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Alton C. Thompson

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I was born in 1940 in Wautoma, WI--about 40 miles west of Oshkosh, and 80 miles north of Madison. I attended Wisconsin State College-Oshkosh, majoring in History, and minoring in Geology and English. While teaching Geology and Physical Geography labs at Oshkosh the year after graduating, I was encouraged to apply at the University of North Carolina for a M.A. in Geography, which I did. After graduating in 1965, I taught at Salisbury State College for 2 years on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, then went to the University of Cincinnati for a Ph. D. in Urban Economic Geography. I then taught Geography at Miami University (in Oxford, OH) for 6 years, and then returned, with my wife and our son, to Wisconsin--the Milwaukee area. I've had a variety of jobs since then (e.g., planner with Milwaukee County), but primarily with an avionics firm, 27 years. I retired in 2014, and have been doing a great deal of writing since then.The picture of me, left, was taken by Cumberland Falls, KY. While my wife and I lived in Cincinnati, we did some camping, and this is one of the locations where we vacationed for awhile. To contact me: [email protected].

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Book by Alfie Kohn.

Is Extinction Our Destiny

We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any do... more

Why We Are Doomed

Christianity's Role in Causing Our (Possible) Extinction

This level of warming would likely cause widespread extreme weather like deadly heatwaves, severe... more This level of warming would likely cause widespread extreme weather like deadly heatwaves, severe droughts, devastating floods, and powerful storms, disrupting agriculture and displacing large populations.  Sea level rise: Melting ice caps would significantly raise sea levels, inundating coastal regions and displacing millions.  Biodiversity loss: Many ecosystems would struggle to adapt, leading to mass extinctions of plant and animal species.

Defining Religion

Here, first, are some definitions of "religion" :  Emile Durkheim defined religion as "a unified... more Here, first, are some definitions of "religion" :  Emile Durkheim defined religion as "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden-beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."[9]  Max Lynn Stackhouse, defined religion as "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".[10] The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a:  […] system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."[21]  Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as "the belief in spiritual beings".[28] He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.  In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, the psychologist William James defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine".[29] By the term divine James meant "any object that is godlike, whether it be a concrete deity or not"[30] to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.[31]  Etc. Religion, then, has been conceived in a great variety of ways. What's of interest for the purposes of this essay, however, is how Jesus conceived "religion." In assuming that the source to use for this purpose should be the Christian Bible, and in identifying relevant Biblical passages I first make note of the fact that the meaning that "religion" should have is specified in just one place in the Bible, James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. If that epistle was written by a brother of Jesus, then passages attributed to Jesus in the Bible that are consistent with James 1:27 can be regarded as expressing Jesus's concept of "religion." Given that:

Can Our Species be Saved

One interpretation of human history is that at some point in time Earth System "sensed" that huma... more One interpretation of human history is that at some point in time Earth System "sensed" that humans were becoming a "smarty-pants" species that would likely become a problem for it-a cancer on it, in fact! It then "decided" to put our species on a downward trajectory by first "allowing" it to develop agriculture (during the Neolithic Revolution). That development-because of the sedentary nature of the new mode of existence, in contrast to the mobile/migratory way of life of the gatherer-hunters 1 then existing-fostered a growth in group size; and that development, in turn, put our species on a course that would eventuate in our extinctionthereby getting rid of the cancer inflicting it, its human problem, that is! A more standard version of our history is that humans began to abandon gathering-hunting for agriculture (our "worst mistake" as humans!) during the Neolithic Revolution, and that development just happened to put our species on a downward course, that would eventuate in "apocalypse." 2 Whichever perspective one embraces, there's this from last year: The image below illustrates the threat that the temperature rise may exceed 3°C. The blue trend, based on January 1880 to March 2023 data, shows how 3°C could be crossed in 2036. The magenta trend, based on January 2010 to March 2023 data, better reflects relatively short-term variables such as El Niño and illustrates how 3°C could be crossed as early as in 2025. Note that this article assumes that reaching a global mean temperature of 3° C above the preindustrial level would mean extinction for our species. But here's what this source says about a 3° C rise in the global mean temperature:

