296 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2020
  2. Apr 2020
    1. Some insightful thoughts, but also a good bit of empty rethoric and totalist/black-and-white thinking. If he'd reign that in, much less of his larger sweeping claims would find footing. War-against-war, control is bad acceptance good, etc.

      No dicussion of the parallel and quite striking phenomenon of infodemics. I find his "generous" tolerance of conspiracy theories dangerous and intellectually dishonest.

  3. Feb 2020
    1. A commodity, such as iron, corn, or a diamond, is therefore, so far as it is a material thing, a use value, something useful

      What commodities are thought to be useful for or not is irrelevant to Marx at this very early stage of his analysis, even from a moral point of view. Diamonds satisfy a need in some societies at specific times and places the same as corn or iron.

  4. Jan 2020
    1. no difference

      The nature of the wants that commodities satisfy makes no difference. This is perhaps somewhat surprising to readers, given the extent to which everyday critiques of capitalist society often center around the role that consumerism plays and the subjective effects that this produces, namely, the way that consumer society creates all sorts of desires (as well as the obverse--many will defend capitalism on the grounds that it is able to satisfy our inordinate appetite for novelty by producing an enormous proliferation of desirable commodities). Yet, for Marx, the nature of these desires "makes no difference."

      It is worth pointing out that the critique of the appetites that consumer society spawns is by no means new (a rather early moment in the history of consumer society). We find it already on display in Book II of Plato's Republic. In looking to shift the terrain of the analysis of justice from the individualistic, social contractualist theory of justice elaborated by Glaucon, Socrates founds a 'city' based on the idea that no one is self-sufficient, that human beings have much need of one another, and that the various crafts--farming, weaving cloth, etc.--fare best when each person specializes in that craft to which they are most suited by nature. After sketching out a kind of idyllic, pastoral community based on the principle of working together to satisfy our natural appetites, Socrates aristocratic companion Glaucon objects, describing this city as a 'city fit for pigs'. At this point, Socrates conjures what he calls the 'luxurious city', at which point a whole host of social ills are unleashed in order to satisfy Glaucon's desire for the luxuries to which he is accustomed. Currency and trade are introduced, along with a more complex division of labor (and wage labor!), and quite quickly, war. On the basis of the principle of 'one person, one craft', Socrates argues that making war is itself a craft that requires specialization (and thus a professional army).

      For Plato, this represents the beginning of class society, as the profession military becomes a class distinct from the class of producers and merchants.

      Plato thus anticipates a version of a view that becomes one of the key theses of the Marxist theory of the state, namely, the idea that the state exists only in societies that have become "entangled in an insoluble contradiction within itself" and which are "cleft into irreconcilable antagonisms which it is powerless to dispel," (Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State). The state emerges as "a power apparently standing above society...whose purpose is to moderate the conflict and keep it within the bounds of 'order'" Engels writes, "this power arising out of society, but placing itself above it, and increasingly separating itself from it, is the state." Lenin cites this passage in the first pages of State and Revolution in order to critique the 'bourgeois' view that the state exists in order to reconcile class interests. In Lenin's reading of Marx, the state exists as "an organ of classs domination, an organ of oppression of one class by another," a view articulated in The Communist Manifesto, (cf. V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution in V.I.Lenin: Collected Works, Vol. 25, pp. 385-497).

      Marx cites this same passage from Republic in a long footnote to his discussion of the Division of Labor and Manufacture on pp. 487-488, which also happens to be the sole place in Capital where Marx cites Plato.

      The fact that Marx here expresses indifference to the particular appetites that commodities satisfy is thus intriguing and ambiguous. Given that this question both clearly animates Plato's discussion of the origin of class society in Republic and, additionally serves as an alternative to the social contractarian view of justice that descends from Glaucon through Hobbes and the 18th century 'Robinsonades', this seemingly technical point also touches upon questions concerning Marx's engagement with both classical and modern political theory.

