the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

by Jason Hirthler Part 6 - Cracking the Shell The benign-sounding structural adjustments of the West have fairly predictable results: cultural and economic chaos, rapid impoverishment, resource extraction with its attendant ecological ruin, transfer of ownership from local hands to foreign entities, and death from a thousand causes. We are currently sanctioning around 30 nations in some fashion; dozens of countries have fallen into ‘protracted arrears’ with western creditors; and entire continents are witnessing huge outflows of capital–on the order of $100B annually–to the global north as debt service. The profiteering colonialists of the West make out like bandits. The usual suspects include Washington and its loyal lapdogs, the IMF, World Bank, EU, NATO, and other international institutions, and the energy and defense multinationals whose shareholders and executive class effectively run the show. So why aren’t Americans more aware of t

globinfo freexchange In his very interesting article Colonizing the Western Mind , Jason Hirthler refers to the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, who pioneered the concept of cultural hegemony. Gramsci suggested that the ruling ideologies of the bourgeoisie were so deeply embedded in popular consciousness that the working classes often supported leaders and ideas that were antithetical to their own interests . Gramsci's suggestion is depicted in the famous scene of the cult Sci-Fi movie The Matrix , in which Morpheus explains the Matrix to Neo:            The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them a

globinfo freexchange Stephen Hawking's photo of 1968 anti-war rallies in London, along with Vanessa Redgrave and Tariq Ali, is being circulated around the Internet, following the announcement of the death of the great scientist. (For the record, the Rolling Stones wrote the Street Fighting Man song to honor those who participated in those rallies, and especially Tariq Ali).   One thing that many ignore (and some others deliberately want to hide), is that Stephen Hawking continued throughout his life to condemn authoritarian regimes that kill indiscriminately innocent people to perpetuate their sovereignty. His most important intervention in recent years was the condemnation of Israeli political Apartheid and the support he provided to the movement for Israel's artistic, academic and commercial blockade. He had canceled his planned participation in scientific conferences organized by Israeli operators. This attitude had provoked angry and vulgar reactions i

When Mark Zuckerberg was asked if Facebook had influenced the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, the founder and CEO dismissed the notion that the site even had such power as “crazy.” It was a disingenuous remark. Facebook’s website had an entire section devoted to touting the “success stories” of political campaigns that used the social network to influence electoral outcomes. That page, however, is now gone, even as the 2018 congressional primaries get underway. In the wake of a public reckoning with Facebook’s unparalleled ability to distribute information and global anxiety over election meddling, bragging about the company’s ability to run highly effective influence campaigns probably doesn’t look so great. Facebook’s “success stories” page is a monument to the company’s dominance of online advertising, providing examples from almost every imaginable industry of how use of the social network gave certain players an advantage. “ Case studies like

Η φωτογραφία του Στήβεν Χόκινγκ από τις αντιπολεμικές συγκεντρώσεις του 1968 στο Λονδίνο, μαζί με την Βανέσα Ρεντγκρέιβ και τον Ταρίκ Αλί κάνει το γύρο του διαδικτύου μετά την ανακοίνωση του θανάτου του μεγάλου επιστήμονα. (Για την ιστορία για αυτές τις πορείες έγραψαν οι Rolling Stones το τραγούδι Street Fighting Man προς τιμήν όσων συμμετείχαν και κυρίως του Ταρίκ Αλί). Αυτό που κάποιοι δεν γνωρίζουν (και κάποιοι προτιμούν ηθελημένα να αποκρύπτουν) είναι ότι ο Στήβεν Χόκινγκ συνέχισε σε όλη τη διάρκεια της ζωής του να καταδικάζει αυταρχικά καθεστώτα που σκοτώνουν αδιακρίτως αθώους ανθρώπους για να διαιωνίσουν την κυριαρχία τους. Η σημαντικότερη παρέμβασή του τα τελευταία χρόνια ήταν η καταδίκη της πολιτικής απαρτχάιντ του Ισραήλ και η στήριξη που παρείχε στο κίνημα για τον καλλιτεχνικό, ακαδημαϊκό και εμπορικό αποκλεισμό του Ισραήλ. Ο ίδιος είχε ακυρώσει προγραμματισμένη συμμετοχή του σε επιστημονικά συνέδρια που διοργάνωναν ισραηλινοί φορείς. Η στάσ