Racism et al.

It seems that racism has been in the news on a regular basis for some time. Pick any starting point – perhaps something obvious like the murders at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Since, there have been a number of race riots similar to Ferguson, the Trump racist movement, citizen backlash to the Muslims just in principle, and now the Boston treatment of black baseball players. Donald is doing his best to stir anti Mexican racism but that seems to be limping along. Still, unfair treatment of Hispanics runs deep in American culture.

Another prejudice raising its head is among conservative religious movements. There is an obvious attempt to make the US a theocracy. Why our representatives don’t stop this on Constitutional grounds is a quandary. We should never have put “In God We Trust” on our money. Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s.” Can we agree we don’t need money in heaven?

Third, there is a violent class war going on and the common folk are losing big time. To save space, mariner will just mention Bernie – and Donald’s proposed tax reform – which doesn’t seem too out of line to the Republican representatives.

All this commotion seems elevated. In a decade or two, our economy is likely to fail; our role as an influential cultural influence around the world will dwindle; automation will decimate the workforce if redefining the relationship between income and jobs has not occurred.

It is like a home overrun by fleas which preoccupy us while the house burns down unattended.

Prejudice, of course, is more potent an interruption than fleas. Yet must we reconcile these ancient misbehaviors before we notice our burning nation?

Mariner takes the position that both can be addressed at the same time:

An intelligent, internationally balanced immigration policy will quell or at least placate the paranoia against foreign immigration – something the US desperately needs to help with its future economy.

Black racism is as strong as it ever was. Mariner doubts this deeply ingrained class structure will diminish until all the white guys in the victory photo for health reform are dead. As to Dixie, it’s more a money issue. If the South had tried manufacturing earlier instead of trying to grow crops without the slave economy, maybe things would be slightly different today. We tend to forget the intensity of this racial divide – intense enough for southern states to secede from their nation and suffer a civil war. A growing rate of interracial marriages seems to be the only positive strategy.

The severely imbalanced economy is the most dangerous issue. Combined with automation and international corporatism, the US could be an economic has been by 2050. Knowing that it takes a decade or two to significantly modify an economy, 2050 is frighteningly close. A real, undeniable statistic researched and declared many times is the fact that from 1939 to 1980, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population received 30 percent of income growth while the remaining 90 percent received 70 percent of income growth. Economically, things seemed to be working fine.

From 1980 (Reagan) to 2017, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population received 90 percent of growth income while the remaining 90 percent received less and less over that time. Today, 90 percent of the US population receives 40 percent less in gross adjusted income than they did in 1979.

This issue of a balanced sharing of the economy continues to be buried by all US governments – Federal, State and Local. Especially during the eight year filibuster of Barack by a do-no-business Republican Congress and now by the same Congress and an authoritarian, ignorant and immoral President.

The undeniable truth is that the real holdup in improving racism, balancing the concepts of freedom of religion and the existence of state authority, the clash between working classes and missing income, is the US Congress. It is a Congress dominated by the Reagan philosophy of culture and economics – imposed 37 years ago and by any measure clearly defunct today.

Until the Congress is completely revamped with modern politicians who understand 2017 racism, religious conflict and class struggles will continue. The fact that Donald is still around is another indicator of the antiquated Republicans stonewalling – their only Standard Operating Procedure.

Ancient Mariner

The New Elephant

It has taken a few days for mariner to restore his awareness of the major themes of society and world events. Surprisingly, his attention is drawn not to irritating politics or immoral economic behavior or disregard for the meaning of life – his attention is drawn to demographics. Global population patterns have become the elephant in the room and will dictate the quality of national life in every nation – not in the future but already – now!

US citizens already have a sense of the demographics issue caused not by population alone but by the emerging wave of joblessness caused by automation. There will be too many people not contributing to the economy but still dependent on it for survival. Economic solutions aside, there simply will not be enough employed younger people earning and spending dollars to sustain a robust economy.

