MetaFilter posts tagged with Civilization

The Mystery of Zomia

andoatnp — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:10:37 -0800

"In the lawless mountain realms of Asia, a Yale professor finds a case against civilization"

Zomia is a rugged swath of Asia that for 2,000 years has remained culturally aloof from the traditional centers of power and the pull of empires. Its inhabitants, Asia’s “hill people,” have earned a reputation for egalitarianism, insurrection, and independence. Up until the second half of the 20th century, many of the societies there remained nonliterate and supported themselves through trade, smuggling, and Iron-Age practices like slash-and-burn agriculture... In Zomia’s small societies, with their simple technologies, anti-authoritarian tendencies, and oral cultures, Scott sees not a world forgotten by civilization, but one that has been deliberately constructed to keep the state at arm’s length.

I say potato, you say...potato!

Gyan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:46:09 -0800

Would it be inherently evil if there were not 6,000 spoken languages but one?

employee ownership

kliuless — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:44:35 -0800

Reinventing the Firm - "drawing on Ronald Coase, a firm is a political response to an economic problem: managerial power and hierarchy is one efficient way of dealing with the uncertainties attached to the employment relationship. But this doesn't prevent us from considering alternative political settlements, that are potentially more democratic and more productive." also see: Clay Shirky, Ronald Coase and, err, me (previously 1|2|3 via mm & ev) Why the corporation?

Charles Perrow's Organizing America: Wealth, Power, and the Origins of Corporate Capitalism (2002) offers an historical account of... how the American economy came to feature the large corporation as its central business organization... Here's his summary statement:
Our economic organizations -- business and industry -- concentrate wealth and power; socialize employees and customers alike to meet their needs; and pass off to the rest of society the cost of their pollution, crowding, accidents, and encouragement of destructive life styles. In the vaunted "free market" economy of the United States, regulation of business and industry to prevent or mitigate this market failure is relatively ineffective, as compared to that enacted by other industrialized countries. (1-2)
...Perrow argues that in the United States the national political economy was led to create a system that gave enormous and very lightly regulated power to large organizations and corporations; that, once established, these organizations were very capable of defending their rights and freedom of action; and that the corporations exercise power at every level in American society. Corporations and large organizations wield micro-power over the tens of millions of Americans who work within them, meso-power over the environmental status of communities and regions and the consumption patterns of individuals, and macro-power over the direction that legislation and policy takes. And this degree of power is now deeply entrenched:
Belatedly, the Progressive movement of the early twentieth century sought to redress the power imbalances and the costly externalities for workers and communities. But the organizational infrastructure of the nation was not to be seriously disturbed or even ideologically challenged, up to the present. A society with small- and modest-sized firms, regional rather than national markets, and with civic welfare provisions that are a right of citizenship rather than a benefit of employment -- a society with wealth and power distributed widely -- is now out of the question. Large bureaucratic organizations, public and private, will be our fate for the foreseeable future. It might have been otherwise. (228)
And finally, Perrow argues that this system was not economically or technologically inevitable. Networks of smaller firms and organizations could satisfy the needs for efficient production and innovation that a robust and dynamic economy presents. And a substantially less centralized political economy would be favorable to democracy and modern quality of life.

notably, sarkozy is echoing and espousing these sentiments exactly: "We're living in one of those epochs where certitudes have vanished... We have to reinvent, to reconstruct everything. The central issue is (to pick) the way of development, the model of society, the civilization we want to live in." so, at his behest, stiglitz, sen & giovannini were tasked with framing out the issues towards a better measure of well-being. [1,2] as stiglitz sez: "GDP statistics were originally introduced to measure market economic activity. But they are increasingly thought of as a measure of societal well-being, which they are not... Our economy is supposed to increase our well being; it is not an end in itself." meanwhile, obama exhorts: "Normalcy cannot lead to complacency." cuz, at the end of the day, we're all in it together :P cheers!

