juni 2017

The human being is a complex organism with a discriminating consciousness capable of abstract thought, language, and a high degree of technical manipulation of our physical surroundings. These abilities, along with limitless ambition and imagination, have led to a condition of alienation from our instincts and environment. Our science, technologies, political systems, belief systems, and patterns of consumption have all evolved to reinforce a duality between self and object, figure and ground, man and nature. More than 2000 years ago, the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, was the author of De architectura, known today as The Ten Books on Architecture,…

Civilization has come a long way, and our understanding of the world and the advancements we have achieved deserve admiration. After nearly four billion years of Darwinian evolution, we have created a separate and independent evolutionary logic. Whereas what lived and died used to depend only on natural selection and random mutation, now at least half of what lives and dies is due to human selection. One of the benefits of our evolution is intelligence. In its varied forms powers every opportunity we pursue and every problem we seek to solve. Intelligence is what allows us to create forms of…

The human being presents a paradox. Yes, fragile and vulnerable on one side but capable of development and evolution on the other. We are not entirely at the mercy of our fate but we are also capable of shaping our fate both individually and collectively. This potential for freedom and initiative lives in all of us regardless of our status, socially, racially, cognitively. The human race is amazing. We have created the technology to process zettabytes of information and print in three dimensions. Paraplegics can walk again with the aid of robotic suits, and deaf toddlers can hear for the…

Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) is likely to accelerate global warming, which may smash the agreed Paris target of 1.5°C by as early as 2026. And, the amount of dissolved oxygen contained in the water has been declining for more than 20 years. The break through the 1.5°C barrier negotiated at the Paris conference as early as 2026 if a slow-moving, natural climate driver known as the IPO has, as suspected, moved into a positive phase. The phase of the IPO regulates the rate at which mean temperature approaches the 1.5°C level. A transition to the positive phase would lead to…