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322 results for “schooldaves”
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#WalktoSchoolDay is a global event that involves local and global communities celebrating walking🚶♂️& biking 🚴♂️to #school
on October 9, 2024!🏫🎒🔗 https://www.walkbiketoschool.org/
#montgomerycountymd
#schooldays #MCPS #walktoschool #Maryland #biketoschool #visionzero
#pedestriansafety -
#WalktoSchoolDay is a global event that involves local and global communities celebrating walking🚶♂️& biking 🚴♂️to #school
on October 9, 2024!🏫🎒🔗 https://www.walkbiketoschool.org/
#montgomerycountymd
#schooldays #MCPS #walktoschool #Maryland #biketoschool #visionzero
#pedestriansafety -
Hundreds who couldn't attend funeral line dairy farmer's final 57km journey Friends, farmers and old schoolmates held yellow flowers as they honoured Michael Shipton, who died, aged 45, just 10 weeks after a shock cancer diagnosis. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-14/guard-of-honour-for-michael-shipton-coronavirus-funeral/12554232 #CommunityandSociety #DairyProduction #COVID-19 #Bushfire #People #Cancer #Death
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Waiting for the artists. Show for neighborhood families, quartier du Garros, Auch, France, June 2022.
📷 Emmanuel Veneau (cc by-nc-sa) #AmbulationsPhotographiques #AsTheDaysGoBy
#photography #children #rejoicing #SchoolDays #blackandwhite
👤 #ParMontsEtParMots #CircaAuch
🔗 https://cqma.info/amph-afdj -
Waiting for the artists. Show for neighborhood families, quartier du Garros, Auch, France, June 2022.
📷 Emmanuel Veneau (cc by-nc-sa) #AmbulationsPhotographiques #AsTheDaysGoBy
#photography #children #rejoicing #SchoolDays #blackandwhite
👤 #ParMontsEtParMots #CircaAuch
🔗 https://cqma.info/amph-afdj -
Art by my late mother-in-law, Jo Ann Smith, shown at New York's Pleasant Valley Library in February. #art #artist #arting #makingart #creating #creativity #motherinlaw #mother #mothers #class #classroom #school #publicschool #publicschools #teacher #teaching #taught #color #colorful #pleasantvalley #newyork #newyorkstate #poughkeepsie #hometown #husband #desk #desks #schooldesk #schooldesks
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Last Week Today! S2024E9
Was a busy (two) week(s) since the last one, so let’s catch up with happenings:
🎂 March 20th and 31st marks “Birthday Week” with the fam, as it’s BoyType and MonkeyGirl’s turns to celebrate getting one year older. And me and SuperWife’s time to be broke AF. BoyType wanted a miniPC for his birthday to tinker on so he combined all his loot and bought one on his own after making sure it could FortNight OK; he wanted to be able to play with his schoolmates. (Don’t tell him I was going to make sure he could play on my Xbox when he told me the first time, but this is a better way since I want him to learn to troubleshoot technology.) MonkeyGirl wanted cashola plain and simple. The big issue this time was me trying to pay lots of bills and have some cash left for our trip and then some foolishness happened that delayed me hooking her up with her gift for a few days, annoying the newly minted 11-year-old. I said, “get used to having deferred dreams for the sake of necessities, especially in this family,” which is a lesson she needs to understand as she learns how to manage money. In my own childhood, my parents were constantly using my allowance stash like a petty cash pot to cover bills and things that would come outta nowhere, so I got used to waiting well past my allowance days to “make a withdrawal;” at least until I was able to get a bank account. She’s got her own account we monitor, and a lot more scratch in it than I did when I was 11– I’m making sure it doesn’t burn a hole in her pocket now.
🎌 One of my BFFs came back home for a visit with his wife and kiddo. He’s from Atlanta, spent lots of time in Japan and both moved back at the same time in 2008. He’s still there in fact, settling down for the long haul and I had done the same until we came back in 2021 (but I’ll tell that story another day.) They wanted to know what it’s like to stay in a RV so we set BigHank up for a driveway camp for them. Other than the water pump being broken because stupid me didn’t winterize it well enough, it made a good guest house for them. So glad to see him again and catch up with everyone. Of the things I miss the most about JapanLife, kicking it with my friends is the biggest.
