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Comments / Jul 03.09 / misc / by ra

happiness, health and harvard.

joshua shenk asks what makes us happy in the june 09 atlantic.

it’s a great article with fascinating subjects; the grant study (the longest longitudinal study of adult life undertaken), the studied (268 harvard graduates from the classes of 1939-1944) and the study-er george vaillant.

basically, the key to happiness is meaningful relationships. and it pays to be especially nice to your siblings.

the article is full of insights into the human psyche with some amazingly revelatory bits like our potentially self-destroying self defenses:

Vaillant explains defenses as the mental equivalent of a basic biological process. When we cut ourselves, for example, our blood clots—a swift and involuntary response that maintains homeostasis. Similarly, when we encounter a challenge large or small—a mother’s death or a broken shoelace—our defenses float us through the emotional swamp. And just as clotting can save us from bleeding to death—or plug a coronary artery and lead to a heart attack—defenses can spell our redemption or ruin. Vaillant’s taxonomy ranks defenses from worst to best, in four categories.

At the bottom of the pile are the unhealthiest, or “psychotic,” adaptations—like paranoia, hallucination, or megalomania—which, while they can serve to make reality tolerable for the person employing them, seem crazy to anyone else. One level up are the “immature” adaptations, which include acting out, passive aggression, hypochondria, projection, and fantasy. These aren’t as isolating as psychotic adaptations, but they impede intimacy. “Neurotic” defenses are common in “normal” people. These include intellectualization (mutating the primal stuff of life into objects of formal thought); dissociation (intense, often brief, removal from one’s feelings); and repression, which, Vaillant says, can involve “seemingly inexplicable naïveté, memory lapse, or failure to acknowledge input from a selected sense organ.” The healthiest, or “mature,” adaptations include altruism, humor, anticipation (looking ahead and planning for future discomfort), suppression (a conscious decision to postpone attention to an impulse or conflict, to be addressed in good time), and sublimation (finding outlets for feelings, like putting aggression into sport, or lust into courtship).

as interesting and insightful as the learnings are the personal insights by the grant study men and valliant’s corresponding commentary. these are often intelligent, strikingly honest, unpredictable and always totally engrossing.

Case No. 141:

I think the most important element that has emerged in my own psychic picture is a fuller realization of my own hostilities. In early years I used to pride myself on not having any. This was probably because they were too deeply buried and I unwilling and afraid to face them.

another of the study’s findings is that, generally, people get happier as they age. although there are of course some major fucked-up anomalies to this pattern with plenty of people going off the rails late in life. it’s an essential read.

article author joshua shenk is interviewed on wnyc’s leonard lopate show:

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Comments / Jun 29.09 / misc / by ra

evolutionary god and tolerant religion | a happy ending.

robert wright’s new book the evolution of god sounds like a worthy read. its main thesis seems to be that over time, the abrahamic

god has mellowed

today’s god is gentler and morally superior to yahweh who in turn was gentler and kinder than the hunter-gatherers’ god.

it sounds like an optimistic book (the premise is extrapolated into the future). paul bloom in his ny times review says

Wright argues that each of the major Abrahamic faiths has been forced toward moral growth as it found itself interacting with other faiths on a multinational level, and that this expansion of the moral imagination reflects “a higher purpose, a transcendent moral order.”

wright dismisses the search for an inherent moral character of the monotheistic religions, instead claiming that

Cultural sensibilities shift according to changes in human dynamics, and these shape the God that people worship. For Wright, it is not God who evolves. It is us — God just comes along for the ride.

bloom:

But God still has some growing up to do, as Wright makes clear in his careful discussion of contemporary religious hatred. As you would expect, he argues that much of the problem isn’t with the religious texts or teachings themselves, but with the social conditions — the “facts on the ground” — that shape the sort of God we choose to create. “When people see themselves in zero-sum relationship with other people — see their fortunes as inversely correlated with the fortunes of other people, see the dynamic as win-lose — they tend to find a scriptural basis for intolerance or belligerence.” The recipe for salvation, then, is to arrange the world so that its people find themselves (and think of themselves as) interconnected: “When they see the relationship as non-zero-sum — see their fortunes as positively correlated, see the potential for a win-win outcome — they’re more likely to find the tolerant and understanding side of their scriptures.” Change the world, and you change the God.

