68 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2024
    1. 29:40 Demonising "toxic masculinity" makes it grow stronger

      See this in relation to Dune 2 scene in which the princess comments to the emperor that "Surpressing the prophet (Paul) will only make the religion grow"

  2. Feb 2024
    1. The GNR technologies do not divide clearly into commercial andmilitary uses; given their potential in the market, it’s hard to imaginepursuing them only in national laboratories. With their widespreadcommercial pursuit, enforcing relinquishment will require a verificationregime similar to that for biological weapons, but on an unprecedentedscale. This, inevitably, will raise tensions between our individual pri-vacy and desire for proprietary information, and the need for verifica-tion to protect us all. We will undoubtedly encounter strong resistanceto this loss of privacy and freedom of action.

      While Joy looks at the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions as well as nuclear nonproliferation ideas, the entirety of what he's looking at is also embedded in the idea of gun control in the United States as well. We could choose better, but we actively choose against our better interests.

      What role does toxic capitalism have in pushing us towards these antithetical goals? The gun industry and gun lobby have had tremendous interest on that front. Surely ChatGPT and other LLM and AI tools will begin pushing on the profitmaking levers shortly.

    2. Now, as then, we are creators of new technologies and stars of theimagined future, driven—this time by great financial rewards andglobal competition—despite the clear dangers, hardly evaluating whatit may be like to try to live in a world that is the realistic outcome ofwhat we are creating and imagining.
    3. But thesewarnings haven’t been widely publicized; the public discussions havebeen clearly inadequate. There is no profit in publicizing the dangers.
  3. Dec 2023
    1. Wells attempts in this essay to help mankind "pull it's mind together" for the betterment of people and the planet. How is this supposed to happen in a modern media environment which is designed to pull our minds apart as rapidly as possible?

      How might the strength of capitalism be leveraged to push people back toward a common middle rather than split them apart?

  4. Nov 2023
    1. Even though I've said this a million times, people don't get it. Not even Aldrich who is a professional Zettelkasten filibusterer.

      —Scott Scheper at 2023-11-06 10:05:12PM Pacific https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/comments/17m7ggz/comment/k86izlu/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      This is really the pot calling the kettle black. Read your own book lately Scott?!?

      I'd love to see his receipts with respect to a million times. Even a handful would be good, but in comparison to what he's printed in his book, saying it a million times elsewhere isn't going to carry as much weight in any case.

      My criticism of his book must have been eating him up for a full day as he came back a full day to within a minute at 2023-11-07 10:06:14PM Pacific and banned me from r/antinet.

      My apologies for trying to help out confused people who read your book there Scott.

    1. 2.Must not be a Buzzkillington3.Must not use ObsidianWe not accept bubble graph boiz, nor do we accept internally conflicted ones. 4.Must be briefTry writing posts by hand first. Don'twaste everyone's time with verbal diarrhea text walls concocted by Obsidian and digital tools. 5.Must be a practioner of ZettelkastenWe want doers, not philosophers.

      I'm reasonably certain that Scott added these rules in the last day. I hypothesize that he's using his religious zeal to actively block people out of this community.

      I think he retroactively added the brevity one as an excuse to kick me out. When I looked over the weekend as it happened, the only rule was sense of humor.

      The funny part is that a version of it was all written by hand in my own ZK and transcribed to help the guy who had issues with his numbering.

      My comment was made at 2023-11-06 11:37:52 AM Pacific. I was banned on Tuesday 2023-11-07 06:06:14 UTC

      See also: - https://hypothes.is/a/PhIcLn5WEe686PujMaaDAg (Rule 5) - https://hypothes.is/a/sljWEH5UEe6QvdOn5I4qBQ (ban)

      Archive.org indicates that the only rule was sense of humor on 2023-03-18 https://web.archive.org/web/20230318062730/https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/ Similarly for 2023-09-17: https://web.archive.org/web/20230917011101/https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/?rdt=41579

  5. Oct 2023
    1. “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

      This quote is a feature of toxic capitalism, which should be efficient enough to allow a person to quickly obtain another job to thereby make the issue moot.

      Part of it is tied into identity as well.

