The Watchman's Rattle

The Watchman's Rattle PDF Author: Rebecca D. Costa
Publisher: Vanguard Press
ISBN: 9781593156862
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Why can't we solve our problems anymore? Why do threats such as the Gulf oil spill, worldwide recession, terrorism, and global warming suddenly seem unstoppable? Are there limits to the kinds of problems humans can solve? Rebecca Costa confronts--and offers a solution to--these questions in her highly anticipated and game-changing book, The Watchman's Rattle. Costa pulls headlines from today's news to demonstrate how accelerating complexity quickly outpaces that rate at which the human brain can develop new capabilities. With compelling evidenced based on research in the rise and fall of Mayan, Khmer, and Roman empires, Costa shows how the tendency to find a quick solution--leads to frightening long-term consequence: Society's ability to solve its most challenging, intractable problems becomes gridlocked, progress slows, and collapse ensues. A provocative new voice in the tradition of thought leaders Thomas Friedman, Jared Diamond, and Malcolm Gladwell, Costa reveals how we can reverse the downward spiral. Part history, part social science, part biology, The Watchman's Rattle is sure to provoke, engage, and incite change.

The Watchman's Rattle

The Watchman's Rattle PDF Author: Rebecca D. Costa
Publisher: Vanguard Press
ISBN: 9781593156862
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why can't we solve our problems anymore? Why do threats such as the Gulf oil spill, worldwide recession, terrorism, and global warming suddenly seem unstoppable? Are there limits to the kinds of problems humans can solve? Rebecca Costa confronts--and offers a solution to--these questions in her highly anticipated and game-changing book, The Watchman's Rattle. Costa pulls headlines from today's news to demonstrate how accelerating complexity quickly outpaces that rate at which the human brain can develop new capabilities. With compelling evidenced based on research in the rise and fall of Mayan, Khmer, and Roman empires, Costa shows how the tendency to find a quick solution--leads to frightening long-term consequence: Society's ability to solve its most challenging, intractable problems becomes gridlocked, progress slows, and collapse ensues. A provocative new voice in the tradition of thought leaders Thomas Friedman, Jared Diamond, and Malcolm Gladwell, Costa reveals how we can reverse the downward spiral. Part history, part social science, part biology, The Watchman's Rattle is sure to provoke, engage, and incite change.

The Watchman's Rattle

The Watchman's Rattle PDF Author: Rebecca D Costa
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448131758
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Why does it feel as if our most challenging problems today- the worldwide recession, global warming, fast-spreading viruses, terrorism and poverty- aren't getting solved? What if our brain has limits that prevent it from solving such complex problems? If ancient civilisations collapsed because they, too, hit a cognitive limitation, are we headed for a similar collapse, and if so, can it be prevented? Using historical and modern-day examples, The Watchman's Rattle describes the cognitive gridlock that sets in when complexity races ahead of the brain's ability to manage it. Beginning with the Mayans, Khmer and Roman Empires, Costa shows how the tendency to find a quick fix to problems by focusing on symptoms instead of searching for permanent solutions, leads to frightening long-term consequences: Society's ability to solve its most challenging, intractable problems becomes gridlocked, progress slows and collapse ensues. But, as Costa reveals, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that the human brain can be retrained to comprehend, analyse and resolve massively complex problems. A process of intuitive thinking, which Neuroscientists refer to as 'insight'. Part history, part social science, part biology, The Watchman's Rattle is sure to provoke, engage and incite change.

