Civilization and the Advancement of Societies

I recently made some comments about society and civilization and the concept of advancement on my blog at OlyBlog.

Some questions that I think are worth asking: How do we measure the advancement of a society? Does the level of technological sophistication serve as a proxy to measure a society's level of advancement? Or are there other metrics, for example in terms of the degree of mutual prosperity, and the general health and well-being of society and all of its constituents (including the natural environment?)

You can read those comments here.

Interstellar Dust Cloud Art in Space

Carina Nebula from NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Toward an altruistic use of technology!

Technology, Industrialization, and a Patterns of Harmful Human Behavior

I think we can have a lot of dreams, and make the world a better place, without space exploration.

I really appreciate, and like, some technologies. But I think we have to start questioning and increase our awareness of the effects of these technologies. I think we have to question whether many of these technologies are really making our lives better, and whether there are any harmful side-effects, and whether the side-effects are "worth it."

Instant communications for example. What exactly is the benefit of being able to communicate instantly? There are obvious implications in the financial sector, and in terms of efforts toward economic domination. But economic domination is wrong. It is bad.

Look at the effect of industrialization on the environment. Hundreds of thousands of species driven to extinction by human activities. Climate change, climate disruption, global warming, ocean acidification. You name it. The list is long.

The problem is that human beings have been doing harm for a long time. I believe it is wrong for human beings to hurt each other. I believe it is wrong for human beings to hurt the environment. When we hurt the environment we hurt each other.

When we add industrialization and technology into the mix of harmful/abusive/violent patterns of human behavior, then we get a dangerous and highly undesirable mix.

Does technology really make life better for all of us? Or does it only seem to make life better? Are there harmful consequences that we are unaware of?

Does technology make life considerably worse for some of us? Consider the effect of gun technology. Consider the effect of extractive technologies on miners around the world - and on the environment.

I think there is a very strong argument that technology actually has made life worse for all, or at least many, of us, in many ways!

I prefer a cooperative, caring, kind and compassionate social ethic, rather than one rooted in dominance and oppression, violence, cruelty, hate and fear.

Love and Harmony!

Cheers,
Berd

What would you wish for?

If you could make a wish and you knew it would come true, then what would you wish for? (And there is no asking for an unlimited number of wishes - everyone gets only one wish.)

Global Village Slideshow

I received this great slideshow today from my Mom. Thanks Mom! Check it out:



Regarding the information contained in the above power point; we, as a humanity, can do better. I know it.

There is no good reason why 80% of human beings (or any human beings) need to live in poverty.

Have a good day,
-Berd

In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of Indian Nations, by Jerry Mander

I am plugging this book because it is important, and it has significantly influenced my view of the world. In the book the author, Jerry Mander, delivers a skillful critique of technological culture and industrialized society. The basic thesis is that society lacks the philosophical underpinnings to be appropriately skeptical of the effects of technology - and therefore also lacks the perspective to be appropriately protective of itself (and of individuals) against the harmful effects of technology (and industrialization.) Modern industrialized society has taken the sacredness out of our social and individual relationships with the Earth. This has been detrimental to ourselves, to our societies, and to the Earth...

It doesn't have to be like this. Another way is possible. Check it out!

In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of Indian Nations, by Jerry Mander.

Here's a link to an interview that appeared in a 1991 issue of The Sun Magazine: "The Sun" interview with Jerry Mander, author of In the Absence of the Sacred

That's all for now.

Some Brief Thoughts on The Richest Man in Babylon

Today I finished reading The Richest Man in Babylon, by George Clason. Very interesting book, it is a fable, apparently based on some clay tablets, about the principles of gaining and controlling wealth (aka gold.) I have mixed emotions about the book. While it definitely delivers sound financial advice and principles, it leaves a lot to be desired when viewed from my perspective of concern about social and economic justice. I believe that hard work is important. Saving is important, and so is re-investment in socially responsible / life-serving activities. But the book has a decidedly "ends justify the means" approach to investing, that does not account for the present day realities of destructive technologies.

Although the ancient babylonians were (according to Clason's account) not a conquesting sort of people (and good for them!), they were not impervious to severe oppression, to dealing in slaves, and to amassing personal financial empires. I don't think that slavery can ever be rightly justified. No matter how much ambition, desire and determination a person has to succeed - it does not make it right to hold other human beings as property, to be ordered and subjugated in whatever way seems necessary or expedient toward amassing wealth. Dealing in human beings as a commodity is a very injurious and low-down way of economic operation.

This, of course doesn't absolve myself, (or anyone else) as an individual from working. It doesn't mean that as people we oughtn't take the initiative in order to provide for ourselves.

A lot has changed in the thousands of years since Babylon was an active and thriving society. The world is a very different place. While there is still great opportunity in the world, including the opportunity to gain wealth, there is a new need based on the ever increasing environmental impacts of a human population grown large, and grown powerful with technology, to ensure that our economic activities are not having a detrimental effect on others.

It's a new age. A new world. It is time for a new system of ethics. This is the Age of Aquarius. A new age. An age of humanitarian ethics. An age of innovation, invention, and tremendous opportunity - not to blindly pursue economic self-interest - but instead to pursue the common interests that we all share as part of the human family. This planet Earth is a beautiful and wonderful place. It is full of magic. We, as human beings, have important decisions to make about how we will choose to live in the future. Will we live in ways that are harmful to the planet and each other? Or will we live in ways that are beneficial, uplifting, and life-serving?

I believe that we, as a society, can make a transition to a culture that does no harm. And not only that! I believe that we can have a society that actually serves to improve upon our environment, promoting bio-diversity, ensuring for all that there will be healthy water to drink, healthy air to breathe, healthy earth to grow food and play... This is not too much to ask. This is only the right path.

Space Junk

Satellites Collide in Low Earth Orbit

Down to Earth

I saw this as part of the new Disney movie "Wall-E". I won't critique the movie here, though I liked it - it was very thought provoking, it raises all kinds of questions and ideas about humanity and society... I definitely recommend seeing it. Okay, a little critique. I guess my main problem is how it glorifies and romanticizes technology as being capable of solving all of the problems of humanity. Robot heroes.

The story goes like this: after destroying the Earth, humans leave in a space ship, where they live for 700 years while they wait for the atmosphere on Earth to return to a hospitable state. A robot returns to Earth and finds a plant - a sign of life. She develops a love interest, and all the qualities of a human, with a 700 year old trash compacter named "Wall-E". They live happily ever after. Despite what is, in my opinion, a flawed and romanticized portrayal of technology as the savior of humanity, it actually has some good moral messages (of course the moral grounding just makes the main, subversive, thrust - promoting the idea of robots as benign artificially intelligent beings - more potent.)

I am looking forward to picking up a copy of the album or single for this song, "Down to the Earth" by Peter Gabriel.

bert