http://arlenegoldbard.com culture, politics and spirituality Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:38:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I sometimes find the idea of progress in human civilization deeply confusing. Aspects seem unquestionable: penicillin, microwaves, countless other scientific and technological inventions that make possible things our ancestors never imagined, from easy cures for once-fatal diseases to push-button world destruction to light-speed communication at a distance. Yet our basic ... http://arlenegoldbard.com/2008/07/24/what-now/ All the media world's a-twitter about the New Yorker cover caricaturing Barack and Michelle Obama as the right's terrorist nightmare: fist-bumping in mideast mufti in the Oval Office, burning the flag, a portrait of Osama bin Laden over the fireplace, a machine-gun slung across Michelle's broad shoulder. McCain denounced the ... http://arlenegoldbard.com/2008/07/16/this-just-in/ One reason I keep feeling we have an opportunity to change course right now has less to do with politics than with the convergence of science and philosophy. Human beings have always been interested in our own motives, in how our minds work. Introspection helps, but research is teaching us ... http://arlenegoldbard.com/2008/07/08/not-me-from-google-to-mugabe/ Have you ever had one of those scary ah-hah moments? Hurtling along the freeway or gazing out the window of a jet plane, suddenly coming to consciousness: Ohmigod, I'm in a metal capsule going much too fast to stop, surrounded by other metal capsules piloted by who knows what! This ... http://arlenegoldbard.com/2008/07/02/breaking-the-trance/ With timing I'd like to claim as atypical but is probably the opposite, we are trying to sell our house. That puts me somewhere near the bleeding edge of the rather remarkable shakeout we are now experiencing. The image that keeps coming to me is a Gargantuan dog arising from ... http://arlenegoldbard.com/2008/06/26/shakeout/