Transhuman by Jonathan Hickman

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This book uses gorgeous artwork to tell an original story about the rise of Transhumanism as a corporate pissing match, and it embodies everything that is wrong with Jonathan Hickman as a writer.

Don't get me wrong, Hickman is incredibly creative and kind of a mad genius he's just a terrible storyteller. I've come to accept this fact. TRANSHUMAN is told as a "documentary" about the rise of the 3 largest Transhumanist corporations, which I guess is a clever conceit, except (1) why make a fiction

Don't get me wrong, Hickman is incredibly creative and kind of a mad genius he's just a terrible storyteller. I've come to accept this fact. TRANSHUMAN is told as a "documentary" about the rise of the 3 largest Transhumanist corporations, which I guess is a clever conceit, except (1) why make a fictional documentary as a graphic novel? Why not, ya know, write a screenplay? and (2) the nature of those "60 Minutes"-style factual reporting documentary is, by nature, a summary, and therefore not a story. The story is told through interviews with a narrator and the people involved in the story, but they are literally just TELLING the reader what happened. It's almost remarkable that a graphic novel a medium which is visual by nature could rely so much on telling and not showing, and therefore breaks one of the cardinal rules of fiction writing.

Sure, there are some interesting characters, and probably some cool dramatic, personal moments between them namely, the divorced couple who end up working together on the Transhumanist project despite their mutual hatred for one another, who ultimately backstab each other again but frankly, it's not very interesting to just see someone tell you that. I want to see it happen, I want to witness their interpersonal relations. If these were a real-life documentary from 50 years from now, and it aired on 60 Minutes or whatever, it would probably be great, because investigative journalism can get away with digging deep and just reciting facts (although I'd argue that most award-winning works of investigative journalism still manage to find a compelling human angle, something for the audience to emotionally engage with that makes them follow the story through to the end). In TRANSHUMAN, we just get a bunch of talking heads telling us what already happened, and a narrator / director to steer us away from any unreliable sources. There is literally nothing compelling or human to pull you through the story.

When Hickman first broke out onto the comics scene, I thought he was fantastic, but the truth is, he's good at creating the ILLUSION of good story telling. Everything he writes is done in summary, with a few cool moments in between to make it feel human. A friend of mine summed it up well as citing the difference between "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion" one is a story about characters that we care about, the other is a play-by-play history book, and Hickman writes the latter. I think Hickman would be better off as an idea man, leaving other people to actually execute these epic stories of his. Because the worlds he creates are always unique and fascinating, full of complex politics and otherworldly visions. But saying "HERE'S THIS CRAZY WORLD I CREATED AND THERE ARE THESE GUYS AND THEN THESE TWO FOUGHT AND THEN THIS GUY BETRAYED THIS GIRL AND THEN THIS PERSON WON, THE END" is really not a fun story to read.

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Transhuman by Jonathan Hickman

American Rhetoric: Movie Speech from Braveheart – William …

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American Rhetoric: MovieSpeech

"Braveheart" (1995)

William Wallace: Address to Scottish Army at Stirling

Audio mp3 of Address

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Wallace: Sons of Scotland, I am William Wallace.

Young soldier: William Wallace is 7 feet tall.

Wallace: Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he'd consume the English with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse. I AM William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do with that freedom? Will you fight?

Veteran soldier: Fight? Against that? No, we will run; and we will live.

Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!!

Wallace and Soldiers: Alba gu bra! (Scotland forever!)

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Nihilism | Supernatural Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

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Nihilism

Nihilism is the 10th episode of Season 14. It aired on January 17, 2019.

Michael has re-taken control of Dean as his army of monsters continues to move in on our heroes. Sam devises a plan to try and reach Dean and stop Michael before anyone else has to die.

Michael taunting Sam Dean and Castiel while in Dean's mind.

Michael continues to fight the trio and gains the upper-hand over them before mocking them on trying to get him to evacuate Dean's body since it might cause physical repercussions on Dean. Hearing this, Dean decides to not eject the Archangel but keep him locked away. With help from Sam and Castiel, Dean pushes Michael into a walk-in bar cooler full of kegs and locks him inside using a screwdriver. Michael immediately starts bashing on the door wanting out. Dean declares the door will hold because he has control over his subconscious and will have it act as the cage to hold Michael.

The group leave Dean's mind, as they are cleaning up the mess left by the monsters. Sam and Maggie are relieved that Michael's scattered after being rendered in disarray without his direction. Sam thanks Maggie for protecting them, as she states it was Jack since he destroyed the monsters as she and Sam note on the latter's powers returning. Castiel is admonishing Jack on his acts since they have burned away part of his soul from the Enochian magic but Jack defends himself because there was danger. Cass accepts this and warns Jack to be careful and he promises.

Michael angrily tries to escape Dean's mind.

In his room, Dean is talking to himself in a mirror where he tells himself that he is still in control of his body while Michael is in his subconscious continuously bashing on the locked door and screams to be released. Dean senses this and continues to worry over his control before Billie appears and notes on the screaming in Dean's mind keeping him occupied. Dean thanks her for the assist she provided as she shrugs it off to the matter at hand. She reminds him of her warnings of dimension traveling and the danger it brings. Dean justifies it since Michael is now trapped but Billie is not so sure, she tells Dean of his shelf of possible deaths and they have all changed to the same thing. She reveals that each detail of how Michael will escape to take control of Dean and destroy the world. Billie shows the shocked Dean that only one details an alternate way as she hands him a thin book. Reading the contents, a stunned Dean questions this and Billie tells him it's his choice to make before she disappears.

Sam and Michael

Michael to Dean about Castiel

Dean and Billie

TBA.

Supernatural 14x10 Promo "Nihilism" (HD) Season 14 Episode 10 Promo

Supernatural 14x10 Extended Promo "Nihilism" (HD) Season 14 Episode 10 Extended Promo

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We make travel planning easy and affordable | World Travel

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The Abolition of Work–Bob Black – Primitivism

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The Abolition of Work

Bob Black

No one should ever work.

Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you'd care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working.

That doesn't mean we have to stop doing things. It does mean creating a new way of life based on play; in other words, a *ludic* conviviality, commensality, and maybe even art. There is more to play than child's play, as worthy as that is. I call for a collective adventure in generalized joy and freely interdependent exuberance. Play isn't passive. Doubtless we all need a lot more time for sheer sloth and slack than we ever enjoy now, regardless of income or occupation, but once recovered from employment-induced exhaustion nearly all of us want to act. Oblomovism and Stakhanovism are two sides of the same debased coin.

The ludic life is totally incompatible with existing reality. So much the worse for "reality," the gravity hole that sucks the vitality from the little in life that still distinguishes it from mere survival. Curiously -- or maybe not -- all the old ideologies are conservative because they believe in work. Some of them, like Marxism and most brands of anarchism, believe in work all the more fiercely because they believe in so little else.

Liberals say we should end employment discrimination. I say we should end employment. Conservatives support right-to-work laws. Following Karl Marx's wayward son-in-law Paul Lafargue I support the right to be lazy. Leftists favor full employment. Like the surrealists -- except that I'm not kidding -- I favor full *un*employment. Trotskyists agitate for permanent revolution. I agitate for permanent revelry. But if all the ideologues (as they do) advocate work -- and not only because they plan to make other people do theirs -- they are strangely reluctant to say so. They will carry on endlessly about wages, hours, working conditions, exploitation, productivity, profitability. They'll gladly talk about anything but work itself. These experts who offer to do our thinking for us rarely share their conclusions about work, for all its saliency in the lives of all of us. Among themselves they quibble over the details. Unions and management agree that we ought to sell the time of our lives in exchange for survival, although they haggle over the price. Marxists think we should be bossed by bureaucrats. Libertarians think we should be bossed by businessmen. Feminists don't care which form bossing takes so long as the bosses are women. Clearly these ideology-mongers have serious differences over how to divvy up the spoils of power. Just as clearly, none of them have any objection to power as such and all of them want to keep us working.

You may be wondering if I'm joking or serious. I'm joking *and* serious. To be ludic is not to be ludicrous. Play doesn't have to be frivolous, although frivolity isn't triviality: very often we ought to take frivolity seriously. I'd like life to be a game -- but a game with high stakes. I want to play *for* *keeps*.

The alternative to work isn't just idleness. To be ludic is not to be quaaludic. As much as I treasure the pleasure of torpor, it's never more rewarding than when it punctuates other pleasures and pastimes. Nor am I promoting the managed time-disciplined safety-valve called "leisure"; far from it. Leisure is nonwork for the sake of work. Leisure is the time spent recovering from work and in the frenzied but hopeless attempt to forget about work. Many people return from vacation so beat that they look forward to returning to work so they can rest up. The main difference between work and leisure is that work at least you get paid for your alienation and enervation.

I am not playing definitional games with anybody. When I say I want to abolish work, I mean just what I say, but I want to say what I mean by defining my terms in non-idiosyncratic ways. My minimum definition of work is *forced* *labor*, that is, compulsory production. Both elements are essential. Work is production enforced by economic or political means, by the carrot or the stick. (The carrot is just the stick by other means.) But not all creation is work. Work is never done for its own sake, it's done on account of some product or output that the worker (or, more often, somebody else) gets out of it. This is what work necessarily is. To define it is to despise it. But work is usually even worse than its definition decrees. The dynamic of domination intrinsic to work tends over time toward elaboration. In advanced work-riddled societies, including all industrial societies whether capitalist of "Communist," work invariably acquires other attributes which accentuate its obnoxiousness.

Usually -- and this is even more true in "Communist" than capitalist countries, where the state is almost the only employer and everyone is an employee -- work is employment, i. e., wage-labor, which means selling yourself on the installment plan. Thus 95% of Americans who work, work for somebody (or some*thing*) else. In the USSR or Cuba or Yugoslavia or any other alternative model which might be adduced, the corresponding figure approaches 100%. Only the embattled Third World peasant bastions -- Mexico, India, Brazil, Turkey -- temporarily shelter significant concentrations of agriculturists who perpetuate the traditional arrangement of most laborers in the last several millenia, the payment of taxes (= ransom) to the state or rent to parasitic landlords in return for being otherwise left alone. Even this raw deal is beginning to look good. *All* industrial (and office) workers are employees and under the sort of surveillance which ensures servility.

But modern work has worse implications. People don't just work, they have "jobs." One person does one productive task all the time on an or-else basis. Even if the task has a quantum of intrinsic interest (as increasingly many jobs don't) the monotony of its obligatory exclusivity drains its ludic potential. A "job" that might engage the energies of some people, for a reasonably limited time, for the fun of it, is just a burden on those who have to do it for forty hours a week with no say in how it should be done, for the profit of owners who contribute nothing to the project, and with no opportunity for sharing tasks or spreading the work among those who actually have to do it. This is the real world of work: a world of bureaucratic blundering, of sexual harassment and discrimination, of bonehead bosses exploiting and scapegoating their subordinates who -- by any rational-technical criteria -- should be calling the shots. But capitalism in the real world subordinates the rational maximization of productivity and profit to the exigencies of organizational control.

The degradation which most workers experience on the job is the sum of assorted indignities which can be denominated as "discipline." Foucault has complexified this phenomenon but it is simple enough. Discipline consists of the totality of totalitarian controls at the workplace -- surveillance, rotework, imposed work tempos, production quotas, punching -in and -out, etc. Discipline is what the factory and the office and the store share with the prison and the school and the mental hospital. It is something historically original and horrible. It was beyond the capacities of such demonic dictators of yore as Nero and Genghis Khan and Ivan the Terrible. For all their bad intentions they just didn't have the machinery to control their subjects as thoroughly as modern despots do. Discipline is the distinctively diabolical modern mode of control, it is an innovative intrusion which must be interdicted at the earliest opportunity.

Such is "work." Play is just the opposite. Play is always voluntary. What might otherwise be play is work if it's forced. This is axiomatic. Bernie de Koven has defined play as the "suspension of consequences." This is unacceptable if it implies that play is inconsequential. The point is not that play is without consequences. This is to demean play. The point is that the consequences, if any, are gratuitous. Playing and giving are closely related, they are the behavioral and transactional facets of the same impulse, the play-instinct. They share an aristocratic disdain for results. The player gets something out of playing; that's why he plays. But the core reward is the experience of the activity itself (whatever it is). Some otherwise attentive students of play, like Johan Huizinga (*Homo* *Ludens*), *define* it as game-playing or following rules. I respect Huizinga's erudition but emphatically reject his constraints. There are many good games (chess, baseball, Monopoly, bridge) which are rule-governed but there is much more to play than game-playing. Conversation, sex, dancing, travel -- these practices aren't rule-governed but they are surely play if anything is. And rules can be *played* *with* at least as readily as anything else.

Work makes a mockery of freedom. The official line is that we all have rights and live in a democracy. Other unfortunates who aren't free like we are have to live in police states. These victims obey orders or-else, no matter how arbitrary. The authorities keep them under regular surveillance. State bureaucrats control even the smaller details of everyday life. The officials who push them around are answerable only to higher-ups, public or private. Either way, dissent and disobedience are punished. Informers report regularly to the authorities. All this is supposed to be a very bad thing.

And so it is, although it is nothing but a description of the modern workplace. The liberals and conservatives and libertarians who lament totalitarianism are phonies and hypocrites. There is more freedom in any moderately deStalinized dictatorship than there is in the ordinary American workplace. You find the same sort of hierarchy and discipline in an office or factory as you do in a prison or monastery. In fact, as Foucault and others have shown, prisons and factories came in at about the same time, and their operators consciously borrowed from each other's control techniques. A worker is a par-time slave. The boss says when to show up, when to leave, and what to do in the meantime. He tells you how much work to do and how fast. He is free to carry his control to humiliating extremes, regulating, if he feels like it, the clothes you wear or how often you go to the bathroom. With a few exceptions he can fire you for any reason, or no reason. He has you spied on by snitches and supervisors, he amasses a dossier on every employee. Talking back is called "insubordination," just as if a worker is a naughty child, and it not only gets you fired, it disqualifies you for unemployment compensation. Without necessarily endorsing it for them either, it is noteworthy that children at home and in school receive much the same treatment, justified in their case by their supposed immaturity. What does this say about their parents and teachers who work?

The demeaning system of domination I've described rules over half the waking hours of a majority of women and the vast majority of men for decades, for most of their lifespans. For certain purposes it's not too misleading to call our system democracy or capitalism or -- better still -- industrialism, but its real names are factory fascism and office oligarchy. Anybody who says these people are "free" is lying or stupid. You are what you do. If you do boring, stupid monotonous work, chances are you'll end up boring, stupid and monotonous. Work is a much better explanation for the creeping cretinization all around us than even such significant moronizing mechanisms as television and education. People who are regimented all their lives, handed off to work from school and bracketed by the family in the beginning and the nursing home at the end, are habituated to heirarchy and psychologically enslaved. Their aptitude for autonomy is so atrophied that their fear of freedom is among their few rationally grounded phobias. Their obedience training at work carries over into the families *they* start, thus reproducing the system in more ways than one, and into politics, culture and everything else. Once you drain the vitality from people at work, they'll likely submit to heirarchy and expertise in everything. They're used to it.

We are so close to the world of work that we can't see what it does to us. We have to rely on outside observers from other times or other cultures to appreciate the extremity and the pathology of our present position. There was a time in our own past when the "work ethic" would have been incomprehensible, and perhaps Weber was on to something when he tied its appearance to a religion, Calvinism, which if it emerged today instead of four centuries ago would immediately and appropriately be labeled a cult. Be that as it may, we have only to draw upon the wisdom of antiquity to put work in perspective. The ancients saw work for what it is, and their view prevailed, the Calvinist cranks notwithstanding, until overthrown by industrialism -- but not before receiving the endorsement of its prophets.

Let's pretend for a moment that work doesn't turn people into stultified submissives. Let's pretend, in defiance of any plausible psychology and the ideology of its boosters, that it has no effect on the formation of character. And let's pretend that work isn't as boring and tiring and humiliating as we all know it really is. Even then, work would *still* make a mockery of all humanistic and democratic aspirations, just because it usurps so much of our time. Socrates said that manual laborers make bad friends and bad citizens because they have no time to fulfill the responsibilities of friendship and citizenship. He was right. Because of work, no matter what we do we keep looking at out watches. The only thing "free" about so-called free time is that it doesn't cost the boss anything. Free time is mostly devoted to getting ready for work, going to work, returning from work, and recovering from work. Free time is a euphemism for the peculiar way labor as a factor of production not only transports itself at its own expense to and from the workplace but assumes primary responsibility for its own maintenance and repair. Coal and steel don't do that. Lathes and typewriters don't do that. But workers do. No wonder Edward G. Robinson in one of his gangster movies exclaimed, "Work is for saps!"

Both Plato and Xenophon attribute to Socrates and obviously share with him an awareness of the destructive effects of work on the worker as a citizen and a human being. Herodotus identified contempt for work as an attribute of the classical Greeks at the zenith of their culture. To take only one Roman example, Cicero said that "whoever gives his labor for money sells himself and puts himself in the rank of slaves." His candor is now rare, but contemporary primitive societies which we are wont to look down upon have provided spokesmen who have enlightened Western anthropologists. The Kapauku of West Irian, according to Posposil, have a conception of balance in life and accordingly work only every other day, the day of rest designed "to regain the lost power and health." Our ancestors, even as late as the eighteenth century when they were far along the path to our present predicament, at least were aware of what we have forgotten, the underside of industrialization. Their religious devotion to "St. Monday" -- thus establishing a *de* *facto* five-day week 150-200 years before its legal consecration -- was the despair of the earliest factory owners. They took a long time in submitting to the tyranny of the bell, predecessor of the time clock. In fact it was necessary for a generation or two to replace adult males with women accustomed to obedience and children who could be molded to fit industrial needs. Even the exploited peasants of the *ancien* *regime* wrested substantial time back from their landlord's work. According to Lafargue, a fourth of the French peasants' calendar was devoted to Sundays and holidays, and Chayanov's figures from villages in Czarist Russia -- hardly a progressive society -- likewise show a fourth or fifth of peasants' days devoted to repose. Controlling for productivity, we are obviously far behind these backward societies. The exploited *muzhiks* would wonder why any of us are working at all. So should we.