🤦🏾♂️ After our guests left, we had one day to prep for our spring break trip to Jacksonville. Thanks to the aforementioned water pump issue, we wanted to get it fixed before getting on the road, and in our haste SuperWife and I didn’t properly lock the cargo “basement” hatch. To make a long story short, our spare tire slid out of there along with a few items all just 300m up the road but by the time we noticed, of course it was gone. Who could pass up a perfectly good commercial grade tire & rim just lying on the corner of the road like that? I’ll be buying a replacement before we head on our next journey in May; until then, are there any Pick-A-Part specials for these things?
🏖 We made it to Jacksonville Beach without any troubles actually. I’ll be posting a more detailed trip report in the next few days, but here are some snaps for your consideration:
Damn this RV drinks like a fish
RVLife in Jacksonville Beach Camp Rain-Out
Buc-ee’s Warner Robbins, GA
Watch me flyAnd that’s all I got, see ya next week! 👋🏾
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CW: Apocalyptic
This episode of Freakonomics discusses the failures which lead up to a school shooting.
Basically the shooter is crying out for help and is essentially committing a public suicide usually giving many obvious signs that they need help. (Because America: access to guns is simple)
This is how I feel America as a whole is behaving and scarily we are it's schoolmates. What the hell can we do to help our troubled, psychotic classmate not kill us all?
(Because America access to the greatest number of every and all weapons is simple)
#USPol #freakonomics #MAD -
Bummer. It's fire drill time. Just when I'm trying to sleep. 🙄
The alarm is so shrill in my room. Really* loud. 😵💫 I should probably keep earbuds or earplugs in my room so i can plug my ears while I get myself together ready for my escape.
On a brighter note, I went riding 🚴♀️ after work and met with some old schoolmates at our Alma Mater. Pretty good turnout. About 20 of us on #mountainBikes and #roadBikes.
I'd like to go sleep now. Nothing happening. Why are we still out here? 🤷♀️
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Bummer. It's fire drill time. Just when I'm trying to sleep. 🙄
The alarm is so shrill in my room. Really* loud. 😵💫 I should probably keep earbuds or earplugs in my room so i can plug my ears while I get myself together ready for my escape.
On a brighter note, I went riding 🚴♀️ after work and met with some old schoolmates at our Alma Mater. Pretty good turnout. About 20 of us on #mountainBikes and #roadBikes.
I'd like to go sleep now. Nothing happening. Why are we still out here? 🤷♀️
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How to find a co-founder for your #startup #business
I have been asked recently in few places.
Unfortunately Lola (the dog in the picture) is not my cofounder.
In short, it is like a love relationship:
1. Start in your inner circle (friends, colleagues, schoolmates)
2. Then use social media, including Facebook groups and Reddit channel as r/cofounder
3. Use platforms specific for this. I put a list here: https://lnkd.in/eTQ9Nbdy -
Definitely a dark anime (so far), but nothing too bad. We've seen worse.
Subscribing and will follow along. It has potential to be soul healing.
I ship the main character with Mr. Giraffe. I hope she can let some of her guard down for these friendly schoolmates.
Please don't do a plot twist and make them be actual bad people.Thank you @BongoMcnulty for the recommendation!
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I was initially planning to be at a fabulous event in Boston celebrating the lives of many, but instead, I had a more subdued celebration.
I started my day going to the #Hughes JV football game to hang with Chris Sorrentino for a bit and saw former student/current dad Eli plus Coach Wm Alexis Owens, who's back with #BigRed again with the younger sibling of my schoolmates Tamiko Engleman & Malikah Engleman. Shout out to Tino for supplying the coffee for the early morning game. -
Might just be the no-brain aftermath of finishing an exhausting project, but Andrew O'Hagan's 3/23/23 #NYRB review of a couple of #HBO histories featured an observation that made me laugh-choke on my #coffee:
"Producing genuine #stories —to say nothing of making #art —is an expensive struggle, especially when so much of the young audience, raised on #TikTok, has an unquenchable desire for free content featuring dancing #cats and videos of their schoolmates being kicked in the nuts."
#quote -
What’s more, in “Upon Another Point”, Alison McCall untangles Nellies, Netties, Helens & Janets, & discovers tales of surreptitious knitting, as she investigates an author’s early literary endeavours and high-school hi-jinks in “Nan Shepherd’s Schooldays”
7/8
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2025/12/nan-shepherds-schooldays/
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The Nazis viewed the Scandinavians as an even more racially Nordic-Aryans than were the Germans themselves.
