Good morning everyone. Let's talk about how some parts of the internet think the banking mini(?) crisis will be a means to ushering in the digital currency some of us are dreading. Thoughts?
I am watching the World Health Organisation review their International Health Regulations(2005) in the light of the COVID pandemic. I wonder if I am the only one for whom these discussion give rise to concern?
The amendments being considered would seem to me to offer the WHO far greater power in the event of future health emergencies. For example in the text below it is proposed to omit the phrase” the implementation of these regulations shall be with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons” and replace it with “ implementation of these regulations shall be based on the principles of equity, inclusivity and coherence”
1. The implementation of these Regulations shall be with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons based on the principles of equity, inclusivity, coherence and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities of the States Parties, taking into
consideration their social and economic development.
This rewrite and many others being proposed in this review appear to copper fasten the future powers of the WHO and their power to over rule nation states in health policy.
Is this what we want? Are the public in Ireland discussing this, are the Irish Government in agreement with it?
We have just come out of 100 years of searching for national autonomy, are we going to give it away without a national discussion ? Could we have such a discussion?
I would hope we can , these proposals are to be discussed over the coming months, might we have a say? Would our politicians consider this worth considering? Let’s ask
I’ll start. I read an article from 1945 ,that I will find the link for later , which stated that the reason we have wars is because children are taught the concept of good and evil. This man was saying that the way to prevent another war was to eradicate the world of religion. He was a psychiatrist and the first director-general of the WHO. His plan was to use education and churches to re-educate adults and educate children using psychological methods. I think we can say that this did not turn out well. https://archive.org/details/psychiatry-of-enduring-peace-and-social-progress-chisholm-and-sullivan-1946/page/n2/mode/1up?view=theater
Hares (especially juveniles) also have the strange habit of bounding right up to observers. I have had the privilege of this happening to me twice when a curious hare has, from a distance, strolled up to within a few meters of me while being clearly aware of my presence. It is quite an extraordinary moment when a wild creature is curious about you - there's nothing else quite like it.
Regarding hares and Celtic mythology: my family and I watched the movie “Harvey” the other night. A delightful piece all around, and in light of the new black eye medical science currently wears, insightful. A hare is the star, although the Americans insist on calling him a ‘rabbit’.
A neighbour told me how she was suffering from unusual heavy bleeding and pain with her menstrual periods. We know this is happening to vast numbers of women since the injection of Frankenstein technology into women and children. It seems such an apt symbol of the dysregulation of human life and our planet. The disrespect for life itself and for the life givers. I want to start a group of these women called Women on the RagE. We’ll march to the government and medical and corporate offices holding aloft the bloody evidence of women’s suffering and lay it at their doors.
Can I get some book info/advice? I often get my "leisure" reading from Standard Ebooks; they just released two books by Richard Jefferies: Amaryllis at the Fair; and After London. If links are allowed:
From the descriptions, they seemed to be in Kingsnorthian territory (or perhaps Kingsnorth has lingered in Jefferiesian territory?). Is that a fair connection? I've never encountered Jefferies before. I'm interested to know how they would fit in the "Abbey's" reading room... Thanks!
Maybe this has already been asked (so many comments):
Paul, do you feel tempted to discuss your theories with the latest technological hype called ChatGPT?
I hope to steer clear for as long as I can, but forever is probably not possible. I resisted computers for 15 years and mobile phones for even longer, but ended up in their 'nets' anyway.
In recent article Mary Harrington referred to Limbic Capitalism. She referenced the historian David Courtwright who states that “limbic capitalism refers to a technologically advanced but socially regressive business system in which global industries, often with the help of complicit governments and criminal organizations, encourage excessive consumption and addiction.” Since hearing this term for the first time, it has stayed with me. I would love to hear the thoughts of other readers.
See very few of either these days in rural Derbyshire. What happened? Rabbits in particular used to be a common sight. Is it myxomatosis, habitat loss, land poisoned by overuse of fertilisers, all of those? On the other hand we see an ever increasing number of Buzzards circling overhead. I have nothing against buzzards. It's just weird (or perhaps wyrd) how the predators seem to be in the ascent.
I associate hares as having longer legs - what we call Jack rabbits ala Bugs Bunny and that cocky hare in Aesops tale with the tortoise. Rabbits are bunnies. Have no idea if it’s correct. Here in the suburbs we have lot of rabbits , I see more here on a walk than at our cottage.
Topic suggestion: What is the best argument you have encounteted for grounding a morality of universal human dignity within a non-Christian materialist worldview? (i.e. "secular" human rights)
This topic was sparked by the date on Paul's 2nd event in Dublin at the bottom of the email; the 4th of June is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It got me thinking about Communist horrors in general since they explicitly ascribe to the whole Marxist "Religion is the opium of the masses" craic (Holodomor, Kulak persecutions, Gulags, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution etc).
Tolstoy's description of religion as how a person relates to the infinite sits well with me, as does his subsequent suggestion that morality is then downstream of this relationship.