    1. https://udenver.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuceuspzkuE9VomnEaGva1HH1ra_iS4Eua?ref=jessestommel.com#/registration

      Some related ideas that are suggesting some sort of thesis for improving the idea of ungrading: - We measure the things we care about. - In Education, we care about learning and understanding, but measuring these outside of testing and evaluation is difficult at best (therefor ungrading). - No one cares about your GPA six months after you graduate. - Somehow we've tied up evaluations and grades into the toxic capitalism and competition within US culture. Some of this is tied into educational movements related to Frederick Winslow Taylor and Harvards Eliot. - Hierarchies instituted by the Great Chain of Being have confounded our educational process.

  6. Aug 2023
    1. The industrial worker now has twentyhours of free time a week that his grandfather did not have.

      Where does this wealth ultimately go in the long run? Not to the worker, but primarily to the corporation competing against them for the added value.

    Tags

    Annotators

    1. Meador, Jake. “The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church.” The Atlantic, July 29, 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/christian-church-communitiy-participation-drop/674843/.

      Meador looks at how churches might offer better community as a balm to W.E.I.R.D. lifeways and toxic capitalism.

      Why must religion be the source for these communal and social supports? Why can't alternate social structures or institutions handle these functions?

      Is this why the religious right is also so heavily opposed to governmental social support programs? Are they replacing some of the needs and communal desires people in need have? Why couldn't increased governmental support programs be broader and more holistic in their leanings to cover not only social supports, but human contact and community building as well.

      Do some of these tensions between a mixed W.E.I.R.D. and non-W.E.I.R.D Americans cause a lot of the split political identities we see in the last few decades? What is the balm for this during the transition?

    2. In a workist culture that believes dignity is grounded in accomplishment, simply reclaiming this alternative form of dignity becomes a radical act.

      Workist cultures are built on the principle that identity, worth, and dignity are grounded in an individual's accomplishments.

    3. Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care, or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success. Such a system leaves precious little time or energy for forms of community that don’t contribute to one’s own professional life or, as one ages, the professional prospects of one’s children. Workism reigns in America, and because of it, community in America, religious community included, is a math problem that doesn’t add up.

      Extreme focus on financial and professional success has driven people to give less time to communal spaces and experiences including religious life.

      Is this specific to America's brand of toxic capitalism or do other WEIRD economies experience this?

  7. Jul 2023
    1. Taken together, these implicit and explicit subsidies add up to over $7 trillion each year spent in ways that have unintended, harmful effects that are undermining our efforts to tackle climate change. To put that big number into context: this is about eight percent of the value of the global economy.
      • seven trillion dollars in toxic subsidies
    2. Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies
      • Title
        • Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies
      • Author
        • World Bank
    3. Hiding in plain sight: The missing trillions for climate change
      • Title
        • Hiding in plain sight: The missing trillions for climate change
      • Author Axel Van Trotsenburg
      • Date
        • June 15, 2023
      • Publisher
        • World Bank
  8. Mar 2023
    1. Andrew Tate: Romanian court rejects bail application<br /> by Lucy Williamson & Laura Gozzi

    2. he gained popularity, particularly among young men, by promoting what he presented as a hyper-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle.

      Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer and Big Brother (17, UK) housemate, has gained popularity among young men for promoting a "hyper-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle".

      Where does Tate fit into the pantheon of the prosperity gospel? Is he touching on it or extending it to the nth degree? How much of his audience overlaps with the religious right that would internalize such a viewpoint?

    3. Twitter banning him for saying women should "bear responsibility" for being sexually assaulted. He has since been reinstated.

      Twitter had banned and then later reinstated Andrew Tate for saying women should "bear responsibility" for being sexually assaulted.

  9. Dec 2022
    1. I want to insist on an amateur internet; a garage internet; a public library internet; a kitchen table internet.

      Social media should be comprised of people from end to end. Corporate interests inserted into the process can only serve to dehumanize the system.


      Robin Sloan is in the same camp as Greg McVerry and I.

  10. Nov 2022
    1. Those sticking with Musk must be prepared to work “maniacally,” he says, to support whatever move he makes next, creating an ongoing environment where employees can’t easily predict their day to day, which experts say makes it even more likely that turnover will remain high.

      A billionaire following a $44 billion dollar company purchase pushing employees to work "maniacally"? As if they weren't working hard before?

      What value did he possibly see here?

    1. I've been told since the first day I started working at the Division of Hospital Medicine at @UCSF that my work doesn't bring in $ to cover my salary. It's a narrative of manufactured scarcity, a common tactic in capitalism. The CEO is making $1.85 million plus bonuses.

