But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work.

We’ve been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don’t have. We buy so much because it always seems like something is still missing.

epistephilia:

ninefoldgoddess:

Banned TED Talk: Rupert Sheldrake — Science Set Free

“There is a conflict within science between science as a method of inquiry (based on evidence, reason, hypothesis & collective investigation), and science as a belief system, or a worldview. And unfortunately, the worldview aspect of science has come to inhibit the inquiry which is the very lifeblood of the scientific endeavor. Since the late 19th century, science has been conducted under the belief system which is essentially Materialism. And the sciences are now the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Materialist worldview. I think that as we break out of it, the sciences will be regenerated. In my book Science Set Free (or The Science Delusion in some countries), we take the ten dogmas or assumptions of science, and turn them into questions. Seeing how well they stand up if you look at them… scientifically; and none of them stand up very well:


1. Nature is mechanical or machine like
2. All matter is unconscious
3. The laws or constants of nature are fixed
4. The total amount of matter and energy is always the same
5. Nature is purposeless
6. Biological heredity is material
7. Memories are stored inside your brain
8. Your mind is inside your head
9. Psychic phenomena like telepathy are not possible
10. Mechanistic medicine is the only kind that works

“Every single one of these dogmas is questionable, and if one questions them, new forms of research, new avenues open up. And I think that as we question these dogmas that have held back science for so long, science will undergo a re-flowering, a renaissance. I have spent my whole career as a research scientist. But I think by moving beyond these dogmas, it can be regenerated and become, once again, interesting and life—affirming. … In an evolutionary Universe, why shouldn’t the laws themselves evolve?”

Capitalism

Fire gods, thunder gods, lightning and volcano gods, every combustible deity, from Agni the Hindu god of fire to Volund the German blacksmith of the gods: all these names attempt to humanize the moon, but fail. Io is not a human place.

‘Quantum Mechanics!’ says the little lady!

(We say its more like women’s intuition!)

“Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.” This type of total immersion is what I have always referred to as teaching “heavy,” working hard, spending time, researching, attending to details and never feeling satisfied that I knew enough on any topic. I now find that this approach to my profession is not only devalued, but denigrated and perhaps, in some quarters despised. STEM rules the day and “data driven” education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education

…

My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust, dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own quizzes and tests (now titled as generic “assessments”) or grade their own students’ examinations. The development of plans, choice of lessons and the materials to be employed are increasingly expected to be common to all teachers in a given subject. This approach not only strangles creativity, it smothers the development of critical thinking in our students and assumes a one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the assembly line than to the classroom.

Re: An Astronaut's Advice ›

zenpencils:

CHRIS HADFIELD An astronaut’s advice

(via itsfullofstars)

jtotheizzoe:

A brilliant series of minimalist typographic tributes to scientists and their discoveries. I especially like the Copernicus one :)

Artwork by Kapil Ghagat (on Tumblr at bhagatkapil)

I don’t know if I like the Darwin one. It appears to perpetuate the false notion that evolution leads to something “greater” than what was.

But, these are pretty cool.

(via physicsphysics)

zoom

Mars 2580: Buddhist Temple on Mars

A Brand is a Species.

So what does this all mean for the future of truth? Is it possible for something to be true but not understandable? I think so, but I don’t think that that is a bad thing. Just as certain mathematical theorems have been proven by computers, and we can trust them, we can also at the same time endeavor to try to create more elegantly constructed, human-understandable, versions of these proofs. Just because something is true, doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to explore it, even if we don’t understand every aspect.

Relative Perspective

Usually, my personal outlook stems either from the all-encompassing bottom-right of the top image, or from somewhere towards the bottom of the bottom image. (!) Meaning, all else is relative to those scales, in both size (obviously) and importance. This practice helps me live.

It’s nice to be human. It’s nice to have a cool brain that’s capable of noticing all of this. (Or, even just this much?) But unfortunately, our species’ culture is — extremely generally — one that encourages a mental scope ranging from something like a centimeter to a few kilometers. (Metaphorically, but maybe literally as well.) Anything outside of this in either direction is deemed irrelevant, or worse, pretentious.

I’ve been incredibly stressed and angryfor the past few weeks… and finally realized, it’s because I allowed something roughly the size of an A4 sheet of paper and with all the longevity of a fly to become — in my mind — as big as the universe.

It’s disgusting. It doesn’t matter. (Read: { I think you’re all fucking mad. }) “Our” priorities are stupid; it’s important to figure out how not to participate.

I’m aware of being idealistic, but it’s really annoying that selling people stuff, handling money, and providing non-enriching entertainment are all so massively rewarded… while searching for / contributing / creating / researching anything remotely transcendent is not only hard to do, but often puts one in a position of struggling to live.

Why did the Greeks seem to have so much more time and respect for the latter? Ha. Ha.