Thus, once they occupied Denmark and Norway, the people in charge of the #Lebensborn program had great hopes for breeding with the local women,
setting up two facilities in Denmark, and nine in Norway.The breeding program in Norway proved even more fruitful than the German one, producing about 12,000 Lebensborn children in Norway, as opposed to 8000 in Germany.
The program’s efforts were warmly supported by Norway’s wartime government of Vidkung Quisling
– a name that became synonymous with treason and collaboration.Quisling and his fellow collaborators were not only complicit in, but eager enablers of their German masters’ efforts to breed with blond and blue eyed Norwegian women.
As a result, up to 12,000 Lebensborn children were born in Norway.
After Germany’s defeat and the liberation of Norway, things got grim for women who had slept with German soldiers during the occupation.
They were viewed as traitorous whores, or “horizontal collaborators”.
Many were subjected to indignities ranging from beatings to getting their heads shaved in public, or worse, and ostracized.
Thousands were sent to Norwegian prison camps, where they toiled as virtual slaves.
Their children, referred to as #Tyskerbarnas (“German children”) were an unwelcome reminder of the humiliation of Nazi occupation,
and endured sundry forms of discrimination and mistreatment while growing up.Officials referred to them as “rats”,
and between discrimination by schoolmates to discrimination by school authorities, few received a proper education or had a healthy childhood.
https://c.im/@cdarwin/112389776769541343 -
“I think when you look at the elements, the ingredients, of [Return to Forever’s] music, they are things that people still appreciate. People admire the virtuosic nature of the music. I’ve seen that admiration even by guys who are into completely different types of music. They look at something like Return to Forever and can see accomplishment. Return to Forever has a compositional element to it, but also a jam band quality, and I think people react to that.” - Stanley Clarke
Read the second part of our conversation with Stanley Clarke. N•4EVER will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Photo credit: Matt Lorentzen
#stanleyclarke #stanleyclarken4ever #n4ever #newportjazzfestival #newportjazzfest #newportjazz #music #art #postgenre #postgenremedia #postgenremusic #fusion #returntoforever #returntoforeverband #schooldays #electricbass #bass #jazz
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Art by my late mother-in-law, Jo Ann Smith, shown at New York's Pleasant Valley Library in February. #art #artist #arting #makingart #creating #creativity #motherinlaw #mother #mothers #class #classroom #school #publicschool #publicschools #teacher #teaching #taught #color #colorful #pleasantvalley #newyork #newyorkstate #poughkeepsie #hometown #husband #desk #desks #schooldesk #schooldesks
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Art by my late mother-in-law, Jo Ann Smith, shown at New York's Pleasant Valley Library in February. #art #artist #arting #makingart #creating #creativity #motherinlaw #mother #mothers #class #classroom #school #publicschool #publicschools #teacher #teaching #taught #color #colorful #pleasantvalley #newyork #newyorkstate #poughkeepsie #hometown #husband #desk #desks #schooldesk #schooldesks
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Art by my late mother-in-law, Jo Ann Smith, shown at New York's Pleasant Valley Library in February. #art #artist #arting #makingart #creating #creativity #motherinlaw #mother #mothers #class #classroom #school #publicschool #publicschools #teacher #teaching #taught #color #colorful #pleasantvalley #newyork #newyorkstate #poughkeepsie #hometown #husband #desk #desks #schooldesk #schooldesks
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Montage Monday | The Boys Next Door/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds/Fontaines D.C.
Today’s spotlight is the first in a new series called “Montage Monday”, where the spotlight may be brief, possibly even silly, but is packed with a lot of music. Because, sometimes, you need a montage (montage!).[1] And, also, we still have like 950 more albums to get through, and Mondays are hard.
So, for our first Montage Monday, we’re going to cover 43 years of rock of the punk/goth persuasion across 3 bands from 3 land masses. And, each title is directly linked to its Bandcamp/Songlink, in case you want to just jump straight in and forego the montage completely. Ready?
The Boys Next Door – Door, Door (1979, Australia)[2] / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Let Love In (1994, Australia/Europe)[3] / Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia (2022, Ireland)[4]
In 1973, Nick Cave and some Melbourne schoolmates formed a band that would eventually become a four-piece group (with Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert, and Tracy Pew) known as The Boys Next Door. Starting largely as a punk cover band, after Rowland S. Howard joined, their sound changed to some sort of gloriously eclectic post-punk, and they released one absolutely brilliant album, Door, Door.