      — Rupa Marya, MD (@DrRupaMarya) November 4, 2022
      <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

      A Hospitalist’s economic value is in what we *save* the system in terms of quality-driven care and patient throughput (DC/unit time), not in how much we bring in through profees. Because of how the system is structured, you’ll only see our value when we aren’t there.

      — Rupa Marya, MD (@DrRupaMarya) November 4, 2022
      <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

      This sounds a lot like hospitalists fall under David Graeber's thesis in Bullshit Jobs that the more necessary and useful you are the less you're likely to get paid and be valued.


      I suspect the ability to track an employees' direct level of productivity also fits into this thesis. One can track the productivity of an Amazon warehouse worker or driver, but it's much more difficult to track the CEOs direct productivity.

  11. Sep 2022
    1. Unemployed workers are much more likelyto fall into poverty in countries like the United States, Canada, and Japan,compared with countries such as the Netherlands and Iceland.

      Is part of this effect compounded by America's history of the Protestant work ethic (see Max Weber)?

      Do the wealthy/powerful benefit by this structure of penalizing the unemployed this way? Is there a direct benefit to them? Or perhaps the penalty creates a general downward pressure on overall wages and thus provides an indirect benefit to those in power?

      What are the underlying reasons we tax the unemployed this way?

    2. One reason for this is that poverty is not something that people wish to ac-knowledge or draw attention to. Rather, it is something that individuals andfamilies would like to go away. As a result, many Americans attempt to concealtheir economic difficulties as much as possible.22 This often involves keeping upappearances and trying to maintain a “normal” lifestyle. Such poverty downthe block may at first appear invisible. Nevertheless, the reach of poverty iswidespread, touching nearly all communities across America.

      Middle Americans, and particularly those in suburbia and rural parts of America that account for the majority of poverty in the country, tend to make their poverty invisible because of the toxic effects of extreme capitalism and keeping up appearances.

      Has this effect risen with the rise of social media platforms like Instagram and the idea of "living one's best life"? How about the social effects of television with shows like "Keeping up with the Kardashians" which encourage conspicuous consumption?


      More interesting is the fact that most of these suburban and rural poverty stricken portions of the country are in predominantly Republican held strongholds.

      Is there a feedback mechanism that is not only hollowing these areas out, but keeping them in poverty?

    3. Although the causes of poverty have not been examined in this chapter,the findings presented here suggest that given its widespread nature, povertyappears systematic to our economic structure. In short, we have met the enemy,and they are us.
  12. Jun 2022
  13. May 2022
  14. Apr 2022
  15. Feb 2022
    1. 5. Emotional Issues Rule The Co-Parenting Relationship: There are some parents who either can’t or obstinately refuse to move past emotional issues left over from the divorce. If your co-parent is passive aggressive or, God forbid, you are co-parenting with a narcissist, you will find that regardless of how civil you attempt to be the co-parenting relationship will be riddled with conflict. How can this conflict be resolved? Unless the parent with emotional issues seeks help, there will be no resolution. A parent with a personality disorder has an inherent blind spot when it comes to what is and isn’t in their children’s best interest. As the reasonable, healthy parent you need to focus on the fact that you are dealing with someone with psychological issues and do the work needed to protect your children from harm.

      toxic rationality

      "emos are sick and need therapy"

      "ratios are sane and should decide everything"

