I always used to wonder what it would feel like to live through the sudden collapse of a peaceful and integrated society. We like to scare ourselves with this question when we read books or watch movies about military invasions or hostile occupations or war crimes: what if we ourselves … Read the rest
Dear reader: I wrote this for World BEYOND War, where I’m director of technology. While this isn’t about me, it feels like one of the most personal things I’ve ever written, because I had to dig deep and work hard to try to explain my most elusive beliefs about … Read the rest
It was only six years ago — but it seems so much longer than that — that I wrote a book called Why Ayn Rand is Wrong (and Why It Matters). This book emerged from a series of blog posts I was composing (under my then-pseudonym Levi Asher) called … Read the rest
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for? — Robert Browning
My first Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign has been an eye-opener. We aimed for $10,000 and got 57% of the way by the end of the declared 60 day interval, which is pretty good but … Read the rest
A couple of days ago we talked about the need to reclaim the word “pacifism” and return it to general use. We believe the time is ripe right now — if Bernie Sanders can bring “socialism” back from the dead we’re sure pacifism can’t be far behind.
Pacifism is not … Read the rest
Since we’re getting serious about pacifism, we should also get serious about the words we use to talk about it.
Language has been nearly fatal to pacifism: the word itself is often considered foul and offensive. This is because many people mistakenly believe pacifism to be an extreme and … Read the rest
The Internet Age turns 20 years old this weekend, on Sunday, August 9.
I’m not talking about the Internet itself, which was born in the late 1960s when two computers on two different university networks first exchanged messages, thus establishing a network between networks, an “inter-net”. I’m talking about the … Read the rest
There are some days when only a very old poem will do. Sometimes a 2600-year-old poem. Here are a few selections from the Tao Te Ching, apropos of a hard day at work. — Levi
… Read the restChapter 43
The softest things of the world
Override the hardest things of the
Exactly one hundred years ago today, there was still some hope that the monstrous war that had just broken out between (in quick succession) Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain and Turkey might be over by Christmas. A quick victory was what all the military experts on all … Read the rest