The US is not alone. Every nation in the top twenty GNP has a similar issue: the shape of the population leans toward older citizens and the younger generations are not plentiful enough to sustain either the economy or the older citizens. China, Japan and Germany, in particular, face an almost instantaneous shift between generations in about 30 years that surely will affect their economies. Demographically, one country stands poised to expand its economy many times over during the next 100 years: India.

Some numbers:

In 1965 the world population stood at 3.3 billion; today it is 7.3 billion.

In 2011 the average age of the world population was 32; by 2100 it will be 42.

Because China played with population via national mandates (first, grow the largest population, then one child per family), the nation will have difficulty sustaining a world-leading economy. In 2026, China will have 316 million citizens over age 60. That’s close to the entire US population.

America’s population is growing because more people are being born than are dying and because immigrants, most in their late teens or early 20s, are still coming to the United States. This combination means that the American population is younger than in other developed nations. In 2001, 21 percent of the population in the United States was under the age of 15. This compares with 18 percent in Europe and 15 percent in Japan.

To consider US immigration policy in a different light than racist invasion, the immigration policy should be liberalized and made part of a demographic plan for the nation’s future. Still, other forces like capitalistic oligarchy must be forced to participate more rationally in the nation’s economy. Further, the definition of work and the link between ‘earning’ and ‘working’ will have to be redefined otherwise the impact of automation will have a devastating effect regardless of demographics.

Stephen Chan, an international expert on population and demographics, states that immigration (perhaps a better term is ‘migration’) will continue to be a large event in international life (he refers to the current immigration out of the Middle East and Northern Africa). Consider Africa – the entire continent including central, large primitive areas where culture is still based on iron-age tribalism. These populations have no national economy to help them so their only solution is to immigrate (migrate) to nations where there may be a better opportunity to survive.

One of the more important areas of policy that must be expanded and modified to prepare for immigration-supported populations is education. The mariner suspects that the whole framework of familiar grades, secondary schools, trade schools, and colleges, is not capable of supporting the new requirements by which populations are to be educated. The slate chalkboard cannot compete with the Internet and modern technology. Nor will it prepare students and retirees for the new world of work.

So, whenever it happens that the US has representatives that understand today’s world and are making rational plans to manage it; until we have a statesman President; until we have a liberal Supreme Court; until we have state legislators who don’t keep their head where the Sun don’t shine – hold on to that slate chalkboard.

Ancient Mariner

 

One Nation, One God, One Answer.

Originally, 15 thousand years or more ago, religion, politics, cultural norms and common behavior among neighbors, all had one source of evaluation – one undeniable power that dictated the rules for ethics, politics, religion, even dickering with a neighbor. Fallible but relatively consistent, the source was a designated priest of sorts. The priest interpreted what was acceptable, right, timely, or not. Having a local ‘judge’ of proper morality was very convenient – very much like shopping at Walmart.

This model of maintaining morality and ethical behavior still exists in parts of the world and still is convenient. In truth, however, it is uneven in application and so dependent on unproven myth and prejudice that it can be as brutal as to condemn women and children to death as presumed witches on the whim of the priest. In perspective, this practice is more sacrificial than judgmental.

Singular authority to pass moral judgment exists in modern times as well. Excluding cultish movements that come and go, covens and the like, there are a few places where ethics and morality are meted locally. For example, in many common Amish parishes, the local parish is led by a local team comprised of a bishop and two or three ministers – all drawn from the local congregation. The interpretive power of this leadership is far ranging and covers virtually all behavior and beliefs of parish members. Further, to sustain the culture, the state has little if any authority under normal circumstances.

An irregularity in Amish practices made the news several years ago. It seemed an older brother was regularly raping his younger sister. When caught and brought before the leadership, the brother confessed his sins, was forgiven by the leadership (as God would forgive) and allowed to return to his family. As you might expect, the boy, forgiven of his behavior, resumed raping his sister. This forgiveness loop was exercised often and resulted in the state interfering – a far greater sin not worthy of forgiveness.

