is there anybody out there...
well Penguin have done it this time. To celebrate their 70th anniversary they've released 70 'reduced' titles. that is, small sample (approx 60 page) stories or papers from authors, giving you a feel for the author. awesome idea and really great cover design, i love 'em! the set is about A$200 so until i win lotto (or xmas time) i'm just buying a few.
i read Noam Chomsky's 'Doctrines and Visions' last night. really good stuff, although that's no surprise if you know of the man. on the first page he quotes Ernst Mayr's comments regarding the likelyhood of higher intelligence elsewhere in the galaxy. when talking about Earth "Mayr estimated the number of species since the origin of life at about 50 billion, only one of which 'achieved the kind of intelligence needed to establish a civilisation'..." (see note 1 here - PDF). I love it, as a family member years ago argued that if there was alien life then why hadn't it visited us. i viewed that considering we'd only got to the dirtball circle-working around our planet (once! and that may not even be true) then it was a tall order discrediting alien life on it's inability to reach light-speed. a friggin single-cell amoeba is life, and i'm not sure they can pilot space-faring vehicles yet! Chomsky then goes on to talk in some detail about civilisation and power in the US of A. a great quote here from Samuel Huntington, " the architects of power in the United States must create a force that can be felt but not seen...power remains strong when it remain in the dark; exposed to the sunlight it begins to evaporate." (see note 11 here - PDF). methinks a few x-files fans / conspiracy nutjobs have read that little number a few thousand times.
quote for the day:
"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."
- Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)
i read Noam Chomsky's 'Doctrines and Visions' last night. really good stuff, although that's no surprise if you know of the man. on the first page he quotes Ernst Mayr's comments regarding the likelyhood of higher intelligence elsewhere in the galaxy. when talking about Earth "Mayr estimated the number of species since the origin of life at about 50 billion, only one of which 'achieved the kind of intelligence needed to establish a civilisation'..." (see note 1 here - PDF). I love it, as a family member years ago argued that if there was alien life then why hadn't it visited us. i viewed that considering we'd only got to the dirtball circle-working around our planet (once! and that may not even be true) then it was a tall order discrediting alien life on it's inability to reach light-speed. a friggin single-cell amoeba is life, and i'm not sure they can pilot space-faring vehicles yet! Chomsky then goes on to talk in some detail about civilisation and power in the US of A. a great quote here from Samuel Huntington, " the architects of power in the United States must create a force that can be felt but not seen...power remains strong when it remain in the dark; exposed to the sunlight it begins to evaporate." (see note 11 here - PDF). methinks a few x-files fans / conspiracy nutjobs have read that little number a few thousand times.
quote for the day:
"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."
- Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)
posted by brent c. airey at 3:26 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Brent,
Re: book cover - I guess that's a picture of Sadam meeting with US diplomats in the 1980's and then highlighting the irony in the picture below.
If Ryan Air was around 70 years ago, do you think we would have pictures of Churchill and Hitler celebrating some industrial joint venture counterposed by photos of the race to Berlin at the end of the second world war?
I've always understood that we study history to'learn from it'in a positive sense but I'm thinking the only learning we've taken (from the world wars) is total war screws your own economy - better to wear your enemy down through trade and economic sanctions until they're on their knees - then send in the boys with guns....
you missed out the fun part just after "they're on their knees". we then offer them a glint of hope by selling them our old weapons to 'defend their independence'. and then to quote Bill Hicks, "wait until the check clears and then head on in!".
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