i side with wright’s view that we are moving towards a society more inclined to empathetically inclusive interpretations and interrelations of monotheistic religions and away from the more common contemporary exclusive self-centeredness that surrounds us.

wright builds on god’s evolution and contemplates the evolution of divinity:

If history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral truth, and their God, as they conceive their God, grows accordingly, becoming morally richer, then maybe this growth is evidence of some higher purpose, and maybe — conceivably — the source of that purpose is worthy of the name divinity.

bloom disagrees, he’s more inclined to see a god usurped than evolved as am i but i look forward to reading wright out.

he is interviewed in the ny times’ book review podcast:

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wright writing in the april issue of the atlantic displays the optimism that a globalized increasingly interconnected world will result in a happy ending:

But what about Zoroastrians, who came under Muslim rule with the conquest of Persia? Zoroastrians didn’t have scriptures devoted to the Abrahamic God—and so weren’t in any clear sense “People of the Book.” But, hey, the Zoroastrians did have a book of scripture—the Avesta—so they were in some sense People of the Book, or at least, People of a Book. So they could be tolerated, too! Later, as Muslim conquests spread deeply into Asia, the conquerors found a way to extend this basic idea—taxes in exchange for toleration—to Buddhists and Hindus. Muslim rulers in Africa decided that there, too, polytheists could be tolerated.And, just as Christians asserted that Jesus had said things conducive to cohesion on an imperial platform, Muslims dug up some helpful utterances from Muhammad. For example: “There is no compulsion in religion.”

This saying may well be accurate. It comes from the Koran, which seems to be a more reliable guide to the real Muhammad than the Gospels are to the real Jesus, and it jibes with the fact that tolerance was often in Muhammad’s strategic interest. Thus do Koranic attitudes toward Christians and Jews swing from belligerent to friendly. Indeed, more than once, Muhammad says that Jews and Christians are eligible for salvation. (At one point—by some interpretations, at least—he even seems to leave open the prospect of salvation for polytheists.)

But the hadith—sayings of the Prophet Muhammad as recalled in the oral tradition—remained fluid long after the Koran had congealed, so some parts of the hadith that are invoked to support tolerance fall in the “suspiciously convenient” category. For example: “If they convert to Islam it is well; if not, they remain [in their previous religion]; indeed Islam is wide.”

The hadith also came to the aid of an Islamic scholar who, more than a millennium ago, de-emphasized holy war by calling it the “lesser jihad” and said, “The greater jihad is the struggle against the self.” These two different meanings of jihad are consistent with the diverse uses of the term in the Koran, but on what basis could anyone say which was greater? Reportedly, Muhammad had himself told Muslims returning from war, “You have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” This account was late to surface, but better late than never.

Globalization is the culmination of this trend, and it features so many non-zero-sum filaments that we lose sight of them. When you buy a car, you’re playing one of the most complex non-zero-sum games in history: you pay a tiny fraction of the wages of thousands of workers on various continents, and they, in turn, make you a car. Or, to take a more pertinent example: “the Muslim world” and “the West” are playing a non-zero-sum game; their fortunes are positively correlated. If Muslims get less happy with their place in the world, more resentful of their treatment by the West, support for radical Islam will grow, so things will get worse for the West. If, on the other hand, more and more Muslims feel respected by the West and feel they benefit from involvement with it, that will cut support for radical Islam, and Westerners will be more secure from terrorism.

If you trust the end-time scenarios laid out in any of the three Abrahamic scriptures, you can rest assured that there will eventually be, in one sense or another, a happy ending. But even for nonbelievers, the scriptures carry a modestly reassuring message, at least when read in light of the social and political circumstances that shaped them: people are capable of expanding tolerance and understanding in response to facts on the ground; and even mandates from heaven can change in response.