To grasp the full enormity of our deterioration, however, consider the earliest condition of humanity, without government or property, when we wandered as hunter-gatherers. Hobbes surmised that life was then nasty, brutish and short. Others assume that life was a desperate unremitting struggle for subsistence, a war waged against a harsh Nature with death and disaster awaiting the unlucky or anyone who was unequal to the challenge of the struggle for existence. Actually, that was all a projection of fears for the collapse of government authority over communities unaccustomed to doing without it, like the England of Hobbes during the Civil War. Hobbes' compatriots had already encountered alternative forms of society which illustrated other ways of life -- in North America, particularly -- but already these were too remote from their experience to be understandable. (The lower orders, closer to the condition of the Indians, understood it better and often found it attractive. Throughout the seventeenth century, English settlers defected to Indian tribes or, captured in war, refused to return. But the Indians no more defected to white settlements than Germans climb the Berlin Wall from the west.) The "survival of the fittest" version -- the Thomas Huxley version -- of Darwinism was a better account of economic conditions in Victorian England than it was of natural selection, as the anarchist Kropotkin showed in his book *Mutual* *Aid,* *A* *Factor* *of* *Evolution*. (Kropotkin was a scientist -- a geographer -- who'd had ample involuntary opportunity for fieldwork whilst exiled in Siberia: he knew what he was talking about.) Like most social and political theory, the story Hobbes and his successors told was really unacknowledged autobiography.

The anthropologist Marshall Sahlins, surveying the data on contemporary hunter-gatherers, exploded the Hobbesian myth in an article entitled "The Original Affluent Society." They work a lot less than we do, and their work is hard to distinguish from what we regard as play. Sahlins concluded that "hunters and gatherers work less than we do; and rather than a continuous travail, the food quest is intermittent, leisure abundant, and there is a greater amount of sleep in the daytime per capita per year than in any other condition of society." They worked an average of four hours a day, assuming they were "working" at all. Their "labor," as it appears to us, was skilled labor which exercised their physical and intellectual capacities; unskilled labor on any large scale, as Sahlins says, is impossible except under industrialism. Thus it satisfied Friedrich Schiller's definition of play, the only occasion on which man realizes his complete humanity by giving full "play" to both sides of his twofold nature, thinking and feeling. As he put it: "The animal *works* when deprivation is the mainspring of its activity, and it *plays* when the fullness of its strength is this mainspring, when superabundant life is its own stimulus to activity." (A modern version -- dubiously developmental -- is Abraham Maslow's counterposition of "deficiency" and "growth" motivation.) Play and freedom are, as regards production, coextensive. Even Marx, who belongs (for all his good intentions) in the productivist pantheon, observed that "the realm of freedom does not commence until the point is passed where labor under the compulsion of necessity and external utility is required." He never could quite bring himself to identify this happy circumstance as what it is, the abolition of work -- it's rather anomalous, after all, to be pro-worker and anti-work -- but we can.

The aspiration to go backwards or forwards to a life without work is evident in every serious social or cultural history of pre-industrial Europe, among them M. Dorothy George's *England* In* *Transition* and Peter Burke's *Popular* *Culture* *in* *Early* *Modern* *Europe*. Also pertinent is Daniel Bell's essay, "Work and its Discontents," the first text, I believe, to refer to the "revolt against work" in so many words and, had it been understood, an important correction to the complacency ordinarily associated with the volume in which it was collected, *The* *End* *of* *Ideology*. Neither critics nor celebrants have noticed that Bell's end-of-ideology thesis signaled not the end of social unrest but the beginning of a new, uncharted phase unconstrained and uninformed by ideology. It was Seymour Lipset (in *Political* *Man*), not Bell, who announced at the same time that "the fundamental problems of the Industrial Revolution have been solved," only a few years before the post- or meta-industrial discontents of college students drove Lipset from UC Berkeley to the relative (and temporary) tranquility of Harvard.

As Bell notes, Adam Smith in *The* *Wealth* *of* *Nations*, for all his enthusiasm for the market and the division of labor, was more alert to (and more honest about) the seamy side of work than Ayn Rand or the Chicago economists or any of Smith's modern epigones. As Smith observed: "The understandings of the greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose life is spent in performing a few simple operations... has no occasion to exert his understanding... He generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become." Here, in a few blunt words, is my critique of work. Bell, writing in 1956, the Golden Age of Eisenhower imbecility and American self-satisfaction, identified the unorganized, unorganizable malaise of the 1970's and since, the one no political tendency is able to harness, the one identified in HEW's report *Work* *in* *America*, the one which cannot be exploited and so is ignored. That problem is the revolt against work. It does not figure in any text by any laissez-faire economist -- Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, Richard Posner -- because, in their terms, as they used to say on *Star* *Trek*, "it does not compute."

If these objections, informed by the love of liberty, fail to persuade humanists of a utilitarian or even paternalist turn, there are others which they cannot disregard. Work is hazardous to your health, to borrow a book title. In fact, work is mass murder or genocide. Directly or indirectly, work will kill most of the people who read these words. Between 14,000 and 25,000 workers are killed annually in this country on the job. Over two million are disabled. Twenty to twenty-five million are injured every year. And these figures are based on a very conservative estimation of what constitutes a work-related injury. Thus they don't count the half million cases of occupational disease every year. I looked at one medical textbook on occupational diseases which was 1,200 pages long. Even this barely scratches the surface. The available statistics count the obvious cases like the 100,000 miners who have black lung disease, of whom 4,000 die every year, a much higher fatality rate than for AIDS, for instance, which gets so much media attention. This reflects the unvoiced assumption that AIDS afflicts perverts who could control their depravity whereas coal-mining is a sacrosanct activity beyond question. What the statistics don't show is that tens of millions of people have heir lifespans shortened by work -- which is all that homicide means, after all. Consider the doctors who work themselves to death in their 50's. Consider all the other workaholics.

Even if you aren't killed or crippled while actually working, you very well might be while going to work, coming from work, looking for work, or trying to forget about work. The vast majority of victims of the automobile are either doing one of these work-obligatory activities or else fall afoul of those who do them. To this augmented body-count must be added the victims of auto-industrial pollution and work-induced alcoholism and drug addiction. Both cancer and heart disease are modern afflictions normally traceable, directly, or indirectly, to work.

Work, then, institutionalizes homicide as a way of life. People think the Cambodians were crazy for exterminating themselves, but are we any different? The Pol Pot regime at least had a vision, however blurred, of an egalitarian society. We kill people in the six-figure range (at least) in order to sell Big Macs and Cadillacs to the survivors. Our forty or fifty thousand annual highway fatalities are victims, not martyrs. They died for nothing -- or rather, they died for work. But work is nothing to die for.

Bad news for liberals: regulatory tinkering is useless in this life-and-death context. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was designed to police the core part of the problem, workplace safety. Even before Reagan and the Supreme Court stifled it, OSHA was a farce. At previous and (by current standards) generous Carter-era funding levels, a workplace could expect a random visit from an OSHA inspector once every 46 years.

State control of the economy is no solution. Work is, if anything, more dangerous in the state-socialist countries than it is here. Thousands of Russian workers were killed or injured building the Moscow subway. Stories reverberate about covered-up Soviet nuclear disasters which make Times Beach and Three-Mile Island look like elementary-school air-raid drills. On the other hand, deregulation, currently fashionable, won't help and will probably hurt. From a health and safety standpoint, among others, work was at its worst in the days when the economy most closely approximated laissez-faire.

Historians like Eugene Genovese have argued persuasively that -- as antebellum slavery apologists insisted -- factory wage-workers in the Northern American states and in Europe were worse off than Southern plantation slaves. No rearrangement of relations among bureaucrats and businessmen seems to make much difference at the point of production. Serious enforcement of even the rather vague standards enforceable in theory by OSHA would probably bring the economy to a standstill. The enforcers apparently appreciate this, since they don't even try to crack down on most malefactors.

What I've said so far ought not to be controversial. Many workers are fed up with work. There are high and rising rates of absenteeism, turnover, employee theft and sabotage, wildcat strikes, and overall goldbricking on the job. There may be some movement toward a conscious and not just visceral rejection of work. And yet the prevalent feeling, universal among bosses and their agents and also widespread among workers themselves is that work itself is inevitable and necessary.

I disagree. It is now possible to abolish work and replace it, insofar as it serves useful purposes, with a multitude of new kinds of free activities. To abolish work requires going at it from two directions, quantitative and qualitative. On the one hand, on the quantitative side, we have to cut down massively on the amount of work being done. At present most work is useless or worse and we should simply get rid of it. On the other hand -- and I think this the crux of the matter and the revolutionary new departure -- we have to take what useful work remains and transform it into a pleasing variety of game-like and craft-like pastimes, indistinguishable from other pleasurable pastimes, except that they happen to yield useful end-products. Surely that shouldn't make them *less* enticing to do. Then all the artificial barriers of power and property could come down. Creation could become recreation. And we could all stop being afraid of each other.

I don't suggest that most work is salvageable in this way. But then most work isn't worth trying to save. Only a small and diminishing fraction of work serves any useful purpose independent of the defense and reproduction of the work-system and its political and legal appendages. Twenty years ago, Paul and Percival Goodman estimated that just five percent of the work then being done -- presumably the figure, if accurate, is lower now -- would satisfy our minimal needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Theirs was only an educated guess but the main point is quite clear: directly or indirectly, most work serves the unproductive purposes of commerce or social control. Right off the bat we can liberate tens of millions of salesmen, soldiers, managers, cops, stockbrokers, clergymen, bankers, lawyers, teachers, landlords, security guards, ad-men and everyone who works for them. There is a snowball effect since every time you idle some bigshot you liberate his flunkeys and underlings also. Thus the economy *implodes*.

Forty percent of the workforce are white-collar workers, most of whom have some of the most tedious and idiotic jobs ever concocted. Entire industries, insurance and banking and real estate for instance, consist of nothing but useless paper-shuffling. It is no accident that the "tertiary sector," the service sector, is growing while the "secondary sector" (industry) stagnates and the "primary sector" (agriculture) nearly disappears. Because work is unnecessary except to those whose power it secures, workers are shifted from relatively useful to relatively useless occupations as a measure to assure public order. Anything is better than nothing. That's why you can't go home just because you finish early. They want your *time*, enough of it to make you theirs, even if they have no use for most of it. Otherwise why hasn't the average work week gone down by more than a few minutes in the past fifty years?

Next we can take a meat-cleaver to production work itself. No more war production, nuclear power, junk food, feminine hygiene deodorant -- and above all, no more auto industry to speak of. An occasional Stanley Steamer or Model-T might be all right, but the auto-eroticism on which such pestholes as Detroit and Los Angeles depend on is out of the question. Already, without even trying, we've virtually solved the energy crisis, the environmental crisis and assorted other insoluble social problems.

Finally, we must do away with far and away the largest occupation, the one with the longest hours, the lowest pay and some of the most tedious tasks around. I refer to *housewives* doing housework and child-rearing. By abolishing wage-labor and achieving full unemployment we undermine the sexual division of labor. The nuclear family as we know it is an inevitable adaptation to the division of labor imposed by modern wage-work. Like it or not, as things have been for the last century or two it is economically rational for the man to bring home the bacon, for the woman to do the shitwork to provide him with a haven in a heartless world, and for the children to be marched off to youth concentration camps called "schools," primarily to keep them out of Mom's hair but still under control, but incidentally to acquire the habits of obedience and punctuality so necessary for workers. If you would be rid of patriarchy, get rid of the nuclear family whose unpaid "shadow work," as Ivan Illich says, makes possible the work-system that makes *it* necessary. Bound up with this no-nukes strategy is the abolition of childhood and the closing of the schools. There are more full-time students than full-time workers in this country. We need children as teachers, not students. They have a lot to contribute to the ludic revolution because they're better at playing than grown-ups are. Adults and children are not identical but they will become equal through interdependence. Only play can bridge the generation gap.

I haven't as yet even mentioned the possibility of cutting way down on the little work that remains by automating and cybernizing it. All the scientists and engineers and technicians freed from bothering with war research and planned obsolescence would have a good time devising means to eliminate fatigue and tedium and danger from activities like mining. Undoubtedly they'll find other projects to amuse themselves with. Perhaps they'll set up world-wide all-inclusive multi-media communications systems or found space colonies. Perhaps. I myself am no gadget freak. I wouldn't care to live in a pushbutton paradise. I don't what robot slaves to do everything; I want to do things myself. There is, I think, a place for labor-saving technology, but a modest place. The historical and pre-historical record is not encouraging. When productive technology went from hunting-gathering to agriculture and on to industry, work increased while skills and self-determination diminished. The further evolution of industrialism has accentuated what Harry Braverman called the degradation of work. Intelligent observers have always been aware of this. John Stuart Mill wrote that all the labor-saving inventions ever devised haven't saved a moment's labor. Karl Marx wrote that "it would be possible to write a history of the inventions, made since 1830, for the sole purpose of supplying capital with weapons against the revolts of the working class." The enthusiastic technophiles -- Saint-Simon, Comte, Lenin, B. F. Skinner -- have always been unabashed authoritarians also; which is to say, technocrats. We should be more than sceptical about the promises of the computer mystics. *They* work like dogs; chances are, if they have their way, so will the rest of us. But if they have any particularized contributions more readily subordinated to human purposes than the run of high tech, let's give them a hearing.

What I really want to see is work turned into play. A first step is to discard the notions of a "job" and an "occupation." Even activities that already have some ludic content lose most of it by being reduced to jobs which certain people, and only those people are forced to do to the exclusion of all else. Is it not odd that farm workers toil painfully in the fields while their air-conditioned masters go home every weekend and putter about in their gardens? Under a system of permanent revelry, we will witness the Golden Age of the dilettante which will put the Renaissance to shame. There won't be any more jobs, just things to do and people to do them.

The secret of turning work into play, as Charles Fourier demonstrated, is to arrange useful activities to take advantage of whatever it is that various people at various times in fact enjoy doing. To make it possible for some people to do the things they could enjoy it will be enough just to eradicate the irrationalities and distortions which afflict these activities when they are reduced to work. I, for instance, would enjoy doing some (not too much) teaching, but I don't want coerced students and I don't care to suck up to pathetic pedants for tenure.

Second, there are some things that people like to do from time to time, but not for too long, and certainly not all the time. You might enjoy baby-sitting for a few hours in order to share the company of kids, but not as much as their parents do. The parents meanwhile, profoundly appreciate the time to themselves that you free up for them, although they'd get fretful if parted from their progeny for too long. These differences among individuals are what make a life of free play possible. The same principle applies to many other areas of activity, especially the primal ones. Thus many people enjoy cooking when they can practice it seriously at their leisure, but not when they're just fueling up human bodies for work.

Third -- other things being equal -- some things that are unsatisfying if done by yourself or in unpleasant surroundings or at the orders of an overlord are enjoyable, at least for a while, if these circumstances are changed. This is probably true, to some extent, of all work. People deploy their otherwise wasted ingenuity to make a game of the least inviting drudge-jobs as best they can. Activities that appeal to some people don't always appeal to all others, but everyone at least potentially has a variety of interests and an interest in variety. As the saying goes, "anything once." Fourier was the master at speculating how aberrant and perverse penchants could be put to use in post-civilized society, what he called Harmony. He thought the Emperor Nero would have turned out all right if as a child he could have indulged his taste for bloodshed by working in a slaughterhouse. Small children who notoriously relish wallowing in filth could be organized in "Little Hordes" to clean toilets and empty the garbage, with medals awarded to the outstanding. I am not arguing for these precise examples but for the underlying principle, which I think makes perfect sense as one dimension of an overall revolutionary transformation. Bear in mind that we don't have to take today's work just as we find it and match it up with the proper people, some of whom would have to be perverse indeed. If technology has a role in all this it is less to automate work out of existence than to open up new realms for re/creation. To some extent we may want to return to handicrafts, which William Morris considered a probable and desirable upshot of communist revolution. Art would be taken back from the snobs and collectors, abolished as a specialized department catering to an elite audience, and its qualities of beauty and creation restored to integral life from which they were stolen by work. It's a sobering thought that the grecian urns we write odes about and showcase in museums were used in their own time to store olive oil. I doubt our everyday artifacts will fare as well in the future, if there is one. The point is that there's no such thing as progress in the world of work; if anything it's just the opposite. We shouldn't hesitate to pilfer the past for what it has to offer, the ancients lose nothing yet we are enriched.

The reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps. There is, it is true, more suggestive speculation than most people suspect. Besides Fourier and Morris -- and even a hint, here and there, in Marx -- there are the writings of Kropotkin, the syndicalists Pataud and Pouget, anarcho-communists old (Berkman) and new (Bookchin). The Goodman brothers' *Communitas* is exemplary for illustrating what forms follow from given functions (purposes), and there is something to be gleaned from the often hazy heralds of alternative/appropriate/intermediate/convivial technology, like Schumacher and especially Illich, once you disconnect their fog machines. The situationists -- as represented by Vaneigem's *Revolution* *of* *Daily* *Life* and in the *Situationist* *International* *Anthology* -- are so ruthlessly lucid as to be exhilarating, even if they never did quite square the endorsement of the rule of the worker's councils with the abolition of work. Better their incongruity, though than any extant version of leftism, whose devotees look to be the last champions of work, for if there were no work there would be no workers, and without workers, who would the left have to organize?

So the abolitionists would be largely on their own. No one can say what would result from unleashing the creative power stultified by work. Anything can happen. The tiresome debater's problem of freedom vs. necessity, with its theological overtones, resolves itself practically once the production of use-values is coextensive with the consumption of delightful play-activity.

Life will become a game, or rather many games, but not -- as it is now - -- a zero/sum game. An optimal sexual encounter is the paradigm of productive play, The participants potentiate each other's pleasures, nobody keeps score, and everybody wins. The more you give, the more you get. In the ludic life, the best of sex will diffuse into the better part of daily life. Generalized play leads to the libidinization of life. Sex, in turn, can become less urgent and desperate, more playful. If we play our cards right, we can all get more out of life than we put into it; but only if we play for keeps.

No one should ever work. Workers of the world... *relax*!

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Abolition Hall – Behind the Marker – ExplorePAHistory.com

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This 1795 farm house, with a barn added in 1858, was a site where history was both made and then artistically documented. In 1833, Joseph and George Corson were two of the founders of the Plymouth Meeting Anti-Slavery Society. Until the Civil War George's farm, with the support of this quiet old Quaker community, served as a major station, on the Underground Railroad that conveyed African Americans escaping slavery further north. In 1858, Corson built the barn, known as "Abolition Hall," where local anti-slavery advocates met to plan strategy and rally support.

George Corson's daughter, Helen, was a talented artist who painted cats, birds, dogs, and other animals for their owners in the Philadelphia area. In 1881, she married well-known artist Thomas Hovenden. Born in Dunmanway, County Cork, Ireland, in 1840, Hovenden was only six when his parents died during the infamous potato famine.

Death of Elaine, by Thomas Hovenden, 1882.

