An image of the talk given today in Florence by Stefania Consigliere, who teaches at the University of Genova, Italy. A talk at a remarkably high level: an interdisciplinary romp on many facets of the modern crisis, touching individual health, the management of the pandemic, the cultural structure of our world, and how diet-based Chinese medicine is superior to our pill-based medicine.
Note how the talk was given in the open, in a public garden, with all sorts of people attending. It would not have been possible to give it in a University: the bureaucratic rules would have prevented the general public from attending. And it is hard to see how a standard university department would have been able to stomach such a wide-ranging, heretic talk. It is sad to say that the Western universities have completely lost the role of keeper of knowledge and wisdom they once had. By now, they are completely self-referencing entities whose main purpose seems to turn smart people into idiots.
What we did today is what I call "holobiont science." Science for human beings, with human beings, for the good of human beings. The people attending the talk were not scientists, they were a holobiont-like assemblage of varied people who wanted to learn something. And Stefania Consigliere did her best to transmit her knowledge to them. It is the same approach we took with a talk that Anastassia Makarieva gave in Florence a few months ago. No university, no bureaucracy, no permissions, no QR-codes. Just people getting together to learn. That's the definition I use for "social holobiont:" people collecting to do something together.
I briefly intervened in the debate and I mentioned the concept of "holobiont" (Stefania had not used the term, but she had hinted at it using the concept of "symbionts"). And, you know? It turned out that several people in the audience knew what a holobiont is! Don't say that science does not progress!!
Hello Ugo,
ReplyDeleteI think this is great. We need to meet outside of the system and talk freely.
In Sweden, we had a very strong branch of the labour movement 1870-1970 that focussed on "Folkbildning",i.e. education of the people, in the broadest sense of the word. Often it was organized by laymen as a book-reading-circle with open and critical discussions.
In those days, the Universities were places to keep and hide information that the Elites would have unique access to.
Did you have this Folkbildung-tradition also in Italy and other parts of the world?
I suspect that the role of "higher education" has become a "rite of passage" or "access ritual" to the caste of the upper middle class (a.k.a. cappucino-office-workers or PMC) who enjoy benefits like lower-interest loans and better pay.
I see that a lot of practical learning today is on "youtube university", when it comes to fixing dishwashers or growing no-dig vegetable gardens. Is that the new platform for Folkbildung?
Peace,
Goran
I never heard the term "Folkbildning" but I think I understand it. In Italy, universities have always been playing the elitist role -- never really interested in disseminating culture. That may be why Italy ranks among the last countries in terms of literacy and culture. But so is life: in all tests, there has to be someone who ends last! Peace.
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