tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post4977486513857179556..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: A revolution is not a change in management. It is a change in man.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-21658876563273523362009-11-03T03:45:56.966-05:002009-11-03T03:45:56.966-05:00@anonymous
I believe post-scarcity, or resource-b...@anonymous<br /><br />I believe post-scarcity, or resource-based economics is technically within our grasp. Such a global adventure would call for a purposeful, total, bottom-up redesign of all infrastructure, for which we have already the technical know-how. The real impediment is we humans and our centuries-old indoctrination. We believe in our billions that labour and sweat-of-the-brow work are Holy Goods (whether we are religious or not), that humans are born greedy, or lazy, or ambitious etc. I don't think any of the above knee-jerk platitudes are true, but they are nevertheless incredibly powerful obstacles to managed change. <br /><br />Sadly, change seems to be necessarily painful. I'm fighting with a bunch of others to smooth out the possible transition, but guaranteed it is most certainly not.Tobyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16258136994278139356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-17130521438487027132009-11-02T23:58:33.042-05:002009-11-02T23:58:33.042-05:00r inglehart also had this notion of 'post-mate...r inglehart also had this notion of 'post-materialist consciousness'. <br /><br /> i think he gets this from Frank Tipler's omega-point theory ('physics of immortality') in which, following Georges-Roegescu's entropy law, after the universe has run down and converted all massive matter into radiation , one still has an infinitely living post-materailist consciousness (which Tipler identifies----it seems correctly---with the eternal life of those who are born again, like in virginia---and yes there is one). <br /><br /> Tipler applies poincare's recurrence theorem in the spirit I think of Vellupai or Badiou to show Boltzmann's despair was wrong because you can still have infinite and even creative life (Cantor's paradise) after the heat death of the universe. you just chill.<br /><br />Regarding 'Imagine', some have argued that one of the main obstacles to semi-utopian thinking of Carl Roger's/Karl Marx's 'new social/ist man (maybe the ladies too in the 'new age' or after the era of Larry Summers)' is somehow a multimillioaire rock star living in a manhattan penthouse who uses his position to put his kids into the front of the line for the music game doesn't seem to really be realistic. In fact, its along the line of Djilas and the 'new class' theory ( using class based rhetoric to hide the fact that you are promoting your own class). <br /><br />In keeping with this thought first post on my blog would give an alternative to 'Imagine' called 'live in the sky' which is similarily optimistic if not exactly in the same mode (though some would argue its a cover).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-26095797345031325382009-11-02T18:11:33.615-05:002009-11-02T18:11:33.615-05:00A post-economic society, as I use the term, is a s...A post-economic society, as I use the term, is a society no longer under the regime of economic laws. It is one in which socially necessary labor time is not, and cannot be, a basis for the organization of productive activty.<br /><br />In other words, in a post-economic society, productive work is optional.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-4751316891110517092009-11-02T17:38:54.553-05:002009-11-02T17:38:54.553-05:00Anon,
'post-economic society' would be a ...Anon,<br /><br />'post-economic society' would be a society unable to reproduce itself, would cease to exist -- post-capitalist makes more senseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-66512192965606533962009-11-02T13:48:44.202-05:002009-11-02T13:48:44.202-05:00Wyatt Earp, that cowboy of our childhood - "a...Wyatt Earp, that cowboy of our childhood - "an American officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, farmer, teamster, buffalo hunter, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his brothers, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp" - died in Los Angeles, where he had been working for Hollywood.<br /><br />My point? In just 200 years we went from yeoman farmers to cubicle rats, and none of us, given the option, living in one setting would change for the other.<br /><br />That is a revolution of man. <br /><br />I do not doubt that, at leaswt with regards to Work Time Reduction, and a post economic society that it will be imposed on us as a necessity. And, we will hardly like it anymore than did our ancestors welcome their eviction from thousands of years of agrarian lifeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-34475632894216475052009-11-02T12:05:55.043-05:002009-11-02T12:05:55.043-05:00Brenda,
Restating,
I tend to see a 'person-ce...Brenda,<br /><br />Restating,<br />I tend to see a 'person-centered' approach as assisting individuals' acceptance of <i>systemic</i> status quo, as helpful opiates which dull necessary confrontational tendencies and organization so mitigate against overcoming the same social relations which generate the need for those approaches.<br /><br />JuanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-79925193629753375282009-11-02T09:38:58.346-05:002009-11-02T09:38:58.346-05:00Brenda,
