Abstract
This chapter reflects on the area of concern: How should we live? I start by considering whether well-being needs to be explored in terms of a sense of purpose or in terms of a sense of perceived pleasure, what is valued more.
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Notes
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Harari (2015) argues that: “We humans control the world because we live in a dual reality. All other animals live in an objective reality. Their reality consists of objective entities, like rivers and trees and lions and elephants. We humans, we also live in an objective reality. In our world, too, there are rivers and trees and lions and elephants. But over the centuries, we have constructed on top of this objective reality a second layer of fictional reality, a reality made of fictional entities, like nations, like gods, like money, like corporations. And what is amazing is that as history unfolded, this fictional reality became more and more powerful so that today, the most powerful forces in the world are these fictional entities. Today, the very survival of rivers and trees and lions and elephants depends on the decisions and wishes of fictional entities, like the United States, like Google, like the World Bank – entities that exist only in our own imagination” July 24, 2015—Uploaded by TED https://www.ted.com/talks/yuval_noah_harari_what_explains_the_rise_of_humans/transcript?language=en#t-68345.
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Her connections to the air, the land and the sea were symbolically expressed through a feathered head dress, skin from a sacred cow on her ceremonial drum and a shawl made of sealskin.
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The events involved dance accompanied by polyrhythmic drumming to help induce a sense of altered consciousness and receptiveness to communion with the living as well as past generations of ancestors.
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As human beings we have the capability (Nussbaum 2011) to respond to social, cultural, political, economic or environmental challenges by cooperating, competing or understanding our interconnectedness and then designing a new culture that transforms our ability to survive as stewards of living systems .
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So many people living in urban environments feel lost. Hence the title of my forthcoming volume, entitled: ‘Getting lost in the city’.
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Nelson Mandela engaged in dialogue with journalists or as a negotiator, in order establish a conversation and a rapport. This was the basis for working with other people. It epitomises ‘being the change’ and the importance of developing relationships and maintaining relationships through treating people as ends and as whole people, not merely as a means to an end. In this way he brought about change through trying to establish or create connections with very different people from many cultures and different walks of life. He did not strive for a simplistic approach based only on competitive yes/no dialogue. Some of his principles were fixed but he was always prepared to talk and to respect aspects of people’s humanity even if he did not agree with them.
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Previously called Port Elizabeth before the name changes to reflect post-colonial and post-Apartheid South Africa.
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Left wing lunacy in Britain. Inquirer, Weekend Australian p. 15.
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Held (2005) cites data cited from the World Bank that three billion people live on less than $2.50 per day. The will to make a difference is the challenge (Held 2005: 33–34): “We may lack the will but it cannot be said that we lack the means. … What do we require to make a substantial difference to the basic wellbeing of the world’s poorest? Again the statistics are available. …Required would be $6 billion per annum on basic education, 9 billion per annum for water and sanitation, and 12 billion per annum for the reproductive health of women, 13 billion per annum for basic health nutrition. … These figures are substantial, but when judged against the major consumption expenditure in the US and EU they are not beyond our reach. Moreover if all the OECD agricultural subsidies were removed and spent on the world’s poorest peoples this would release some 300 billion per annum. … In addition a small shift between military and aid budgets – 900 billion and 50 billion a year globally would make a marked difference to the human security agenda….” But the Sydney Peace Prize winner Shiva (2002) sums up the challenge for this century as one of preventing the commodification of life and stresses the need to learn from nature and across disciplinary specialisations.
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“… [A]all the indications are that the universe is at its simplest at the smallest and the largest scales. … One can draw further parallels with the selfish, individualistic behaviours that are often the root cause of our environmental and financial crises. Within physics I see the idea of a ‘multiverse’ as a similarly fragmented perspective, representing a loss of confidence in the prospects for basic science. Yet I believe all of these crises will ultimately be helpful if they force us, like the quantum physicist, to remake our world in more basic and far sighted ways. … If we can only link our intelligence to our hearts, the doors are wide open to a brighter future, to a more unified planet … to quantum technologies that extend our perception”. (Turok 2012: 256–7).