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Comments / Jun 27.09 / books / by ra

3 wise hombres (and former presidents) on ending the drug war and global cocaine prices.

from the economist:

the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, a group headed by three former presidents—Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, César Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico—published a report arguing that the violent crime and corruption generated by drug prohibition is undermining democracy and that the drug war has “failed”. They called for a public debate on alternatives, including treating drug use as an issue of public health rather than criminal law, and decriminalising marijuana.

i’m not about to build up false hopes of a radical rethinking of the world’s approach to drugs but i do sense a pragmatic shift in many governments’ approaches to the issue.

At least one minister in Brazil’s government agreed with the report. Even as it battles the drug gangs, Mexico has decided that people caught with small amounts of drugs should be treated rather than prosecuted. Argentina and Ecuador are considering more radical decriminalisation. Mr Cardoso, who has retired from political office, has since gone further than the commission and called for the decriminalisation of cocaine. He says that many active politicians privately agree with him. And in the United States, the Obama administration has signalled a shift away from drug “war” and mass incarceration and towards policies that treat drugs as a health issue.

the potential savings / tax revenues as i have mentioned before may be a factor in governments’ decisions. indeed the UN’s drugs and crime boss seems to claim that this is the major motivating factor (to fund bank rescues he says).

how long must we wait until a grown up discussion about drug policy takes place in the middle east?

an unrelated chart from the economist again mapping global cocaine prices (not sure why the UAE isn’t priced – saudi like prices across the border as well):

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Comments / Jun 27.09 / misc / by ra

mj and normalcy.

i love mj (as did my whole my generation).

i saw him live in vienna on the HIStory tour and the gig will always rate as one of my greatest live music experiences. BADis still one of my all time favorite pop lps and off the wall, dangerous and thrillerare all personally meaningful and generally awesome.

people are always quick to talk about his unusual, eccentric wacko jacko life but i have always thought his choices completely normal behavior given the circumstances. any man or woman granted total freedom to live out his or her fantasies, to create a world untouched and removed from societal influence will make choices quite different to yours and mine. but only because he can. of course his choices were also influenced by an unusual childhood. so the normal product of abnormal circumstances is how i’d describe mj.

rip.

update. the day after.
of the non-stop mj conversations yesterday, the most interesting was the one exploring his effect on our capability for humanizing the other. the BAD mj was a wholesome icon and idol to us ten year olds. the journey to comprehend his increasingly ‘bizarre’ and ‘unusual’, ‘morally suspect’ behavior set the intellectual foundations of an outlook that avoids binary judgement in favor of fluid grayscale.

highlights from the outpouring of reaction that almost brought down the web:
hua hsu and ta-nehisi coates in the atlantic , nymag’s mj the fashion icon, and of course the essential sasha frere-jones in the new yorker. late addition: the lefsetz letter.

Comments / Jun 26.09 / music / by ra

poem for rooftops of iran [dj/rupture]

mudd up!

subtitled version of Inja Kojast Inja Iran Ast Sarzamine Mano To – a woman recites a timely poem while filming the rooftop shouting of “Allah-o Akbar” in iran yesterday. audio added from a live performance by DJ /rupture & andy moor.

Comments / Jun 21.09 / music / by ra

leila 9.11+7. maida vale session [gilles peterson]

been trying to track down this leila maida vale session on gilles peterson’s worldwide show for a while.

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the show’s alright (there’s a diplo / MIA / switch takeover before the leila session which starts around 1:23 in). leila’s session is excellent (her first two lps are essential, i haven’t heard the warp release) though i wish it was more music and less talk. tracklisting:

Matthew Herbert feat. Eska – ‘Breathe’ (Accidental Records)
Carlos Nino and Lil Sci – ‘Elevation’ (Kindred Spirits)
Clouds – ‘Time Keeper’ (Ras G Mix) (Ramp Records)
Daz I Kue – ‘Solid As Concrete’ (Test)

