Straw Dogs by John Gray

Subtitle: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals

I have confessed in other postings that my background in philosophy is far from profound. However, it is a subject (in a very broad definition) that is calling out to me with greater regularity. I have read few of the great works and each attempt to do so thus far has been a struggle. On the other hand, I am always in search of modern day thinkers from whatever academic discipline who are writing about society in a more robust, and shall we say, philosophical context. It is very difficult to do so without tying in the arguments of some of history's great minds and therefore provides me a way to slowly develop a better understanding of some of their principle theses. Wrapped in the discussion of modern society makes it a much less abrupt approach.

One of my favorite current writers is Nassim Taleb, renown author of Fooled By Randomness and later The Black Swan. In an interview I saw of him he recommended two modern scholars - Karen Armstrong and John Gray - for their intellectual excellence in their respective fields. Gray is the former professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and author of several books. He has written on globalization, religion and philosophy. As is often the case, shorty after being introduced to him and his works, I came across several articles reviewing a recently published book of his.

Straw Dogs was published in 2002. It is a collection of musings stitched together by Gray's underlying belief that humans, in their rather modern distortion of humanist thought, have essentially created a new faith but fails to recognize it as such. This form of humanity, grounded in its roots of Christianity, is based on progress and mankind's ability through such progress to create a better world. Gray argues that "to believe in progress is to believe that, by using the new powers given to us by growing scientific knowledge humans can free themselves from the limits that frame the lives of other animals."T his humanistic vision of progress, outside of science, is a myth fabricated only recently in Western society. It was not long ago when humans thought of themselves as equal to other animals. In many cultures they were even worshiped by humans.

Gray recognizes that humans are a highly developed, and incredibly destructive species. Since our arrival in the New World 12,000 years ago, approximately 70% of the world's species have been eliminated which is quickly approaching the same number caused by whatever event, most likely a meteor, wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

At the same time, our destructive species is raging on in fierce debate about how - through science - we can save the earth from the overheating caused by greenhouse gases. Perhaps it is Earth's means of ridding itself us?

Ironic to me is how many of the central responses to climate change revolve around the use of elaborately developed technological tools to save us from such overheating. Humans have never been farther removed from nature as they are now. It is through the abandonment of certain forms of technology that we will make the easiest and fastest gains in this battle. Changing the way we eat based on a diet of local vegetables and occasional meat consumption and distancing ourselves from the meat industry would make enormous gains. Walking or bicycling as opposed to the frequent use of the automobile is a very simple concept that proves incredibly difficult to grasp. In a later chapter Gray reminds us that the average American puts in 1600 hours in the car to get 7500 miles: less than five miles per hour. Not much more than what someone would walk in the same time. It is obvious the automobile represents more to us than a form of transportation.

Straw Dogs is not a book on environmentalism, however the example demonstrates a certain fallacy in human thought based on scientific progress. Many other such anecdotes make up the remainder of the book though I found they begin to stray more and more from his central thesis along the way. Nonetheless, they are fascinating and provocative. It is a book that does not need to be read from start to end but can be "dipped into at will" as well. Either way, it will get you thinking.

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La Speranza Indiana (The Indian Hope) by Federico Rampini

I have become good friends with several Indian student colleagues while in Rotterdam. Their most remarkable attribute is the curiosity they have in "Western culture". They are generally very eager to learn about our traditions, history and way of doing things in society and in business. My experiences with other Americans and Europeans is rather different. The boom in tourism and the easier access to foreign information has led a lot of Westerns I have met to think they are experts on a country/region basing their knowledge on little experience. I attribute the main cause to be a lack of listening skills. I constantly have the feeling that people I meet in international environments are always ready to tell me how it is. They are much less eager to listen to how it could be. My friends from India possess the dying ability to listen to what others have to say. Perhaps this eagerness to learn is a contributing factor to the growth and optimism in their country. This book, along with the next one I will be reviewing, demonstrate such a profound knowledge and understanding of the countries the authors are writing about, that the reader cannot help but feel the dwarfing effects in respect to our superficial travel culture made of Lonely planet, wikipidia and a digital camera.

It was my friends' curiosity in my culture that drove me to read this book on their own. It is the least I could. Rampini is a successful Italian journalist specifically focusing on Asia. His book is very similar in structure to The Good Rain which I reviewed a month back. Both books move along a current journey through the land, weaving in contemporary issues with historical events. This style makes for entertaining reading as new subjects and historical anecdotes come and go with a certain freshness. On the other hand, it does make it hard to follow a chronological unfolding of events. This book opens the door to a country dripping with intrigue. The writer also provides an Italian perspective that I found to be fascinating.

