the coming decades, is to support > > https://fairvotewa.org/, which I'll be doing this evening. You already > > have that option in Santa Fe, I think. Ideally, RCV should help protect > > against either your worry of right-wing authoritarians or Dave's worry > > of left-wing authoritarians. > > > > Another example from left field might be to help start/run an After > > School Satan club <https://afterschoolsatan.com/> near you. The > > elevation of the Adversary is critical to fighting group-think of all > > kinds. If your particular and specific objective is to make those > > around you deeper thinkers, then that sort of action will have > > immediate *and* long-term impact. > > > > Yet another answer is to join Antifa. Put on some body armor and > > protect the [counter]protesters from the (actual) fascists roaming our > > streets with guns, chains, and bats. (Contrary to Dave's conjecture > > that left-wing fascism is more likely, we have self-described > > right-wing fascists *actually* roaming our streets as we speak.) It > > doesn't matter if you're old or fat. What matters is to put some active > > MEAT between the fascists and the [couter]protesters. Or at least buy > > an Iron Front bumper sticker. 8^) > > > > There are sooooo many possible actions. But without a particular and > > specific objective, you're relegated to hand-wringing. > > > > On 2/8/20 9:04 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > > I have a friend who reads a lot of history and thinks HARD about what > > > he reads. For months he has been reassuring me about the state of > American democracy because, as he said, Trump wasn’t a well focused > dictator like Hitler. But I saw him last Monday and he asked me, with an > air of genuine panic, “What do I do?” The reason for his new panic was his > realization that Hitler had not always been a focused dictator, but had > been entrained, over his career, to play just those themes that would rouse > the German people to War. The impeachment process had convinced him that > Trump was gradually developing the focus of a proper Hitler. > > > > > > > > > > > > So I passed the question he asked me onto the group on Friday. “What > > > do we do?” What struck me was that many of us took the question to > be, “where do we best escape to?” Options included New Zealand, Costa > Rica, Bermuda, Canada, Italy, etc. These answers startled me, because, of > course, the question I meant to be asking was, how do we use our > considerable talent, skill, knowledge, resources, and technical knowhow to > do everything in our power to reverse the authoritarian pandemic that is > sweeping the world. > > > > > > > > > > > > Now some of you, perhaps many, that we in any kind of an emergency, or > even if we are, that there is anything we might do about it, or even that > there is any particular reason to save American democracy. I am happy to > have that discussion, too. However, from those of you who share my panic, > I would love to hear suggestions about what I (and others) might do in the > next year . > > > > > > > -- > > ☣ uǝlƃ > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe > > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > > > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC <http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/FRIAM-COMIC> > http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > > > > -- > Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. > President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy > emergentdiplomacy.org > Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA > > [email protected] <[email protected]> > mobile: (303) 859-5609 > skype: merle.lelfkoff2 > twitter: @Merle_Lefkoff > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove > -- Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy emergentdiplomacy.org Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA [email protected] <[email protected]> mobile: (303) 859-5609 skype: merle.lelfkoff2 twitter: @Merle_Lefkoff
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
