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Last login: 8 hours agoLaodan: laodan is a 56 year old guy from Wisconsin, USA.; Likes 1,585 pages, 24 videos, 8 photos • 227 fans • Received 64 reviews; Member since Aug 08, 2005

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EastSouthWestNorth: The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China: May 8, 4:57pm 3 reviews china, globalization, geopolitics
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20080509_1.htm; The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China via Fons Tuinstra / China Herald, in EastSouthWestNorth
Yes, the crowds were enthusiastic so far. But it also reveals the civic quality of some (but not necessarily all) Chinese citizens as shown in these photos The Olympic Torch Relay Inside China

We Westerners represent no more than 10 % of the world population. What a pity we know so little of what is going on in the rest of the world. We have been bombarded lastly with the coverage of the troubled Torch Relay in London, Paris and San Francisco and been force-fed with the idea that China was trouble. But what about the torch relay thereafter? Ziltch nada black hole. Did the flame not traverse the lands where 90% of the world population lives? Yes it did but we were kept in total ignorance. Why such a one sided news coverage? This is not the best way to succeed in answering the myriad of crises unleashed upon us by modernity but it is assuredly a recipe for tension between nations...

Theyre Global Citizens. Theyre Hugely Rich. And They Pull the Strings. - washing…: May 4, 6:48am 0 review politics, globalization
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR20080502033...

The Archdruid Report: Not The End Of The World: May 1, 9:46am 1 review evolution, society, change, worldviews
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2008/04/not-end-of-world.html; Not The End Of The World in The Archdruid Report by John Michael Greer
It's not the end of the world, or even the end of industrial civilization, but if history is anything to go by, we could be in for a couple of very rough decades. A crisis phase in the downward arc of catabolic collapse is not a pleasant thing to live through, and we can expect it to have social, economic, political, and (unless we're extraordinarily lucky) military dimensions that will transform most people\u2019s lives for the worse, temporarily or forever. That need not stop us from facing the emerging crisis with as much grace and humanity as we can muster, while doing our part to lay the foundations for the ecotechnic societies of the future - unless, that is, we allow premature proclamations of triumph or catastrophe to distract us from the work that must be done. Not The End Of The World. A most enlightened vision of societal change. This post is perhaps John Michael Greer's most influential one. He is undoubtedly right that "Human societies are complex homeostatic systems that respond to changes in their environments by trying to maintain their equilibrium." Failing to understand this organic way of societies leads to simplistic interpretations of present events that contracts reality into its dualistic visions of doom and gloom versus technophilia. Those are unhelpful perception crutches at best and devastating at worst. We are not close to the end of the world as the title of Greer's post states but we are at a societal stage of evolution that is going to displace modernity for something new often referred to as postmodernity. But the word has been twisted to say so many things that its meaning has often been lost on its users. Postmodernity is the stage of societal evolution that follows modernity and the transition is, for sure, going to be traumatic for most. Each stage of societal evolution has its own economic, social, cultural and other characteristics but what differentiates each of them is the worldview (understanding of reality) that is shared by the citizens within their societies. We observe 4 stages of evolution: - animism: citizens of tribes share an animistic worldview. - religion: citizens of kingdoms and empires share one or another form of religious belief and or one or another philosophic derivation of animism. - modernity: citizens of nation-states share a common vision of rationality (derived from the logic of capital) and believe that science has technological answers to everything. - postmodernity: citizens of the world will share a common vision of reality wherein humans are seen as interconnected minuscule particles of a whole that is unattainable. The transition between modernity and postmodernity is a process of change that will take many decades to stabilize and, for sure, there will be ups and downs along the road. Before to tackle the causes of climate change we'll suffer its consequences. Before to tackle peak oil and other resources we'll be confronted with shortages in energy and materials that will oblige us to revise our ways of living. Before to tackle poverty we'll be confronted with individual and societal violence that will oblige us to care for the weakest ones among us. Our future is in ecotechnic societies interconnected through solidarity.

Informed Comment: Global Affairs: LET ONE HUNDRED BOYCOTTS BLOOM!: Apr 21, 9:05am 1 review china, globalization, worldviews
http://icga.blogspot.com/2008/04/let-one-hundred-boycotts-bloom.html; LET ONE HUNDRED BOYCOTTS BLOOM! in Informed Comment: Global Affairs by PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM
Boycotts are a blunt instrument, albeit drawn from the trusty democratic toolbox. That boycott fever seems to be the mood on the streets of China these days is a testament to how discontent with domestic problems has been eclipsed by disappointment with the West. LET ONE HUNDRED BOYCOTTS BLOOM! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rApn09pRZCk Excellent article. The beneficiaries of the recent demonstrations against the Olympic Torch Relay in Britain, France and the US are clearly the Chinese authorities, indeed, "discontent with domestic problems has been eclipsed by disappointment with the West." 25% of the world population are staying up, with their leaders, against the hypocrisy of the West. And let's not forget that the biggest losers are the Tibetans. Their case has indeed been eclipsed by something a lot bigger and to make matters even worse the Dalai Lama himself comes out of this story as a wounded leader whose Tibetan following appears to desert his middle of the road course. And, for the first time, the feudal past of Tibet has erupted in the Western public sight thus shedding doubts on what the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism really stand for. How to say? The only thing that comes to my mind is "how naive and dumb" the activist lesson-givers now appear to be. On manipulation of Western Public opinion about facts in Tibet: On Tibet and Propaganda: Follow the "Information" by Zwoof in the Daily Kos