According to Shiva (1988, 2002, 2011) multinational companies and the World Bank and the World Trade Organization have made it possible to patent the conditions of life and to link the so-called Green Revolution in India with terminator seeds that do not self-generate because they have been genetically modified, resulting in spiralling costs associated with the purchasing of seeds and the pesticides needed (despite the claims by the manufacturers). Shiva (2011) argues that this has led to many farmers being unable to afford to buy seed and that some are driven to suicide. Shiva argues furthermore that the attempt to criminalise farmers who store old varieties of seed could lead to undermining the seed diversity and that this could lead to increased food insecurity as a result of vulnerable monocultures of foods. The idea that the very basis for life – seeds and genes –can be patented is part of the process of commodifying people, animals and the fabric of life. Palombi (2007) stresses that patents supported by international trade undermine both the developed and the developing world through eroding human and planetary health. Shiva’s (1988) praxis (like Gandhi’s) is to find ways to intervene where it is most needed.
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Omar, Y. 2016. http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9777.
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Statistical Release PO211.
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Individualism is understood to mean the human thinking and behaviour focussed on the self and collectivism is understood to refer to group concerns and relationships with others including living systems .
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Langton, M and Longbottom, J 2012 Community futures, legal architecture. Oxon Routledge. She defines indigenous as: ‘applied to territorially based ethnic groups that were culturally distinct from the majority population of the nation states in which they find themselves, that were politically marginalized and who identified as indigenous’ (Simpson 1997). Simpson (1997) Indigenous heritage and self-determination: the cultural and intellectual property rights of Indigenous people . Copenhagen Denmark. IUCN.
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https://meanjin.com.au/essays/the-question-of-constitutional-recognition: “The Question of Constitutional Recognition: Marcia Langton talks to David Leyonhjelm.”
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I reflected that hunting and being in the bush is regarded as training by many Indigenous people. Surveillance and laws to prevent poaching and deforestation are thus viewed by some with ambivalence, unless they are part of the process of designing and implementing them.
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The vision of Pak Rudolf Wirawan is the need to use technology for sustainable living to foster coffee production in West Java by protecting the coffee plants and the civet cat that eats the coffee beans as they ripen. He wants to track the ripe coffee by working with the civet cats so that as it ripens the coffee beans are picked by tracking the movement of the civets and working with them. If you pick the coffee beans too soon or too late it is a problem. This could also help to protect and value the civet cat in his opinion. He also wants to encourage people to plant coffee beans and that this would help to maintain a clean and green Indonesia. His notion of using technology as a solution to tracking those who try to burn forests illegally by using surveillance drones is considered problematic as the forests are too dense.
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The research explores the extent to which people understand the implications of their food, energy and water choices. To what extent do people understand that what they decide to eat has an impact on our ecological footprints ? Some food requires more energy and water, depending on whether the food locally grown and locally consumed. The growth of cash crops for marketing at a distance can add costs to people and the planet. Eating a punnet of strawberries out of season flown in from elsewhere a makes a difference to the planet. Particularly if it is sold in a plastic container, which is often the case.
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I was nominated South East Asian rep in recognition of my contributions to transdisciplinary research and sociology. I presented a paper and organised a digital platform with Prof Vera Vratusa so that those who could not attend in person could engage with others. McIntyre-Mills (2014), Planetary passport : the challenges for social and environmental justice, The challenges posed by the global Pan Optacon, Penal states and dis appearing states in an increasingly vulnerable and unequal world. July 16, 2014-4th ISA Forum of Sociology—Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology. 13–19, July 2014, Yokohama, Japan. Recording at: http://vocaroo.com/i/s14IGmoPgPez see http://isarc10internetforum.wikispaces.com/Session+2+ISA+14.
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Art of the Covenant: photograph has been released into the public domain by the photographer, details at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cath%C3%A9drale_d%27Auch_20.jpg. Earth-moon: photograph is in the public domain in the US as it is a government work, details at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth-moon.jpg. It is a grey area if US government works are also in the public domain in other countries although you could probably rely on point 14 of NASA’s guidelines on using material
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Lyons, S. 2012 A Most Eminent Victorian: Thomas Henry Huxley 76 Automne|2012: 85–104 and another version at https://philosophynow.org/issues/71/Nature_Red_in_Tooth_and_Claw.
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Hannah Arendt stresses in her work on ‘the banality of evil’ that evil is comprehensible. In her discussion of the Eichmann trial after the holocaust in Germany she explains that Eichmann could not be singled out as being the monster at fault for the system of discrimination or extermination of the Jews.
