Arquivo para a ‘Social Network’ Categoria
The sign of Lazarus and the pandemic
27
Mar
The pandemic came to warn us that it is not life that matters the economy anymore,
we posted this week that it is not the oeconomicus of home and agriculture (of food we would say today, because food processing is already part of history), it is that of speculation by banks and exchanges.
Now it is life that governs the economy and not the other way around, maybe an economic Darwinism could say in the beginning it was money and then man came, nothing more unreasonable, but it is clear that if an economy goes to ruin, the maintenance of life is in the limit, it stays like this in wars, comes the famine.
But the sign of the pandemic is still poorly read even by economists, and even more lost by some leaders and even religious is the sign of Lazarus (his tomb in side), more than half a million infected and death coming is not enough reason for the even stronger economy on the planet want to stop.
A careful reading of the bible reveals that Jesus knew of Lazarus’ death (John 11: 4-7) and it was not before because the Jews were reluctant to change the lifestyle of “law” and tradition, and wanted to stone him, however. Jesus explains to the disciples that they did not want to return to Judea out of fear, that this should happen so that the people there understood that a change was necessary.
What change the world expects, yes, if we win the pandemic, but the global effort, the idea of stopping and reviving the domestic economy that includes the relationship and well-being of those close to us requires a “conversion”, a change in cultural attitude , taking care of what is beside us and taking care not to be “infected”, the sign of Lazarus is that death comes, but the cure will also come.
The important thing is what we will do next so that a new crisis does not set in, we already had influenza and in Brazil vaccination is beginning, but will we be prepared for another pandemic, without understanding that hospitals and the economic health of the people, in particular, of the simple people is essential, we will not understand anything.
Lazarus did not rise (he later died of a natural death), he just revived and Jesus said that this disease “does not kill”, that is, humanity will not be exterminated, but the hard lesson must be learned is the life that governs the economy and not the other way around, and let’s do our part #FicarEmCasa and applaud the health workers
Co-immunity: healing
24
Mar
We are waiting for a miracle, those who do not believe or ignore science, now
hope that scientists will find the vaccine, while vaccines for the old flu infections are beginning to be available at health centers in Brazil.
The lesson from the medical point of view is that this disease that has taken on aspects of the pandemic teaches us is already definitive, that people’s health is more important than the disease, that we can all help each other if each does our part well, and that no one will do our part for us, the government and health authorities can raise awareness, but depend on individual, cultural attitudes.
The philosopher Peter Sloterdijk worked in a broader sense on the idea of immonology and co-immunity, the idea that we cannot get rid of all the viruses and microorganisms that have always been part of life, and that now are attacked and worked on by society as a whole may have their effects reduced, although they seem more and more aggressive, influenza a few years ago looks like a common flu close to the corona virus and its range and aggressiveness.
Heir to phenomenology, but mixed with Nietzsche, and co-heir of Heidegger with Byung Chul Han, he created a surprising new anthropology beyond the human, by defining homo sapiens as the result of an unfinished and infinite autopoiesis (auto is self and poiesis, creation), so we go on each clash with nature, self “creating” and reviewing.
The revision of this moment is interesting and will be unfinished because the results for the economy and the future social structure itself will be undefined and dependent on decisions, but the joint fight of peoples and nations in the pandemic creates a new “joint action”, which Sloterdijk calls co-immunity, that is, creating joint defenses and an immunology beyond the human.
In relation to Heidegger, it goes beyond being-there to being-with, not only because it creates an anthropological view of the human relationship, but that shows the efficiency of joint action where each does its part, and the immunity of the whole, depends on the rearrangement network of each individual part.
In response to a question asked in 2018, he (from the frontiers of thought program) explains his immunology as follows: “Let’s not forget: the word “immunology ”is a metaphor borrowed by lawyers from biologists. I take it a step further, extending the concept of immunis (which in Latin means “free from duties”) to the religious dimension.
Comparing his system with Luhmann’s, he stated: “While for Niklas Luhmann the legal system would be the immune system of the social system, ballpoint states that religion is society’s original immune system”, and this would be anthropology beyond the human, entering a dimension of religious transcendence.
When relating the problem of immunology with ecology, he elaborates it in relation to nature:
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A dark night of humanity
20
Mar
One night falls on mankind, but it must be noted that this night the virus that 
has hit the whole planet has been happening is a catalyst and despite being lethal and bringing a lot of care can wake us up from a night that was happening: night of culture, night of God, night of science reduced to questionable specialties and methods and mainly night of man.