Today, Western Culture is in turmoil. No one, it seems, is responsible for ethical behavior, the meaning of fairness, or protection of human rights. The two largest religions, Christianity and Islam, remain embroiled in antique rituals and are preoccupied with property rights from gold plated art to the clitoris of young women. The religions have been left without moral leverage by extremely rapid changes in technology that have stripped the gears of normal cultural change.

What remain intact are the false religions of capitalism, corporatism and authoritarianism. None have moral constructs for human wellbeing. It is the nature of our technological improvements that it grows easier to skim massive wealth from old, labor sharing economies – leaving hundreds of millions of people with questionable survivability.

As a consequence, across the western world populism has emerged as the disrupting force it should be – rising only in the midst of highly imbalanced wellbeing and fairness. As usual, the populists want a ‘person’ to be able to straighten things out; the status quo abusers are not to be trusted.

It feels nice to have a priest with moral authority in place again. It’s nice to have a Walmart in town again. Alas, the simple solution never works. The old priest method ‘solves’ problems quickly and authoritatively but, as suggested above, the singular priest in charge is a questionable choice – especially today when singular authority over a planet, nuclear war, cultural values with no roots, and millions of uncared for humans around the globe are not the type of issues left to one priest’s whim.

But history will repeat itself at the visceral levels of human behavior. So here we are.

Ancient Mariner

 

One Species

There is only one species on Planet Earth: Rocks.
Born in violent conflict
Tempered by fire
Riding through the Universe
Afraid of nothing
Nurtured by its planet.
 
 

 

Ancient Mariner will be back soon.

 

FYI

 

From the Atlantic:

A President’s Self-Evaluation: In his Time interview, Trump brushed aside criticism that he doesn’t always adhere to facts and evidence: “I’m a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right.”

Donald has yet, and likely has never corrected his own error because he believes in all sincerity he has never made an error nor apologized for defaming someone with false accusations. If pressed, he blames someone else – like all of America’s military brass for the failure of the raid in Yemen that was on hold until he authorized it. – mariner

What Are Work Requirements For?: Politicians have long debated “the practical and moral utility of requiring people to work in order to receive government benefits.” Now, a last-minute provision added to the GOP health-care bill would impose these requirements on Medicaid enrollees. (Vann R. Newkirk II)

Every form of media and education is loaded with debate about a soon approaching future where there literally will be far fewer jobs than there are people who want to work.

Both political parties are comparable to hoodlum street gangs. There was a time when the citizen could at least believe that politicians were honorable statesmen responsive to the needs of the citizens and the nation. – mariner

– – – –

From Food and Water Watch:

By Mary Grant

01.25.17

The Trump administration has declared war on the environment and the safety of our drinking water. His team put together an aggressive action plan for the EPA, stripping away public protections and critical resources. 

According to a memo leaked on Monday, Trump’s team has proposed cutting $513 million from EPA’s “states and tribal assistance grants.” These grants support a range of projects to protect our air and water resources – from protecting wetlands and beaches to preventing radon-related lung cancer. It includes the Public Water Supervision Program that supports states every year to help enforce drinking water regulations. For example, Arkansas’s Department of Health received a $947,000 grant for fiscal year 2016 and $180,000 for fiscal year 2017 so far. Ohio’s environmental agency has received nearly $500,000 for fiscal year 2017 so far from this one grant program alone.

The State and Tribal Assistance Grants also form the backbone of the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs, the primary source of federal funding for our water and sewer systems. Every single state relies on funding from these programs to assist community water and sewer projects – from helping the small town of Edgerton, Wyo. remove bacteria from its water supply to helping St. Bernard Parish, La., replace its old, deteriorated water lines. 

And:

While gutting these vital water funding programs, Trump’s team is also advancing a proposal to let Wall Street take over our public infrastructure. Trump’s policy advisors have outlined a scheme to give massive tax breaks to Wall Street firms that take over infrastructure projects. It would give Wall Street a tax credit of $0.82 for every $1 of equity invested into a project. 

