Nature, Technology, and Society: Cultural Roots of the Current Environmental Crisis

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This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on January 1, 1994. The length of the article is 1204 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Nature, Technology, and Society: Cultural Roots of the Current Environmental Crisis.
Author: Edward Cornish
Publication: The Futurist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 1994
Publisher: World Future Society
Volume: v28 Issue: n1 Page: p39(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

They've all grown up together on a tiny island. They think they know everything about one another...but they're only just beginning to find out the truth.

Claire can't lose in the game of love. For once she's found her soul mate--a manipulative schemer just like her. And she'll do whatever it takes to make Aaron forget Zoey forever.

They've all grown up together on a tiny island. They think they know everything about one another...but they're only just beginning to find out the truth.

Claire can't lose in the game of love. For once she's found her soul mate-a manipulative schemer just like her. And she'll do whatever it takes to make Aaron forget Zoey forever.

Customer Reviews:

The Story yet gets even interesting.......2002-02-26

K-Berger and Jake in AA. Christopher gone to the Army. Aaron and Claire hook-up. It just keeps going and going. I really enjoy these characters; because they are easy to relate to. I really had hoped Benjamins vision would be restored, that would really raise the stakes of this storyline.

IT'S BLOODY MARVELLOUS.......2000-01-27

This book is one of Applegates best. The character truly develop into the people we can only hope really exist. It was smashing!

It Was Great.......1999-06-05

These books are really great. My friends use to make fun of me for reading them but once I got them to read one they have read the whole series so far. The books are so great that sometimes I think I live on the island too! I got hooked. I recommend these books to any teenagers.

This Book was great............1999-06-01

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down once I picked it up-which has been the case with all of the Making Out series...I just wish there was a TV show based on it!In the book though,there were a lot of disappointments because I was hoping of a different outcome,but nonetheless it has me wishing for the next one to come out! By the end of the book,things have changed more than I suspected and I'm sure any of you will feel the same way! Anyway-one quick question:is there or will there be a website based on just the making out series?If there is someone email me and let me know!!

This book was an excellent and interesting read........1999-05-31

CLAIRE CAN'T LOSE was a great book. It had an amazing plot and I have grown to love a few of the characters.

5 Titles By Katherine Applegate Making Out Series (8-12) : 8. Aisha Goes Wild 9. Zoey Plays Games 10. Nina Shapes Up 11. Ben Takes a Chance 12. Claire Can't Lose

Average customer rating:

5 Titles By Katherine Applegate Making Out Series (8-12) : 8. Aisha Goes Wild 9. Zoey Plays Games 10. Nina Shapes Up 11. Ben Takes a Chance 12. Claire Can't Lose
Katherine Applegate
Manufacturer: Avon Flare
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Making Out | Series | Teens | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000V7MOHO

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Book Description

Functional Analysis of Bacterial Genes: A Practical Manual summarises the principles and the key methods used to analyse the function of genes in bacteria. Written by members of the Bacillus subtilis Functional Analysis Consortium, this book provides a guide to the many approaches for the systematic analysis of gene function.
Features include:
* In-depth discussion of the theory and application of the methods
* A step-by-step practical guide to each method
* Experimental examples to indicate expected results
* Contact information for suppliers and resource centres
Written by internationally recognised authors, Functional Analysis of Bacterial Genes: A Practical Manual will be a valuable resource to researchers and technicians using functional analysis for many bacterial species, whether in the academic departments of microbiology or genetics, the biotechnology, biomedicine or pharmaceutical industries, or other centres of genomics and bioinformatics.

"This volume, and the pioneering effort it represents, will be of interest not only to those of us who are specialists in B. subtilis but to all microbiologists and genome scientists who face the formidable task of uncovering the functions of the myriad uncharacterised genes that are emerging from large-scale sequencing." - Richard Losick , The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Book Description

For centuries scientists and philosophers have pondered the relationship between scientific theory and reality. Analyzing two major positions, the author points out the many assumptions required to adopt the realist view, and nihilism implicit in the instrumentalist position.

