Re: [xmca] Re: New Aps and the Growth of inequality

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

Thank you, Paula. Its seems that despite huge variations of many kinds,
there is a common concern expressed by several projects in several places
which attempt to "re-ground" education in similar ways. Perhaps inklings of
a spreading of a new intuition about the future.
mike

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:05 AM, Paula M Towsey <paulat@johnwtowsey.co.za>wrote:

> In an earlier posting on this thread, Yrjö Engeström suggested:
>
> "Perhaps such schools and educational projects should get together
> globally?”
>
> and so I’m attaching this information on Lapalala Wilderness School for
> XMCAers who may find it of interest.  I went to their first Open Day on
> Saturday and if I was enthusiastic about what's being achieved - and aimed
> for - there before now, since Saturday I've become a committed supporter(!).
>
> The focus of the school is twofold: firstly, that the children from local
> surrounding areas who are generally too poor to own more than one pair of
> shoes make up the 70% of non-fee-paying children who come to Lapalala
> because it is paid for by the 30% of fee-paying students from privileged
> schools who also attend; and, secondly, the development of an outreach
> programme which aims to reach the huge numbers of children that the school
> simply cannot accommodate: even though 3 500 children per annum go through
> the school's programmes, there is an estimated figure of many thousands more
> who live in the surrounding neighbourhood who can't be reached because of
> their overwhelming numbers.
>
> At present, the teachers at Lapalala typically take in 60 children early on
> a Monday morning, and their programme usually runs until Wednesday lunchtime
> - these teachers are on duty practically 24 hours a day.  At lunchtime on
> Wednesday, the teachers wave good bye to this group, and then by 14h00,
> welcome the next 60 who'll be there till Friday evening...  It sounds like
> it could be a sausage machine until one meets the teachers - and sees the
> type of programmes the children are involved with, in many cases presented
> to them by people whose lives were changed as a result of their visits to
> Lapalala when they were students.
>
> What I also found to be of great interest is that between this school and
> Birdlife SA, maths and science are being taught within the context of
> Wildlife Conservation, and Biodiversity and Sustainable Growth Studies.
>
> I’d be happy to forward contact details of the chairperson or Dr Roberts
> (head) to interested XMCAers (I’m definitely signing up to do the course on
> frogs, although the idea of holding a scorpion or baboon spider in my hand
> is still very frightening!).
>
> Best
> Paula
>
>
> _________________________________
> Paula M Towsey
> PhD Candidate: Universiteit Leiden
> Faculty of Social Sciences
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of mike cole
> Sent: 18 April 2010 18:26
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Cc: Pruden, Delores A; kurt squire; Benjamin Stokes; Lucy Friedman
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Re: New Aps and the Growth of inequality
>
> Thanks a lot, Katsu-san. There is a lot to follow up on. It would be great
> to see an article about how you link theory-methods-practice in your
> third generation activity work in Mind, Culture, and Activity. Meantime, we
> can follow your bibliographic leads.
>
> I learned last week that the fastest growing sector of American agriculture
> is local farms that sell their produce locally.... both for concerns over
> the environmental damage of long distance importation of basic foods and
> for
> reasons of cost. This is true, I am told, even in northern states of the US
> with relatively cold winters (we do not compete with Finland in this
> regard).
> :-)
> mike
>
> On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 6:39 AM, Katsuhiro Yamazumi <
> kyamazumi@chat.kansai-u.ac.jp> wrote:
>
> > Dear Yrjo, Kris, Mike, and colleagues,
> > Many many thanks for noting and talking about our 'New School' (NS)
> project
> > in Osaka, Japan. As Yrjo kindly mentioned, NS seeks to crate elementary
> > school children's and various other participants' project-based
> > collaborative learning activities for 'sustainable living' from the
> > experience of agriculture through organic cultivation and learning about
> > ecology to learning about 'slow food' through original cooking lessons.
> >
> > Using an expansive learning approach to school and educational
> innovations,
> > NS is attempting to build a hybrid 'platform of learning' that will
> create
> > collaborations between municipal schools and a diverse range of outside
> > partners as follows:
> >
> > - community-oriented farmers and agricultural experts who produce
> > traditional local vegetables using only organic cultivation
> > - voluntary associations and grass-roots movement aimed at the
> > proliferation
> > of traditional local vegetables and their bequeathal to future citizens
> > - regional government agencies in industrial labor and
> agriculture-forestry
> > promotion
> > - regional educational authorities.
