Alain Badiou: The Event. Badiou's theory of the Event is the lynchpin of his influential, but controversial, theory of revolutionary politics.
In the fifth instalment of his series, Andrew Robinson traces the contours of the Event, and its fundamental attributes, such as undecidability, ontological disruption, and unfoundedness. He also examines which historical revolts are viewed by Badiou as authentic Events – and why some historical revolts fall short. By Andrew Robinson. Development assistance for health by channel of assistance (Global), 1990-2011, interactive treemap. Resistance is futile: Google Glass and the genesis of the hive mind. During today’s stunt-filled Google Glass demo, I found myself inexplicably perturbed — even profoundly depressed.
The charismatic Sergey Brin sprinted onstage at Google I/O, wearing the futuristic device; he was joined by extreme sportsters and a redheaded product lead who looked every inch the 24th-century power-creative. Together, they showed the possibilities offered by Glass: constant connectivity, a human’s-eye view of every aspect of life, sharing without ceasing. The crowd of nerdcore developers and press exploded in applause at every interval. They were eating it up. I felt like a curmudgeon sitting just a few rows from the stage with my arms crossed and a frown creased into my face. The Internet loves to call me a Luddite; to the extent a tech blogger can be a Luddite, this might be somewhat true. But this Google Glass bit gives me pause. But I’m concerned that, more and more, we tech-obsessed few are starting to share without asking why we’re sharing in the first place. Antidote to Fundamentalism and Terrorism
In international politics, relations of trade and commerce among nations are known, but what about spiritual cooperation?
This is in fact the central call of religious leaders at Astana in Kazakhstan. 10 Questions for Jared Diamond on prospects of global collapse. For the National Geographic documentary, "Collapse," Professor Jared Diamond visited the site of massive cave dwellings sculpted into the cliffs a millenium ago in Chaco Canyon, N.M.
The builders, the Anasazi Indians, are one of the collapsed civilizations that Diamond featured in his bestselling book. Photos from the documentary courtesy of National Geographic Television. The year is 2210.
“In God We Trust”: Communism, Atheism, & the U.S. Dollar. By Lisa Wade, PhD, May 16, 2012, at 11:40 am Americans are familiar with seeing the phrase “In God We Trust” on our paper money.
The motto is, indeed, the official United States motto. It wasn’t always that way, however. While efforts to have the phrase inscribed on U.S. currency began during the Civil War, it wasn’t until 1957 that it appeared on our paper money, thanks to a law signed by President Eisenhower. The motto wasn’t simply added in order to please God-fearing Americans, but instead had a political motivation.
Capital. 700. TED. Postmodern Theory - Chapter 3: Deleuze and Guatari. Chapter 3: Deleuze and Guattari: Schizos, Nomads, Rhizomes We live today in the age of partial objects, bricks that have been shattered to bits, and leftovers...
We no longer believe in a primordial totality that once existed, or in a final totality that awaits us at some future date (Deleuze and Guattari 1983: p.42) A theory does not totalize; it is an instrument for multiplication and it also multiplies itself... It is in the nature of power to totalize and ... theory is by nature opposed to power (Deleuze 1977a: p.208) Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari have embarked on postmodern adventures that attempt to create new forms of thought, writing, subjectivity, and politics. Their most influential book to date, Anti-Oedipus (1983; orig. 1972) is a provocative critique of modernity's discourses and institutions which repress desire and proliferate fascists subjectivities that haunt even revolutionary movements. Their perspectives on modernity are somewhat different, however. Selling Nature to Save Nature, and Ourselves. THE HAGUE, Jul 5, 2011 (IPS) - Avoiding the coming catastrophic nexus of climate change, food, water and energy shortages, along with worsening poverty, requires a global technological overhaul involving investments of 1.9 trillion dollars each year for the next 40 years, said experts from the U.N.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) in Geneva Tuesday. "The need for a technological revolution is both a development and existential imperative for civilisation," said Rob Vos, lead author of a new report , "The Great Green Technological Transformation". Absent in the U.N. report is a call for the other necessary transformation: what to do with the market-driven economic system that has put humanity on this catastrophic collision course? Attempts to "green" capitalism are failing and will fail, according to many of the more than 200 social science researchers at a groundbreaking international conference in The Hague titled " Nature Inc ? " Jun. 30 to Jul. 2. Drury. Philosophy.
Lacan. Slavoj Žižek - Capitalism Žižek on Robespierre and la Terreur Žižek - How are we embedded in ideology - Part 1 Zizek.