Customer Reviews:

Ambitious but flawed.......2007-06-14

Summary: Wallace makes a valiant attempt to contrast science & Madhyamaka (Buddhist "centrist" philosophy). He fails because of his limitations. He equates physics, science, & scientists (with human flaws), ignores western mysticism, the value of probability/statistics/circumstantial data, & non-behaviorist psychology but has many flaws in his arguments. Still, many of his observations regarding particular scientists & their misunderstanding of analogies vs. reality are correct. Overall, his viewpoint seems (per Jeff Rubin) Orientocentric. More specifically:

This book criticizes science's methods (vs. achievements) via Buddhist Madhyamaka thinking. It also presents meditative techniques & the 3 Immeasurables in the last 2 chapters. However, as a former physicist/systems engineer & a Dzogchen practitioner, I have problems with its': 1) criticisms of science confuse physics & science--even regarding medicine, 2) confuse science & scientists (with human faults/failings)--though many of his criticisms here are valid, 3) the Philosophy of Science (e.g. Sir Karl Popper) ignores Thomas Kuhn's seminal "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" & scientific life cycle of evolving paradigms. General Systems Theory would extend it to religion too: Madhyamaka (p. 148) vs. purportedly more advanced Mahamudra & Dzogchen, 4) it ignores Change Theory whose unfreezing periods explain science at sea amongst conflicting theories (like Soviets in US supermarkets). 5) per the Myers-Briggs, it seems Sensate--the bark vs. the forest (systems approach)--explaining its ambiguity intolerance, criticism of Quantum Mechanics' probability & statistics, & overlooking Set Theory. Its approach is typical Madhyamaka--based on extremes, Exclusive OR, & a binary assumption (black or white rather than shades of gray--let alone multi-colored). About 100 years ago, Mipham noted this flaw in Madhyamaka philosophical arguments.

There's a major flaw of uni-epistemological systems e.g. philosophy (based only on Rationalism=logic) vs. science's bi-epistemological system--adding Empiricism (data) to create a feedback loop/self-regulating system; thus, science doesn't investigate angels dancing on pin-heads. Other errors include: discounting 2nd hand/circumstantial evidence & iterative/interactive processes (see TV show "House's" iterative, circumstantial diagnoses), overgeneralizations, misunderstanding of analogies (words, models, metaphors--with error factors/partial truths) vs. assumptions, violations of Non-Allness...While a mind set effects one's perceptions, it doesn't totally control them (p. 101, Bruner's quote "unspecifiable degree")--a person wearing sunglasses isn't blind--esp. if properly trained, or there'd be no new paradigms or breakthroughs. It's a matter of degree, not an all or nothing per his p. 128 "whole or parts" analysis approach (ignoring synergy, functionality, & dictionaries). Models are inaccurate but most have referents in nature vs. p. 98. Per Knowledge Management, context is necessary for knowledge--IMHO this includes Levels of Abstraction--the cause of most so-called paradoxes.

Psychology herein is "radical behaviorists" overlooking Freud, Jung, Maslow, Psychology & Buddhism books. Prior to or same year (1996) as this book was originally published (but ignored herein):
Daisetz T. Suzuki, Erich Fromm, & Richard De Martino Zen Buddhism & Psychoanalysis Harper 1960
Alan W. Watts--Psychotherapy East & West, Ballantine NY 1961
Tarthang Tulku--Reflections of Mind, Dharma Pubs, Berkeley CA 1975
Nathan Katz--Buddhist and Western Psychology, Boulder, Prajna Press, 1983
Howard Coward--Jung and Eastern Thought, SUNY 1985
J. Marvin Spiegelman & Mokusen Miyuki--Buddhism & Jungian Psychology, Phoenix Falcon Press 1987
Thubten Chodron--Open Heart, Clear Mind, Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1990
John Suler--Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought, 1993
Mark Epstein--Thoughts without a Thinker, NY Basic Books, 1995
Hayao Kawai--Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy, Texas A&M University Press College Station 1996
Daniel J. Meckel & Robert L. Moore--Self & Liberation: The Jung--Buddhist Dialogue, Paulist Press
Jeffrey Rubin--Psychotherapy and Buddhism: Toward an Integration, Plenum Press, NY

