Keith “Maggie” Brown

  • The brave new world of robots and lost jobs

    Automation is more of a threat to job security than trade deals or immigration. The political debate needs to engage the taboo topic of guaranteeing economic security to families — through a universal basic income, or a greatly expanded earned-income… Continue reading

  • Rethinking the land bridge theory

    Archeologists put forward new theory on how humankind got to the Americas. http://sciencebulletin.org/archives/4173.html   Continue reading

  • AirSpace: on the way to being everywhere and nowhere

    In his 1992 book Non-Places, Marc Augé, the French anthropologist, wrote that with the emergence of such identity-less space, “people are always, and never, at home.” If we can be equally at home everywhere, as Roam and Airbnb suggest, doesn’t… Continue reading

  • Of the usefulness of propriety and the uselessness of superheroes

    Started off the day asking about why we have such a big proliferation in the stories of superheroes. Finished the day by talking about Dào 38 and touching on a lot of the problems with professional education in the USA. Continue reading

    Of the usefulness of propriety and the uselessness of superheroes
  • it’s your fault

    Oprah says it’s not the system, it’s you. She tells us the market will solve grave political, social and environmental problems, as long as we adjust ourselves to its demands. She sees … Source: it’s your fault Continue reading

  • Amanda Waller

        I was trying to come up with a pithy title for reposting this Vulture report on the DC character, but whenever I tried to describe her in a couple of words, they seemed limiting and wrong. I was… Continue reading

    Amanda Waller
  • Serial art biography immortalizes social justice lawyer Leonard Weinglass

    Leonard Weinglass stands in the grand tradition of the legendary 20th century lawyers who themselves joined social justice movements and helped the popular forces to move history forward — including Clarence Darrow, Constance Baker Motley, Thurgood Marshall, Bill Kunstler, Florynce… Continue reading

  • When critical thinking challenges reality

    The biggest problem with those who begin coordinating rigged facts into weak–and very often invalid–arguments is that they have given up critique for criticism and argument for arguing. Continue reading

  • Dyadic not dualistic

    It’s difficult to break out of the Western habitude of dualism. But it is especially important to make the effort when thinking of the Chinese notion of Yin Yang. Rather than another form of dualism in the history of philosophy, it… Continue reading

    Dyadic not dualistic
  • Prayer and Thinking

    We began with me sharing some ideas about the connection between prayer and thinking. We discussed Poem 27 of the Dào Dé Jing along with some forays into Poem 1. Continue reading

    Prayer and Thinking
  • Reverence Ritual Worship Worldview

    For this class, we took a step back to explore a few concepts before we move from India to China. Continue reading

    Reverence Ritual Worship Worldview
  • Ora et Labora

    When life itself seemed to fall outside the core attention of his labors, he would go watch the grass and flowers, birds and critters in their communal dance. Continue reading

    Ora et Labora
  • Anthropotechnics: An Interview with Peter Sloterdijk

    Modern and postmodern humans not only live in the “house of Being” (as Heidegger called language), but increasingly in the abode of the technosphere. Continue reading

  • Overcoming Duopoly

    We need communities of solidarity to elect leaders at all levels that can work toward a constitutional amendment to change how elections are run and districts are drawn. This will create the conditions for debilitating winner-take-all and for demonstrating the… Continue reading

  • can we move on and keep faith?

    We have to keep in mind how being careful can evolve our thinking and how carelessness  can devolve it. Committing ourselves to a course rarely happens as a straight line. This is unfortunate,  primarily because folks get discouraged. But we have… Continue reading

  • There is no one here

    After my good brother Andrew Teeter shared his experiences living in Korea and learning about the sacred traditions of the Korean people, we took a brief break. On our return, I lectured on the basic points of the Buddha Dharma… Continue reading

    There is no one here
  • Lonely Nation, Touch Starved People

    Americans exist in a sociocultural habitat where touching is discouraged. Yet we are primates, embodied beings evolved to live through, with, and in our senses. And tactility or touching as a sense makes us feel connected–to each other, to our… Continue reading

    Lonely Nation, Touch Starved People