In the News

Watch: Ethics & Race in Tech Ruha Benjamin in conversation with Meredith Whittaker, City Arts and Lectures June 1, 2020 Benjamin and Whittaker exemplify the kind of discussion we need to imagine and create the world we want. They caution against the expectation that technology will provide a “magic bullet” to right the social fissures underlying the … Continue reading In the News

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

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by Charles C. Mann In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

Maternal and Child Health

Reproduced from the PATH website at www.path.org 7-15-19. About 830 women die from pregnancy or childbirth related complications around the world every day. By Margaret A. Caudill-Slosberg, MD, PhD, MPHContributing Writer About 830 women die from pregnancy or childbirth related complications around the world every day. Of the 130 million babies born worldwide each year, about 2.7 … Continue reading Maternal and Child Health

Algorithmic Gatekeepers

Social Networks Algorithmic Gatekeepers By Shawn Fuller Contributing Writer Instead of being the central points from which news is broadcast directly to the public, the news media are now part of a much larger information ecosystem. They broadcast to the public on their websites, on their Facebook pages, and via their Twitter feeds, and YouTube … Continue reading Algorithmic Gatekeepers

Hacking Human Minds

Social Networks Hacking Human Minds By Shawn Fuller Contributing Writer Social networks, the ones we have belonged to ever since we ventured out of the trees and onto the savannah, have always been our most important source of information. More than ever before we need to understand the nature of such networks and the impact … Continue reading Hacking Human Minds

The Axemakers Gift: Technology’s Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture

Featured Book The Axemaker’s Gift Technology’s Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture James Burke and Robert OrnsteinPaperback edition 1997 Each time the axemakers offered a new way to “cut and control” the world to make us rich or safe or invincible or knowledgeable, we accepted the gift and used it. And when we … Continue reading The Axemakers Gift: Technology’s Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture

Greece: The European Axial Age

Something extraordinary in the history of humanity occurred 2500 years ago in Athens—much of our cultural heritage, for better and worse, descends from a very small population of landowners, farmers and sailors during a surprisingly short space of time. They organized themselves into a radically democratic government. They held as a high ideal the dignity … Continue reading Greece: The European Axial Age

God 4.0

Featured Book God 4.0 On the Nature of Higher Consciousness and the Experience Called “God” Robert Ornstein with Sally M. OrnsteinPaperback edition 2021 Review by Denise WinnContributing Writer “What is needed, now, is a new view, to reassess and reform the concept of God. It is the experience of going beyond the norm to achieve insight … Continue reading God 4.0