For kids

kliuless — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:43:25 -0800

The story of stuff and how it's currently being played out between the political economies of China and the US (G2 'Chimerica') in an illuminating Fallows vs. Ferguson cage match. + B O N U S SAGAN

The Walled Cities: Keeping Out The Joneses

Effigy2000 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:30:02 -0800

The first human settlements... before the bronze age, before the iron age and even probably before the stone age, didn’t happen because people liked each other’s company. "As the old saying goes, there's safety in numbers... and fortifications. "If you have any doubt about how wood, stone and later even steel walls helped shape human civilization, all you need to do is take a close look at most of our cities, especially the older ones."

ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody

y2karl — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:32:36 -0800

From the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody - This is the report in its entirety. [pdf]

From Mark Danner: US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites and The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means

...It is the most damning and credible indictment of the American government to appear in years - more damning because it was prepared in the usual secrecy and not intended as a public document; more damning because it comes not from Jane Mayer or Mark Danner or Dana Priest or this blog, but from the most credible and respected human rights watchdog in the world: the International Committee for the Red Cross. It is broad, meticulous evidence of pre-meditated, illegal, and immoral war crimes that were then subject to cover-up and lies at the highest levels. It makes Nixon's crimes look petty. You no longer have any excuse to look away or move on. Either America deals with this or it does not. It is a test of character and integrity for the country and for the political elite. It is a test for the new president.
Andrew Sullivan, among many others...

"So Say We All"

zarq — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:07:01 -0800

Fantasy Meets Reality. The very best works of science fiction illuminate controversial current events and the intricacies of human nature. So, it's no surprise that the United Nations Public Information Department and the Sci Fi (SyFy?) Channel co-hosted a panel yesterday evening on "humanitarian concerns" at the UN, with the creators and actors of Battlestar Galactica -- a show which regularly explores those themes. A 2-hour video webcast is archived here. (RealPlayer video). Entertainment Weekly has an additional write-up. SciFi.com will eventually have a transcript up of the event. The first link in this post is a review by the television critic of the NJ Star-Ledger. More on why the UN decided to host the panel. Topics discussed last night include human rights; terrorism; children and armed conflict; and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faiths. The panel was moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, with Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, Ron Moore and David Eick participating.

Did earthquakes give rise to Rome?

stbalbach — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:31:02 -0800

A Jared Diamond-like theory of history - did earthquakes contribute to the rise of ancient civilizations? Thirteen of 15 major ancient civilizations were clustered mostly along tectonic boundaries. "It's not a connection that seems to make much sense at first glance. But you can't ignore the pattern--look at a map, and it just jumps out at you." (Abstract).

Eric Force calculated the probability that the sites were randomly located, given that plenty of suitable land was available for settlement. The number crunching suggests that 13 of the 15 sites aren't the product of chance. Instead, ancient people appear to have chosen to snuggle up close to a tectonic crack-- often within 75 kilometers--despite the risk of quakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. (The exceptions were in ancient Egypt and China.)

Great Civilizations of Ancient Worlds

netbros — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:25:46 -0800

The ancient web is an online resource for students, teachers, and anyone interested in the cultures of the ancient world. With the Olympics fast approaching, here is an opportunity to learn more about the past 4500 years of Chinese civilization. Or how the Celtiberians would get drunk and eat raw meat before going to war. 24 ancient civilizations in all.

Captain Kirks Alien Mysteries

Artw — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:00:05 -0800

With all the crystal skulls, nazca lines and such at the box office these days now might be the ideal time to reacquaint yourself with the theories of Erich von Däniken. What better way to do it than by watching William Shatners Mysteries of the Gods ( Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10)(MULTI LINK YOUTUBE SHATNERFEST)

Koyaanisqatsi

phrontist — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:59:12 -0800

Koyaanisqatsi (wiki, previously)

Re-Connections

McLir — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:38:07 -0800

Re-Connections [1 2 3 4 5 6 7, YouTube]. Interviews with James Burke at the 25th anniversary of his landmark series Connections and The Day the Universe Changed. [Previously]

The New Tribal Revolution

Foci for Analysis — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:57:13 -0800

Is Neo-tribalism [rand.org, PDF, 297 KB] humanity's future? An ideology influenced by the Ishmael series by Daniel Quinn and that predicts the collapse of society and the necessity of ”walking away”, it's growing globally with neo-tribes already established. The Anthropik Tribe's goal is to ultimately form a "functional hunter-gatherer tribe in the future". Anthropik is part of The Appalachian Confederation, a /neo-tribal league/tribe of tribes/rhizome/ with it's own council, annual festival and plans for an army. Also, check out this movie about modern tribalism.

