The Lucifer Principle

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780802192189

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The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom Pdf

“A philosophical look at the history of our species which alternated between fascinating and frightening . . . like reading Dean Koontz or Stephen King.” —Rocky Mountain News The Lucifer Principle is a revolutionary work that explores the intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that “evil” is a by-product of nature’s strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric. In a sweeping narrative that moves lucidly among sophisticated scientific disciplines and covers the entire span of the earth’s—as well as mankind’s—history, Howard Bloom challenges some of our most popular scientific assumptions. Drawing on evidence from studies of the most primitive organisms to those on ants, apes, and humankind, the author makes a persuasive case that it is the group, or “superorganism,” rather than the lone individual that really matters in the evolutionary struggle. But biology is not destiny, and human culture is not always the buffer to our most primitive instincts we would like to think it is. In these complex threads of thought lies the Lucifer Principle, and only through understanding its mandates will we able to avoid the nuclear crusades that await us in the twenty-first century. “A revolutionary vision of the relationship between psychology and history, The Lucifer Principle will have a profound impact on our concepts of human nature. It is astonishing that a book of such importance could be such a pleasure to read.”—Elizabeth F. Loftus, author of Memory

Author : Howard K. Bloom
Publisher : Atlantic Monthly Press
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : History
ISBN : 0871136643

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The Lucifer Principle by Howard K. Bloom Pdf

Bloom draws an analogy between the biological material whose primordial multiplication began life on earth and the ideas, or "memes," that define, give cohesion to, and justify human superorganisms.

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Civilization, Modern
ISBN : OCLC:1317374320

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The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom Pdf

Author : Philip Zimbardo
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2008-01-22
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780812974447

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The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo Pdf

The definitive firsthand account of the groundbreaking research of Philip Zimbardo—the basis for the award-winning film The Stanford Prison Experiment Renowned social psychologist and creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo explores the mechanisms that make good people do bad things, how moral people can be seduced into acting immorally, and what this says about the line separating good from evil. The Lucifer Effect explains how—and the myriad reasons why—we are all susceptible to the lure of “the dark side.” Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women. Here, for the first time and in detail, Zimbardo tells the full story of the Stanford Prison Experiment, the landmark study in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into “guards” and “inmates” and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. By illuminating the psychological causes behind such disturbing metamorphoses, Zimbardo enables us to better understand a variety of harrowing phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. He replaces the long-held notion of the “bad apple” with that of the “bad barrel”—the idea that the social setting and the system contaminate the individual, rather than the other way around. This is a book that dares to hold a mirror up to mankind, showing us that we might not be who we think we are. While forcing us to reexamine what we are capable of doing when caught up in the crucible of behavioral dynamics, though, Zimbardo also offers hope. We are capable of resisting evil, he argues, and can even teach ourselves to act heroically. Like Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem and Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate, The Lucifer Effect is a shocking, engrossing study that will change the way we view human behavior. Praise for The Lucifer Effect “The Lucifer Effect will change forever the way you think about why we behave the way we do—and, in particular, about the human potential for evil. This is a disturbing book, but one that has never been more necessary.”—Malcolm Gladwell “An important book . . . All politicians and social commentators . . . should read this.”—The Times (London) “Powerful . . . an extraordinarily valuable addition to the literature of the psychology of violence or ‘evil.’”—The American Prospect “Penetrating . . . Combining a dense but readable and often engrossing exposition of social psychology research with an impassioned moral seriousness, Zimbardo challenges readers to look beyond glib denunciations of evil-doers and ponder our collective responsibility for the world’s ills.”—Publishers Weekly “A sprawling discussion . . . Zimbardo couples a thorough narrative of the Stanford Prison Experiment with an analysis of the social dynamics of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.”—Booklist “Zimbardo bottled evil in a laboratory. The lessons he learned show us our dark nature but also fill us with hope if we heed their counsel. The Lucifer Effect reads like a novel.”—Anthony Pratkanis, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology, University of California

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2008-04-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780470310397

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Global Brain by Howard Bloom Pdf

"As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement."-DAVID SMILLIE, Visiting Professor of Zoology, Duke University In this extraordinary follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Lucifer Principle, Howard Bloom-one of today's preeminent thinkers-offers us a bold rewrite of the evolutionary saga. He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a "complex adaptive system," a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role. and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality. Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a "grand vision," says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why.

