Reading
For a book about the all-too-human “passions of war,” my 1997 work Blood Rites ended on a strangely inhuman note: I suggested that, whatever distinctly human qualities war calls upon — honor, courage, solidarity, cruelty, and so forth — it might be useful to stop thinking of war in exclusively human terms. After all, certain species of ants wage war and computers can simulate “wars” that play themselves out on-screen without any human involvement. More generally, then, we should define war as a self-replicating pattern of activity that may or may not require human participation. In the human case, we know it is capable of spreading geographically and evolving rapidly over time — qualities that, as I suggested somewhat fancifully,... Read more
Source: War Without Humans appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – August 20, 2023
by Tony Wikrent
Climate and environmental crises
‘This Is Huge’: Judge Sides With Montana Youths in Historic Climate Ruling
[Common Dreams, via Naked Capitalism 8-15-2023]
Climate Jurisprudence Gets a New Blueprint
Gabrielle Gurley, August 17, 2023 [The American Prospect]
It all began when Irish physicist John Tyndall proposed in a “false flag” operation that variations in atmospheric composition could cause changes in the climate.
The post A Brief History of China’s Global Warming Hoax, From 1863 to Right Now appeared first on The Intercept.