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November 2012

Occupy 11/2012: New forms of creative “direct action”

During the last 6-9 months most Occupy groups have been relatively invisible in the mass media. But just because something is invisible, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Think radiation… or back room deals… or the vast webs of fungi and ant civili…

Are political dichotomies really so illusory?

Dear friends, In anticipation of challenges to my assertion that our political dichotomies – especially the liberal/conservative, blue-red divide – are illusions, I offer the following references: 1. The “Purple USA” map – http://en.wikipedia.org/…

Post-election: A collective shift from divided to wise

President Obama said in his 2012 victory speech that “we are not as divided as our politics suggests”. He also argued that we are more united than our politics makes us think we are. Finally, he hinted that we are more diverse than our politics su…

Sandy notes 1: Systems and the language of causation

It’s so tempting to say “Global warming caused superstorm Sandy.” And it is so easy to counter with “Storms like Sandy happen. You can’t say that global warming caused a particular storm!” Much human folly nowadays comes from believing that identi…