> >
> > Also NS will create a 'bridge of learning,' which will connect our mutual
> > learning activities to a new and ecological form of sustainable living
> that
> > is productive and practical, and to better living in the future. This
> kind
> > of expanded platform of learning for transformation of surrounding
> > activities could be the radically new form of schools that act as agents
> of
> > societal change and contribute to community revitalization.
> >
> > I am very inspired by hearing from Kris about the 5th Dimension that will
> > be
> > organized around the health issues, and would very like to learn much
> more
> > about it.
> >
> > My colleague in Singapore, Yew Jin Lee and I recently started a new
> > international project that would have many implications for learning and
> > new
> > ways of teaching. By drawing upon third generation activity theory, it
> will
> > focus on hybrid or boundary objects between formal and informal learning
> > settings in and out of the school, and our two systems - The Nature
> > Learning
> > Camp (NLC) in Singapore and NS - in a comparative study. NLC is an
> > environmental program for elementary school students.
> >
> > With response to Mike's kind advice, here are references to my recent
> > articles on the NS project:
> >
> > - Yamazumi, K. (2006). Activity theory and the transformation of
> pedagogic
> > practice. Educational Studies in Japan: International Yearbook of
> Japanese
> > Educational Research Association, 1, 77- 90.
> > http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110006244668
> >
> > - Yamazumi, K. (2008). A hybrid activity system as school innovation.
> > Journal of Educational Change, 9(4), 365-373.
> >
> > - Yamazumi, K. (2010). Toward an expansion of science education through
> > real-life activities in Japan. In Y.-J. Lee (Ed.), Science education
> > research in Asia. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
> > http://www.helsinki.fi/cradle/documents/Yamazumi.pdf
> >
> > Warmest regards,
> >
> > Katsu
> >
> > --
> > Katsuhiro Yamazumi, Ph.D.
> > Professor, Elementary School Education,
> > Project Unit for Research on Education and Learning Activity（PURELA),
> > Kansai University
> > 3-3-35 Yamate-cho, Suita, Osaka 564-8680, Japan
> > Tel +81-6-6368-0097
> > Fax +81-6-6368-0096
> > kyamazumi@chat.kansai-u.ac.jp
> > http://www.chat.kansai-u.ac.jp/english/
> >
> > On 10/04/13 8:04, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Kris and colleagues, Katsuhiro Yamazumi's 'New School' project in
> > > Osaka, Japan, is focused on exploring and developing practices that
> > > support the cultivation and creative use of local and organic food
> > > products and nutritional practices (including 'slow food'), in
> > > collaboration with local farmers and other actors.
> > >
> > > Perhaps such schools and educational projects should get together
> > > globally?
> > >
> > > Yrjö Engeström
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Kris Gutierrez kirjoitti 12.4.2010 kello 23.03:
> > >
> > >> actually there are school programs that focus on health/nutrition/
> > >> science issues in low-income neighborhoods.  The school in which the
> > >> newest 5th Dimension is being established in Lafayette Colorado has
> > >> such programs, "growing gardens," salad bar cart with organic
> > >> veggies and organic milk; children grab fresh apples as they leave
> > >> for home, etc.  Our 5th Dimension will be organized around the
> > >> health issues (the school's #1 issue) of the children and local
> > >> community.
> > >> We had a similar science program with high school students from
> > >> migrant farmworker backgrounds but in that case we did study health
> > >> issues (including the most prevalent in migrant communities) in
> > >> relation to larger social issues:  poverty, environmental racism,
> > >> inequity, the working conditions of migrant farmworkers, etc.   the
> > >> most engaged young scientists I ever saw.    great ideas and topic
> > >> here.
> > >>
> > >> Kris Gutiérrez
> > >> Professor
> > >> Social Research Methodology
> > >> GSE&IS
> > >> Moore Hall 1026
> > >> krisgu@ucla.edu
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Apr 12, 2010, at 9:03 AM, mike cole wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> I have forwarded that note to potential partners. But there must be
> > >>> others out there who could help.
> > >>>
> > >>> I wonder who the President of AERA is? :-)
> > >>> mike
> > >>>
> > >>> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 7:46 AM, kurt squire
> > >>> <kurt.squire@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>> Great questions! I'm not really sure. My own thinking is really
> > >>> only just forming on it. It seems like the seeds are there with
> > >>> Michelle Obama's agenda. But as one might predict, it doesn't seem
> > >>> like you can really address health without addressing these other
> > >>> issues about property ownership, etc.
> > >>>
> > >>> I'm a pretty novice social organizer, but it seems like something
> > >>> needs to be done to raise awareness that this is even an issue. I
> > >>> guess that Pollan's work has gathered a lot of attention, but I
> > >>> dont see as of yet any real movement toward having fresh food in
> > >>> schools for example.
> > >>>
> > >>> I do know that Ben Stokes is discussing organizing a convening
> > >>> around mobile social activism to tackle these issues, and trying to
> > >>> get MacArthur Foundation support for it. He's in LA so there are
> > >>> many similar issues to what you see, I'd suspect.
> > >>>
> > >>> Either way, I'm on board! Let's organize!
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 3:56 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>> So how do collaborate to get these issues on the national research
> > >>> agenda, Kurt?
> > >>>
> > >>> Locally, the fruit app wouldn't work for the population we work
> > >>> with because the fruit trees have been cut down and paved over and
> > >>> the only fresh food they can walk to is at the 99 cent store.
> > >>> Public transport is
> > >>> mimimal and expensive. Unemployment is staggering. etc.
> > >>>
> > >>> And all we get is celebration of a wireless world while the poor of
> > >>> other countries get our digital waste. Bah humbug.
> > >>> mike
> > >>>
> > >>> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 12:42 PM, kurt squire
> > >>> <kurt.squire@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>> Couldn't agree more, particularly on the mobile apps. A student,
> > >>> Seann Dikkers and I have been studying youth with mobile devices,
> > >>> and we have a piece we're putting together arguing for them as
> > >>> devices that amplify interest, personal power, identification, and,
> > >>> yes, probably class distinctions. The Educational Research &
> > >>> Development Group I'm in at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
> > >>> is working on a variety of applications around personalized
> > >>> medicine to try and deal with these issues of health & class, but
> > >>> it's an uphill battle, to be sure.
> > >>>
> > >>> Some of the most interesting work I've seen in that area is
> > >>> participatory mapping. Another student of mine, Jim Mathews has
> > >>> been using mobile devices with high school kids for them to map
> > >>> their neighborhoods and then create mobile media learning
> > >>> experiences that highlight social, environmental, or economic
> > >>> issues. He's been very interested in how one can apply
> > >>> participatory mapping techniques in educational settings... there
> > >>> are fantastic examples of people mapping the healthiness of
> > >>> neighborhoods (i.e. how far must you walk to find fresh fruit or
> > >>> vegetables?).
> > >>>
> > >>> Jim also turned me on to Neighborhood Fruit, a great app that shows
> > >>> you where fruit trees are growing so that you can eat free fruit.
> > >>> Probably you folks in California will have more trees appear than
> > >>> we get in Madison.
> > >>>
> > >>> cheers
> > >>> kurt
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 11:49 AM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>> A clear weakness in this medium is the prominent display of
> > >>> contextual
> > >>> clues to guide interpretation. Using irony, which i do a lot in
> > >>> oral speech
> > >>> and too often online, is extremely iffy.
> > >>>
> > >>> I agree that the online gaming environment is rich in potential for
> > >>> what
> > >>> most of us in xmca (I am guessing) would see as creating rich
> > >>> environments
> > >>> for educational activities. To Rafi's list I would recommend that
> > >>> those
> > >>> interested google "Quest Atlantis" or "Sasha Barab" and of course
> > >>> Donna
> > >>> Russell is an XMCA member who has worked in this area.
> > >>>
> > >>> David Kel's comments about multi-aged play groups and zopeds is at
> > >>> least one
> > >>> of the serious points I take out of his most recent rumpusy posting.
> > >>>
> > >>> Simultaneously, I have a growing suspicion that the spread of
> > >>> iphone apps
> > >>> for educational and health purposes is going to prove both a bigger
> > >>> wedge
> > >>> between classes and an big ecological challenge. I see
> > >>> consideration of
> > >>> these possibilities nowhere in the discourse on the marvels of
> > >>> ubiquitous
> > >>> mobile wireless computing. Perhaps its me who is missing the point.
> > >>>
> > >>> mike
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 7:40 AM, Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu>
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>> On Apr 10, 2010, at 10:30 PM, Rafi Santo wrote:
> > >>>>
> > >>>>> From the date on the article (March 22), I'd doubt that it was
> > >>> an April
> > >>>> Fool's joke, though the author certainly does himself no service
> > >>> by using
> > >>>> somewhat of tongue in cheek and polarizing argumentation strategy
> > >>> ("schools
> > >>>> are broken, let's replace them with video games!", if I can
> > >>> paraphrase...).
