tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339746092011-12-22T07:52:23.464-08:00A progress trap is the condition we find ourselves in when human ingenuity, in pursuing progress introduces problems that it does not have the resources to solve, preventing further progress.<br>   Avoiding the trap is possible, through nurturing and exploiting our talent for creative problem-solving.<br>  Resilience, creativity, patience, and sacrifice all factor into the challenge of avoiding progress traps.danielnoreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-19746687133261651242011-04-16T05:12:00.000-07:002011-04-16T05:16:29.262-07:00

Not because the statistics, data, science, pundits and everyday experience says it is, but because, in the summer of 2010, I bought an air conditioner. I who at 60 years of age have resisted this for so long. And because, like many others I have stopped living in denial. The thing is, my apartment seems to concentrate the heat, making it much hotter than outside. Could I have moved to another

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-3893067287648479112010-05-21T04:38:00.000-07:002011-04-16T04:48:15.381-07:00

(excerpt from Escaping the progress trap) Moral and ethical questions surrounding certain scientific innovations have resulted in continuous debate. In one area in particular, recombinant DNA, new developments have had dramatic implications for genetic engineering and the possibility of laboratory-created diseases. In the early 1970's laboratory experiments had been conducted that enabled gene

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-18558092352617080882010-04-30T20:00:00.000-07:002011-04-16T04:53:57.534-07:00

The printed word must be one of the greatest inventions ever. You can be stranded on a desert island and still read. No electricity, no wifi, no cable, no lights, no battery, no power, no problem. Just read away. When you have cut down the last tree for firewood, scratched out the last blade of grass for kindling you can still read. You can even burn that book for warmth. Ah yes, all those trees.

danielnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-44438804830530837972009-12-28T14:06:00.000-08:002010-09-22T15:56:32.553-07:00

In the good old days, back at the end of the last millennium, the coming century was supposed to be the New American Century. The neoconservatives of the "Project for a new American Century (PNAC)" boldly held forth in their signature document, Rebuilding America's Defenses, that globalization behooved the US to institute a Pax Americana, (re)armed to the teeth. This was in September 2000. If

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-8474692108758405682009-12-18T21:07:00.000-08:002009-12-19T07:24:00.374-08:00

Before hightailing it out of Copenhagen on Friday Dec. 18 2009, ahead of the snowstorm that was to smother Washington in the coming hours, President Obama met the press, to share his position on climate change. Environmentalists were underwhelmed – to put it mildly – by the cautiousness of his remarks. Such even-handedness may play well with globally vested interests, and disappoint anyone

danielnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-25355209800258607932009-12-03T17:53:00.000-08:002009-12-19T12:26:46.293-08:00

In the current brouhaha about fudged climate data I actually haven't seen or heard the TV experts mentioning glaciers. To be honest, I haven't been to check on the glaciers but I have faith that the photographs haven't been photoshopped. The obvious status of the glaciers: significant shrinkage. The arctic ice is in fact melting. The snow cover on Kilimanjaro and many other peaks is receding.

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-30960818033881067222009-10-30T21:14:00.000-07:002009-12-03T18:48:37.336-08:00

Beyond a reasonable doubt. The global warming problem brings to light several issues which may represent the Achilles heel of Science. Who says we need absolute, conclusive, evidence-based proof of cause and effect before taking action? Science. And policymakers who believe that if they base their decisions on science, their derrières are covered. However, climate change may be the thing that

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-7737133680908188772009-01-01T13:24:00.000-08:002009-05-11T16:38:35.137-07:00

Is the current financial crisis indicative of a progress trap? Were the wizards of Wall St. blinded by their own light? It's a profoundly complex issue, and too early to call. However, in searching for clues there are some useful pointers. The Markit company was founded in 2001 to provide information on the newly deregulated Credit Derivatives market, and their publication Markit Magazine offers

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-57070703225439851362008-10-12T10:52:00.000-07:002008-10-12T11:06:47.199-07:00

More than 230 prominent Canadian economists have signed an open letter to their government advocating a price on carbon, a cap-and-trade system, and a carbon tax.