The rampant and often meaningless life, the search for efficiency and productivity, the idea that economic growth brings happiness and especially the exclusion of the Other, now seem to be inverted with the need to stay at home: #StayAtHome.
Tonight provoked a collective blindness, culture is anything goes, scribbles and blots became art, purely genital expressions without any affectivity of sex, and the religious culture that helped people find peace of mind became pure superstition, appeal wealth and money, or mere poverty on the other hand without anything to make you understand the deep sense of detachment and living in the essence of life.
The religious night or night of God is an attachment of men to their closed circles now, if they are prudent, also prevented from meeting, gross manipulation, fundamentalist reading of the Bible, which are the worst contemporary blindness, also reduces man to being-for-death and not being-for-life.
Contemplate the mystery of the universe beyond what we already know, we know little of the mass and dark energy that makes up 94% of the universe, and that it may still have one beyond its “bubble”, it can open the eyes of those who think they know everything because they learned science, or because they read the Bible with their eyes of cultural blindness and their closed and petty circle of “elect”.
When Jesus heals the blind man, he scares the Pharisees who want the blind man to shut up, science helped a little this abandonment of superstitions and helped to illuminate human intelligence, also put to the test by the virus, in the biblical passage we read in John 9: 7- 9:
And [Jesus after putting clay in his eye] said to him: “Go and wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (which means: Sent). The blind man went, washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who used to see the blind man – because he was a beggar – said: Isn’t he the one who kept begging? Some said: “Yes, it’s him!” Others said: “It is not him, but someone like him”.
However, he said: “It is me!”, And the religious wanted to forbid him to speak.
The changes of the 20th century
13
Mar
The changes of the last century, but whose social and economic structures are still 
present, were marked by the end of economic liberalism but which was supported by great empires, in addition to the colonial ones in Africa and Asia (the end of the empire in India, for example), also social and economic customs were changing and are still present in the 19th century.
It would be more opportune to talk about the economic, at a time when the financial empires seem to be melting on the Stock Exchanges, the so-called Bear market, of fear managing business, but on March 8, which was women’s day, we chose to talk about the issue .
Since Ibsen’s romance in the 19th century, the Doll´s house, where the affable and liberal structure of a marriage hid her husband’s machismo, by the way the moment he takes over an Investment Bank, the oppression of wife.
We also pointed out the development of the female issue through Doris Lessing Nobel Prize for Literature and who had a balanced but tough position, far from fads and the politically correct, she lived and pointed out the issue of women, even though white women suffered in South Africa with the issue of racism for defending blacks.
We arrived at the “Commons” economy of Elinor Ostrom, ignored by the left for not being against capital, and ignored by the right because it affirmed that the governance of common goods can be productive and well managed, contrary to what the “Tragedy of Commons” provides ”.
The change in posture and culture, it is true that we need laws and policies to combat machismo, but cultural change defends the view of women, now independent, in the job market but still suffering the consequences of her emancipation.
Although the religious view is said to be sexist, and often is, it is not what Bible presents in the New Testament, remembering that the Jewish culture of the time was sexist and the Old Testament reflects this, however Jesus’ position on women were different.
Thus, it appears in the text of John (Jn 4, 8-9): “The disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman then said to Jesus: “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me to drink that I am a Samaritan woman? “, And the text clarifies that the Jews did not get along with the Samaritans, and the position of the woman was inferior, accepted by them.
The first woman Nobel in economics
12
Mar
Elinor Ostrom was the first woman economist to receive the Nobel Prize in
Economic Sciences together with Oliver E. Williamson, in 2009, for “her analysis of economic governance, especially with common goods”, the so-called “Commons” that now also dominate the world of scientific dissemination, such as Creative Commons, where copyright is maintained with permission to use.
But, of course, Elinor’s theory is much more general, and aimed mainly to disprove the idea that was then “enshrined” in the “Tragedy of Commons”, which became known for the article written by the American philosopher and biologist Garret Hardin in 1968.
The modern concept that Elinor explored from “Commons” is universal common goods such as water, oceans, rivers, fish stocks, roads and highways (privatized almost worldwide), and even an office refrigerator or space shared audience.
Elinor Ostrom demonstrated in her book “Governing of Commons” giving an example of communities that self-managed whether top-down regulations or privatizations, with economic success.