Where Will Our Values Get Us

I've just been watching the Alabama football team slaughter Wisconsin (score at 2:05 today, Satur... more I've just been watching the Alabama football team slaughter Wisconsin (score at 2:05 today, Saturday September 14, 2024: 42 to 10!). An announcer just referred to Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell as being a former wrestler and:. .. a 44-year-old husband to Amy and father of six kids, from his devotion to family, strong Catholic faith and deep roots in Ohio. Really deep roots.

Regarding Competition

Sabotaging The Human Future

Will We Have a Future

Must There Be Social Classes

Kamala Harris, in advertisements supporting her candidacy for the presidency, often makes note of... more

Coming Back by Abandoning

What Needs to Be Done

Over the centuries 2 some individuals have harmed others 3-perhaps to the point of death! This ha... more

Over the centuries 2 some individuals have harmed others 3-perhaps to the point of death! This ha... more

If Only We Had Known

During the lengthy period-over 99 percent of our existence!-when our Homo sapiens ancestors were ... more During the lengthy period-over 99 percent of our existence!-when our Homo sapiens ancestors were gatherer-hunters, 1 we became "designed" 2 for that way of life. Of most relevance for today is the fact that we became designed to live in small groups. 2. We became, during that lengthy period, "born to be good"! In the Preface of this 2009 book author Dacher Keltner writes: we have evolved a set of emotions that enable us to lead the meaningful life, emotions such as gratitude, mirth, awe, and compassion (the Romanticism thesis). 3. Not only does the Good Samaritan story encourage us to be "good;" scientists have found that: Consider the positive feelings you experienced the last time when you did something good for someone else. Perhaps it was the satisfaction of running an errand for your neighbor, or the sense of fulfillment from volunteering at a local organization, or the gratification from donating to a good cause. Or perhaps it was the simple joy of having helped out a friend. This "warm glow" of pro-sociality is thought to be one of the drivers of generous behavior in humans. One reason behind the positive feelings associated with helping others is that being pro-social reinforces our sense of relatedness to others, thus helping us meet our most basic psychological needs.

But Can We "Choose Joy"

quoted the late, great Congressman John Lewis-"no matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we a... more quoted the late, great Congressman John Lewis-"no matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we are all in the same boat now." And she hammered that point home by connecting our power to vote our values, that "democracy and respect are the ballot." The article goes on: Democrats, Never Trumpers and experts on authoritarianism have tried for the entire Trump era to warn the American people that the entire American experiment is at stake. While polls show Americans are broadly worried about threats to our democracy, democracy as an issue barely appears on lists of voter priorities this election. And her message to the crowd was "simple: The choice in November is to choose loyalty to the Constitution, rather than loyalty to any individual. There is no going back to a time of division and darkness-it is time to choose joy." What Winfrey failed to convey to the audience, however, is illustrated below (a bus going over a cliff): We are not quite in this situation yet-but we are headed there! Headed for disaster, that is!

Insecurity involves an overall sense of uncertainty or anxiety about your worth, abilities, skill... more Insecurity involves an overall sense of uncertainty or anxiety about your worth, abilities, skills, and value as a person, conveying the message that you're at risk or in danger of something or someone. That negative impacts of insecurity could be physical, mental, or emotional. Without security, you can't accomplish full trust or function to your fullest potential.

Our Unreal Real World

First, the key-and I mean key!-feature" of the real world that we live in now-as indicated by thi... more First, the key-and I mean key!-feature" of the real world that we live in now-as indicated by this graph: The graph shows global temperature as it has varied over the past 2000 years (from 0 to 2019 CE). 1 As the graph indicates, for much of that period the trend was downward, but starting around 1850 that trend turned sharply upward! Put another way, that upward trend started during the Industrial Revolution (that began around 1760). And for these two reasons:

Book by Alfie Kohn.