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Jong, H. N. 2016. UN to grill RI on rising rights abuses Jakarta Post Thursday 29th Sept.
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Some said they would challenge the evictions in the courts. Most have found alternative accommodation and will strive to maintain the bonds they developed in the urban villages in Jakarta.
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The reason for the rioting was cited as being a comment made by the mayor who is a Chinese Christian: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/11/05/asia-pacific/political-meddling-instigated-deadly-jakarta-riots-indonesian-president-says/#article_history … President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the riot showed “political actors have taken advantage of the situation.” He did not identify any individual as responsible, but earlier in the week former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono went on national television to say he supported plans for the massive protest. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/03/more-muslim-groups-to-join-anti-ahok-rally.html.
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Representation and accountability to address mitigation and adaptation to climate change: the 2030 development agenda challenge and the potential and pitfalls of e-governance and e-democracy . 3rd International Conference on Social and Political sciences:information technology impacts on social and political dynamics, (IcoSaPS 2016) Lorin Hotel Solo, November 2–3, 2016, by: Faculty of Social and Political Sciences,Universitas Sebelas Maret.
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School of the Arts, English, and Media—University of Wollongong, His paper: Internet’s only as good as its users.
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Department of Political Science—NationalUniversity of Singapore, Singapore colleague, gave a Paper Title: The off line and on line Impact of ICT on ASEAN Security : A Perspective.
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http://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/after-slavery/effects-on-bristol/public-commemoration/monuments-to-individuals/ “Bristol merchants were granted the right to trade in slaves in 1698 and it did not take them long to turn the business opportunity into profit. From 1698, to the end of the Slave Trade in Britain in 1807, just over 2100 Bristol ships set sail on slaving voyages. According to Richardson (The Bristol Slave Traders: A Collective Portrait Bristol: Historical Association, Bristol Branch, 1984) this amounted to around 500,000 Africans who were carried into slavery, representing just under one fifth of the British trade in slaves of this period”.
“There are many statues in Bristol. One of the most prominent, in the Centre, was erected in 1895 to the memory of Edward Colston. This statue lists the many good works done by Bristol’s ‘Great Benefactor’, a merchant in the 17th century. But it makes no mention of his role as a highly placed officer in the Royal African Company. The Royal African Company held from 1672 to 1698, the sole British rights to trade with Africa for gold, ivory, spices and slaves. In 1998, when information about Colston’s involvement in the slave trade became better known, the statue was vandalised. A furious public debate ensued in the pages of the local papers about whether or not the statue should be taken down or whether a more truthful inscription should be added, telling about his involvement in slavery. Many white Bristolians resented this questioning of the reputation of the city’s most generous benefactor (he gave the equivalent today of about £10 million to schools, churches and charities for the poor in Bristol). To date (late 2003) nothing has happened to the statue. The debate still continues”.
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Jones, O. and Woodward, M 1910 A game keeper’s notebook. Edward Arnold London https://archive.org/stream/gamekeepersnoteb00jonerich#page/40/mode/2up.
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http://beta.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nosey%20parker which claims the first reference was in 1907 and that is was linked with the name ‘Parker’.
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Fairlie, 2009 http://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/short-history-enclosure-britain
This article originally appeared as ‘A Short History of Enclosure in Britain’ in The Land Issue 7 Summer 2009.
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Held et al. (2005) proposed that the core challenges of the day are to address the vast differences in the standard of living between the rich and the poor. The problem is not only one of externalities that are not factored into calculations of the degradation to the environment, it is a way of thinking and ‘being in the world’ that shifts the extraction of profit to where labour is cheaper and where governments and citizens are less likely to complain about degradation of environment. Short-term profits are made at the expense of future generations.
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http://www.smh.com.au/national/emotions-run-high-for-australias-muslim-youth-risking-all-to-fight-in-the-syrian-war-20131206-2ywof.html. At that stage over 200 people have visited Syria. It is estimated at that stage over half were engaged in action beyond assisting with the wounded.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-16/syria-bound-uk-teens-held-in-custody/6321512. Updated 16 Mar 2015, 12:46 p.m.
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http://www.news.com.au/world/disillusioned-young-muslim-men-head-to-fight-in-middle-east/story-fndir2ev-1226957126037 by 2015 the numbers have escalated to at least 300.