To the Person Sitting in Darkness

homunculus — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:15:36 -0800

"The Blessings-of-Civilization Trust, wisely and cautiously administered, is a Daisy. There is more money in it, more territory, more sovereignty, and other kinds of emolument, than there is in any other game that is played. But Christendom has been playing it badly of late years, and must certainly suffer by it, in my opinion. She has been so eager to get every stake that appeared on the green cloth, that the People who Sit in Darkness have noticed it – they have noticed it, and have begun to show alarm. They have become suspicious of the Blessings of Civilization."

History of Western Civilization Video Series

Chinese Jet Pilot — Thu, 31 May 2007 15:13:16 -0800

The Western Tradition, an outstanding 52-part instructional video series about the history of western civilization, is available as free streaming video.

Goodbye, free time.

boo_radley — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:17:23 -0800

Vox Imperium A pretty deep web based civilization game.

Apocalypse how?

spacewaitress — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 06:37:29 -0800

Six Visions of the End: Fall Down Six Times, an essay by Ran Prieur, describes six possible scenarios for the near future: Worst Case ("Meanwhile computer technology keeps accelerating, leading by 2050 to an insane and nearly all-powerful artificial intelligence, which exterminates all life on Earth except a single human, who it keeps alive to torture for all eternity: you."), Ridiculous Best Case ("In 2016 Dean steps down and the new president is an anarchist who spends eight years peacefully dismantling the federal government and building local systems that make central control irrelevant and impossible."), Naive Sci-Fi Utopia ("Everyone can live forever, and have kids, and enjoy wide open spaces. No one is sure how this is possible, but it probably has something to do with the Mayan calendar or the word "quantum.""), and three others. Whether or not you agree with his vision, the exercise of imagining different futures is a useful one that might help us see a way through the multiple crises the Earth is going through. What does your apocalypse look like?

Who's Poor?

Gyan — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 23:19:54 -0800

The Measurement of Poverty

MathFilter(edout)

daksya — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:56:00 -0800

The Value of Algebra: "Gabriela, sooner or later someone's going to tell you that algebra teaches reasoning. This is a lie propagated by, among others, algebra teachers."

The New Face of World War

Gyan — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 01:38:07 -0800

World War IV As Fourth-Generation Warfare

Wheat

Gyan — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 13:33:14 -0800

The Story of Wheat

Somethnig for the new year

halekon — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:33:12 -0800

Collapse of civilization: Not necessarily a bad thing Many will no doubt find the foregoing discussion of collapse depressing or pessimistic. In “How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse”, John Michael Greer hints at why this is, writing, “Even within the social sciences, the process by which complex societies give way to smaller and simpler ones has often been presented in language drawn from literary tragedy, as though the loss of sociocultural complexity necessarily warranted a negative value judgment. This is understandable, since the collapse of civilizations often involves catastrophic human mortality and the loss of priceless cultural treasures, but like any value judgment it can obscure important features of the matter at hand.” Greer goes on to characterize collapse in terms of ecological succession. …Collapse happens precisely because it improves our lives—and it happens when the alternative is no longer tolerable.

Museum of the African Diaspora

trip and a half — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 21:08:21 -0800

MoAD is San Francisco's newest museum. The Museum of the African Diaspora is the latest addition to the SOMA neighborhood's expanding cultural riches, and promises to be fascinating (and, as far as I can tell, unique in the world). [more inside]

My daddy loves his Civ more than he loves me

WolfDaddy — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:38:25 -0800

We believe that a power greater than Sid Meier can restore us to sanity. Yeah, World of Warcraft may currently be ruining your life, but I'd bet good money that over the long haul Civilization and other games by Sid Meier have ruined more lives than that upstart. Don't give in! NO MORE TURNS!

National Geographic on Africa

Gyan — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:35:19 -0800

National Geographic has a special issue on Africa out this month. There's also their Africa resource site.