Just to clarify, I knew it was S&G,...Brenda,<br /> <br />Just to clarify, I knew it was S&G, just was thinking that maybe Lennon's "Imagine" was even more an expression of what you were getting at.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-11642666768734203782009-11-01T22:52:55.137-05:002009-11-01T22:52:55.137-05:00Juan: [rogers et al emphasis on the individual fav...Juan: [rogers et al emphasis on the individual favors crisis induced, spiritualist-type 'solutions' which play well to the dominant class and cannot solve]<br /><br />Could you elaborate, Juan?Myrtle Blackwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07427043367624101075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-28275682235707791172009-11-01T22:51:10.483-05:002009-11-01T22:51:10.483-05:00Thanks all. I do actually feel a little less desp...Thanks all. I do actually feel a little less despairing after reading what you had to say ;-)<br /><br />I like this quote by Arne Naess (1977)<br /><br />"<i>In prevalent individualistic and utilitarian political thinking in western modern industrial states, the terms "self-realization," "self-expression," "self-interest" are used (in ways that assume) the ultimate and extensive incompatibility of the interests of different individuals. In opposition to this trend thee is another, which is based on the hypothesis (that) self-realization cannot develop far without sharing joys and sorrows with others, or more fundamentally, without the development of the narrow ego of the small child into the comprehensive structure of a Self that comprises all human beings. The ecological movement - as many earlier philosophical movements - takes a step further and asks for a development such that there is a deep identification of people with all life.</i>"Myrtle Blackwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07427043367624101075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-9668407153578153632009-11-01T15:21:59.196-05:002009-11-01T15:21:59.196-05:00brenda,
as we've known for a century, this sy...brenda,<br /><br />as we've known for a century, this system of social relations called capitalism has always had a limited shelf life, self-destructs into barbarism or socialism.<br /><br />'should you choose to accept it', your job - through those means appropriate to the moment and yourself - is to strangle the former and help birth the latter.<br /><br /><b>do not despair - bend the curve of history</b><br /><br />[rogers et al emphasis on the individual favors crisis induced, spiritualist-type 'solutions' which play well to the dominant class and cannot solve]<br /><br />JuanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-9213960605020041482009-11-01T02:18:52.033-05:002009-11-01T02:18:52.033-05:00Fascinating post. I only know of Carl Rogers by na...Fascinating post. I only know of Carl Rogers by name, and had a vague idea that he was "new age" before reading this. Thanks for introducing me to him.<br /><br />I guess the question about affluence hinges upon exposure to a system in decay and access to information that educates about viable alternatives. In that, at least typically, affluence might be considered a precondition for the two qualifiers I mention, then affluence might well be an important component. Certainly if we take affluence to mean relative freedom from immediate material worries such as food and shelter, then it would be a must.<br /><br />Great post.Tobyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16258136994278139356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-28644307010004081392009-10-31T20:25:23.786-04:002009-10-31T20:25:23.786-04:00Rogers was a humanist first and a psychologist sec...Rogers was a humanist first and a psychologist second, though his admirers would have preferred that Rogers be seen the other way round. He understood the role of our social environment and interactions in the development of the mind and seemed to be looking for a way to enhance individual development through the recognition of the turmoil of the world. He understood the need for a humanist approach to life if one defines humanist as focusing on humane behavior. Unfortunately Rogers did not understand that there is nothing inherently humane about human behavior. He seemed to hope that humanism would prevail. Nice idea.Jacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-25968054382671092702009-10-31T19:28:58.402-04:002009-10-31T19:28:58.402-04:00Brenda, "The Yogi and the Commissar" is ...Brenda, "The Yogi and the Commissar" is an essay, published (I think) in 1945 and later republished in a book of essays with the same title. If you find the book, some of the other essays are pretty interesting too.<br /><br />"Darkness At Noon" is probably K's best known book; I haven't read it either. To me, K. is the author of "The Sleepwalkers", about Copernicus, Kepler and how mediaeval cosmology was overturned. It was Kuhnian before Kuhn. Well worth reading, if you ask me.gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-58160086924005837382009-10-31T15:01:36.270-04:002009-10-31T15:01:36.270-04:00The change of man described is similar to the tran...The change of man described is similar to the transformation from the fourth turning into the first turning as described by Strauss and Howe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-17288651877985367022009-10-31T09:47:40.413-04:002009-10-31T09:47:40.413-04:00Barkley
Well, perhaps it was an awkward attempt fr...Barkley<br />Well, perhaps it was an awkward attempt from me to try and describe a sense of despair I often feel when I write. That words just don't make the grade. That stark evidence staring people in the face doesn't generate urgently needed change.<br /><br />Gordon,<br />Thanks, I'll try to check Arthur Koestler's book out. I think I have one of his books already 'Darkness at Noon', sitting on the shelf unread.Myrtle Blackwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07427043367624101075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-59732453364857223602009-10-31T02:33:37.516-04:002009-10-31T02:33:37.516-04:00No, it really is S. & G. from the song "S...No, it really is S. & G. from the song "Sounds of Silence". That song was a great feature of the film "The Graduate". Remember? Or perhaps you were too young.<br /><br />Brenda, you might enjoy Arthur Koestler's "The Yogi and the Commissar", an essay which contrasts change through personal transformation with change through improving social/ political institutions. It's a dichotomy which will always be with us, and though I don't think Koestler said the last word, at least he sharpened the issues for a modern audience.gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-20629414410269315442009-10-31T00:32:23.944-04:002009-10-31T00:32:23.944-04:00Actually looked more like John Lennon's "...Actually looked more like John Lennon's "Imagine" than Simon and Garfunkel to me...rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.com