      fuck you

  16. Jan 2022
    1. Alkaloid-containing plants exact a heavy economic toll on livestock produc-tion in rangelands of western North America. Losses to these plants can be reduced or eliminated by recognizing plants containing alkaloids, understand-ing when livestock graze specific toxic plants, and knowing signs of potential toxicity. Grazing schemes can then be developed based on knowledge of the temporal and spatial dynamics of alkaloid concentration and consumption by livestock.Lossescanbereducedbyensuringthatlivestockarenotexposedorhave limitedexposureduringperiodsofgreatestrisk(i.e.,highesttoxinconcentration)or whenlivestockaremostlikelytoeattoxicplantsinsufficientamountstoproduce toxicity.
    2. Death camas (Zigadenus spp.) grows on foothill ranges in much of the Rocky Mountain area. Animals eating death camas die from reduced blood pressure and heart failure. Death camas is one of the first plants available during spring, and animals may graze the plant if other forage is lacking. Generally, recognizing the presence of death camas and understanding the acutely toxic nature of the plant will aid in avoiding problems. Hungry animals should not bedriventhroughadeathcamas-infestedpasture.Sheepinparticularshouldnotbe beddednearlargepatchesofdeathcamas,andsheepherdersshouldavoidstressing sheep by rapidly driving them if they do eat death camas. Death camas can be controlledbyphenoxyherbicides.
    3. 39National Forests and most problems can be solved by grazing management.
    1. False hellebore (Veratrum spp.) is f ound in moist habitats in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain states. It is grazed by sheep and goats and causes birth defects (i.e., monkey-faced lambs). Livestock management to avoid losses t o false hellebore i s r elatively simple because the window of toxicity when false hellebore poisons t he fetus i s r elatively narr ow (i.e., 14 to 33 days gestation). Pregnant animals, particularly sheep, should not be allowed access t o veratrum-infested pastures during this period. Cattle rarely ea t the plant, therefore no special management is needed. For sheep, false hellebore i s quite palatable, and herders must keep bred sheep from ingesting false hellebore f or about one month after the rams are removed. This is not difficult to accomplish because false hellebore is limited in distribution to moist mountain habitats and grows in easy to identify dense patches. Although effective herbicidal control is available, it may not be practical because the major populations grow in
    2. Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) grows throughout the United States in areas with abundant moisture (i.e., creeks, ditches etc.). Animals eating poison hemlock die from acute respiratory failure or have deformed offspring. The most critical season to avoid poison hemlock is spring because the plant often appears before other forage has emerged. Green seed pods may be eaten in mid-to-late summer. Furthermore, poison hemlock may regrow in fall after seeds shatter. Ingestion during fall may coincide with birth defects in pregnant cattle, if they are i n the firs t trimester of gestation (days 30-75). If poison hemlock invades hay fields, the contaminated hay can poison livestock. Even though toxicity decreases upon drying, sufficient toxins may be r etained to poison livestock. Cattle appear to be particularly susceptible because of their acceptance of the plant and their sensitivity to the alkaloids t hat c ause birth defects. Poison hemlock can be easily controlled with phenoxy herbicides.
    3. Acute t oxicity problems are l es s common now, but lar ge sheep losses occurred frequently 100 years ago. Deaths occ ur when livestock, usually sheep, ingest a large amount of seed pods in a short time. This can occur from contaminated hay or from hungry animals gaining access t o lupine-dominated forage, and can be prevented by using lupine-free hay and avoiding lupine-dominated ranges when other forage is scarce. During some years, lupine populations may temporarily increase on rangelands not normally problematic. Livestock producers need to be aware of lupine populations and be sufficiently alert to alter grazing or breeding programs when these eruptions occur. Lupine populations increased dramatically during 1997 in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, causing severe l osses. For example, producers in Adams County, Washington lost over 30% of their calves ( >4000 calves) from lupine- caused birth defects.
    4. 38of rotational grazing scheme. Herbicidal control of lupines is feasible, but is usually more expensive than altering a grazing management program.
    1. Lupines (Lupinus spp.) are widely distributed throughout the western U.S. Cattle eating lupine may have deformed or "crooked" calves, and sheep may be poisoned outright by lupine. Livestock losses from lupine poisoning can largely be prevented by understanding two interrelated aspects. First, the highest concentrations of toxic alkaloids tend to occur in immature lupine plants and seed pods. Second, pregnant cattle are susceptible to the effects of alkaloids that cause birth defects during a window from 40 to 70 days of gestation, occasionally extending to 100 days. Birth defects in cattle can be prevented by using breeding or grazing programs that avoid placing pregnant cattle in lupine-dominated pastures in the first trimester of gestation. Alternatively, risk can be reduced by allowing only short-term access to lupines by pregnant cattle in some form
    2. Houndstongue (Cynoglossum officinale) is not only a toxic plant that contains alkaloids, but also a noxious weed that is increasing over much of North America. The plant spreads from bur-like seeds that cling to wildlife, livestock and humans, and invades disturbed areas. Houndstongue is generally unpalat- able when growing on rangelands, but lactating cows and horses may eat green houndstongue at times. When houndstongue contaminates hay, it is readily eaten by cattle and horses, and is quite toxic.
    3. Senecio or groundsel species (Senecio spp.) and houndstongue (Cynoglossum officinale) contain highly toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids. These alkaloids are potent liver toxins that cause wasting and photosensitization. Senecios and houndstongue occur on many western U.S. rangelands. Only seven of more than 112 senecio species are known to be toxic so correct identification is essential. Managing rangelands so that plant communities are in good condi- tion and adequate forage is available is crucial to reduce losses to senecio. Generally, senecios are not very palatable, and are avoided by grazing livestock if other forage is available. Drought stress and overgrazing can increase populations of threadlleaf groundsel, as the plant is an aggressive invader. Drought is an especially dangerous time because other forage may be lacking and the toxic alkaloid concentration in senecio plants increases during drought, so grazing animals may ingest higher quantities of more toxic forage. Senecio species are also most toxic when plants are reproducing, thus avoiding pastures when these plants are in bud, flower, or seed is prudent. Proper grazing management must consider stocking rates, as excessive stocking may increase the amount of toxic plant consumed when alternative forages become limited. Excessive stocking may lead to degradation of the desirable plant community allowing senecio species to increase. Herbicidal control may alleviate some problems if incorporated into an overall management program
  17. Oct 2021
  18. Sep 2021
  19. May 2021
  20. Apr 2021
    1. Once plant toxins are absorbed fr om the gut into the blood, they are often trans- ported to the liver. T he liver primarily, and secondarily the kidney, intestinal mucosa, lungs, a nd skin contain enzyme systems that metabolize or alter toxic compounds, rendering them inert. Ability to metabolize or reduce sensitivity to specific phytotoxins varies by herbivore species a nd individuals. For example, sheep can tolerate and detoxify more pyrrolizidine alkaloids than cattle, therefore it takes five times more tall larkspur (Delphinium occidentalis) to poison sheep compared to cattle
    1. Successfully navigating the seasonal and spatial variation of forage quality in grazing environments can be accomplished by knowing how much to eat, when to eat, and what else to eat. Grazing animals have a strong natural tendency to select diets composedof several plant species and sample available plants on a regular basis. This behavior may increase the likelihood of ingesting necessary nutrients and reduce the potential of over-ingesting toxins. The toxic effects of a plant are determined largely bythe amount eaten, but the ingestion rate may also be important. Grazing animals can avoid toxicosis by limiting their consumption of a specific toxic plant each day to allow sufficient time for detoxification, and to limit potential cumulative effects ofspecifictoxins
  21. Mar 2021
    1. Manipulate how? Primarily to spend your hard earned pennies on shit you don't need. Secondly to force you to think and act like they want you to. And it's working! Kind, loving, good people have turned into these hateful monstrocities.