      If for Plato, the unruly appetites represent the seed of which class-divided society is the fruit, Marx's dismissal of the question of the nature of the appetites that are satisfied by commodities points to exchange-value and the social forms that it unleashes as being key dimensions of the particular form that class-antagonism takes in capitalist society.

    1. He envisioned vast centers equipped with mics and headphones where people could speak in detail and at length about their experiences, thoughts, and feelings, delivering in the form of monologues what the eavesdroppers could gather only piecemeal.
    1. Customization can be surprisingly homogenizing.
    2. The counterculture was about people’s need to express themselves, to fulfill their individual potential, to live in harmony with nature rather than constantly seeking to overcome its nuisances.
    1. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Katie Bouman

      El caso de Katie Bouman en la categoría de Articles for Deletion y mi análisis de los comentarios bajo la categoría inicial de not relevant

    2. Any relevant material can be mentioned there

      Relevant

    3. of WP:1E

      Wikipedia: Notability (people). Notable

    4. Someone who isn't even an assistant professor is certainly not notable as a scientist.

      Notable as a scientist

    5. Wikipedia:Notability is not inherited.

      Notability

    6. The Event Horizon Telescope project is notable in itself, and has its own article, but anyone who are in some way (remotely) associated with it are not inherently notable.

      Notable

  5. Oct 2019
    1. Social Psychological Theory and Research Value Priorities

      Read the following section, and briefly describe how liberal (or leftist) thinkers might define the good society and how conservative (or rightist) thinkers might define the good society.

    2. Liberal and Conservative Representations of the Good Society: A (Social) Structural Topic Modeling Approach

      I chose this article, because it is timely, relevant, easy-to-follow (because it is intuitive), and innovative (using data sources, Twitter, and an innovative method, textual analysis). I hope you enjoy the reading. Please follow my annotations (comments + questions) and respond to the questions I pose. Try to answer them in your own words.

  6. May 2019
  7. Apr 2019
  8. Feb 2019
    1. Speech and thought arc inseparable, in Vico'., view: They evolve together.

      Is this in terms of the individual or a communal/societal sense? Or both? I took it to mean both on the individual and societal levels, but I want to make sure I am interpreting this correctly.

  9. Jan 2019
    1. 区块链技术仍然能在解决移民问题方面发挥不可替代的作用,这项神秘的无政府主义者和密码朋克们创造出的去中心化技术,赋予了民众挑战国际政治与金融体系的权利,而这些权利本来就是人民赋予的。 区块链技术能够帮助难民保存本就应是属于他们的、不可篡改的身份信息,帮助他们获得本就应该送到他们手里的国际援助,帮助他们在新国家尽快开始正常人的生活。或者简单来说,为他们所承受的痛苦和对新生活的憧憬之间,搭起一条希望的桥梁。

      <big>评:</big><br/><br/>技术在为人们勾画远景宏图的同时,也引人深思——发明技术的人类,已经演化到了其自身权利得由技术赋予的状态了吗?想必最激进的技术主义者也不会否认,教会他识字表达的不是命令行,而是活生生的人。廿一世纪的我们已经知道,「天赋人权」不过是句颇具浪漫主义色彩的政治标语,那些被我们珍视的权利其实是人类自己争取而来的。谈论区块链落地场景时更富批判性的靶向在于技术文化与身份认同之间的张力,可参见评论文章《新时代新气象,个体式激进与集体式自律》

    1. Billions of dollars are “wasted” via proof of work, which results in a “loss of resources that’s spread out across every single cryptocurrency user, and ultimately through all the environmental externalities, every single person in society.” It‘s also pretty bad for the brand: “Like, it could mean the difference between anyone who really cares about the environment being your friend versus trying to stop you.”

      <big>评:</big><br/><br/>被时代洪流裹挟着的个体,在多大程度上遭受非主流的社会边际现象之冲击?我们固然可以辩称,蝴蝶效应在社会学领域的渗透是毋庸置疑的,哥斯达黎加矿厂工人的罢工很可能促成伏尔加河沿岸青年的思想革命。但是真正的区块链世界不会惧怕这下自成蹊的「燎原之火」——「牵一发而动全身」不过是停留在次贷危机那个旧世界的脆弱秩序——在新世界里,每个独立个体都是主流之外的完整存在,他们自己即是主流。

    1. I don’t get the LINE token, the Kakao token, the Telegram token and now the Facebook token. All these messaging apps DO NOT need crypto token for digital payment or in app purchase an elegant digital payment design plus LOTS of effort on merchants on-boarding can work well

      <big>评:</big><br/><br/>现行的数字支付体系和推广模式固然能满足 IM 软件生态内的支付与流转需求,但这些互联网厂商的野心并不止步于此,圈地画饼背后的贪婪足以压倒所有关于无用功的论述。若把屏幕前的用户比作浩瀚宇宙中的孤独星球,现在的即时通讯平台就是强大的引力场,被吸引过来的星体在此不断碰撞、合并。有朝一日,这些引力场都跳出来说自己要成为新的宇宙。可是这对于星体们来说,又与其何干呢?<br/><br/>在庞大的生态体系里,力量不断堆聚,演化出新的「极」。没有人是孤岛,但你就在孤岛。

  10. Oct 2018
    1. “The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions… What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society. If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish. The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change and fight it – at no matter what risk. This is the only hope that society has. This is the only way societies change.” — James Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers,” 1963
  11. Aug 2018
  12. Jun 2018
    1. “Tribes of affection matter,” Kaptur says. “Whether it’s work-related, or a vets’ organization, or church, neighborhood, neighborhood businesses—they’re all evaporating. It’s the disappearance of everything they’ve worked for. Their identity, really.”

      Shades of Putnam here - what's the relationship between civic organizations as places which make connection happen (and improve work opportunities for some) and work as the thing which provides the money for civic organizations?

  13. May 2018
  14. annotatingausten.sfsuenglishdh.net annotatingausten.sfsuenglishdh.net
    1. trimming a hat

      Examples of early Nineteenth Century hat trimmings, such as the one Elizabeth might have been working on:

  15. Apr 2018
  16. annotatingausten.sfsuenglishdh.net annotatingausten.sfsuenglishdh.net
    1. assemblies

      Assemblies refers to social events that were held in local Assembly Rooms for the public. They were often balls, as in this case. The Assembly Rooms were large public spaces built for such an occasion.

  17. Nov 2017
    1. Indeed we need look back only half a century, to times which many now living remember well, and see the wonderful advances in the sciences & arts which have been made within that period.

      I found this statement interesting because it demonstrates the never-ending trend of society continuously advancing and moving forward. It is almost comical to think back how in 1818, when the document was written, the writers believed that their society and educational systems were so advanced. Looking back, this was obviously not the case; however, it is true that they had made many advances from previous centuries. Furthermore, today’s society has surpassed the first generations of UVA by a remarkable amount, not only in the technological and educational regard, but also in the moral regard, considering the original UVA was a school for solely white men of high status. The “indigenous” neighbors the document goes on to mention who the writers perceive to be less advanced than themselves are described as “barbaric and wretched.” This description is ironic considering the low moral standard of these founders who are almost barbaric and wretched themselves. Finally, it is again ironic that the writers are calling themselves “advanced” when they still have ignorant and amateur views about themselves and others.

    1. The best mode of government for youth in large collections, is certainly a desideratum not yet attained with us. It may well be questioned whether fear, after a certain age, is the motive to which we should have ordinary recourse. The human character is susceptible of other incitements to correct conduct, more worthy of employ, and of better effect.

      This idea that fear cannot effectively regulate behavior after a certain time is founded on basic social psychological principles. There is a concept of internal versus external justification. With an external justification, such as fear, one does something only because they know they have to, which leads to only a temporary change. Internal justifications, such as belief in a system of governance or code of ethics, leads to a permanent change because one does it because they believe it is right.

    2. And generally to form them to habits of reflection

      I like this piece of the document because I think it is extremely important that students today take the time to reflect and decompress. Stepping away from the grind of everyday school work periodically is essential for one's success. Many forget to practice the things they genuinely like to do in conjunction with the necessary practice of their studies. One must live, experience, and reflect back on these experiences in order to truly learn and develop their knowledge set over time. It is saddening to see hobbies and talents diminish in ones college years simply because they think there is not enough time for these non-academical activities. Self care is essential and doing the things one truly loves is a key component to practicing self care. This is something that has slowly diminished in the modernity of society and the its presence in the document shows that it is an important component of life and one's success. Additionally, it is one part of the document that is undeniably true or at least logical which in itself is worth noting.

    3. for example which are to form the statesmen, legislators & judges, on whom public prosperity, & individual happiness are so much to depend.

      This piece is interesting because it suggests that those who attend the university are being trained in specific areas in order to acquire skills that will lead to a small range of choices in profession. When the document was written professions were favored whereas today, graduates of the university will follow a broad range of career paths. Many of these do not follow typical professions such as doctors, lawyers, and architects as the articles below speaks about. Today, one could question if these professional jobs are disappearing and being replaced by millennials creating their own career paths such as with startup companies or temporary positions in companies. https://collab.its.virginia.edu/access/content/group/e8ce921a-5301-4957-adf9-0a6b90535b10/Is%20there%20a%20future%20for%20the%20professions.pdf

    4. individual action shall leave us free to do whatever does not violate the equal rights of another.

      In this annotation, though I understand there is a contradictory aspect of this statement, (given UVa's history of gender and racial exclusion) that’s not where I’d like to focus. Rather, I ask, existentially, are there harms to societal freedom? Currently, our society values the idea of being an individual more and more. According to the famous sociologist Peter L. Berger, modern society's concept of dignity is reliant on an individual emancipating himself from certain societal rules. Our society's thirst for uniqueness can be seen as harmful. Later in the report, Jefferson writes about how molding individuals into habits of reflection will “render them examples of virtue to others & of happiness within themselves.” But, now I ask, is our modern day search for “dignity” getting in the way of what other’s consider virtuous? Increasingly people feel loneliness and estrangement from themselves and society. Can there be too much freedom?

    1. This new society of information flows can use the internet to disrupt the power dynamics

      I also wonder if digital can work to consolidate power. We tend to think of disruption as a move towards more equality but what if it is a move towards fascism?

  18. Oct 2017
    1. We should be far too from the discouraging persuasion, that man is fixed, by the law of his nature, at a given point: that his improvement is a chimæra, and the hope delusive of rendering ourselves wiser, happier or better than our forefathers were.

      This phrase reflects Thomas Jefferson's vision for the manner in which the University would educate its students. He believed that the value of higher education was that it allowed the individual to reflect on their personal vices, prejudices, and perspectives to strive for personal improvement. Similarly, In his novel, The Myth of Individualism, Peter Callero writes, "Our educational institutions from grade school to college are structured to enhance individual achievement in a competitive system of evaluation." In this way, Callero reveals Jefferson's motivation for an individualistic student, and subsequently an individualistic society. This notion is the foundation for a contemporary, highly individualistic society.

    2. Education, in like manner engrafts a new man on the native stock, & improves what in his nature was vicious & perverse, into qualities of virtue and social worth; and it cannot be but that each generation succeeding to the knowledge acquired by all those who preceded it, adding to it their own acquisitions & discoveries, and handing the mass down for successive & constant accumulation, must advance the knowledge & well-being of mankind:

      I found this quote interesting because it refers only to white men and how they can attain virtue and social worth from education but people of other races and backgrounds cannot. This reminds me of an article that I read in my engagement class about affirmative action because the minorities were pushing for equal treatment and the opportunity to learn and receive the benefits that education would give them. The author of the article, Richard Rodriguez, was not underprivileged as a kid because he could afford education, so he did not identify with the rest of the minorities because he claimed that have the opportunity to receive an education automatically makes you not a minority. His claim relates to this quote because he sees education as a privilege that brings you up in the world because it gives you virtue and many benefits. In the modern society, people of all races and backgrounds can reap the benefits of education and knowledge, not just white men, and they are able to pass on their knowledge to future generations. It is interesting to see how far society has come in who can receive education and what education can do for everyone in the world.

    1. Inside it is close and smelly. There are no windows. The two prisoners lie bound on the floor. The smell comes from them, a smell of old urine. I call the guard in: “Get these men to clean themselves, and please hurry.”

      This passage demonstrates the autonomy of the empire through the treatment of prisoners when Colonel Joll captures prisoners. The magistrate shows that he doesn't approve of the treatment and attempts to help the prisoners and gets"them to clean themselves" and attempts to help them, but he doesn't fully help them, he still follows the power and runs away from the problems within his society.

  19. Sep 2017
    1. the benefits & blessings of which the legislature now propose to provide for the good

      The authors of the Rockfish Gap Report affirm that religious worship is not conducive to a truly liberal arts education, going so far as to propose "no professor of Divinity." Yet religious language is smatter throughout the document (such as "blessings," "faithfulness," and "religious worship.") In the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom which Thomas Jefferson also drafted, it is written,"all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." In this way, the assertions of both texts are consistent, but the biases of the authors are apparent in their use of religious language. This demonstrates that a collective view of what a society should be is not necessarily reflected in individual beliefs.

    2. The objects of this primary education determine its character & limits. These objects would be, To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business. To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express & preserve his ideas, his contracts & accounts in writing. To improve by reading, his morals and faculties. To understand his duties to his neighbours, & country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either.

      I think it is interesting that the author describes the type of education the University of Virginia strives to teach. Primary education is the foundation of knowledge that one needs to be able to grow intellectually and learn about the real-world. In society, the level and quality of education one receives is of utmost importance, especially in the United States, as it guides people's actions and shapes their outlook on life.

  20. Aug 2017
  21. Jun 2017
    1. CINNA. I am not Cinna the conspirator. FOURTH CITIZEN. It is no matter, his name’s Cinna; pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going.

      In this act, mistaken identity is used to break tension. Apart from the obvious comedic relief this scene adds to the ever mounting tension and drama in the play, this scene also indicates the disintegration of society and the lack of social restraints of the general public after Caesar’s death.

      In this scene, the plebeians initially surround Cinna the poet after confusing him with Cinna the conspirator. Even when Cinna repeatedly tells them “I am not Cinna the conspirator”, the citizens, in their bloodthirsty rampage, still decide to kill him, stating that “It is no matter, his name’s Cinna”. This degradation of social standards and the crumbling of the social foundations of Ancient Rome bolster the image of the plebeians as ‘sheep’ to be swayed and controlled by the ruling classes, and solidifies their position in the play.

      It is also no coincidence that Shakespeare made Cinna a poet. In the citizens’ interrogation of Cinna, Cinna not only speaks for himself, but as a poet and as a projection of those in scholarly fields and free speech as a whole. With this, Shakespeare compels the audience to question whom poets and those who provide information to the public are accountable to, and whether free speech is more important than a stable and safe society.

  22. May 2017
  23. enst31501sp2017.courses.bucknell.edu enst31501sp2017.courses.bucknell.edu
    1. Olaus Murie,

      Olaus Murie was a wildlife biologist who studied caribou herds in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. He was named president of the Wilderness society in 1950 after being a part of the organization for 13 years. Murie's accomplishments include persuading President FDR to include additional land to the Olympic National Monument, establishing Jackson Hole National Monument, and successfully lobbying dam projects in Glacier National Park and Dinosaur National Monument. However, his most well known work was protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and its successful campaign.