This privatization scam will benefit only Wall Street. Widespread privatization of water systems would lead to large rate hikes, loss of local control, loss of transparency and accountability, loss of jobs and deterioration of customer service quality. Water bills would skyrocket to allow Wall Street to profit, leading to unaffordable bills and more water shutoffs. 

Privatization will not help Flint or other communities address their water problems. Private investors will not put money into replacing water lines in low-income cities. They would cherry-pick service areas to avoid cash-strapped neighborhoods where households can’t afford to pay the cost of privatized service. 

And, despite claims to the contrary, the tax-credit scheme will cost taxpayers a lot of money. The plan would not pay for itself. Wall Street players would just shift their investments to infrastructure and not necessarily increase the amount of money invested in the economy overall. There would be no increased revenue from income taxes on investor profits. 

Trump’s plans amount to a massive windfall for Wall Street, and combined with his proposed cuts, they endanger our public water systems.

See more at

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/trump-attacks-safety-our-drinking-water

The mariner could go on… and on… and on. Using a quote he has used before and likely will use again:

Remember Bob Edwards? He said one of mariner’s favorites:

Now I know what a statesman is; he’s a dead politician. We need more statesmen.

– – – –

At this moment mariner is consciously fearful of authoritarianism. The US Congress is antiquated both in age and culture. The “establishment” is broken and useless. We have forgotten how energetic, positive, and problem-solving this Congress was in the 1970’s and 80’s. Congressmen were young then, full of vison, in the midst of the culture they knew. The computer age left them behind – old in years, fragile in wisdom, not functional in the high speed, international world of a new culture, a new age. The Congress is defunct. Big money is taking over and will prefer oligarchy, authoritarianism, and even sharper, unfeeling capitalism.

 It is an ignorant, uneducated electorate who must save a democracy they do not understand in the midst of an alien and dangerous new world.

 Mariner is afraid.

 

The Wisdom of Frugality

The Wisdom of Frugality is the title of a second book in a group of readings that may provide a general understanding of today’s world, its philosophical, financial, social, and moral incentives.[1]

Harari was tough reading.

The reader will have a completely different experience reading Emrys Westacott’s The Wisdom of Frugality. Emrys’ writing style is smooth, his points are philosophical, and his descriptions of frugality are expressed pleasantly.

An Evelyn Wood instructor once described Evelyn’s specific method for reading as “consuming and spitting out the book drained of all its information.”

One of Wood’s steps in quickly reading nonfiction and comprehending it as well is to read the author’s outline within the text. This means discovering which sentence in a paragraph contains the primary thought, read that sentence (habitually almost all writers designate the same sentence in every paragraph) then move to the next paragraph. Mariner uses this technique most of the time – not going back afterward to the beginning to read the text normally except to check some point in the text. However, Emrys’ book was so entertaining and filled with small gems of insight that mariner frequently found himself falling off the outline routine to read every word.

– – – –

In Emrys Westacott’s book, The Wisdom of Frugality, Why less is more, more or less, he examines why, for more than two millennia, so many philosophers and people with a reputation for wisdom have been advocating frugality and simple living as the key to the good life. He also looks at why most people have ignored them but argues that, in a world facing environmental crisis, it finally may be time to listen to the advocates of a simpler way of life.

The early chapters are definitional as any good philosopher starts an analysis. Living frugally is a surprisingly diverse subject. One must first distinguish between moral reasons and prudent reasons for advocating frugality. If we tell a child to share a toy, that is a moral reason, that is, it is right to share or a duty to share – that reasoning stands on its own and is moral in nature. On the other hand, if there is motive to share, perhaps we want the other children to like her and then they will share their toys with her. There is an ulterior motive in the reason to share. That is prudent in nature.

Westacott says that morality or prudence must be clear in one’s mind to sustain a clear sense of purpose for our frugality. Natural rules of behavior and implementation go astray and frugality becomes misguided if one does not understand why they are being frugal. Westacott goes on in his book to provide many illustrations of moral and prudential frugality that are full of refinement and further define frugality.