      i agree that in some cases people on social media have been radicalized, have become terrible. but i do not blame the platform, and don't think there's anything inherently rotten about them.

      almost sorry to say it, but i think big social is kind of ok? mostly it's pretty harmless. use protection, some tracking blocking software. but a lot of people have very fine, very enjoyable or very ok experiences, connecting reasonably in many cases primarily or mostly with people they know. big social has been incredibly valuable at connecting us.

      its not "all toxic as fuck." i think there is good & good uses we have to acknowledge. focusing only on the bad of things delegitimizes the things we have to say. i believe strongly that we're missing a lot of good, but overall, i think the bad being done is fairly mild, that toxic-leaning people are going to mis-use and abuse most systems, that the personal-data is often significantly oversold & overrated. i have a lot of technical hopes for what i hope & think might be on the frontiers, what we might do, and i want to replace big social. let the good compel us. let's think of what we want. let's not fall to despair. resist radicalizing yourself but immerse yourself in practice, in trying things, in understanding connecting with people.

  22. Dec 2020
    1. “This isn’t him going to grab a beer with guys. He’s going to find psychological and emotional support from men who understand his problems,” Liz explains. “They’re not just getting together to have a bitch fest, gossip, or complain about their lives. They’re super intentional about what they’re talking about, why, and what’s important to them.”

      Hamlett discusses the psychological costs men being isolated (toxic masculinity/macho culture) has caused on society, especially women. She also explores the idea of support groups for men, highlighted in this passage.

  23. Sep 2020
    1. the gender divide in computer culture than the recent events at Google to see the crisis in gender equity in Silicon Valley and beyond

      Lire à ce sujet, entre autres : Emily Chang, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley, New York, Penguin, 2018.

