September 2011 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

open science example
by Michel Bauwens 24 Sep '11

24 Sep '11

Dear Alessandro, perhaps this is worth presenting to the p2p blog, see: http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v3/n10/full/nchem.1149.html -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Social Capital at the intersection of meaning and markets
by Michel Bauwens 24 Sep '11

24 Sep '11

Dear Chris, could you embed this video on Ning?, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tl7gD_TqKg, under the title above? Many thanks!! Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: Beyond Money, Trickster Initiation, Grant Morrison Supergods
by jmp 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

On the money note, for info: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Beyond Money, Trickster Initiation, Grant Morrison Supergods Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:21:39 -0700 From: Reality Sandwich <news(a)realitysandwich.com> RealitySandwich.com Evolving consciousness bite by bite =========================================================== =========================================================== As thousands of people participate in the daily demonstrations on Wall Street, to protest the corruption at the heart of our financial and political institutions, we'd like to share a note we received from Reality Sandwich contributor Charles Eisenstein about this inspiring campaign: "Someday we might look back and see the Occupy Wall Street movement as a watershed event. Until now, the financial industry's depredations have brought nary a consequence to its elites, insulated as they are behind walls of numbers. No more: now the real world is puncturing their bubble. If the politicians won't hold them accountable, maybe the people will. These protesters won't prosecute them or physically harm them; what they will do is to remind them that their numbers games have real-world consequences. Traffic snarls and ID checks are just the beginning. People are angry, and they have learned from democratic movements around the world that direct action can bring results. Normal isn't coming back to Wall Street." Charles Eisenstein is the author of the new Evolver Editions book, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition, and has an article in the upcoming Reality Sandwich anthology What Comes After Money?, which is edited by RS founders Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan, and will be released on September 27. We encourage you to check them out. === EVENTS Awakening the Cosmic Serpent II: Ayahuasca, Ancient Remedy for Modern Times Evolver Intensive with Jeremy Narby Join “Cosmic Serpent” bestselling author Jeremy Narby for a pathbreaking 5-part online course that explores the mysteries at the heart of ancient shamanic practices and the visionary states they entail. This Evolver Intensives web seminar includes live video conversations with five of the world's leading experts on the shamanic use of mind-altering plants: Steve Beyer, Benny Shanon, Kenneth Tupper, Susana Bustos, and Martina Hoffmann. It starts on October 9. http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Conscientia: The Reality Sandwich Fall Retreat Sept. 25 - 30, Boulder, Utah RS invites you to embark on a five-day transformative journey into the mystical realms of tomorrow. Explore, discuss, and create new dimensions of possibilities in one the most beautiful and sacred spots in the American Southwest (and on Earth). Join this intimate RS community gathering for interactive talks and workshops with some of the key trailblazers in the frontiers of consciousness. Featuring world-renowned artist Ross Bleckner, “Fingerprints of the Gods” author Graham Hancock, legendary "apocalyptic art shaman" Android Jones, "Heaven's Mirror” photographer Santha Faila, “2012: The Return of Queztalcoatl” author Daniel Pinchbeck, RS creative director Michael Robinson, “Online Telepathy” pioneer Jennifer Palmer, "Galactiviating" painter Carey Thompson, East Forest musician Trevor Oswalt, solar saucer beats by Scott Whitaker, and sacred geometry sculpture artist Harlan Emil Gruber. Hosted by RS and the Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch. Join us on this heart-opening odyssey as we ignite, awaken, and inspire life-altering shifts in ourselves, and the world around us. Activities include pictograph explorations, interactive workshops, slot canyon adventures, open source rituals, yoga, music, meditation, and more. Horse-riding and massage is available at an additional cost. http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** RS Wilderness Healing Retreat with Daniel Pinchbeck Chapadas Dos Veideiros, Brazil, Nov. 4-12 Reality Sandwich invites you to embark on a 9-day shamanic journey of deep healing, discovery, and transformation. The focus of this retreat is healing and initiation as we integrate ritual into our daily lives. We’ve designed this 9-day workshop to help deepen your relation to source and align your mission in life to the times we live in. Meditation, sweatlodges, cleansings, explorative dance classes and lectures, and sacred ceremonies -- combined with traditional healing and initiations -- will support each individual’s healing process as they become more familiar with their spiritual world. This Reality Sandwich spiritual excursion will be hosted by “2012” author and RS's editorial director Daniel Pinchbeck. Skilled healers from Amazonian cultures will facilitate the workshops and ceremonies. Indigenous tribes will visit and share their dances, and crafts during the retreat. Participants can hike the stunning mountains and valleys of the Chapadas Dos Veideiros plateau, explore the beautiful Rio dos Corros and its hidden caves, enjoy local beaches, climb nearby cliffs, and relax in the retreat center’s sauna. TO REGISTER, EMAIL Stephen Hershey: hershey(at)evolver(dot)net $100 Discount for Evolver Social Movement Members http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Evolver Editions Launch Party Evolver NYC, Mon, Oct. 24 Celebrate the launch of Evolver Editions, our exciting new book imprint with North Atlantic Books, featuring trailblazing voices in the consciousness movement. Speakers: Daniel Pinchbeck will discuss Jose Arguelles’ “Manifesto for the Noosphere: The Next Stage in the Evolution of Human Consciousness;” Charles Eisenstein, “Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition;” Ken Jordan and Anya Kamenetz, “What Comes After Money?” and Jonathan Talat Phillips, “The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic.” McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St.7pm. Free http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** LA Ayahuasca Monologues: Tales of the Spirit Vine Evolver LA, Tues, Oct. 4 Hear of experiences both miraculous and terrifying when Westerners access ayahuasca's incredible gifts. Storytellers: Mikki Willis, founding director of Elevate Films; Dream Rockwell, founder of Lucent Dossier; Sitaramaya, curandera, Shipibo apprentice; Tony Moss; and Adam Elenbaas, author of Fishers of Men. Temple of Visions, 719 South Spring St., 7:30p. http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** The Electric Jesus Book Launch Evolver NYC, Tues, Nov. 15 Join visionary artists Alex and Allyson Grey and the Church of Stop Shopping’s Reverend Billy in celebrating the release of Evolver co-founder Jonathan Talat Phillips’ new book, "The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic." This potent memoir follows Jonathan’s journey from being a defeated countercultural media activist through a mystical initiation involving underground ayahuasca ceremonies, kundalini awakenings, extraterrestrial encounters, and miraculous energy healings that provide him insight on how to help heal our planet in crisis. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St., 7pm Free. http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… === MEDIA SPONSORSHIPS Get Your Dance On : EARTHDANCE Sept. 24 Soundscape Yoga followed by an evening of dancing to DJ’s and live drums, lounging in saunas and indulging in food and drink. YogaWorks Soho, 495 Broadway, NYC. 7:30p yoga/ 9p Party http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** The 8th Annual Conference of Sexuality + Consciousness Oct. 14 -16 The International School of Temple Arts (ISTA) presents the leading Canadian and international facilitators, educators, trainers and sacred sexuality experts, who will offer the latest cutting edge information. Toronto, October 14-16. http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Bioneers Conference, Oct. 14-16: Get 20% discounted tickets for this year’s gathering, featuring Gloria Steinem, Amory Lovins, and Paul Stamets. San Rafael, CA, Oct. 14-16. Click http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… with coupon code education20. *** Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics, Oct 14-16 Horizons brings together the brightest minds of the psychedelic research movement to share their research, insights, and dreams for the future. Judson Memorial Church. NYC. http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… ============Sponsorship=============== Energetic Balancing is an advanced quantum mechanics and spiritual technology that balances information and frequencies within our bodies. Find out what's impeding your body from operating in a flowing, healthy manner, and learn about the level of your life force (chi). This technology is twenty years ahead of its time. We use advanced mathematics to calculate/read your energy. Visit us online for a complementary Energetic Evaluation. www.energeticbalancing.us ==================================== MULTIMEDIA Channeling Ideas: Daniel Pinchbeck & Reggie Watts at The Lovin' Cup By: Daniel Pinchbeck In this RS clip, Daniel Pinchbeck and comedian Reggie Watts discuss idea frequencies and planetary change at The Lovin' Cup restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Watch it Here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… === NEW ARTICLES We publish new articles on Reality Sandwich daily, M-F. Below are teasers for recent highlights. We hope you will enjoy these stories and share them with your compatriots: Synchronicity, Myth, and the New World Order Charles Eisenstein Most critiques of conspiracy theories dispute the author's evidence, logic, and sources, and impugn his sanity, intelligence, or integrity. While such critiques often have merit, they tend to go after the low-hanging fruit. Giving the best of the genre a fair reading, however, the impartial reader realizes that something strange is going on. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Arutum: Wisdom From the Amazon By Llyn Roberts A Shuar hunter will seek to shapeshift into Arutum to enhance stealth and stamina. With the help of Arutum, Shuar mothers gain pluck to keep harmony in the family. We can use its life giving force to clarify our life's direction and to tackle tough personal as well as global issues. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Beyond the Singularity: This is the End of What World? By Shunyamurti Time is the music of eternity. You can clearly hear the changing music of time...it is reaching its death-rock climax. We are closing in on the majestic moment in which God reveals what She can do, She is pulling out the stops, She's about to start jammin'! Enjoy the ride. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** The Planets on the Playa: An Astrological Guide to Burning Man By Darrin Drda and Annabelle Niebel Drda Over the course of five days, eight astrologers gave over 150 readings. Having honed the "archetypal eye," we began to experience and process Burning Man in terms of the ten planetary archetypes. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** The People's Wall Street By Jennifer Palmer Hundreds of people have been occupying Liberty Plaza, a park at the heart of Wall Street, NYC, since 9/17 in order to build, "the world that we want to see, based on human need and sustainability, not corporate greed." Read and watch it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Exploring the Mystery of Hands-on Healing By William Bengston "I became interested in hands-on healing from the vantage point of a skeptic -- someone who doesn't know the answer. I still don't know why some people heal. If they were a believer in this healing stuff, it tended to take longer to heal than if they were a skeptic." --In this interview, sociologist William Bengston discusses his decades of research in hands-on healing. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Is Evolution Accelerating? By silentinfinite 'The Quickening' is more than a warning: it is an invitation to deal with upcoming world changes with "relative grace and ease". [Video] Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Doublethink and the Mental Construction of Reality By Nick Meador The concept of truth-seeking has long been a cornerstone of individualism. But in order to be effective as individuals, we have to make sure that our perception of reality actually contains a significant amount of what we call "truth." So how can we ever be certain that we possess the actual truth? Is human objectivity even possible in reality? Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Free Peter Aziz By Remi Gurak Shaman Peter Aziz has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for using ayahusca in ceremonies. Sign the petition for his release. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Eshu and Ananse: Liberation by Subversive Knowledge By Brian George Since he exists at a perpetual beginning, it is possible that for the trickster no initiation is complete. Humans must be shaken out of ego-bound myopia. Centered but open to fresh energies from the bush, society must be provoked to reinvent the wheel. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Skywriters in Hades (Pt. 2) By aeolus kephas The discovery of mirror neurons marks an Archimedean point (a God's eye view) from which all human knowledge can now be rethought and all our models of reality must be reformulated. The reason, in simple language, is that mirror neurons present us with a solid scientific basis for telepathy, and the existence of telepathy changes everything. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… ============Sponsorship============== Nightlight "Donation Based" Astrology Founded by RealitySandwich Contributing Editor and "Fishers of Men: The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest" author, Adam Elenbaas, the Vision of Nightlight Astrology is to offer donation based astrological readings, counseling and education to the public. Nighlight Astrology also offers a One Year, Donation Based Archetypal Astrologer's Training Intensive. NYC classes and Distance Options are both available for the Intensive! Check out all the latest at http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… ===================================== Sri Aurobindo's Radical Social Vision: the Possibility of Telepathic Utopia By Tristan Gulliford Aurobindo Ghose (also known as Sri Aurobindo) was a Bengali mystic, poet, political activist, and social theorist. What would society look like if Aurobindo's views, methods, and practices were applied on a wide scale, and formed the basis of spiritual ethics of social action? Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… Our Native Mind: Shamanic Song among the Ancient Celts By Robert Tindall and Susana Bustos PhD Indigenous, shamanic ways of healing and prophecy are not foreign to the West. Rather, they are simply unrecognized. Native symbiosis in a living, sentient cosmos is found at the very origin of the European literary tradition. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Doublethink and the Mental Construction of Reality By Nick Meador The concept of truth-seeking has long been a cornerstone of individualism. But in order to be effective as individuals, we have to make sure that our perception of reality actually contains a significant amount of what we call "truth." So how can we ever be certain that we possess the actual truth? Is human objectivity even possible in reality? Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Star Crossed Lovers By Adam Elenbaas In my first year as an astrologer the most relentless question I've fielded in over 500 sessions has been "When will I meet my soul mate?" Astrology has always had a lot to say on the subject of love. The answers aren't always what people want to hear but they are almost always what people need to hear. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Sex in the News By Jamye Waxman The Christian crusade against pornography; homosexual zebra finches, China's attempt to convince women to marry for love, not money; and insect sex are all in this week's roundup. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** This Week in Psychedelics By Neşe Lisa Şenol In this week's psychedelic news, Wired debunks the myth that marijuana makes you stupid, Hurricane Irene improves conditions for magic mushrooms, Avatar star Michelle Rodriguez investigates ayahuasca, and comic book legend Grant Morrison pontificates on entheogens and superheroes. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Agonizing Creativity By silentinfinite A study to be published in the journal Psychological Science shows that many people harbor an anti-creativity bias that they are generally not aware of. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Sacred Economics: Chapter 10, The Law of Return (Pt. 11) By Charles Eisenstein The personal and planetary mirror each other. The connection is more than mere analogy: the kind of work that we force ourselves to do is precisely the kind of work that despoils the planet. We don't really want to do it to our bodies; we don't really want to do it to the world. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Toward a Spiritual Economics By Amit Goswami Many people think that capitalism and market economics grew out of materialist philosophy that classical physics has given us. But this is myopic thinking of people who have missed the evolution of consciousness in the affairs of the manifest world. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** The Future NOW By Matt Toussaint Global warming, increased UFO sightings, ASCII code crops up, the healing potential of dolphins, sniffing out disease, and the unbeatable power of texting -- the future is now at Arlington Institute's FUTUREditions. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Space Junk Wars By Chris Kaplan Humans haven't only been making a mess here on planet Earth, but out in space as well. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… *** Mythology of Business Part 2: The Dark Side By James Curcio Despite the exciting creative possibilities posed by new media, the danger presented by the presence of myth in modern media is paramount, and must be considered outside the mythic framework of industry, which reduces the material world to a matrix of profit and risk. Read it here: http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modul… === Cheers, Daniel, Ken, Jonathan, Jennifer, Michael, Steven, Cami, Remi, Chris, Stephen, Gabby, Abigail, Claire, Julia, ST, Maya, Michael and the rest of the Reality Sandwich team =========================================================== =========================================================== Forward this message to a friend http:///index.php?q=civicrm/mailing/forward&reset=1&jid=864&qid=2871787&h=4bc103abda8c20c110d7e43b6d704cbff2dc135b Copyright CreativeCommons Non Commercial Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Empowered By CivicActions.com Creative Direction by nowhereNYC.com Unsubscribe from the list: unsubscribe-1-864-2871787-4bc103abda8c20c110d7e43b6d704cbff2dc135b(a)realitysandwich.com Opt out of all RealitySandwich Email: optOut-1-864-2871787-4bc103abda8c20c110d7e43b6d704cbff2dc135b(a)realitysandwich.com -- http://commoning.wordpress.com "...I thought we were an autonomous collective..."