Additionally, Western mysticism (e.g. the Rosicrucian Order, Theosophists, Sufis, Kabbalists (e.g. Aryeh Kaplan's trilogy on Jewish Meditation)) are ignored, incorrectly implying a lack of Western contemplatives.

For more specific errors, see pp. 73, 90, 157, 158, & 201. For example, he takes figures of speech literally on p. 158. Maybe it's my work in physics & engineering, but would anyone really think that by mixing equal quantities of 40 & 50 degree water you'd get 90 degree water? Be serious. By the way, p. 201 is wrong: some Tibetan Buddhists use intoxicants ceremonially. This book is an early attempt to contrast physics & gradualist Tibetan Buddhism--an ambitious attempt--but flawed & invalid.. Just because you can't use a yardstick to measure molecules doesn't mean there aren't any molecules. Rather, there aren't any molecules because the concept of molecules is an artificial analogy created to improve understanding and, especially, to facilitate communications between/among people. As an engineer, I like black boxes--like Dr. House, they make my day--puzzles can be fun!

Excellent Book!.......2006-09-03

Wallace does an excellent job of refuting the fallacious views inherent in realist and instrumentalist views of reality. In providing a clear alternative, based on the Madhyamika Buddhist position, he has written a book full of new insights well worth reading. Buy it now and take a significant step in making your life happier!!!

Fantastic!.......2006-03-20

As both a physicist and a buddhist, this was the book I've spent years looking for. I must admit that I was turned off by the scary guy on the cover, and my previous readings of assorted new-age fluff. Make no mistake however, this book is rock solid. Dashing to bits our untenable "assumptions" of exactly what reality is (for the concept of reality itself is an idea), we develop a clearer picture of exactly what it means to be human.
With a pertinent selection of quotes and ideas from the western world, Einstein, Poincare, Heisenberg, etc., we can clearly see how we have shaped our world from our worldview into what it has become. In the present age, we are the willing slaves of technology. Just as our cells don't know what we are doing, people spend their lives working to buy toys like cell phones and televisions, and have no idea how they work. Yet, because it is 'scientific', technological advancements are greatly praised and coveted. Meanwhile, intellectual, spiritual, and philosophical advancement is shunned as meaningless.
This book deftly points out taking such a stance reflects complete ignorance, since scientific investigation of the mind or the physical world provides no further understanding of reality, just a better "understanding" of our own ideas. Are we to say we are more advanced than our ancestors because we can relieve ourselves indoors, whereas our ancestors didn't care? Our social advancement, which can be seen as that most critical for our own species, has been left in the dust, in lieu of technological advancement--that all too often poisons us and our planet. How is this the rational course of action?
Although the first 9/10 of this book are right on track, I felt like the final portion, in its attempt to reach a resolution, a reconsciliation of western philosphy with Buddhist philosophy fell short. This may be the point. Wallace seems to want (or as the reader we want and assume that's where he's going) to pull us all out of the pit of buddhist emptiniess dug in the first 19 or so chapters. But, as Wallace points out, neither worldview is right, just 'more or less useful' in various contexts. There is no escape from our essential nature of emptiness and, like Descartes, by the end of the book the reader is left feeling like he can know nothing apart from his own 'existence'. But after having read the book, the reader of course realizes this is just an illusion, a particular spin on consciousness we decide to choose out of infinite number of possible interpretations, interpretations in turn all shaped by our cultures, mores, and environment, a.k.a 'reality'. Choosing Reality is a great book, and who knows how much you will gain by reading it.

