Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us

Just a few weeks ago we posted a clip of Paul Verhaeghe's TED talk.  Today he has an article in the Guardian: gu.com/p/42v9g/tw 

On the overdiagnosis of mental illness

Allen J. Frances headed the DSM IV taks force.  In retrospect, he is unhappy about his work on the DSM and he is very critical of DSM 5. 

In this 2012 lecture, Diagnostic Inflation: Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?, he outlines why he thinks the DSM 5 will lead to millions of people being mislabeled with mental disorders. 

Here's a sequence of the lecture:

Check out the complete lecture on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuCwVnzSjWA

Towards a dialogue with extra-terrestials

Pioneer 10 (1972) and Pioneer 11 (1973) were the first spacecrafts programmed to leave the Solar System.  Astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake have designed two gold-anodized aluminum plaques that were affixed to the spacecrafts.  These plaques feature a pictorial message, in case either Pioneer 10 or 11 would be intercepted by extraterrestrial life.  .

This is a picture of the plaque:

The plaque was intended to open a dialogue with extra-terrestrial life, showing a schematic representation of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen, the relative position of sun within the galaxy, the solar system, and two human figures: a man and a woman.  Notice the raised hand of the man.  It was meant the represent a sign of good will, but of course we don't know what raised extremities might mean to aliens.

It is interesting that there has been controversy about the nudity of the man and woman figures on the plaque. Therefore silhouettes of a man and a woman, rather than the photograph that was initially planned, were included on the golden record that was send with the Voyagers (1977).

A history of everything, including you

A History of Everything, Including You is a fascinating short story written by Jenny Hollowell.  It was published in the book New Sudden Fiction: Short Stories From America and Beyond. 

Here you can listen to the story, read by the author (from an episode of the podcast Radiolab).

Short term 12

I know it did not get rave reviews, but I love this movie about a youth care facility.

I think it is a great movie, if only for the respectful way in which young people in trouble are depicted.

Like in this scene: Marcus has been caught hiding drugs in his matras.  Grace tries to talk with him. He doesn't say much, but Grace begins to realize that Marcus, who will turn 18 soon, is afraid to leave the facility.

Upon Grace's suggestion, Mason is going to talk to him.

Mason listens to Marcus' rap in which for the first time he expresses something about what he can not talk about.

Talking about secrets

Talking about secrets in the summerschool this might interest you

http://ideas.ted.com/2014/07/09/the-art-and-science-of-sharing-a-secret/

Justine

Not a manual