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QE Pamphlet from the Bank of England....
by robert searle 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

The following maybe of interest 1-10 of 116,000 results· Advanced * Quantitative Easing Explained The Bank of England aims to keep inflation at the 2% target set by the Government. The Bank uses interest rates to control inflation. It sets an interest rate at which it lends to ... www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/pdf/qe-pamphlet.pdf · PDF file

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Heathrow unveils driverless transport of the future...
by robert searle 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

The following maybe of interest. I live fairly close to Heathrow it self. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/heathrow-unveils-driverless-transport-of-the-futur… R.S.

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hackerspace podcast
by Michel Bauwens 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

Dear Chris, could you post this on our blog? see: http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201109163 Exploring the Tech DIY of ‘Hackerspaces’ [image: Array.alttext]<http://www.sciencefriday.com/images/shows/2011/091611/flickr-circuit-quapan…> Image by Flickr user quapan.<http://www.sciencefriday.com/www.flickr.com/photos/hinkelstone/> When the humble garage workshop just isn’t enough, or basement tinkerers tire of trying to go it alone, some turn to 'hackerspaces,' organizations that provide space, tools, and like-minded colleagues for unusual do it yourself projects. With Maker Faire in town this weekend, Kelly Maguire of NYC Resistor and Sean Auriti of Alpha One Labs discuss the ‘hackerspace’ movement -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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A Possible Source for a Listing of "Relevant" Economists for the P2P Foundation...
by robert searle 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

Michel, et al, The following has vids, and other data which could be helpful in forming a listing of "relevant" economists. http://ineteconomics.org/ The next link comes from the above. Here is the original link. http://ineteconomics.org/question/best-new-media-resources-new-thinking?pag… and cut, and paste section below .............................................. a) A campaign against economic education as it exists today.. http://www.toxictextbooks.com/ b) Paecon, the student movement which still tries to change things in economic academia. http://paecon.net/ c) Heterodox Economics deals ofcourse with alternative economic ideas... http://www.hetecon.com/ d) Heterodox Directory... http://www.heterodoxnews.com/directory/index.htm ****************************************************** When I get the energy, and time I maybe able to supply more info...but this should keep you "quiet" for the time being. You may have already come across this site before. RS

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Fwd: Gerald Celente - Society Is Breaking Down
by Michel Bauwens 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 4:01 PM Subject: Gerald Celente - Society Is Breaking Down To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com Video : http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/gerald-celente-things-going-muc… http://www.declineoftheempire.com/2011/09/gerald-celente-society-is-breakin… -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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the plague of anti-intellectualism
by Michel Bauwens 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