In 1863, Hovenden moved to New York City, and then to Baltimore, where the prominent art collector William Walters sponsored him and then sent him to France. From 1874 to 1880, he lived in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven in Brittany, where he painted scenes from peasant life and two well-received images of farmers who resisted the tyranny of the French Revolution "The Vendean Volunteer" (1878) and "In Hoc Signo Vinces" [In This Sign Conquer] (1880) where the cross appears to the revolting peasants. The latter work made him famous and when he returned that year to the United States collectors clamored for him to execute historical works. There, too, he met Helen Corson.

In 1881 Hovenden moved into his father-in-law's house in Plymouth Meeting, where he converted Abolition Hall into his studio. Claiming to hear "the voice of [abolitionists] Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, and many other famous people within its solid walls time and again," [Philadelphia Times, Feb. 23, 1891], he turned to painting scenes from American history. A modest man who lived simply and embraced his in-laws' Quaker faith, Hovenden became one of the nation's most famous artists. "The Last Moments of John Brown" (1884) which he spent two years researching for accuracy"In The Hands of the Enemy" (1889) -showing a Union family carefully tending the Confederate wounded at Gettysburg - and

Breaking Home Ties, by Thomas Hovendon.

In 1886, Hovenden succeeded Thomas Eakins as the principal painting instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts after the latter was forced to resign for inappropriate use of nude models. The Academy had no worries with Hovenden, for he opposed the impressionist and modern art that did not have the morally edifying purpose he expected in art. Hovenden died suddenly in 1895, when he was run over by a train at Germantown while trying to rescue a small girl who had wandered onto the tracks. After his death, art critics and collectors for decades dismissed his work as old-fashioned. Only in 1995, the centenary of his death, did an exhibition and catalogue appear of the artist who, with fellow Pennsylvanian Peter Frederick Rothermel, was regarded the United States' best-known painter of heroic scenes in the Civil War era.

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Granville Sharp (1735-1813): The Civil Servant: The …

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Granville Sharp was a civil servant and political reformer. He was one of the 12 men who, in 1787, formed the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and was the first chairman of the Society. His interest in the issue, however, went back much further.

At a time when most abolitionists argued that the Slave Trade was wrong because of the terrible conditions in whichenslaved peoplewere kept, he (along with Anthony Benezet) went further, arguing that the very nature of slavery itself was evil.

He also used his skills to fight a series of legal battles to preventenslaved peoplebeing taken out of England by force. Many black people resisted enlavement and many escaped from their owners'. However, whether they had escaped, been abandonedor had always been free, they were in constant danger of capture or recapture by slave-hunters'.

In 1767,Granville Sharp and his brother William (a surgeon) helped a badly injured man, Jonathan Strong, whohad been brought to London from Barbados by a plantation owner named David Lisle. Strong had been thrown onto the streets after being beaten about the head with a pistol. He was so badly injured that he was nearly blind and he could hardly walk. They took him to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. After he regained his health, they helped him to find work as a messenger.

Quite by chance, the man that had assaulted him, saw him and, without capturing him, sold him for 30 to a Jamaican planter. Two slave hunters kidnapped and imprisoned Strong while they waited for a ship to take him to the Caribbean. Strong enlisted Granville Sharp's help. Sharp demanded that Strong be taken before the Lord Mayor, who declared him a free man.

In 1769, Sharp published his findings in a pamphlet: 'A representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating slavery in England'. Sharp devoted himself to fighting the notion that an enslaved personremained, in law, the property of his master, even on English soil. He did this both by his writings and in the courts of law.

He became the leading defender ofAfrican people in London and saved manyAfrican people from being sent back to slavery in the West Indies, often at his own expense. In 1771 a slave, James Somerset, who had been brought from Jamaica to Britain, ran away. He was recaptured and put on a ship bound for Jamaica. Sharp intervened and put the case before Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of England. Sharp hoped this case would finally settle whether it was lawful to hold people as slaves in England and Wales. After many months of legal argument, Mansfield finally decided that a master had no right to force an enslaved person to return to a foreign country. Somerset was freed.

Although this judgment did not actually state that slavery was illegal in England, it laid down the important notion that an enslaved personcould not be forcibly removed fromEngland. London's African community celebrated this important victory; they had followed the case closely and made sure that there was always an Africandelegation in court.

Sharp was also involved in other legal cases, such as the slave ship Zong(seeThe Middle Passage).Cases such as this help to raise public awareness of the horrors of slavery and started to turn public opinion against the slave trade. In May 1787, he joined with Thomas Clarkson and nine Quakers, to form the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and continued to work for abolition until the act was passed in 1807. However, Granville Sharp was not to see the final abolition of slavery in the British Colonies, as he died on 6th July, 1813.

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Futurism | Definition, Manifesto, Artists … – Britannica.com

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Futurism, Italian Futurismo, Russian Futurizm, early 20th-century artistic movement centred in Italy that emphasized the dynamism, speed, energy, and power of the machine and the vitality, change, and restlessness of modern life. During the second decade of the 20th century, the movements influence radiated outward across most of Europe, most significantly to the Russian avant-garde. The most-significant results of the movement were in the visual arts and poetry.

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theatre: Futurism in Italy

Although it produced one major dramatist, Luigi Pirandello, in the period between the two world wars, the Italian theatre contributed very

Futurism was first announced on February 20, 1909, when the Paris newspaper Le Figaro published a manifesto by the Italian poet and editor Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Marinetti coined the word Futurism to reflect his goal of discarding the art of the past and celebrating change, originality, and innovation in culture and society. Marinettis manifesto glorified the new technology of the automobile and the beauty of its speed, power, and movement. Exalting violence and conflict, he called for the sweeping repudiation of traditional values and the destruction of cultural institutions such as museums and libraries. The manifestos rhetoric was passionately bombastic; its aggressive tone was purposely intended to inspire public anger and arouse controversy.

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Which literary genre did the Futurists invent?

Marinettis manifesto inspired a group of young painters in Milan to apply Futurist ideas to the visual arts. Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla, and Gino Severini published several manifestos on painting in 1910. Like Marinetti, they glorified originality and expressed their disdain for inherited artistic traditions.

Although they were not yet working in what was to become the Futurist style, the group called for artists to have an emotional involvement in the dynamics of modern life. They wanted to depict visually the perception of movement, speed, and change. To achieve this, the Futurist painters adopted the Cubist technique of using fragmented and intersecting plane surfaces and outlines to show several simultaneous views of an object. But the Futurists additionally sought to portray the objects movement, so their works typically include rhythmic spatial repetitions of an objects outlines during transit. The effect resembles multiple photographic exposures of a moving object. An example is Ballas painting Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912), in which a trotting dachshunds legs are depicted as a blur of multiple images. The Futurist paintings differed from Cubist work in other important ways. While the Cubists favoured still life and portraiture, the Futurists preferred subjects such as speeding automobiles and trains, racing cyclists, dancers, animals, and urban crowds. Futurist paintings have brighter and more vibrant colours than Cubist works, and they reveal dynamic, agitated compositions in which rhythmically swirling forms reach crescendos of violent movement.

Boccioni also became interested in sculpture, publishing a manifesto on the subject in the spring of 1912. He is considered to have most fully realized his theories in two sculptures, Development of a Bottle in Space (1912), in which he represented both the inner and outer contours of a bottle, and Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913), in which a human figure is not portrayed as one solid form but is instead composed of the multiple planes in space through which the figure moves.

Futurist principles extended to architecture as well. Antonio SantElia formulated a Futurist manifesto on architecture in 1914. His visionary drawings of highly mechanized cities and boldly modern skyscrapers prefigure some of the most imaginative 20th-century architectural planning.

Boccioni, who had been the most-talented artist in the group, and SantElia both died during military service in 1916. Boccionis death, combined with expansion of the groups personnel and the sobering realities of the devastation caused by World War I, effectively brought an end to the Futurist movement as an important historical force in the visual arts.

Not content with merely taking over the urban and modernist themes of Futurist painting, the writers who embraced Italian literary Futurism sought to develop a language appropriate for what they perceived to be the speed and ruthlessness of the early 20th century. They established new genres, the most significant being parole in libert (words-in-freedom), also referred to as free-word poetry. It was poetry liberated from the constraints of linear typography and conventional syntax and spelling. A brief extract from Marinettis war poem Battaglia peso + odore (1912; Battle Weight + Smell) was appended to one of the Futurists manifestos as an example of words-in-freedom:

Arterial-roads bulging heat fermenting hair armpits drum blinding blondness breathing + rucksack 18 kilograms common sense = seesaw metal moneybox weakness: 3 shudders commands stones anger enemy magnet lightness glory heroism Vanguards: 100 meters machine guns rifle-fire explosion violins brass pim pum pac pac tim tum machine guns tataratatarata

Designed analogies (pictograms where shape analogically mimics meaning), dipinti paroliberi (literary collages combining graphic elements with free-word poetry), and sintesi (minimalist plays) were among other new genres. New forms of dissemination were favoured, including Futurist evenings, mixed-media events, and the use of manifesto leaflets, poster poems, and broadsheet-format journals containing a mixture of literature, painting, and theoretical pronouncements. Until 1914, however, output fell far short of the movements declared program, and Futurist poetsin contrast to Marinettiremained largely traditionalist in their subject matter and idiom, as was demonstrated by the movements debut anthology I poeti futuristi (1912; The Futurist Poets).

Marinetti was for some time primarily associated with his African Mafarka le futuriste (1910; Mafarka the Futurist), a tale of rape, pillage, and battle set in North Africa. Apart from its misogyny, racism, and glorification of a cult of violence, the novel is remembered for its heros creation of a machine brought to life as a superman destined to inherit the future. Only when Marinetti started grounding his avant-garde poetry in the realities of his combat experiences as a war reporter during World War I, however, did a distinctly innovative Futurist idiom emerge, one that represented a significant break from past poetic practices.

The title of literary Futurisms most important manifesto, Distruzione della sintassiimmaginazione senza filiparole in libert (1913; Destruction of SyntaxWireless ImaginationWords-in-Freedom), represented Marinettis demands for a pared-down elliptical language, stripped of adjectives and adverbs, with verbs in the infinitive and mathematical signs and word pairings used to convey information more economically and more boldly. The resultant telegraphic lyricism is most effective in Marinettis war poetry, especially Zang tumb tumb and Dunes (both 1914). A desire to make language more intensive led to a pronounced use of onomatopoeia in poems dealing with machines and waras in the title of Zang tumb tumb, intended to mimic the sound of artillery fireand to a departure from uniform, horizontal typography. A number of Futurist painter-poets blurred the distinction between literature and visual art, as Severini did in Danza serpentina (1914; Serpentine Dance). While Marinettis poetic experiments revealed an indebtedness to Cubism, he elevated Italian literary collage, often created for the purpose of pro-war propaganda, to a distinctively Futurist art form. The culmination of this tendency came with Carrs Festa patriottica (1914; Patriotic Celebration) and Marinettis Les Mots en libert futuristes (1919; Futurist Words-in-Freedom).

A typographical revolution was also proclaimed in the Futurists 1913 manifesto; it grew out of both a desire to make form visually dynamic and a perceived need for visual effects in type that were capable of reflectingthrough size and boldnessthe noise of modern warfare and urban life. A diverse series of shaped poetic layouts depicted speeding cars, trains, and airplanes, exploding bombs, and the confusions of battle. Apart from Marinettis work, the most accomplished typographical experiments are to be found in the poetry of Francesco Cangiullo and Fortunato Depero.

During its first decade, Italian literary Futurism remained a largely homogeneous movement. By contrast, Russian Futurism was fragmented into a number of splinter groups (Ego-Futurists, Cubo-Futurists, Hylaea [Russian Gileya]) associated with a large number of anthologies representing continually regrouping artistic factions. While there was an urbanist strand to Russian Futurism, especially in the poetry of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Yelena Guro, Russian writers were less preoccupied with machines, speed, and violence than their Italian counterparts. The dominant strain of primitivism in Russian Futurism led some to conclude that the two movements have little in common apart from the word Futurism. While there was a shared interest in the renewal of language, the Italians innovations were invariably designed to express an ultramodern sensibility, whereas Russian Futurist poets and playwrights confined their attentions to The Word as Such (the title of one of their most famous manifestos, Slovo kak takovoye, published in 1913). A number of these writers, most impressively Velimir Khlebnikov, explored the archaic roots of language and drew on primitive folk culture for their inspiration.

As was the case in Italy, the main achievements of Russian Futurism lie in poetry and drama. As it did in Italy, neologism played a large role in Russian attempts to renew language, which in turn aimed at the destruction of syntax. The most-famous Futurist poem, Khlebnikovs Zaklyatiye smekhom (1910; Incantation by Laughter), generates a series of permutations built on the root -smekh (laughter) by adding impossible prefixes and suffixes. The result is a typical (for Russian Futurism) concern with etymology and word creation. Khlebnikovs and Alexey Kruchenykhs radical forays into linguistic poetry went hand in hand with an interest in the word as pure sound. Their invented zaumthe largely untranslatable name given to their transrational languagewas intended to take language beyond logical meanings in the direction of a new visionary mysticism. Kruchenykhs opera Pobeda nad solncem (1913; Victory over the Sun) and Khlebnikovs play Zangezi (1922) are two of the most-important examples of the Futurist blend of transrationalism with the cult of the primitive. Mayakovsky, the greatest Russian poet to have gone through a Futurist phase, was coauthor of the manifesto Poshchochina obshchestvennomu vkusu (1912; A Slap in the Face of Public Taste), and his poems figure in many of the movements key anthologies. While sharing an Italian-influenced Futurist sensibility with the Ego-Futurists and belonging more, on account of their concern with verbal innovation, to the body of works by the Cubo-Futurist painter-poets, his poetry and plays are, above all, Futurist in their provocative rejection of the past and their subjectivist approach to the renewal of poetic language.

During the 1920s, Marinetti and those around him gravitated toward fascism, whereas the Soviet communist regime became increasingly intolerant of what it dismissed as avant-garde Formalism. While relations between Italian and Russian Futurism were, on the whole, strained, the Italian Futurists exercised a strong influence on German Expressionism, English Vorticism, and international Dada.

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Futurism – RationalWiki

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Events, by definition, are occurrences that interrupt routine processes and routine procedures; only in a world in which nothing of importance ever happens could the futurologists dream come true.

Futurism, or futurology, is the study, or hypothetical study, of what might become of the human race and our relationship with technology and our environment. It is quite often difficult to discern between the realistic, the science woo, and the science fictional elements of the works of futurists.

The first use of the term "futurism" appeared during the early 19th century in reference to a specific brand of Christian eschatology that teaches that many parts of the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation, will take place in the future.[1] Obviously, futurism still holds some influence in modern Christianity considering all the cranks still banging on about the end times.

The term "futurist" was not explicitly used in reference to a number of the 19th century science fiction writers such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, though modern futurists claim to draw inspiration from them.[2]

The original futurist movement was born in early 20th century Italy which was known for exalting art, technology, and violence. One of the key documents of the early futurist movement was The Futurist Manifesto, published in 1909 by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.[3] This positioned Marinetti as the leader of the Italian futurist movement and eventually the head of the Futurist Political Party formed in 1918. Many of the futurists were also Italian nationalists and became fascist ideologues and supporters of Benito Mussolini.[4]

One of the many strains of futurist music (see the next couple sections) came out of the Italian movement. Musician Balilla Pratella (1880-1955) wrote an article Manifesto of Futurist Musicians[5] in 1910. In it, he addresses young musicians (because "only they can understand what I have to say"), encouraging them to ditch commercialism, academia, closed competitions, critics, sacred music, librettist/composer partnerships, vocal centrism, and quite a few other things he believed were holding back musical innovation. Typical of the movement, Pratella adopted a vitriolic tone, never taking a moment's breath to stop painting the "traditionalists" as mortal enemies of music.

Pratella was forgotten over time and 20th-century classical music lived on, although the band Art of Noise and the record label ZTT[6] were named after Futurist concepts.

installing a cyborg tube in my tuxedo which frequently sprays my ass with various advanced powders

Modern futurism came to be characterized as being more scientific (or scientistic, as some might say) while still retaining its artistic elements. Ossip K. Flechtheim called for a field of "futurology" beginning in the 1940s an attempt to "scientifically" predict the future based on history.[8] Future Shock, by Alvin Toffler is known for being one of the most influential popularizations of futurism. Nowadays the field is rife with anyone who can get the media to call them futurists.

Futurist themes were embraced by a number of African-American artists, especially musicians, in the mid-20th century. This style eventually came to be known as "Afro-futurism." Sun Ra, a jazz, pianist, and bandleader, is known as the progenitor of this style.[9]. A number of other musicians have become associated with Afro-futurism, including Parliament-Funkadelic, Model 500 and DJ Spooky.

The current incarnation of futurism is known as transhumanism, a somewhat loosely knit movement that has gained a few wealthy financial benefactors in Silicon Valley. Many transhumanists are "Singularitarians" who posit a coming "technological singularity" in which an artificial intelligence is built that exceeds human intelligence and initiates an explosion of technological advancement. Transhumanists are also proponents of pseudoscientific, dubious, or otherwise problematic technology, such as cryonics and mind uploading. Ray Kurzweil is probably the most famous transhumanist around today.

The movement that came to be known as "cyborg feminism" or "cyberfeminism" takes its inspiration from Donna Haraway's 1985 essay "A Cyborg Manifesto." Haraway rebutted the idea that science and technology are inherently patriarchal or capitalistic. Cyberfeminism tends to concentrate on the intersection of gender roles and technology.[10] Another movement with some overlap with cyberfeminism is "postgenderism," which advocates for technological advances in service of erasing gender (and sexual dimorphism, too).[11] Both of these movements also have some overlap with transhumanism.

There was a strain of 1980s electronic synthesizer pop of this name, which they got from the Italian ones. It went "ZOMG MACHINES EXIST" in a new wave sort of manner with silly haircuts and eyeliner. Examples include Visage and Depeche Mode. In the early 2000s, industrial bands VNV Nation and Apoptygma Berzerk invented the name "futurepop" for their version of this.[12] Even more confusingly is a resurgence in 1980s-sounding synth-music thanks to films like Drive and videogames like Hotline Miami with a number of names, like "Synthwave" or "Retro-Synth."[13] So "future" means "retro," except

It's basically an aesthetic used in art and design built on all those failed futurist predictions leading to styles such as "steam punk" or "diesel punk." The subreddit /r/RetroFuturism is dedicated to sharing examples of pretty pictures with this aesthetic.

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Dietary supplement – Wikipedia

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"Food supplement" redirects here. For food additions that alter the flavor, color or longevity of food, see Food additive.