I realize there are experiential components that may be ineffable. However, I am specifically curious what good propositional arguments people have read/heard.
Lately I've started reevaluating just how likely it is that I'll live to see the system truly come crashing down. Unlike many, it's something that I grew up almost expecting, not just fantasizing about - even if I haven't done my best to prepare for it. Now it suddenly strikes me as less likely that it'll happen at all.
Take the Black Death. Makes the last three years look like kids playing doctor. Up to a third of the population of Europe died. Did any one of the continent's major institutions fall? The Churches of east and west stayed standing; the feudal order didn't fall apart; the Hundred Years' War continued. Plenty of things that changed over the following centuries could be traced back to that period, but society didn't splinter permanently or get turned upside down.
However naively, I've always drawn a certain comfort from the idea of total civilizational collapse. Yes, there's a good chance I wouldn't survive it myself, but it's always capped by the thought of the survivors starting afresh, eventually, at the local scale, living in a way that's at least vaguely recognizable from history. Most tech-dystopian scenarios, I think, offer a comfort of their own as well: the notion that networks of control will come to feel intense and alien enough that total rebellion will appear as the only sensible response.
Perhaps the scariest scenario of all is what's most likely to happen: that things will keep getting worse in all kinds of ways that'll feel more or less normal; that we'll all be waiting for the point to come where we say "I can't accept this," but it'll pass most of us right by; that even if you do decide and manage to build a life for your children outside the total system, the system will still be there when they grow up, and most of your kids will one day give you a big hug, walk out the front door, and go plug themselves right into that system.
I suppose much of the above is covered by things that Paul's already written and that we've likely all thought about. But I know there are some who take different views of the future, and I'd like to hear from them - particularly those who think it really will all come crashing down.
I have a book from the 1930's which is a collection of travels pieces on various locations in the West. In one of these pieces the author visits Palm Springs, and ponders the significance of movie stars and moguls who go there to dress up as cowboys and "stab themselves with the primitive." What, he asks, is behind this sudden enthusiasm for the desert? His answer is that "Modern civilization has been geared up to such a frightful rate of speed that it is becoming unendurable."
I have adopted that explanation, which I have shortened to "The pace of modern life is unendurable." I find it useful to employ this phrase when someone questions why I don't travel, or why I live a semi-hermit existence. Try it sometime; it just rolls off the tongue.
Good morning everyone. Let's talk about how some parts of the internet think the banking mini(?) crisis will be a means to ushering in the digital currency some of us are dreading. Thoughts?
H.
I am watching the World Health Organisation review their International Health Regulations(2005) in the light of the COVID pandemic. I wonder if I am the only one for whom these discussion give rise to concern?
The amendments being considered would seem to me to offer the WHO far greater power in the event of future health emergencies. For example in the text below it is proposed to omit the phrase” the implementation of these regulations shall be with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons” and replace it with “ implementation of these regulations shall be based on the principles of equity, inclusivity and coherence”
1. The implementation of these Regulations shall be with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons based on the principles of equity, inclusivity, coherence and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities of the States Parties, taking into
consideration their social and economic development.
This rewrite and many others being proposed in this review appear to copper fasten the future powers of the WHO and their power to over rule nation states in health policy.
Is this what we want? Are the public in Ireland discussing this, are the Irish Government in agreement with it?
We have just come out of 100 years of searching for national autonomy, are we going to give it away without a national discussion ? Could we have such a discussion?
I would hope we can , these proposals are to be discussed over the coming months, might we have a say? Would our politicians consider this worth considering? Let’s ask
Ger Murphy
I’ll start. I read an article from 1945 ,that I will find the link for later , which stated that the reason we have wars is because children are taught the concept of good and evil. This man was saying that the way to prevent another war was to eradicate the world of religion. He was a psychiatrist and the first director-general of the WHO. His plan was to use education and churches to re-educate adults and educate children using psychological methods. I think we can say that this did not turn out well. https://archive.org/details/psychiatry-of-enduring-peace-and-social-progress-chisholm-and-sullivan-1946/page/n2/mode/1up?view=theater
Hares (especially juveniles) also have the strange habit of bounding right up to observers. I have had the privilege of this happening to me twice when a curious hare has, from a distance, strolled up to within a few meters of me while being clearly aware of my presence. It is quite an extraordinary moment when a wild creature is curious about you - there's nothing else quite like it.
Would love to see you and Mary Harrington do a regular podcast, maybe once a month.
Regarding hares and Celtic mythology: my family and I watched the movie “Harvey” the other night. A delightful piece all around, and in light of the new black eye medical science currently wears, insightful. A hare is the star, although the Americans insist on calling him a ‘rabbit’.
A neighbour told me how she was suffering from unusual heavy bleeding and pain with her menstrual periods. We know this is happening to vast numbers of women since the injection of Frankenstein technology into women and children. It seems such an apt symbol of the dysregulation of human life and our planet. The disrespect for life itself and for the life givers. I want to start a group of these women called Women on the RagE. We’ll march to the government and medical and corporate offices holding aloft the bloody evidence of women’s suffering and lay it at their doors.