*Between Race and Reason: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life*<http://www.truth-out.org/between-race-and-reason-anti-intellectualism-ameri…> Susan Searls Giroux - Stanford University Press/truthout.org *This is excerpt from Susan Searls Giroux's latest book, "Between Race and Reason: Violence, Intellectual Responsibility, and the University to Come" (Stanford UP), which won the prestigious Gary A. Olson Award for Best Book Published in Rhetoric and Cultural Studies in 2010. In this excerpt she gives an excellent analysis of the growing anti-intellectualism whic! h has swept the far right, and correctly links it to racial issues which inform it. Part of the great dilemma we face is that we cannot solve fact-based problems with ideological fantasies. Sadly, when nearly half the population takes pride in its willful ignorance, it is unlikely anything of substance will be addressed meaningfully. Professor Giroux is associate dean of humanities and an associate professor of English and cultural studies at McMaster University in Canada. * In late October 2008, just days before the U.S. presidential election, George Monbiot of London’s The Guardian, caught perhaps in a mood of deepening anxiety and dread over the impending outcome, leveled an indictment against the American government and at least half of the electorate in the form of a question: 'How did politics in the U.S. come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance?” In a rather unkind primatological allusion, he invoked as evidence the eight-year reign of George W. Bush, the recent vogue of Sarah Palin-and before her, Dan Quayle, apparently to round out the VP wing of 'gibbering numbskulls” past and present-as well as the 'screaming ignoramuses” in attendance at Republican rallies who insisted that Barack Obama was both a Muslim and a terrorist. 'Like most people on my side of the Atlantic,” he ventured, 'I have fo! r many years been mystified by American politics. The U.S. has the world’s best universities and attracts the world’s finest minds. It dominates in discoveries in science and medicine. Its wealth and power depend on the application of knowledge. Yet, uniquely among the developed nations . . . learning is a grave political disadvantage.”[1] A troubling observation to be sure. How exactly does one make sense of, let alone respond to, such an astonishing contradiction, such an ungenerous play on the concept of American exceptionalism? There are, of course, a number of possibilities. (a) Denial: reduce the charge to a hiccup of European arrogance tinged with a bit of resentment. (b) Dismissal: declaim as cynical the blanket condemnation of ineptitude among government officials and the fools who elected them. (c) Deflection: assert that the election results-and the resounding defeat handed to the McCain-Palin campaign, which ran primarily on emotional appeals! to fear and patriotic fervor-vindicate the good sense of the ! voters and render Monbiot’s judgment too quick. It would be tempting to answer '(d) all of the above” and continue to bask in the warm afterglow of the Obama victory and the ensuing worldwide celebration that marked the end of the Bush era. But, alas, we are not saved. Indeed the pre-election antics appeared in hindsight little more than an opening prelude to the 'delirium,” as The Economist termed it, of the summer of 2009 debates on health care; the furor over the president’s 'indoctrination” of school children; the growing momentum of the 'birthers,” unchecked by repeated proof against their claims; and other crazed conspiracy theorists who showed up at town hall meetings armed to the teeth, leaving many to wonder why the nation surrendered public debate over the most pressing political issues of our time (to say nothing of media coverage) to the most extreme and unstable elements of the far right.[2] Even the esteemed journalist Bill Moyers, deeply unsettled by current events, couldn’t resist a bit of uncharacteristic sarcasm: 'So here we are, wallowing in our dysfunction. Governed-if you listen to the rabble rousers-by a black nationalist from Kenya smuggled into the United States to kill Sarah Palinâ! �™s baby.”[3] The peculiar degradation of these three fundaments of a substantive democracy-informed and judicious political discourse, intelligence, and education-in contemporary American politics to which Monbiot and others refer has had a long and storied career, extending back to the early days of the republic. The subject was given unparalleled examination in Richard Hofstadter’s Pulitzer-prize winning volume, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, published in 1963. It is important to note, however, that for Hofstader anti-intellectuals are neither the 'gibbering numbskulls” nor the 'screaming ignoramuses” that Monbiot and a growing chorus of journalists, scholars, and others criticize. Rather, Hofstadter viewed them as a far more effective enemy to the educated mind and to a vibrant, democratic political culture, which requires for its very survival an abiding commitment on the part of its citizenry to critical thought, moral judgment, the capac! ity for self-reflection, and an acute awareness of self-limita! tion. Neither uneducated nor unintellectual, anti-intellectuals constitute the ranks of the 'half-educated,” men and women who are 'deeply engaged with ideas, often obsessively engaged with this or that outworn or rejected idea.”[4] Hofstadter describes them as hardly indifferent or hostile to the life of the mind, but as 'marginal intellectuals, would-be intellectuals, unfrocked or embittered intellectuals, the literate leaders of the semi-literate, full of seriousness and high purpose about the causes that bring them to the attention of the world.”[5] Indeed, he notes, even the most rigorous thinkers are not immune to anti-intellectual moments. Writing in the immediate aftermath of McCarthy era, he locates among the anti-intellectual vanguard the following: highly intelligent and articulate evangelical ministers; religious fundamentalists of various sorts; politicians who inflamed populist and nationalist sentiment (including, he notes, some of the shrewdest); businessmen and other self-appointed spokespersons for practicality, utilitarianism, and free enterprise; right-wing editors with strong intellectual pretensions; anti-Communist pundits; and for that matter, Communist leaders, who he! ld intellectuals in high suspicion, if not contempt. What such a disparate assemblage of characters share is a kind of militancy fueled by a severe, fundamentalist morality; he calls them 'one hundred percenters,” who brook no ambiguities, doubts, equivocations, reservations, and certainly no criticism. Such rigidity they consider evidence of their own toughness and strength-as well as, revealingly, a testament to their masculinity.[6] Following Hofstader’s logic into the present moment, we would add to these ranks latter-day market fundamentalists, such as Jim Cramer and other disciples of the brilliant and tragically myopic Milton Freedman, and their powerful and embittered friends in the conservative movement, such as the peerless Grover Norquist and Karl Rove, Bush’s reputed brain; the intellectual denizens of highly partisan think tanks, from the American Heritage Institute to the Heritage, Olin, Schaiffe, and Coors foundations, like Charles Murray; as well as their learned counterparts in the academy, like Lawrence Mead or Samuel Huntington; the various crusaders of the Christian right, like Pat Robertson, who called for the assassination of a world leader, and others who rail against science and the rights of women and gays such as Bill McCartney, the founder of the Promise Keepers; demagogic populists like Patrick Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh; jingoistic patriots inspired by Newt Gingrich and! Tom DeLay; and the impassioned, often inflammatory anti-immigration and anti-terrorist politicians and media pundits, of whom there are far too many, such as Tom Tancredo, Thelma Drake, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck. And we would acknowledge, as we do so, the continuing draw of masculinist posturing for both men and women. For nearly four decades, these 'leaders of the semi-literate” have assisted in the transformation not only of all three branches of government but of the political culture of the nation as well, swaying the voting public through base appeals to our deepest insecurities and fears, most typically expressed and circulated through racially charged representational codes. In apocalyptic tones, they warned that 'traditional American values” and 'our American way of life” were on the brink of collapse as a result of some marauding horde-thugged-out young black men, welfare queens, overpopulating Latinos, illegal immigra! nts, radical Jihadists, or 'gay married terrorists” (i! n economist Paul Krugman’s satiric phrase). And most Americans went along for the ride. Even those who didn’t buy the coded rhetoric (even as they enjoyed the privileges of a still-uneven playing field) complacently went about their lives, feasting on too-easy credit, flipping houses, or fixating on celebrity culture until all the consumer bubbles finally broke. Though the candidate who stood for change, for a restoration of democratic principle against a rising tide of fundamentalisms-market, military, religious-won the 2008 election by a respectable but not overwhelming margin, the legacy of the last forty years of conservative counterrevolution did not magically disappear after Inauguration Day.