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WHOLE_EARTH_DISCIPLINE

                                             October 10, 2012

Stewart Brand's "Whole Earth Discipline" (2009).

Brand, in his continuing effort to see
wide and long, has summarized the
current state of his knowledge-- which
is far better than most of us have--         It's unfortunate, though
concerning environmental issues.             not a huge surprise, that
                                             this book hasn't recieved
The structure of this book:                  more attention.

It leads with a series of heresies
for environmentalists, and I believe
it's intended to start with an easy        There's a problem with this
one-- "Dense cities are good"-- and        in that this first one is
then move on to the harder ones            really no longer a heresy.
about nuclear power and genetically        It's already fairly widely
engineered food.                           established among anyone
                                           who's been paying attention.

       NUKE                                  we are all new
                                              urbanists, now.
          WHATS_GOOD_FOR_GM                                      NOWHERE_MAN

                                           The fact that Brand doesn't seem
                                           to know this (or is pretending he
                                           doesn't?) gives the book an
                                           out-of-touch feel at the outset:
                                           it leads on an awkward footing.

                                             Brand does have a       CONTROL
One might complain that the prose            unique take of his
style has a slightly dull edge: I            own, however: he has
think Brand is repeating things he's         some affection for
said in other forums, and that comes         third world squatter
through...  but then, it may be an           cities.
advantage that this is not any sort
of impassioned rant-- certainly it
would be easy to work one up, given
the material.                             The traditional Greens
                                          would rather watch people
                                          die in the third world,
                                          if saving them means
                                          resorting to genetically
                                          engineered "golden rice".

                                              Global warming is one of
                                              the greatest threats
                                              facing humanity, but that
                                              doesn't mean we have to
                                              admit we were wrong about
                                              nuclear power.
    The meta-subject of this book--
    the meta-subject of *everything*,
    when you come down to it-- is:
    How do we form our opinions? What                   REALITY_DEBASED
    sources of knowledge do we respect?
    How do preconcieved attitudes
    condition what we'll accept?          NEED_TO_KNOW

    In particular, Brand criticizes the
    environmental movement's tendency
    toward romantic absolutism.

        For the environmentalist, some
        things are simply absolute evils,
        completely unthinkable, and hence
        never really seriously considered.

        But if you treat things as
        engineering problems: you
        look at different options and      He's revised his earlier slogan:
        consider the tradeoffs, then
        make a move, and repeat.           "We are as gods, and might as
                                            well get good at it."

                                               The "might as well"
                                               has become "we have no
                                               choice but to".





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