A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement the diet when taken by mouth as a pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid.[2] A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or synthetic, individually or in combination, in order to increase the quantity of their consumption. The class of nutrient compounds includes vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids and amino acids. Dietary supplements can also contain substances that have not been confirmed as being essential to life, but are marketed as having a beneficial biological effect, such as plant pigments or polyphenols. Animals can also be a source of supplement ingredients, as for example collagen from chickens or fish. These are also sold individually and in combination, and may be combined with nutrient ingredients. In the United States and Canada, dietary supplements are considered a subset of foods, and are regulated accordingly. The European Commission has also established harmonized rules to help insure that food supplements are safe and properly labeled.[3]

Creating an industry estimated to have a 2015 value of $37 billion,[4] there are more than 50,000 dietary supplement products marketed just in the United States,[5] where about 50% of the American adult population consumes dietary supplements. Multivitamins are the most commonly used product.[6] For those who fail to consume a balanced diet, the United States National Institutes of Health states that certain supplements "may have value."[7]

In the United States, it is against federal regulations for supplement manufacturers to claim that these products prevent or treat any disease. Companies are allowed to use what is referred to as "Structure/Function" wording if there is substantiation of scientific evidence for a supplement providing a potential health effect.[8] An example would be "_____ helps maintain healthy joints", but the label must bear a disclaimer that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "has not evaluated the claim and that the dietary supplement product is not intended to "diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease," because only a drug can legally make such a claim.[8] The FDA enforces these regulations, and also prohibits the sale of supplements and supplement ingredients that are dangerous, or supplements not made according to standardized good manufacturing practices (GMPs).

In the United States, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 provides this description: "The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) defines the term dietary supplement to mean a product (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any of the aforementioned ingredients. Furthermore, a dietary supplement must be labeled as a dietary supplement and be intended for ingestion and must not be represented for use as conventional food or as a sole item of a meal or of the diet. In addition, a dietary supplement cannot be approved or authorized for investigation as a new drug, antibiotic, or biologic, unless it was marketed as a food or a dietary supplement before such approval or authorization. Under DSHEA, dietary supplements are deemed to be food, except for purposes of the drug definition."[9]

Per DSHEA, dietary supplements are consumed orally, and are mainly defined by what they are not: conventional foods (including meal replacements), medical foods,[10] preservatives or pharmaceutical drugs. Products intended for use as a nasal spray, or topically, as a lotion applied to the skin, do not qualify. FDA-approved drugs cannot be ingredients in dietary supplements. Supplement products are or contain vitamins, nutritionally essential minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids and non-nutrient substances extracted from plants or animals or fungi or bacteria, or in the instance of probiotics, are live bacteria. Dietary supplement ingredients may also be synthetic copies of naturally occurring substances (example: melatonin). All products with these ingredients are required to be labeled as dietary supplements.[11] Like foods and unlike drugs, no government approval is required to make or sell dietary supplements; the manufacturer confirms the safety of dietary supplements but the government does not; and rather than requiring riskbenefit analysis to prove that the product can be sold like a drug, such assessment is only used by the FDA to decide that a dietary supplement is unsafe and should be removed from market.[11]

A vitamin is an organic compound required by an organism as a vital nutrient in limited amounts.[12] An organic chemical compound (or related set of compounds) is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. The term is conditional both on the circumstances and on the particular organism. For example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a vitamin for anthropoid primates, humans, guinea pigs and bats, but not for other mammals. Vitamin D is not an essential nutrient for people who get sufficient exposure to ultraviolet light, either from the sun or an artificial source, as then they synthesize vitamin D in skin.[13] Humans require thirteen vitamins in their diet, most of which are actually groups of related molecules, "vitamers", (e.g. vitamin E includes tocopherols and tocotrienols, vitamin K includes vitamin K1 and K2). The list: vitamins A, C, D, E, K, Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pantothenic Acid (B5), Vitamin B6, Biotin (B7), Folate (B9) and Vitamin B12. Vitamin intake below recommended amounts can result in signs and symptoms associated with vitamin deficiency. There is little evidence of benefit when consumed as a dietary supplement by those who are healthy and consuming a nutritionally adequate diet.[14]

The U.S. Institute of Medicine sets Tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for some of the vitamins. This does not prevent dietary supplement companies from selling products with content per serving higher than the ULs. For example, the UL for vitamin D is 100g (4,000 IU),[15] but products are available without prescription at 10,000 IU.

Minerals are the exogenous chemical elements indispensable for life. Four minerals: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are essential for life but are so ubiquitous in food and drink that these are not considered nutrients and there are no recommended intakes for these as minerals. The need for nitrogen is addressed by requirements set for protein, which is composed of nitrogen-containing amino acids. Sulfur is essential, but for humans, not identified as having a recommended intake per se. Instead, recommended intakes are identified for the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine. There are dietary supplements which provide sulfur, such as taurine and methylsulfonylmethane.

The essential nutrient minerals for humans, listed in order by weight needed to be at the Recommended Dietary Allowance or Adequate Intake are potassium, chlorine, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, iodine, chromium, molybdenum, selenium and cobalt (the last as a component of vitamin B12). There are other minerals which are essential for some plants and animals, but may or may not be essential for humans, such as boron and silicon. Essential and purportedly essential minerals are marketed as dietary supplements, individually and in combination with vitamins and other minerals.

Although as a general rule, dietary supplement labeling and marketing are not allowed to make disease prevention or treatment claims, the U.S. FDA has for some foods and dietary supplements reviewed the science, concluded that there is significant scientific agreement, and published specifically worded allowed health claims. An initial ruling allowing a health claim for calcium dietary supplements and osteoporosis was later amended to include calcium supplements with or without vitamin D, effective January 1, 2010. Examples of allowed wording are shown below. In order to qualify for the calcium health claim, a dietary supplement much contain at least 20% of the Reference Dietary Intake, which for calcium means at least 260mg/serving.[16]

In the same year, the European Food Safety Authority also approved a dietary supplement health claim for calcium and vitamin D and the reduction of the risk of osteoporotic fractures by reducing bone loss.[17]The U.S. FDA also approved Qualified Health Claims (QHCs) for various health conditions for calcium, selenium and chromium picolinate.[18] QHCs are supported by scientific evidence, but do not meet the more rigorous significant scientific agreement standard required for an authorized health claim. If dietary supplement companies choose to make such a claim then the FDA stipulates the exact wording of the QHC to be used on labels and in marketing materials. The wording can be onerous: "One study suggests that selenium intake may reduce the risk of bladder cancer in women. However, one smaller study showed no reduction in risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly uncertain that selenium supplements reduce the risk of bladder cancer in women."[19]

Protein-containing supplements, either ready-to-drink or as powders to be mixed into water, are marketed as aids to people recovering from illness or injury, those hoping to thwart the sarcopenia of old age,[20][21] to athletes who believe that strenuous physical activity increases protein requirements,[22] to people hoping to lose weight while minimizing muscle loss, i.e., conducting a protein-sparing modified fast,[23] and to people who want to increase muscle size for performance and appearance. Whey protein is a popular ingredient,[21][24][25] but products may also incorporate casein, soy, pea, hemp or rice protein.

According to US & Canadian Dietary Reference Intake guidelines, the protein Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for adults is based on 0.8 grams protein per kilogram body weight. The recommendation is for sedentary and lightly active people.[26][27][28] Scientific reviews can conclude that a high protein diet, when combined with exercise, will increase muscle mass and strength,[29][30][31] or conclude the opposite.[32] The International Olympic Committee recommends protein intake targets for both strength and endurance athletes at about 1.2-1.8 g/kg body mass per day.[22] One review proposed a maximum daily protein intake of approximately 25% of energy requirements, i.e., approximately 2.0 to 2.5 g/kg.[27]

The same protein ingredients marketed as dietary supplements can be incorporated into meal replacement and medical food products, but those are regulated and labeled differently from supplements. In the United States, "meal replacement" products are foods and are labeled as such. These typically contain protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. There may be content claims such as "good source of protein", "low fat" or "lactose free."[33] Medical foods, also nutritionally complete, are designed to be used while a person is under the care of a physician or other licensed healthcare professional.[34][35] Liquid medical food products - example Ensure - are available in regular and high protein versions.

Proteins are chains of amino acids. Nine of these proteinogenic amino acids are considered essential for humans because they cannot be produced from other compounds by the human body and so must be taken in as food. Recommended intakes, expressed as milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, have been established.[26] Other amino acids may be conditionally essential for certain ages or medical conditions. Amino acids, individually and in combinations, are sold as dietary supplements. The claim for supplementing with the branched chain amino acids leucine, valine and isoleucine is for stimulating muscle protein synthesis. A review of the literature concluded this claim was unwarranted.[36] In elderly people, supplementation with just leucine resulted in a modest (0.99kg) increase in lean body mass.[37] The non-essential amino acid arginine, consumed in sufficient amounts, is thought to act as a donor for the synthesis of nitric oxide, a vasodilator. A review confirmed blood pressure lowering.[38] Taurine, a popular dietary supplement ingredient with claims made for sports performance, is technically not an amino acid. It is synthesized in the body from the amino acid cysteine.[39]

Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in bodybuilding, weightlifting, mixed martial arts, and athletics for the purpose of facilitating an increase in lean body mass. The intent is to increase muscle, increase body weight, improve athletic performance, and for some sports, to simultaneously decrease percent body fat so as to create better muscle definition. Among the most widely used are high protein drinks, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), glutamine, arginine, essential fatty acids, creatine, HMB,[40] and weight loss products.[41] Supplements are sold either as single ingredient preparations or in the form of "stacks" proprietary blends of various supplements marketed as offering synergistic advantages. While many bodybuilding supplements are also consumed by the general public the frequency of use will differ when used specifically by bodybuilders. One meta-analysis concluded that for athletes participating in resistance exercise training and consuming protein supplements for an average of 13weeks, total protein intake up to 1.6g/kg of body weight per day would result in an increase in strength and fat-free mass, i.e. muscle, but that higher intakes would not further contribute.[30] The muscle mass increase was statistically significant but modest - averaging 0.3kg for all trials and 1.02.0kg, for protein intake 1.6g/kg/day.[30]

As of 2010,[update] annual sales of sport nutrition products in the United States was over US$2.7billion according to a publication by Consumer Reports.[42]

Fish oil is a commonly used fatty acid supplement because it is a source of omega-3 fatty acids.[43] Fatty acids are strings of carbon atoms, having a range of lengths. If links are all single (C-C), then the fatty acid is called saturated; with one double bond (C=C), it is called monounsaturated; if there are two or more double bonds (C=C=C), it is called polyunsaturated. Only two fatty acids, both polyunsaturated, are considered essential to be obtained from the diet, as the others are synthesized in the body. The "essential" fatty acids are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid, and linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fatty acid.[43][44] ALA can be elongated in the body to create other omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Plant oils, particularly seed and nut oils, contain ALA.[43] Food sources of EPA and DHA are oceanic fish, whereas dietary supplement sources include fish oil, krill oil and marine algae extracts. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) identifies 250mg/day for a combined total of EPA and DHA as Adequate Intake, with a recommendation that women pregnant or lactating consume an additional 100 to 200mg/day of DHA.[45] In the United States and Canada are Adequate Intakes for ALA and LA over various stages of life, but there are no intake levels specified for EPA and/or DHA.[46]

Supplementation with EPA and/or DHA does not appear to affect the risk of death, cancer or heart disease.[47][48] Furthermore, studies of fish oil supplements have failed to support claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes.[49] In 2017, the American Heart Association issued a science advisory stating that it could not recommend use of omega-3 fish oil supplements for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease or stroke, although it reaffirmed supplementation for people who have a history of coronary heart disease.[50]

Dietary supplements can be manufactured using intact sources or extracts from plants, animals, algae, fungi or lichens, including such examples as ginkgo biloba, curcumin, cranberry, St. Johns wort, ginseng, resveratrol, glucosamine and collagen.[51][52][53] Products bearing promotional claims of health benefits are sold without requiring a prescription in pharmacies, supermarkets, specialist shops, military commissaries, buyers clubs, direct selling organizations, and the internet.[52] While most of these products have a long history of use in herbalism and various forms of traditional medicine, concerns exist about their actual efficacy, safety and consistency of quality.[54][55][56] Canada has published a manufacturer and consumer guide describing quality, licensing, standards, identities, and common contaminants of natural products.[57] In 2016, sales of herbal supplements just in the United States were $7.5 billion, with the market growing at about 8% per year.[52] Italy, Germany and Eastern European countries were leading consumers of botanical supplements in 2016, with European Union market growth forecast to be $8.7 billion by 2020.[58]

In humans, the large intestine is host to more than 1,000 species of microorganisms, mostly bacteria, numbering in the tens of trillions.[59] "Probiotic" in the context of dietary supplements is the theory that by orally consuming specific live bacteria (or yeast) species, it is possible to influence the large intestine microbiota, with consequent health benefits. Although there are numerous claimed benefits of using probiotic supplements, such as maintaining gastrointestinal health, in part by lowering risk of and severity of constipation or diarrhea, and improving immune health, including lower risk of and severity of acute upper respiratory tract infections, i.e., the common cold, such claims are not all supported by sufficient clinical evidence.[60][61][62] A review based on interviews with dozens of experts in microbiome research expressed concern about "...how biomedical research is co-opted by commercial entities that place profit over health."[62] The concern is timely, as through 2021, probiotic supplements are expected to be the fastest growing segment of the dietary supplement market worldwide, while at the same time, the global health benefits market for probiotic-containing yogurt (a food, not a dietary supplement) is declining.[63][64]

As with all dietary supplements, in the United States inappropriate label health claims such as preventing or treating disease are opposed by the FDA and deceptive advertisements by the Federal Trade Commission. Probiotic foods and dietary supplements are allowed to make claims using Structure:Function vocabulary as long as human trial evidence is adequate. In 2005, the FDA issued a Warning Letter to UAS Laboratories for disease treatment claims (colds, flu, ulcers, elevated blood cholesterol, colon cancer...). The company revised label and website content and continued to sell the product.[65] In 2011 the company was found to have resumed the label and website claims, and the FDA seized product and stopped production.[66] In 2010 a FTC action was brought against a probiotic food company for exaggerated health claims, resulting in a multimillion-dollar fine and revisions to future advertising.[67] In the European Union a more restrictive approach has been taken by the EFSA. All proposed health claims were rejected on the grounds that the science was not sufficient, and no health claims are permitted. Foods with live microorganisms (yogurt, kefir) can be sold, but without claims.[60][63]

Probiotic supplements are generally regarded as safe. The greatest concern, evidenced by reviews reporting on case studies, is that for people with compromised gut wall integrity there may be a risk of systemic infection. For this reason, probiotic research is expected to exclude bacteria species that are antibiotic resistant.[68][69]

In 2015, the American market for dietary supplements was valued at $37 billion,[4] with the economic impact in the United States for 2016 estimated at $122 billion, including employment wages and taxes.[70] One 2016 analysis estimated the total market for dietary supplements could reach $278 billion worldwide by 2024.[71]

Over the period 2008 to 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the United States received 6,307 reports of health problems (identified as adverse events) from use of dietary supplements containing a combination of ingredients in manufactured vitamins, minerals or other supplement products,[72] with 92% of tested herbal supplements containing lead and 80% containing other chemical contaminants.[73] Using undercover staff, the GAO also found that supplement retailers intentionally engaged in "unequivocal deception" to sell products advertised with baseless health claims, particularly to elderly consumers.[73] Consumer Reports also reported unsafe levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury in several protein powder products.[74] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that protein spiking, i.e., the addition of amino acids to manipulate protein content analysis, was common.[75] Many of the companies involved challenged CBC's claim.[76]

A 2013 study on herbal supplements found that many products were of low quality, one third did not contain the active ingredient(s) claimed, and one third contained unlisted substances.[77] In a genetic analysis of herbal supplements, 78% of samples contained animal DNA that was not identified as an ingredient on the product labels.[55] In some botanical products, undeclared ingredients were used to increase the bulk of the product and reduce its cost of manufacturing, while potentially violating certain religious and/or cultural limitations on consuming animal ingredients, such as cow, buffalo or deer.[55] In 2015, the New York Attorney General identified four major retailers with dietary supplement products that contained fraudulent and potentially dangerous ingredients, requiring the companies to remove the products from retail stores.[78]

A study of dietary supplements sold between 2007 and 2016 identified 776 that contained unlisted pharmaceutical drugs, many of which could interact with other medications and lead to hospitalization.[79] 86% of the adulterated supplements were marketed for weight loss and sexual performance, with many containing prescription erectile dysfunction medication. Muscle building supplements were contaminated with anabolic steroids, and multiple products contained antidepressants and antihistamines. Despite these findings, fewer than half of the adulterated supplements were recalled.[79]

The European Commission has published harmonized rules on supplement products to assure consumers have minimal health risks from using dietary supplements and are not misled by advertising.[80]

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA Office of Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations) monitors supplement products for accuracy in advertising and labeling. Dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA as food products subject to compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP) and labeling with science-based ingredient descriptions and advertising.[81][82] When finding CGMP or advertising violations, FDA warning letters are used to notify manufacturers of impending enforcement action, including search and seizure, injunction, and financial penalties.[83] Examples between 2016 and 2018 of CGMP and advertising violations by dietary supplement manufacturers included several with illegal compositions or advertising of vitamins and minerals.[84][85][86]

The United States Federal Trade Commission, which litigates against deceptive advertising in marketed products,[67] established a consumer center to assist reports of false health claims in product advertising for dietary supplements.[87] In 2017, the FTC successfully sued nine manufacturers for deceptive advertising of dietary supplements.[88]

In the United States, manufacturers of dietary supplements are required to demonstrate safety of their products before approval is granted for commerce.[89] Despite this caution, numerous adverse effects have been reported,[72] including muscle cramps, hair loss, joint pain, liver disease, and allergic reactions, with 29% of the adverse effects resulting in hospitalization, and 20% in serious injuries or illnesses.[72] By more than five-fold, the highest incidence of health problems derived from "combination products", whereas supplements for vitamins and minerals, lipid products, and herbal products were less likely to cause adverse effects.[72]

Among general reasons for the possible harmful effects of dietary supplements are: a) absorption in a short time, b) manufacturing quality and contamination, and c) enhancing both positive and negative effects at the same time.[56] The incidence of liver injury from herbal and dietary supplements is about 1620% of all supplement products causing injury, with the occurrence growing globally over the early 21st century.[41] The most common liver injuries from weight loss and bodybuilding supplements involve hepatocellular damage with resulting jaundice, and the most common supplement ingredients attributed to these injuries are green tea catechins, anabolic steroids, and the herbal extract, aegeline.[41] Weight loss supplements have also had adverse psychiatric effects.[90]

Work done by scientists in the early 20th century on identifying individual nutrients in food and developing ways to manufacture them raised hopes that optimal health could be achieved and diseases prevented by adding them to food and providing people with dietary supplements; while there were successes in preventing vitamin deficiencies, and preventing conditions like neural tube defects by supplementation and food fortification with folic acid, no targeted supplementation or fortification strategies to prevent major diseases like cancer or cardiovascular diseases have proved successful.[91]

For example, while increased consumption of fruits and vegetables are related to decreases in mortality, cardiovascular diseases and cancers, supplementation with key factors found in fruits and vegetable, like antioxidants, vitamins, or minerals, do not help and some have been found to be harmful in some cases.[92][93] In general as of 2016, robust clinical data is lacking, that shows that any kind of dietary supplementation does more good than harm for people who are healthy and eating a reasonable diet but there is clear data showing that dietary pattern and lifestyle choices are associated with health outcomes.[94][95]

As a result of the lack of good data for supplementation and the strong data for dietary pattern, public health recommendations for healthy eating urge people to eat a plant-based diet of whole foods, minimizing processed food, salt and sugar and to get exercise daily, and to abandon Western pattern diets and a sedentary lifestyle.[96][97]:10

The regulation of food and dietary supplements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is governed by various statutes enacted by the United States Congress and interpreted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). Pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ("the Act") and accompanying legislation, the FDA has authority to oversee the quality of substances sold as food in the United States, and to monitor claims made in the labeling about both the composition and the health benefits of foods.

