A transformation of some fundamental process or structure within a society.
The perceived need to promote a growth economy is one of the deepest held meta-beliefs underpinning industrial civilization. Capital formation and accumulation is the highest goal of the economy, and debt is the vehicle. But whose debt? Well, just about everyone’s. The vast majority of citizens must take on debt to own a car, a … More Seeking the Good Life: Growth is Not Development
[Image Credit R. Christie. A google search yielded no graphic image that reflected more or less inequality in a society, so I drew one. Notice where the widest parts are. More inequality exists where the bottom of the figure is wide (the very poor) and the top (mega-billionaires) is narrow. Less inequality is shown by … More Inequality is a Verb: It is a Process, Not Just a Condition
Hopeful realism today is about assessing our planetary emergency, focusing on observable facts, and finding hope in the search for optimal solutions to the global predicament we face. Most News is Bad News, and It is Worse Than Ever Current carbon emissions have surged to greater rates than ever. The headline for the New York … More The Beat Goes On: But It Is Getting Extremely Loud
What? Well, I was just thinking about how people deal with habits and addictions when either may have both pleasurable and self-destructive consequences. Some folks may be victims of another’s categorization, or of their own. Of course, categorization is a linguistic mechanization that is closely involved with both framing the world for many purposes, and … More Categorical Consciousness: Imaginaries and Experience
Photo credit: NASA, via Unsplash Earthrise viewed from our moon gave many a broader perspective on the living Earth. There are so many well written and seriously researched analyses of where we are today and where we need to go, that there is simply no way to read them all. Most debates within that literature … More The Missing Debate: Modernist Illusions and the Urgency of Now
Photo credit: R.M. Christie ~ ~ ~ What? Well, I was just thinking about how people deal with habits and addictions when either may have both pleasurable and self-destructive consequences. Some folks may be victims of another’s categorization, especially if it causes them to be ‘disappeared.’ Of course, categorization is a linguistic mechanization that is … More Categorical Consciousness: Imaginaries and Experience
Photo Credit: Pixaby When I first started this blog site over (OMG!!!) ten years ago—2014, I wrote a blog post titled, “Science and Society.” Those ten years seemed like two. So, I thought I’d go back and see how some of the earliest posts held up to the test of time. Of course, I would … More Science and Our Sanity: The Sequel
ALCATRAZ ~ It is not that we have no choice. But to choose requires conscious awareness of the situation as well as the alternatives and some ideas about how to achieve them. Some folks have difficulty making decisions and would rather have someone in authority make decisions for us. I think it was Theodore Adorno, … More Due Process vs Dictatorship
It still seems odd to be talking about a fascist coup in America. On the other hand, just as with the climate crisis denied, it would have been a lot easier and cheaper if we had faced it head on at a much earlier stage. Plenty of history provides clear understanding of how it all … More What Does It Mean to Resist a Fascist Coup?
Of course, in the United States and in other industrialized nations many people wish they were billionaires. That is what the culture of consumerism has taught them. Even the billionaires who turn out to be scoundrels at best, are idolized for their wealth however ill-gotten. The “greed is good” value system of ‘Gordon Gecko’ (played … More Energy Equity Requires No Billionaires
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 