    2. had triggered protectionist, elitist, and chauvinistic reactions from Reddi-tors far beyond India, offering glimpses of toxic geek masculinity

      Le harcèlement est commun dans le milieu du jeu vidéo, que ce soit dans les communautés de joueurs en ligne ou dans les entreprises elles-mêmes. Voir, par exemple : Erwan Cario et Marius Chapuis, « Récits de harcèlement et d'agressions sexuelles à Ubisoft : "Les jeux vidéos c'est fun, on peut tout faire, rien n'est grave" », Libération, 1er juillet 2020.

  24. May 2019
    1. in February, 1977, Searle's law firm, Sidley & Austin, offered Skinner a job, which he accepted, recusing himself from the case

      The company being sued for the cover up of the negative side effects of aspartame hires the lawyer that represented the FDA thus resulting in the case never making it to trial.

    2. n January 1977, formally requested that a grand jury be convened to investigate whether indictments should be filed against Searle for knowingly misrepresenting findings and "concealing material facts and making false statements" in aspartame safety tests (the first time in the FDA's history that they request a criminal investigation of a manufacturer)

      Aspartame was so poorly misrepresented in the scientific research provided for its approval that it became the first case in history in which a lawsuit was brought against the manufacturer for concealing of material facts and false statements.

    1. elevated cortisol and gut dysbiosis via interactions with different biogenic amine may also have additional impact to modulate neuronal signaling lead to neurobiological impairments

      In summary aspartame increases the fire of neurotransmitters, increases heart rate and and blood pressure, and imbalances gut bacteria.

    2. aspartame metabolite; mainly Phy and its interaction with neurotransmitter and aspartic acid by acting as excitatory neurotransmitter causes this pattern of impairments

      Aspartame alters the chemical composition of the brain and excites neurotransmitters.

    1. examination showed fetal capillaries with condensed nuclei of endothelial cells, cytotrophoblasts with condensed fragmented nuclei and vacuolated cytoplasm, and syncytiotrophoblasts with irregular condensed fragmented nuclei

      In summary aspartame results in the death of cells that carry nutrients and energy to the growing embryo.

    2. Damage in the placenta was detected in the form of rupture of the interhemal membrane, lysis of glycogen trophoblast cells, spongiotrophoblast cells with vacuolated cytoplasm and darkly stained nuclei.

      Aspartame caused placenta cells to rupture and behave like they had been exposed to a pathogen or virus.

    1. Results reveal that the aspartame molecule is inherently amyloidogenic, and the self-assembly of aspartame becomes a toxic trap for proteins and cells

      Aspartame inhibits the function of organs and tissues via clusters of proteins/“plaque”.

    2. Aspartame fibrils were also found to induce hemolysis, causing DNA damage resulting in both apoptosis and necrosis-mediated cell death.

      This study found that aspartame causes DNA damage and cell death.

  25. Feb 2019
    1. Escobar casts wide the net of his critique, his objective is not merely to tackle neoliberal capitalism, rampant individualism, patriarchy or colonialism — although each of those topics are explored in detail. He is writing against nothing less than all of modernity, a “particular modelo civilizatorio, or civilizational model… an entire way of life and a whole style of world making.” Our toxic, modern lifestyle in the Global North and the way it understands (or fails to understand) the relationality between humanity and other forms of life plays the dominant role in creating the contemporary crises. To preserve the future we need a different way of life and way to relate to all of life, “no less than a new notion of the human.” The crises are inseparable from our social lives. We need to step outside of our established worldviews to bring about significant transformations. Is this possible? How can we achieve such a transition?