[7] Nearly a half-century after it was written, Hofstadter’s erudite volume remains essential reading for those troubled by the effects of anti-intellectualism, and the various fundamentalisms that inspire and inflame it, on democratic public life and political culture. In fact, his uncompromising analysis of the political climate in which Thomas Jefferson ran for president in the infamous 1800 election-an election that also signaled a revolutionary shift in the political direction of the nation-is particularly instructive in light of the 2008 campaign, which uncannily recapitulated many of the same themes. Jefferson was the first distinguished victim of a decisively anti-intellectual attack, and the assault on him (leveled principally by Federalist leaders and members of the established clergy) set a precedent for subsequent efforts to render an active, curious mind either trivial and ridiculous or evil and dangerous. The echoes of such efforts to sway the electorate on! principles that violate reason, reflection, evidence, and judgment are heard to this day: intellect makes 'men” timid and ineffectual; they are likely to vacillate rather than to act boldly in the face of crisis; their intellectual pursuits produce in general a suspicion of, or a hostility to, Christianity; and they are committed to abstract, radical, or even 'foreign” ideas over the quintessential American values of God and country. The capacity for reflective, creative, and critical thought, finely honed argumentation, and public persuasion-talents one might otherwise assume well recommend a candidate for the office of president-were transformed into the gravest of liabilities. Jefferson’s critics assailed his philosophical training and literary talents, which they insisted made him unfit for practical tasks. Their eager acknowledgment of the elegance of his rhetorical style provided only further proof of the man’s lack of political substance. Said one South Carolina congressman, William Loughton Smith: The characteristic traits of a philosopher, when he turns politician, are, timidity, whimsicalness, and a disposition to reason from certain principles, and not from the true nature of man; a proneness to predicate all his measures on certain abstract theories, formed in the recess of his cabinet, and not on the existing state of things and circumstances; an inertness of mind, as applied to governmental policy, a wavering of disposition when great and sudden emergencies demand promptness of decision and energy of action.[8] Thought, according to those suspicious of a critical and contemplative mind, inevitably got in the way of action. In addition to these offenses, Jefferson also stood accused of a lack of experience, particularly military experience-the very ingredient which had made his esteemed predecessor, George Washington, a patriot, a man of great character, and an effective, no-nonsense leader. Smith, contriving to portray Jefferson’s astonishing and wide-ranging intellectual abilities as trivial and ridiculous, mocked his scientific interests and his inventiveness as 'impaling butterflies and insects, and contriving turn-about chairs” adding that such merits 'might entitle him to the Professorship of a college” but were utterly incompatible with the duties of the presidency and the command of the Western Army.[9] Such charges should sound strangely familiar. Barack Obama’s reflective capacities and rhetorical strengths have been frequently acknowledged by his opponents, who, interestingly enough, hailed from similar quarters: the religious right and Republican descendants of Federalist persuasion. But the praise, like that heaped on Jefferson, primarily served to underscore allegations of inexperience and unbridled idealism. Like its distant predecessor, the election of 2008 was framed as a choice between military experience and character-the strength of which seemed to rest on an ex-soldier’s patriotic zeal and plain speech, on the one hand, and change-in the figure of a young cosmopolitan and former University of Chicago professor of law who represented new ideas, gifted oratory, and hope-on the other. Then, as now, when the bad news befalls the White House-whether by messenger on horseback or emergency phone call-at three o’clock in the morning, Americans are prompted to! vote for a man of action, not intelligence, which is derided as inevitably naïve, 'timid,” 'abstract,” or 'wavering.” Whereas the former law professor was said to lack any military experience and have negligible foreign policy credentials, McCain emphasized his war record, his heroism, his endurance, as vouchsafed by his five-year imprisonment in a Viet Cong POW camp, and above all his patriotism. Appeals to practicality and patriotism were not the only rhetorical weapons in the arsenal of Jefferson’s opponents-or Obama’s. Hofstadter regales his readers with various efforts to paint Jefferson as a dangerous scourge without faith or morals. His learning and speculation, it was said, made an atheist of Jefferson; he had not only challenged theologians about the age of the earth but opposed having school children read the Bible-vagaries that made him a threat to religion and society. Further proof of his alleged immorality was offered in a litany of accusations: that he was a coward during the Revolutionary War, that he started the French Revolution, that he harbored a secret ambition to become a dictator, another Bonaparte. And strikingly, though Hofstadter makes only a passing reference to the charge, the integrity of this white, patrician male was tainted by an association with race: it was asserted that he 'kept a slave wench and sired mulattoes,” a dis! honor less to his wife than to his white blood-thus, according to the racial reasoning of the time, proof of moral depravity. Obama was subject to similar demagogic efforts throughout the seemingly interminable two-year campaign cycle. While McCain played the role of the valiant soldier and patriot, Obama stood accused of 'palling around with terrorists” like University of Illinois at Chicago professor Bill Ayers and other subversive intellectuals (a redundancy for conservatives). Moreover, Obama’s Christianity was called into question repeatedly with insinuations of his secret Muslim faith, as if the espousal of such doctrines were adequate grounds to disqualify him immediately from political office. Indeed, it was Sarah Palin’s very religiosity-in addition to other perceived assets including her folksy demeanor, her status as mother of five, her fascination with guns, and not so implicitly her whiteness as mirrored in the clean, white snows of the Alaskan wilderness-that made this contemporary Annie Oakley such an appealing vice presidential pick for the McCain team. She embraced ! the very commitments and values of the Republicans’ most stalwart constituency: the Christian right. In contrast, much was made of Obama’s middle name, 'Hussein,” which was chanted over and over again at Republican rallies, betraying similar efforts to associate him with the dangerous Middle Eastern dictator, if not quite claiming, as in Jefferson’s case, that he aspired to become a despot. (That accusation, of course, would come within Obama’s first six months of office, when during the summer of 2009, angry constituents at town hall meetings would tout images of the president with a Hitler moustache or feature him on placards with Stalin, Mao, or Che Guevara.) Such charges performed a double duty for the Obama’s critics, casting 'Barack Hussein Obama” as not only a threat to all Christians, but beyond the pale of whiteness, both as a man of African descent and as an alleged Muslim, a category that increasingly carries both religious and ethno-racial ! 