Two Quotes of the Day -- On Socialism and Capitalism

"The good things at which socialism aims can only be achieved where industry is highly developed and has sunk deep into the habits of the nation. In England or America, socialism, if it could be achieved without prolonged war and industrial dislocation, could bring a very considerable degree of material well-being to the whole population, by exacting only four or five hours of daily labour from every adult citizen. And it would not need to be a centralized bureaucratic system, because the workers, from long practice, have come to understand the industries in which they are employed, and would be thoroughly competent to manage them themselves. 

A gradual approach to these benefits is possible without a catastrophic abolition of the capitalist system, and therefore without the very grave dangers to industrialism and the whole fabric of civilization which are involved in a universal class-war. But these benefits cannot be secured in a country as yet almost un-industrial, however much it may be nominally communistic, because in such a country the total produce of labour is not very much more than is needed for subsistence, and there are not, in the general body of the population, the habits, the skill or the knowledge required for a democratic control of the processes of industrial production."

― Bertrand Russell, The Prospects of Industrial Civilization (1959), Part I, Ch. I: Causes of the Present Chaos, p. 26

"It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a 'higher standard of living than any have ever known.' It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is unnecessary and henceforth unrationalizable as mandated by survival."

--R Buckminster Fuller, 1963

Both men were and are correct. We just aren't so bright as to put it all into place and have ti work for us all, for humankind.

Fantastic, Even Important Article on Covid-19 and All of Us

I just ran across this today, a bit ago, on a friend's Facebonkers page, from CNN. Not only is it, I think, an excellent, brief piece but I'm also proud it was written by someone from our own, my own generation. Here it is in it's entirety.

Covid-19 will change us 

as a species

Opinion by Marcelo Gleiser

I turned 61 last week, and am now, along with millions of others across the globe, within the higher risk group for Covid-19. Before this turn of events, ours had been the generation that had, along with billions of others younger and slightly older than me, avoided a major global crisis.

Unlike our parents and grandparents, we didn't face the tragedy of living through two World Wars; we avoided nuclear warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the Cold War. Now, our luck has run out.

With the Covid-19 pandemic striking full force across the globe, it's easy to stare in disbelief at the growing number of deaths. But the pandemic is here, and it will get worse before it gets better. How much worse depends on all of us. That's where the good news comes in.
The year 2020 will be remembered as a turnaround point in human history. Not just because many will die, but because the Covid-19 pandemic is offering us a chance to reinvent ourselves.
Wars force citizens of a nation to respond as one. When a country's citizens are under attack, they mobilize to face the common enemy. After the US joined World War II, towns ripped apart iron fences and collected scrap metal for tanks and armored cars; intent on beating the enemy, communities competed with each other in fierce collection drives. Fear galvanized action.

We now face a global enemy, one that doesn't identify its targets by religious, racial, gender or political choice; a virus doesn't care about maps and boundaries. What matters is that we are all potential hosts, irrespective of who we are or where we live. Under the cold lens of natural selection, the drama of life unfolds without moral judgment: it all boils down to living and reproducing.
The perversity of a virulent pandemic is that the affected hosts propagate the disease, accelerating the demise of members of their own species. Once infected, we can kill all who unwittingly cross our paths including family and friends.

Covid-19 will change us as a species. We must respond not just as nations fighting an enemy, but as a species fighting for survival. The virus will not wipe us out. But it is causing untold pain and loss, destabilizing global markets, and turning our daily lives into a surreal dreamscape. Our vulnerability and co-dependence are openly exposed.

Nature doesn't care about our arrogance. A tiny organism is forcing us to revisit our values, our divisions, our choices as we barricade within our homes with our closest family members and consider what will come next. We can taste the anxiety in our mouths, imagining what will happen if we lose internet connectivity, or run out of food and resources or worse, contract the virus.

We would be foolish not to embrace the central message of our predicament: that we must come together to survive, that we are fragile despite our capacity to create and destroy, that the tribal divisions that have defined our moral choices over the past millennia must be tossed aside for our own good.

We are entering the age of tribal override, the time when our species will begin to operate as one, as a human hive, working across the planet as a member of a living community of species and not as a destructive parasite. One tribe that embraces diversity and the common good.
We can already see the signs of an awakening. In Italy, a country devastated by loss, people sing together from their balconies, celebrating life and community. The internet helps, even as we distance from each other socially. Our children will miss school, their friends and teachers. We will miss our workplace, night life, distant family members, hanging out with friends.

Our global co-dependence is essential for our survival and for the stability of society, emotionally and practically. Where would we be without our health-care providers, and those who supply our homes with energy and heat, who keep the supermarket shelves full and the streets safe?

We must think collectively as a human hive, each of us playing an essential role. The first steps are simple: to be humble in the face of what we don't know, to be respectful of nature and its powers, and to work together to preserve not just our lives and those of our loved ones, but the lives of all of us in the hive, young and old, celebrating the gift of being alive.