The band then left Australia for London, changed their name to The Birthday Party, wrote some goth songs about vampire sex and rats, did a lot of drugs, and met Blixa Bargeld from that German industrial band with the unpronounceable name. The band broke up in 1983 but essentially resurrected as Nick Cave and the Cavemen, soon renamed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. A few girlfriends, albums, and countries later, we were gifted the wonderfully moody Let Love In, whose side A closer “Red Right Hand” would become the theme song for the brilliant TV series, Peaky Blinders (2013-2022).
Among other things, Peaky Blinders – a British period drama set between WWI and II – is known for its spot-on use of anachronistic songs, including a lot of Nick Cave. One influence on the soundtrack was none other than the show’s star Cillian Murphy, a former musician with impeccable taste in music. Murphy must not have had enough influence on the soundtrack though, because one of his favorite bands, fellow Irishmen and goth/punk rock band Fontaines D.C., clearly got shafted by being left off all six seasons. Like, maybe the timing didn’t work for something from Skinty Fia to be included in the final season, but they already had a couple other albums that could’ve been drawn from. And they essentially carry on the spirit of the early days of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but, you know, in an Irish way. So, wtf?! Perhaps to fully explore such a travesty, we should go back to the beginning of anti-Irish sentiment in Britain. In this essay I will…
Always fade out in a montage
If you fade out, it seems like more time has passed
In a montage (montage)[1]- Team America: World Police soundtrack – “Montage”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4gv11PTI8 ↩︎
- Number 249 in The List, submitted by buffyleigh. Discogs link. ↩︎
- Number 309, submitted by owlyph. Discogs link. ↩︎
- Number 142, submitted by zm1. Discogs link. ↩︎
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #1990s #2020s #FontainesDC #gothRock #ListenToThis #MontageMonday #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #NickCaveAndTheBadSeeds #postpunk #punk #punkRock #rock #TheBoysNextDoor
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Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 13
Issue Numbering: 1
Section: E
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 32
Formal Sub-Theme: None.
Individual Publication Date: November 22, 2024
Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2025
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Word Count: 3,408
Image Credits: Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash.
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Updated March 13, July 25, July 28, August 7, and October 13, 2025.*
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Abstract
Yaniv Hozez is an Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence & Cybersecurity Researcher with extensive expertise in machine learning, deep learning, neural network architecture, cryptography, and cryptanalysis. With nearly a decade of experience, Yaniv has contributed to innovative AI & Cybersecurity solutions and cutting-edge research. He is affiliated with high-IQ societies like OLYMPIQ and The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (ISPE). Yaniv’s published works span 35 entries, exploring AI’s intersection with psychology, linguistics, and philosophy. He has held roles at Zirra Co Ltd., Check Point Software, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, enhancing AI capabilities in diverse applications. Beyond possessing a remarkably high IQ of 190, he has committed to memory 3,000 consecutive digits of the mathematical constant e – a feat that highlights both his exceptional memory and analytical capabilities. He defeated Chess.com’s top-tier engine (~3200 Elo) in multiple classical games — exceeding the highest official human Elo rating in history (Magnus Carlsen, 2882). He is a Full Member of Sigma Xi (and elected to the Stanford Chapter) without holding prior academic degrees, and International Member of the American Psychological Association (APA); Profound Member of ELITE High IQ Society (part of The GENIUS High IQ Network); Full Member of the sPIqr Society (Italy), which was established with the aim to support gifted children often neglected by the system. He has held roles at Zirra Co Ltd., Check Point Software, MyVoice AI, Ono Academic College, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, enhancing AI and Cybersecurity capabilities in diverse applications. He took the initiative to establish the Israeli chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. The project is currently under review by the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel (now part of the Israeli Innovation Authority). Developed and sustained relationships with top government officials through direct meetings and continuous dialogue. Over the years, I have built and maintained warm and ongoing relationships with senior government officials, including personal meetings with ministers such as Ofir Akunis (now Consul General of Israel in New York) and his aide at the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Yariv Levin (assisted in high-level policy development on national legal and strategic initiatives — applying frameworks of pure logic alongside senior government leadership), the aide to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Amir Ohana, Yoav Ben-Tzur and his deputy, Yoav Kisch, and the deputy of Gila Gamliel. He volunteered as a private teacher at Uri Orbach Elementary School in Petach Tikva, Israel, teaching two exceptionally gifted students in calculus, advanced mathematics, science, pure logic, and memorization techniques — a privilege and honor to learn alongside them. His updated CV can be viewed here. Hozez reflects on family legacy, inspired by his uncle’s basketball career, and a rich cultural background rooted in Israel, where his grandfather, Mordechai Hozez, was a rabbi and kabbalist. Professionally, he is focused on applying pure logic to practical challenges. A member of elite societies like Sigma Xi and OLYMPIQ, Hozez believes genius is innate, shaped by profound intelligence. His metaphysical views explore dualities of time, logic, and transcendence, emphasizing growth through challenges. Gratitude defines his life’s meaning, with belief in an afterlife as a bridge to ultimate unity.
