On the Internet we have seen that many people want to drink smoothies as nourishment. Grinding hard kale leaves with a blender is an excellent idea. There have also been visions that the future might be based on concentrated pills and similar manufactured products and not so much on the organic potatoes one needs to …
By Andy Douglas An anthropology professor of mine once opined that socialism has not yet gotten a chance to show what it can do. We haven’t seen socialism working properly yet. Perhaps that’s right. In a recent blog post, I wrote about the mixed messages attached to the idea of socialism: how socialism has a …
By Roar Bjonnes In the pursuit of global harmony and social progress, the concept of humanism and internationalism emerges as a beacon of progressive hope. Yet, upon closer examination, the ideology of humanism reveals inherent flaws and limitations. P.R. Sarkar, in his seminal works delves into the complexities of humanism, dissecting its various manifestations and …
By Dada Jitendrananda Most people share values of fairness and justice. We want everyone to be able to lead a happy and fulfilling life. The reality for much of the world is that people struggle hard just to make ends meet. Even in advanced economies, stress greatly affects the quality of life. While we have …
By Andy Douglas Audio Version: Is Prout a form of socialism? Socialism with a spiritual face? Or is it something completely different? Anyone who critiques the excesses of capitalism and posits an alternative might be, fairly or unfairly, labeled ‘socialist’, but in truth the question is much more complex. When you hear the word socialism, …
By Dada Jitendrananda This reflection on history was prompted by the vexed debate on the teaching of history that flares up from time to time in the US. In one such eruption, Donald Trump, then US President, referred to the work of the late American historian, Howard Zinn, as propaganda. Zinn is best known for …
Trump Vs Zinn: Time for Neohumanists* to Claim History Read More »
By Roar Bjonnes As many as 70 countries are due to go to elections in 2024. In many of these countries, the choice is simple and twofold — voting for more of the same or a right-wing autocrat who denigrates “the others” and promises better wages and a newly revamped, often religious, nationalism. Just think …
By Dada Jitendrananda I arrived in Japan in 1984 at the height of Japan’s booming economy. Japan’s post-war project had been reconstruction, and development of a world-class economy. By the mid-‘80s, Japan was the manufacturing hub of the world. The gravy train of this economy was such that a street performer working for two months …
A company from Dubai, UAE, called Blue Carbon is buying control over vast areas of land in Africa. Why? On the surface it looks like they want to conserve forests, avoid logging them, but why? It is plain business: Once they own the land and declare it to bind carbon to prevent the climate change, …
By Andy Douglas Off a winding northeastern Missouri county road in the middle of the US, a patchwork expanse of houses, fields and community buildings rises. Outside one of the main buildings, a sign: “Ring bell. If no one answers, pull weeds.” Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is one of the more durable intentional communities in …
Cooperatives and Sustainability: A Way of Life at Dancing Rabbit Read More »
By Dada Vedaprajinananda An August 21, 2023, article in The New Yorker magazine by Ronan Farrow paints a disturbing picture of Elon Musk’s powerful role in some of the most vital areas of public concern. However, as troubling as Musk’s activities are, they are only one example of a larger problem. The article entited “Elon …
By Antii Kivivalli. Eucalyptus trees are native mostly to Australia, but as they seem to grow well and fast and provide therefore an effective source of raw material for the pulp and paper industry, they are widely cultivated in the tropical and temperate world. That means all over the warmer parts of Americas and Europe, …
By Howard Nemon. In 2001, the term BRIC was conceived by a Goldman Sachs economist as a way to keep track of the largest developing countries in the world – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – whose potential could eclipse the Western economic order by 2050. Goldman Sachs, if you are not sure about it, …
By Andy Douglas. Hiphop is fifty! Fifty years ago a musical style was born when African-American youth gathered to create and explore a new way of expressing themselves, and the style has since expanded its influence with tremendous energy to every corner of the world.Though some hiphop lyrics have glorified or celebrated values of materialism …
By Antti Kivivalli. Back in 1945 George Orwell published his novel, Animal Farm, where animals have taken power and and “all animals are equal” – except some animals were “more equal than others”. That was a dystopian allegory of especially the Soviet dictatorship in post-revolution Russia, but it has been quoted a lot ever since. …
By Howard Nemon On August 11, Russia launched its Luna-25 mission that will attempt a soft-landing on the south pole of the moon. In 2019, China, India and Israel all crashed their exploratory vehicles in that same area due to the rough terrain there. The interest in the Moon’s south pole is due to the …
The Space Race is on again – but who will it benefit? Read More »
As the film “Barbie” breaks box office records, now is a good moment to reflect upon the role of corporations in the toy and entertainment industries. Whether you believe the Barbie doll creates unrealistic expectations for girls, or see it as offering a kind of “I can do anything” message of proto-feminism, there are other …
By Shriraksha Mohan As I sat down in a movie theater to watch Christopher Nolan’s movie, Oppenheimer, I had expected to be entertained by Nolan’s cinematic brilliance, as usual. Little did I expect I would leave the theater pondering over humanity’s history of repeatedly giving too much decision-making power to a few individuals, who may …
Oppenheimer: Story of a troubled conscience and mishandled power Read More »