Is Extinction Our Destiny

We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any do... more

Why We Are Doomed

Christianity's Role in Causing Our (Possible) Extinction

This level of warming would likely cause widespread extreme weather like deadly heatwaves, severe... more This level of warming would likely cause widespread extreme weather like deadly heatwaves, severe droughts, devastating floods, and powerful storms, disrupting agriculture and displacing large populations.  Sea level rise: Melting ice caps would significantly raise sea levels, inundating coastal regions and displacing millions.  Biodiversity loss: Many ecosystems would struggle to adapt, leading to mass extinctions of plant and animal species.

Defining Religion

Here, first, are some definitions of "religion" :  Emile Durkheim defined religion as "a unified... more Here, first, are some definitions of "religion" :  Emile Durkheim defined religion as "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden-beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."[9]  Max Lynn Stackhouse, defined religion as "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".[10] The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a:  […] system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."[21]  Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as "the belief in spiritual beings".[28] He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.  In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, the psychologist William James defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine".[29] By the term divine James meant "any object that is godlike, whether it be a concrete deity or not"[30] to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.[31]  Etc. Religion, then, has been conceived in a great variety of ways. What's of interest for the purposes of this essay, however, is how Jesus conceived "religion." In assuming that the source to use for this purpose should be the Christian Bible, and in identifying relevant Biblical passages I first make note of the fact that the meaning that "religion" should have is specified in just one place in the Bible, James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. If that epistle was written by a brother of Jesus, then passages attributed to Jesus in the Bible that are consistent with James 1:27 can be regarded as expressing Jesus's concept of "religion." Given that:

Can Our Species be Saved

One interpretation of human history is that at some point in time Earth System "sensed" that huma... more One interpretation of human history is that at some point in time Earth System "sensed" that humans were becoming a "smarty-pants" species that would likely become a problem for it-a cancer on it, in fact! It then "decided" to put our species on a downward trajectory by first "allowing" it to develop agriculture (during the Neolithic Revolution). That development-because of the sedentary nature of the new mode of existence, in contrast to the mobile/migratory way of life of the gatherer-hunters 1 then existing-fostered a growth in group size; and that development, in turn, put our species on a course that would eventuate in our extinctionthereby getting rid of the cancer inflicting it, its human problem, that is! A more standard version of our history is that humans began to abandon gathering-hunting for agriculture (our "worst mistake" as humans!) during the Neolithic Revolution, and that development just happened to put our species on a downward course, that would eventuate in "apocalypse." 2 Whichever perspective one embraces, there's this from last year: The image below illustrates the threat that the temperature rise may exceed 3°C. The blue trend, based on January 1880 to March 2023 data, shows how 3°C could be crossed in 2036. The magenta trend, based on January 2010 to March 2023 data, better reflects relatively short-term variables such as El Niño and illustrates how 3°C could be crossed as early as in 2025. Note that this article assumes that reaching a global mean temperature of 3° C above the preindustrial level would mean extinction for our species. But here's what this source says about a 3° C rise in the global mean temperature:

Where Will Our Values Get Us

I've just been watching the Alabama football team slaughter Wisconsin (score at 2:05 today, Satur... more I've just been watching the Alabama football team slaughter Wisconsin (score at 2:05 today, Saturday September 14, 2024: 42 to 10!). An announcer just referred to Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell as being a former wrestler and:. .. a 44-year-old husband to Amy and father of six kids, from his devotion to family, strong Catholic faith and deep roots in Ohio. Really deep roots.

Regarding Competition

Sabotaging The Human Future

Will We Have a Future

Must There Be Social Classes

Kamala Harris, in advertisements supporting her candidacy for the presidency, often makes note of... more

Coming Back by Abandoning

What Needs to Be Done

Over the centuries 2 some individuals have harmed others 3-perhaps to the point of death! This ha... more

Over the centuries 2 some individuals have harmed others 3-perhaps to the point of death! This ha... more

If Only We Had Known

During the lengthy period-over 99 percent of our existence!-when our Homo sapiens ancestors were ... more During the lengthy period-over 99 percent of our existence!-when our Homo sapiens ancestors were gatherer-hunters, 1 we became "designed" 2 for that way of life. Of most relevance for today is the fact that we became designed to live in small groups. 2. We became, during that lengthy period, "born to be good"! In the Preface of this 2009 book author Dacher Keltner writes: we have evolved a set of emotions that enable us to lead the meaningful life, emotions such as gratitude, mirth, awe, and compassion (the Romanticism thesis). 3. Not only does the Good Samaritan story encourage us to be "good;" scientists have found that: Consider the positive feelings you experienced the last time when you did something good for someone else. Perhaps it was the satisfaction of running an errand for your neighbor, or the sense of fulfillment from volunteering at a local organization, or the gratification from donating to a good cause. Or perhaps it was the simple joy of having helped out a friend. This "warm glow" of pro-sociality is thought to be one of the drivers of generous behavior in humans. One reason behind the positive feelings associated with helping others is that being pro-social reinforces our sense of relatedness to others, thus helping us meet our most basic psychological needs.

But Can We "Choose Joy"

quoted the late, great Congressman John Lewis-"no matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we a... more quoted the late, great Congressman John Lewis-"no matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we are all in the same boat now." And she hammered that point home by connecting our power to vote our values, that "democracy and respect are the ballot." The article goes on: Democrats, Never Trumpers and experts on authoritarianism have tried for the entire Trump era to warn the American people that the entire American experiment is at stake. While polls show Americans are broadly worried about threats to our democracy, democracy as an issue barely appears on lists of voter priorities this election. And her message to the crowd was "simple: The choice in November is to choose loyalty to the Constitution, rather than loyalty to any individual. There is no going back to a time of division and darkness-it is time to choose joy." What Winfrey failed to convey to the audience, however, is illustrated below (a bus going over a cliff): We are not quite in this situation yet-but we are headed there! Headed for disaster, that is!

Insecurity involves an overall sense of uncertainty or anxiety about your worth, abilities, skill... more Insecurity involves an overall sense of uncertainty or anxiety about your worth, abilities, skills, and value as a person, conveying the message that you're at risk or in danger of something or someone. That negative impacts of insecurity could be physical, mental, or emotional. Without security, you can't accomplish full trust or function to your fullest potential.

Our Unreal Real World

First, the key-and I mean key!-feature" of the real world that we live in now-as indicated by thi... more First, the key-and I mean key!-feature" of the real world that we live in now-as indicated by this graph: The graph shows global temperature as it has varied over the past 2000 years (from 0 to 2019 CE). 1 As the graph indicates, for much of that period the trend was downward, but starting around 1850 that trend turned sharply upward! Put another way, that upward trend started during the Industrial Revolution (that began around 1760). And for these two reasons:

My Essays: Vol. XX

My essays.

Global Warming: Beliefs and Attitudes

Identifies beliefs and attitudes regarding global warming, and argues that they virtually guarant... more

My Essays: Volume XI

A collection of my essays, on a variety of subjects.

A List of My Essays Pertaining to Communities

A list, with links, to 76 of my essays that pertain to communities.

Are We Near the End?

Argues that the global warming now occurring is likely to result in our extinction soon.

Two Models of Society

Compares the societal models of Adam Smith and Paul of Tarsus.

Where Are We Headed Now?

Argues that it's almost certain that our species is headed for extinction.

Our Delusional Species

The study of human prehistory (through the eyes of Kirkpatrick Sale) leads to the conclusion that... more

My Essays: Volume X

A collection of my essays.

Explanations: Useless and Otherwise

There are levels of explanation, with high-level explanations being most fundamental--and useful.