'civilizational” implication. Just as Jefferson’s intellectual disposition, his sensibilities, his tastes were pilloried as 'foreign,” a clear precursor to contemporary tactics designed to generate fear toward those characterized as 'not American,” Barack Obama was consistently characterized as alien. Of Jefferson, one Federalist pamphleteer claimed: 'It was in France, where he resided nearly seven years, and until the revolution had made some progress, that his disposition to theory, and his skepticism in religion, morals, and government, acquired full strength and vigor. . . . Mr. Jefferson is known to be a theorist in politics, as well as in philosophy and morals. He is a philosophe in the modern French sense of the word.”[10] The anti-intellectual rejection of the candidate as a 'theorist” and a 'philosophe” anticipates accusations of anti-Americanism hurled at contemporary intellectuals, particularly those critical of the Bush administration, even as the charge ir! onically depicts thinking as a foreign, even subversive activity. Obama was not only educated in various regions of the world including Indonesia, Africa and the United States, but he was also of mixed-race heritage. Most definitely, it was implied, where not emphatically stated, he was 'not one of us.”[11] Of course, like Jefferson, Barack Obama did win the presidential election; but the rather shocking figure of the fifty-eight million (46 percent of the popular) votes cast for the McCain-Palin ticket, despite its many allegiances to the utterly corrupt and generally despised Bush administration, should give us pause. This brief engagement with the Jeffersonian legacy is all the more revealing for the decidedly ironic way in which Jefferson, and much of the iconography of the American Revolution, has been appropriated by the far right in post-election America-from 'tea parties,” to the incessant appearance of the Gladstone flag and other militia flags fe! aturing rattlesnakes and often accompanied by the slogan, &#39! ;Don’t Tread on Me,” to the 'patriot movement” (and its various calls for revolution, succession, and state sovereignty), which has made Jefferson’s quip that 'the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots” its rallying cry. Historically speaking, the suspicion of intellect has for centuries spawned a variety of anti-intellectual commitments-the fetishization of folksiness, the cult of efficiency and practicality, jingoistic patriotism, militarized masculinity, and religious fervor. Whereas in the era in which Hofstadter wrote it was still possible to equate mainstream intellectual culture with the culture of liberalism, this is no longer the case. The below-the-radar conservative counter-revolution begun in the late 1960s, coterminous with a highly visible repressive law-and-order crackdown on various civil rights and anti-war protesters, and eventually displaced the liberal hegemony of mid-century America, as its advocates exploited and intensified the anti-intellectualism of the culture. The consequence of this ascendancy has been a crisis of liberal ideals and democratic values, of the very possibility of politics, which has generated a cottage industry of similarly themed tomes that commenc! e where Hofstadter’s probing analysis left off. However, questions remain about whether the presumption that Obama’s presidency commences an officially 'post-racial” and 'post-partisan” period of American politics will continue to hold true, providing yet another kind of dubious departure from reality and reason. To be sure the George W. Bush administration, if unsurpassed in the degree of its commitment to anti-intellectualism, was certainly not alone in its willingness to deceive and manipulate everyday 'folks.” Over the past century, there have been political leaders-Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Bill Clinton-who successfully tempered their intelligence, invoked a colloquial idiom, claimed an affinity for common values and tastes (Bill and his Big Mac attacks) and survived. Others who were less adept-Adlai Stevenson, Al Gore, John Kerry-simply perished, as their opponents effectively labeled them as too cerebral, too elite, if not also effete, for effective leadership. While it is true tha! t on the campaign trail, Obama exemplified thoughtfulness and circumspection and spoke with eloquence and dignity, he also proved adept at staying connected with the everyday, playing hoops with his mates from high school the morning of the election, assuaging the fears of children who faced a daunting move with the promise of a puppy. In the service of heightening such 'exuberant identification” (as Judith Butler describes it) with Obama’s leadership, a few items are missing from the presidential agenda altogether, and their absence weighs heavily against soaring hopes for genuine democratic renewal. Successive bailouts for financials and other industries have proven unhelpful for everyday citizens-and particularly citizens of color-facing alarming levels of unemployment, impoverishment, and home foreclosure. Yet Obama has chosen to abet the nation’s collective refusal to discuss race and, more emphatically, racial injustice-his one speech on the subject notwithstanding. Yet at no other time have we been more in need of a critically engaged, creative, and thoughtful citizenry who can face with courage and conviction the challenges-political, economic, ecological, spiritual-that we face both nationally and internationally. Obama is a product of this elite system and will not push against its interests, unless compelled by an informed and active citizenry. 'Obama used hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds to appeal to and manipulate this illiteracy and irrationalism to his advantage,” observes Hedges.[12] And indeed the electorate was invited to focus increasingly on the person of this potential leader-his eloquence, his gravity, his unfailing cool, even his jump shot-and a compelling personal narrative that simultaneously invoked the triumphalism of America’s beloved immigration mythology and offered a redemptive conclusion to its most egregious racial sins. However, Hedges warns that 'these forces will prove! to be his most deadly nemesis once they collide with the awful reality that awaits us.”[13] I suspect Hedges is largely correct in his assessment. Yet we can not accept that our capacity to think, our educational system, and with it American democracy itself, have reached a terminal stage. And it is because I reject these premises that I argue strongly for academics, administrators, teachers, intellectuals, and others to assume their responsibilities as educators who play a vital role in molding citizens who can actively and critically participate in democratic public life. Hedges is undoubtedly right about one thing. The electorate is fast headed on that collision course with the reality that the Bush administration sought and that it apparently managed to repress for so long. As Obama himself acknowledged in his Inauguration Day speech, few presidents have taken the oath of office under conditions quite so devastating. Perhaps for this reason, ultimately, he has been compared to former presidents Abraham Lincoln, also a one-term senator from Illinois who ! confronted a nation ravaged by civil war; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led America through the Great Depression and Second World War; and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the civil rights-era commander in chief who inspired America with his youthful idealism and his sense of hope. But it is also for this reason that I’ve gone even further back in American history and invoked the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, who also served in the county’s highest office in turbulent times, who like Obama would lead the nation through the convulsions of revolutionary change. Jefferson witnessed a political revolution in France and then in the United States, and was able, as a result of those who fought and died for their country, for its ideals of life, liberty, and equality, to ascend to the position of president of a new nation divided in its search for the way forward. Moreover, he was to serve while Western nations were experiencing yet another, equally profound revolution in economic d! evelopment; he was a plantation owner and adherent of an agrar! ian way of life that was about to give way to new forces