The Great Stoic Revival

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Nancy Sherman
Keyword(s):  
Social Isolation ◽  
White Men ◽  
The West ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Art Of Living ◽  
Human Control ◽  
Living Well ◽  
User Friendly

Why is Stoicism the new Zen of the West now? In part, the need for finding calm is ever pressing. In the tech world, work weeks can be manic, the lead-up to new funding rounds even tougher, and the pressure to design products that are both user-friendly and examples of smart engineering leads to stress and burnout. Stoicism offers lifehacks for detoxing from anxiety and stress. For the alt-right, it has the additional badge of being a philosophy of “dead white men.” The Covid-19 pandemic added a new layer of anxiety as people faced stresses from social isolation, job losses, massive death, and basic fear. The pandemic made clear that people need ways of preparing themselves, emotionally and psychologically, for worst-case scenarios. Individuals are hungry for ways of dialing down anxiety and tempering despair. Stoicism is an uncanny mix of a philosophy of empowerment and a philosophy of accepting what lies beyond full human control with equanimity. The book distills lessons for modern resilience with concrete meditation guides for the art of living well.

From personal to global – the art of living well

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-185
Author(s):  
Laurence Hegan
Keyword(s):  
Art Of Living ◽  
Living Well

‘Good-for-nothing’

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dezeuze
Keyword(s):  
West Coast ◽  
Work Ethic ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
The West ◽  
Art Of Living ◽  
Daily Experiences ◽  
Good For ◽  
The 1960S

Introduced by the ‘junk’ and beat aesthetics in the late 1950s, the figure of the dropout or slacker served as a counter-cultural model for artists concerned with precariousness, and took on various forms later in that decade. Celebrating leisure and laziness as a challenge to the capitalist work ethic, artists such as Tom Marioni, as well as groups such as Fluxus or ‘funk’ artists on the West Coast, appeared as concerned with their daily experiences as with creating any specific artwork, thus pursuing an ‘art of living’, as Fluxus artist Robert Filliou called it. Other artists in the 1960s questioned the value of work by developing what Allan Kaprow called ‘useless work’ — types of labour that involve effort, but yield no lasting product or outcome. While such ‘good-for-nothing’ figures pursued the Zen ideal of wu-shih or ‘nothing special’ that had inspired both junk practices and ‘borderline’ art in the early 1960s, other artists looked for inspiration to the ‘adversity’ of some of the poorest members of society (in the case of Hélio Oiticica).

4. Race for the H-bomb

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-59
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Siracusa
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
National Character ◽  
The Political ◽  
Window Of Opportunity ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Atomic Weapons ◽  
Hydrogen Bomb ◽  
Human Control ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Atomic Weapon

America’s monopoly on atomic weapons was shorter than expected. ‘Race for the H-bomb’ details the development of the hydrogen bomb and the political developments surrounding it. The Soviet Union developed an atomic weapon faster than worst-case scenarios had predicted. Stalin appeared at first to dismiss the bomb, but it is likely that his understanding was more nuanced. What else could America have done with their short window of opportunity? Some argued for preventive war, but this went against the national character. The development of the hydrogen bomb took war out of the realms of logic and human control altogether, and anti-nuclear movements began to gather force in the 1950s.

Mooring Analysis of a Turret Moored FPSO in a Squall Environment

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Oberlies ◽  
Amitava Guha ◽  
Scott Slocum
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Response ◽  
Time Domain ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
West African ◽  
Load Case ◽  
The West ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Input Parameters ◽  
Computationally Intensive ◽  
Transient Dynamic Response

The transient dynamic response of a FPSO in a squall environment is dependent on several input parameters. Because the response’s dependence on these input parameters is unclear prior to performing the analysis, a large number of parameter combinations need to be considered to find the combination that gives a worst-case load or response as required by reference [1]. Because the required time-domain simulations are computationally intensive, there is often a practical need to limit the number of simulations that are performed, raising questions about how many are necessary to meet the analysis objectives. This study investigates the effect of different squall scenarios on a turret moored FPSO in the West African offshore environment. A large number of cases with selected vessel headings, squall types, squall approach directions and vessel drafts are studied and parameters affecting the critical mooring loads and turret positions are identified. Possible reductions in the load case matrix along with a sensitivity study of a few parameters affecting the results are also discussed.

From Sufism to Universal Vision: Murat Yagan and the Teaching of Kebzeh

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-92
Author(s):  
Chen Bram ◽  
Meir Hatina
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The West ◽  
Art Of Living ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Caucasus Mountains ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
First Time

This article examines aspects of cultural exchange between the Middle East and the West in which Sufism, Christianity, the traditions of the Circassians and New Age concepts played a central role. It focuses on the teaching of Murat Yagan, of Abkhaz-Circassian origin who grew up in Turkey and immigrated to Canada in the 1960s, where he developed his philosophy, Ahmsta Kebzeh (“the knowledge of the art of living”). The Kebzeh way of life emphasizes modesty, mutual responsibility and compassion. Yagan linked these values to the ancient ethos of the Caucasus Mountains which he sought to revive as the basis of a universal vision. The nature of Kebzeh was influenced by the cosmopolitan environment in which Yagan was educated in Turkey; by his enrollment with Sufi circles in North America; and by the multicultural Canadian atmosphere. These diverse influences enabled him to devise an ecumenical model of dialogue between cultures. The article provides a first-time survey and analysis of Kebzeh ideological and communal features. It sheds new light on the role of ethnicity and cultural heritage in immigrant societies in the context of the evolution of spirituality in Canada, a relatively unexplored milieu in comparison to the United States and Europe.

Shoreline Bioremediation Model (SBM) - A Graphical User Interface for Simulating the Biodegradation of Beached Oil

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 1099-1112
Author(s):  
Jagadish Torlapati ◽  
Xiaolong Geng ◽  
Tom King ◽  
Michel Boufadel ◽  
Kenneth Lee
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
User Interface ◽  
Numerical Model ◽  
Graphical User Interface ◽  
Biodegradation Rate ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Oil Concentration ◽  
Oil Components ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Friendly Graphical User Interface

ABSTRACT We developed a user-friendly numerical model, Shoreline Bioremediation Model (SBM), to simulate the biodegradation and bioremediation of oil entrapped within shorelines. The model takes oil properties and environmental conditions as input and produces variation of oil concentration with time, up to several years from the time of the spill. SBM is equipped with a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). The accessibility and easy-to-use interface allow the user to quickly produce several biodegradation and bioremediation scenarios before they are implemented at the contaminated shoreline. The model has been calibrated to predict the biodegradation rate of saturates and aromatics, but it can be also used to predict the biodegradation rates of individual oil components and to decide on bioremediation studies in shorelines based on the enhancement due to biostimulation (addition of nutrients) or bioaugmentation (addition of hydrocarbon degrading organisms). The GUI provides the oil concentration with time along with best case and worst case scenarios, which is commonly needed for decision making.

scholarly journals The Price of Anarchy in Auctions

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 59-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Roughgarden ◽  
Vasilis Syrgkanis ◽  
Eva Tardos
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Price Of Anarchy ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Extension Theorems ◽  
Complex Settings ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Auction Formats ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Special Case

This survey outlines a general and modular theory for proving approximation guarantees for equilibria of auctions in complex settings. This theory complements traditional economic techniques, which generally focus on exact and optimal solutions and are accordingly limited to relatively stylized settings. We highlight three user-friendly analytical tools: smoothness-type inequalities, which immediately yield approximation guarantees for many auction formats of interest in the special case of complete information and deterministic strategies; extension theorems, which extend such guarantees to randomized strategies, no-regret learning outcomes, and incomplete-information settings; and composition theorems, which extend such guarantees from simpler to more complex auctions. Combining these tools yields tight worst-case approximation guarantees for the equilibria of many widely-used auction formats.

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