Can I get some book info/advice? I often get my "leisure" reading from Standard Ebooks; they just released two books by Richard Jefferies: Amaryllis at the Fair; and After London. If links are allowed:
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/richard-jefferies
From the descriptions, they seemed to be in Kingsnorthian territory (or perhaps Kingsnorth has lingered in Jefferiesian territory?). Is that a fair connection? I've never encountered Jefferies before. I'm interested to know how they would fit in the "Abbey's" reading room... Thanks!
David / Fife, UK
Quick question for you paul.... are you going to be one of the architects of Jordan Peterson's Tower of babel?
Maybe this has already been asked (so many comments):
Paul, do you feel tempted to discuss your theories with the latest technological hype called ChatGPT?
I hope to steer clear for as long as I can, but forever is probably not possible. I resisted computers for 15 years and mobile phones for even longer, but ended up in their 'nets' anyway.
In recent article Mary Harrington referred to Limbic Capitalism. She referenced the historian David Courtwright who states that “limbic capitalism refers to a technologically advanced but socially regressive business system in which global industries, often with the help of complicit governments and criminal organizations, encourage excessive consumption and addiction.” Since hearing this term for the first time, it has stayed with me. I would love to hear the thoughts of other readers.
Of Hares and rabbits.
See very few of either these days in rural Derbyshire. What happened? Rabbits in particular used to be a common sight. Is it myxomatosis, habitat loss, land poisoned by overuse of fertilisers, all of those? On the other hand we see an ever increasing number of Buzzards circling overhead. I have nothing against buzzards. It's just weird (or perhaps wyrd) how the predators seem to be in the ascent.
I associate hares as having longer legs - what we call Jack rabbits ala Bugs Bunny and that cocky hare in Aesops tale with the tortoise. Rabbits are bunnies. Have no idea if it’s correct. Here in the suburbs we have lot of rabbits , I see more here on a walk than at our cottage.
Topic suggestion: What is the best argument you have encounteted for grounding a morality of universal human dignity within a non-Christian materialist worldview? (i.e. "secular" human rights)
This topic was sparked by the date on Paul's 2nd event in Dublin at the bottom of the email; the 4th of June is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It got me thinking about Communist horrors in general since they explicitly ascribe to the whole Marxist "Religion is the opium of the masses" craic (Holodomor, Kulak persecutions, Gulags, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution etc).
Tolstoy's description of religion as how a person relates to the infinite sits well with me, as does his subsequent suggestion that morality is then downstream of this relationship.
I realize there are experiential components that may be ineffable. However, I am specifically curious what good propositional arguments people have read/heard.
Lately I've started reevaluating just how likely it is that I'll live to see the system truly come crashing down. Unlike many, it's something that I grew up almost expecting, not just fantasizing about - even if I haven't done my best to prepare for it. Now it suddenly strikes me as less likely that it'll happen at all.
Take the Black Death. Makes the last three years look like kids playing doctor. Up to a third of the population of Europe died. Did any one of the continent's major institutions fall? The Churches of east and west stayed standing; the feudal order didn't fall apart; the Hundred Years' War continued. Plenty of things that changed over the following centuries could be traced back to that period, but society didn't splinter permanently or get turned upside down.
However naively, I've always drawn a certain comfort from the idea of total civilizational collapse. Yes, there's a good chance I wouldn't survive it myself, but it's always capped by the thought of the survivors starting afresh, eventually, at the local scale, living in a way that's at least vaguely recognizable from history. Most tech-dystopian scenarios, I think, offer a comfort of their own as well: the notion that networks of control will come to feel intense and alien enough that total rebellion will appear as the only sensible response.
Perhaps the scariest scenario of all is what's most likely to happen: that things will keep getting worse in all kinds of ways that'll feel more or less normal; that we'll all be waiting for the point to come where we say "I can't accept this," but it'll pass most of us right by; that even if you do decide and manage to build a life for your children outside the total system, the system will still be there when they grow up, and most of your kids will one day give you a big hug, walk out the front door, and go plug themselves right into that system.
I suppose much of the above is covered by things that Paul's already written and that we've likely all thought about. But I know there are some who take different views of the future, and I'd like to hear from them - particularly those who think it really will all come crashing down.
I have a book from the 1930's which is a collection of travels pieces on various locations in the West. In one of these pieces the author visits Palm Springs, and ponders the significance of movie stars and moguls who go there to dress up as cowboys and "stab themselves with the primitive." What, he asks, is behind this sudden enthusiasm for the desert? His answer is that "Modern civilization has been geared up to such a frightful rate of speed that it is becoming unendurable."
I have adopted that explanation, which I have shortened to "The pace of modern life is unendurable." I find it useful to employ this phrase when someone questions why I don't travel, or why I live a semi-hermit existence. Try it sometime; it just rolls off the tongue.