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[ epigraph of Place names of Hawaii ]Ua hala nā kūpuna, a he ʻike kōliʻuliʻu wale nō kō keia lā,
i nā mea i ke au i hope lilo, iō kikilo.The ancestors have passed on; today's people see but dimly times long gone and far behind.
—Epigraph, page v (unmarked), before the "Contents" (page vii, unmarked). Place names of Hawaii (2nd edition: 1974) by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert, Esther T. Hookini.
[ Jenny Odell ]Our idea of progress is so bound up with the idea of putting something new in the world that it can feel counterintuitive to equate progress with destruction, removal, and remediation. But this seeming contradiction actually points to a deeper contradiction: of destruction ([f.e.] of ecosystems) framed as construction ([f.e.] of dams).
Nineteenth-century views of progress, production, and innovation relied on an image of the land as a blank slate where its current inhabitants and systems were like so many weeds in what was destined to become an American lawn. But if we sincerely recognize all that was already here, both culturally and ecologically, we start to understand that anything framed as construction was actually also destruction.
—"Conclusion: Manifest dismantling", pages 191-192. How to do nothing: resisting the attention economy (2019) by Jenny Odell. 232 pages. [Library call number: 303.4833]
[ Eunice (a.k.a. UNISS, on page 68) ]He's the best you've got. I did a relationship tree, shows that anybody else you know who's got the kind of juice you need, you met through him. And none of them have anywhere near as much reason to help you.
—Eunice, speaking to Verity Jane. Agency (2020) by William Gibson. Page 50.
[ Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes (with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija) ]Relational poverty—a profound lack of nurturing relationships combined with stigma (and often, shame) that makes fostering social ties incredibly difficult—is a deadly form of poverty common among people experiencing homelessness, with associated health risks like those of material poverty, including increased risks of early death, poor mental health, dementia, and cardiovascular disease.
Relationships buffer tens of millions of unhoused Americans from the descent into homelessness, help facilitate the exit of homelessness, are a source of financial capital, facilitate economic mobility, and are primary concerns in the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness. And yet, the lens of relationships is often cast aside when considering solutions to homelessness.
Being without a home—which leads to a loss of opportunity, increased bureaucratic and access barriers, competing priorities, reactive attachment disorders, and experiences of shame and stigma—strains the creation of healthy relationships and the buildup of social capital over time.
Relational poverty can come in the form of network impoverishment: the experience of having social networks that lack resources, or flexible capital, to provide the necessary support to avoid or exit homelessness.
—"Key takeaways", pages 31-32. Chapter 1: Relational Poverty.
When we walk by: forgotten humanity, broken systems, and the role we can each play in ending homelessness in America (2023).
Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija.
[ David Wagner (with Gemma Atticks) ]The term social capital has been among the most frequently used concepts in the social science literature. Social capital essentially refers to all nonmaterial capital people accumulate. A wealthy person obviously has sources of traditional capital in money, stocks and bonds, investments, real estate, and so on. But more subtly, the richer a person is in income and social class, the more they accumulate nonmaterial resources that intertwine with monetary resources.
The middle-class or wealthy person has the education expected of them to be high class, literacy to read in at least one language, stylish clothes to wear, an accent and vocabulary that are acceptable, social skills to impress superiors and those below, and so on. The accumulation of capital and social capital are obviously lifelong processes that begin in childhood socialization.
—"Social capital in poorer communities", pages 94-95. Chapter 5: "Community, support, and staying housed".
No longer homeless: how the ex-homeless get and stay off the streets (2018).
David Wagner, with Gemma Atticks.
[ Stephen Robert Miller ]The buildout of centralized utility systems that tapped into energy once deemed "too cheap to measure" and "renewable" water delivered from an unseen source have erased all need for developers to build with the desert in mind. So they don't. With air conditioning, modern homes mimic New England's shingles. They are multistoried, carpeted, and capped with gabled roots waiting to shed snow. They're packed together on tight lots surrounded by heat-trapping asphalt and concrete.
And they're huge: Paradoxically, while the size of the average American family has fallen, homes have swelled. The average house built in postwar Tucson was [1200] square feet; the basic Roadrunner in Eastmark is nearly [3000] square feet, and it's hardly the biggest one on the block. Every extra foot is more space to heat and more to cool. More to light and more to clean.
—Part III: The audacity of desert living—central Arizona. Page 202. Over the seawall: tsunamis, cyclones, drought, and the delusion of controlling nature (2023) by Stephen Robert Miller. 252 pages. [Library call number: 363.347]
[ Deb Chachra ]This idea of being in an ongoing relationship with others simply by virtue of having bodies that exist in the world and which share common needs is what I think of as "infrastructural citizenship".
It's a citizenship that encompasses the people who are in a particular place in the world or connected by networks today, as well as those yet to come.