So there you are, folks.  There we all are. Let's all be bigger and stronger than this pandemic. Let's work together. Let's come out on the "other side" of this bigger, better, stronger and smarter than we were, all across the state, all across the nation, all across the world.  Let's do this.

Here's hoping we're smart enough, wise enough to learn and grow from this situation, these events and this pandemic.

Be safe, be careful out there. Do well. And stay at home. For now.

Hasn't the Time Finally, Finally Come When Humankind Realizes We Must Work Together?

Look at all that's happened, weather-wise, in the last few weeks, around the world.  Consider all that has taken place recently and that is still, just now, occurring. This was at the end of August.

Sierra Leone mudslides 

'kill more than 1,000'

We all know what happened in Southeast Texas and Western Louisiana at about that same time.

Harvey crashes into Texas and Louisiana

This took place last night.

Mexico Earthquake, Strongest in a Century, 

Kills Dozens

Mexico rocked by one of the 

most powerful earthquakes recorded

This, in fact, is what's going on now as most of us know.

Hurricane Irma destroys St. Maarten

Hurricane Irma hit Barbuda like a 'bomb,' 

prime minister says

Hurricane Irma: 

A Practically Impossible Storm 

Major Hurricane Irma to deliver 

destructive blow to Florida this weekend

But this is also going on now, as too many, I think, aren't aware.

South Asia floods: Estimated 40 million across India, Bangladesh, Nepal affected

Then check this out. This is what's coming up, for pity's sake, in the next week or so.

Hurricane Jose looms for Barbuda 

and other Irma-damaged islands

Not to be done there, with all the hurricanes and flooding and all that water, the world over, we can't forget the parts of our own nation, whole sections, over states, that are so dry and hot and what that's doing to them.

Pacific Northwest Fires 

Smother Region in Smoke and Ash

Rare heat wave bakes San Francisco; fires rage through West

San Francisco sets all-time heat record downtown at 106 degrees

Pacific Northwest Wildfires Severe 

in Intensity | NASA

Smoke from British Columbia fires 

shrouds Northwest with poor air

Ash covers Oregon cities, 

wildfire smoke chokes West

It's not just the US, either.

Seattle chokes as wildfire smoke 

from Canada blankets the Northwest

Keep in mind, too, this is only the last few weeks, up to now. It's only a partial list. It's not everything, like this, that has taken place this year. It's my contention we can't, right now, keep up with all the really large, jarring, killing and home destroying weather and Earth events on the planet presently.

So this is my question.

Isn't it time we all, here on this rock, here on planet Earth, all we humans, started realizing we really are all "in this together"? That we need one another? Rich, poor, old, young, everyone?

Isn't it long, long overdue?

Up to now, it seems this has, too much, almost singularly, guided us.

Link:

Disaster Recovery Should Heal, Not Divide, Our Communities

We Are One

From Carl Sagan, Nov. 9, 1934 - Dec. 20, 1996

Links:

The Carl Sagan Portal

Carl Sagan - Wikipedia

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

“Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different road, so long as we reach the same goal. Wherein is the cause for quarreling?”

―Mahatma Gandhi

Link:  List of religions and spiritual traditions

For a Little Window of Time There, America....

For a little window of time there, these past nearly full 8 years, we had intelligence and calm and lucidity and rationality and strength and a lot of things good and right in the country. Not perfect, no, not by a long shot. But we had it good and right.


The first of humanity to declare "Nothing lasts forever" had it so right.

It was great while it lasted.

What It Means To Be Human, No. 2: He's Brilliant

There is what looks to be a fantastic documentary on what it means to be human.

They interview people of all kinds of backgrounds, young and old, all kinds, from around the world.

I was especially drawn to this one, from the President of Uruguay.



He is brilliant.

It's a wonder he's the head of a nation. He'd be disavowed in too many Western, industrialized nations.

Human. What Makes Us Human

Google put a link to this film, "Human", with the hashtag #whatmakesushuman on their home page today. Naturally, now obviously, I watched.

They're good. I liked what I saw, and this woman, instantly.



Now I gotta' go watch it.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

Where We Are, Where We Could Be

What we're actually capable of, now.

If only we'd work together.

Imagine.

Quote of the day -- on our world's priorities

"The world produces more food than we can consume. Our manufacturing productivity is at levels never before seen, there is plenty of land for all. What has changed is that the bosses are now taking all of the new profits from productivity gains for themselves. Not sharing with workers or with taxing authorities, it's greed, through and through."

--Booth Martin

Carl Sagan, On Humanity's Future

"In the past few decades, the United States and the Soviet Union have accomplished something that — unless we destroy ourselves first — will be remembered a thousand years from now: the first close-up exploration of dozens of other worlds. Together we have found much out there that is magnificent, instructive and of practical value. But we have found no trace, no hint of life. The Earth is an anomaly. In all the solar system, it is, so far as we know, the only inhabited planet.

We humans are one among millions of separate species who live in a world burgeoning, overflowing with life. And yet, most species that ever were are no more. After flourishing for one hundred fifty million years, the dinosaurs became extinct. Every last one. No species is guaranteed its tenure on this planet. And humans, the first beings to devise the means for their own destruction, have been here for only several million years.

