Dear Friend,
The children contributed in no small measure to mobilising the adults who had been temporarily confused by the chaos of the Empire in which they live. Thanks to the children the age of the post-truth Empire is over. The struggle now is to make the children’s vision a reality, to mobilise all children, so that children in developing countries have the same quality of life, and better, as the children in the territories under the direct control of the Empire.
John Scales Avery announces the publication of a freely downloadable book, which reviews the history of medicine through the lives and thoughts of some of the women and men who have contributed importantly to the field.. The book covers developments from ancient times to the present, and modern topics, such as biosemiotics, cloning and theories of the origin of life are included.
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Greta Thunberg: Mobilising against the Empire
by Anandi Sharan
The children contributed in no small measure to mobilising the adults who had been temporarily confused by the chaos of the Empire in which they live. Thanks to the children the age of the post-truth Empire is over. The struggle now is to make the children’s vision a reality, to mobilise all children, so that children in developing countries have the same quality of life, and better, as the children in the territories under the direct control of the Empire.
War Criminal & Climate Criminal
Australian Deception At UN General Assembly
by Dr Gideon Polya
Australia’s attempt to match US Trump and UK Johnson buffoonery, Coalition PM Scott Morrison, sabotaged and boycotted the UN Climate Action Summit in New York but later addressed the UN General Assembly (UNGA) with a rambling and outrageously dishonest speech that attempted to white-wash Australia’s continuing and appalling war criminal and climate criminal record, dishonestly slagging world heroine and climate activist Greta Thunberg, while not actually mentioning her name.
Lives In Medicine – A new freely downloadable book by John Avery
by John Scales Avery
John Scales Avery announces the publication of a book, which reviews the history of medicine through the lives and thoughts of some of the
women and men who have contributed importantly to the field.. The book covers developments from ancient times to the present, and modern topics, such as biosemiotics, cloning and theories of the origin of life are included.
I would like to announce the publication of a book, which reviews the history of medicine through the lives and thoughts of some of the women and men who have contributed importantly to the field.. The book covers developments from ancient times to the present, and modern topics, such as biosemiotics, cloning and theories of the origin of life are included. The book can be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link:
Cultural history
We need to reform our educational systems, particularly the teaching of history. As it is taught today, history is a chronicle of power struggles and war, told from a biased national standpoint. We are taught that our own country is always heroic and in the right.
We urgently need to replace this indoctrination in chauvinism by a reformed view of history, where the slow development of human culture is described, giving credit to all who have contributed. When we teach history, it should not be about power struggles. It should be about how human culture was gradually built up over thousands of years by the patient work of millions of hands and minds. Our common global culture, the music, science, literature and art that all of us share, should be presented as a precious heritage – far too precious to be risked in a thermonuclear war.
Human nature has two sides: It has a dark side, to which nationalism and militarism appeal; but our species also has a genius for cooperation, which we can see in the growth of culture. Our modern civilization has been built up by means of a worldwide exchange of ideas and inventions. It is built on the achievements of many ancient cultures. China, Japan, India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, the Islamic world, Christian Europe, and the Jewish intellectual traditions all have contributed. Potatoes, corn, squash, vanilla, chocolate, chilli peppers, and quinine are gifts from the American Indians.
Culture is cooperative, not competitive
Our modern civilization has been built on the achievements of all the peoples of the world throughout history. The true history of humanity is not the history of power struggles, conflicts, kings, dictators and empires. The true history of humanity is a history of ideas, inventions, progress, shared knowledge, shared culture and cooperation.
Our cultural heritage is not only immensely valuable; it is also so great that no individual comprehends all of it. We are all specialists, who understand only a tiny fragment of the enormous edifice. No scientist understands all of science. Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci could come close in his day, but today it is impossible. Nor do the vast majority people who use cell phones, personal computers and television sets every day understand in detail how they work. Our health is preserved by medicines, which are made by processes that most of us do not understand, and we travel to work in automobiles and buses that we would be completely unable to construct.
The sharing of scientific and technological knowledge is essential to modern civilization. The great power of science is derived from an enormous concentration of attention and resources on the understanding of a tiny fragment of nature. It would make no sense to proceed in this way if knowledge were not permanent, and if it were not shared by the entire world.