In 1973 she founded the Theories and Political Analysis Workshop at Indiana University with her husband Vincent Ostrom, and one of her last activities was the preparation for the Rio + 20 conference at the head of the Planet Under Pression scientific committee, which had a strong influence at the conference, although Elinor died in 2012.
His latest book Working together: Collective Action, The Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice, written in conjunction with A. Poteete and M.A. Janssen, gives practical lessons in collective action that can enhance work around “common goods”.
The golden book
11
Mar
Written in 1962 and considered one of the great novels of the 20th century, the 
Golden Book (O Caderno Dourado in Spanish, in the photo), tells the story of Anna Wulf, a writer immersed in a personal crisis who decides to tell her story, from the black book for his literary life when he lived in South Africa, the red book on his left-wing political activism, the yellow his emotional life and the blue his daily life.
Doris Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 85 (2007) when she expected nothing more, herself made a joke about it, but the recognition was deserved and little is known today of this consequent feminist and who refused to adhere to fashions and conjunctures followed his struggle.
Themes such as friendship, motherhood and sexuality have much deeper tones and outlines in this author, in novels such as “As grandmothers” (2007) where old age is seen in a different light, especially for women, or about politics in its book “The sweetest dream” that she suggests as an autobiographical one, and that reflects deeply on her humanitarian vision.
But if I had to highlight a novel by her, my favorite of the youth “Prisons we choose to live in” (1987), it attacks in a subtle and extraordinary way the question of political rhetoric (or what was decided to be politically correct) where it instigates individuals to come out of social constraints and build a better world, in fact and above everyday fashion.
He does not fail to attack in this novel ignorance and the lack of personal responsibility in the desire for applause and mere repetition of mottos, how current his speech would be, anticipating the times, because it was precisely because of the excess of rhetoric and the absence of concrete acts that we fell into pitfalls and we help contemporary ignorance and demagogy.
His sentence that seems to sum up his thinking was: “I cannot and will not hurt my conscience just to adhere to the fashion of the day”, and he said this not for conservatives, but for the apparently advanced positions of his time that were not directed towards attitudes concrete.
Doll´s house
10
Mar
Written in 1878 and built in 1879, the Norwegian novel by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is one of the first manifestations of the exclusion of women
in a dualistic and macho society, made for the theater had its first staging in the Kongelige theater, Copenhagen, Denmark , already in 1879.
The romance caused quite a stir at the time, however Ibsen was from a wealthy and respected family in the city of Skien, Norway, and is considered one of the founders of modernism.
The setting is the Christmas season, and the couple Nora and Torvard Helmer are getting ready for the party, and he comments on the expenses of the woman, which she treats with nicknames that reduce her childishness: “lark”, “squirrel” and “ my little girl ”like a bad boy who still knows little about adult life.
In Picture two filme from the 70´s, Jane Fonda and Claire Bloom interpret Nora Helmer.
In the first act a widowed woman Cristina Linde and Dr. Rank arrive, who go to the office to talk to Holmer while Cristina who is a former colleague of Nora’s, talks about the death of the husband of Cristina, Holmer’s former colleague. While Holmer goes to the office with his friend, Nora and colleague Cristina talk about their personal lives.
Nora says that her husband will receive the position of manager in an investment bank and this will bring stability to the family, while Cristina also treats her as a “grown child”.
The doorbell rings again and the maid announces Mr. Krogstad, who comes to talk about business with the bank in Helmer’s new position, Cristina recognizes him as having “business of all kinds”, Dr. Rank leaves the office and comes to the room and also knows Mrs. Linde.
When Nora is alone with Mr. Krogstad who had made him a loan, and Mr. Holmer did not know, about the period when the family was in bad finances, Mr. Krogstad tells him that he knows that her father’s signature as guarantor it was falsified because it was 3 days after his death, and here the novel enters its plot.
Cristina actually had an affair with Mr. Krogstad and she can help Nora, resuming the relationship with Krogstad, he sends the promissory note to Holmer but had already sent a letter saying of the loan that his wife had made with him by forging her father’s signature.
The ending is surprising, Holmer opens Krogstad’s letter that tells the “secret of the loan”, then he receives the promissory note and tears it up, but reconciliation with Nora was already impossible because he had said harsh words about her loan.
And in the end Nora leaves, leaving them with her children, whom he said he had no capacity for and educating them, undoubtedly a shocking novel for the time, and which received harsh criticism.