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Deprivation of British citizenship and withdrawal of passport facilities Standard Note: SN/HA/6820, Last updated: 30 January 2015, Author: Melanie Gower Section Home Affairs Section http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06820/SN06820.pdf, accessed 8/06/2015.
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“From the ground beneath my feet: towards the distant horizon”, Plenary paper presented by Simon Whitesman at the Mindfulness Matters Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
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The IPCC formula suggests that the privileged lives of some could lead to existential risk for people and the planet (Bostrom 2011). This has implications for the way we live and the need to change our way of life through rethinking our relationships with others and the environment. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change formula addresses the implications of polarizing ‘people versus the planet’ (Charlton 2011). Representation and accountability rest on showing the links across excessive consumption, unfair distribution and harm (Saul et al. 2012: 167). The issues facing the marginalised will be issues facing many in increasingly urbanised city environments. The IPCC formula suggests that the privileged lives of some could lead to ‘existential risk’ for all forms of life on the planet (Bostrom 2011). The ‘price of inequality’ —national and global has escalated. IPCC formula, namely E (Emissions) = Population × Consumption per Person × Energy Efficiency × Energy Emissions. The IPCC formula suggests that the privileged lives of some could lead to existential risk for people and the planet (Bostrom 2011). This has implications for the way we live and the need to change our way of life through rethinking our relationships with others and the environment.
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‘Transformation from Wall Street to Wellbeing ’, ‘Systemic Ethics’ and the Springer Encyclopaedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics.
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The body of work inspired by this approach and aspects of social cybernetics (Bausch, Christakis, Flood, Haraway, Jackson, Romm, Stafford Beer, Van Gigch, Ulrich, Midgely) are also helpful in formulating more systemic research on living systems and our place in the bundle of life Most importantly the organic praxis of Shiva, Deborah Bird Rose, Max Neef and Yoland Wadsworth on Living systems is increasingly relevant to my current work on ecological footprints and social justice.
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Hirschman (1970) could be characterised as striving to reveal ‘in the small new ways of seeing the whole’ (Alderman 2013: 9). He contributed to reframing the way in which areas of concern were perceived and the possibilities for doing things differently. In times of crisis, Hirschman (1970) suggested three options—‘loyalty, voice or exit’. Although it was possible for him to apply all three options to great acclaim in his lifetime—to exit totalitarian states and to demonstrate alternative ways of doing things—times have changed, because the challenges we face today cannot be addressed by working within the boundaries of a nation state or deciding to ‘exit’ a nation state that has become totalitarian. Currently we need to think critically about taken for granted structures. We need to take the liberative potential of small-scale projects (as suggested by Hirschman) and try to think of their potential as way to do things differently. In contrast, Hannah Arendt (1972) emphasises both potential and risks through drawing attention to evidence of the banality of evil. She considered the broad context and the structures that lead people to make unethical choices. Arendt’s (1972) work Crises of the Republic on how lies and spin contribute to undermining democracy remains relevant as does her report on Eichmann’s trial. Arendt stressed the implications of being part of an unquestioned monstrous system that becomes an unquestioned culture and a taken for granted system of bureaucracy. To avoid taking things for granted it is important to develop critical thinking based on the capability to think at a meta level about the implications of choices (Van Gigch 2003), but also to have in place constitutional structures that protect social and environmental justice for this generation and the next (Jessop 2009).