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-54906335899554468892008-05-31T12:50:00.000-07:002008-07-04T18:07:05.726-07:00

In the June/July '08 issue of MIND, Michael Gazzaniga has some new insights into hemispheric specialization and problem-solving: The left-brain interpreter makes sense out of all the other processes. It takes all the input that is coming in and puts it together in a make-sense story, even though it may be completely wrong.The left hemisphere...tends to falsely recognize new items when they are

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-17195013449253240972008-05-31T11:00:00.000-07:002008-05-31T13:51:38.023-07:00

purchase Escaping the Progress Trap online at amazon.com

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-37622885367297231552008-04-16T17:37:00.000-07:002008-04-16T17:43:38.945-07:00

Prof. Tadeusz W. Patzek, PhD, Professor of Geoengineering at UC Berkeley, California has posted a web archive of articles and comments on the progress trap phenomenon. 2008, 2007

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-40802186538907766742008-04-07T16:48:00.000-07:002008-04-08T04:36:38.948-07:00

Researchers at Leeds University Business School say that gut feelings or intuitions are real, and we should take them seriously. Read the Science Blog article here. Or read the British Journal of Psychology article Intuition: A fundamental bridging construct in the behavioural sciences - abstract.

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-35913562476399592342008-03-28T21:22:00.000-07:002008-03-28T21:48:13.096-07:00

Aurora Picture Show, a microcinema in Houston, Texas has released a collection of "informational videos by artists who use recent technological tools for purposes other than what they were designed to do and, in some instances, in direct opposition to their intended use." The title of the DVD is At your service: Escaping the Progress Trap and it is included with the Spring '08 issue of Art Lies

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-30578370301988468592007-12-22T05:38:00.000-08:002008-08-03T12:31:48.747-07:00

Dr. Sheila Mason, professor of Virtue Ethics, Feminist Ethics and Environmental Ethics with Concordia University's philosophy department has included portions of "Escaping the progress trap" in the Environmental Ethics course for January 2008. Comments Dr. Mason, "The two chapters that I would like to use are Excuses, Excuses, and Nurturing Genius. These fit in well as I like to use Damasio and

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-59876928761257587592007-05-25T08:09:00.000-07:002007-05-25T08:15:42.957-07:00

“There is a big shift in the business community around the world toward a greater appreciation for the fact that the short-term, quarterly report point of view misses a lot, and if a company is going to be profitable and productive on a sustained basis that means looking at some of the factors that don’t always show up on the balance sheet...If the only way we recognize what’s valuable and

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-89758097487374145982007-04-08T09:08:00.000-07:002007-12-22T06:32:32.230-08:00

excerpt from Working Group II Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report, Summary for Policymakers: "Sustainable development can reduce vulnerability to climate change by enhancing adaptive capacity and increasing resilience. At present, however, few plans for promoting sustainability have explicitly included either adapting to climate change impacts,

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-76495207303566967442007-04-08T07:38:00.000-07:002008-06-06T23:24:20.886-07:00

Adam Curtis, in his BBC documentary, The Trap concludes the first episode with this very succinct summary of the problem with technocracy: "As this program has shown, the idea of freedom that had now become dominant in the west was deeply rooted in the suspicion and paranoia of the cold war...this idea spread to take over politics itself because it seemed to offer a new and better alternative to

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-83151778044098837462007-04-07T08:01:00.000-07:002007-04-07T08:06:37.209-07:00

"There's overdependence on rationality, that is my enlightenment" - John Nash, in The Trap (episode 2), a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis.

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-90114892047220977212007-04-03T09:33:00.000-07:002007-04-08T11:08:27.986-07:00

"The cost to move one small village of 300 people ranges from $130m (£66m) to a high of $200m (£102m), even if the distance is a few miles, because moving means reconstructing entire water, electrical, road, airport and/or barge landing infrastructure, as well as schools and clinics." from Patricia Cochran, BBC news online, Jan 4 2007  Patricia Cochran is executive director of the Alaska Native

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-3894483412673505252007-03-30T22:46:00.000-07:002007-04-03T10:04:47.120-07:00

"It has been said that obesity outranks both smoking and drinking now in its effects on health and health costs," said committee chair Rob Merrifield, a Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Yellowhead. "For the first time in recorded history, today's younger generation will live shorter lives than their parents. Yet parents, and this is, I believe, the most alarming statistic that we found,

danielnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-27874035523205404262007-03-30T22:40:00.000-07:002007-03-30T22:42:19.337-07:00

At www.amazon.com and Chapters, Point-Claire(Montreal)

danielnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33974609.post-68833196469418784582007-03-29T19:51:00.000-07:002007-03-30T23:00:48.699-07:00

Great News: Jared Diamond, author of Collapse, and Guns, Germs and Steel graciously accepted an invite as Friend on the myspace page for the book.

danielnoreply@blogger.com0