Substances which the FDA regulates as food are subdivided into various categories, including foods, food additives, added substances (man-made substances which are not intentionally introduced into food, but nevertheless end up in it), and dietary supplements. The specific standards which the FDA exercises differ from one category to the next. Furthermore, the FDA has been granted a variety of means by which it can address violations of the standards for a given category of substances.

Dietary supplement manufacture is required to comply with the good manufacturing practices established in 2007. The FDA can visit manufacturing facilities, send Warning Letters[85] if not in compliance with GMPs, stop production, and if there is a health risk, require that the company conduct a recall.[98]

The European Union's (EU) Food Supplements Directive of 2002 requires that supplements be demonstrated to be safe, both in dosages and in purity.[99] Only those supplements that have been proven to be safe may be sold in the EU without prescription. As a category of food, food supplements cannot be labeled with drug claims but can bear health claims and nutrition claims.[100]

The dietary supplements industry in the United Kingdom (UK), one of the 28 countries in the bloc, strongly opposed the Directive. In addition, a large number of consumers throughout Europe, including over one million in the UK, and various doctors and scientists, had signed petitions by 2005 against what are viewed by the petitioners as unjustified restrictions of consumer choice.[101] In 2004, along with two British trade associations, the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) had a legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive[102] referred to the European Court of Justice by the High Court in London.[103]

Although the European Court of Justice's Advocate General subsequently said that the bloc's plan to tighten rules on the sale of vitamins and food supplements should be scrapped,[104] he was eventually overruled by the European Court, which decided that the measures in question were necessary and appropriate for the purpose of protecting public health. ANH, however, interpreted the ban as applying only to synthetically produced supplements, and not to vitamins and minerals normally found in or consumed as part of the diet.[105] Nevertheless, the European judges acknowledged the Advocate General's concerns, stating that there must be clear procedures to allow substances to be added to the permitted list based on scientific evidence. They also said that any refusal to add the product to the list must be open to challenge in the courts.[106]

Examples of ongoing government research organizations to better understand the potential health properties and safety of dietary supplements are the European Food Safety Authority,[3] the Office of Dietary Supplements of the United States National Institutes of Health,[7][107] the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate of Canada,[108] and the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia.[109] Together with public and private research groups, these agencies construct databases on supplement properties, perform research on quality, safety, and population trends of supplement use, and evaluate the potential clinical efficacy of supplements for maintaining health or lowering disease risk.[107]

As continual research on the properties of supplements accumulates, databases or fact sheets for various supplements are updated regularly, including the Dietary Supplement Label Database,[5] Dietary Supplement Ingredient Database,[110] and Dietary Supplement Facts Sheets of the United States.[111] In Canada where a license is issued when a supplement product has been proven by the manufacturer and government to be safe, effective and of sufficient quality for its recommended use, an eight-digit Natural Product Number is assigned and recorded in a Licensed Natural Health Products Database.[112] The European Food Safety Authority maintains a compendium of botanical ingredients used in manufacturing of dietary supplements.[113]

In 2015, the Australian Government's Department of Health published the results of a review of herbal supplements to determine if any were suitable for coverage by health insurance.[114] Establishing guidelines to assess safety and efficacy of botanical supplement products, the European Medicines Agency provided criteria for evaluating and grading the quality of clinical research in preparing monographs about herbal supplements.[115] In the United States, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health provides fact sheets evaluating the safety, potential effectiveness and side effects of many botanical products.[116]

To assure supplements have sufficient quality, standardization, and safety for public consumption, research efforts have focused on development of reference materials for supplement manufacturing and monitoring.[117][113] High-dose products have received research attention,[107][118] especially for emergency situations such as vitamin A deficiency in malnutrition of children,[119] and for women taking folate supplements to reduce the risk of breast cancer.[120]

In the United States, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) has investigated habits of using dietary supplements in context of total nutrient intakes from the diet in adults and children.[107] Over the period of 1999 to 2012, use of multivitamins decreased, and there was wide variability in the use of individual supplements among subgroups by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and educational status.[121] Particular attention has been given to use of folate supplements by young women to reduce the risk of fetal neural tube defects.[122][123]

Research initiatives to improve knowledge of the possible health benefits of supplementing with essential nutrients to lower disease risk have been extensive. As examples, just in 2017 were reviews on

A 2017 review indicated a rising incidence of liver injury from use of herbal and dietary supplements, particularly those with steroids, green tea extract, or multiple ingredients.[128]

The potential benefit of using essential nutrient dietary supplements to lower the risk of diseases has been refuted by findings of no effect or weak evidence in numerous clinical reviews, such as for cardiovascular diseases,[127] cancer,[127] HIV,[129] or tuberculosis.[130]

A review of clinical trials registered at clinicaltrials.gov, which would include both drugs and supplements, reported that nearly half of completed trials were sponsored wholly or partially by industry.[131] This does not automatically imply bias, but there is evidence that because of selective non-reporting, results in support of a potential drug or supplement ingredient are more likely to be published than results that do not demonstrate a statistically significant benefit.[131][132] One review reported that fewer than half of the registered clinical trials resulted in publication in peer-reviewed journals.[133]

Improving public information about use of dietary supplements involves investments in professional training programs, further studies of population and nutrient needs, expanding the database information, enhancing collaborations between governments and universities, and translating dietary supplement research into useful information for consumers, health professionals, scientists, and policymakers.[134] Future demonstration of efficacy from use of dietary supplements requires high-quality clinical research using rigorously-qualified products and compliance with established guidelines for reporting of clinical trial results (e.g., CONSORT guidelines).[107]

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Dietary supplement - Wikipedia

Nootropics r/Nootropics – reddit

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I have struggled with stress, anxiety, and various bouts of depression for many years now, starting mainly around the time I entered high school (I am now 21, and graduated three years ago). Over the years I have taken many things, all of which have had varying degrees of success.

When I was 16, and a Sophomore in High School, I went entered a severe depressive state. My doctor at the time started me on Citalopram, a common SSRI (brand name Celexa), which I took for about a year. This stabilized my depression for the most part, and short of 1 instance roughly two years ago (after what I'd call a series of extremely unfortunate events), I have never returned to that level of depression.

My daily life has consisted of chronic fatigue, and a notable amount of brain fog, with some difficulty sleeping for some time now. I'm not sure when this started, but I know I didn't always have these problems. My best attempts at pinpointing an origin have lead me to conclude these started at some point in high school, with the brain fog specifically getting worse over time.

I went to a vocational high school, where I took computer programming, and I was quite good at it. I worked on some really interesting projects that were more in the scope of undergraduate research than high school yearly projects. The programming and math I was working with required me to hold many things at once in my head. I have found that as time has gone on, I find this type of work more and more difficult. I have struggled to hold the pieces, and have increasingly felt like my head was hazy. On some days, this is not the case, and I can think clearly, but on most it is fairly pronounced. I initially chalked this up to poor diet, poor exercise, and inconsistent sleep schedules, which to be clear I am still certain contributed and still contribute to these problems.

Around my senior year was when I first ventured into /r/Nootropics and since that time I have experimented with various supplements in attempt to remedy these problems. Noopept was my first attempt at reducing brain fog, but I didn't have much success with this. I have since tried Pramiracetam, CDP-Choline, L-Theanine, Ashwaghanda, and Creatine with varying levels of success. Most of these I find useful in brief instances, such as L-Theanine with Caffeine, but none provided long-term relief of my problems.

This brings me to the present day, or rather, about a month and a half ago. I was talking to a friend who also suffers from constant high levels of stress, and my mother who has a similar problem due to life circumstances, and it got me thinking. I began to think about how stress has a physiological response, not the least of which is cortisol. I wanted to know what the effects of chronically high-levels of cortisol were, and I stumbled across this amazing post by /u/ReadWhat123.

Could my problems really be just end-result of chronically high cortisol and ultimately HPA axis dysfunction? So I ordered some Enerphos, with Phosphorylated Serine / Ethanolamine, also known as Seriphos.

Continued here:

Nootropics r/Nootropics - reddit

The Complete Introduction To Nootropics, From Beginner To Expert

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Everything you need to know about nootropics: what they are, what they do, all the jargon explained, and how to find the best nootropics for you.

Nootropics are synthetic compounds that improve the cognitive abilities of healthy individuals. In their basic state theyre powders, but we sell them in capsule form. Nootropics are not medicines: medicines bring you back to health when youre sick, whilst nootropics help you improve when youre healthy.

Given the unique effect profile of each nootropic compound, and given the variation in peoples brain chemistry, individuals can use different nootropics for different purposes and outcomes. The most commonly sought-after effects are enhanced cognition, motivation and concentration.

The term nootropics is relatively recent, the name having been coined in 1972 by Romanian chemist Corneliu Giurgea to describe compounds that could turn the mind (from Greek, nous trepein). There is no universally accepted set of formal criteria for what qualifies as a nootropic, but Dr. Giurgeas original definition still holds sway. He considered that for any substance to be called a nootropic, it must:

In common online usage, the term nootropic is applied to any substance that can provide safe cognitive benefits to users, where benefits has a very broad range of meaning.

For example, Phenibut is often used as a socialising and extroversion booster, whilst Tianeptine is often used for its mood-brightening and anti-stress effects.

In general, a substance can be called a nootropic if it grants the user more control over their neurochemistry and the resulting behavioural and experiential outcomes.

In general, a substance can be called a nootropic if it grants the user more control over their neurochemistry and the resulting behavioural and experiential outcomes. On this view Melatonin also qualifies, given its ability to allow a user to intelligently regulate theirsleep cycle.

Ideologically, nootropics are celebrated for their ability to allow individuals to gain some mastery over their brain chemistry and the resulting mental states. For the history of the human species, brain chemistry has been largely inaccessible to targeted improvement, leaving us the prisoners of our biology. Nootropics are humanitys first tentative forays into taking control of our mood and intellect at the chemical level.

Nootropics allow users greater control over their states, moods, and cognitive abilities. In the same way as the caffeine in a morning coffee can wake you up and ready you for the day, nootropics can be used for a range of functional benefits.

Useful for their productivity and motivational effects, nootropics provide a boost for getting essential tasks done. Ideal for high-pressure cognitive work such as studying, essays and exams.

Additionally, some users take nootropics for a boost in social ability, including benefits to confidence, extroversion and verbal fluidity. Ideal for public speaking, presentations and parties.

More recently, nootropics have begun to be included in pre-workout mixes to ensure that exercise can be carried out with an iron will. When your motivation needs an extra edge, nootropics can help.

Some nootropics also provide neuroprotective effects, supporting brain health and stimulating the generation of new neurons. Maintain and support the engine of your productivity and creativity.

Nootropics can allow improvements to mental wellbeing, acting as anxiety aids, anti-depressants and mood brighteners. When you need a healthy lift to your mood, nootropics can help.

More on each of these, including specific useful nootropics, below.

Motivation and concentration can often be fleeting and fickle, and whilst nootropics can never replace a disciplined workflow, they can give you a substantial boost towards getting your critical tasks done, and getting them done well.

For long periods of concentrated cognitive effort, such as study, revision, essays, writing introductions to nootropics, and other time-consuming and mentally demanding tasks, longer lasting nootropics such as Adrafinil, Piracetam and Phenylpiracetam are ideal.

the potency of these nootropics is such that one journalist pondered whether they are a form of cheating that should be banned

These show evidence of improving learning ability, recall, problem solving, concentration, motivation and general cognition. And these are effects that you can really notice: distractions seem to fade away, intrusive thoughts seem quietened, the work seems more rewarding and less of a chore. In fact, the potency of these nootropics is such that one journalist pondered whether they are a form of cheating that should be banned.

For short periods of intensive cognitive load under high pressure, such as exams or public speaking, nootropics can also provide a controlled peak of sustained mental performance.

Short-duration, high power nootropics such as Aniracetam and Noopept can provide exactly the edge you need. These zone out distractions and fuel your cognitive processes, enhancing and ensuring mental performance for the most critical of tasks.

For some people socialising can feel like an energy-depleting activity, even when its enjoyable. And thats okay: some are naturally less extroverted. But the paradox of wanting to do an exhausting activity can be frustrating.

For others, the problem isnt exhaustion, but rather they are plagued by anxiety. For them, self-doubt and low confidence can make meeting new people, and even old friends, feel like a mammoth task. For others, communicating effectively and precisely can be a struggle, especially when articulating thoughts feels like a chore.

For each of these cases, the good news is that nootropics can help. When used correctly, they are a powerful tool for assisting and enhancing your social abilities, best treated as part of a rounded strategy of self-improvement.

[Nootropics] are a powerful tool for assisting and enhancing your social abilities, best treated as part of a rounded strategy of self-improvement.

For extroversion, and greater energy for socially draining situations, Phenibut is often celebrated for its social-enhancement properties, which create a calm and collected affect. The effects are subtle: theres none of the buzz of alcohol or other traditional aids to socialising. Instead, social interactions simply feel less taxing, and it can often be that only at the end of an evening do you realise you enjoyed yourself more than usual.

For helping with anxiety and anxiousness, in the broadest sense taking care of your mental health will always be the best strategy see Wellbeing below. When used in conjunction with good mental health practices, nootropics can be a useful aid in overcoming low self-confidence and anxiety. Naturally occurring in tea, L-Theanine is well supported as a potent supplement for anti-stress, anti-anxiety, and comfortable relaxation. In its concentrated form and separated from caffeine, it provides a mellow calm that smooths away the rough edges of anxiety.

For clearer and more precise speaking, Aniracetam and Phenylpiracetam show evidence of improving verbal fluidity as part of their thought-enhancing effects. Communication becomes easier and more exact, with the words flowing more smoothly and capturing more of what needs to be conveyed. These can give you the linguistic boost you need for all forms of public communication, whether at parties, at the podium or slaving over papers.

Whilst nootropics are not medicines, they can can provide a range of benefits for the health-conscious. Boosts to motivation are not only advantageous for cognitive tasks, as physical exertion and exercise are also fuelled by your willpower. When you need to run that extra mile, or complete that last set, nootropics can grant you a vital boost to your endurance.

Boosts to motivation are not only advantageous for cognitive tasks, as physical exertion and exercise are also fuelled by your willpower.

Additionally, nootropics show evidence of supporting brain health: many nootropics were originally synthesized for treating Alzheimers, dementia, and other cognitive-degenerative disorders. As a whole, they offer neuroprotective and neurogenerative effects, protecting your brain and keeping your neurons healthy.

For exercise, and the focus needed to maintain peak performance, Phenylpiracetam is an ideal pre-workout addition. This potent racetam shows evidence of enhancing stamina and physical endurance so much so that professional athletes are prohibited from taking these substances when competing in official events.

Recently, Noopept has also gained popularity as a pre-workout booster for maximised willpower and resilience, allowing you that extra burst of motivation for breaking down those mental barriers.

For brain health, whilst all nootropic compounds show some neuroprotective effects, a range of celebrated benefits have been attributed to Citicoline (Choline CDP). This refined form of Choline shows solid evidence of benefits to brain resilience, neuroplasticity, and neurogenesis. Additionally, it works as a supreme accompaniment to cognitive enhancing nootropics for more information see Combinations/Stacks.

Whilst taking care of yourself and your mental health is paramount, sometimes greater control over your brain chemistry is exactly whats needed. Nootropics are not anti-depressants, and are no replacement for thoughtful mental care, but when used well they can provide a range of tools for boosting your happiness and improving your life.

Regular sleep patterns are crucial for maintaining a healthy work balance, and here nootropics can help. Whilst greater concentration and focus are helpful, boosts to your day-to-day mood can be exactly what you need. And for others, stress and anxiety get in the way of productivity, and direct interventions can be hard to find. For each of these, nootropic compounds can allow you to take control of your brain (and consequently your life!).

Nootropics are no replacement for thoughtful mental care, but when used well they can provide a range of tools for boosting your happiness and improving your life.

For sleep, Melatonin is perfect, especially given that getting enough sleep is one of the most reliable predictors of wellbeing. A synthetic version of a naturally occurring neurotransmitter, Melatonin creates familiar feelings of drowsiness that result in a relaxing and revitalising sleep. Though not usually considered a nootropic, its ability to allow a user to decide precisely when they wish to sleep earns it its place in this guide. Ideal for resetting and regulating sleep cycles, whether from jet lag or broken routines.

For affecting mood more directly, Tianeptine has been shown to be surprisingly effective. It creates a subtle short-duration mood brightening effect that serves as a very mild lift, useful for motivation and mental fuel. Additionally, when taken at standard dosages over a long period, it has shown long-term wellbeing improving effects with comparable effectiveness to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), though with a different method of action. For times when low mood has you feeling paralysed, it can be exactly what you need to break out and get things done.

For stress and anxiety, L-Theanines renowned calming effects can put you back in control. When your head feels cluttered by intrusive thoughts or rogue worries, it can clear your mind to create a medium-duration relaxed mental space. In conjunction with good mental practices, it can help you to banish the stresses of overwork and competing demands on your attention.

The goal of taking nootropics is simply to obtain specific desirable cognitive effects. Its important to know that how (and how often) you take nootropics will affect your outcomes.

One of the biggest mistakes new nootropics users make is thinking that taking more of a substance is always better The key is to find an optimal dose that works for you.