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The interrelated aims will be addressed by asking the following questions addressed in part by some of my current and proposed projects that each address significant problems: ‘The land is our mother’ and stewardship for future generations underpin the philosophy of Aboriginal custodians of the land and their dreaming sites. However, there is evidence that many non-Aboriginal urban citizens wish to spend more time living slower lives, walking wherever possible, riding bikes, growing local food, recycling and reusing and consuming less, instead of living stressful, competitive lives that save time, but waste resources as they are reliant on fast food in ‘throw away’ containers, fast travel and a ‘time is money attitude’ (McIntyre-Mills et al. 2012, 2013, 2014 and forthcoming). These findings clearly link environmental health and human wellbeing and raise the question of what can we learn from mobile and egalitarian, place-attached people (Vaske and Kobrin 2001) whose history is recorded in the landscape ? (Guddemi 2006; Rose 2004). The process of participation is the subject of recent research published in recent books, entitled ‘User-centric policy design’, ‘Identity, Democracy and Sustainability’ (McIntyre-Mills 2008; McIntyre-Mills and De Vries 2011) and ‘From Wall Street to Wellbeing ’ (McIntyre et al. 2014, forthcoming) which has shown that participation enhances attachment to policy ideas. This proposed DP seeks to deepen an understanding of how people perceive, and participate in, local challenges and experiences to develop a new understanding of how to increase environmental responsibility and the stewardship of the land for current and future generations. The challenge for governance and public administration is to match the processes and governance structures to diverse interest groups—with different life chances and different socio demographic characteristics. This research explores the discourses of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians on consumption and our relationships with one another and the land. This aims to inform responsive policy decisions and service delivery to address rising temperatures and risks pertaining to water , energy and associated rise in food costs.
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I stressed the need to reframe boundaries across a range of disciplines in Sociopedia called: Reconsidering boundaries (McIntyre-Mills 2014). Polly Higgins suggests that a new planetary law should be passed to protect the viability of the planet and that current systems of law are inadequate to protect people and the planet. Stiglitz has made the same point in relation to economics. The proposal was made by Higgins and others to the UN and Bolivia and Ecuador have succeeded in leading the way by passing a law to recognise the need to protect the earth.
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Mason, R. 2014 Apathetic and disaffected: millions who may never vote: the young and poor shun the ballot box but experts disagree on solutions The Guardian Weekly, 3/1/ 2014 p. 15.
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http://www.mindfulness.org.za/mindfulness2014/conference-speakers “Clifford D. Saron is an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain and MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1999. Dr. Saron has had a long-standing interest in the effects of contemplative practice on physiology and behaviour. In the early 1990s, in collaboration with Francisco Varela, Alan Wallace, Richard Davidson, José Cabezón and others, he coordinated field research investigating Tibetan Buddhist mind training under the auspices of the Private Office of H. H. the Dalai Lama and the Mind and Life Institute. He has served on the Mind and Life Program and Research Council and been a frequent faculty member at the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute. Dr. Saron is Principal Investigator of the Shamatha Project, a multidisciplinary investigation of the effects of long-term intensive meditation on physiological and psychological processes central to well-being, attention, emotion regulation and health”.
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http://www.mindfulness.org.za/mindfulness2014/conference-speakers/#alfred “Aging, Mindfulness and the Brain Biograph “Al Kaszniak received his Ph.D. in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Illinois in 1976, and completed an internship and postdoctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. He is currently Director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium Education Core, Director of the Neuropsychology, Emotion, and Meditation Laboratory, Faculty and Advisory Board member of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, and a professor in the departments of Psychology, Neurology, and Psychiatry at The University of Arizona (UA). He formerly served as Head of the Psychology Department, and as Director of the UA Center for Consciousness Studies, and Chaired the Steering Committee for the inaugural International Symposia for Contemplative Studies (April, 2012, Denver, CO). He also previously served as Chief Academic Officer for the Mind and Life Institute, an organization dedicated to dialogue and collaboration between science and contemplative traditions. He is the co-author or editor of seven books, including the three-volume Toward a Science of Consciousness (MIT Press), and Emotions, Qualia, and Consciousness (World Scientific)”.
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Vaughn, A. (2014) Tax on meat will cut methane build up The Guardian Weekly, 3/1/ 2014 p. 11. “Scientists say livestock emissions are big factor in greenhouse gas crisis. Meat should be taxed to encourage people to eat less of it, thus reducing the production of global warming gases from sheep, cattle and goats…”.
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Goldenburg, S. 2013 Up to 1bn a year spent fighting action on climate change The Guardian Weekly, 3/1/ 2014 p. 11.
Vaughn, A. (2014) Tax on meat will cut methane build up The Guardian Weekly, 3/1/ 2014 p. 11. “Scientists say livestock emissions are big factor in greenhouse gas crisis. “Meat should be taxed to encourage people to eat less of it, thus reducing the production of global warming gases from sheep, cattle and goats…”.
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The challenges of food, energy and water security were discussed in conversation with colleagues about the micro, meso and macro level challenges of addressing the social, economic and environmental challenges facing people living in cities that need to be supported by viable regions that make farming a less challenging experience. I discussed the liberative potential of enabling people to monitor from below, irrespective of whether they are citizens or not. Non-citizens should also be given a voice because human rights are not being adequately addressed through the nation state. My contribution to the conversation covered the need to understand that complex challenges (such as poverty and climate change) span many different variables that are inter related and that are valued differently by different stakeholders who do not agree about climate change or the causes of poverty. The systems approach begins when first we try to see the world through the eyes of another, according to West Churchman. Perceptions matter ! West Churchman’s so-called ‘enemies within’ includes religion, morality, politics and aesthetics. Paradoxically, these are the values that make us passionate and compassionate. As we face some of the greatest challenges ever facing the planet we will need to do what we have always been able to do - unite together to face ‘enemies within’ and the greatest external threats we all face to food, energy and water supplies. What we do upstream affects those downstream in our neighbourhood. This will affect all aspects of life and render all other debates pointless. In order to address these challenges it requires the ability to work across many very diverse groups locally, nationally and in post national regional contexts. It also requires the ability to evolve in ways that are quantum rather than digital. Being the change requires cooperation with others and with nature if we are to address the challenge of so-called ‘existential risk’ (Bostrom 2010). Monitory democracy ‘from below’ that supports respectful dialogue across service users and provides can be assisted through using a range of simple engagement processes that match the diverse needs of people with resources, in order to address the challenge to distribute resources more fairly. The free software that is available (McIntyre Mills et al. 2014) is downloadable. It pilots a way to enable participants to join up the dots when thinking about social, economic and environmental challenges. As it is used it updates, grows and provides pathways to address perceived challenges. The forthcoming volumes ‘Systemic Ethics’ and ‘Transformation from Wall Street to Wellbeing ’ provide a plea and an example of a free downloadable architecture for doing things differently.
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http://www.salon.com/2011/10/24/judith_butler_at_occupy_wall_street/By viewing the video, the performative approach to social change through being the change through reframing the current socioeconomic system. “If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible. In brief remarks to the occupiers at Liberty Plaza, Butler offered her take on the continuing “demands” debate: People have asked, so what are the demands? What are the demands all of these people are making? Either they say there are no demands and that leaves your critics confused, or they say that the demands for social equality and economic justice are impossible demands. And the impossible demands, they say, are just not practical. If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible — that the right to shelter, food and employment are impossible demands, then we demand the impossible. If it is impossible to demand that those who profit from the recession redistribute their wealth and cease their greed, then yes, we demand the impossible”.
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The decision to allow 1 person to die (perhaps through torture) to enable others to survive is an argument policy makers following a utilitarian approach could justify on the basis of so-called rational calculation. But it is a slippery slope as it undermines intrinsic rights. My intuitive emotional response is that it is an abhorrent choice. Some would say they could make a decision to rescue five by ending the life of one person if they could dispatch the person through flicking a switch that would lead to their demise. The more distance (emotional and physical) from the other person the easier it becomes to inflict pain on others, or so the theory goes.
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We are interconnected. The narrative of ‘Earth Democracy’ helps to support Space Ship Earth. There is hope, because according to Evans Pritchard the Nuer (a very war like group) understood that they needed to unite against a common enemy. So they set aside their differences when facing a large outside threat. Today the threat is us. We need to understand that to survive we need to cooperate not only with one another but also with living systems of which we are a strand. Respecting and enabling diverse capabilities of sentient beings and enabling them to live a life worth living is part of Earth Democracy. Gender diversity needs to be addressed so that women are able to play an equal role in Earth Democracy where they fulfil all their capabilities—not just reproductive roles but also productive, creative and strategic roles—so that the demographic transition from over population to balanced reproduction can occur. This occurs when literacy and numeracy—or educational opportunities for all are achieved. We are interconnected—we can no longer address differences merely through ‘exit’, because the challenges are planetary and so we will need to apply ethics to enable loyalty to current and future generations through being the change not merely voicing stewardship concerns.
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See Haidt on moral judgement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs41JrnGaxc, https://student.cc.uoc.gr/uploadFiles/179-%CE%9A%CE%A8%CE%92364/moral%20judgment.pdf, http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind?language=en, http://politicsofthemind.com/2012/12/01/the-six-moral-foundations-the-real-issues-lying-beneath-the-surface-of-political-debate/.