If at all interested, a must-read.......2005-12-16

Firstly, I must say that it is very difficult to summarize this book in any way. The complexity (and importance) of the material is such that there is no substitute for a direct, mindful read. However, if you are looking for a very worthwhile attempt at summarization, I suggest you read the review by ABC "bb" (I was persuaded to purchase by this review).

Many reviewers have commented that "Choosing Reality" is an "easy read". While I do agree to an extent, it seems necessary to note that these comments are true only in relation to other books of the same nature. Considering the complexity of the subject matter, yes, this book is an easy read. In comparison to most literature, however, this "easy read" statement is perhaps less plausable. My point is this: do not expect this book to be simple (firstly, because it isn't; secondly, because it shouldn't be). This is of double importance if the reader is of a traditional, Western mindset. The content of "Choosing Reality" (especially the latter chapters) takes time to fully absorb. In fact, this book was, for me, the anti-thesis of a 'quick read'. That said, I must say that I enjoyed every long minute of it.

Wallace does a wonderful job showing the flaws in scientific realism and instrumentalism, chronicaling the histories and the theories of each. He then thoroughly explains the comprimise, the middle way, the Buddhist way: a centrist view of reality. While the presentation of the centrist view was invaluable in its own right, the most enjoyable sections of the book came after this presentation. Wallace undertakes the very difficult task of using language to describe how the centrist view can be applied to our lives. Rather than just offering a theory, he describes how the centrist view deals with the mind, the nature of "physical reality", and the illusory "self". The author earnestly argues that the implications of the centrist view are real; implications that will certainly force you to re-evaluate the world you live in. The beauty of this book is that it caters to any audience. There is enough science to make it rational and reasonable; there is enough Buddhism to make it real and applicable. I consider this book of utmost importance to anyone interested in modern physics, Buddhism, the nature of reality, and/or the self.

Finally, I must note that as much as this book is a religious view of science, it is equally (albeit more subtly) a scientific view of religion. As perhaps Wallace's greatest triumph in this book, modern science and religion are shown to be infinintely complimentary, both ultimately striving to understand the same things: the nature of reality and our role in it. To this end, "Choosing Reality" is a must read.

Five-star Credentials and Five-star Writing.......2005-08-30

--This fascinating, well-written work deserves another five-star vote. The author explains several interesting problems when using a strictly scientific or philosophical viewpoint for understanding Reality and then shows how the principle of Conditioned Origination, developed in Buddhism, can offer a lucid alternative. Buddhism, a source of the most profound spiritual insight and personal value, can also be a means for understanding our world and a source of deep intellectual joy.
--Several authors (notably Varela and Kalupahana)have discussed the intersection of Buddhism and science but the author's credentials are unique. He has officially translated for the Dalai Lama at conferences on Science and Buddhism, which indicates His Holiness trusts the author.
--The author first addresses how certain limitations of scientific understanding make it an ultimately unreliable instrument for discovering ontological or ethical "truth." These limitations include the reasonableness of multiple hypotheses. Because they are inherent to scientific understanding, they will exist no matter how well we refine our methods, our math, or our measurements (indeed, many scientists, notably Richard Feynman, have acknowledged them). They preclude a unique and provable "Theory of Anything," much less a "Theory of Everything." Traditional philosophical and sociological viewpoints are similarly limited.
--The author then shows how Buddhism has developed an intellectually sound, attractive, and consistent viewpoint, especially in its analysis of Mind. Buddhism, instead of referring to an inherently existing external world or a set of measurements used by our mental or social structure, interprets empirical reality as Relationships between Events (rather than "things" or "ideas."). Because these relationships are causally conditioned and evolving, empirical existence is perpetually verbal and perpetually co-related. Buddhist insights, originally developed to end Suffering, can also help comprehend the world in which we live. They can also transform our lives if we add an ethical dimension -- including compassion, clarity, calmness, and unselfish joy. Buddhism also offers a sound and lucid alternative to the vacuity of modern and post-modern philosophy and social value theory.
--Given the beauty and value of Buddhist insights, at least some Buddhists should maintain a sound intellectual rigor and discipline, to avoid Buddhism's becoming a shallow dharma or some kind of vague New Age metaphysics. To be sure, the mystical experiences are said to be superlative, but Buddhism can defend itself quite well in the realm of the gross material world. The Buddha often gave a philosophically cogent defense of his world-view to inquirers, and any Buddhist seeking this cogent defense would benefit from this book.
--The author concludes Buddhism and science are complementary rather than opposed. They are partners in using ingenuity and freedom and in seeking truth. Buddhism, without a superb empirical insight like science, might have no hands; science, without a mindful set of principles like those proposed by Buddhism, might have no wisdom. Science gives a wonderful window into the empirical world in which we live, and Buddhism gives a wonderful world into the relational world in which we live. We should rejoice in both, and this book helped me do that.
--This book gave several insights extremely useful to my meditation practice, in addition to its value as a commentary on a world-view of Buddhism. I hope this review and this book will be useful to you.

Amazon.com

Fans of H.G. Wells's famous, genre-spawning science fiction novels may be startled to read his less-remembered but once bestselling The History of Mr. Polly. Its comically romping narrative voice is worlds away from the stern, melancholy tone of The Time Machine. Wells won fame for his apocalyptic, preachy books about the history of the future, but this history is strictly, as Mr. Polly would put it in his creatively cracked version of English, a series of "little accidentulous misadventures."

Mr. Alfred Polly is a dyspeptic, miserably married shopkeeper in what he terms that "Beastly Silly Wheeze of a hole!"--Fishbourne, England. He is inclined to spark arguments and slapstick calamity wherever he goes. Education was lost on him: when he left school at 14, "his mind was in much the same state that you would be in, dear reader, if you were operated upon for appendicitis by a well-meaning, boldly enterprising, but rather overworked and underpaid butcher boy, who was superseded towards the climax of the operation by a left-handed clerk of high principles but intemperate habits… the operators had left, so to speak, all their sponges and ligatures in the mangled confusion." Still, Polly's mind burns with eccentric genius, and his thwarted romantic heart beats him senseless. His despair results in the most amusing suicide attempt this side of Lisa Alther's novel Kinflicks. We won't spoil the surprise by saying precisely how his scheme misfires--and beware: the introduction gives it away. Note that you can't expect Polly to do anything right, and of course he'll become an inadvertent hero to the whole town. Then he promptly vanishes for further misadventure.

Many critics compare Mr. Polly's broad social satire to Dickens, but it smacks of Mark Twain and the dialect humor of Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley too. "I think it is one of my good books," Wells opined. What makes it so is Polly's heroic incompetence, his subversion of Edwardian propriety, and his bewildered unawareness that he is a revolutionary. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Mr. Wells brings the reader to meet Mr. Polly in this brilliant novel. As in all of H.G. Wells' works, the History of Mr. Polly is an enchanting tale with memorable characters brought to life.

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The books he read during those fifteen years! He read everything he got except theology, and as he read his little unsuccessful circumstances vanished and the wonder of life returned to him, the routine of reluctant getting up, opening shop, pretending to dust it with zest, breakfasting with a shop egg underdone or overdone or a herring raw or charred, and coffee made Miriam's way and full of little particles, the return to the shop, the morning paper, the standing, standing at the door saying "How do!" to passers-by, or getting a bit of gossip or watching unusual visitors, all these things vanished as the auditorium of a theatre vanishes when the stage is lit.

Customer Reviews:

The Great Lost English Comic Novel.......2006-02-18

This one came out of nowhere. An absolutely brilliant comic novel. Like all great comic novels, it's never patronizing. Though the narrator places himself at a distance from Mr. Polly, he's never condescends. The tone is warm and witty, genuinely moving rather than sentimental. It's an honest look at the middle class, cased in a Romantic (as in Knights and Quests) narrative. Really, really great. Definitely worth your time.