Your brain chemistry and certain chemical compounds interact in complex ways, and so the same substance taken at different doses or at different times can lead to different effects.

To get a good overview of some of the important considerations, familiarize yourself with these commonly used terms:

One of the biggest mistakes new nootropics users make is thinking that taking more of a substance is always better. The reality is that at high doses the costs of side effects often outweigh the benefits. However, everyone is affected differently, and at too low a dose, the main effect might not be noticeable. The key is to find an optimal dose that works for you.

Nootropics are only active for a limited amount of time in your body, so you might want to take a nootropic multiple times per day in order to maintain an effect. Caution is essential for how often a nootropic is taken, as overdosing can lead to two specific and undesirable side effects:

Tolerance, in which our bodies build resistance towards a nootropic compound, limiting its efficacy. Just as alcohol or caffeine has more effect on a first-time drinker than a veteran of many years, the same is true of nootropics. So nootropic users try to thoughtfully regulate their intake so that tolerance doesnt develop (also, see Cycling below).

It is also worth knowing about what is commonly called the honeymoon period: the experience of when a nootropic works especially well the first few times you take it, then drops in efficacy as your body becomes used to it. After the honeymoon period is over, some will increase their dose until they experience the full effect again, though this carries risks. It is important to be careful if this happens to you, as you may be tempted to exceed recommended doses. If tolerance builds faster than expected, we always recommend that you take time off nootropics to allow your brain time to regulate.

Dependency, where similar to caffeine and alcohol, some nootropics have habit-forming properties. If a nootropic has been taken continually at above-recommended doses, suddenly quitting it may cause nasty withdrawal-like symptoms. If ever you feel that dependency is forming, we strongly recommend slowly reducing your intake over a period of many days. Special care should be taken particularly with Phenibut, which is open to abuse potential at high doses.

As a response to the development of tolerance and dependency, nootropics users sometimes use the technique of cycling. This refers to alternating, or cycling through a number of nootropics periodically. This allows for a nootropics user to benefit from the effect of each compound while not taking any one of them frequently enough to develop tolerance or dependency. For example, you might take X for two weeks, then switch to Y for two weeks, and repeat. This way your neurochemistry never becomes too accustomed to either substance.

Stacking refers to taking two or more nootropics at the same time to enhance their effects. It has become popular to combine nootropics for two reasons:

Some nootropics are compounding, which means their effects are stronger combined than when taken separately. Examples include:

Other nootropics are combined in order to reduce the side effects of another. For example:

The internet is full of differing voices on how best to approach and use nootropics. Online advice by its nature can only be very broad, and nootropic usage for you in particular may vary from the norm. Preamble aside, some nootropics best practices remain useful no matter what:

Do your own research. No overview including this one can contain all of the information you may be interested in. Google is your friend.

Pay attention to your behaviour. Many nootropic effects are subtle, and may be inaccessible to experience and introspection.

Never exceed recommended or standard doses. If you wish to be experimental, always consult a qualified and knowledgeable medical professional.

Take nootropics separately before combining any. This will help you understand how each nootropic affects you, and which nootropics to take less of (or to avoid if they produce unwanted side effects!).

Be wary of interactions with any drugs, medicines or compounds you may be taking. If in doubt, ask your doctor.

Be aware of tolerance. If nootropics lose their effect, dont increase your dosage, but instead take time off and allow your brain to regulate.

Be aware of dependency. Though nootropics have no chemically addictive properties, habit forming is real, and can carry risks. If you think you are becoming dependent, carefully and slowly reduce your dosage.

Remember: nootropics are no replacement for a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Exercise, regular sleep and healthy eating habits are still the most reliable and effective methods for optimising cognition and wellbeing.

While nootropics are certainly effective cognitive enhancers, they will (unfortunately) not make you superhuman. Healthy expectations should be set otherwise you might be unnecessarily disappointed and might miss out on their real benefits.

Even though the effects of nootropics are significant and reliable, they can be quite subtle. For some substances, you might not feel anything at all at least not in the way you feel alcohol or caffeine. Rather you might just notice significant behavioural changes: You will be able to work longer hours, be in a consistently good mood, or get tired less quickly. This is why its good advice to put yourself and your nootropics to the test. Make to-do lists, time your work hours, monitor your sleep, track your mood, and see the difference yourself.

Its also important to understand that nootropics will not change who you are. You wouldnt say that a cup of coffee changes your personality, just because it gives you a mental boost. The same goes for nootropics. Think of it this way: imagine yourself on your best days, where youre in a good mood, feeling productive and really getting things done. Nootropics might not revolutionise your life, but they can certainly help you have those days a lot more often.

So now that you understand the basics, how does one get into nootropics? We recommend three options:

A. Use our Effects Filter: Rather than wading through endless online resources and trying to figure out what each nootropic does, we have built a simple search filter that does the hard work for you. All you need to do is click on the effects that interest you, and the engine will automatically show you which products provide those benefits. Add multiple effects to find the ideal nootropics for you.

B. Use this Introduction: Review Section 2: Why People Use Nootropics, and try figure out how you would like to enhance your brain. Are you looking to improve your productivity and study? How about socialising skills, wellbeing, exercise or health? For each of these we have recommended the safest and most reliable nootropics.

C. Try the Basics: Still not sure? Why not go for the tried and tested?:

L-Theanine the perfect starter nootropic.

L-Theanine is the natural amino-acid responsible for that feeling of calm you get from green tea. Interestingly, it works exceptionally well when combined with coffee. Due to its anxiolytic and stress-reducing properties it takes away some of the jitteriness caused by caffeine, and provides you with a clean, lucid energy boost. It has even been shown to amplify caffeines cognitive effects.

Piracetam The original nootropic.

Piracetam was first created in 1964 and has over 40 years of peer reviewed studies attesting to its effectiveness. It is predominantly recognized for its ability to improve focus, memory, and verbal fluidity. It does, however, draw on your choline reserves, which may lead to headaches in some users, so supplementing Piracetam with Citicoline ensures that your brain has the fuel to keep you going.

Adrafinil The Modafinil metabolite.

This nootropic is celebrated for good reason. When Adrafinil becomes Modafinil in your liver, it produces a state of heightened cognitive ability, characterised by concentration, wakefulness, and focus. In case you were wondering why we dont advise taking Modafinil directly, its because (unlike Adrafinil) Modafinil is not legal in most countries and/or requires a prescription.

If you have any more questions, or think we missed some crucial information in this guide, please check our FAQ or feel free to email us at hello@nootropics.com.

Read the original:

The Complete Introduction To Nootropics, From Beginner To Expert

The Big List of Nootropics | Braintropic

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The list of nootropics below is grouped into various benefits that they can offer. Please note that this list is updated periodically.

Most people are initially drawn to nootropics for their memory boosting effects. Nootropics have been studied extensively over the years with some of them demonstrating cognitive enhancing properties in cognitively impaired individuals and often in healthy adults as well.

Recommended Nootropics for Memory Enhancement:

Recommended Stacks:

Nootropics can also be great at increasing ones level of attention and focus. Generally, someone with a low attention span can be incredibly smart, however, if their level of attention and focus is low, they will not be able to reach their maximum potential.

Recommended Nootropics for Attention and Focus:

Stack Recommendations:

Being in a poor mood or depressed state can have an extremely adverse effect on ones cognition. Maintaining a good mood is important, and often is not simply a matter of mindset or willpower. While those with clinical depression must turn to medical attention, if you have a lack of happy moods or somewhat slight depression, these nootropics may help.

Recommended Nootropics for Mood and Depression:

Recommended Stacks:

These are nootropics that may increase your general level of health and well-being. They promote maximum levels of efficiency in your body. These nootropics are even thought by some to extend ones lifespan and delay age-related cognitive decline.

Recommended Nootropics for Longevity and Anti-Aging:

Anxiety can be an extremely disruptive part of ones cognition. Despite how intelligent an individual might be, anxiety can interfere with mental performance.

Recommended Nootropics for Anxiety:

Stack Recommendation: I designed the Best Nootropic Stack around the above ideas of how to push myself to the limit of my cognition and enabled myself to be the most productive I could be academically, and business-wise. Indeed, this is one of my favorite stacks.

Sleep is another crucial part of enhancing your cognition. Many nootropic supplements can be taken at night to improve your sleep quality. Sleep is vital for your brain to perform at its best.

Recommended Nootropics forSleep:

Recommended Stack:

Planning to start a new supplementation regimen? See our medical disclaimer.

Link:

The Big List of Nootropics | Braintropic

Calls for papers Conferences taking place in May 2019

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Urban Otium: Materialities, Practices, RepresentationsUniversity of Freiburg, Germany, 2-4 May 2019Deadline for proposals: 31 October 2018

CRC 1015 Otium. Boundaries, Chronotopes, Practices

Speed, acceleration, the perceived intensification of time, expediency and efficiency are all recurring catchphrases of our present time, which are closely linked to the urban experience. The hustle and bustle of city life, hectic and busyness are central characteristics of the urban space, which supposedly subject the citys inhabitants to an increasingly functional logic. And yet it becomes apparent how fragile this domination is in characters like the flneur who moves calmly through the bustle of the city. We can even identify seemingly opposite tendencies: places like urban parks, museums and other recreational spaces, as well as a growing leisure industry suggest to be refuges of deceleration. But at the same time such opportunities can be subject to utilitarian rationality and self-improvement.In the interdisciplinary collaborative research centre 1015 on Otium at the University of Freiburg, these contradictory aspects are being discussed and at the conference on Urban Otium: Materiality, Practices, Representations they are going to be analysed in more detail. In interdisciplinary dialogue, free spaces of otium in the urban space can be identified, and through them a discussion on the relation of urbanity and otium can be initiated. In the context of the collaborative research centre, the term otium is not understood as being primarily tied to particular actions or spaces, but rather as the experience of a free being-in-time, an end in itself not identified with the logic of purpose-oriented achievement. The notion can be made more palpable with the help of paradoxical expressions such as productiveunproductiveness or active inactivity, which emphasise its social dimension. Against this background, otium and work are no polar opposites, nor can otium and free time (as well as an understanding of free time in the sense of leisure activity) be understood as synonyms. Moreover, there is a transgressive potential in this understanding of otium: even in situations of the greatest hectic and time pressure moments of otium can arise which enable the individual to free her- or himself of these circumstances.The connection of the concept of otium with the thematic field of urbanity raises multiple questions: How do opportunities for otium manifest themselves in the urban space as well as in the social fabric in general? Can we establish differences between different kinds of urban spaces (e.g. small town, city or metropolis) and the forms of otium specific to them? Is the traditional dichotomy between city and nature at all tenable in the context of experiences of otium? How does the concept relate to recent developments like the forming of global cities or the specific context of postcolonial cities? How can the tension between, on the one hand, structures furthering inequality and, on the other, social autonomy in the city be applied to otium? In what way is gender relevant for urban otium?These questions will be at the core of the conference, which will consist of contributions from different disciplines, so that perspectives from the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences can complement one another. Already the categories mentioned in the conference title incorporate this idea: (urban) otium manifests itself in the material form of the urban space, in the actions of its agents as well as in differently mediated representations.The aim of the conference is to connect historical-diachronic observations with reflections on the present, and thus to discuss possible cultural histories of urban otium. Above that, the conference topic should not be approached from a purely Eurocentric or Western viewpoint, but instead the debate should do justice to the global variety of cultures of otium.

The conference will be structured along the following thematic emphases:

Two possible formats are intended: Papers (max. 30 minutes) and shorter contributions (max. 15 minutes)Exposs of one page (approx. 500 words) as well as a short CV are requested by 31.10.2018.Please send both to Ren Wamer: rene.wassmer@sfb1015.uni-freiburg.dePeter Philipp Riedl will be happy to answer any questions you may have: peter.riedl@sfb1015.uni-freiburg.de

(posted 19 September 2018)

We invite you to our symposium to understand scientists, educators, principals, experts, teachers, graduate students and those who are passionate about education, to share, to contribute and to address the theme profoundly. In this symposium to take place in Buca Faculty of Education in which science and nature meet, participants will have chance to benefit from keynote speechs, oral presentations, workshops and panels.

Proceedings which will be reviewed and accepted by judges will be published as an abstract booklet in the symposium website and will be published as full-text in 1st International Science, Education, Art & Technology Symposium Proceedings book after the symposium.

We will be pleased to welcome you in zmir, the pearl of Aegean.

Keynote speakers:

The scope of the symposium is not limited with the ones listed below and all teacher education related subjects are included in the symposium.

Important Dates:

More information is available on the Symposium Website: https://www.bestsempozyum.org/BEST2018/sempozyum-cagrisi

(posted 6 January 2019)

We invite abstracts for 20-minute presentations on literary and linguistic issues that relate to the conference topic.Brexit and Beyond: Nation and IdentityDebates about national identity have received new currency in recent years in a context of demonstrations of national self-assertion, which has resulted for example in the Brexit decision in Britain, in significant changes in American international policies, and the introduction of authoritarian measures in some member states of the European Union. Shortly after Britain will most probably have left the European Union, the conference will address the developments outlined above and the cultural discourses surrounding them. As regards Brexit, we argue that many attempts at explaining the Leave victory and current British Euroscepticism focus quite narrowly on economic, legal and political factors, underestimating more fuzzy phenomena such as cultural myths, narratives and images which circulate in literature, travel writing, visual arts and other media, influencing people on a visceral level, sometimes against their better judgement. During our conference, we will examine the construction and negotiation of cultural identities in language, literature and the media with a focus on cultural memory and the cultural imaginary as well as stereotyping, mythmaking, peoples shared fictions and the impact of the resulting policies on peoples lives. We believe that literary studies and linguistics can make an important contribution to our understanding of current political developments, and to a critique of jingoistic populism. Topics addressed at the conference could include:

Keynote Speakers:

Deadline for abstracts: January 13, 2019Submit to: sauteconference2019@unibas.chAbstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent together with a brief bio-blurb and contact details to the above e-mail address in one PDF document. Notifications of acceptance will be issued from February 17, 2019.Conference website: https://english.philhist.unibas.ch/en/research/conferences-and-colloquia/saute-conference-2019/A selection of papers will be published in the Swiss Papers in English Language and Literature (SPELL).

(posted 4 September 2018)

All of the subdisciplines of English Studies address issues of exchange, transformation and communication: ranging from the temporal development, regional variation and functional properties of language; through the societal interactions examined in history and cultural studies; to the permutations of plot, negotiations of character and voice, and evolutions of genre within literature, film, and other aesthetic forms. Exchange, transformation and communication are crucial to an understanding of English as a humanistic discipline; to its international role in political, institutional and market-driven contexts; and to the mediation between English(es) and other languages that is performed by textual and cultural translation.

In Etc. we intend to find space for all of the above-mentioned areas of study, and for the transformative possibilities that may arise from communication and exchange between them. Furthermore, we will consider exchange, transformation and communication not only as objects of study within English Studies but also as characterising the structure, roles and processes of English Studies itself as an international academic field, especially in relation to the meeting between national and institutional traditions and experiences sometimes similar, sometimes very different that a forum such as this conference permits.

Plenary speakers will include Michael Eaton, MBE (playwright and scriptwriter) and Prof. Alastair Pennycook (Distinguished Professor of Language, Society and Education, University of Technology, Sydney). Further speakers to be announced.

Possible focus areas include:

Abstracts for 20-minute papers must be submitted via the NAES2019 website https://events.au.dk/naes2019/about.html by 30 November 2018.

(posted 8 October 2018)

K.N. Panikkar in his article Literature as History of Social Change made the following statement:

Despite the distinction between literature and history, their relationship is characterised by a close interface between the two. History is invariably the subject matter of literature as its universe is humanity, and humanity has no existence without its history. In other words, history is the inspiration and source of literature. The commonly used term historical literature is a misnomer, as there is no literature devoid of history. History intercedes in literature not only when history is invoked, as in the case of Walter Scott or Leo Tolstoy, or, closer home, Brindavan Lal Verma or C.V. Raman Pillai, but it is embedded in all social situations and hence reflected in literary representations.

It seems that the question of the relation between literature and history is still current and widely discussed among academics, scholars and writers throughout the world. Literature undoubtedly shapes our understanding of the past. No one can truly deny the contribution of Charles Dickens to our perception of Victorian Britain, the role of Mark Twains works in building our comprehension of the 19th century American South, or Shakespeares role in reviving the historical figures of Richard III or Henry V. Likewise, nobody denies the significance and salience of Thomas Paines Common Sense in triggering the American War of Independence or the role of John Drydens political poems in shaping the public opinion in the Restoration England. It seems challenging a task to grasp the historical epoch and its consequent events without remembering about its literary representatives and so it is hardly feasible to fully appreciate a work of literature without being familiar with its historical, social or cultural backdrop.

Literature can undeniably serve as a historical source, whereas history can act as a source of inspiration for literary achievements.

The aim of the conference LITERATURE IN HISTORY HISTORY IN LITERATURE is to provide academic forum for established scholars, early career researchers, doctoral students and independent scholars who, in their work, strive to find the interface between literary and historical studies.

The Conference will prioritize the following thematic areas although proposals referring to other related issues are welcome:

Please send paper proposals of approximately 250 words, complete with a short bio note and your academic affiliation to ujkconference@gmail.com.Selected papers will be published in a monograph.

Important dates:New extended deadline for sending proposals: 30 March 2019Notification of acceptance: 5 April 2019Payment of registration fee: 20 April 2019

Registration fee: 350z/ 80 euro, doctoral students: 250z/ 60 euro

Further information on conference website: http://www.ujk.edu.pl/ifo/conference/

(posted 28 December 2018, updated 9 Mach 2019)

Organised by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research

London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Sydney, Shanghai, Dubai are leading global hubs of finance and commerce, research and development, education and media, art and culture, entertainment and tourism. They consist of an intriguing and yet irresistible mixture of past and present, history and commercialism, monuments and leisure culture. Contrasts and paradoxes present these megacities as exceptional phenomena of artificiality and naturalness, livelihood and unpredictability, whose horizontal and vertical mobility has imposed an unmistakable tempo upon the course of the world and has shaped particular physical and mental geographies.

The conference will explore the singular nature of the symbols that represent the worlds cosmopolitan metropoles. It will also focus on the fascination exerted by these large urban areas and their complex character as unrivalled sites of self-confidence and assertiveness, progress and sophistication.

The main objective of the event is to bring together all those interested in examining the intersections between their professions and/or interests and some distinct aspects of metropolitan life, providing an integrated approach for the understanding of the mechanisms that lie behind the undisputed global centres.

Topics include but are not limited to several core issues:

Paper proposals up to 250 words and a brief biographical note should be sent by1 February, 2018to: urbanstudies@lcir.co.uk.

