What a biography! The range of this great thinker extends from “Sapiens – a brief History of Mankind” to “Nexus – A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI”, which means that it embraces three centuries of European intellectual history. While “Sapiens”, the great early work, was still imbued with that euphoria of progress and science, or at least with that amazement at its demiurgic achievements that we already know from Francis Bacon in the early 17th century, “Nexus” surprises us with its radical skepticism.
Nexus or Harari, the visionary weiterlesenKategorie: reviews
Where does Klaus von Dohnanyi want to lead Germany?
(I sent this essay to some of the authors quoted by Dohnanyi in his book “Nationale Interessen” (National Interests).
The following thoughts are the result of reading two books by a very clever, well-informed and experienced German politician, the former mayor of Hamburg and later Federal Minister of Education and Science Klaus von Dohnanyi, who, despite his immense reading, despite a generally remarkably balanced judgment, nevertheless found a late political home with the “Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht” (BSW) – a party that, being more than just US-critical, treats Putin and his regime with kid gloves. How can a clever man go so astray?
Where does Klaus von Dohnanyi want to lead Germany? weiterlesenWohin will Klaus von Dohnanyi Deutschland führen?
(Ich habe den Aufsatz an einige jener Autoren versandt, die von Dohnanyi in seinem Buch „Nationale Interessen“ zitiert)
Die folgenden Gedanken sind das Ergebnis der Lektüre zweier Bücher eines sehr klugen, hervorragend informierten und erfahrenen deutschen Politikers, des ehemaligen Hamburger Bürgermeisters und späteren Bundesminister für Bildung und Wissenschaft Klaus von Dohnanyi, der trotz immenser Belesenheit, trotz eines fast immer bemerkenswert ausgewogenen Urteils gleichwohl beim Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) eine späte politische Heimat fand – einer Partei, die mehr als nur US-kritisch ist, während sie Putin und sein Regime mit Samthandschuhen behandelt. Wie kann sich ein kluger Mann derart verirren?
Wohin will Klaus von Dohnanyi Deutschland führen? weiterlesenThe Fragility of our World
Peter Finke – Gero Jenner. A case of doppelgangerism?
This week I encountered an amazing book “Mut zum Gaiazän” (a possible translation of the German title would be “Let’s embrace the Gaiacene”). The book didn’t amaze me because I found its contents particularly new or exciting. Quite the opposite. It seemed familiar to me from the start because it deals with just about all the issues that have preoccupied myself over the past thirty years. The parallels between my own spiritual biography and that of Mr. Finke are unmistakable – but so are the enormous differences. Peter Finke – Gero Jenner. A case of doppelgangerism? weiterlesen
The Fires spewed by the Dragon – How Tradition Lives on in China
Notes on the China book by Desmond Shum (Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today’s China)
The Fires spewed by the Dragon – How Tradition Lives on in China weiterlesenThe Lucifer Principle
(Conversation between Lucifer, Howard Bloom and a certain GJ – statements in italics are quotes from Bloom)
The Lucifer Principle weiterlesenMax Weber – Jared Diamond – Joseph Henrich
There are fundamental questions that every human being and probably every people and epoch ask themselves. Who or what am I? Why and how am I different from others? What is it that makes me singular? Max Weber, Jared Diamond, and Joseph Henrich have each asked this question in their own yet very similar ways. Max Weber – Jared Diamond – Joseph Henrich weiterlesen
Adam Tooze – An experts’s review of ten years of global economic crisis
Recently (on 14 August) I had the good fortune to follow an interview with the British historian Adam Tooze on Austrian Radio. I was so impressed that I immediately took to reading his book „Crashed. How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World“ (Allen Lane 2018) ) – and so an important work finally reached me with a two-year delay. These are my comments:
Adam Tooze – An experts’s review of ten years of global economic crisis weiterlesen
The snow of yesterday is today’s Deluge – Remarks on an amazing book by Daniela Dahn
There are books – and, alas, they make up the vast majority – that one skims over because they offer nothing more than facts that we barely take note of. There are others where each sentence acquires importance because it expresses an attitude, a person’s relationship to the world, and therefore urges the reader to take a stand. I was recently allowed to read one such book, its author is Daniela Dahn. She writes about the injustice that Germany’s Western half has done to the citizens of the East, calling on the West to reflect on its failures. What so much pleases me about this book – even though its theses are anything but pleasant – is its honesty. In times of generalized dishonesty, where arguments mostly serve as weapons in the struggle of parties, this is a refreshing book. Let us listen to the author’s own words.
The snow of yesterday is today’s Deluge – Remarks on an amazing book by Daniela Dahn weiterlesen
Logical refutation of Noam Chomsky’s famous trees – the essence of his theory of language
The fascination of Chomsky’s theory of language is due to the fact that it seems to derive linguistic diversity and complexity from a simple starting point. After Chomsky, a whole generation of linguists was busy with drawing all these elusive inverted trees. Let us stick to a simple example:
Vivat America! (Nevertheless)
The call may sound rather strange. America? Isn’t that the country where a populist president divides his own countrymen like no one before him sowing the seeds of mistrust even in up to then friendly and allied nations? Vivat America! (Nevertheless) weiterlesen