How this idea can help us: When we recognize that “we” aren’t in control, it will help us let go and experience less anxiety. 12) The unexamined life may be worth living John Gray interview: how an English academic become the world's pre-eminent prophet of doom". The Telegraph. London. 28 February 2013 . Retrieved 9 August 2013. Kermode, Mark (3 August 2003). "A wild bunch in Cornwall". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 October 2020. It is a strange fancy to suppose that science can bring reason to an irrational world, when all it can ever do is give another twist to a normal madness.”

Straw Dogs Book Summary - John Gray - Wise Words Straw Dogs Book Summary - John Gray - Wise Words

Gray, John (2003). Al Qaeda and What It Means to Be Modern. New York: The New Press. ISBN 978-1565848054. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from science to fiction to more speculative theories such as Gaia (the belief that the planet is a self-regulating organism), Straw Dogs unfurls in a series of numbered paragraphs. The style is terse and pithy; sometimes bold assertion supplants argument and there is repetition, overstatement and too much direct quotation from the work of EO Wilson and others. But there are moments of beauty and insight, too, and disgust at the excesses of history - the wars, destruction, the ideological follies. The Silicon Valley/Tech world (a group I fit into in large part) doesn’t have Liberalism/Humanism as a religion but rather, substitutes this with the belief that science and technology will be our savior. Even a group of people most averse to religion will develop into a form of religion as we see among atheist, skeptical and tech communities. 7) Becoming more “moral” as a society can’t happen for sustained periods of time Good politics is shabby and makeshift, but at the start of the twenty-first century the world is strewn with the grandiose ruins of failed utopias. With the Left moribund, the Right has become the home of the utopian imagination. Global communism has been followed by global capitalism.Susan George as Amy Sumner in 1971's Straw Dogs, which was filmed in west Cornwall (Image: Getty Images) The cult of choice reflects the fact that we must improvise our lives. That we cannot do otherwise is a mark of our unfreedom. Choice has become a fetish; but the mark of a fetish is that it is unchosen.” Our current technology – GMOs and the like – likewise allow more people to live, but we aren’t necessarily healthier or happier as a result. If anything, many of the technologies are making us less healthy and happy, but there is no alternative as our population expands. There is unlikely to be a more provocative or more compelling book published this year than Straw Dogs . . . Gray is one of the most consistently interesting and unpredictable thinkers in Britain.” — Jason Cowley, The Observer (London)

Straw Dogs (1971) Part One (ENG) HD - Video Dailymotion Straw Dogs (1971) Part One (ENG) HD - Video Dailymotion

Humans thrive in conditions that morality condemns. The peace and prosperity of one generation stand on the injustices of earlier generations; the delicate sensibilities of liberal societies are fruits of war and empire. The same is true of individuals. Gentleness flourishes in sheltered lives; an instinctive trust in others is rarely strong in people who have struggled against the odds. Isn’t that incredible? We can have all our needs met AND learn any trade AND obtain any piece of information while working a quarter of the year even on a bad salary. That’s technology for you.Isn’t it insane that with all of this status-seeking, education, and entertainment, we’re likely not happier because of it? Most people I know have plenty of entertainment and education and aren’t happy (no one ever has enough status). We constantly hope the future will be better, which is a testament to our unhappy lives. Human knowledge is one thing, human well-being is another.There is no predetermined harmony between the two' a b "BBFC passes STRAW DOGS uncut on video". 1 July 2002. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Tony Burns (1999). "John Gray and the death of conservatism". Contemporary Politics. 5 (1): 7–24. doi: 10.1080/13569779908449987.

Straw Dogs – review | Drama films | The Guardian Straw Dogs – review | Drama films | The Guardian

Human knowledge is one thing, human wellbeing another. There is no predetermined harmony between the two. The examined life may not be worth living.” One of the actors, Michael Mundell, has said the cast and crew felt like they were “at the ends of the Earth” so they behaved as such.At once daunting and enthralling, Gray's remarkable new book shows us what it would be like to live without the distraction of consolations.” — Adam Phillips The scene was trimmed by the censors when it hit cinemas and the film was banned on video in the 1980s due to its sexual violence. The ban stayed in place until well into the 21 st century. In the mid-to-late Seventies, for instance, he was one of a nexus of disaffected former left-wing thinkers who realised that if Britain were ever to lift itself from torpor and decline, if the country were to be modernised, there had to be a radical break from the stultification and mediocrity of the recent past. The political and economic consensus on which Britain was rebuilt in the immediate post-war years - interventionist government, a strong welfare state, powerful unions - had to be smashed, along with the old affiliations of class and club.