> > >>>>>
> > >>>> My university library doesn't provide access to some important
> > >>> journals,
> > >>>> but it does allow me to read Jonathan Gough's columns. I'm
> > >>> copying two here:
> > >>>> in the first he solves the global energy crisis; in the second he
> > >>> muses on
> > >>>> the wonders of capitalism. April Fool's joke? No, he is this
> > >>> witty and
> > >>>> provocative every week, for a living!
> > >>>> =============
> > >>>> The life & opinions of Julian Gough
> > >>>>
> > >>>> I have decided to devote this column to doing only good.
> > >>>> I shall start by solving the energy crisis. Now, crisis is a
> > >>> terrible
> > >>>> description and shortage is worse. The terms of this debate have
> > >>> been set by
> > >>>> the oil industry, whose worldview was formed when atoms were
> > >>> solid. Oil
> > >>>> industry executives still see cars as the solution to the global
> > >>> threat
> > >>>> emanating from horses (who, scientists once predicted, would bury
> > >>> the
> > >>>> world's cities under 20ft of manure by 1950). But how can you
> > >>> have a
> > >>>> shortage of energy in a universe made out of nothing but energy?
> > >>> On a planet
> > >>>> half of which is bathed in high-energy radiation at all times? A
> > >>> planet with
> > >>>> a core of solid, crystalline iron, which rotates in a boiling
> > >>> slurry of
> > >>>> molten rock so energetic it can burst through the earth's skin to
> > >>> consume
> > >>>> cities? A planet with a moon that hauls entire oceans, whales and
> > >>> all,
> > >>>> several meters up in the air, twice daily? Earth's air pours
> > >>> forth raw
> > >>>> electricity, in billion-volt bolts, at a global rate of 100 times
> > >>> a second.
> > >>>> Absurd excesses of energy lash us from every direction, it's a
> > >>> miracle we're
> > >>>> not all dead. Shortage? The crisis is one of overproduction.
> > >>>> Yet people are faffing about attempting to run cars on soya oil.
> > >>> Stop it!
> > >>>> It's embarrassing! Where is your pride in technological advance?
> > >>> Way back in
> > >>>> the 1970s, spacecraft already used fuel cells and solar panels
> > >>> and elegant
> > >>>> gravitational slingshots around distant planets and yet we, in
> > >>> the 21st
> > >>>> century, are still trying to move forward by essentially lighting
> > >>> our own
> > >>>> farts.
> > >>>> What is this obsession with the internal combustion engine,
> > >>> anyway? German
> > >>>> engineers can perfect it all they want, they're still setting off
> > >>> explosions
> > >>>> in a tin can, in order to rotate a stick, so that mechanical
> > >>> gears can turn
> > >>>> a wheel, with a 15 per cent energy efficiency. It's Victorian.
> > >>> And nuclear
> > >>>> power is no advance. Nuclear power plants are just used to boil
> > >>> water. They
> > >>>> are giant kettles. We cracked the atom and we used it to make tea.
> > >>>> Why aren't we having more fun with this? Look, if we can't find a
> > >>> way to
> > >>>> generate power from an iron sphere which is the size of the moon
> > >>> and as hot
> > >>>> as the sun rotating in a magnetic field beneath our feet, then we
> > >>> deserve to
> > >>>> sit in the dark until the fission reactor that floods us in
> > >>> energy rises the
> > >>>> next morning.
> > >>>> For the love of God, our planet is flying through the sun's
> > >>> magnetic field
> > >>>> at a shocking speed. While spinning. It's just a huge dynamo,
> > >>> waiting for
> > >>>> someone to tap it.  All you have to do is run 100,000-km wires
> > >>> out of the
> > >>>> earth's magnetic field and into the sun's field. What? How? Make
> > >>> the wires
> > >>>> out of stuff that's already up there. Use old nuclear warheads to
> > >>> blast a
> > >>>> few iron asteroids into geosynchronous orbit around earth. Voilá!
> > >>> Tiny,
> > >>>> fixed moons of solid ore. A little factory builds a big factory
> > >>> from the
> > >>>> asteroid's material and off you go. Finally, gently lower one end
> > >>> to earth,
> > >>>> at the equator, using space-elevator physics, and connect it to a
> > >>> global
> > >>>> grid. Do I have to do everything for you?
> > >>>> It's an ideal way for America and China to rebalance their
> > >>> accounts with
> > >>>> each other, while building something more productive than
> > >>> machines for
> > >>>> spin-drying lettuce. America needs to replace its dilapidated 1950s
> > >>>> electricity infrastructure, and China needs to generate
> > >>> electricity for a
> > >>>> billion people without cooking the world. Not only would a global
> > >>> dynamo
> > >>>> generate no greenhouse gases but the heat from the dynamo would
> > >>> be radiated
> > >>>> into space. (Besides, in the next few years, America and China
> > >>> will need
> > >>>> something exciting to do together that isn't a war.)