Truth (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy): Apr 21, 8:06am 3 reviews philosophy, religion, reality, worldviews
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/; Truth via the NYT / Stanley Fish, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Michael Glanzberg
Truth is one of the central subjects in philosophy. It is also one of the largest. Truth has been a topic of discussion in its own right for thousands of years. Moreover, a huge variety of issues in philosophy relate to truth, either by relying on theses about truth, or implying theses about truth. It would be impossible to survey all there is to say about truth in any coherent way. Instead, this essay will concentrate on the main themes in the study of truth in the contemporary philosophical literature. It will attempt to survey the key problems and theories of current interest, and show how they relate to one-another. A number of other entries investigate many of these topics in greater depth. Generally, discussion of the principal arguments is left to them. The goal of this essay is only to provide an overview of the current theories. Truth French Theory in America Many theories about what truth is all about. But all those theories only present hypotheses about what it is and those hypotheses leave us as hungry as ever before for its true meaning. We are able to say the truth about facts happening within our close environment but when we speak about "the truth" in its philosophical sense it relates to something a lot vaster that our environment. Truth relates to our understanding of the global reality in which we are such tiny particles. But we don't understand what is this "whole". We could even add that there is a structural impossibility for a particle to reason its way through the whole and even if such a feat was feasible it would still be a "view" from within or better a "view" seen through the lense of an inside observer. The "truth" about reality, or to say this otherwise, about the "whole in which we are such tiny particles" is conceivable only from the viewpoint of an outside observer one who could relate this "whole in which we are such tiny particles" to its own environment. In other words if we could per any chance induce or deduce that this "whole in which we are such tiny particles" were a pink elephant how would we ever be able to know something about the family of this pink elephant? What I mean to say is that there is a systemic impossibility for us particles to ever reach the truth about this "whole in which we are such tiny particles". What we can reach is an understanding of how we particles relate to the environment within the realm of what is observable to us (in our Island-Universe as per Villenkin). This kind of understanding has a functional value for us but it does in no way qualify as truth about reality. We intuitively understand that our "functional understanding" does not account for the impact on our Island-Universe of all that lays outside of it. But we most often brush away that thought, for, life continues and we know no better. In conclusion our grasp of reality is physically flawed by our impossibility to see further than the boundary of our Island-Universe and it is furthermore systemically flawed by our insider observation. What is presented as truth, by philosophers, logicians, religious thinkers and others, is thus no more than a viewpoint about something that is unattainable. When the men of knowledge of the day share such a viewpoint among themselves it will then be shared further down in a simplified form with all the citizens in their societies. That's when the viewpoint becomes a worldview. The history of man witnessed 3 classes of worldviews: the animist, the religious and the modern. From all possible accounts we are presently witnessing the slowl transitioning from late modernity into early post-modernity. That means that the men of knowledge of our days are debating the contours of a new viewpoint. Once this debate settles a new worldview will eventually be shared globally by all. But patience this takes time...

Chinese Nationalism | MetaFilter: Apr 19, 2:29pm 1 review china, globalization
http://www.metafilter.com/70972/Chinese-Nationalism; Chinese Nationalism or how and why 25% of the world population is rising against the West in Metafilter by Tlogmer
The "sacred flame" winds its way towards Beijing, creating new flashpoints like a car bumper scraping sparks from the pavement.

The chinese public's anger at CNN now has a wildly popular theme song "You can't turn lies into the truth by repeating them a thousand times"

Chinese nationalism and an American backlash are both growing. Where is all this leading to? And even if we can't understand how China sees Tibet, or know whether the Shanghai Princesses will really give up their Chanel, can we at least assure the Chinese that we don't like Jack Cafferty either Chinese Nationalism or how and why 25% of the world population is rising against the West The 41 comments on Tlogmer's post on Metafilter are particularly interesting. Also see: My Western Friends, What Do You Want From Us Chinese? CHINA'S COMING OUT PARTY Tibet at war with the utopia of modernity The Baton Passes to Asia China's new intelligentsia "Capitalism with Chinese characteristics" overcomes the Weather Waving Goodbye to Hegemony

pseudonyms reviews: Apr 19, 1:37pm 261 reviews stumblers
http://pseudonym.stumbleupon.com/; This blog is a rare pearl driven by the vital curiosity for the meaning of life and of it all.

