Articles

Here we are at the solstice once again, the day when the sun stands still, or at least seems to. It is a time of deep significance because of the way it prompts reflections on what life is all about. Most of the time our minds are preoccupied with the habits and details of everyday life. The sun appears to move

Remembrance Day originated as a memorial to members of commonwealth forces who died in the line of duty in the bloodiest conflict to that point in history. Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”, so November the 11th was chosen as the annual date for the nation to honour the fallen with

What comes to mind when you think about power? Typically, first thoughts equate power with dominance, social status, wealth, or influence. But power is much more complex. If we study power closely we come to understand its underlying structure as the ability to produce change, live with change and adjust both adaptively.

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization by Roy Scranton stirs one’s soul to the core. Concise and powerful, this book articulates our human situation and is a must read for those concerned with where we are headed. We grapple with death as individuals and with our communities, often poorly, but rarely do we grapple with our end as a species. Scranton invites us to do just that.

Resistance is in the air of our continental next-door neighbour these days. The U.S. is navigating an unfolding adaptive shock – one with global significance – and resistance is a growing part of the story. As always there is much to be learned by observing how others get into and out of messes.The ’16 presidential election was won by someone widely believed to be unfit for office. T

The anti-war movement of the late sixties and early seventies was a short, intense period of social transformation. At the same time it was a continuation of a transgenerational process of striving to bring out the best of humanity. Building on collective actions that came before, the anti-war movement drew on lessons learned from movements like the civil rights movement to develop knowledge, skills and tactics. Learning about the successes, fallibility and failures of the sixties peace movement can inform how we go about social transformation and how we cultivate our own sense of personal responsibility for a greater cause.

Born in France in 1917, Stephane Hessel experienced a time of great sorrow and great hope for humanity. When Marshal Phillippe Petain rose to power in 1940, many progressive policies were reversed, collusion with Nazi Germany became the norm, and an authoritarian state was created, causing outrage among those who believed in the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

At the Human Venture Institute, we are committed to studying the common patterns in human striving, failure and achievement throughout our species’ history and development. This includes the exploration into specific fields of endeavor. Anthropology is one such field. At the recent Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) conference, participants shared frustration and concern for humanity due to the rise of and consolidation of power, and the inequalities that result from colonialism, neo-liberal policies, unfettered growth, and climate change.

Thoughtful people everywhere are deeply troubled by the 2016 American election, not just by the results, but the way the campaigns were fought and what that tells about where things are headed. Whatever one’s view of American politics, culture and role in the world it was difficult to watch what seemed more like a WWF wrestling match or a cheap reality television show than democracy in action in the world’s richest, most powerful nation – and self-proclaimed leader of the free world.

A Book Review of Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus by Matt Taibbi, and Liberty and the News by Walter Lippmann. “There is everywhere an increasingly angry disillusionment about the press, a growing sense of being baffled and misled; and wise publishers will not pooh-pooh these omens.” Walter Lippmann, 1920 It is totally cliché to take a quote from what seems like a hundred years ago and show how prescient it is, and how it still applies to this very day. It is also cliché to defend the use of a cliché by arguing that clichés speak to underlying truths; for example, that history repeats itself.