> > >>>> You also end up with the bonus of a space elevator, which lowers
> > >>> the cost
> > >>>> of getting stuff into orbit a hundredfold, so only the first wire
> > >>> is really
> > >>>> expensive. And the wires would look great at night: big glowing
> > >>> lines
> > >>>> stretching off into the darkness. Especially if you hung
> > >>> ultrathin sheets of
> > >>>> glittery solar panel off them too, doubling the energy return.
> > >>> Nature was
> > >>>> fun while it lasted, but humans now own the planet. We might as
> > >>> well
> > >>>> decorate it.
> > >>>> Sure, converting some of the earth's orbital and rotational
> > >>> energy into
> > >>>> electricity would eventually slow the planet down, lengthening
> > >>> the day and
> > >>>> the year,  but we'll enjoy the lie-in. And we could declare the
> > >>> extra days
> > >>>> holidays. No, no, your thanks are unnecessary. Just name December
> > >>> 32nd after
> > >>>> me. (And before the protesters get started, tidal friction is
> > >>> already
> > >>>> slowing the earth's rotation. Go picket the moon).
> > >>>> Much of the research has been done: many of the satellites
> > >>> passing over
> > >>>> your head already use electricity and a kilometre-long wire
> > >>> dangling into
> > >>>> the earth's magnetic field to raise and lower their orbit.
> > >>>> And one of the nicest things about this plan is, unlike burning
> > >>> all the
> > >>>> oil, it's reversible. If we later found a cleaner, cheaper, more
> > >>> fun way to
> > >>>> generate energy, we could push electricity back up the wires.
> > >>> Resistance
> > >>>> would become assistance: instead of slowing us down, the sun's
> > >>> magnetic
> > >>>> field  would speed the earth up and haul us into our old orbit,
> > >>> as if it had
> > >>>> never happened.
> > >>>> Well, that's the energy crisis solved. Next month, I shall bring
> > >>> about
> > >>>> world peace.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Julian Gough is the author of  "Jude: Level 1" (Old Street
> > >>> Publishing)
> > >>>>  April 30, 2009
> > >>>>
> > >>>> ============
> > >>>> The sacred mystery of capital
> > >>>>
> > >>>> BYLINE: Julian Gough
> > >>>>
> > >>>> LENGTH: 1962 words
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Many prophets foretold the disaster. Rending their garments, they
> > >>> cried
> > >>>> that these works of man deviated from all that was good and
> > >>> proper, and
> > >>>> would bring destruction. The prophets were mocked. Some were even
> > >>> driven
> > >>>> into the wilderness. But then it came-a freezing of markets, a
> > >>> collapse of
> > >>>> structured products, a destruction of asset classes and a global
> > >>> credit
> > >>>> crunch. Foretold by the prophets, yet somehow unpredicted by the
> > >>> risk models
> > >>>> of banks and governments, it wiped trillions of dollars from the
> > >>> value of
> > >>>> houses and dumped families out in the street in numbers far
> > >>> exceeding those
> > >>>> of Exodus. The crisis threw communities, and commodities, into
> > >>> chaos-from
> > >>>> New Zealand to Iceland, from soya to oil-and many bankers were
> > >>> fired and
> > >>>> great was their woe.
> > >>>> Of course, the idea of economics as a religion is not new. As Max
> > >>> Weber
> > >>>> pointed out early Protestants saw economic success as a sign from
> > >>> God that
> > >>>> one was of the heavenly elect. It was a small step from there to
> > >>> seeking
> > >>>> success to ensure one would be saved. Capitalism, as Walter
> > >>> Benjamin said,
> > >>>> silently took over Reformation Christianity and replaced the
> > >>> religion with
> > >>>> itself: it became a religion, the western religion. So when
> > >>> Protestantism
> > >>>> arrived in America, in its purest form, so did capitalism: the
> > >>> Catholic
> > >>>> Spanish Americas never thrived economically, in contrast to
> > >>> Protestant,
> > >>>> Anglo-Saxon North America. My own experience bears this out-the
> > >>> collapse of
> > >>>> Catholicism in Ireland in the 1990s mirrored the rise of
> > >>> capitalism: the
> > >>>> Celtic tiger was Protestant.
