Future Salon

The Next Enlightenment

May I quote from Walt Truett Anderson's' book "The Next Enlightenment" (and I am not telling you where in the book I found this):

 There is much to learn, and there is also something to learn about learning. People have known for a long time that knowledge is power, and a lucky few have always understood that knowledge is joy. Now as we begin to understand that exploration is not only what we do but what we are, we find that knowledge -- the search for knowledge, the daring to know -- is also peace.

We are some of the lucky few, not only to understand that knowledge is joy, but also to have Walt Truett Anderson to introduce us to his great book at our next Futurist Salon on the 17th of October 7pm Barnes and Noble bookstore at the Hillsdale Shopping Center just across of the Hillsdale Caltrain Station. 11 West Hillsdale Blvd., San Mateo, CA 94403 650-341-5560 (Map:http://tinyurl.com/o2n3) 

In his book he gives a short introduction to the history of Enlightenment with chapters about Kant , Hume, Darwin, Freud, Jung and the Existentialists Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Then he writes about the more recent enlightenment events, like the 60s Flower Power movement. The great thing is, he grew up in the Bay Area and experienced it as a young journalist and author. (Which, no doubt we will quiz him about on the 17th.) He also writes about the growing influence of Eastern philosophy on the western thinkers, with one of the focal points being the Esalen Institute in Big Sur. (Which is high on my list of places to stay, just once)

This is how far I read and the first of three parts of the book. In the next chapters he is exploring some areas of science: Physics, cosmology, brain research as well as psychology: Cognition, constructivision and adult development. He claims, that findings in these areas are converging to a new worldview.

In the last almost 100 pages of the book he brings it all together, or so I hope :-)  to lead us to the next Enlightenment.  This is really exciting. Darn, still 17 days to go.

P2P Event at Stanford on Monday

After a longer break Joseph Anderson was back at the Futurist Salon. He pointed to the following event at Stanford on Monday September 22nd 12:30- 1:30pm (lunch provided):

"The Legality of P2P file-sharing technology: The Morpheus View " with Matthew Neco General Counsel and VP of Business Affairs StreamCast Networks Inc. developer/distributor of Morpheus.

First thing I did this morning

Not that I needed another T-shirt, but Cory was very convincing last evening about the importance to fight for our electronic rights, so I joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

After all it is in the good old "Do my little Part" tradition of this blog. I was linking to them in my blogroll for so long, that I would actually say: "It is about time".  :-)  

Pictures from last nights Futurist Salon

I woke up today still grinning from the great evening we had yesterday. Thanks to everyone who came and made it so exceptional.

Cory already posted some pictures on his site some taken by Lisa. The one on the right should be called before the storm.  

Tomorrow Friday: Cory Day at the Futurist Salon

Don't forget, tomorrow Friday the 19th Cory the man with the cool dark rimmed glasses at the Futurist Salon. (No, I never worked in Marketing :-)

We will do a round of introduction, share some future stories that you stumbled over in the last month.  Everyone who was at the ACC2003 should have something surprising to share from that weekend.

For me it was the meme change from Free Software to Open Source  that Tim O'Reilly told.

After the introduction Cory Doctorow will do a reading from his new short stories and talk about copyright.

Details again: 7pm : Cory Doctorow who is the outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an award winning science fiction writer (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, A Place So Foreign and Eight More), journalist and editor of the Boing Boing Blog will talk about copyright, scarcity, and spectrum, with lots of rhetorical flourishes...

Just in time Cory's Sci-Fi collection is out. Haven't read them, besides the one that was previously published at Salon.com: 0wnz0red It is one of the best short stories ever, in part because I know a few of the locations.

Where: Barnes and Noble bookstore at the Hillsdale Shopping Center just across of the San Mateo Caltrain Station. 11 West Hillsdale Blvd., Hillsdale Shopping Center San Mateo, CA 94403 650-341-5560

See you all there.

What is Enlightenment?

One of the many journalist attending the ACC2003 conference was Ami Edelstein from the What is Enlightenment? (WIE) magazine. Glancing briefly through it, I thought it is leaning a bit towards New Age. I asked Ami about it and she said that the New Age people don't like the magazine, because they are asking the hard questions, don't give them any slack. You can check it out for yourself the next days. WIE founder Andrew Cohen is in the bay area for some talks.