The Current Importance of an Ancient "Event"

Coping behaviors over the centuries.

A "Sapienser" Private Venture

A wiser private project than what Elon Musk is doing!

A New Look at an Old Story

Looks at the Good Samaritan parable from a "scientific" perspective.

Blame the Prophets

The articulation of behavioral rules by the prophets is blamed for most of our ills!

AX -My Essays: Vol. XXIV

A collection of my essays.

Changing the Way We Live

Provides a rationale for creating company-town ecovillages.

A "Short and Sweet" History Just Kidding (about the "sweet" part

My unusual perspective on human history.

Don't "Mess" With Societal Systems

My title may seem to suggest that I am tone deaf; that I have not heard the calls for systemic ch... more My title may seem to suggest that I am tone deaf; that I have not heard the calls for systemic change that have followed the recent police-killing of George Floyd-a type of killing that "happens every day"! Nor will I comment on, e.g., the former militar y leaders who have criticized the recent actions of Pres. Donald J. Trump-or the existence of racism in our society. Facts, however, that do not mean that I have been able to put the blasphemy of Pres. Trump standing in front of a church, holding a Bible in his hand, out of my mind! My focus here is on societal systems, and from an historical perspective. First, though, some comments on "societal system" per se : In sociology, social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. [1] It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. [1] An individual may belong to multiple social systems at once; [2] examples of social systems include nuclear family units, communities, cities, nations, college campuses, corporations, and industries. The organization and definition of groups within a social system depend on various shared properties such as location, socioeconomic status, race, religion , societal function, or other distinguishable features. [3] And this: The term 'system' implies an orderly arrangement, an interrelationship of parts. In the arrangement, every part has a fixed place and definite role to play. The parts are bound by interaction. To understand the functioning of a system, for example the human body, one has to analyse and identify the subsystems (e.g. circulatory, nervous, digestive, excretionary systems etc.) and understand how these various subsystems enter into specific relations in the fulfillment of the organic function of the body. Likewise, society may be viewed as a system of interrelated mutually dependent parts which cooperate to preserve a recognisable whole and to satisfy some purposes or goa l. Social system may be described as an arrangement of social interactions based on shared norms and values. Individuals constitute it and each has place and function to perform within it. Neither of those presentations is very clear, and I object to the use of the word "cooperate" in the second statement. Also, although I would agree in the "shared norms and values" in the second statement, I would add that the sharing involved may be of a subtly imposed nature! For me, what makes a society a system is that it (a) consists of various parts (e.g., individuals, families, organizations), with (b) those "parts" not being units unto themselves but, rather, interconnected-with the possibility, at least, that (c) some of those interconnections are of an exploitative nature. Those latter facts will play some role in the presentation that follows. My starting point here is with the fact we humans obtained our sustenance from hunting and gathering (i.e. foraging) until about 12,000 years ago, when the Neolithic Revolution began:

Entrepreneurs to the Rescue

I'm hoping that entrepreneurs will save our species from extinction!

"Fiddlin' While Rome Burns"

Argues that the root of our various problems goes back to the Neolithic.

Creating Company-Town Ecovillages Reasons for Doing So

My subtitle here is important, for although I reference two papers herein that discuss my proposa... more

Why economic problems in the near future will favor the development of company-town ecovillages.

My Essays: Vol. XXIII

Vol. 24 of my essays.

Another "Invisible Enemy"

After Covid-19 there's global warming!

Changing Our Way of Life

Not Completely Novel

In other papers I have advocated the creation of company-town ecovillages; in this paper I discus... more

My unconventional history of our species, with a sad ending!

Looking Forward

Notes that global warming is a serious threat to our species, and offers a proposal for not only ... more

Viking Villages for Today

Suggests creating ecovillages with a Viking theme!

The Curtain is Falling? 1

Provides a catalog of reasons why our species is likely to go extinct soon.