Comments on: Incantations for Muggles

By: John Dodds

John Dodds — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:51:55 +0000

On your last point about brand identification with social responsibility, I’m in total agreement – there is a lot of that going on here, but equally there is something in the air (no pun intended) which is both spilling over into legislative action and a degree of consumer insistence. And I say that from a standpoint of a dyed in the wool cycnic.

By: zephoria

zephoria — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:30:54 +0000

Oh, one thing to note… so long as being green is cool, people will “be green.” Of course, this will typically be commercialized green. Like the woman in front of me in yoga today with her Nike yoga mat, animal-free Prada bag, and Red phone. Brand-identifying with social responsibility for status is not the same as being socially responsible.

By: zephoria

zephoria — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:28:47 +0000

Political tides happen but, i see a lot of lipservice with little change on a personal level. The number one care i see has to do with the price of gas, but people are still consuming at extremely high levels and they don’t want their lifestyle to change at all. There’s virtually no reflection on their own practices. Even amongst my progressive friends, there’s a lot of talk about environmentalism while they still drive 40 miles a day in their SUVs and leave all the lights on and leave all of their chargers plugged in. Just because the media is finally covering it does not mean that most people care or that most people are doing something…

By: John Dodds

John Dodds — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:13:27 +0000

You don’t sense a ground swell of environmental awareness. Perhaps it is all lip-service but I don’t think so.

By: zephoria

zephoria — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:03:48 +0000

What makes you think that there’s an increased interest in social responsibility? I would argue that this is not true at all.

By: John Dodds

John Dodds — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:50:26 +0000

Would the increasing interest in social responsibility not be classifiable as reflection or self-actulaisation at a stretch?

By: zephoria

zephoria — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:17:31 +0000

Some aspects are more fluid but many are less fluid because of structural and social constraints around what you have access to at different stages. There are laws for specific age groups; it’s a lot more difficult to get a meaningful job at a younger age (and it is increasingly more difficult for under 18 year olds to get any job).. without economic access, a lot of other things fall apart.

As much as i’d love to think that there’s more reflection earlier, i don’t think that’s actually true. There’s certainly more documentation, but there’s not nearly that much backwards looking as one might think given the tools.

By: John Dodds

John Dodds — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:05:57 +0000

Stimulating as ever, but I wonder if you would agree that the life stages you delineate are increasingly more fluid and particularly that reflection is much more prevalent at an earlier age than before and certainly common long before retirement.

By: paul conley

paul conley — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 08:29:51 +0000

Danah,
I swear … there’s no other writer/speaker I know that can make me think so deeply about so many ideas.
I wish I’d been at Etech to hear it. But I’m grateful I got the chance to read it.

By: Fred Oliveira

Fred Oliveira — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:00:21 +0000

Danah, amazing amazing speech. Thanks for getting it in writing, too!