We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. We have an obligation to fight for life on Earth — not just for ourselves but for all those, humans and others, who came before us and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after. There is no cause more urgent than to survive to eliminate on a global basis the growing threats of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe, economic collapse and mass starvation. These problems were created by humans and can only be solved by humans. No social convention, no political system, no economic hypothesis, no religious dogma is more important.

The hard truth seems to be this: We live in a vast and awesome universe in which, daily, suns are made and worlds destroyed, where humanity clings to an obscure clod of rock. The significance of our lives and our fragile realm derives from our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We would prefer it to be otherwise, of course, but there is no compelling evidence for a cosmic Parent who will care for us and save us from ourselves. 

It is up to us."

--Carl Sagan, who died on this day, 1995

Link:  Carl Sagan - Wikipedia

Quote of the day -- Sunday edition

Like

Quote of the day -- on a thriving planet

On the coming new year, and the passing of the last

Perspective

"Outside, pre-dawn: be still, be quiet; face the east; breathe slowly, calmly, and wait. When the sun rises, imagine the truth: the sun is not rising, the earth is turning.

 

You are riding the earth as it turns, and you are looking out at a giant nuclear furnace blazing 8 light minutes away, hanging in an unfathomable void.

 

Realize how special that is.

 

Love life.

 

Share this sense of wonder.

 

Repeat as desired."

 

--James Pomeroy, FB friend

Quote of the day--on life and "today"

"There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times."

— Edward Gibbon

Reminds me of the Dickens quote from "A Tale of Two Cities":

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

The good side of people

21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity

Link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/pictures-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity

In the face of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting and the Boston bombings and anything else, let's never forget it.

Quote of the day: Whither now, humankind?

"Sadistic flicks, sea rise, assassination drones: are we up to playing God? A tectonic shift in civilization has never happened this fast before, and we’re still part-chimpanzee with double Ph.D.’s in trial and error. Invent pesticides and see what they do to our organs, sell civilians assault rifles and count the schoolhouse shootings, experiment with longevity and economics, friendship and cellphoning."  

--Edward Hoagland from today's New York Times in his article Pity Earth's Creatures

It's a fantastic article with great questions for us. I highly recommend it.  It's also brief.

Quote of the day

"We can solve problems. We can solve really big, really scary and really impossible problems. We can do amazing things. But we can only do these things when, collectively, we step up and take on the mantle of adulthood. We can only do these amazing things when we set aside the childish pleasures of fits and tantrums and rise to the level of responsibility that maturity demands.

The challenges we face — from climate change to resource depletion — have appeared just now because we are at a turning point in our evolution. You don't alter you planet's atmospheric chemistry unless you have reached a certain level of, let's say, "ability". But to paraphrase Spiderman's uncle, abilities come with responsibility and responsibility demands maturity. As a species, we are called to new kinds of behaviors never before seen in the entire history of our evolution. Curiosity shows that, perhaps, we are ready. It shows us that we can face impossible challenges and find real, successful solutions.

We can do anything if we are creative, if we are responsible in our collaborations, if we step up to the demands of our families, our communities, our nation and our planet as adults." --Adam Frank, Astrophysicist, from an NPR guest post. Link below.

And to do this, we must work together, as one.

Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/08/07/158342268/curiosity-signals-from-mars-that-we-can-solve-our-problems-on-earth

The world can no longer afford the "luxury" of war

Think about it.

There have been wars.

"And rumors of war" as the saying goes, down through time.

Virtually every nation and every race in the world had their war or wars.

All centuries, at one time or another.

Lots of decades.

Kings and leaders of the world could, would and did just send their soldiers into the world to fight one another.

But now, we've got pollution, far too many people, far too few resources, not enough food and an array of problems we must address, instead. Additionally, we have natural disasters of all types, all around the world. Last year there were huge fires across Russia and Texas, this year they were in Colorado and New Mexico, along with at least 4 other spots here in the States. There are repeated, recurring floods, of course. Right now, Duluth, Minnesota just got hit hard but places like India and Bangladesh have been drenched far worse and far more times, I believe.

And that's even if you do ignore climate change (or global warming), let alone if you include it.

With the numbers of people in the world, it surely must be included that we--humankind, humanity--can no longer afford the luxury, if I may call it that, that is or was war.

Far too many people are dying already.

Disease, starvation, malnutrition, lack of medical care, lack of water--there are any number of things that are taking far too many people in the world.

The fact is, this world and humanity can no longer afford to spend our financial savings on war and weapons of war.

The answers to people's problems are in front of us.

If only we'll put our resources there, to take care of one another.

We humans must be more important than business and businesses.

Right now, in too much of the world, we put businesses first and that is a recipe for extinction.

Some internationally-known leader of the world today needs to stand up and say as much, too.

And the sooner, the better.

The way too much of the world is living now is just not sustainable.