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Author: Georges van Vrekhem Publisher: Paragon House ISBN: 9781557787668 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The book begins with Sri Aurobindo's youth in England and his years in India as a freedom fighter against British colonial rule. This is followed by a description of the youth of Mirra Alfassa (The Mother) among the painters and artists in Paris and of her evolution into an all accomplished occultist in Algeria. Around them disciples gathered into what would evolve into the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There they worked together towards the realization of their integral yoga and their lives' mission: the establishment of the supramental consciousness upon Earth, the spiritual transformation of the world and the coming of a new species - beyond present humanity. After Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi in 1950, The Mother continued the work. In November 1973, having realized a supramental embodiment, she too left her physical body. But before that, in 1968, she had founded Auroville, an international township created for those who want to participate in an accelerated evolution. Today, over 1,200 people from all over the world reside permanently in Auroville. This book is based on documents which have never been presented before as a whole by other authors. It gives a surprising look behind the scenes of the history of this century. It presents a positive evaluation of the crisis our Earth is subject to at this very moment and it opens a vertiginous but hopeful perspective on the coming of a superhuman species and a divine life upon Earth.
Author: Georges van Vrekhem Publisher: Paragon House ISBN: 9781557787668 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The book begins with Sri Aurobindo's youth in England and his years in India as a freedom fighter against British colonial rule. This is followed by a description of the youth of Mirra Alfassa (The Mother) among the painters and artists in Paris and of her evolution into an all accomplished occultist in Algeria. Around them disciples gathered into what would evolve into the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There they worked together towards the realization of their integral yoga and their lives' mission: the establishment of the supramental consciousness upon Earth, the spiritual transformation of the world and the coming of a new species - beyond present humanity. After Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi in 1950, The Mother continued the work. In November 1973, having realized a supramental embodiment, she too left her physical body. But before that, in 1968, she had founded Auroville, an international township created for those who want to participate in an accelerated evolution. Today, over 1,200 people from all over the world reside permanently in Auroville. This book is based on documents which have never been presented before as a whole by other authors. It gives a surprising look behind the scenes of the history of this century. It presents a positive evaluation of the crisis our Earth is subject to at this very moment and it opens a vertiginous but hopeful perspective on the coming of a superhuman species and a divine life upon Earth.
Author: Oliver Bown Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 026204501X Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 417
Book Description
A multidisciplinary introduction to the field of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. As algorithms get smarter, what role will computers play in the creation of music, art, and other cultural artifacts? Will they be able to create such things from the ground up, and will such creations be meaningful? In Beyond the Creative Species, Oliver Bown offers a multidisciplinary examination of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, design, social theory, the psychology of creativity, and creative practice research, Bown argues that to understand computational creativity, we must not only consider what computationally creative algorithms actually do, but also examine creative artistic activity itself.
Author: National Academy of Sciences Publisher: ISBN: Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 388
Book Description
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
Author: Eduardo Kohn Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520276108 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be humanÑand thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of EcuadorÕs Upper Amazon, Eduardo Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the worldÕs most complex ecosystems. Whether or not we recognize it, our anthropological tools hinge on those capacities that make us distinctly human. However, when we turn our ethnographic attention to how we relate to other kinds of beings, these tools (which have the effect of divorcing us from the rest of the world) break down. How Forests Think seizes on this breakdown as an opportunity. Avoiding reductionistic solutions, and without losing sight of how our lives and those of others are caught up in the moral webs we humans spin, this book skillfully fashions new kinds of conceptual tools from the strange and unexpected properties of the living world itself. In this groundbreaking work, Kohn takes anthropology in a new and exciting directionÐone that offers a more capacious way to think about the world we share with other kinds of beings.
Author: Charlie Blake Publisher: A&C Black ISBN: 1441150110 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 314
Book Description
Explores the implications of our animal origins and posthuman futures for our understanding of our humanity and our relations with other species.
Author: Joseph Henrich Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691178437 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.