Keywords: Afterlife belief, artificial intelligence, family legacy, innate genius, metaphysical duality, Yaniv Hozez.
Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When you were growing up, what were some of the prominent family stories being told over time?
Yaniv Hozez: I grew up in Ganei Tikva, Israel. One of the prominent family stories often told was about my uncle, Pinhas Hozez, an Israeli former basketball player who represented the Israeli national basketball team.
Jacobsen: Have these stories helped provide a sense of an extended self or a sense of the family legacy?
Hozez: When I played basketball in elementary school, I dreamed of becoming a basketball player when I grew up. My uncle’s career inspired me, and I often thought about continuing his path in basketball, which gave me a strong sense of connection to our family legacy.
Jacobsen: What was the family background, e.g., geography, culture, language, and religion or lack thereof?
Hozez: My grandfather, Mordechai Hozez, was a synagogue rabbi, a mohel, and a kabbalist. He was fluent in Assyrian and Aramaic, mastering them at a native level.
Jacobsen: How was the experience with peers and schoolmates as a child and an adolescent?
Hozez: It wasn’t always easy for me, because I couldn’t express what I was feeling in a way that others could fully understand. I tended to see things in multiple layers and dimensions, and explaining that wasn’t always successful.
Jacobsen: What have been some professional certifications, qualifications, and trainings earned by you?
Hozez: I am a Full Member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society (affiliated with the Stanford Chapter, and previously affiliated with the Harvard Chapter and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for a short period). Additionally, I am a Fellow of The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (ISPE). I have conducted peer reviews for scientific journals published by Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, and Wiley in association with The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, earning reviewer verification certificates. Furthermore, I have conducted peer reviews for Qeios (ISSN: 2632–3834), a platform I would like to highly recommend. Qeios is an exceptional academic journal that offers a modern, inclusive approach to peer-reviewed publishing. It fosters open dialogue and collaboration among researchers, encouraging innovative ideas and critical thinking. My experience working with Qeios has been enriching and professionally rewarding, and I wholeheartedly endorse it to fellow researchers and professionals in the field.
Jacobsen: When was high intelligence discovered for you?
Hozez:In 2020, I was accepted into The OLYMPIQ Society, an organization with a membership cut-off requiring an IQ score of 175 (SD 15). My own tested IQ score is 190 (SD 15).
Jacobsen: When you think of the ways in which the geniuses of the past have either been mocked, vilified, and condemned if not killed, or praised, flattered, platformed, and revered, what seems like the reason for the extreme reactions to and treatment of geniuses? Many alive today seem camera shy — many, not all.