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 555 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2012-08-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781616145521

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The God Problem by Howard Bloom Pdf

God’s war crimes, Aristotle’s sneaky tricks, Einstein’s pajamas, information theory’s blind spot, Stephen Wolfram’s new kind of science, and six monkeys at six typewriters getting it wrong. What do these have to do with the birth of a universe and with your need for meaning? Everything, as you’re about to see. How does the cosmos do something it has long been thought only gods could achieve? How does an inanimate universe generate stunning new forms and unbelievable new powers without a creator? How does the cosmos create? That’s the central question of this book, which finds clues in strange places. Why A does not equal A. Why one plus one does not equal two. How the Greeks used kickballs to reinvent the universe. And the reason that Polish-born Benoît Mandelbrot—the father of fractal geometry—rebelled against his uncle. You’ll take a scientific expedition into the secret heart of a cosmos you’ve never seen. Not just any cosmos. An electrifyingly inventive cosmos. An obsessive-compulsive cosmos. A driven, ambitious cosmos. A cosmos of colossal shocks. A cosmos of screaming, stunning surprise. A cosmos that breaks five of science’s most sacred laws. Yes, five. And you’ll be rewarded with author Howard Bloom’s provocative new theory of the beginning, middle, and end of the universe—the Bloom toroidal model, also known as the big bagel theory—which explains two of the biggest mysteries in physics: dark energy and why, if antimatter and matter are created in equal amounts, there is so little antimatter in this universe. Called "truly awesome" by Nobel Prize–winner Dudley Herschbach, The God Problem will pull you in with the irresistible attraction of a black hole and spit you out again enlightened with the force of a big bang. Be prepared to have your mind blown. From the Hardcover edition.

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 430 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2010-05-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781615929320

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The Genius of the Beast by Howard Bloom Pdf

Is global capitalism on its last legs? Is the era of American leadership over? Has the West begun a decline into a new Dark Age? Does American civilization deserve to survive? These are the unnerving questions raised by the Great Crash of 2009. This book presents a radically new answer, insisting that global society has only begun to realize its full potential. Author Howard Bloom argues that there’s a hidden mandate beneath the surface of capitalism: "It’s struggling to whisper and rumble its message to you and me. That hidden imperative can lift us from economic crisis, can make us a leader in the next-generation economy, and can dramatically upgrade our ability to empower our fellow human beings." Bloom sees crisis as opportunity, opportunity for the whole human race. In more than eighty short, fast chapters, insights appear suddenly, like the quick bursts of flashbulbs, taking the reader on a sweeping tour of human history, from the Stone Age to the present. Every chapter conveys a radically new way to see the astonishing mechanism we call "Western Civilization." Bloom marvels at how humans have turned toxic waste into food and fuel, trash into treasure, and garbage into gold. He shows how we've produced material miracles based on immaterial things—passion, persistence, and fantasy. He shows that what many regard as the end is just the beginning. The beginning of something you've never before imagined. The author explains why the secret to capitalism’s next great leap does not lie in new financial tricks, but in tapping things right under our noses in radically new ways—that is, tapping our imagination, our desire to feel useful, our desire to help others, and our desire to be recognized for contributing to the welfare of humanity. The key to next-generation capitalism lies in a big-picture view that's utterly unlike anything you've previously perceived. A big-picture view that will startle you. A big-picture view with which you can ignite the world, get a new handle on your life, and help transform society. This brilliant, inspirational work of daring ideas and breathtaking research offers more than hope. It offers unseen levels of understanding. Understanding that can literally redefine what it means to be a human being.

Author : Alexander O’Connor
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 102 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2017-07-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781351353236

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The Lucifer Effect by Alexander O’Connor Pdf

What makes good people capable of committing bad – even evil – acts? Few psychologists are as well-qualified to answer that question as Philip Zimbardo, a psychology professor who was not only the author of the classic Stanford Prison Experiment – which asked two groups of students to assume the roles of prisoners and guards in a makeshift jail, to dramatic effect – but also an active participant in the trial of a US serviceman who took part in the violent abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the wake of the second Gulf War. Zimbardo’s book The Lucifer Effect is an extended analysis that aims to find solutions to the problem of how good people can commit evil acts. Zimbardo used his problem-solving skills to locate the solution to this question in an understanding of two conditions. Firstly, he writes, situational factors (circumstances and setting) must override dispositional ones, meaning that decent and well-meaning people can behave uncharacteristically when placed in unusual or stressful environments. Secondly, good and evil are not alternatives; they are interchangeable. Most people are capable of being both angels and devils, depending on the circumstances. In making this observation, Zimbardo also built on the work of Stanley Milgram, whose own psychological experiments had shown the impact that authority figures can have on determining the actions of their subordinates. Zimbardo's book is a fine example of the importance of asking productive questions that go beyond the theoretical to consider real-world events.

Author : Howard Bloom
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2020-04-15
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781493051687

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Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me by Howard Bloom Pdf

Howard Bloom—called "the greatest press agent that rock and roll has ever known" by Derek Sutton, the former manager of Styx, Ten Years After, and Jethro Tull—is a science nerd who knew nothing about popular music. But he founded the biggest PR firm in the music industry and helped build or sustain the careers of our biggest rock-and-roll legends, including Michael Jackson, Prince, Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen, Kiss, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run DMC, ZZ Top, Joan Jett, Chaka Khan, and one hundred more. What was he after? He was on a hunt for the gods inside of you and me. Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me is Bloom's story—the strange tale of a scientific expedition into the dark underbelly of science and fame where new myths and movements are made.

