Human Solidarity
Can the human community imagine and create a more constructive sense of solidarity when no obvious common enemy presents an imminent existential threat to civilization’s survival?
Can the human community imagine and create a more constructive sense of solidarity when no obvious common enemy presents an imminent existential threat to civilization’s survival?
Nightmare of Devastating Surprise Embedded in Nature Think of civilization as a living treasury of self-protective culture and technology developed to avoid devastating surprise. Civilization maintains early warning systems, sponsors safer building practices, encourages an educated citizenry, builds hospitals, signs treaties, and shares sacred covenants in part to protect against destructive surprise. The Most Devastating…
In the 1980 musical comedy film classic “The Blues Brothers,” “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues are on a “mission from God” to save a Catholic orphanage. A woman stands in their way and threatens to destroy them. She says: “You miserable slug! You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me.”…
Celebrate Our Differences Diversity is one of the most powerful forces driving the success of the Human Constituency. Diversity is part of our species healthy core. Diversity has been on the rise throughout human history. We’re learning to celebrate our differences. Geographical barriers and racism once served to preserve human diversity. The xenophobia is deadly. …
Does upgrading become more prevalent as a county gets richer? Welcome new developments? Continue to work on Haw River and Jordan Lake cleanup? Keep Kudzu out? Control Sevin dust and Coyotes? What development and prosperity did the first settlers have in mind when they came here around 1751? Apparently the Catawba Indians were friendly towards the colonists and later served side by side with them fighting the British in our Revolutionary War. How did it turn out for the Catawba? It’s easy to justify anti-development perspectives as long as one forgets that there’s probably not a single person contributing to this debate who would be here were it not for a long series of developers.
The proverb “Vox populi, vox Dei” – “The voice of the people [is] the voice of God” – can be traced back to the eighth century, though earlier origins are probable. Yet the eighth-century version, considered in its entirety, actually meant the opposite of what most people think today. In a 798 A.D. letter to…
Vote-On Vote-On “Until the late nineteenth century the question of woman’s ability to profit from or even survive higher education was controversial. Vassar College opened in 1865 was often described by its first president as an experiment.… as late as 1871 an MD at Harvard Medical School published a book on the dangers of higher…