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“South Africans must defend democracy at grass roots”. Kenan Malik 30 September 2015 https://www.uct.ac.za/usr/news/lectures/tbdavie/TBDavieLecture2015.pdf.
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Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) argue that after a certain point, more consumption does not lead to more happiness. Thus, increased consumption based on increased economic growth does not make people happier—in fact it poses ‘existential risks’. ‘More equal societies almost always do better’ socially, economically and environmentally, to cite Von Foerster (1979). We need to think critically about the taken for granted ways in which we live and the size of our eecological footprint .
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‘The coming ‘tsunami of debt’ and financial crisis in America Forces that caused the world economy to collapse, including income inequality and debt, are again in action, and could drag corporations down in their wake’, Dimitri Papadimitriou, theguardian.com, Sunday 15 June 2014 17.58 BST. “… Forces that prompted Occupy movements protesting income inequality and financial misconduct are again in action, according to research. …The evidence demonstrates that the de-leveraging of the very rich and the indebtedness of almost everyone else move in tandem; they follow the same trend line. In short, there’s a strong and continuous correlation between the rich getting richer, and the poor – make that the 90% – going deeper into debt. That the share of income and wealth to the richest has skyrocketed is certainly not a new revelation. The heralded data tabulations of Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez have demonstrated just how spectacular the plutocrats’ portion became in the run-up to the Great Recession. They codified the belief that no one else can ever catch up with the very wealthiest. …To paraphrase Voltaire’s words on God, even if bubbles and debt did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them. And that is exactly what we are doing”.
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I hypothesized in the Journal of Consciousness Studies that participation through awareness and consciousness -raising (McIntyre-Mills 2010) will influence the way in which people value relationships with others and the land. This hypothesis is based on the notion of neural plasticity in that the brain shapes the environment and, in turn, is shaped by the environment (Bateson 1972; Beer 1994; Greenfield 2000). At a practical level the greater the level of participation the better the match between service users and providers. The complexity of a governance response needs to match the complexity of the service users. In designing a response we need to ensure that the lived experiences of users and service providers is taken into account. The IPCC formula suggests that the privileged lives of some could lead to existential risk for people and the planet (Bostrom 2011).
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Medina is in Saudi Arabia. It is where “Muhammad fled when he was initially driven out of Mecca, and the place where he attracted his first followers. Medina currently has a population of about 600,000 people and is the home of ‘The Prophet’s Mosque’.” http://www.religionfacts.com/medina, accessed 10/05/2016.
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Roberts, D. 2015, No war with Islam, Obama says, but conflicts continue The Guardian 27.02.15.
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Tradition of iconoclasm: the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were part of a history of attacking divine representations The Guardian Weekly 16/01/15 18–19.
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The danger of polarized debate is all too real: the truth about the Paris attacks is more complex and more difficult than many would like to accept 18–19.
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The Guardian, Sunday 10 April 2011 18.17 BST.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gd2wjIslamic State: Bureaucracy and Brutality: “Former jihadi Airmen Dean gives a unique insight into the workings of Islamic State. Dean left school in Saudi Arabia to fight jihad in Bosnia in the 1990s. But with the rise of al-Qaeda he became disillusioned with his comrades’ drift towards terrorism. He joined al-Qaeda – but working undercover for the British government. Dean has recently spoken publicly against the jihadist movement but he retains a deep network of contacts within it. Despite Dean’s defection, IS supporters still debate with him? Through those discussions, Dean has gained a deep understanding of the ideology and organisational networks behind IS”.
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“ISIS aims to establish a so-called ‘caliphate’, which means a state ruled by a single political and religious leader according to Islamic law, or Sharia.
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A young person hung out of a broken window puffing a pipe. At a station a young man dressed as a Goth joined the train and spent time harassing a man in a wheel chair to allow him to draw a tattoo on his hand. His offers of friendship were rebuffed.