It carries with it the responsibility to sustainably steward common-pool resources, including the environment itself, so that future communities can support themselves and each other so they all can thrive.
Infrastructural citizenship is not just care at scale, but care in perpetuity.
—"The social grid, and care at scale", page 276. Chapter 11: "Infrastructural citizenship".
How infrastructure works: inside the systems that shape our world (2023).
Deb Chachra.
[ Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes (with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija) ]Have you ever been referred to as a "housed person"? Probably not. Such a label would be ridiculous, as no one thinks about housed people as a single, unified group. In many ways, "homeless person" is a similarly unhelpful identity. We have defined an incredibly varied group of people by their lack of one physical need: stable housing. When we offhandedly use empty terms like "the homeless", all differences, context, patterns, and stories get washed away and replaced with a singular, monolithic image that is neither positive nor representative.
—"Introduction", page 4.
When we walk by: forgotten humanity, broken systems, and the role we can each play in ending homelessness in America (2023).
Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija.
[ Anita Moorjani ]People ask me whether there's such a thing as too much self-love. Where's the line, they ask, where it starts to become selfish or egotistical? To me, there's no such possibility. There is no line. Selfishness comes from lack of self-love. Our planet is suffering from this, as we humans are, along with too much insecurity, judgment, and conditioning. In order to truly care for someone unconditionally, I have to feel that way toward myself. I can't give away what I don't have. To say that I hold another in higher regard than myself isn't real and means I'm only performing.
—Chapter 15: Why I got sick . . . and healed. Dying to be me: my journey from cancer, to near death, to true healing. Anita Moorjani. 2012. Pages 139-140.
[ Anita Moorjani ]Q: Wouldn't too much self love make people selfish and egotistical?
A: Once we understand that each of us is at the heart of the infinite universe, our centrality to the Whole becomes paramount, and we see the value in loving the self. We can't give what we don't have.
In my culture, I was taught to put others first and myself last or not at all. I wasn't taught to love myself or to value who and what I am. As a consequence, I had very little to offer others. Only when we fill our own cup with regard for ourselves, will we have any to give away. Only when we love ourselves unconditionally, accepting ourselves as the magnificent creatures we are with great respect and compassion, can we ever hope to offer the same to anyone else. Cherishing the self comes first, and caring for others is the inevitable outcome.
Selfishness comes from too little self-love, not too much, as we compensate for our lack. There's no such thing as caring for the self too much, just as there's no such thing as too much genuine affection for others. Our world suffers from too little self-love and too much judgment, insecurity, fear, and mistrust. If we all cared about ourselves more, most of these ills would disappear.
To say "I love you" when I have no matching emotion for myself is playacting. It's not real. Affection for the self and others is the same thing. We're all One—all interconnected. Having an awareness of our own divinity can help us to see our magnificence and worthiness for love without conditions. Once we understand this, offering the same to everyone else becomes much easier.
—Chapter 18: Questions and answers. Dying to be me: my journey from cancer, to near death, to true healing. Anita Moorjani. 2012. Pages 172-173.
[ Anita Moorjani ]Q: Most people on a spiritual path believe that the ego impedes spiritual growth and that we're supposed to shed the ego. Why aren't you advocating this?
A: Because if you deny the ego, it will push back against you harder. The more you reject something, the more it fights back for its own survival. But when you can completely love your ego unconditionally and accept it as part of how you express in this life, you'll no longer have a problem with it. It won't impede your growth—on the contrary, it will be an asset.
We're all born with an ego—it's a natural part of who we are here. We're only completely without it in death. Fighting against this during life only creates more self-judgment. Plus, only when we love our ego unconditionally are we able to accept everyone else's. This is when it stops being an issue, and your humility and magnificence really shine through.
—Chapter 18: Questions and answers. Dying to be me: my journey from cancer, to near death, to true healing. Anita Moorjani. 2012. Page 173.
[ Benjamin Hardy ]Remember, personality tests are self-reported. Our view of ourselves is constantly changing based on our current focus, context, and emotions.
—Chapter 1: The myths of personality. Pages 17-63; quote from page 21. Personality isn't permanent : break free from self-limiting beliefs and rewrite your story (2020) by Benjamin Hardy, PhD; 256 pages.
[ Benjamin Hardy ]Your personality is not something that can be captured by a simple personality test. Your personality isn't innate and unchanging. It's not your past, and it's not the "real" and "authentic" you. It's not something you have to go out and discover so you can finally start living your life.
[...]
When you look at yourself or another person, you don't just see an unchanged "type". Instead, what you see is an identity, a story, a lot of history, expectations, culture, and so much more. People are dynamic.
—From "Conclusion", pages 62-63. Chapter 1: The myths of personality. Pages 17-63. Personality isn't permanent : break free from self-limiting beliefs and rewrite your story (2020) by Benjamin Hardy, PhD; 256 pages.
[ Gavin Francis ]I've seen many patients reassured by that act of naming, comforted by the knowledge that what afflicts them has an existence separate from themselves. The naming of an illness offers access to a community of others who have found ways of living with the same difficulties, and that itself can be a source of hope.
But there's a paradox at work: categorizing an illness can offer a false sense of definition, locking us into an expectation that becomes self-fulfilling. The reality of both mind and body is one of dynamism and change; any vision of human life that is static at heart is an illusion.
When a patient tells me "I've got that depression" I know that part of my job will be to guide that patient back toward a more fluid understanding of mood, and a more hopeful perspective on their mental state. I've found that the most helpful approach is not to think of illness categories as concrete, immutable destinies but as stories of the mind and the body. Within limits, stories can be rewritten.
—"Conclusions", pages 109-115; quote from pages 112-113.
Recovery: the lost art of convalescence (2023) by Gavin Francis; 125 pages.
[ Oren Lyons ]The Great Law of Peace is our second gift, our second message. The first message that our people received was how to live—what non-Indians call religion. We don't have a word for religion; it is how you live day to day. The ceremonies were given to us way back. We don't know when, we know the stories and we know how it came.
The Great Law of Peace came when we were in battles, when we were neglecting the first message, which was how to live.
—"The Peacemaker and origins of democracy" (2003); by Oren Lyons.
Pages 134-142; quote from page 136.
Our way—a parallel history: an anthology of native history, reflection, and story (2023); edited by Julie Cajune.
[ Helen Keller ]Unfortunately faith is sometimes confused with superstition and religion with dogma. Some of the noblest thinkers have disparaged religion because they assumed that religious emotions prostrate the soul to an unknown Power and subject the intellect to its tyrannical dictates. Obviously spiritual slavery, like any other form of slavery [#], would menace the liberty essential to full personal development.
—Let us have faith. Helen Keller. 1940. Page 18.
[ Anita Moorjani ]Q: What are your thoughts on religion? I notice that you rarely, if ever, bring it up when you speak about your experience.
A: That's because death transcends religion, which is something we've created in order to help us to live or to help us understand death. But once I experienced the other realm, trying to make it fit into a religion—no matter which one—actually seemed to reduce it.
Another reason I don't really talk about it is because religion can be divisive, and that's never my intention. I much prefer to be inclusive. I experienced us all being One, knowing that when we die, we'll all go to the same place. To me, it doesn't matter whether you believe in Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Allah, or none of the above. What matters is how you feel about yourself, right here and right now, because that's what determines how you conduct your life here. There's no time except the present moment, so it's important to be yourself and live your own truth. Passionate scientists living their magnificence are as valuable to humankind as a whole room full of Mother Teresas.
—Chapter 18: Questions and answers. Dying to be me: my journey from cancer, to near death, to true healing. Anita Moorjani. 2012. Page 175.
[ Anita Moorjani ]If a religion makes you feel lesser than its deities, then you've either misinterpreted it or it's not doing a good job of teaching you the truth. If a guru, teacher, or master makes you feel that you aren't "yet" enlightened and still have more to "learn", "release", or "let go of" before getting there, then they're not doing a good job of teaching you who you truly are, or you're misunderstanding them.
—Chapter 18: Questions and answers. Dying to be me: my journey from cancer, to near death, to true healing. Anita Moorjani. 2012. Page 183.
[ Helen Keller ]Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. God Himself is not secure, having given man dominion over His works! Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Faith alone defends. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
—Let us have faith. Helen Keller. 1940. Pages 50-51.
[ Melanie Mitchell ]Once at Dartmouth, [John] McCarthy persuaded [Marvin] Minsky, [Claude] Shannon, and [Nathaniel] Rochester to help him organize "a 2 month, 10 man study of artificial intelligence to be carried out during the summer of 1956" [1].
The term artificial intelligence was McCarthy's invention; he wanted to distinguish this field from a related effort called cybernetics [2].
McCarthy later admitted that no one really liked the name—after all, the goal was genuine, not "artificial" intelligence—but "I had to call it something, so I called it ‘Artificial Intelligence’" [3].
—"The roots of artificial intelligence". Artificial intelligence: a guide for thinking humans. Melanie Mitchell. 2019. Page 18.
[1] J. McCarthy et al., "A proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project in artificial intelligence", submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation, 1955, reprinted in AI Magazine 27, no. 4 (2006): 12–14.
[2] Cybernetics was an interdisciplinary field that studied "control and communication in the animal and machines". See N. Wiener, Cybernetics (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1961).
[3] Quoted in N. J. Nilsson, John McCarthy: a biographical memoir (Washington, D.C.: National Acadrmy of Sciences, 2012).
—"Notes"; "1: The roots of artificial intelligence". Artificial intelligence: a guide for thinking humans. Melanie Mitchell. 2019. Page 282.