      "Wilderness.org." Olaus Murie | Wilderness.org. Accessed May 1, 2017. http://wilderness.org/bios/former-council-members/olaus-murie.

    2. Wilderness Society

      The Wilderness Society is a conservation organization that was established in 1935 and has successfully protected 110 million acres of wilderness in 44 states. The organization’s mission is to “protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.” Other objectives include better protection, stewardship, and restoration of public lands for current and future generations. For further reading, visit the website: http://wilderness.org/

  24. Mar 2017
    1. for it is a very strange thing that people will give you a motor car if you will tell them a story.

      People spend their money on frivolous things, such as stories, yet she's also the one who just bought a Persian cat. Humans will tend to financially support the superficial, but these things can also have unseen deeper meanings, such as the companionship a cat provides or the rhetorical experience a novel brings.

  25. Jan 2017
    1. The point is that all universities are deeply embedded in specific cultures and societies, which are also interconnected with other societies and cultures: this is the condition of globality today. The digital slips and slides across national and international borders, and changes or re-infuses national cultures with pan-global aspirations. The national mission of education has not become redundant but is in constant interplay and tension with the reach and impact of the digitally global. Studying such contradictions and developing the intellectual and cultural wherewithal to engage them in the pursuit of equality, justice, and peace can be a promising undertaking for the digital humanities within and beyond the university.
  26. Oct 2016
    1. “Jug Jug” to dirty ears.

      Refers to someone who is uneducated. Already, Eliot has referred to "Classic Literature" that most people in today's modern society aren't aware of. This is his way of mocking those people.

  27. Sep 2016
    1. At the start of 2016, the good folks of the American Dialect Society got together to crown their Word of the Year. They (see what I’m doing here) have decided that the word could now be used as a singular pronoun, flexing the English language so a plural could denote a singular, genderless, individual.

      They American Dialect Society Word of the Year 2016

  28. Jul 2016
    1. I could have easily chosen a different prepositional phrase. "Convivial Tools in an Age of Big Data.” Or “Convivial Tools in an Age of DRM.” Or “Convivial Tools in an Age of Venture-Funded Education Technology Startups.” Or “Convivial Tools in an Age of Doxxing and Trolls."

      The Others.

    2. demanded by education policies — for more data
    3. school often neatly reinforces the hierarchies of our socio-economic world

      Though it came out a few years after the texts listed in the previous paragraph, Randall Collins’s Credential Society would be relevant.

    4. education technologies that are not build upon control and surveillance
  29. Jun 2016
    1. What is development? How does it happen? How have ideas on development changed since the Second World War? This study guide to International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects will help dig deeper into these questions. Each chapter features a summary of the main conclusions, discussion questions, and suggested readings. The Study Guide Quick Finder is at the bottom of each page.

      If you work in international development? If you are interested in learning more about the history and evolution of the thinking driving international cooperation. This is a site for you.

      The site offers the pre-print version of an IDRC publication entitled International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects, edited by Bruce Currie-Alder, Ravi Kanbur, David M. Malone, and Rohinton Medhora.

      This is an interesting book brings together the voices of over ninety authors, which include international development practitioners, experts and policy makers.

      The site contains a study guide comprised by eight sections of the book, each with a number of chapters. Ideal to use for beginner or advanced courses in universities and as reference for day to day work in the field.

  30. ou-expo.nicklolordo.com ou-expo.nicklolordo.com
    1. , I think I would have wept over it. Somehow, now that it has happened actually, and to me, it seems far too wonderful for tears.

      I really enjoy this idea, for some reason, as something so unfathomably sad has happened to Dorian, as if his life were a novel (hmhmhm) and he finds it too amusing to be bothered by. Wilde demonstrates the surreal reality that plagues life and continues somewhat of a commentary on how precious one's life is, and how it must not be wasted on conforming when one does not see fit.