Shedding Light on Life&&(May-June&2008): Apr 19, 1:26pm 2 reviews science, art, visualization, worldviews
http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/05/shedding-light-on-life.html; Shedding Light on Life in Harvard Magazine by Courtney Humphries
"The human brain is vision-focused," says professor of molecular and cellular biology Jeff Lichtman. "If we see things, then we think we know what they mean." To be able finally to see events that were known only in theory is incredibly satisfying for scientists. Even more important, this revolution also opens up the possibility of learning things about life that could never be studied before. \u201cWhat we hope to do at the end of the day,\u201d he says, \u201cis to understand biology as it unfolds in vivo rather than in snapshots.\u201d The resurgence in imaging excites biologists for two reasons: it allows them to see individuals, and it allows them to count the masses. Being able to watch and track a single molecule, cell, or process offers a much more complete picture of how life works. Tom Kirchhausen predicts that in the next few years, scientists will use imaging to better understand complex processes such as cell division and the paths that viruses take to cause infection. Shedding Light on Life via Harvard Magazine, Courtesy of Jeff Lichtman Laboratory Color-coded neural circuits in the brains of mice allow Jeff Lichtman to trace the fate of individual nerve cells over time and across distances.
via Harvard Magazine, Courtesy of Gene-Wei Li and Peter Sims, Harvard University Sunney Xie combines a transmission image of bacteria (blue) with a fluorescence image of molecules (yellow) binding to sites on the bacteria\u2019s DNA in order to create a complete picture of the interaction. This article is a useful follow-up on my post about Could Science and Art Become One and the Same? . The subject of my comment is thus visualization versus art. In recent years science has made a dramatic usage of visual imaging techniques to understand what is going on at the micro and macro levels. But the fact is that digital imaging are photos taken from various kinds of microscopes or telescopes that are then often reprocessed by pairing 2 or more of those initial cliches in order to try to catch the meaning of what is going on in those images. Those images are often stunning and offer a depth of meaning and beauty that puts to shame most modern art works. But for scientists it is only a question of making sense in what they observe. Visual imaging is no more than a tool. But what about the images they obtain? Are those art works? Those digital images are not art works in the traditional sense of the concept of art: the production of visual signs about the worldview of the men of knowledge of the day. Those images are tools for scientists to discover sense and they are only fragments of the ensemble of images and ideas that forms their worldview. Art should not be confused with scientific imaging. The mission of the artist is to illustrate the worldview of the men of knowledge of our days. And the men of knowledge in late modernity and early post-modernity are not the scientists. Those men of knowledge are the rare individuals who are succeeding to integrate scientific knowledge within the more globally encompassing realm of philosophy and history. Some are scientists, some are philosophers or historians and some are artists. The late-modern and early post-modern artist has thus to accumulate the widest possible knowledge-base in order to be able to pinpoint the rare true men of knowledge in his time. And his mission is then to render visual signs about their worldview for all to share.

Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong Ne…: Apr 18, 2:10pm 1 review economics, globalization, change
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JD19Ad01.html; Asia pushes, West resists in AsiaTimes by Sreeram Chaulia a review of The New Asian Hemisphere. The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East by Kishore Mahbubani. PublicAffairs, New York, 2008.
Mahbubani asserts that a turbulent era of de-Westernization has commenced in Asia. With most Asians disavowing former beliefs that the West was the "most civilized part of the world", the latter has lost appeal as an ideal in human advancement. Chinese intellectuals, drawing on a history of insularity, have decolonized their mind the furthest and fastest. Accompanying China's accumulation of wealth and economic vitality is a popular rediscovery of its glorious cultural heritage and pride. De-Westernization is even more drastic in the Middle East. Hardly any Muslim society, perhaps not even Turkey, is trying to demonstrate that it is Western in spirit. Islamic publics view Westerners as immoral, greedy and insensitive to the loss of Muslim lives. Mahbubani considers India to be a bridge between the "West and the Rest". Indian thinkers do not see the West as the custodian of the highest values, but they also appreciate their country's historic place in constantly admitting and absorbing foreign influences. Mahbubani rides on China's geopolitical success to infer that "Asians are capable of delivering a more stable world order". Asia pushes, West resists Change is a process. Geo-political change is a rather long process and let's never forget that it often is fraught with violence. The root cause of the present geo-political change is the entry of China, India and the whole of Asia, Africa and South America into modernity. Modernity is first and foremost the application of the logic of capital to all aspects of life. Instead of continuing to eat the products that they grow on their fields people leave the land to go work in factories that have been financed by capital. From then on they will be forced to buy everything that is necessary to reproduce their daily lives and later everything that they think is necessary... This process of swelling domestic demand is satisfied by always more productions of goods and services. It becomes then evident that population size is going to be what differentiates the economic size of nations. Great-Britain was no match, in the 20th century, in term of population size for the US nor any other European country for that matter. After the 2nd world war Europeans took the path of unification and after half a century they got a unified currency and a European central bank and soon a president, a foreign affairs secretary and so on. But Europe is only marginally larger than the US... The story in Asia is definitely going to be far more world changing. China's population is not far from a billion and a half (official + not counted) and India is on the path to surpass China within a few decades. That gives us a population of 3 billion approximately versus a population of 3 quarters of a billion for the US + the EU. If those 2 countries can sustain for a few more decades their extremely rapid rates of economic growth each is going to surpass the economic size of the US and later the combined size of the US + the EU. This is going to have a decisive impact on how the world will be running in the coming decades not only economically but also politically and culturally. How is whiteman going to take those changes is the subject of Kishore Mahbubani's book.