Women and new media
09
Mar
The women’s day was yesterday, the prospect of a non-sexist society is very distant, even in European countries I contacted with sadness that sexism is still
a general culture, for example, harassment in France has high rates and in Portugal there are recent cases , where even a Supreme Court judge expressed his machismo in a case of domestic violence that he judged.
Wikipedia is the 5th.
The most accessed site in the world, it has more than 6 million entries, and despite having problems with editing and corruption in its entries, which is treated but can go online and cause confusion, its importance is undeniable, and denying it is not living the present reality.
New media is no different, Wikipedia the 5th. most read site in the world, it has recently been reported that the majority of women influential in scientific investigations are ignored by the site.
The article written by James Vicent in August 2018 in The Verge Magazine, says that 82% of the biographies are written about men, cites the example of Teresa Woodruff, a scientist who had no entry on Wikipedia (now has), and was named one of the most influential people in investigations and Artificial Intelligence by Time magazine in 2013.
Another influential researcher cited is Jessica Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who wrote Pineau’s new entry, a system called QuickSilver, and spoke about Wikipedia:
“… it is incredibly biased and the under-representation of women in science is particularly bad”.
The article focused on AI research and also cited robotics researcher Joële Pineau.
However, new media have given women power and a voice too, it is undeniable that a number of excluded social groups, cultures almost disappeared, and many minorities now have a voice thanks to new media.
In social media media, facebook and instagram, there are countless cases of exposure of sexist images and content, which are not always denounced and punished for offensive practices
Powers and the Other
28
Feb
There is something beyond the will to power, yes there is a non-being, which does
not depersonalize or imply a loss of identity, but in dialogue with the Other, with the one who is not my mirror.
The affirmation, the empowerment of people and groups in logical closings of identity, are neither original in the sense of preserving the dialogue with cultural traditions, nor are they in fact power because it implies submitting the Other that is one to some identity that is not his.
Thus, the true ontological identity, contrary to the logic that is individualistic or closed in groups, we often criticize the individualism of the Other because we do not admit its original identity (that which comes from races, cultures and traditions) and ultimately we do not admit the your Being, and to admit it you need a non-Being, that is, to see the Other as he is.
The powers in modernity have grown because of the impositions that the laws of the State, the rules of conduct and what has historically been called “Contract” which is nothing but making the right to conscience something that is subject to the rules and laws of the State. It is not about anarchy, rules of social coexistence that existed since the primitive man who was already known originally lived in groups: in caves, nomads or established in territories.
What leads to violence is to always submit the Other to our own will, our cultures, looking at the Other as less, less cultured, less “evolved” or another justification for not understanding and respecting different cultures, beliefs and ethnicities, so violence arrives.
The cult of the State, Hegel went so far as to say that it was eternal and it is not, many have changed throughout history from the Greek City-State to modern democratic societies, now in a new turmoil.
The biblical passage that the “devil” offers Jesus earthly powers and he rejects is this (Mark 4: 8-10): “again the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to him, “I would give you all this, if you kneel before me, to worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan, because it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you will worship Him alone´”.
Coronavirus, euthanasia, media and power
27
Feb
We have already pointed out the power of new media, the concept of psychopower
was also explored by Byung Chull Han, we wrote a post about it, but now we are back to biopower.
As Foucault thought, biopower has two distinct forms: one called anatomical-politic of the body and another of population biopolitics, the first are disciplinary devices responsible for extracting the productive body from the human body, by controlling time and space, within institutions (see how many do this, including educational ones) and the second way is to regulate populations by making birth rates, migration flows, epidemics and increasing longevity useless.
See discussions of the corona virus, migrations in Europe and longevity problems in the social security of the elderly, but now the perverse case of “assisted death” that avoids spending on the elderly and allows them to die “assisted”, of course the electric chair also has assistance , but it is for criminals, at least supposedly, because there are mistakes.
The coronavirus threatens to get out of control and the power controllers are frightened, they might think a few, perhaps most of them poor, will die, but that is not the case, it affects everyone, in Iran even a deputy health minister is sick, and several events are threatened, some have already been canceled and tests for the Olympics are already threatened and may even be canceled.
Biopower, therefore, is out of control and power itself can suffer from it, stock markets fall, economies collapse, tourism and travel fall, in short, biopower also has limits, but both it and psychopolitics are still mostly in the state control.
Social networks, and not always their media form networks, these can lead new powers and empowerment of groups, cultures and ethnicities that are under the tutelage of the States.