of industrialization, which would transform the country in ways quite unknown and unimaginable. And there was the fact of slavery, America’s original sin, about which he wrote most eloquently and ambivalently. In order to meet all of these political, economic, and spiritual challenges, the nation’s third president understood all too well the necessity of an educated citizenry. Having survived his own bitter and contentious political campaign, Jefferson had witnessed first-hand the nefarious and-as we have seen-cataclysmic danger that anti-intellectual, populist demagoguery poses for a democratic nation. Surely it was this complex set of conditions and experiences that inspired his radical educational thought, for it was Jefferson who was one of the first to put forth a multi-tiered plan for free and universal public education as the primary means of safeguarding a young and fragile democratic nation. And it is this legacy that seems to me to offer the most important lessons for the Obama administration, and for those anxious to serve the country in its current state of multiple crises. For Jefferson, education was the primary means of producing the kind of critically inf! ormed and active citizenry necessary to both nurture and sustain a vibrant public sphere; he believed that democracy was the highest form of political organization for any nation because it provided the conditions for its citizens to grow both intellectually and morally through the exercise of these faculties. Consider this passage from Jefferson’s moving preamble to the 1776 'Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge,” which bears the hallmark of his views on the relationship between education and public life: Whereas . . . certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights . . . experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have . . . perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large; And whereas it is generally true that people will be happiest whose laws are best, and are best administered, and that laws will be wisely formed, and honestly administered, in proportion as those who form and administer them are wise and honest.[14] Jefferson made education central to his philosophical thought and political commitments; it proved the best means for both preserving the natural rights of citizens from all forms of tyranny and a means for enabling wise and honest self-government. Jefferson conceived of education as a preeminently political issue-and politics as a preeminently educational concern. As Obama confronts the challenges of the wars he has inherited, an economy experiencing a shift as profound as the industrial revolution which displaced agrarianism as a way of life, the moral stain of a vast carceral empire both at home and abroad, as well as a citizenry riven by the divisive and demagogic rhetoric of four decades of conservative counterrevolution, the legacy of Jefferson, and his insistence on the preeminence of education, may well provide the way forward-and, too, a warning. I have attempted to argue that a (raceless) racist logic has shaped each element of these knotted crises-the 'civilizational” war on terror as well as the nation’s willingness to transform the welfare state into a neoliberal warfare state-and the ease with which it criminalized the social ills that issued from that pervasive and repressive shift. In fact, as early as 2001, ACLU director Graham Boyd noted that the United States was incarcerating African-American men at a rate approximately four times the rate of incarceration of black men in South Africa under apartheid. Worse still, we have managed to replicate-at least on a statistical level-the shame of chattel slavery in this country: The number of black men in prison . . . has already equaled the number of men enslaved in 1820. . . . [And] if current trends continue, only 15 years remain before the United States incarcerates as many African-American men as were forced into chattel bondage at slavery’s peak, in 1860.[15] Following Boyd’s prediction, the ranks of the incarcerated have swollen from 2 million to 2.3 million in the ensuing eight years. We have moved from a time in which black Americans were legally defined as property, to one in which they have been granted 3/5 humanity. From sub-humanity, they rose to the ranks of second-class citizens, and once a full schedule of rights had been achieved equally 'before the law,” those rights and entitlements were dismantled along with the social state, which held the promise of their provision. In the fantasy world where 'there is no such thing as society,” there are now only dysfunctional men, women, and their families locked up or locked out of the American Dream. Still marked by the original sin of slavery, which we have not entirely repudiated, we now find ourselves in an era ominously reminiscent of that biblical season of plague, only this time it is not divine power striking down the first-born children of Pharaoh’s! kingdom because he refused to grant full freedom to all people, but rather the sovereign power of the state seizing every third son born black. Or perhaps we should push even further back in locating an apt metaphor for the present to ancient Babylon, to the building of that colossal tower of Babel, which eventually wrought divine destruction, condemning humanity to endless confused chatter and conflict. Whatever path of destruction Jefferson envisioned for a nation that refused to take heed of its own moral recklessness and injustice, we would do well to heed his warning. In his Notes on the State of Virginia, he wrote: 'Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.”[16] Averting catastrophe-the organizing theme of the second half of this book-will require a most arduous task for the nation’s citizenry: a critical and consistent commitment to think and reflect, to act as citizens who are worthy of a ! democracy. 1. Monbiot, George. 'How These Jibbering Numbskulls Came to Dominate Washington.” Guardian, Oct. 28, 2008.. 2. Editor. 'American Health Care: Keep It Honest.” Economist, Aug. 20, 2009. 3. Transcript. Bill Moyers Journal, Sept. 4, 2009. 4. Hofstadter, Richard. Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (p. 21.). New York: Vintage, 1963. 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid, 119. 7. For a comprehensive analysis of these various fundamentalisms, see Henry A. Giroux’s Against the Terror of Neoliberalism: Politics Beyond the Age of Greed (2008). 8. Ibid., 147–48. 9. Ibid., 149. 10. On the blog accompanying the website accompanying his 2009 publication, The Threat of Race, David Goldberg pointed out the racially driven differences in the ways in which relative political newcomers Barack Obama and Sarah Palin were embraced by the electorate. He notes: 'More than half the whites polled registered harsher senses of blacks than they did of whites. While 50 percent of white respondents at least sometimes have had sympathy for blacks, nearly half had never or rarely. Similarly, more than 30 percent of white respondents have never or rarely admired blacks. Nearly half the respondents characterized blacks as at least moderately violent, and 38 percent as lazy. Lest one think that generally stated racial prejudice does not necessarily translate into bias against a particular person, the study also revealed that 47 percent characterized Obama as ‘inexperienced’ while just 4 percent did McCain, 17 percent as ‘un-American’ and just 2 perce! nt did McCain, and only 29 percent ‘patriotic’ while 61 percent did McCain. Just under 20 percent consider Obama’s religion ‘a reason not to vote for him,’ perhaps a less surprising fact considering that 14 percent still think he is a Muslim.” 11.Hedges, Chris. Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of the Spectacle (p. 111.). New York: Nation Books, 2009. 12. Ibid. 13. Peterson, Merrill D. The Portable Thomas Jefferson (p. 215.), New York: Penguin, 1975. 14. Boyd, Julian P. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Volume 2: 1777 to 18 June 1779 (pp. 526–27). Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 1950. Emphasis mine. 15. Boyd, Graham. 'The Drug War Is the New Jim Crow.” NACLA Report on the Americas. July 31, 2001. 16. Peterson, Merrill D. The Portable Thomas Jefferson (p. 215.), New York: Penguin, 1975. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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2 items of interest .. hive intelligence and abandoning climate change concerns
by Michel Bauwens 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