Author: David Reich Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0192554387 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
The past few years have seen a revolution in our ability to map whole genome DNA from ancient humans. With the ancient DNA revolution, combined with rapid genome mapping of present human populations, has come remarkable insights into our past. This important new data has clarified and added to our knowledge from archaeology and anthropology, helped resolve long-existing controversies, challenged long-held views, and thrown up some remarkable surprises. The emerging picture is one of many waves of ancient human migrations, so that all populations existing today are mixes of ancient ones, as well as in many cases carrying a genetic component from Neanderthals, and, in some populations, Denisovans. David Reich, whose team has been at the forefront of these discoveries, explains what the genetics is telling us about ourselves and our complex and often surprising ancestry. Gone are old ideas of any kind of racial 'purity', or even deep and ancient divides between peoples. Instead, we are finding a rich variety of mixtures. Reich describes the cutting-edge findings from the past few years, and also considers the sensitivities involved in tracing ancestry, with science sometimes jostling with politics and tradition. He brings an important wider message: that we should celebrate our rich diversity, and recognize that every one of us is the result of a long history of migration and intermixing of ancient peoples, which we carry as ghosts in our DNA. What will we discover next?
Author: Rob Dunn Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 1541619293 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 274
Book Description
"An arresting vision of this relentless natural world"—New York Times Book Review A leading ecologist argues that if humankind is to survive on a fragile planet, we must understand and obey its iron laws Our species has amassed unprecedented knowledge of nature, which we have tried to use to seize control of life and bend the planet to our will. In A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life’s overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old laws to shape. Life’s future flourishing is not in question. Ours is. As ambitious as Edward Wilson’s Sociobiology and as timely as Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, A Natural History of the Future sets a new standard for understanding the diversity and destiny of life itself.
Author: Carl Safina Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 0805098887 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 480
Book Description
Hailed conservationist Carl Safina examines animal personhood as told through the inspired narrative portraits of elephants, wolves, and dolphins
Author: Tao Orion Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing ISBN: 1603585648 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 274
Book Description
Invasive species are everywhere, from forests and prairies to mountaintops and river mouths. Their rampant nature and sheer numbers appear to overtake fragile native species and forever change the ecosystems that they depend on. Concerns that invasive species represent significant threats to global biodiversity and ecological integrity permeate conversations from schoolrooms to board rooms, and concerned citizens grapple with how to rapidly and efficiently manage their populations. These worries have culminated in an ongoing “war on invasive species,” where the arsenal is stocked with bulldozers, chainsaws, and herbicides put to the task of their immediate eradication. In Hawaii, mangrove trees (Avicennia spp.) are sprayed with glyphosate and left to decompose on the sandy shorelines where they grow, and in Washington, helicopters apply the herbicide Imazapyr to smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) growing in estuaries. The “war on invasive species” is in full swing, but given the scope of such potentially dangerous and ecologically degrading eradication practices, it is necessary to question the very nature of the battle. Beyond the War on Invasive Species offers a much-needed alternative perspective on invasive species and the best practices for their management based on a holistic, permaculture-inspired framework. Utilizing the latest research and thinking on the changing nature of ecological systems, Beyond the War on Invasive Species closely examines the factors that are largely missing from the common conceptions of invasive species, including how the colliding effects of climate change, habitat destruction, and changes in land use and management contribute to their proliferation. There is more to the story of invasive species than is commonly conceived, and Beyond the War on Invasive Species offers ways of understanding their presence and ecosystem effects in order to make more ecologically responsible choices in land restoration and biodiversity conservation that address the root of the invasion phenomenon. The choices we make on a daily basis—the ways we procure food, shelter, water, medicine, and transportation—are the major drivers of contemporary changes in ecosystem structure and function; therefore, deep and long-lasting ecological restoration outcomes will come not just from eliminating invasive species, but through conscientious redesign of these production systems.
Author: Georges van Vrekhem
Author: Georges van Vrekhem
Author: Oliver Bown
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Author: Eduardo Kohn
Author: Charlie Blake
Author: Joseph Henrich
Author: David Reich
Author: Rob Dunn
Author: Carl Safina
Author: Tao Orion