Please download Paper proposal form.

Registration fee 100 GBP

Provisional conference venue:Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London, WC1E 7HX

(posted 22 October 2018)

Following the conference Metaphor: retrospect and prospects organised in Genoa in May 2016, the research group won a PRIN (Progetto di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale) award from the Italian government to further our work in the area of Cognitive Metaphor and the intense debate surrounding it, regarding the nature of metaphor, types of metaphor, classification of metaphors, metaphor and psychological theory, modes of research into metaphor, including corpus-based methodologies, concrete applications of metaphor theory to text and multimedial analysis. Just as the theoretical domains are extremely wide-ranging, so are the domains of application, with every area of language having been treated literary, conversation, advertising, politics, classroom, art, medicine, law, economics, the world-wide web and other modes of multimedial communication, to name but a few.

Papers are therefore invited from all disciplines, including literature, linguistics, psychology, sociology, criminology, anthropology, communication studies, medicine, the hard and soft sciences, on any aspect of metaphor theory and its applications. Papers are also welcome which trace the development of metaphor theory and how developments in metaphor theory are related to more general developments in the field of scientific discovery.

Work in progress which is already under way and which is at a stage where progress made can provide valuable insights will also be given due consideration.

The conference languages are English and French. Publication(s) will follow, details of which will be announced at the end of the conference. When submitting their proposal, authors should indicate which of the two conference languages they will be delivering their paper in.

Scholars who have accepted to give a keynote lecture are:Marc BonhommeJonathan Charteris-BlackMonika FludernikRay GibbsZoltan KovecsesGerard SteenRita Temmerman

Submitting proposals:We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations (followed by 10 minutes for discussion). Please note that all the rooms will be equipped with computer, DVD player and overhead projector so you can project all supported documents, spreadsheets, presentations and films. Should you require any special equipment beyond these standard applications, please specify these requirements in your abstract.

Please send an abstract of no more than 400 words to the Conference email address: metaphorgenoa2019@gmail.com

Abstracts should be sent as email attachments in .doc format and should be named Surname_Abstract_Metaphor 2019. They should contain the following structural elements: (a) your full name, academic position, academic affiliation, email address, postal address, (b) a recognisable thesis/statement or research question, (c) an explanation of the methodology, (d) a short reference to emerging results (if applicable), (e) a list of keywords, (f) a short list of key references (max. 5).

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 31st January 2019. Notifications of acceptance will be sent within two weeks of receipt of a proposal.

Detailed information on the conference, travel, accommodation etc. may be found at the conference website at http://www.lcm.unige.it/CALL/?op=cfp

The standard information and an automatic enrolment system will be running ASAP.

The Organising Committee: Michele Prandi, John Douthwaite, Micaela Rossi, Elisabetta Zurru, Ilaria Rizzato

(posted 6 August 2018)

The American Civil War may have ended in 1865, but in many respects it is still being fought today, over 150 years later. Ongoing battles over the Confederate flag and the recent Confederate monument controversy suggest that many of the wounds of the war, especially those related to race, class and gender, are still far from being healed. Clearly, what led to the Civil War is still dividing the nation: Americans are not only grappling with a future vision for the country, but are also struggling with the past. What are considered by some to be markers of cultural heritage are for many others painful symbols of the violent history of the United States, a nation that was built on the exploitation of African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and other minority groups. As William Faulkner expresses in his 1951 novel Requiem for a Nun, The past is never dead. Its not even past. It lingers like a ghost over the present and the future, haunting Americans and urging them to come to terms with its countless meanings and manifestations.

If we are what we remember then who are Americans exactly? Is what we remember just as important as how we remember it? American identity is closely invested in commemoration; national holidays, for example, construct a common past in a country of immigrants without a common past. They help make sense out of distant events, reinforce collective values in the present, and theoretically map out a shared future. Yet, those aspects of history that are (or are not) chosen for display in a museum, preservation in an archive, depiction in a work of art, or narration in a work of literature also speak volumes about a nation and its people. They remind us that there are always many competing, and often contradictory, histories, and that the past is truly never dead.

ASAT invites the submission of individual abstracts, panels, and workshop/ roundtable proposals that explore all aspects of this theme. Possible subthemes may include, but are not limited to:

Proposals should be sent to the American Studies Association of Turkey (info@asat-jast.org) and should consist of a 250300 word abstract, five keywords, and a short (200 word) biography for each participant. The time allowance for presentations is 20 minutes. An additional 10 minutes will be provided for discussion.

Submission deadline: December 1, 2018

Selected papers will be included in a special issue of the Journal of American Studies of Turkey (JAST) based on the conference theme.

More information will be posted on our website as it becomes available: http://www.asat-jast.org

(posted 20 April 2018)

Under the auspices of the Research Project Orientation: Towards a Dynamic Understanding of Contemporary Fiction and Culture (1990s-2000s) (ref. FFI2017-86417-P), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness https://orionfiction.org this conference addresses past, present and future orientations of (neo-) Victorian literature and culture.

Ann Heilmann and Mark Llewellyns acclaimed The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century, 1999-2009 (2010) offered insight into how neo-Victorianism had evolved as a historical sub-genre in the first decade. Now, nearly two decades into the twenty-first century, neo-Victorianism has consolidated into a literary genre and cultural phenomenon that continues to gain both in popularity and critical appraisal, and current trends in neo-Victorianism continue expanding and diversifying. Thus, we perceive that we have reached a point of reflection and, therefore, we wish to explore new paths and intersections of (neo-)Victorianism.

This conference examines (neo-)Victorian diversifications into the twenty-first century exploring the notion of orientation, a dialogical concept itself because it indicates ones position in relation to something or someone. We aim to conceptualise the current interest in dynamic processes, notions of becoming, fluidity and multilayering in the neo-Victorian mode through the lens of orientation. We would like to develop this idea in close relationship to the dynamic interplay between the past and the present, the Victorians and us. This way, this notion bears similarities to the polytemporality of the trace in that it underlines the dynamic interplay and interrelations between past, present, and future as modes of temporal orientation (Victoria Browne). In addition, Sarah Ahmeds concept of orientation, inspired by Maurice Merleau-Pontys philosophy, has explored the spatial quality of the term in relation to queer phenomenology and embodied situatedness. Therefore, we wish to examine orientation as place, habitation and space in different senses in that it directs itself towards the space in between bodies and objects, but also in the sense of the individuals orientation towards the Other. Ultimately, we would like to address the concept orientation from these interrelated perspectives (1) orientation as an apt critical tool to analyse time, as the passage of the trace, polytemporal and dynamic, and (2) orientation as a spatial notion, which serves to address questions of mobility, movement, and the in-between space that exists between bodies and objects, in phenomenological terms, as well as the I-you relationship that emerges in the encounter with the other.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers in the following topics (but not limited to) on (neo-) Victorian Orientations: Theoretical approaches and conceptualisations of orientation Passages, processes and the dynamic continuums between the Victorian past and the contemporary period. (Neo-)Victorianism oriented towards the past, the present and the future Time and temporality in neo-Victorian fiction; (multiple) temporality; Polytemporality Future incursions into the nineteenth century Situatedness, embodiment and the senses The Victorians Unbound Spatial orientations: spatial conceptions, dynamic spaces, geographical orientations Neo-Victorianism and the ethical encounter with the other; Orientations towards Otherness and the Other Neo-Victorianism and queer orientations Neo-Victorian orientations and orientalism; cultural cross points Multicultural, cross-cultural and global neo-Victorianism Neo-Victorian literature oriented towards Children and Young Adults New orientations towards the Victorians: digital humanities and (neo-) Victorianism

Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Professor Ann Heilmann (University of Cardiff, UK) Dr. Marie-Luise Kohlke (University of Swansea, UK) Professor Susana Onega (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) Professor Patricia Pulham (University of Surrey, UK)

Main Organisers: Professor Rosario Arias and Dr Lin PetterssonPlease send a 250-word abstract to orientationliterature@gmail.com by 30 November 2018 (new extended deadline). Abstracts should include a short biographical note. All submissions will be peer-reviewed.

(posted 11 September 2018, updated 15 October 2018)

The JRAAS team is pleased to announce the third JRAAS Conference New Perspectives, which aims to give students and young researchers the opportunity to present papers on subjects connected to Anglo-American studies. We offer a platform where new ideas can be shared and discussed openly, in order to lay the foundations for an engaged dialogue between the next generation of scholars.

We strongly believe in the value of well-connected interdisciplinary research, employing various methodologies. Young scholars and students wishing to contribute should, therefore, feel free to bring their ideas to the table, from any domain found in present-day Anglo-American Studies.

The III JRAAS Conference New Perspectives will take place at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto, Portugal, on the 16th and 17th of May 2019.

Anyone interested might find guidance in the following (not restrictive) list of topics, based on the academic focus of our research center and team:

We invite you to send a 250 words proposal, in form of a word document, to jraascetaps@gmail.com until the 31st of March 2019. The eventual conference contributions are expected to consist of 20-minute presentations preferably in English, although Portuguese may also be considered upon deliberation. A short bio-note should be included (150 words at max.).

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

IMPORTANT DATES

REGISTRATION FEES(cover folder, certificate, and coffee breaks)

Early bird registration: until May 3rd, 2019Fee: 10,00Student Fee: 5,00

After May 3rd, 2019Fee: 15,00Student Fee: 10,00

For any queries, please e-mail us at jraascetaps@gmail.com

(posted 11 February 2019, updated 9 March 2019)

Plenary speakers:

Presentations (20 min) and workshops (60 min) are invited in the following sections:

Abstract submission

Please submit 60word abstracts, which will be included in the conference programme:

Deadline:15 February 2019

Conference fee:

Conference website:https://bas.events.uvt.ro

For additional information, please contact:

(posted 16 september 2018)

Organised by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research

History is written by the victors according to a popular quote. Regardless of the accuracy of this statement, the fact is that history is commonly written by people with authority and bias, thus impeding any attempt to distill one single, objective, definitive truth and record it in immutable books. Moreover, history telling and analysis inevitably comes with different facets, based on context and the historians background. Nevertheless, perspective cannot be regarded as a mere thorn for the discipline, but instead can provide invaluable material to enrich, retrospect and constructively investigate past events, so long as proper mechanisms are in place to guarantee the mitigation of deceitful behaviors.

Recently there has been a rise of distributed systems as a viable means to democratise various aspects of our society. Blockchain has gained attention as the main technology behind Bitcoin and Ethereum, creating their own currency and promising simpler transactions that will replace the status quo financial systems. However, Blockchain potential is not limited to crypto-currencies and creating money out of thin air in an attempt to become rich overnight. Blockchain is the technology that maysignificantly benefit our lives in the near future by decentralizing governance, allowing peers to directly interact in a reliable and secure manner and empowering communities with the privilege and responsibility of defining their operation and evolution.

Adopting Blockchain technologies appeals as a very promising direction towards the democratisation of History. As the name implies, Blockchain is a chain of blocks, each registered at some point in time, which is in line with Historys linearity in terms of timeliness of events. What is written in each block, is a product of interactions among peers of the blockchain, who can all have access to the system, in a deterministic manner based on agreed predefined processes. How can History writing be mapped into a conversational process with the conclusions, as well as the reviews, discussions and links to facts, being printed on blocks of the Blockchain? How can access of all users to History reading and writing benefit the panoramicity and cultural inclusiveness into preserving our heritage? To which extent can a single reference system foster historical knowledge and awareness, while unleashing freedom of speech in event reporting and shedding light into the patterns of historical events?

We invite proposals from various disciplines including history, political sciences, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, IT, media and communication, literature, linguistics, etc.

Paper proposals up to 250 words and a brief biographical note should be sent by 1 February, 2019to: digital.humanities@lcir.co.uk. Please download Paper Proposal Form.

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Calls for papers Conferences taking place in May 2019

Transhuman Artificial Intelligence Coming to a Hive Mind …

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Trans-humanist dystopia may not be that far away.In the future, humans are going to be artificially intelligent (AI). Google Director of Engineering (((Ray Kurzweil))) said, Well also be able to fully back up our brains.Were going to gradually merge and enhance ourselves. Our thinking then will be a hybrid of biological and non-biological thinking.

After tens of thousands of years of natural evolution, this wizard, Kurzweil, predicts that humans will become hybrids in the 2030s. That means our brains will be able to connect directly to the cloud, where there will be thousands of computers, and those computers will augment our existing intelligence. He said the brain will connect via nanobots tiny robots made from DNA strands.

Through the use of smart drugs, and what transhumanists call mind uploading, man will be able to merge with the internet, envisioned as the endpoint of occult (((Kabbalistic))) evolution, the formation of a collective consciousness, or Global Brain. That awaited moment is what Kurzweil refers to as The Singularity. The fact that this man is the key player running Google (now Alphabet) research couldnt be more damning.

Elon Musk, another technology guru, has an issue with AI.He told an audience at MIT we should be very careful about artificial intelligence, warning it may be our biggest existential threat and that with artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.

Musk goes on to say that we could be living in a matrix. Since he comes across as an obtuse speaker, he can often be dismissed; but I believe what he meant is that there is enough already beingsimulated and holographed, that it starts to supersede base reality. It is mixed or augmented faux reality and thats an important distinction although to the person experiencing it, the difference may seem subtle or not even noticeable.

I point this synthetic reality out all the time on TNN and am convinced it is being heavily used by the Crime Syndicate and their media in stagecraft and skulduggery. There are many disbelievers (or even worse, those who just dont care) to this view. But if you have enough people using digital heroin who are addicted to holdable, wearable and implantable electronics, then they will be infected and live their lives in simulated, augmented, unnatural hive mind environments, hardly able to distinguish between truth and illusion.

AI is synonymous with total control, and we can only imagine who will play God and exercise this control on the transhumans on the plantation. The prospects should horrify any thinking person.

Layered on top of this is DARPAs Targeted Neuroplasticity Training program. This works to take advantage of the brains synaptic plasticity, its ability to continually rearrange its structures and functions in response to experiences, such as learning skills and cognitive skills. The basic idea is to stimulate peripheral nerves so they can trigger the release of certain molecules in the brain that cause neurons to rearrange themselves. Let me spell it out: Brain restructuring (aka mental programming and control) is the end of natural free will and defines a transhuman.

Transhumanism technology incorporates nano-technology, genetic modifications, drugs, robotics, bionics and cybernetic enhancements.The game being played here is to claim AI and brain hijacking has some specific narrow national defense or time saving purpose. But we know better. This is straight out of satanist Aldous Huxleys wildest hive minds vision of the future

Verdict: Beyond-the-pale dystopic criminality, evil and totally counter to the natural order. Transhumanism threatens the death of humanity beyond whats already occurred and should be a core issue for new nationalists.

Illustrating our challenge, a Pew Research poll found32 percent of people polled said they would want such implants if they could actually improve their brain function. How trusting. Only41 percent of respondents said they were somewhat worried about the potential effects of such technology, while another 28 percent said they were very worried. Twenty-five percent said they were somewhat enthusiastic and 9 percent were very enthusiastic about the concept. Only 28 percent very worried about being turned into a transhuman hive mind: we are in deep trouble ladies and gentlemen!

This article originally appeared on The New Nationalist and was republished here with permission.

Originally posted here:

Transhuman Artificial Intelligence Coming to a Hive Mind ...

Ron Paul spent $35M, yet only got 40,000 votes nationwide …

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How many times are you planning to ask this?

He got 1.2 million votes in the Republican primaries, including huge chunks of the mountain west and coming in second in Las Vegas where he would have had a majority of delegates had the GOP not turned off the light and fled at the state convention when the delegate votes were all going Ron Paul's way. (Google it.) As is, he had the second number of votes of all candidates at the GOP convention.... oh... and held his own, FULLY PAID FOR convention, for a similar number of people as attended the GOP's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfKSXcme6...

States don't count write in votes, most of them, unless you are registered and he wasn't running. His SUPPORTERS registered him or got him on the ballot in Ca Montana and Louisiana, where the candidate didn't have to agree to be registered, but by then he had made it clear he wasn't running. If you look at the CA votes, even they didn't count them individually to him in all counties, despite the law.

Link:

Ron Paul spent $35M, yet only got 40,000 votes nationwide ...

‘Racist newsletter’ timeline: What Ron Paul has said …

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It's the biggest setback to hit Ron Paul's candidacy for president: publicity about racially charged statements and other controversial comments in newsletters published in Mr. Paul's name in the 1980s and 1990s.

On Thursday he responded at some length to the concerns during an Iowa radio interview, calling the newsletter statements "terrible" but insisting that he wasn't the one who wrote them. He added that the offensive comments totaled about "about eight or 10 sentences."

Some journalists who have researched the newsletters say it was a lot more than 10 sentences, and that the Texas congressman's response on the issue has changed over the years.

Here, in timeline format, are some prominent Paul statements tied to the issue drawn from transcripts, video clips, and news reports.

1985 to 1994

The controversial statements that have surfaced stem largely from this period. They were contained in newsletters with titles like Ron Pauls Freedom Report, the Ron Paul Political Report, the Ron Paul Survival Report, and the Ron Paul Investment Letter, rarely under a byline (although many contained first-person references that readers would assume referred to Paul himself).

Some samples: A December 1989 newsletter quoted by James Kirchick in the New Republic predicted "Racial Violence Will Fill Our Cities" because "mostly black welfare recipients will feel justified instealing from mostly white 'haves.' "

Another letter said "I think we can assume that 95 percent of the black men in that city [Washington] are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."

An August 1992 edition of the Ron Paul Report labeled former Rep. Barbara Jordan (D) of Texas "the archetypal half-educated victimologist," according to the Houston Chronicle.

1995 to 1996

In a 1995 C-Span interview, Paul talks up his newsletter and espouses some familiarity with its contents. He says it deals a lot "with the value of the dollar, the pros and cons of the gold standard, and of course the disadvantages of all the high taxes and spending our government seems to continue to do."

Paul, having been out of office for a decade, ran for Congress in 1996 and the content of the newsletters were raised by his opponent as a campaign issue. Paul's campaign doesn't deny authorship of the newsletters, but says the Democratic rival is taking the message out of context.

In a Dallas Morning News interview, Paul said the comment about black men in the District of Columbia arose from his study of a report by the National Center on Incarceration and Alternatives, a criminal justice think tank in Virginia.

2001

In a story published by Texas Monthly, Paul tells the magazine that he didn't write "those words." The magazine itself says the newsletter statements are not "remotely like" Paul's public utterances.

"I could never say this in the campaign, but those words weren't really written by me," Paul said, according to Texas Monthly. "It wasn't my language at all. Other people help me with my newsletter asI travel around. I think the one on Barbara Jordan was the saddest thing, because Barbara and I served together and actually she was a delightful lady."