Author : Origen
Publisher : Ave Maria Press
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2013-12-09
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780870612800

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On First Principles by Origen Pdf

Origen’s On First Principles is a foundational work in the development of Christian thought and doctrine: it is the first attempt in history at a systematic Christian theology. For over a decade it has been out of print with only expensive used copies available; now it is available at an affordable price and in a more accessible format. On First Principles is the most important surviving text written by third-century Church father, Origen. Origen wrote in a time when fundamental doctrines had not yet been fully articulated by the Church, and contributed to the very formation of Christianity. Readers see Origen grappling with the mysteries of salvation and brainstorming how they can be understood. This edition presents G. W. Butterworth’s trusted translation in a new, more readable format, retains the introduction by Henri de Lubac, and includes a new foreword by John C. Cavadini. As St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor of the Church, wrote: “Origen is the stone on which all of us were sharpened.”

Author : Susan M. Schneider
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781616146634

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The Science of Consequences by Susan M. Schneider Pdf

Actions have consequences--and the ability to learn from them revolutionized life on earth. While it's easy enough to see that consequences are important (where would we be without positive reinforcement?), few have heard there's a science of consequences, with principles that affect us every day. Despite their variety, consequences appear to follow a common set of scientific principles and share some similar effects in the brain--such as the "pleasure centers." Nature and nurture always work together, and scientists have demonstrated that learning from consequences predictably activates genes and restructures the brain. Applications are everywhere--at home, at work, and at school, and that's just for starters. Individually and societally, for example, self-control pits short-term against long-term consequences. Ten years in the making, this award-winning book tells a tale ranging from genetics to neurotransmitters, from emotion to language, from parenting to politics, taking an inclusive interdisciplinary approach to show how something so deceptively simple can help make sense of so much.

Author : Howard K. Bloom
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Civilization, Modern
ISBN : 186373984X

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The Lucifer Principle by Howard K. Bloom Pdf

First published in the US, this exploration of the relationships between genetics, human behaviour and culture argues that 'evil is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and is woven into our most basic biological fabric'. Discusses topics such as women and violence, self-destruction, and the lust for power. Includes references, a bibliography and an index. The author has published extensively in the US.

Author : Will Schneider
Publisher : SCB Distributors
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2015-10-15
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9780990792468

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Lucifer's Game by Will Schneider Pdf

Lucifer’s Game is a tour de force first novel that will capture the hearts of followers of Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, and other popular voices in the growing mainstream fields of spiritual enlightenment and Shadow work. Provocative, witty, humorous and fascinating, it reads like a cross between a metaphysical parable, a touching romance, and a self-help bestseller. Think The Celestine Prophecy sits down at My Dinner with Andre and converses with Debbie Ford’s The Dark Side of the Light Chasers. With dazzlingly literary finesse, Will Schneider takes readers on an intriguing journey into the unknowable depths of human nature and the universal quest to understand the BIG QUESTIONS: Is this level of our consciousness all there is? Can we learn to step outside the illusion of our reality and find wholeness? Can we transcend our “dark” side to find the light? The story unfolds on one of the exotic tropical islands of Hawaii, where the Jackson Trent has come to heal his heart after losing a loved one. As the writer of a popular blog on self-improvement, he believes he understands human nature, including his own failings. His respite trip is interrupted by the appearance of a mysterious stranger who walks with a ‘shuffle, shuffle, dip of the neck.’ It’s Lucifer, Prince of Darkness himself, who makes a personal appearance on earth from time to time to update himself on humanity—and today he’s chosen Jackson. Though wary, Jackson’s curiosity pushes him to agree to spend the day with Lucifer, debating and exchanging views about human nature and the possibility of enlightenment. Lucifer challenges Jackson to understand that humans live unconsciously and are caught in his web, “playing his game,” as he is the Keeper of the Shadowlings, all the negative forces like hatred, envy, and greed that we deny in ourselves and push into the basement of our minds. Jackson defends humanity, but Lucifer shows him the depths of human failings, even tricking Jackson into giving into some of his own. Sucked into Lucifer’s game, Jackson gets played until he recognizes the manipulation. The stakes grow serious—and it’s either Lucifer or Jackson who must win the Faustian bet. Full of plot twists, the ending bends the mind. Lucifer’s Game offers enlightenment seekers at every level a new perspective of consciousness to understand ourselves more deeply and reach for higher levels of wholeness.

Author : Steven Brust
Publisher : Orb Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2007-04-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781429910736

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To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust Pdf

The time is the Beginning. The place is Heaven. The story is the Revolt of the Angels—a war of magic, corruption and intrigue that could destroy the universe. To Reign in Hell was Stephen Brust's second novel, and it's a thrilling retelling of the revolt of the angels, through the lens of epic fantasy. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Author : Saul Alinsky
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2010-06-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780307756893

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Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky Pdf

“This country's leading hell-raiser" (The Nation) shares his impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” First published in 1971 and written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style at its best. Like Thomas Paine before him, Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition.