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American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2001)Notes: Personally, I'm enjoying the way Gaiman crosses between the mythological and the film noir road movie, mixing darkness and light and staying as far away from logical presence as possible. The characters have brought me back to fiction after a long break. The fact that it was written and published just prior to 9/11 reveal Gaiman as a prophet of our collective unconscious.Synthetic Biology:
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Edward Morgan Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, “What I Believe” (1938)I believe in aristocracy. . . — if that is the right word, and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power, based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos. Thousands of them perish in obscurity, a few are great names. They are sensitive for others as well as for themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure, and they can take a joke. I give no examples — it is risky to do that — but the reader may as well consider whether this is the type of person he would like to meet and to be, and whether (going further with me) he would prefer that this type should not be an ascetic one.I am against asceticism myself. I am with the old Scotsman who wanted less chastity and more delicacy. I do not feel that my aristocrats are a real aristocracy if they thwart their bodies, since bodies are the instruments through which we register and enjoy the world. Still, I do not insist. This is not a major point. It is clearly possible to be sensitive, considerate and plucky and yet be an ascetic too, and if anyone possesses the first three qualities I will let him in! On they go — an invincible army, yet not a victorious one. The aristocrats, the elect, the chosen, the Best People — all the words that describe them are false, and all attempts to organize them fail. Again and again Authority, seeing their value, has tried to net them and to utilize them as the Egyptian Priesthood or the Christian Church or the Chinese Civil Service or the Group Movement, or some other worthy stunt.But they slip through the net and are gone; when the door is shut, they are no longer in the room; their temple, as one of them remarked, is the holiness of the Heart’s affections, and their kingdom, though they never possess it, is the wide-open world. [full chapter]President Abraham Lincoln, Nov 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.
I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me & the financial institutions at the rear; the latter is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed.
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“Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.” -
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Makes a lot of sense and respects logic | January 31, 2012
The Yugas: Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Present and Future Enlightenment (Paperback) By David Steinmetz and Joseph Selbie
That said, the authors of The Yugas ask for a reappraisal of history as we know it. As someone who studied history, and is familiar with the scientific aspects and theories, as well as mythology in different cultures, it made a lot of sense. However, I can imagine that readers who have not contemplated those areas before will struggle a bit. I can recommend to those readers to Google what you don't know. Then return to the passages that didn't make sense, and after being familiar with a historical period, or scientific assumption which the authors are both testing and linking to the yugas, it actually does make sense. This isn't a book that doesn't challenge you, so don't buy it if you're afraid of mind aches here and there. However, books come to you when you're ready. Fascinating even when you're familiar with the themes and I appreciate the way that they intentionally don't include every fact if it can't be verified using some logical reasoning to their argument. Accessibly written as well. Highly recommended if you're ready to move beyond your frustrations with the human race, history, and scientific arrogance that don't place compassion and happiness anywhere in the equation. Makes a lot of sense.
An excellent overview of new challenges | September 14, 2009
Ideas as Weapons: Influence and Perception in Modern Warfare by G. J. David Jr.
This is an important book for both military and non-military thinkers alike. At its heart, it is showing the many different attempts to come to grips with the changes in modern warfare, and in particular with the role of information operations (IO). The context is, according to most of the writers, the failure of the US government and military to understand the role that information plays in conflicts between non-state and state actors (in particular 'terrorists' and 'insurgents').
The writers also deal with the realization that over-reliance on advanced technology is not the best weapon in attacks by non-state actors. They move the concept of IO beyond current obsessions with computer-network-attacks to the strategies used by non-state actors to leverage popular opinion, policy and the Internet against countries stuck in a state-to-state military response paradigm.
The fact that these actors/terrorists are diverse diffused, even franchised across different legal and cultural systems make one-fit-all military thinking outdated. Also, a failure of senior decision-makers to understand the expertise and growing experience of extremists in IO themselves to manipulate international and domestic audiences, clearly frustrates nearly all the writers in this compilation of essays. This gives their writing focus and strength.
In all there are 43 essays/articles, some taken from military and tactical journals. It's a dense read. The writers are highly experienced in their field, and of course, predominantly from the US military. Even when they represent, from my own perspective, a fairly conservative agenda, they are surprisingly blunt and honest in their assessment of the mess that can - and has happened - when IO is not well understood or resourced.
The editors have divided up their subject from four angles: Geopolitical; Strategic; Operational; and Tactical. As a non-military reader I related more to the first two sections, which covers such interesting topics as a debate between the role of Public Affairs and IO; the use of Marketing in IO; and the need for international legal frameworks for IO. I especially enjoyed Col Keith Oliver's 'Are We Outsmarting Ourselves?'. I least enjoyed the term 'kinetic' as a euphemism for violent conflict.
The reader gains brief, but comprehensive, historical reviews of the growth of Islamic terrorism, and broader military history. It also asks painfully honest questions which take more responsibility for mistakes in both foreign policy and military campaigns than I've heard voiced in the media before. The essays on Iraq are an x-ray into a painful learning curve that many outside of the military would not have known existed. I certainly didn't realize that legal, ethical, even moral, religious and philosophical points would be raised in this context. So I was very surprised by the breadth and scope of the writing.
The second two sections informed me about the way that current US military personnel handle IO on a practical day-to-day level but will most resonate with those with combat experience. Most deal with counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and unveil what most in the world have assumed went wrong in the US's dealings with the population and the 'insurgents'.
I am not a military or conservative reader. I am a creative worker reading this book as research on new visual work that attempts to find a better understanding of the world we live in. I am also more of a peace activist, and one of those people not expected to read this book. I don't like war. I did not find all the essays non-offensive. This book is, however, a great example of effective IO. If nothing else, it's educational. It also makes sense. The editors can be proud of crafting a book which, although dense, is probably going to be the best book on this subject for some time.
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