|
Da Book Recommendations Thread inda Houze.. (pg. 24)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| St_Andrew |
| Where did you download it from? |
|
|
| Trancer-X |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
Thanks man :) |
No problemo! |
|
|
| Trancer-X |
Friedrich von Hayek - The Road to Serfdom
| quote: | When the course of civilization takes an unexpected turn—when, instead of the continuous progress which we have come to expect, we find ourselves threatened by evils associated by us with past ages of barbarism—we naturally blame anything but ourselves. Have we not all striven according to our best lights, and have not many of our finest minds incessantly worked to make this a better world? Have not all our efforts and hopes been directed toward greater freedom, justice, and prosperity?
If the outcome is so different from our aims—if, instead of freedom and prosperity, bondage and misery stare us in the face—is it not clear that sinister forces must have foiled our intentions, that we are the victims of some evil power which must be conquered before we can resume the road to better things?
However much we may differ when we name the culprit—whether it is the wicked capitalist or the vicious spirit of a particular nation, the stupidity of our elders, or a social system not yet, although we have struggled against it for a half a century, fully overthrown—we all are, or at least were until recently, certain of one thing: that the leading ideas which during the last generation have become common to most people of good will and have determined the major changes in our social life cannot have been wrong.
We are ready to accept almost any explanation of the present crisis of our civilization except one: that the present state of the world may be the result of genuine error on our own part and that the pursuit of some of our most cherished ideals has apparently produced results utterly different from those which we expected.... |
It was even translated into a cartoon for you simple folks:
 |
|
|
| occrider |
| Sounds intersting, I'll see if I can fit it in between my studying. I haven't been keeping abreast with the latest economic theories, literature, and analyst as of late (asides from my subscription to the economist), although I suppose I should do so once again if I'm going to proceed with a masters in the subject. |
|
|
| Trancer-X |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Sounds intersting, I'll see if I can fit it in between my studying. I haven't been keeping abreast with the latest economic theories, literature, and analyst as of late (asides from my subscription to the economist), although I suppose I should do so once again if I'm going to proceed with a masters in the subject. |
Well, if you're looking for the latest economic theories don't get your hopes up. He wrote that book in 1944. ;)
|
|
|
| occrider |
Just watched Grizzly Man the other day. It's a documentary about the life and tragic demise of Timothy Treadwell. A rather ... interesting lunatic. He was a recovering drug addict/alcoholic who "found" himself by travelling to Alaskan bear country and living among the grizzly bears. He engaged in certain acts that could be universally considered as stupid (eg. touching the bears) which ultimately lead to his downfall. He did this for some 13 seasons until he was attacked, mauled, and eaten by grizzly bears on his last trip. The film pretty much consists of his actual video (he documented every trip) supplemented with commentary from people who were close to him or those providing post-mortem insight.
At first, you just regard him as a stupid hippy who deserved his fate. After some time, however, you begin to regard him with pity and sympathize with his psychosis. He's clearly a troubled individual desperately trying to plug the holes in his life with this obsessive hobby. It's quite clear that towards the end of the documentary Tim Treadwell has just two companions in his life: The bears he so desperatly tries to bond with and his camera. Anyway, I thought it rather introspective and a fascinating slice of life. |
|
|
| George Smiley |
Well, this time tomorrow I'll be in Washington DC!!
(can anyone think of any funny questions to ask if we go on a tour of the Whitehouse, Pentagon or FBI building?!?!) |
|
|
| George Smiley |
| This isn't the chill out thread is it? |
|
|
| DJ Kenosis |
| Douglas Hofstader - Godel, Escher & Bach |
|
|
| d-miurge |
I read another time A Study of History of Arnold Toynbee.
| quote: | Genesis
He argues that "self-determining" civilizations are born (out of more primitive societies), not due to racial or environmental factors, but as a response to challenges, such as hard country, new ground, blows and pressures from other civilizations, and penalizations. He argues that for civilizations to be born, the challenge must be a golden mean; that excessive challenge will crush the civilization, and too little challenge will cause it to stagnate.
He argues that civilizations continue to grow only when they meet one challenge only to be met by another. In 1939 Toynbee wrote 'the challenge of being called upon to create a political world-order, the framework for an economic world-order...now confronts our Modern Western society' [1]. He argues that civilizations develop in different ways due to their different environment and different approaches to the challenges they face. He argues that growth is driven by "Creative Minorities," find solutions to the challenges, which others then follow by example, called mimesis, i.e. mimeing.
Decay
He argues that the breakdown of civilizations is not caused by loss of control over the environment, over the human environment, or attacks from outside. Rather, it comes from the deterioration of the "Creative Minority," which eventually ceases to be creative and degenerates into merely a "Dominant Minority" (who forces the majority to obey without meriting obedience). He argues that creative minorities deteriorate due to a worship of their "former self," by which they become prideful, and fail to adequately address the next challenge they face.
Universal State
He argues that the ultimate sign a civilization has broken down is when the dominant minority forms a "Universal State," which stifles political creativity. He states:
First the Dominant Minority attempts to hold by force—against all right and reason—a position of inherited privilege which it has ceased to merit; and then the Proletariat repays injustice with resentment, fear with hate, and violence with violence when it executes its acts of secession. Yet the whole movement ends in positive acts of creation—and this on the part of all the actors in the tragedy of disintegration. The Dominant Minority creates a universal state, the Internal Proletariat a universal church, and the External Proletariat a bevy of barbarian war-bands.
("Barbarian war-bands" are arguably what we today might call "terrorist groups".)
He argues that, as civilizations decay, they form an "Internal Proletariat" and an "External Proletariat." The Internal protelariat is held in subjugation by the dominant minority inside the civilization, and grows bitter; the external proletariat exists outside the civilization in poverty and chaos, and grows envious. He argues that as civilizations decay, there is a "schism in the body social," whereby:
* abandon and self-control together replace creativity, and
* truancy and martyrdom together replace discipleship by the creative minority.
He argues that in this environment, people resort to archaism (idealization of the past), futurism (idealization of the future), detachment (removal of oneself from the realities of a decaying world), and transcendence (meeting the challenges of the decaying civilization with new insight, as a Prophet). He argues that those who Transcend during a period of social decay give birth to a new Church with new and stronger spiritual insights, around which a subsequent civilization may begin to form after the old has died.
Toynbee's use of the word 'church' refers to the collective spiritual bond of a common worship, or the same unity found in some kind of social order.
Predictions
It remains to be seen what will come of the four remaining civilizations of the 21st century: Western civilization, Islamic society, Hindu society, and the Far East. Toynbee argues two possibilities: they might all merge with Western Civilization, or Western civilization might develop a Universal State after its Time of Troubles, decay, and die.s |
source |
|
|
|
|