      Designs for the Pluriverse book review

  26. Aug 2018
    1. In this consumerist-led version of proletarianization, which is very per-tinent to what is happening with the commodification of higher educa-tion, the argument is that ‘consumers are “discharged” of the burden as well as the responsibility of shaping their own lives and are reduced to units of buying power controlled by marketing techniques’ (p. 34). For example, in rating and ranking scales and league tables, marketing agencies have essentially appropriated the decision-making process from students and their parents. Today’s ‘cognitive capitalism’, Lemmens says, is producing the ‘systematic destruction of knowledge and the knowing subject’ (p. 34), in what Stiegler calls the ‘systematic industri-alization of human memory and cognition’ (p. 34). As Stiegler (2010b) cryptically puts it, what is at stake is ‘the battle for intelligence’ (p. 35) which had its most recent genesis in the ‘psychopathologies and addic-tive ‘behavior patterns’ (Lemmens 2011, p. 34) brought about by the ‘logic of the market’ ushered in by Thatcher and supported by Reagan. This unleashed ‘a cultural and spiritual regression of unprecedented magnitude, transforming the whole of society into a machine for profit maximization and creating a state of “system carelessness” and “systemic stupidity” on a global scale’ (p. 34). It is literally ‘a global struggle for the mind’ in a context where there is an erasure of ‘consciousness and sociality’ (p. 35)

      Draws on labour process theory and the work of Stiegler to conceptualise the de-professionalisation of academic workers and their proletarianisation. This relates to the arguments about how economic rationales have colonised all areas of social life.

      This seems to mirror similar arguments put forward by Nikolas Rose and Michel Dean and other post-structuralists such as drawing on Foucault's governmentality

    2. Far from ‘competition’ supposedly driving ‘innovation’, Connell (2013) argues that it does the reverse. In the first instance, what a neo-liberal conception of the university produces, is the ‘reproduction of global dependency’ (p. 2)—through a ‘neocolonial dependence...built into performativity through international rankings of journals, depart-ment and universities’, whereby local intellectual cultures are under-mined and obliterated through an unhealthy reliance on ‘impact factors and ‘citations’ (p. 2). Secondly, the ‘entrenchment of social hierarchies in knowledge production and circulation’ (p. 2), act to further sediment privilege in the already advantaged—institutionally, in Australia in the older so-called ‘sandstone’ universities, and individually in the scions of the privileged who attend them.

      The neocolonial nature of the research performativity regime and its epistemological dominance.

    3. rgues that the very fibre of democracy which we understand to be ‘individual and collective self-rule’ and which we take to be ‘a perma-nent achievement of the West’ and that cannot be ‘lost’, is in the process of being completely ‘overwhelmed and ... displaced by the economium to enhance capital value, competitive positioning, and credit ratings’ (p. 10)

      Is this a problematic argument? The collapsing of the ideas of democracy and liberty into the category of the ´West´.

    4. Transformed in this process is the very nature of knowledge:Neoliberalization replaces education aimed at deepening and broadening intelligence and sensibilities, developing historical consciousness and her-meneutic adroitness, acquiring diverse knowledge and literacies, becom-ing theoretically capacious and politically and socially perspicacious, with [forms of] education aimed at honing technically-skilled entrepreneurial actors adept at gaming any system. (p. 123)

      neoliberalism and the transformation of knowledge and knowledge work

    5. By way of explaining why there is so much internal unrest and dissention in universities, Boyer (2011) says that the ‘dominant critical narrative’ emerges from the ‘dissipat[ion of] organizational and collegial auton-omy in order to better saturate universities with market-oriented prin-ciples (knowledge as commodity, faculty as wage labour, administration as management, student body as consumer public, university as market-place)’ (pp. 179–180).The loudest opposition to this intensified neoliberal regime has come from ‘faculty’ who, ‘among the three estates of the university (students, faculty, administrators)...has experienced the deepest erosion of auton-omy under the current reforms’ (Boyer 2011, p. 180). Coupled with this is the view that students stand to ‘enhance their social power with their new image as sovereign consumers, and the re-imagination of the uni-versity as a kind of for-profit corporation run by profit-minded managers has helped to cement the political hegemony of administrators’ (Boyer 2011, p. 180).

      Boyer's argument is that faculty feel neoliberalism more intensely than administration of students because it is felt as a direct assault on autonomy. c.f Nixon and Walker on the issue of autonomy and academic freedom as sectional interest in tension with a wider agenda for freedoms.

    6. In other words, neoliberalism works through the way in which it ‘dissemi-nates market values and metrics to every sphere of life and construes the human itself exclusively as homo oeconomicus’ (Brown 2015, p. 176). Brown (2015)

      a definition of the way neoliberalism as ideology, governance and economic ordering frames all life in market terms

  27. Jul 2018
    1. (DNEL) 3.4 mg/kg bw/day neurotoxicity

      As a child you should not swallow more than 130 mg of Aluminium chloride hydroxide sulphate per day.