The Dumbest Generation

The Dumbest Generation

Author: Mark Bauerlein

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-05-15

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1440636893

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This shocking, surprisingly entertaining romp into the intellectual nether regions of today's underthirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a society of know-nothings. The Dumbest Generation is a dire report on the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its impact on American democracy and culture. For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. But at the dawn of the digital age, many thought they saw an answer: the internet, email, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era. That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more aware, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports from the National Endowment for the Arts, most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its impact on American culture and democracy. Over the last few decades, how we view adolescence itself has changed, growing from a pitstop on the road to adulthood to its own space in society, wholly separate from adult life. This change in adolescent culture has gone hand in hand with an insidious infantilization of our culture at large; as adolescents continue to disengage from the adult world, they have built their own, acquiring more spending money, steering classrooms and culture towards their own needs and interests, and now using the technology once promoted as the greatest hope for their futures to indulge in diversions, from MySpace to multiplayer video games, 24/7. Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up? Drawing upon exhaustive research, personal anecdotes, and historical and social analysis, The Dumbest Generation presents a portrait of the young American mind at this critical juncture, and lays out a compelling vision of how we might address its deficiencies. The Dumbest Generation pulls no punches as it reveals the true cost of the digital age—and our last chance to fix it.


Instant Zen

Instant Zen

Author:

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Published: 1994-10-12

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1556431937

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Instant Zen presents the teachings of Foyan, a twelfth-century Chinese Zen master recognized as one of the greatest masters of the Song dynasty Zen renaissance in China. Returning to the uncomplicated genuineness of the original and classical Zen masters, Foyan offers many simple exercises in attention and thought designed to lead to the awakening of Zen insight into the real nature of the self. These succinct teachings emphasize independence and autonomy, and show us how to open our own eyes and stand on our own two feet, to see directly without delusion and act on truth without confusion. Translator Thomas Cleary provides an incisive introduction and extensive references from traditional Zen sources, placing the work in both historical and contemporary contexts. Newcomers to Zen will find this book a useful and sophisticated introduction to authentic inner Zen practices from an impeccable source, without cultural exoticism or religious cultism. Instant Zen sheds new light on this vital tradition, making available the immediacy of Zen practice and unveiling our innate potential for conscious awakening.


Skeptic

Skeptic

Author: Michael Shermer

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2016-01-12

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 1627791396

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Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer's celebrated columns in Scientific American For fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience. His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years. Now, in Skeptic, seventy-five of these columns are available together for the first time; a welcome addition for his fans and a stimulating introduction for new readers.


The Believing Brain

The Believing Brain

Author: Michael Shermer

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2011-05-24

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1429972610

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“A wonderfully lucid, accessible, and wide-ranging account of the boundary between justified and unjustified belief.” —Sam Harris, New York Times–bestselling author of The Moral Landscape and The End of Faith In this work synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist, historian of science, and the world’s best-known skeptic Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. From sensory data flowing in through the senses, the brain naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those patterns with meaning. Our brains connect the dots of our world into meaningful patterns that explain why things happen, and these patterns become beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, which accelerates the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive-feedback loop of belief confirmation. Shermer outlines the numerous cognitive tools our brains engage to reinforce our beliefs as truths. Interlaced with his theory of belief, Shermer provides countless real-world examples of how this process operates, from politics, economics, and religion to conspiracy theories, the supernatural, and the paranormal. Ultimately, he demonstrates why science is the best tool ever devised to determine whether or not a belief matches reality. “A must read for everyone who wonders why religious and political beliefs are so rigid and polarized—or why the other side is always wrong, but somehow doesn’t see it.” —Dr. Leonard Mlodinow, physicist and author of The Drunkard’s Walk and The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking)


How to Swindle by Faking Science

How to Swindle by Faking Science

Author: P. S. J. (Peet) Schutte

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 471

ISBN-13: 1477227571

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How To Swindle by Faking Science then you are going read what is the mother of all the conspiracies in science, which is about how science applies mind control by processing thought control. This is the truth! Science practicing physics about Astronomy, Cosmology and everything to do with Stars, the Cosmos or Universe, Galactica is under a Conspiracy to hide and conceal the truth...Does this sound far-fetched - I challenge you to read this book and then still think it is far fetched. Read what science hides and I prove every word. This book reveals what Science in Physics concerning Astronomy, Cosmology hides for hundreds of years. You read how science swindles to make Newton seem truthful and every time they find out how nature works nature destroys Newtonian concepts completely. This is the a conspiracy... For the first time in history I prove gravity is P. But if science was as unblemished and perfect as physicists say it is then my work has no place to be. This then is the attitude in science about my work. To counter that claim I prove that there is a mother conspiracy in place about covering the misconceptions hidden under a cloak of false lily-white purity and truthfulness. To hide Newton's in defendable incorrectness science created a mother conspiracy, which I reveal. There is a mother conspiracy hiding mistakes in place. Science benefits from and build upon this mother conspiracy being in place while I can't get further with my work while it is in place. It's imbedded in the teaching and learning process students undergo in learning Newtonian dogma. Students are brainwashed by the instigation of mind control that forces students to accept the dogma.I prove gravity has value of P, still by keeping me quiet I am perverted to introduce a new cosmic vision showing how the Universe forms when enlisting the four phenomena. How it works in science is Newton gets undeserved unduly credit in discrediting nature. I show how singularity takes on every shape and space we know. Are you up to facing the truth about what you thought is more righteous than God? Read this and see what those in science hide to make them seem so surreal?


What We Believe but Cannot Prove

What We Believe but Cannot Prove

Author: John Brockman

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0061828106

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More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proof Scientific theory, more often than not, is born of bold assumption, disparate bits of unconnected evidence, and educated leaps of faith. Some of the most potent beliefs among brilliant minds are based on supposition alone -- yet that is enough to push those minds toward making the theory viable. Eminent cultural impresario, editor, and publisher of Edge (www.edge.org), John Brockman asked a group of leading scientists and thinkers to answer the question: What do you believe to be true even though you cannot prove it? This book brings together the very best answers from the most distinguished contributors. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection of bite-size thought-experiments is a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds today.


Fake Science

Fake Science

Author: Austin Ruse

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-07-17

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1621576140

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If you listen to any political argument, you're eventually bound to hear something like: "The science is settled on this." Or: "Just look at the statistics!" Or: "There have been studies that say..." You'd think we were living in the golden age of science and reason. But the truth is far more sinister, says Austin Ruse. We're actually living in the age of the low information voter, easily mislead by all-too-convincing false statistics and studies. In Fake Science, Ruse debunks so-called "facts" used to advance political causes one after the other, revealing how poorly they stand up to actual science.


My Thoughts

My Thoughts

Author: Ferrari King

Publisher: Lord Zeus

Published: 2024-05-03

Total Pages: 93

ISBN-13:

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This is some random stuff I wrote a long time ago. I may not support everything I wrote back then.


Ignorance

Ignorance

Author: Stuart Firestein

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2012-04-23

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0199828075

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Contrary to the popular view of science as a mountainous accumulation of facts and data, Stuart Firestein takes the novel perspective that ignorance is the main product and driving force of science, and that this is the best way to understand the process of scientific discovery.