*Online Gamers Crack AIDS Enzyme Puzzle*<http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-pu…> The Sydney Morning-Herald (Australia) *This is an example of an emerging new trend: hive intelligence. Linkage through the internet leading to linkage in the nonlocal consciousness domain, guided by shared intention. This demonstrates the power of such a cohort, linked together in a game that invokes both reasoning and what is called "intuition" -- which read opening to nonlocal consciousness -- to solve urgent problems. This is excellent news. T! his is a new innovation process that holds enormous potential, as the report makes clear.* Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade. The exploit is published on Sunday in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where - exceptionally in scientific publishing - both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors. Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV. Advertisement: Story continues below Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital for understanding the causes of many diseases and developing drugs to block them. But a microscope gives only a flat image of what to the outsider looks like a plate of one-dimensional scrunched-up spaghetti. Pharmacologists, though, need a 3D picture that "unfolds" the molecule and rotates it in order to reveal potential targets for drugs. This is where Foldit comes in. Developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a fun-for-purpose video game in which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete to unfold chains of amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - using a set of online tools. To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks. Cracking the enzyme "provides new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs", says the study, referring to the lifeline medication against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is believed to be the first time that gamers have resolved a long-standing scientific problem. *"We wanted to see if human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed," Firas Khatib of the university's biochemistry lab said in a press release.* "The ingenuity of game players is a formidable force that, if properly directed, can be used to solve a wide range of scientific problems." One of Foldit's creators, Seth Cooper, explained why gamers had succeeded where computers had failed. "People have spatial reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at," he said. "Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans. The results in this week's paper show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before." *Post Comment » <http://www.schwartzreport.net/addcomment.php?id=9356>* *Climate Change: Who Cares Any More?*<http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/1b5e1776-df23-11e0-9af3-00144feabdc0.html#ax…> SIMON KUPER - Financial Times (U.K.) *This is the latest twist in the climate change trend, one which recognizes nothing serious is going to be done about climate change until it is too late and that all subsequent responses involve rich countries working out local solutions while the world as a whole does... well, whatever it can afford which, in the case of much of the world, is nothing at all. This isn't going to work, of course, because it does not really address the mass migrations that are coming, the utter disruption of the food system, the increasing potential for pandemics as system break down. But when one is as stupid as we are culturally, one is stupid all the way through. The only "solution" I can see that has a chance is working at the local level, for local responses that preserve the quality of life for individuals, families and communities locally.* When someone offered me a trip to India, I said, 'Definitely.” A couple of years ago I’d have fretted about the carbon emissions. But like almost everyone else, I have given up trying to prevent climate change. We in the west have recently made an unspoken bet: we’re going to wing it, run the risk of climatic catastrophe, and hope that it is mostly faraway people in poor countries who will suffer. Worries about climate probably peaked in 2007. That year I attended a workshop full of northern European policymakers and politicians. The moderator asked who believed climate change was a serious problem. Practically everyone in the room raised their hands. We then spent two days discussing action. I left feeling that if you were running a country like Britain in 2007, you probably thought climate change was the single overriding issue. Terrorism, immigration and even the economy were details by comparison. But in 2008 the economic crisis hit. To quote political scientist Roger Pielke Jr’s 'iron law”: 'When policies focused on economic growth confront policies focused on emissions reductions, it is economic growth that will win out every time.” In fact, Pielke, who teaches at the University of Colorado, thinks the pre-2008 talk about action was mostly just talk anyway. 'It was easier for our societies to pretend we were doing something on the issue when we felt rich, and were naive about the challenges of actually transforming our energy system,” he says. 'But we never adopted any policies that had a chance to do the job.” Nowadays few societies even pretend to be doing anything anymore. The Copenhagen global summit on climate in 2009 flopped. Carbon emissions are rising at the high end of the scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Worse, the global economy is becoming less carbon-efficient per unit of output, as more countries turn to coal. When Japan and Germany decided to go off nuclear after the Fukushima disaster, they weren’t thinking about climate. It’s sometimes said that democracies think too short-term to be able to tackle climate change. Well, dictatorships aren’t tackling it either. They too obey Pielke’s iron law. If they can get an extra person a car, they will. Sure, countries are developing alternative energies such as wind and solar. It’s handy to have something besides fossil fuels. But we will still consume every molecule of fossil fuel we can find. Illustration showing two men pushing a globeNo big state is doing enough about climate change. For the planet, it barely matters whether Barack Obama (who believes climate change is real) or Rick Perry (who doesn’t) wins next year’s US election. Obama won’t stop climate change either. Ordinary people sense the cause is lost. The wasteful minutiae of daily life that might once have worried us – running a big bath, eating a steak, idly googling old classmates – we now just do. Governments aren’t taxing this waste much. We journalists are dropping the topic too. It’s been a thrilling year for news, but the great absence on the news sites is climate change. Max Boykoff, a colleague of Pielke’s at Colorado who tracks newspaper coverage of the issue, finds that European and north American newspapers are writing much less about it now than in 2006/7. Asian newspapers are also writing somewhat less, even though their economies are doing fine. The environment bores readers. Almost everyone has given up. The question then becomes: what will happen? Nobody is sure. Almost all climate scientists think the outcome will be bad, perhaps catastrophic. They foresee more storms, droughts, floods and crop failures around the world, as Obama said in 2009 when he was still talking about these things. However, climate is far too complex a system to permit exact predictions. Nobody knows whether global temperatures will rise two degrees centigrade this century, nor whether that is the tipping point for catastrophe. When climate scientists make exact predictions, says Pielke, it’s usually a bid to focus the minds of politicians and voters. It hasn’t worked. Rich countries now have a semi-conscious plan: whatever happens, we’ll have the money to cope. We’ll build dikes, or pipe in more water from somewhere else, or turn up the aircon if it gets too hot. Our model is the Netherlands: the country below sea level protects itself against flooding through a network of dams, sluices and barriers. This costs about €45 per Dutch person per year. The Dutch think that even as climate change raises sea levels, their defences can cope for another four centuries. By then there’ll be new technologies. In short, rich countries will buy protection. If they need to abandon vulnerable cities like New Orleans or Venice, they will. The bigger problem is for poor countries. If Bangladesh floods or Nigeria dries up, they probably won’t cope well. But then our mental health in the west is built on not worrying too much about what happens to Bangladeshis or Nigerians. *Post Comment » <http://www.schwartzreport.net/addcomment.php?id=9353>* -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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