Canary in the Coal Mine - Day

12:22AM - If…. (1968, Anderson)

2:27PM - André Gorz

In books such as Farewell to the Working Class (1982), Paths to Paradise (1985), Critique of Economic Reason (1988), Reclaiming Work (2000) and the as yet untranslated L'Immatériel, Gorz argued that we are in the grip of a system that is abolishing work as we know it: the problem was not the destruction of employment as such, but the new system's irrational efforts to perpetuate the ideology of work as a source of rights — and, most importantly, of the right to an income.

Critique of Economic Reason (var lasīt līdz 1.6, tālāk sākās tipisks ļeru–ļeru). Highlight:

The connection between more and better has been broken; our needs for many products and services are already more than adequately met, and many of our as–yet–unsatisfied needs will be met not by producing more, but by producing differently, producing other things, or even producing less. This is especially true as regards our needs for air, water, space, silence, beauty, time and human contact. [..] As a result, the social process of production no longer needs everyone to work in it on a full–time basis. The work ethic ceases to be viable in such a situation and work–based society is thrown into crisis.

Mans verdikts:

Gorz commits the Luddite fallacy. He should've known better.

3:30PM

via lazdu_ragana

4:27PM - Our Challenge, David Harvey

One of its basic principles that was set up in the 1970s was that state power should protect financial institutions at all costs. This is the principle that was worked out in the New York City crisis in the mid-1970s, and was first defined internationally when Mexico threatened to go bankrupt in 1982. That would have destroyed the New York investment banks, so the US Treasury and the IMF combined to bail Mexico out. But in so doing they mandated austerity for the Mexican population. In other words, they protected the banks and destroyed the people – and this has been the standard practice in the IMF ever since. The current bailout is the same old story, one more time, except bigger. ( ... tālāk ... )

8:48PM

Latvijas izglītības sistēma līdz šim ir virzīta uz kvantitatīvu rezultātu sasniegšanu (nevis kvalitatīvu). Mums ir daudz cilvēku ar izglītības diplomiem, bet izglītības kvalitāte ir katastrofāla. Studenti apvieno studijas ar darbu, rezultātā pamatīgi apskādējot studiju kvalitāti. Tā vietā lai tiešām caurām dienām mācītos (kā tas būtu Hārvardā, Jēlā un daudz kur citur), Latvijas studenti izklaidējas vai sēž darbā. Protams, studiju apvienošana ar darbu diemžēl ir spiesta lieta, jo citādi gluži vienkārši nav iespējams materiāli iztikt, bet rezultātā cieš studiju kvalitāte. Daudzās augstskolās tiek uzņemts gandrīz jebkurš, kas ir gatavs maksāt studiju maksu. Konkursi neatsijā vājus studentus, līdz ar to studiju kvalitāte krītas, jo pasniedzēji pielāgojas vājākajiem studentiem. Utt., ut.j.p. Tā visa rezultātā arī ir tā, ka mums ir tūkstošiem cilvēku ar augstskolas diplomiem, kas īstenībā nesaprot pašas elementārākās lietas, ko ikvienai augstskolai attiecīgā sfērā būtu jāiemāca.

— Nezināms