    2. Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly,—that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self.

      Wilde uses this dialogue to convey his theory on the meaning of life. "People are afraid of themselves nowadays" is Wilde's call to the oppression of individuals by society. Wilde opens the concept of living as one sees fit - their true identity. This dialogue probably cause issue from early critics of Wilde's work, as it holds a somewhat secular message.

  31. Apr 2016
    1. On the other hand it is possible that human control over the machines may be retained. In that case the average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of a tiny elite – just as it is today, but with two differences. Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite. Or, if the elite consists of soft-hearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone’s physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes “treatment” to cure his “problem.” Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or make them “sublimate” their drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human beings may be happy in such a society, but they will most certainly not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals.1
    1. Those with the highest degree of functional literacy aren’t necessarily those with the highest social status.

      In precise contrast with school. In some ways, literacy is such a basic part of schooling that it’s nearly impossible to imagine other core skills (from numeracy to empathy) giving pupils and students any kind of social status outside of literacy.

  32. Jan 2016
  33. Dec 2015
    1. A simultaneous transformation in modes of human interaction with waterand social attitudes towards the body found its logical endpoint in the modern bathroom:a private space that marks a clear manifestation of indirect social control of the type

      Interesting example of how society interacts with its built environment and how they influence it.

  34. Nov 2015
    1. systems analysis in this regard demands an ethnographic retooling,one in which ethnography might need to be conducted in government centers far from where theactual roads are constructed and might take into account politicians, technocrats, economists, en-gineers, and road builders, as well as road users themselves

      Understanding this paradigm, what does it mean to hold hearings and lectures. What does it say about the relocation of authority away from target location. Does this provide any insight on the dynamics of social and political justice/injustice within an economic nation?

    2. If this were true for modern society, it has multiplied in ourage of social media, in which control and value are indissolubly linked to the machine ensemblesthat comprise contemporary digital infrastructures.

      I have studied in my International Marketing course here how social media is a cultural institution in society and has an extremely powerful influence on societal structures regarding preferences, levels of acceptance of products/technology, and how consumers are influenced to use them.

    3. Mbembe points out that often thefunction of awarding infrastructural projects has far more to do with gaining access to governmentcontracts and rewarding patron-client networks than it has to do with their technical function.This is why roads disappear, factories are built but never operated, and bridges go to nowhere.

      Sounds like scheming for political gains.. This is easy to see in the work place or society when one befriends another or joins a certain group for political/hierarchal benefits rather than for the pure purpose of the action. African societies cannot be the only ones who follow these functional implementations of these infrastructural projects.

    4. Placing the system at the center of analysis decenters a focus on technology and offers a moresynthetic perspective, bringing into our conception of machines all sorts of nontechnological ele-ments.

      So it is not really about the technology, but more about how we are implementing the use of it throughout the different areas where these systems are constructed.

    5. Even the free flow of goods that constitutes a laissez-faire economyrests on an infrastructural base that organizes both market and society.

      So even in a hands free scenario, the market and society are still being structured by the government..? Does that really leave it to be hands free? The way the government decides to structure it surely must have an influence on how the turnout is

  35. Oct 2015
    1. . Equally these are attempts to foster an expectation of civility which does not try to set its hopes too high

      Maybe society needs to focus on more short term goals that will be easier to assess on whether or not they are being reached.. It's important to set goals, but setting too high of goals can actually cause more discouragement than motivation

    2. civilization is a key cause of antagonism: 'society, in trying to pro- tect us from what we want (ultimately, an end to internal tension), instills in subjectivity a profound malaise, while providing "an occasion for enmity"' (Lane 2004, 28).2

      civilization is a major cause of discomfort and provides situations that influences humans to be or feel hostile towards someone or something.. ? Really..

