lightcastle (
lightcastle) wrote2009-12-09 11:34 am
Trapped in the snow
Is anyone else not getting updates from LJ?
The snowstorm outside is lovely, but too many parts of my body hurt.
In light of the Copenhagen meeting, here's an interesting post from last month about the stages major societal change progresses through and an argument that trying to rush a stage is counter productive to advancing.
I'm not convinced this doesn't underestimate the necessity of someone being on the fringe, pushing the Overton Window, but I suspect it does have some merit in analyzing the overall pattern. I wonder if the problem is often a question of successfully assessing what stage a change/movement is actually in at a given moment.
As long as we're on an environmental theme - two from Jared Diamond.
First, he argues in an old article that Agriculture was the worst mistake humanity ever made.
I am not going to argue his data about leisure time and art, but I do wonder if science requires a certain population density favoured by agriculture and cities to make it work. You need enough people questioning. The other question is whether it requires the levels of leisure only attainable by an elite to work. I'm not sure.
And this weekend in the NYtimes he discussed how big business is important in the environmental movement.
And to finish up: The 50 best protest signs of 2009.
The snowstorm outside is lovely, but too many parts of my body hurt.
In light of the Copenhagen meeting, here's an interesting post from last month about the stages major societal change progresses through and an argument that trying to rush a stage is counter productive to advancing.
I'm not convinced this doesn't underestimate the necessity of someone being on the fringe, pushing the Overton Window, but I suspect it does have some merit in analyzing the overall pattern. I wonder if the problem is often a question of successfully assessing what stage a change/movement is actually in at a given moment.
As long as we're on an environmental theme - two from Jared Diamond.
First, he argues in an old article that Agriculture was the worst mistake humanity ever made.
I am not going to argue his data about leisure time and art, but I do wonder if science requires a certain population density favoured by agriculture and cities to make it work. You need enough people questioning. The other question is whether it requires the levels of leisure only attainable by an elite to work. I'm not sure.
And this weekend in the NYtimes he discussed how big business is important in the environmental movement.
And to finish up: The 50 best protest signs of 2009.