He said he had "some moral responsibility" for the words, and that his campaign aides said it would be "too confusing" to argue during the campaign that the words were not his. Paul quoted his aides saying "It appeared in your letter and your name was on that letter and therefore you have to live with it."

2007 and 2008

Ron Paul runs for president and defends his record on race.

Separate from the newsletter issue, in 2007 he fielded Republican debate questions from Tavis Smiley and Ray Suarez of PBS. In more than one instance, he frames his views as beneficial for all Americans racial minorities in particular.

In saying he now opposes the death penalty, he says "If you're poor and you're from the inner city, you're more likely to be prosecuted and convicted." He also cited DNA evidence that has shown someconvictions to have been mistaken.

Early in 2008, New Republic magazine publishes a James Kirchick story recounting incendiary passages from Paul's newsletters in detail. The article asserts that the newsletters show an "obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays."

In a 2008 TV interview, he responds to a question about racism by asserting that libertarians like himself "are incapable of being a racist" because they view "everybody as an important individual" rather than identifying people in groups.

In the interview, he says he enjoys strong support from blacks, for a Republican, in part because of his stands on the Iraq war and the so-called war on drugs. "In all [military] wars minorities suffer the most so they join me," he said. Regarding the war on drugs, he says "I am the only candidate, Republican or Democrat who would protect the minority against these vicious drug laws."

2011

Paul is running for president again, and is showing greater strength in opinion polls of potential primary voters. Mr. Kirchick (writing this time in the Weekly Standard) and others revive the newsletters as a hot topic.

The Houston Chronicle Tuesday quoted Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton saying that the newsletters were written by a ghostwriter in Paul's name. Mr. Benton acknowledged the point made by many critics of the candidate: that Paul "should have better policed" the newsletters that went out under his name.

"Dr. Paul has assumed responsibility, apologized for his lack of oversight and disavowed the offensive material," said Benton.

On Thursday, Paul reiterated on a Des Moines radio station (WHO-AM) that he did not write the controversial passages. He portrayed the volume of offensive content as small.

"These were sentences that were put in I think it was a total of about eight or ten sentences, and it was bad stuff," he told host Jan Mickelson. But, he added, "it wasn't areflection of my views at all, so it got in the letter, I think it was terrible, it was tragic."

In an email to Talking Points Memo, Kirchick said it's "preposterous" to say that only a handful of newsletter sentences were offensive. "As anyone can see from the scans of the newsletters available on the [New Republic] website or posted elsewhere, the documents contain pages upon pages of bigoted statements and outright paranoia."

While claiming "some responsibility" for the content, Paul said on Iowa radio that "I was not an editor. I'm like a publisher. There were many times when I did not edit the whole letter and other thingsgot put in."

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'Racist newsletter' timeline: What Ron Paul has said ...

GOP candidates blast Ron Paul over Iran policy. Is one side …

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If you're wondering why Ron Paul is sometimes called an isolationist on foreign policy, his role in Thursday night's Republican debate sheds some light.

The congressman from Texas won some loud applause, but also walked out on a precarious limb with many conservative voters, for picking a fight with fellow Republican candidates on US military policy.

The issue was Iran.

Here's a look at who said what, and the sharp divide over foreign policy and national defense that it illuminated. The chasm was so wide that it left some political analysts saying Mr. Paul sounded crazy. ("Jumped the shark" was the specific phrase used by an analyst with the Fox News network, which hosted the debate.)

For his part, Paul was arguing that other Republicans are essentially pursuing a crazy policy. "Absurd" and "dangerous" were words he used. He also, on the day US military operations officially ended in Iraq, called the war launched there in 2003 by the US and its allies "useless."

Paul and his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination clashed over the seriousness of the threat from Iran, what Iran's geopolitical objectives are, and what US policy should be.

Moderator Bret Baier started the discussion with a question directed at Paul: What would he do, as president, if presented with intelligence showing that Iran had a nuclear weapon? And, by opposing economic sanctions against Iran, is he running to the left of President Obama?

Ron Paul: "You know what I really fear? ... It's another Iraq coming. It's war propaganda going on," he said. "To me, the greatest danger is that we will have a president that will overreact."

He likened the current situation to views of Iraq in 2003: an atomosphere of alarm without solid evidence on the question of weapons capability. "If we lived through cold war, which we did, with 30,000 missiles pointed at us, we ought to really sit back and think, and not jump the gun.... Thats how we got involved in the useless war in Iraq and lost so much."

Similar to his position on Iraq back then, he voiced skepticism that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Paul said it's also important for US policymakers to keep the regional context in mind: Iran feels surrounded by other nations that have nuclear arms, and has seen evidence that nuclear nations get some respect.

Regarding sanctions, he called them an "act of war" that could damage the European economy by diminishing the flow of oil.

Rick Santorum: The former senator from Pennsylvania got a chance to respond to Paul's view, and hit back hard. Iran has essentially been "at war with us since 1979," he argued, citing Iran as a factory for the IED bombs that killed many US soldiers in Iraq.

"They are a radical theocracy," Mr. Santorum said. "Mutual assured destruction, like the policy during the cold war with the Soviet Union," wouldn't work on Iran because "their principal virtue is martyrdom.... They believe that it is their mission to take on the West."

He called for covert actions leading toward potential strikes, so the US can "say to them that if you do not open up those facilities and close them down, we will close them down for you."

Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor criticized Mr. Obama for being timid by asking for a US drone back after it fell into Iranian hands. "A foreign policy based on pretty please? Youve gotta be kidding?" he said. Mr. Romney called for new buildup of the Navy fleet and for adding 100,000 soldiers to US ranks, saying a strong America must lead the free world.

Michele Bachmann: The congresswoman from Minnesota seized an opportunity to fire her own shot at Paul. "I think I have never heard a more dangerous answer for American security than the one we just heard from Ron Paul.... And the reason why I would say that is because we know without a shadow of a doubt Iran will take a nuclear weapon, they will use it to wipe our ally Israel off the face of the map. And they've stated that they will use it against the United States of America."

She added, "Look no further than the Iranian constitution, which states unequivocally that their mission is to extend jihad across the world and eventually to set up a worldwide caliphate. We would be fools and knaves to ignore their purpose and their plan."

Paul: He offered a different take on the objectives of the Iranian regime and of the world's adherents of Islam in general. "To declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims and say all Muslims are the same, this is dangerous talk. Yeah, there are some radicals. But they don't come here to kill us because we're free and prosperous. Do they go to Switzerland and Sweden? I mean, that's absurd. If you think that is the reason, we have no chance of winning this. They come here and they explicitly explain it to us. The CIA has explained it to us. They said they come here and want to do us harm because we're bombing them."

He espoused a view of limited war powers for the executive branch, and of economic limits to American military engagement. "Why do we have to bomb so many countries? Why are we [having] 900 bases in 130 countries and we're totally bankrupt? How are you going to rebuild the military when we have no money?... We need a strong national defense ... and we need to only go to war with a declaration of war."

Bachmann: She took a rebuttal opportunity. Where Paul had talked about the danger of overreacting on Iran, she said it "would be that the greatest underreaction in world history if we have an avowed madman who uses that nuclear weapon to wipe nations off the face of the Earth and we have an IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] report that recently came out that said literally, Iran is within just months from being able to obtain that weapon."

Paul: He responded, saying the IAEA report did not contain hard evidence of an imminent nuclear weapon. Paul was booed, while later a CNN "truth squad" said Paul was factually correct on this point.

Because of the way the debate was structured, presidential contenders Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman Jr., and Rick Perry did not have an opportunity to weigh in on Iran. Mr. Gingrich has said he favors "regime change" in Iran, and that, if elected president, he could topple Iran's government within a year, but would use military force only as a last resort.

Mr. Huntsman has said the US and Israel will have to consider the military option to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, because economic sanctions won't be enough.

Governor Perry proposes to take "every economic and diplomatic effort" to stop Iran, and would have the military option "on the table." He lambasts Obama's Iran policy, but it's not clear how his would differ.

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GOP candidates blast Ron Paul over Iran policy. Is one side ...

WorldTravelService – Leisure & Corporate Travel Agents in …

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With eight agency locations throughout Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia, WorldTravelService serves a number of large corporate clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, including Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. As part of a worldwide system of affiliates and partners, we are able to leverage our economies of scale to provide our clientsboth corporate and leisurewith a wide range of benefits, discounts, amenities, and conveniences that they would not otherwise be able to access. We are also the largest independent, Veteran-owned agency in the Mid-Atlantic!

WorldTravelService uses the most sophisticated travel technology available to ensure complete accuracy, cost efficiency, and security. Our quality assurance programs, fare checks, and other tools are constantly running in order to give our clients the absolute best service. And since these tools are nothing without the right people to use them, we place utmost importance on hiring and retaining the most talented and dedicated professionals in the travel industry. Your complete satisfaction in every aspect of your experience with us is our highest goal.

Call us at 800-676-3796 to learn why thousands of companies and luxury travelers entrusts their travel plans to WorldTravelService, the mid-Atlantics leading full-service travel concierge to VIPs, business professionals, and serious travel connoisseurs.

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WorldTravelService - Leisure & Corporate Travel Agents in ...

Caribbean Medical School | Windsor University School of …

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Have you decided to learn medicine outside of the United States or Canada? An American Caribbean medical school is undoubtedly the best choice for those who are looking to pursue a lucrative career in medicine. Windsor University School of Medicine is located on an island in the Caribbean, St. Kitts, perfect for those who are aiming to pursue accredited MD program and a lucrative career in medicine. WUSOM welcomes students from all over the globe and gives them an opportunity to gain medical knowledge and advanced clinical skills. You will enjoy the perfect weather, beaches, sunshine, outdoor activities, that will help you maintain a study-life balance at campus.

While you will inevitably spend a better part of your waking hours studying, or in the hospital or classroom, you can spare some time to delve in a wide array of local cultures prevalent across the Caribbean.Additionally, the campus groups at most medical schools in the Caribbean are quite involved in local global health outreach. Student groups can cultivate long-term relationships with the Rotary club, clinics, orphanages, and local churches.When you step out of your comfort zone to include people with diverse cultural and economic backgrounds that are poles apart from your own, you set out to become a better physician down the road. When students strive to elevate the level of care they provide to their patients by depicting empathy, it adds to their experience pool.

Windsor University School of Medicine is an accredited Caribbean medical school that is struggling hard to produce talented and qualified doctors by offering quality education, advanced clinical training, and prepare their graduates to practice medicine in different states of the United States and Canada.WUSOM is accredited by the Medical Council and Board of Government of St. Kitts that ensures that medical universities meet and maintain the standards of providing quality education. caribbean medical university is accredited by the Accreditation Board of St. Kitts & Nevis.Windsor University School of Medicine is licensed and chartered by the Ministry of Education and listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools in partnership with FAIMER. It is listed in the World Health Organization Directory of Medical Schools. The ECFMG has also accredited WUSOM. Windsor University has been approved by the Medical Council of Canada and the Medical Council of India.Windsor graduates are eligible to be Education Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certified and can take the United States Medical Examination (USMLE) and Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Examination (MCCEE). Graduates of WUSOM can also avail the opportunity of participating in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS).

Caribbean medical university is one of the best medical schools in the Caribbean region that focus on providing an advanced educational curriculum, state-of-the-art learning technologies, digital classrooms, clinical training, and extensive hands-on patient care that give you a breadth of knowledge and skills that you can apply in real-world settings.If you want to fulfill your dream of becoming a qualified doctor and seeking admission to an American Caribbean medical school, WUSOM would be the best choice!From flexible admission requirements to an easy and hassle-free admission process, affordable tuition fee to financial aid, student career counseling to transportation and on-site psychologist facility, Caribbean medical university provides a lot of facilities that make it one of the best Caribbean medical schools.

In order to gain admission to Caribbean medical university, applicants are required to complete the undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. You should complete a minimum of 90 hours of undergraduate coursework before matriculation.You are required to complete coursework in general biology or zoology, inorganic or general chemistry, organic chemistry or biochemistry, physics, English or the humanities, and mathematics. You are also expected to submit a personal statement, two letters of recommendation, personal activities and achievements.Here is an application checklist you need to apply to WUSOM:Official transcriptCompleted application formMedical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores or similar test (Optional)Two official letters of recommendationPersonal statementCurriculum vitaeTwo passport-sized photos

Official credential evaluation report of transcript through World Education Services (WES)Official report of scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS)Refundable Security Deposit of $2,000 USD

Did you know that the acceptance rate in Caribbean medical universities is four times more than the acceptance rate in USA? The MCAT scores are a major gatekeeper of US medical admissions. Too many future physicians have witnessed the death of their career due to an over-reliance on the exam.Caribbean medical University believe that a low MCAT score could be due to a plethora of circumstantial reasons and shouldnt be a death sentence for a career in medicine. Even though medical schools in the Caribbean consider these exams as a valuable tool to gauge experience and past performance, they dont snub off applicants just because of their MCAT scores. If you want to study medicine, apply to a Caribbean medical university with no MCAT.

One of the major benefits of applying to a Caribbean medical school that offers rolling admissions is that applications are evaluated in the order in which they are received. At Caribbean medical university, Pre-med and MD program applications are accepted in January, May, and September.

Windsor University School of Medicine is a Caribbean medical school that offers scholarships and special funding support to our brilliant students. We have a number of scholarship opportunities that we offer to suitably qualified students to improve their academic performance such as academic scholarship, clinical academic scholarship, U.S. military veterans scholarship, medical professional scholarship, international student scholarship, and organizational scholarship.

Most medical institutions around the world come with a hefty fee structure that becomes unaffordable for students. On the other hand, Caribbean Medical school of medicine pose an entirely different story. While most believe that federal loan is the best option for borrowers, it is not always a luxury for students who are seeking to support themselves. Therefore, Caribbean universities have established programs that offer medical courses that are easier on the pocket as compared to renowned universities from around the world.WUSOM offers quality medication education at highly affordable tuition cost that make it easier for students all around the globe to fulfill their dream of enrolling in medical education programs. The average tuition cost of Caribbean medical university is $3,990 per semester for the pre-medical program, $4,990 per semester for the basic sciences program, and $6,490 per semester for the clinical sciences program.

WUSOM offers Premedical Science Program that takes four years to complete the premedical Science program. Upon successful completion of 4 semesters of premedical courses, students are eligible to complete the Basic Medical Science program.In Pre-Med I, students will take biology with lab, general chemistry with lab, physics, English, mathematics and pre-calculus.In Pre-Med II, students of WUSOM will learn about cell and molecular biology, inorganic chemistry, calculus, organic chemistry, physics, and history of medicine and DPC -I.In Pre-Med III, students will get the opportunity to learn in-depth medical concept and take courses in biostatistics, organic chemistry with lab, food and nutrition, humanities, cell and molecular biology with lab.In Pre-Med IV, students will prepare for the intensive MD courses and learn about psychology, microbiology and immunology, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, genetics and nutrition and history of medicine.

After completing Pre-Med Science program, students are eligible to take Basic Science program and strengthen all the concepts they have learned in their Pre-Med courses.In MD I, students will take courses in histology, structural and development anatomy, introduction to clinical medicine and role of physicians in global society.Our MD II curriculum is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of medical biochemistry and genetics, principles of bio-medical research and introduction to clinical medicine.The MD III curriculum is based on clinical practice and lab-based learning, providing students to learn about microbiology, pathology, neuroscience, principles of biol-medical research and clinical medicine.In MD IV, students of Windsor University School of Medicine will have the opportunity to study pathology, pharmacology, behavioral sciences and bioethics, preventive medicine and clinical medicine.MD V curriculum prepares students for hospital clerkship so that they will be able to apply the techniques and theories learned throughout MD courses in real-world environment. The will take electives to foster a well-rounded medical education.

One other great benefit of getting educated at a Caribbean medical university is that it offers Offshore Clinical Rotations to all students who are attending college within their respective institutions. They offer them a chance to travel abroad, so that they can gain more hands-on experience from hospitals across recognized countries, such as USA and Canada. Now, if you are a native, what more do you want other than traveling back to your hometown and getting the exact clinical rotation that a Harvard university graduate is getting from a local medical facility.Windsor students have to complete 48 weeks of clinical core clerkships and 24 weeks of elective. They can take clinical clerkship in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine to gain an in-depth understanding of the basic areas of the medical field.Students are also required to complete 24 additional weeks of elective clerkships and compulsory selective clerkships. During 24 weeks of elective rotations, students will take rotations in a myriad range of medical specialties such as Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurology, Geriatrics, Hematology & Oncology, Infectious Disease, Pain Management, Geriatrics, Emergency Medicine, Radiology, Dermatology, Pulmonology, Urgent Care, Gastroenterology, Pathology, and Anesthesiology.They will also take clerkships in different surgical specialties inducing Orthopedics, Urology, Neurosurgery, Trauma Surgery, Cardiothoracic surgery, Vascular Surgery, Plastic surgery, ENT, & Ophthalmology.While in selective rotations, student will take clinical clerkships in community medicine, preventive medicine, hospital emergency patient care and research.

Studying in a top medical school in the Caribbean will prepare you for a number of residency positions in competitive medical specialties. Graduating from Windsor University School of medicine will make you eligible to apply for residency programs in almost every medical specialty and subspecialty at renowned teaching hospitals of U.S., Canada and different other countries.Our graduates secure residency placements in medical specialties such as surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, family medicine, anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynecology and different other competitive programs.

Besides providing an excellent academic experience and clinical training, Caribbean medical university provide a myriad of student support services to make your time at our campus spectacular. We provide a range of support, advice and other facilities to make your experience about living in St. Kitts.From housing and transportation facilities to career and psychological counselling, we will make sure to provide student support services to our students that will them continue their education and achieve academic excellence. All of these student support services are designed to enhance the overall experience of studying medicine in a Caribbean medical school.

Windsor University School of Medicine is one of the best Caribbean medical schools that strives to provide its students with the latest learning techniques, digital classrooms, video training and interactive course content. Our students have access to an innovative learning environment including hundreds of videos, digital books, tutorials that enable them to learn the intricate medical concepts and enhance their skills.In addition, our state-of-the-art clinical simulation center facilitates interactive learning through medical simulation that helps students to hone their clinical skills. The ultimate goal of providing this cutting-edge facility is to provide our students with realist learning opportunities and prepare them to apply their knowledge and skills in real health care setting.We believe in providing innovative educational curriculum, research opportunities, interactive learning, standardized patient programs and early clinical exposure to provide necessary skills, knowledge and competency for a medical career.

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Caribbean Medical School | Windsor University School of ...