The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius

The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius PDF Author: Johann Amos Comenius
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Latin language
Languages : la
Pages : 244

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Book Description


We Are Doomed

We Are Doomed PDF Author: John Derbyshire
Publisher: Forum Books
ISBN: 030746248X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
To his fellow conservatives, John Derbyshire makes a plea: Don't be seduced by this nonsense about "the politics of hope." Skepticism, pessimism, and suspicion of happy talk are the true characteristics of an authentically conservative temperament. And from Hobbes and Burke through Lord Salisbury and Calvin Coolidge, up to Pat Buchanan and Mark Steyn in our own time, these beliefs have kept the human race from blindly chasing its utopian dreams right off a cliff. Recently, though, various comforting yet fundamentally idiotic notions of political correctness and wishful thinking have taken root beyond the "Kumbaya"-singing, we're-all-one crowd. These ideas have now infected conservatives, the very people who really should know better. The Republican Party has been derailed by legions of fools and poseurs wearing smiley-face masks. Think rescuing the economy by condemning our descendents to lives of spirit-crushing debt. Think nation-building abroad while we slowly disintegrate at home. Think education and No Child Left Behind. . . . But don't think about it too much, because if you do, you'll quickly come to the logical conclusion: We are doomed. Need more convincing? Dwell on the cheerful promises of the diversity cult and the undeniable reality of the oncoming demographic disaster. Contemplate the feminization of everything, or take a good look at what passes for art these days. Witness the rise of culturism and the death of religion. Bow down before your new master, the federal apparatchik. Finally, ask yourself: How certain am I that the United States of America will survive, in any recognizable form, until, say, 2022? A scathing, mordantly funny romp through today's dismal and dismaler political and cultural scene, We Are Doomed provides a long-overdue dose of reality, revealing just how the GOP has been led astray in recent years–and showing that had conservatives held on to their fittingly pessimistic outlook, America's future would be far brighter. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to embrace the Audacity of Hopelessness.

On the Verge

On the Verge PDF Author: Rebecca D. Costa
Publisher: RosettaBooks
ISBN: 0795350600
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The author of The Watchman’s Rattle “has done it again. On the Verge shows how predictive technologies and science are redefining modern leadership” (George Mitchell, former Senate Majority Leader). “There can be no greater advantage than certainty of the future. Not in nature. Not in business. Not in governance.” So begins Rebecca Costa’s much-awaited exploration of foresight: “the crowning achievement of human ambition.” According to Costa, advances in Big Data, predictive analytics, genomics, artificial intelligence, and other breakthroughs have made it possible to pinpoint future results with mind-blowing accuracy—cracking the door to what Costa calls predaptation: the ability to adapt before the fact. Never before has the information needed to avert danger, get the jump ahead of others, or prepare for the inevitable been so clearly within grasp. Through fascinating real-life examples, Costa reveals how technology has brought nations, businesses, and individuals to the edge of clairvoyance. Yet, our ability to act on foreknowledge often falls short—causing leaders to squander the advantage of preemption. To counteract this failure, Costa illuminates 12 principles of adaptation, and predaptation, used to succeed in fast-moving environments. In the spirit of the best in popular science, On the Verge is a landmark examination of big-picture forces affecting society today. Costa’s unique sociobiological perspective, combined with her ability to blend humor, breaking science, and insightful personal stories, distinguishes her as one of the most important thought leaders of our time. “If you have an insatiable curiosity about the impact of innovation on our world ahead and how the future can be manipulated, you will love this book.”—John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and President of Pepsi-Cola

The Storyteller's Thesaurus

The Storyteller's Thesaurus PDF Author: Troll Lord Games
Publisher: Troll Lord Games
ISBN: 9781936822355
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 551

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Book Description
Writers, game designers, teachers, and students ~this is the book youve been waiting for! Written by storytellers for storytellers, this volume offers an entirely new approach to word finding. Browse the pages within to see what makes this book different:

A Collection of Emblemes

A Collection of Emblemes PDF Author: G. Wither
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Elizabethan & Jacobean Pamphlets

Elizabethan & Jacobean Pamphlets PDF Author: George Saintsbury
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Crossword Lists

Crossword Lists PDF Author: Anne Stibbs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crossword puzzles
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Watchman's Rattle

The Watchman's Rattle PDF Author: Perseus
Publisher: Vanguard Press
ISBN: 9781593156053
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell and Thomas Friedman, Rebecca Costa reveals the four telltale patterns that emerge when escalating complexity paralyzes a society.