Diplo, Switch & M.I.A Takeover
Unknown – ‘Boeke’ (White)
Crookers – ‘Burning Spear’ (Mad Decent)
Unknown – ‘Untitled’ (White)
Unknown – ‘This is Ska’ (White)
Busy Signal ft MIA and Rye Rye – ‘Tic Toc’ (Mia Remix) (Test)
Switch & Rusko ‘Untitled’ (White)
Benga – ‘26 Basslines’ (Tempa)
Can – ‘Vitamin C’ (United Artists)
Major Lazer – ‘I’m an Indian Too’ (White)
DJ Mujava – ‘Township Funk’ (This is Music)
Steve Angelo – ‘Gypsy’ (This is Music)
J Dilla – ‘Oxtapus’
Major Lazer – ‘Lazer Theme’ (White)
Busy Signal – ‘Cool It Down’ (VP Records)
Black Star – ‘Let Me Hump You’ (Test)
Isaac Hayes – Ike’s Rap II, (Enterprise)
Tame Impala – ‘Remember Me’ (White)
Koushik – ‘Be With’ (Stones Throw)
Herbie Hancock – ‘Watermelon Man’ (Kenny Dope Remix) (White)

Leila in the Studio
John Coltrane – ‘Greensleaves’ (Impulse! Records)
Larry Young – ‘Turn Off The lights’ (Arista)

Leila Maida Vale Session
Leila – ‘Daisies, Cats And Spacemen’(In Session)
Leila – ‘Time to Blow’ (feat Terri Hall) (In Session)
Leila – ‘Pitch, Shift, Fun’ (In Session)

Max Roach – ‘Abstrutions’ (Atlantic)
Olafur Arnalds – ‘Untitled’

newmixes.com has plenty more mp3 goodies.

as gilles points out, leila has recorded for three seminal uk labels: rephlex, XL and warp but she remains super-undeservedly-slept-on.

bjork on leila (and arvo part):

warp’s leila widget:

Comments / Jun 21.09 / music / by ra

love has no end | ghada amer [brookly museum]

love the brooklyn museum’s techie-ness. (a v low volume) podcast with ghada amer and a behind the scenes flickr slideshow and a blip vid are highlights.

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Comments / Jun 21.09 / art / by ra

police in farsi.

why are iranian police uniforms in the language of great satan?

Comments / Jun 15.09 / misc / by ra

yasmin alibhai-brown puts multiculturalism in its historical context.

yasmin alibhai-brown in the indepenent: ‘the blending of cultures in the arts is not always a recipe for success’:

Fusion in art and popular culture is back. Arguably, it has really never gone away. Cross-fertilisation has gone on since human groups found or heard of others unlike themselves. Tim Bridgman, who has studied musical traditions, believes “pure music has not existed in western Europe since the middle ages”. In Vaughan Williams you find Celtic music and in English ballads traces linger of old black Delta work songs. The critic and broadcaster Alkarim Jivani takes a similarly long view. Britain’s culture perpetually evolves, is audaciously derivative and yet stubbornly denies this obvious truth. Nash’s Greek columns and Neoclassicism have been turned, for example, into the nation’s “traditional” aesthetic and scant attention is paid to Britannia’s irrepressible cultural promiscuity and her ingestion of, among others, Egyptian, Ottoman, Indian and Persian, Chinese, later Japanese colour, design, crafts and visual sense. All of our great museums are repositories of creative miscegenation yet some reputably deep thinkers today reject the flux and mix of history and insist that globalisation or multiculturalism or post modernism have ripped into chaste national narratives leaving them torn and fatally wounded. And as Fascism gains popularity in old and fatigued Europe, expect more vociferous calls for cleansing and purification. That, in turn, will, for sure, fire up a fresh counter offensive of subversive cross-breeding in art and culture.

even the claim of pure music existing in the middle ages is probably overstatement.

yasmin’s quote has obvious appeal to my universalist approach and puts nationalism so taken for granted today in a clearer historical perspective.

i like the rest of her article too. extrapolated summary: music / art; good sometimes, often not.

Comments / Jun 15.09 / misc / by ra