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Angliss Conference Centre, Melbourne, 17th Oct, 2016: “It is 25 years since Dawkins became the Labor Minister for Employment, Education and Training and set about remodelling the country’s institutions of tertiary education into instruments of the dynamic newfangled economic order. The new economy created a new frontier and, as on the old one, the heroic doctrines were pragmatic, utilitarian, impatient, tending to anti-intellectual. By these lights, the university run by academics and according to academic values was about as far from ideal as one could get. Much closer to the model was the modern corporation and the management principles it employed. Universities became massive revenue-chasing enterprises, academics became administrators, students became customers, managers became royalty – and management’s share of revenue multiplied and multiplied”. Don Watson, ‘A New Dusk’, The Monthly, August 2012. Don Watson’s summation of the malaise in Australian universities, written in 2012 in a review of Donald Meyers’ ebook Australian Universities: A Portrait in Decline, is perhaps the best known recent critique of the widespread malaise in tertiary education. … An air of resignation pervades our universities. Disillusionment and bitterness are palpable, but a fear of upsetting the Emperors still prevails.…”.
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But a university is about testing out ideas, is it not? I responded (sotto voce). But then I recalled how at times that too much top-down testing of ideas (based on questioning and delays) can be counterproductive. In the Development Bank of Southern Africa we called the passage of documents up and down the system the so-called “heart attack” profile. I recall reading somewhere that it is a way to sabotage morale. This seems to be a usual process in many bureaucracies today.
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21–23 November 2014 plenary Session, the conference of AICIS.
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Olding, R 2015, Sydney Morning Herald, April http://www.smh.com.au/national/persecution-pushing-young-australian-muslims-to-the-margins-of-society-says-leader-20150409-1mhhj5.html Persecution pushing young Australian Muslims to the margins of society, says leader Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/persecution-pushing-young-australian-muslims-to-the-margins-of-society-says-leader-20150409-1mhhj5.html#ixzz3oPhfExia.
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As an explanatory paradigm it is in line with Mary Douglas’ notion of sacred and profane. Those who share the same paradigm or our own cultural narrative and those who do not share our cultural narrative are regarded as profane. Critical Systems thinking (or critical heuristics) based on the work of West Churchman and his student Werner Ulrich and others such as Gerald Midgely, Romm, Flood and McIntyre-Mills argue that systems are not closed they are open and can be redefined or reframed.
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The challenges of food, energy and water security were discussed in conversation with colleagues about the micro, meso and macro level challenges of addressing the social, economic and environmental challenges facing people living in cities that need to be supported by viable regions that make farming a less challenging experience. I discussed the liberative potential of enabling people to monitor from below, irrespective of whether they are citizens or not. Non-citizens should also be given a voice because human rights are not being adequately addressed through the nation state. My contribution to the conversation covered the need to understand that complex challenges (such as poverty and climate change) span many different variables that are inter related and that are valued differently by different stakeholders who do not agree about climate change or the causes of poverty. The systems approach begins when first we try to see the world through the eyes of another, according to West Churchman. Perceptions matter! West Churchman’s so-called ‘enemies within’ includes religion, morality, politics and aesthetics. Paradoxically, these are the values that make us passionate and compassionate. As we face some of the greatest challenges ever facing the planet we will need to do what we have always been able to do—unite together to face ‘enemies within’ and the greatest external threats we all face to food, energy and water supplies. What we do upstream affects those downstream in our neighbourhood. This will affect all aspects of life and render all other debates pointless. In order to address these challenges it requires the ability to work across many very diverse groups locally, nationally and in post national regional contexts. It also requires the ability to evolve in ways that are quantum rather than digital. Being the change requires cooperation with others and with nature if we are to address the challenge of so-called ‘existential risk’ (Bostrom 2010). Monitory democracy ‘from below’ that supports respectful dialogue across service users and provides can be assisted through using a range of simple engagement processes that match the diverse needs of people with resources, in order to address the challenge to distribute resources more fairly. The most powerless and voiceless are those who do not have the vote… they are young people, children, asylum seekers, the dis Abled, sentient beings who are commodified and traded and of course the planet which has no rights at all. So the focus needs to be on the inadequacies of the nation state and the social contract. The recently published volumes ‘Systemic Ethics and Transformation from Wall Street to Wellbeing ’ provide a plea and an example of a free downloadable architecture for doing things differently at the meso level. These volumes are extended in the following chapters. Local level engagement and wide ranging goals appear to be suggesting new directions, but how do we join up the dots and become more mindful?
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McIntyre-Mills, J. (2017). People and the Planet: Implications of Hybridity for Ethics and Consumption Choices. In: Planetary Passport. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58011-1_2
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