Hozez: Before the sin of Adam and Eve, wisdom and abundance were freely accessible. However, after they ate from the Tree of Knowledge, these became scarce and limited in their accessibility. True wisdom, and the happiness that accompanies it, can only be discovered when one recognizes how little they truly know. Yet, after the act of eating from the Tree, Adam, Eve, and humanity as a whole became aware of things they were never meant to know. This awareness imposed limitations on themselves and all of humanity. The sin granted knowledge, but this knowledge, paradoxically, made humanity ignorant and constrained in its understanding and perception. Only by regaining the ability to acknowledge what we don’t understand — a capacity diminished after the sin — can we rediscover true wisdom. The yetzer hara (evil inclination), symbolized by the primordial serpent, continues to influence humanity by perpetuating these limitations. It not only made wisdom less accessible, but it also introduced jealousy as a pervasive force in human nature. Jealousy causes individuals to resent the wisdom or gifts they see in others, projecting their dissatisfaction outward. In this way, the yetzer hara manipulates people into feeling deprived, while simultaneously depriving them of the ‘antidote’ — the joy of contentment and the ability to value their own blessings. To illustrate, consider the moral principle of theft: If you see a poor man with very little, would you steal from him? No, because it’s wrong to steal, regardless of how little or much someone has. Similarly, if you see a rich man with abundant wealth, would you steal from him? Again, no — because theft is wrong, irrespective of the circumstances. The same principle applies to envy. If you see someone wealthy or successful, are you justified in envying them? No, because envy, like theft, is inherently wrong. It does not matter how much someone else has; the moral obligation to refrain from envy stands independent of their circumstances. Many people justify contentment by pointing to the misfortunes of others — for instance, telling someone, ‘Be happy with what you have because others have greater hardships.’ But this justification is flawed and even destructive. It ties one’s happiness to the suffering of others, perpetuating envy and bitterness rather than resolving it. Worse, it can lead individuals to cause harm to others as a way to feel better about themselves, further feeding the destructive cycle of envy. True contentment and joy do not arise from what one possesses but from the ability to be satisfied with what one has. This is a universal principle that applies to all: not everyone has the same material blessings, but everyone is entitled to the joy that comes from cultivating contentment. The yetzer hara seeks to obscure this truth, encouraging jealousy and dissatisfaction. Overcoming this influence requires recognizing that contentment is not about the quantity of what we have, but about the perspective we choose to adopt toward it. In this context, humanity’s extreme reactions to geniuses — whether mocking, vilifying, or revering them — stem from the scarcity of true wisdom since that pivotal event. Geniuses often embody a rare connection to deeper layers of understanding, which can inspire awe but also provoke discomfort or fear in others. Their insights challenge the conventional knowledge that humanity clings to, exposing the limitations and ignorance that were inherited after the sin. This tension between admiration and fear explains why society’s responses to geniuses are so polarized: they are either revered as gateways to lost wisdom or rejected as threats to the fragile equilibrium of human understanding. Moreover, the yetzer hara fuels this polarization by amplifying feelings of envy and inadequacy in the presence of genius. Instead of viewing extraordinary wisdom as an opportunity for growth and inspiration, the yetzer hara leads people to see it as a threat, encouraging them to either idolize it to the point of dependency or attack it out of resentment. The key to resolving this tension lies in rejecting jealousy and embracing contentment, understanding that the value of wisdom — like the value of wealth — does not diminish because someone else possesses more of it. Only then can humanity truly celebrate and learn from those who embody the rare connection to deeper truths. I also believe that in the era of redemption and the end of days, wisdom will once again become freely accessible. However, the capacity of individuals to grasp this wisdom will not be equal, as each person’s capacity will reflect the peak of their own potential. Unlike before the sin, when humanity’s capacity for understanding was equal but at its lowest point — absolute zero — post-redemption, each individual will reach the fullest potential of their capacity. Paradoxically, had Adam and Eve not sinned, humanity would never have been able to achieve its ultimate potential. Although wisdom would have remained universally available, no one would have had the capacity to truly comprehend or internalize it. The sin, while forbidden, was an integral part of humanity’s development, enabling us to grow, struggle, and ultimately achieve greater levels of understanding and fulfillment.”
Jacobsen: Who seem like the greatest geniuses in history to you?
Hozez: King Solomon stands out to me as the greatest genius in history, renowned for his unparalleled wisdom and ability to navigate complex human and divine matters. His contributions to ethical and philosophical thought remain timeless. I also admire Benjamin Netanyahu for his exceptional leadership acumen, strategic thinking, and ability to handle complex geopolitical challenges with remarkable insight and resilience. Both exemplify different facets of genius — one rooted in timeless wisdom, the other in pragmatic leadership.
Jacobsen: What differentiates a genius from a profoundly intelligent person?
Hozez: Nothing at all.
Jacobsen: Is profound intelligence necessary for genius?
Hozez: Yes.
Jacobsen: What have been some work experiences and jobs held by you?
Hozez:During my military service, I served as an Artificial Intelligence Researcher at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, The Tank and Armored Vehicle Development Authority (RAPAT), conducting pivotal research on neural network architectures to enhance the AI capabilities of the Merkava ‘Barak’ (Lightning) tank. Worked alongside and provided consultation to defense engineers and military personnel in an interdisciplinary setting. Following that, I worked as an Artificial Intelligence Researcher at Zirra Co Ltd., a capital market startup in Israel. Then I served as a Research Assistant at Ono Academic College, starting in my first year of studies, focusing on cognitive psychology and computer science. Later, I worked as a Data Science Intern and subsequently as a Software Developer Intern at Check Point Software Technologies. Currently, I am working as an Artificial Intelligence & Cybersecurity Researcher at MyVoice AI — a company recently approved for Google’s Startups Cloud Program, an initiative by Google supporting promising startups advancing innovation and social impact.
