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Contents

Monthly Quote

About Earl

Good stuff on the web

My heroes

Earl Killian
Puffle inspecting construction My name is Earl Killian. This is my personal web page. I like to read (history, politics, fiction, science, science fiction), and these pages contain pointers to a few books I recommend and pointers to interesting things on the web. I like to muse on the way things should be and these pages include some of my thoughts and ideas. I am vegan and a supporter of animal rights, and these pages include a few quotes and pointers on these subjects. I have a strong interest in technology and public policy that will eliminate the world’s greenhouse pollution. I have a battery powered electric vehicle (a Solectria Force), a modified Prius that I charge at night to reduce its gasoline usage, and these pages have some EV analysis. I once built a solar (passive solar heating plus PV), straw bale home, but I no longer live there. I currently live in Los Altos with Puffle, a Labrador Retreiver who runs my life. Finally, my politics, values, and essays here reflect my interest and appreciation for non-violence and pacifism.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not reflect upon any organization, despite any association I might have.

Monthly Quote

Quote for July:

The second aspect of the ideological challenge to the Soviet Union was the development and propagation of an American economic ideology that might counter the promise of Marxism—what today we call neoclassical economics, which has gained an intellectual status in American economic activities and governmental affairs similar to that of Marxism-Leninism in the former USSR. Needless to say, Soviet citizens never understood Marxism-Leninism as an ideology until after it had collapsed, just as Americans like to think (or pretend) that their economics is a branch of science, not a fighting doctrine to defend and advance their interests against those of others. They may consider most economists to be untrustworthy witch doctors, but they regard the tenets of a laissez-faire economy—with its cutthroat competition, casino stock exchange, massive inequalities of wealth, and a minor, regulatory role for government—as self-evident truths.
…
Its propositions were now expressed less in words than in simultaneous equations, the old ideas of Adam Smith reappearing as fully mathematical axioms, increasingly divorced from empirical research. Its data were said to be stylized facts, and ecnomists set out to demonstrate through deductive reasoning expressed in mathematical formulas that resources could be allocated efficiently only through an unfettered market. By now all these terms (resources, efficiency, markets) had been transformed into abstractions, not unlike the abstract formulations (the proletariat, the bourgeoisie, class conflict) of its Soviet opponents. English-speaking economics became such a hard science that in 1969 the central bank of Sweden started giving Nobel Prizes to its adepts, virtually all of them American academicians. This ensured that virtually all aspiring economists would in the future try to do so-called theoretical economics—that is the algebraic modeling of markets—rather than old-fashioned empirical and inductive research into real-world economics.

—Chalmers Johnson, Blowback

About Earl

Good stuff found on the web

My heroes

There is no single reason I see some figures and not others as heroes, but one pattern does emerge. My heroes are individuals who I recognize for seeing truth that other their contemporaries could not, successfully communicating this truth, and often thereby changing the world in some way. Usually both their accomplishments and methods are worthy of praise. Some of these people profoundly changed the world. They were or are not perfect, and fault could be found, but I find their examples inspiring. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein’s were not the only great scientists. Darwin’s work revolutionized the way we look ourselves and ushered in an era where science supplanted faith and superstition in much of the general population. Einstein’s genius was coupled with a social conscience (his pacifism in militant environments), and with free thinking and non-conformance that has been all too rare in scientists. I recognize George Orwell, Rachel Carson and Ralph Nader for their illustration of Margaret Mead’s observation that a committed citizen can change the world. Carson’s Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement, and Nader’s long career standing up against the powerful showed how to use the legal system to hold power accountable, even if just a little. George Orwell in his essays and fiction shows that penetrating observations beyond the conventional wisdom are not only possible but also that fiction can shape societies (Mark Twain and Noam Chomsky are two others with penetrating observations). Off with the blinders! George Soros, while he acquired wealth in less than exemplary ways, shows that wealth can be put to political use in enlightened ways. Mohandas Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi both demonstrate courage that I can only aspire to in working to effect change non-violently.

Sub-content: 2010-07-26 18:32:31

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