Check it out, it is probably a good preparation for our October Salon where Walter Truett Anderson will introduce his new book The Next Enlightenment.

Of course this Friday is off limits, because Friday is the Glory Cory Day.

Futurist Salon listed in the Chronicle Literary Section

I guess Barnes and Noble told the San Francisco Chronicle about the great things we are doing. Let's be on our best behavior, when the literary folks are coming :-)

Don't forget this Friday the 19th of September 7pm : Cory Doctorow who is the outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an award winning science fiction writer (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, A Place So Foreign and Eight More), journalist and editor of the Boing Boing Blog will talk about copyright, scarcity, and spectrum, with lots of rhetorical flourishes...

Just in time Cory's Sci-Fi collection is out. Haven't read them, besides the one that was previously published at Salon.com: 0wnz0red It is one of the best short stories ever, in part because I know a few of the locations.

Where: Barnes and Noble bookstore at the Hillsdale Shopping Center just across of the San Mateo Caltrain Station. 11 West Hillsdale Blvd., Hillsdale Shopping Center San Mateo, CA 94403 650-341-5560

See you on Friday. Come early if you want a seat.

Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT)

As expected the ACC2003 conference was very mind expanding. One comment I especially liked was: "At this conference people were genially interested to hear other peoples opinion, really open minded and friendly."

That was particularly true for the talks during the collective intelligence dinner.  

At our table one of the things we discussed was, that nothing gets funded that will not bring in recurring revenue. Chris Duffield brought up the example of Insulin Potentiation Therapy.

He said it is a breakthrough treatment for cancer, with no surgery, no radiation, and no side effects. But no clinical research is done,  because cancer treatment is big business and IPT would cut into these profits.

Chris also told me that when he first put up his webpage he was a bit afraid for his life, but now that over a hundred doctors worldwide are practicing IPT the genie is out of the bottle. Spread the word.

At SAP TechEd and ACC2003 ...

This week I am in Las Vegas at the SAP TechED where we unveiled the SAP Developer Network. . If you are a developer or just curious, sign up and check it out (News coverage).

Directly from here I will go to the ACC2003 at Stanford over the weekend. Really looking forward to it. My presentation is not finished yet, so no further post for a while.

Science and Spirituality, Satish Kumar (09/01/03)

Charity Focus thought of the week is about Science and Spirituality:

Science without spirituality seeks to work mainly in human interest and gives birth to technologies of comfort and convenience, as well as control and consumerism. Science denuded of deep values and the human spirit follows the lead given by money, military and materialism. Such science works for those who can pay for it, and doesn't accept any constraints or limits in its search to find the secrets of nature to meet insatiable human greed - particularly the greed of a powerful and privileged elite - very often at a great cost to other forms of life. A dispirited science is more likely to be misused and exploited by vested interests. So, science without spirituality is not only incomplete, it is also vulnerable and even dangerous.

On the other hand, spirituality without science is also incomplete. Such spirituality seeks otherworldliness and gives birth to institutionalised religions infected with dogmas, blind faith and fundamentalism. Spirit stripped of the daily concerns of human affairs follows the lead given by the gurus, priests and missionaries who promise their followers a place in heaven and inject fear of hell - thus exploiting the natural human urge for a spiritual fulfilment.

Science without spirituality has ill-served the Earth, and spirituality without science has degenerated into dogmatic exclusivity. [...]

While science can offer practical tools and knowledge for living, spirituality can offer meaning. We need both. When a rich mixture of science and spirituality is available to us, why should we think in terms of 'either/or'? Why not 'both ... and'? Why not celebrate the unity of physics and metaphysics? Information and transformation? Human ingenuity and imagination? Galileo and Gandhi? Einstein and Aquinas? Yes: the best of both worlds.

--Satish Kumar (more)

This is also one of the themes within Walter Truett Anderson's new Book The Next Enlightenment. I have only read the first couple of pages. It is excellent, can't wait to read the rest. Walt will introduce it at our October Futurist Salon. Details to come soon.