Author: Chris Arney

Publisher:

Published: 2019-06-19

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9781072941569

This book is about how we feel, how we understand, how we relate, and what we can do to improve ourselves. While all of us have a conscience, our consciences are not all-knowing nor always correct. However, our consciences help us sort out our values and philosophy, ethics and virtue, rights and responsibilities, and politics and relationships. Sentiments of an American Conscience: Showing society through many perspectives by Chris Arney provides ideas and reminders of the important elements of life in the forms of passages, snippets, quotes, and reflections. The book's topics range from liberty, equality, fairness, freedom, and democracy to technology, science, and mathematics and many subjects in between. Our world is in transition from its past focus on industrialization to a new emphasis on information. The central premise of the book is that as a nation in transition the US has become less capable in some ways and more competitive and greedy. Because of that, we need reminders on how we think and act to regain our competence and confidence with sufficient virtue and morality to take care of US citizens and to garner the cooperation and support from other countries in the world. The book's version of conscience considers formal institutions such as the military and education systems in the US along with American fascinations such as football, sports, religion, and politics. The reader will find an assortment of notions that at times confronts and embraces modern issues such as complexity, flatness, artificial intelligence, robots, networks, international relations, decision-making, and problem-solving. The book's conscience also reminds the reader of foundational issues and values embedded in the humanism of US democracy like freedom, liberty, equality, altruism, morality, diversity, tolerance, and other basic principles within American culture and society. As is the case with consciences, some ideas are farfetched, and others are more mundane and obvious. The sentiments and opinions are presented to make us think and reflect on ourselves and our country. Given the author's experiences in the military and teaching at the United States Military Academy, these topics are ones that capture the sentiments of the conscience and are used as examples of American culture, government, and organization. The author's perspectives as a mathematician and interdisciplinary scientist also affect the presentation, which is sometimes empirical and sometimes emotional. The author sees American democracy in need of modernization and human society in need of more cooperation and toleration As a former teacher of cadets who have opportunities to change and hopefully improve the world, Chris Arney is both idealistic and optimistic about the future trajectory of the United States and the world. Chris sees himself as a member of the once hopeful and now disappointing Woodstock Generation. He and the conscience reflect on the lost opportunities of his Baby Boomer generation and put their faith in the Millennials for the revitalization of the Woodstock spirit. The one American pastime that is a prime target of the conscience's wrath is big-time college football. The conscience warns of football's dangers and reveals the misguided emphasis of American education institutions on football's role in the educational demise of American students.