Book Review: Tribal Leadership

Long long ago, we lived together as tribes. It seemed to work very well until we became civilized and began forming societies which was hierarchical rather than tribal. The Industrial revolution era marked the apogee of this hierarchical civilization as the modern society was built based on its principles. 

Are we living today in the midst of a fundamental shift ( definitely not evolutionary) where we are returning back to the tribal way, driven by the networked world we are beginning to inhabit?

Tuesdays with a farmer - The death of surrogates- Part I

Farmer: What is a surrogate?

Student: That which takes the place of another. 

Farmer: Surrogacy is an interesting phenomenon very much prevalent during the Old era. Surrogate is simply a substitute. It is not the real thing. It is quite similar to the concept of Mithya in Hinduism where what you see is not real. Let us take an example. The Industrial Revolution was the first time when humans stopped using animal or human labor to create work. They used energy which wasn’t even there.  Instead of using their own energy, they used Oil,a substitute, which funded the changes that were happening across the world. 

On parasites, shampoo and planet Earth

I have been interacting with Dr. Ashish Shah, Environmental Education Expert at Centre for Science and Environment in their Facebook page recently. The discussions turned out to be a wonderful learning experience as he patiently answered my questions in a detailed manner. I thought of sharing those discussions here so that everyone can learn. You can join their Facebook page here, if you wish to take part in the discussion.

Venky: I often hear environmentalists speak about urban denizens living like parasites in planet Earth! Do parasites really behave parasitically or is our perception limited by our understanding of its ecology?