Science is not competitive. It is cooperative. It is a great monument built by many thousands of hands, each adding a stone to the cairn. This is true not only of scientific knowledge but also of every aspect of our culture, history, art and literature, as well as the skills that produce everyday objects upon which our lives depend. Civilization is not competitive. It is cooperative!
Lives in Medicine
With the aim of writing cultural history in mind, I have started to write a series of books about the
lives of women and men who have contributed importantly to various fields. The completed books are:
Lives in Physics
Lives in Economics
Lives in Ecology
Lives in the Peace Movement
The present book, Lives in Medicine, is part of this series, and others are planned. I hope that they will make a small contribution to cultural history.
Other books and articles about global problems are on these links
I hope that you will circulate the links (as well as the link at the start of this article) to friends who might be interested.
John Scales Avery is a theoretical chemist at the University of Copenhagen. He is noted for his books and research publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history of science. His 2003 book Information Theory and Evolution set forth the view that the phenomenon of life, including its origin, evolution, as well as human cultural evolution, has its background situated in the fields of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory. Since 1990 he has been the Chairman of the Danish National Group of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Between 2004 and 2015 he also served as Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy. He founded the Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, and was for many years its Managing Editor. He also served as Technical Advisor to the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (19881997).
http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com. To know more about his works visit this link. http://eacpe.org/about-john-scales-avery/
http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com. To know more about his works visit this link. http://eacpe.org/about-john-scales-avery/
The Failure of Zionism
by Dan Lieberman
Zionism succeeded as a mission and failed as a concept, a failure that might eventually spell doom for the entire Jewish community. Can there be any hope for Zionism in its present path — what else can there be but continuous conflagrations and excessive casualties? Better to reverse course, retreat to success, and repair the damage it has done to others — a win-win proposition that excites the imagination and will make the Middle East livable and loveable for Jews and Arabs.
MIT Report on “Work of the Future”: A Pronounced Bias Towards Capitalism
by Mary Metzger
Beginning with the statement that “Technological change has been reshaping human life and work for centuries”, The MIT report goes on to present a cogent analysis of the state of the American working class from the multifaceted perspectives of race, gender, educational levels, demographics and geography. However, however true its initial assumption, or valid its facts, or thorough its analysis, it is a procapitalist piece, and that means that it is inherently flawed.
Bapu Kuti: A Candle To The Gandhian Flame
by Moin Qazi
Eighty kilometres to the east of Nagpur in central India lies Bapu Kuti, a historic site in Sewagram, the ‘village of service’, nestled in the serene rustic surroundings close to Wardha district. This dwelling was the residential abode of Mahatma Gandhi from 1936 to
1948 and was the epicentre of the Indian freedom movement. During the 12 years Gandhi lived here
Jacques Chirac: The Art of Being Vague
by Dr Binoy Kampmark
The tributes have been dripping in heavy praise: former French president Jacques Chirac and mayor of Paris, the great statesman; the man who said no to the US-led war juggernaut into Iraq; the man loved for being loved. Many of these should have raised the odd eyebrow here and there. “We French have lost a statesman whom we loved as much as he loved us,” claimed current French president Emmanuel Macron.
21st Century Belongs To People Of Vision
by Dr Madabhushi Sridhar
‘No matter what views one may hold, the 21st century shall belong only to a people of ‘vision’ and those who care for future,’ wrote Satish Chandra Seth, (1932-2009) the futurist and former
civil servant
India’s courts letting down its most vulnerable sections
by Aijaz Zaka Syed
Indian judiciary, once known for its independence and integrity, had been the last hope of the dispossessed. Where do they turn for justice if this last resort is snatched from them? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards themselves, as Roman poet Juvenal would ask.
Can India bear the burden of Modi-ism anymore?
by Dr Rahul Kumar
The cult of Modi has already been made by the people of India through extravagant, turgid glorification & fawning praise of Modi. Above that, Indian Diaspora through sponsored events in the USA has given Rock Star welcome to Modi. No doubt, Modi is a fantastic orator, foppish, relentlessly self-important, monologue who can move the audience and stir the minds and
hearts of the ecstatic crowd as he is recently done in the USA by saying ‘Everything is fine in India’ in different languages. Indian citizens must research the social & political background of those who chant Modi! Modi! among the Indian Diaspora.
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