May 28, 2021First World Solutions Are Not Resolving Third World ProblemsGabre-Madhin (2007) had great hopes for the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange. She deserves tremendous praise for her apparent deeply compassionate and sincere work to resolve complex and intractable problems. Her intended solution seems to temporarily solve surface-level problems for some, but ultimately exacerbates even deeper-rooted challenges of economic sustainability. Nearly a…Africa14 min readAfrica14 min read
Nov 16, 2020Busyness and WorthinessIn response to the question about what it means to live a good life, Liz Gilbert stated this: It’s to know that you are loved…by the divine…not a small L that is dependent upon other people or other things working out in a way that you want them to….that whatever…Worthiness5 min readWorthiness5 min read
Jun 10, 2020A better idea for the stimulus money: Grants to all non-profitsCollaboration consultant Miki Kashtan explains that change happens in four stages, which title the subsections that follow. 1. We recognize what isn’t working. What isn’t working is the current neoliberal economic and social structure, the income inequality. If we stop arguing about how and why that happened, the 99% of…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Jun 9, 2020A better idea for the next stimulus money: Pay off peoples housingAs you may be aware, “Billions are going to zillionaires under the guise of pandemic relief,” reports a New York Times journalist. Now they’re planning the next one. Obviously the U.S. economy is going from bad to worse. Multi billionaire Nick Hanauer has been trying to convince his “fellow plutocrats”…Equality4 min readEquality4 min read
Jun 5, 2020How to implement affordable health care in the U.S.Collaboration consultant Miki Kashtan explains that change happens in these four stages, which also title the subsections that follow. Recognize what isn’t working: highest per-capita spending & highest administrative costs Recognize what alternatives are available: single-payer system & emphasize prevention Trust that we have the capacity to reach an alternative…Single Payer3 min readSingle Payer3 min read
May 31, 2020The Simple Obvious Answer for Why Our Modern Way of Life Now Sucks Even for the Middle ClassWe don’t want to believe pain and discomfort are inevitable for everyone, especially for ourselves. It’s true that we have some choice about how much we suffer. The Buddha as well as famed modern psychologist M. Scott Peck and psychoanalyst Allen Wheelis all have agreed that pain is an inescapable…Neoliberalism4 min readNeoliberalism4 min read
May 13, 2020Former Atheists Encounter the Spirit RealmThe debate about evidence for or against the “near-death experience” phenomenon being brain-based is simply another version of the argument between what we could call traditionally a reductionist/materialist view and a dualist view (altho a monist view doesn’t preclude consciousness after death). There can’t be solid proof either way. The…Death5 min readDeath5 min read
May 7, 2020The Less-considered Upsides of Localized EconomiesWhether or not you believe in the possibility of life-after-death experience (near-death experience or NDE), you might find the following description interesting as a basis for a thought experiment about whether a collective of independent socio-political and economic structures would be feasible. This is reminiscent of some regions of Europe…Economics11 min readEconomics11 min read
Apr 10, 2020Victory GardensThese honorable pessimists. Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky work tirelessly to help us get over our denial of how bad it really is. They decry the stupidity of positive thinking, or in other words, magical thinking, the belief that if we focus on what we want, the horrors will simply…Activism3 min readActivism3 min read
Apr 5, 2020NDE as Social Commentary & a Case for Peaceable SolutionsI have three close friends who each had a few minutes of flat-lining during a surgery. They described to me (only because I asked) a near death experience (NDE). Two said it seemed more real than their current life, not like a dream. Because I know them as otherwise smart…8 min read8 min read