Best Book You've Never Heard Of.......2003-09-16

The climactic and hilarious confrontation between Mr. Polly and the low-life ruffian Uncle Jim is so masterful that one might forget all the other comic gems included in this novel. At the same time, the reader will feel the power of Wells' legendary intelligence on every page. The History of Mr. Polly is loaded with thought-provoking observations on the topics of marraige, love, business, education, friendship, insurance fraud and -- most of all -- happiness.

Is it Me?.......2001-08-03

A friend recommended this book to me after I explained how much fun I was having after leaving work in DC, returning to Minnesota, playing with my kids, joining a mountain biking team and genuinely enjoying my unemplyed status for 9 months. She said it was a philosophical book.

I spent the entire book trying to figure out why she thought of this book after I got through telling her how great my life was at the present. Mr. Polly clearly was not living a great life and always seemed to be on the wrong side of circumstance. It wasn't until the very end of the book that I realized the context my friend applied to my happenings.

The book, for it's strange accents and period vocabulary, was as riveting as any Grisham or Baldacci novel. I don't really know why - but it was. And the last few pages makes one think very hard about the meaning of life, which even for an unemployed child-at-heart, is important to do now and again.

tragi-comedy.......2001-06-22

I finished reading this novella a few days ago. I must first admit that for the first 25 or so pages, I wasn't particulaly tuned into what the book was about. It is, as Wells mentioned, a history, so I was rather thrown at the beginning. Once I got the gist of it, particularly the gist of Mr. Polly and his eccentricities, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The only other Wells book I had read was the Island of Dr. Moreau, which, like his other romantic science-fiction novels he is famous for, was somewhat plot-driven rather than character-driven. This book, is, as the title would lead you to suspect, character-driven.

We begin our read with the bored, frustrated Mr. Polly, what he is feeling and how he deals with his life in general. Then the actual history starts, and Wells's beautiful, if somewhat excessive vocabulary answers the reader's question of who this Mr. Polly is. I found him to a be a very refreshing hero, being rather ordinary, and dealing with the concerns of anyone's life, particularly that of a middle-aged man. He does not "save the day" by perfoming any conventional (or even moral) acts, but this only makes him more real. Mr. Polly's passion for epithet is absolutely delightful, and gave me a great sense of pleasure to watch him go about his transformation.

This was a terriffic, merry little book, with a central character worthy of some of the finest in literature, at least from the limited literature I have read. Don't be fooled by the humorous facade however; there is a deeper message, one which will become relevant at some time in all our lives. It isn't one of Wells's most well known books, but it should be. A superb little gem.

Tragic and comic and good.......2001-01-17

The History of Mr. Polly is less known than Well's sci-fi classics and it is a different kind of a book too. It pictures a tragicomic story of an unusual character - Mr. Polly. The story is quite funny, but there underneath is a deeper meaning. There are people like Mr. Polly around us. They drift through their lives wondering if it is them or the environment that determined their fate.

Although Wells and Dostoyevsky are extremely diferent, Mr. Polly in a certain way reminds me of some Dostoyevsky's characters.

Very interesting book. Very well read by Clive Swift.

If you like this book, I can recommend you to read both Invisible Man by Wells and Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.

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THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY
H.G. WELLS
Manufacturer: COLLINS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S7YQWS

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The History Of Mr Polly
H G Wells
Manufacturer: Eyre & Spottiswoode
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KL7U2A

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The History Of Mr Polly
H G Wells
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIE798

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The History Of Mr Polly
H G Wells
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PDAVO2

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The History Of Mr Polly
H. G. Wells
Manufacturer: Pan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KKLBIK

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The History of Mr Polly (with examination notes).
H G Wells
Manufacturer: Collins 1960.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000L5XLA0

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THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY.

Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HG3J3C

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The History of Mr Polly.
H G Wells
Manufacturer: Penguin 1946.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L5IQKA

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THE HISTORY OF MR. POLLY
H. G. WELLS
Manufacturer: PAN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S8YKT6

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