I have been thinking a lot about perspective in writing lately. Coming from the Anglo-American world with its dominant language provides numerous benefits as well as negative aspects. The fact we have access to so many books, journals, magazines, and blogs (!) gives us the possibility to immerse ourselves in the smallest of niche subjects. However, the perspective an American or English writer brings to their field has been conditioned heavily by the society in which they were raised. A certain historical bias is always alive in writing.

This leads me to ask, what is the need for an Italian journalist to write about India when the subject has certainly been amply documented by hundreds (thousands?) of Anglo writers? Because the Italian reader interested in India views the country differently than the way an American reader would. Rampini explores the intrigue the West has always possessed for India mainly by discussing the works on the subject written by Schopenhauer and Hesse. In addition, Italians themselves, from the early explorers to Passolini in the 70's, have documented their journeys. Remember that Venice was the largest port in Europe during the 16th century thus acting as the hub for the imports (mainly silk and spices) arriving from India. These occurrences are not nearly as relevant to an American because 1) philosophy is a subject that is not integrated into the school curriculum in America while a large part of Italian high school students are forced to study it. It may be seen as a form of punishment at the time but something certainly remains in the academic formation. 2) America was founded after the fall of Venetian dominance so our perspective of history naturally has a much shorter time frame.

So, I was introduced to the complexity India reading a book in Italian that introduced me to German thinkers I knew little about. Actually, my own understanding of India is largely "Italian influenced", first by Tiziano Terziani (a future post will introduce him to those unfamiliar) and now Federico Rampini. It is all very exciting...at least to me.

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Philosophy and the Real World, An Intro to Karl Popper by Bryan Magee

There are two ways of interpreting this title: 1) Idiots guide to Karl Popper or 2) Short book for someone too lazy to actually read Karl Popper's works. Both are valid in this case. Karl Popper is an Austrian philosopher who spent the majority of his adult life in the UK. He is a philosopher on science whose main theories carry over into modern society as well. He was introduced to me (not physically) through the two books by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. Fooled by... is a book I highly recommend reading, Black Swan less so. Taleb is certainly a disciple of Popper. To learn more on Popper I decided to seek out a book introducing him to a layman like myself. I have read very little philosophy in my life for the simple reason that it puts me to sleep - and not in the metaphorical sense. I always held the belief that when the time was right philosophy would come to me because I was ready. I don't know if that time has come, but I did make it through this book without falling asleep (too much).

Popper's central argument revolves around the following example. It is not possible to make the observation statement "all swans are white" even if you have observed one thousand, ten thousand or one million white swans without seeing any other colored swans. However, it takes just seeing one black swan to derive the statement "not all swans are white". What I took from Popper was that in science you must look for problems, i.e. black swans instead of searching for occurrences that confirm your hypothesis. In this quest to falsify your findings is when true discovery happens. However, this is difficult for scientists and humans because being "right" just feels so damn good.

By seeking out the problems with your argument is the manner in which you strengthen it. Popper is a true believer in critical feedback stating that people should be eager to receive feedback on their work because it gives them the opportunity to truly improve upon it.

Being right feels good. Taleb in his two books takes this idea to the financial world and points out the problems this can cause. However, it also holds true in politics as well. There is growing concern of tribalism in America according to The Economist. As Norman Mailer said in an interview before the 2004 elections. "How is Bush going to win? I don't know one person voting for him." There is more and more tendency to surround ourselves with people who are more willing to confirm what you have to say instead of opposing it. This certainly may make for more peaceful dinner parties but it is not going to really spur interesting political debate.

Remaining on the subject of society and politics, it was Popper's argument that it is the government's role to minimize avoidable suffering. This falls in line with his overarching belief in addressing problems in order to arrive at improvements. It seems very practical to me. Seek out the low hanging fruit of societal suffering and make it better. He feels this to be the proper direction because it is impossible to determine what defines happiness but it is quite easy to know what makes people unhappy such as sleeping under a bridge or not having food to eat. It is interesting to think of the USA's protection of the endless pursuit of happiness.

I recommend this book. The ideas that are touched upon can be applied to business, society and science. So each person can take something from this introduction to Popper.

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