From Socrates to Thoreau we are told that ‘the good life’ is a moral and prudent life. This behavior is seen as beneficial to ourselves and wise, benevolent and trustworthy by others yet we consciously choose not to be seen as having these qualities. In a culture lacking in these qualities, society becomes weakened by greed, pride, and the degradation of its institutions. Inevitably society becomes fragmented and suffers the ignobility of economic classification that creates haves and have-nots.

Perhaps more than any other element of our culture, the issue of morality and prudence – frugality – lies at the base of our difficulties. Even on a quote calendar, the presence of morality and prudence pops up:

From Wednesday March 17 2017:

…On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. David Foster Wallace.

When you finish reading Westacott’s book, truth will mean something real and valuable.

The Wisdom of Frugality, Why Less is More – More or Less

By Emrys Westacott

published 2016 by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street

Princeton NJ 08540

ISBN 9780691155081

Mariner recommends giving to Princeton that which is Princeton’s and unto Amazon that which is Amazon’s. Order directly from Princeton at

www.press.princeton.edu

or visit your public library.

Ancient Mariner

[1] [The first was Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari. It is a book about the future as Harari sees it. While the author is straight forward, logical and takes into account H. sapiens’ history and achievements, he offers little solace from a world chained to a primitive part of the human brain; we are not as morally flexible as we think when it comes to survival and domination in behalf of self. Contemporary greed witnessed in autocracies, oligarchies and growing separation between classes reflects Harari’s view of humankind. He believes the common man will be cast off because he is useless in an automated world.]

The Emerging Worldwide Government of Oligarchy.

Ever since the Illinois Governorship was bought effortlessly by five billionaires…Ever since the Koch brothers manipulated the 2016 campaign…Ever since Donald came on the scene…and looking back, ever since the 2008 recession was caused by banking and investment behavior unconstrained by national policy…Ever since East European black marketing and money laundering reflected amounts soaring into the hundreds of billions of dollars – using authoritarian or illegal support from nations in most cases…Ever since the financing of war and conflagration receives half of its financial support outside the legal corridors of legitimate international budgeting, mariner has never had a clear picture of what the tides of power represent. One thing is certain: This is not your father’s cold war.

IT was Donald who made things confusing. A friend of the mariner’s suggested that Donald may have a serious affliction with Barack. Clearly racist, harassed by the Government because of Donald’s netherworld businesses, taking a skillful beating from Barack at the National Press Club dinner, unable to win clearly with tactical lying techniques, and unable to use bribery, in his own mind Donald was having trouble ‘winning’ against Barack.

Uninvestigated by the press during the campaign (intelligence agencies without doubt have had Donald in their sights for some time because of his relationships with others outside the US – particularly Russia and ex-Soviet countries where oligarchy holds national power), we saw nothing but buffoonery. Donald wasn’t good at this. How had he made it to the final round? And then elected President? It’s another rag to chew but the chief turtle and the vampire made certain that Congress brought the nation to a standstill for eight years. Perhaps this state of affairs would have allowed Bill the Cat to be President!

So Donald – for whatever reason – switched from big time mobbery to governing nations. He didn’t fit but he did bring attention to the fact that there wasn’t one but two political movements above control by national governments: corporations and oligarchy. Each had compatible ethical structures and the wealth to play together.

This is where the mariner has an incomplete picture. Governments are losing a grip on the shape of mankind’s future. A few hundred years ago, Kings, Dukes, Sheiks, and Far East warlords fought battles over the riches of the time. Sometimes there was even an overlay of ethos and morality. In today’s competitions, the entire planet is the battlefield and all living things that reside on this planet are fuel.

It’s no longer spears or gunpowder or nuclear weapons, it is wealth. How does one inculcate a dollar bill with ethos, divinity, morality, or even evaluate the true value of a pleasant “Good Morning.”

Ancient Mariner

 

 

The Rise of Authoritarianism.