> > >>>> But religions evolve, and recent events show that capitalism has
> > >>> begun to
> > >>>> evolve less in the manner of the Galapagos finches (whose beaks
> > >>> adjusted
> > >>>> over millennia to suit the berries of their individual island),
> > >>> and more in
> > >>>> the manner of the Incredible Hulk. Incredible Hulk capitalism can
> > >>> expand the
> > >>>> muscle of its credit so swiftly that its clothing of real world
> > >>> assets
> > >>>> cannot stretch fast enough to contain it. Expansion, explosion,
> > >>>> collapse-Incredible Hulk capitalism sprawls, stunned and shrunken
> > >>> again, in
> > >>>> the rags of its assets.
> > >>>> Or, returning to our religious analogy, if capitalism was a
> > >>> religion, it
> > >>>> would now be a delightfully demented pseudo-scientific cult.
> > >>> Incredible Hulk
> > >>>> capitalism is to the capitalism of Adam Smith what Scientology is
> > >>> to the
> > >>>> Christianity of Christ. Both modern high finance and Scientology
> > >>> use the
> > >>>> language and tools of science to ends that are religious, not
> > >>> scientific.
> > >>>> Both meet a need, a yearning which the old forms of religion and
> > >>> capitalism
> > >>>> no longer meet. The need for a mysterious power greater than us,
> > >>> in which we
> > >>>> can believe. It must be powerful-but it must also be mysterious.
> > >>> And mystery
> > >>>> has been vanishing from the world ever faster, ever since Galileo.
> > >>>> We know what the stars are made of, and can compute their course
> > >>> through
> > >>>> the heavens for the next 10,000 years. We can explain the storms
> > >>> and floods
> > >>>> that were once evidence of the wrath of God. But as the advance
> > >>> of science
> > >>>> has removed the divine mystery from much of life, the advance of
> > >>> free market
> > >>>> capitalism has put it back. Only modern economics can now provide
> > >>> forces
> > >>>> that we don't understand. And we need that in our lives.
> > >>>> Critics such as Naomi Klein are almost exactly wrong when they
> > >>> say that the
> > >>>> giddy boom and bust cycles of modern capitalism are forced on
> > >>> unwilling
> > >>>> people by big corporations. On the contrary, we the people impose
> > >>> these
> > >>>> rhythms on capital. We've always wanted higher highs and lower
> > >>> lows. That's
> > >>>> why we drink and take drugs. A flat life is no life; that's why
> > >>> people kill
> > >>>> themselves in Scandinavia. Boom and bust, party and hangover:
> > >>> they are human
> > >>>> nature, as natural as the seasons or the clap. Modern capitalism
> > >>> just
> > >>>> magnifies our urge to binge and purge, on food, on housing, on
> > >>> commodities,
> > >>>> on life. Don't listen to what people say-we always complain, when
> > >>> free to do
> > >>>> so-look at what we do. In any situation where there is a
> > >>>> barrier between capitalism and the
> > >>>> communist/Islamist/Christian/self-sufficient agrarian
> > >>> alternative, in which
> > >>>> direction do the people jump, tunnel, swim, smuggle themselves
> > >>> and their
> > >>>> children?
> > >>>> Capitalism is seen as arrogant, but that is merely the rage of
> > >>> Caliban on
> > >>>> seeing his reflection. The extraordinary thing about capitalism
> > >>> is its
> > >>>> humility and refusal to judge. It will give us what we want; it
> > >>> will not
> > >>>> force on us what it thinks we need. Often we are disgusted by
> > >>> what we
> > >>>> discover that we want-but that reflects on us, not on the servant
> > >>> who brings
> > >>>> us our fetish gear and saturated fats. It would bring us organic
> > >>> turnips
> > >>>> just as happily. If we cease to desire a product, the producer
> > >>> changes, or
> > >>>> ceases to exist. There is nothing more powerless than a
> > >>> corporation.
> > >>>> So how has something so powerless spread so fast? From Adam Smith
> > >>> to now is
> > >>>> little more than 200 years. Islam, Christianity and the religions
> > >>> of the
> > >>>> east took far longer to cover far smaller territories. And, even
> > >>> more
> > >>>> interesting, why has modern capitalism suddenly, explosively,
> > >>> sped up its
> > >>>> spread in the past 30 years?
