tag > Culture
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"Hell is empty & all the devils are here." - Shakespeare
The idols we worship
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Let children and randomness govern
If the current insane moment in history teaches us anything, it might be that our systems of governance and power sharing are completely broken. Here is my simple yet radical suggestion for an alternative system: Make sure that decisions at governments, corporations, etc. are made by 51% Children (age 3 > 14), 40% by "random" choice (randomly select people from global population to make decisions, or make decisions directly based on "random" process, such as growth of mycelium networks in a forest), and 9% by current "expert decision makers" (minus the lobbyists). The outcomes would most likely be more sane and the process more entertaining than what the current "rule by the most psychopathic/incapable/corruptible people" system produces.
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From Monuments anciens du Mexique (1866), a lithograph expertly executed by the artist, erotic publisher, explorer, and general enigma Jean-Frédéric de Waldeck — who died on this day in 1875.
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An office situated in nature is an important component of the future of work
#Nature #Business #Culture #Regenerative #Architecture #Urban
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A Bakutu/shaman woman of the Mongo people. Tshuapa, Boende, D.R. of Congo. Circa 1937
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On creativity
Creativity is fundamentally a question of commitment. Of saying "yes!" to a solution amongst an infinite amount of possibilities - Of recognizing, accepting and giving birth to a new living pattern. Generating the artifact is the easy part, getting easier with each passing year. Telling the story behind an artifact and making it meaningfully part of the collectives imagination is an ongoing practice and magical art form.
(related) #Creativity #Generative #Magic #Culture #Praxis #KM
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Doing nothing
A thread by Manvir Singh: In the 1970s & 80s, anthropologists working in small-scale, non-industrial societies fastidiously noted down what people were doing throughout the day. I’ve been exploring the data & am struck by one of the most popular activities: doing nothing.
Background: The anthropologists (e.g., Bob Bailey, pictured) visited random people during waking hours & recorded what they were doing, building a representative sample of time use. Most of these data were collected while an anthropologist lived with the community for a year+.
The researchers typically chose among ~60 activity codes, one of which was "Idle, doing nothing". This is different from napping, chatting, fixing tools, tidying up, & idleness b/c of illness. As far as I can tell, it's really about doing nothing at all, at least apparently.
Here are data collected in '80-81 for the Efé, who lived mostly by hunting & gathering in the Ituri Rainforest of Central Africa. The median adult spent ~27% of their waking time doing nothing (in green). It was the most common activity.
Here are the data for two Machiguenga communities in Peru, collected in '72-'73 (left) and '86-'87 (right). The Machiguenga combined small-scale horticulture with foraging. Again, "doing nothing" leads the pack, either as number one or in the top 3.
"Doing nothing" didn't always win. For the Madurese (Indonesia), it ranked 12th, perhaps reflecting the tiresome lives of more full-time agriculturalists. Still, across 8 diverse communities "doing nothing" came in 4th behind agri work, learning/teaching, & socializing (see plot)
Most of the high-ranking activities in these plots are well-studied by psychologists. But how much do we know about doing nothing? Not much. Living in fast-paced, industrialized societies with constant access to entertainment, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of doing nothing.
These data were collected in the 70s & 80s but were digitized (I believe) by @JoHenrich & then released in 2019 with this paper led by @rabhui: https://pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1906196116 Here’s a link to the digitized data: https://github.com/r-bhui/time-allocation
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Entrance to the cave of the Ibini Ukpabi oracle at Arochukwu, 1900s - A Sacred place of Odinala
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Raven Tales - Human & animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific NW Coast
“Idle No More,” Rande Cook (Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw), acrylic on canvas on board, Fazakas Gallery.
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History is... a register of crimes and misfortunes of mankind?
"History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind." - Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) - From: "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