Chicken Little is whimpering in the henhouse. He whimpers more loudly when another indication of encroaching authoritarianism occurs. Online access to the press already is shut down. Now it’s the knowledge, documentation and historical application of policies that are being selectively destroyed – especially in the EPA and Banking Secretariats as well as Health and Human Services – in all areas of government that do not agree with the new administration and eliminated at the hands of its Secretariat henchmen. One thinks of the valuable statuary, temples, mosques, and ancient documentation destroyed by the several wars in the Middle East. Is Donald no better?

What is global warming? Look it up on government EPA websites; it has been summarily erased on order of the Secretary, an oil advocate of ill repute as States Attorney of Oklahoma. Scientists in every discipline are rushing to replicate and distribute scientific information so it can’t be completely destroyed. Even NASA and NOAA are losing data and functionality. At this point, Donald has unleashed the Four Horsemen to wreak their havoc on anything unacceptable to the administration.

The nation waits apprehensively as destruction of a political culture is dismantled day by day. Citizens expected a repair to the phenomenon called Donald, a socially misfit King; citizens expected it would take some time. It has been long enough; destruction of knowledge, Constitutional rights, and under-the-table shenanigans with US banking and international money payoffs already occurs.

One would think every elected politician would be committed to shutting down the authoritarian attack on our nation. Instead the republican Congress tries to tear apart the one success of civil legislation by removing the financial underpinnings of the Affordable Care Act while at the same time dragging its feet on anything smelling of removing Donald.

The mariner has had much grief over the decades with an electorate that fails him. He has no confidence in the electorate now. He would be glad to say, “You voted for it. You deserve it.” But not everyone deserves this. Will the 2018 election be any different? Lord bless us if Donald and the four henchmen aren’t out of office by then. If they aren’t, blame the Republican Party – if it’s still allowed.

Ancient Mariner

 

Here and There

The mariner attended his county’s off-year caucus a few days ago. There were about 80 or so in attendance. As he told a friend, the room was full of millennials – from the last millennium. If the Democratic Party is to “capture” the Bernie crowd, the union crowd and the under thirty-five crowd, they have a long way to go in 20 months.

Credit is due the 20th century centenarians. They came from all over the county and the dialogue included fixing the election process across the state. A few comments focused on how to increase party voters but the insights were curtailed by the attendee’s ages and the chasm between 1940’s culture and that of 2017. In a letter to his Congressman a few weeks ago, mariner suggested organizing the party not from the core members but from the groups of advocates who already are vocal and active about important party centric issues.

As to Donald, his libertine and selfish lifestyle is beginning to weaken his command of the netherworld. Amos believes, though, the art of the deal will allow him to abscond without persecution.

Mariner can think only of Yuval Noah Harari’s philosophy[1] when he listens to Paul Ryan expound on the virtues of the new health bill replacing the Affordable Care Act. Paul was pleased that the funding scheme slowly squeezed out the poorer half of the citizenry and the elderly. As Seth Meyers asked, “Doesn’t he understand how insurance works?”

Still, as other nations can attest, an unbalanced population, whether economically or actuarially, is dangerous to a nation’s wellbeing. The US must identify the correct solution. Mariner believes the oligarchy must be disassembled. Harari would think the gesture hopeless.

 

LIBERAL ARTS SECTION

Mariner encourages the reader to develop a daily route of web sites that are useful, entertaining, informative, and feed the spirit. On the mariner’s route is an entertaining and sometimes whimsical stop called “Arts and Letters Daily.” The web site offers several articles in an email distribution once each week. Subscriptions are free.[2] This week’s list is replicated below:

 

Of Ice and Art

From Burke’s sublime to Freud’s unconscious to Hemingway’s theory of artistic ingenuity, the iceberg has come to represent the creative process. Why?

 

Against Everything

Professions colonize our imaginations. So thought Ivan Illich, who was against schools, medicine, transportation, law, psychotherapy, and the media.

 

In Praise of ‘Useless’ Knowledge

The best scientific minds — Einstein, Faraday, Planck — have been driven by curiosity and intellectual challenge, not practical applications.

 

Gender Matters

Think of a powerful person. You probably pictured a man. To empower women, a different way of thinking about power is called for. Mary Beard explains.