> > >>>> For a system to bloodlessly replace an entrenched system, the
> > >>> newcomer must
> > >>>> offer some significant improvement. And it must offer it to
> > >>> everyone. The
> > >>>> religion of Abraham and Moses did not explode across the globe
> > >>> until Paul
> > >>>> decided to make the version of Judaism preached by Jesus open to
> > >>> everyone,
> > >>>> regardless of birth. Likewise, old-style capitalism was incapable
> > >>> of
> > >>>> becoming a universal religion, because it did not offer the hope of
> > >>>> salvation to all. Only those born into an elite of landowners and
> > >>> capital
> > >>>> owners could access capital. But the recent rise of venture
> > >>> capital threw
> > >>>> capitalism open to all, and made it at last a potentially universal
> > >>>> religion.
> > >>>> Only one other change was necessary, and it came in 1971. For as
> > >>> long as
> > >>>> money had to be backed by gold, economics was rooted in the
> > >>> material world
> > >>>> (just as Christianity was merely an interesting philosophy for as
> > >>> long as
> > >>>> Christ was alive). The abandonment of the gold standard was the
> > >>> crucifixion
> > >>>> and resurrection of capitalism; the traumatic and liberating
> > >>> event which
> > >>>> allowed capitalism to be purely religious and entirely driven by
> > >>> faith. As
> > >>>> with all religions, once its link to the physical world was
> > >>> severed, free
> > >>>> market capitalism mourned briefly, then experienced a surge of
> > >>> energy and
> > >>>> expansion.
> > >>>> In an explosion of credit markets, deficit spending and faith-
> > >>> based money,
> > >>>> it overwhelmed Soviet and Chinese communism and shook Islamic
> > >>> societies to
> > >>>> their roots. It expanded further and faster than Islam after the
> > >>> death of
> > >>>> Muhammad. The IMF and the World Bank sent their missionaries to
> > >>> every
> > >>>> nation. And their language has now replaced Latin as the
> > >>> universal language,
> > >>>> spoken by a sombre, dark-clad priestly caste, but mouthed without
> > >>>> understanding by the ordinary people. People need that, they
> > >>> hunger for
> > >>>> mysteries, a priesthood, shamans in touch with great forces. And
> > >>> modern high
> > >>>> finance, like the Latin of the Christian Church, has profound
> > >>> mysteries at
> > >>>> its core. Not even bankers know what a collateralised debt
> > >>> obligation cubed
> > >>>> really is.
> > >>>> Where once the essential mystery was contained in the phrase fiat
> > >>> lux-let
> > >>>> there be light-now it is contained in the phrase "fiat money."
> > >>> Money, that
> > >>>> weightless thing, that spirit that is everywhere and nowhere:
> > >>> that nothing
> > >>>> in everything, is the Holy Spirit of capitalism. And its touch
> > >>> can transform
> > >>>> you in this life, giving it a big advantage over earlier
> > >>> religions, which
> > >>>> offer you only consolation in the next. A bank with a capital
> > >>> base of $10bn
> > >>>> can loan out $100bn. Yet with that money, people build real
> > >>> houses, drive
> > >>>> real cars, eat real bread and drink real wine. Is this not an act
> > >>> of
> > >>>> creation? Is this not a mystery worthy of God?
> > >>>> A banker can make a $1bn loan to a mining company. This faith-
> > >>> based money,
> > >>>> backed by nothing, electronically transferred, is used to turn
> > >>> hills into
> > >>>> holes. The mining company ships the resulting ore around the
> > >>> world. We live
> > >>>> in the first age in which faith can literally move mountains. But
> > >>> as with
> > >>>> all religious expansions, success bred hubristic dementia. The
> > >>> elevation of
> > >>>> metaphysical above physical turned into a kind of contempt for
> > >>> the physical.
> > >>>> The world in which over $500 trillion in credit default swaps
> > >>> could be
> > >>>> created by mostly US banks was also the world in which the US
> > >>> hadn't built a
> > >>>> new oil refinery or nuclear reactor in 25 years, and whose
> > >>> bridges and
> > >>>> levees were collapsing through lack of maintenance.
> > >>>> In any given era, the one true religion is so all-embracing, so
> > >>> saturates
> > >>>> every area of life, that it almost vanishes. God accompanied the
> > >>> medieval
> > >>>> Christian to the toilet, to bed, judged his thoughts, every action.
> > >>>> Communism was so all-pervasive that husbands and wives censored
> > >>> private
> > >>>> conversations (I live in east Berlin, and even today you can tell
> > >>> the older
> > >>>> East Germans by the way they pause before replying to a question,
> > >>> as though
> > >>>> they must still weigh up all the implications of speaking
> > >>> honestly).
