FanFare

For once we thought it would be nice to look at a culture of building things up, rather than the slow collapse of everything around us that we normally discuss. We find this culture in a huge variety of different fields from repair in the home to hacking and building in farming fields to careful experimentation on our bodies to filling in gaps in the beauty world to digging deep into the source code of the software that runs everything. In so many worlds this vibrant idea of "let's do it ourselves" has empowered people, spurred innovation, saved lives, and helped to end the alienation that society so frequently forces on us in our modern economic system. This week is everything DIY as Ashes Ashes digs into the culture of creativity and seeks to learn why this idea is so powerful and pervasive. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Jul 21, 2019 - 1 comment

The past few decades has seen explosive growth in the number of universities around the world, but it may not be for the noble reasons we would like. Decreased public funding, and new conceptions of universities as engines for economic growth has spurred an intensity of competition for student fees. This shift may help explain rising trends in managerialism, over-quantification of students and researchers, commodification of education, and an 'amenities arms race.' Not to mention staggering student debt, elitism, college admission scandals, and whole countries in protest. Will we be able to turn this failing grade around, or will class be dismissed? [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Jul 10, 2019 - 1 comment

The IPBES Global Assessment summary is out and we're digging in to all 39 pages this week. The report lays out a grim picture of our current world in terms of life on earth, the ecosystems they create, and our relationship with them that our civilization as we know it depends upon. While not the full 1500+ page report due out later this year, this study is perhaps the most important look at the state of our world that we've ever seen - and if we don't act quickly to fix the problems it so clearly exposes, then nothing less than very the future of humanity may be at risk. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Jun 19, 2019 - 1 comment