 

The Impediments of Style

Terry Eagleton’s writing proceeds by jokey elaboration, winking asides, and absurdist flights of fancy. It’s fun, but frustrating.

Copyright © 2017 Arts and Letters Daily, All rights reserved.

 

Ancient Mariner

[1] See recent posts, Samples that confirm Harari 3-9-17 and Yuval Noah Harari talks about the Future 2-22-17.

[2] See: http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8cbd654fc43afe6be9455ae3b&id=07ca33e09e&e=af427aa89f

Samples that confirm Harari

A few posts ago, mariner introduced the writings of Yuval Noah Harari, a renowned futurist who has provided books, articles, lectures and opinions about how to interpret today’s reality and project the interpretations into mankind’s future. His new book is Homo Deus; he was interviewed in The Atlantic magazine for February 2017.

Harari takes a simplistic view of humanity, saying that humans may think fancy thoughts in the frontal lobe, but human behavior does not roam far from opinions controlled in the Hindbrain (Reptilian Brain). As you might guess from its name, it’s a piece of brain anatomy that we share with reptiles and is the most primitive. It’s in charge of our primal instincts and most basic functions – things like the instincts of survival, dominance, and mating. Freed from obedience to history books alone, Harari can project very broad patterns that are predetermined by the hindbrain. [think Donald]

Harari’s book is one of several new books on our culture, economy, morality and politics that, even as a small amount of material, provides the new core concepts that are driving H. sapiens history today and tomorrow. The handful of books is a fine college ‘major’ that will prepare you for judging new and sometimes disturbing values. Although touted as college material, all the sources are pleasant and frequently entertaining texts.

Mariner includes the above preface to aid in understanding the economic upheaval occurring today. There are two examples: the emergence of oligarchy and the phenomenon of the haves taking as much as they can from the have nots, specifically the Republican health care legislation designed to replace the Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare or ACA.

The current emergence of oligarchy was launched by Ronald back in the 1980’s. It has exploded into our culture because of powerful advances in communication technology which naturally give an edge to those who have the resources to leverage rapid information; do not give credit for the healing GDP and historic stock prices to the election of Donald. Unpoliticized economists have long said the economy rises and falls regardless of who is President. Data storage and massive processing capability have allowed corporations to be virtually transportable, cutting costs and sending profits through the roof. Why hasn’t profit been shared with the lower income/little income/no income folks? Generalists say that this is just the cost of new economic growth; Harari says it’s the hindbrain protecting unfocused fears associated with survival and dominance – and sex if it applies. The hindbrain, incidentally, has little ability to manage morality; that’s managed by the limbic system. [think Donald]

This tennis game with the brain is informative but Harari suggests this leads to a troublesome future. It is simpler to ask readers to reflect on Bernie’s comment that 1 percent of the population holds 90 percent of the wealth. Over time, there will be less and less available to sustain this ratio. Overpopulation, diminishing resources, and increased imbalance in the biosphere will take its toll on “unneeded” people.

The second example, the new health bill, shows the same preference by conservatives to squeeze out humans who, not because they aren’t permitted but because they can’t afford the health services – a clear echo of hindbrain decision making. Conservatives rationalize that every resource must contribute to a safer economy or, frankly, it weakens the economy.

These examples are presented with the ideas Harari would utilize. This approach certainly has its detractors. What seems critical to the mariner is that if one takes a fair view of human history, it behaves very much like Harari suggests whatever the historical situation. That being the case, humans are in for some troubling times within a century or so.

Two thoughts predominate: overpopulation (implying disappearing resources) and globally based natural issues; near horizon is the effect of global warming; far effect is a major ice age (not that we have to wait for the ice age, the shift in orbit will catch the attention of tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and disruptive shifts in the weather.

See why some don’t like Yuval Noah Harari? There are no cuddle blankets. However, his no nonsense, no comforting fantasies about political theory and no guarantee about consistency, give us a clear image of the future for Homo sapiens, all things being equal.

Have a nice day.

Ancient Mariner