    3. More to the point, in situations of breakdown, whether epic or mundane, the humble mobile phone has extended the city's interactivity and adaptability in all kinds of ways and may well have been the most significant device to add to a city's overall resilience by adding an extra thread to the urban knot

      Technology is tying cities together, making them stronger, quicker to adapt to changes, and more able to respond to threats.

    1. But forthose (such as the unemployed, housewives, and broadly the “informalpeople”) who lack such institutional power/settings, streets become acrucial arena to express discontent.

      Riots and defiant parades/organizational rebellions are led along streets... They're literally using their built environment in an abstract way that was probably never thought of being purposed in that way.

  36. Sep 2015
    1. The spatial order, including the built environment, is not only the product of classificatory collective representations based on social forms but also a model for reproducing the social forms themselve

      Are we allowing the technology we use to build around us reform the way society interacts with itself and its surroundings?

    2. regarding the interactions of the built environment with social organization and spatial behavior

      "social organization and spatial behavior"

      how we structure our society and interact with our built surroundings

    3. Cogni- tive and linguistic approaches consider the built environment in terms of systems of knowledge and understanding

      Trying to find the best ways to implement the uses of said "built environment" within our society

    4. In fact, he finds privacy is achieved more often through rules regulating interpersonal behavior rather than by direct manipu- lation of the environment

      Maybe instead of actually building things that provide privacy, creating a societal structure that respects the need for privacy..?

  37. Aug 2015
    1. The Nordic Model: Pros and Cons
      • Social benefits like free education, healthcare and pensions.
      • Redistributive taxation.
      • Relaxed employment laws.
      • History in family-driven agriculture. Culture of small entrepreneurial enterprises.
      • High rates of taxation.
  38. Feb 2014
    1. inasmuch as coming to own intellectual property is often tied to being well-educated. If people become increasingly progressive with increasing education, intellectual property confers economic power on men and women of talent who generally tend to reform society, not because they are haphazard Burkian goblins, but because they have well-informed convictions.
    2. ctual property may be a liberal influence on society

      Intellectual property may be a liberal influence on society.

  39. Nov 2013
    1. This peace treaty brings in its wake something which appears to be the first step toward acquiring that puzzling truth drive: to wit, that which shall count as "truth" from now on is established.

      Not actual truth, but a contraction of that which is generally accepted as the place of balance between good and evil, right and wrong, etc., yet is in fact, fluid and contextually based, evolving with human/societal values. convention.

    2. That is to say, a uniformly valid and binding designation is invented for things, and this legislation of language likewise establishes the first laws of truth.

      The rhetoric of society

    3. But at the same time, from boredom and necessity, man wishes to exist socially and with the herd; therefore, he needs to make peace and strives accordingly to banish from his world at least the most flagrant bellum omni contra omnes.

      The basis of the internal battle of good and evil.

  40. Oct 2013
    1. We must not, therefore, start from any and every accepted opinion, but only from those we have defined -- those accepted by our judges or by those whose authority they recognize

      "Truth" as defined by social opinion.

  41. Sep 2013
    1. We ought, therefore, to think of the art of discourse just as we think of the other arts, and not to form opposite judgements about similar things, nor show ourselves intolerant toward that power which, of all the faculties which belong to the nature of man, is the source of most of our blessings. For in the other powers which we possess, as I have already said on a former occasion,125 we are in no respect superior to other living creatures; nay, we are inferior to many in swiftness and in strength and in other resources; but, because there has been implanted in us the power to persuade each other and to make clear to each other whatever we desire, not only have we escaped the life of wild beasts, but we have come together and founded cities and made laws and invented arts; and, generally speaking, there is no institution devised by man which the power of speech has not helped us to establish. For this it is which has laid down laws concerning things just and unjust, and things honorable and base; and if it were not for these ordinances we should not be able to live with one another. It is by this also that we confute the bad and extol the good. Through this we educate the ignorant and appraise the wise

      The good of rhetoric, a blessing which enables society and creates possibility