Peter Joseph: Eviscerating Capitalism & Building New Alternatives
Peter Joseph is the founder of the Zeitgeist Movement, a grassroots, worldwide organization that advocates an alternative economic system based on sustainability, cooperation and human need. His most recent book, ‘The New Human Rights Movement,’ delivers a startling exposé about the violent oppression that defines our economic order, while issuing an urgent call for global activism to unite to replace it. Abby Martin sits down with Joseph to talk about the contradictions and crises of capitalism and what he advocates to save the future of the planet from catastrophe.
(March 29, 2010) Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky gave the opening lecture of the course entitled Human Behavioral Biology and explains the basic premise of the course and how he aims to avoid categorical thinking.
(May 7, 2010) Robert Sapolsky delivers the second part of his two-part lecture on sexual behavior. He discusses how this behavior has evolved into the intricate and complex system that exists today.
(April 7, 2010) Robert Sapolsky continues his series on molecular genetics in which he discusses domains of mutation and various components of natural selection on a molecular level. He also further assesses gradualism and punctuated equilibrium models of evolution, integrating these theories into an interrelated model of development.
"And so we find ourselves in the position of having narrowed our view of curriculum from the promise of a broad social, emotional and intellectual experience (in theory) to the mere acquisition of information; over time, and under controlled conditions.Age appropriate even. Students’ status in school depends on how much of this information they demonstrably possess. Fear is the driving force. Will they be employable? As for the resultant teacher education: it is quick, cheap and scale-able, but it has also meant that teachers are no longer aware of their cultural value. They are merely parts of a machine. Their intellectual life has been subsumed by the weight of administration required to transmit the contents of curriculum in a measurable way. Their professional development consists of training to do that one thing better. Minor adjustments, or slight changes in operational methodology, are hailed as ‘teaching & learning innovations’, probably because the average teacher is not aware of the rich history of every aspect of human scholarship, the study of learning being only one of those aspects.
In addition, teachers may or may not be aware that the transfer process they are involved in is not neutral. Systematized schooling is primarily about socialization, not learning for its own sake, and it was designed to be this way." Portion of the transcript of a presentation at the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong 13/12/2014
To paraphrase Paulo Freire, “Education either functions as an instrument which… brings about conformity, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
Video source :
Noam Chomsky speaks about language and philosophy as part of the Dean's Lecture Series from UMD College of Arts & Humanities .
Date of Event: Thu, 1/26/12
(April 26, 2010) William Peterson and Tom McFadden introduce the field of endocrinology. They explore at the contextual basis of the endocrine system, peptide vs. steroid hormones, the processes by which the brain controls hormones, and hormonal influence on the brain.
(April 19, 2010) Robert Sapolsky looks at the biology of behavior through the ethological lens: observing animals in various natural environments, in their own language. He explores behavioral variety, the importance of gene environment interactions, experimental testing of fixed action patterns, the releasing of informational stimuli, and neuroethology.
(April 23, 2010) Patrick House discusses memories and how they are formed. Dana Turker then lectures about the autonomic nervous system and its functions.
(May 12, 2010) Robert Sapolsky continues his lectures about aggression in humans but also continues to talk about other emotions and what goes on in the brain to cause these various emotions.
(May 19, 2010) Professor Robert Sapolsky gives what he calls "one of the most difficult lectures of the course" about chaos and reductionism. He references a book that he assigned to his students. This lecture focuses on reduction science and breaking things down to their component parts in order to understand them best.