> > >>>> Critics of consumer capitalism despair over the foolishness of
> > >>> the masses,
> > >>>> who buy what they want packaged as what they need. But this is to
> > >>>> misunderstand the transaction. We pray with our money, which is
> > >>> backed by
> > >>>> nothing but faith, and a miracle happens-our baskets fill with
> > >>> goods, far
> > >>>> more things than we could ever make or grow ourselves. In all other
> > >>>> religions, you go to the temple and give the guardians food that,
> > >>> with
> > >>>> difficulty, you have grown. Under this new, improved religion,
> > >>> the temple
> > >>>> gives food to you. What happens, every time we shop in Tesco, is
> > >>> a miracle
> > >>>> on a par with the loaves and the fishes.
> > >>>> Like all true religions, capitalism has entered into the cracks
> > >>> between
> > >>>> people, filled the air, so that we can no longer find a place to
> > >>> view it.
> > >>>> Except perhaps the desert... A few years ago I attended the
> > >>> Burning Man
> > >>>> festival in Nevada. A city housing 30,000 people is built in the
> > >>> desert, for
> > >>>> a single week. A Xanadu, dreamed into being every August. Burning
> > >>> Man's most
> > >>>> interesting experiment is to run on a gift economy. Coffee and
> > >>> ice are the
> > >>>> only products for sale. Every other need must be met out of your
> > >>> own
> > >>>> resources or by gift from another. After the festival I helped
> > >>> take the city
> > >>>> apart, leaving no trace that it had ever been. While doing so, I
> > >>> led a life
> > >>>> that resembled that of a monk. I saw no money for those two
> > >>> weeks. When I
> > >>>> was hungry, I was fed. If I needed clothes for the night, or
> > >>> tools to do a
> > >>>> job, I asked, and I received.
> > >>>> Eventually, I returned from the desert, in a 22-wheeler truck.
> > >>> The truck
> > >>>> stopped at a truck stop. I went in and took the food and water
> > >>> that I
> > >>>> needed. As I walked out, a man standing behind a counter stared
> > >>> at me as I
> > >>>> passed. And I stopped, and realised that I would have to find
> > >>> tokens made of
> > >>>> paper and hand them to this stranger, and that all the complex
> > >>> human
> > >>>> interaction involved in feeding a stranger, and all the
> > >>> difficulty and sweat
> > >>>> of raising the food, had been replaced by an entirely symbolic
> > >>> exchange of
> > >>>> green paper strips bearing an eye and a pyramid. And it seemed as
> > >>> wonderful
> > >>>> and arbitrary as it must to an Amazonian tribesman encountering
> > >>> the city.
> > >>>> Back in my city, I switched on my miraculous electric light
> > >>> ("fiat lux!")
> > >>>> and looked out across the miraculous city which no individual
> > >>> could have
> > >>>> built. I saw miraculous light in the window of the rich and the
> > >>> same light
> > >>>> in the window of the poor. Many talk about the inequalities of
> > >>> modern
> > >>>> capitalism. But the truth is more subtle, and strange.
> > >>> Christianity once
> > >>>> preached the equality of man, but could find no way to make the
> > >>> vision real.
> > >>>> Communism tried, and failed, to force equality upon us. But only
> > >>> our modern,
> > >>>> excitable, faith-based capitalism has delivered this degree of
> > >>> uniformity
> > >>>> and equality. Ikea, with its Û6 chairs, is delivering not only
> > >>> the Christian
> > >>>> but the communist heaven: everyone equal, sitting on the same
> > >>> chair,
> > >>>> illuminated by the same lamp, all over the
> > >>>> world._______________________________________________
> > >>>> xmca mailing list
> > >>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > >>>>
> > >>> _______________________________________________
> > >>> xmca mailing list
> > >>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> --
> > >>> Kurt Squire
> > >>> Associate Professor, Educational Communications & Technology,
> > >>> Curriculum & Instruction
> > >>> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> > >>> Associate Director of Educational Research and Development,
> > >>> Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
> > >>> 544b TEB
> > >>> 225 N. Mills St.
> > >>> Madison, WI 53706
> > >>> 608 263 4672
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> --
> > >>> Kurt Squire
> > >>> Associate Professor, Educational Communications & Technology,
> > >>> Curriculum & Instruction
> > >>> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> > >>> Associate Director of Educational Research and Development,
> > >>> Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
> > >>> 544b TEB
> > >>> 225 N. Mills St.
> > >>> Madison, WI 53706
> > >>> 608 263 4672
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> xmca mailing list
> > >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > >>
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > xmca mailing list
> > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> _______________________________________________
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