Jacobsen: Why pursue this particular job path?
Hozez: I chose this job path because it represents the best implementation of pure logic in practical applications. The fields of artificial intelligence and data science allow me to apply pure-logical frameworks and principles to solve complex problems and deliver impactful solutions. This alignment between abstract reasoning and real-world utility is both intellectually fulfilling and deeply meaningful to me.
Jacobsen: What are some of the more important aspects of the idea of the gifted and geniuses? Those myths that pervade the cultures of the world. What are those myths? What truths dispel them?
Hozez: One of the more significant truths about gifted individuals and geniuses is that their intelligence is primarily innate. Contrary to the widespread myth that anyone can achieve genius through effort and discipline alone, true genius is a rare, intrinsic quality. This does not diminish the importance of hard work, but effort alone cannot create the profound intellectual abilities, unique insights, or exceptional talents that characterize geniuses. Their abilities are a natural gift, and while they may refine and develop them over time, the foundation is something they are born with. A pervasive myth is that gifted individuals are no different from anyone else and that their success is simply the result of better opportunities or more favorable circumstances. This myth is rooted in a misunderstanding of the nature of intelligence and talent. Geniuses often display extraordinary abilities at a young age, before external factors like education or training could play a significant role. Dispelling this myth requires acknowledging that intelligence is not equally distributed and that certain individuals are born with capacities that far exceed the norm. Another myth is that geniuses are universally recognized and celebrated. In reality, society often struggles with how to react to those who deviate far from the average. As I mentioned earlier, the scarcity of true wisdom and the tension it creates leads to polarized reactions — some are revered as exceptional, while others are ridiculed or rejected. This is because their innate gifts can challenge conventional understanding, making people uncomfortable with their own limitations. The truth that dispels these myths is that genius is a natural phenomenon, rooted in biology and genetics. It is not something that can be taught, replicated, or achieved by everyone. However, recognizing this does not mean dismissing the contributions of those who work hard to develop their potential — it simply places genius in its proper context. By understanding that intelligence and talent are innate gifts, we can better appreciate and support those who possess them, while also recognizing the unique role they play in advancing humanity.
Jacobsen: Any thoughts on the God concept or gods idea and philosophy, theology, and religion?
ה’ מֶלֶךְ ה’ מָלָךְ ה’ יִמְלֹךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד :Hozez
Jacobsen: How much does science play into the worldview for you?
Hozez: Science plays an important role in understanding the world, but for me, the foundation of my worldview is pure logic. However, my reliance on logic is not confined to classical logical principles. I critically evaluate even foundational rules of logic, and where they fall short or conflict with deeper truths, I am open to alternative frameworks. My approach emphasizes consistent reasoning and rationality, but it also allows for flexibility when classical logic fails to align with the complexities of reality.
Jacobsen: What ethical, social, economic, and political philosophies make some sense, even the most workable sense to you?
Hozez: A social philosophy that resonates with me is one that balances individual freedom, collective responsibility, and a strong belief in meritocracy within a conservative and capitalistic framework. I support the idea that personal autonomy and free markets are fundamental drivers of progress and
innovation. In a meritocratic, capitalistic society, opportunities and rewards should be based on individual talent, effort, and achievement, fostering an environment where hard work and ingenuity are incentivized. From a conservative perspective, I value traditions and systems that provide stability and encourage personal responsibility. While collective responsibility is important, I believe it is best realized through voluntary community efforts and private initiatives, rather than excessive government intervention. A society thrives when individuals are empowered to pursue their potential, with minimal barriers to success, while respecting the values that sustain social cohesion. In this framework, justice is about ensuring fairness of opportunity rather than equality of outcome. By focusing on individual merit and fostering a culture of self-reliance, a conservative and capitalistic philosophy allows individuals to reach their fullest potential, benefiting both themselves and the broader society. At the same time, it promotes accountability and ensures that rewards are aligned with contributions, sustaining long-term growth and prosperity.
Jacobsen: What metaphysics makes some sense to you, even the most workable sense to you?
Hozez: The metaphysics that resonates with me most is one that integrates both rationalism and a sense of the transcendent. I find the idea of a structured, ordered reality governed by logical principles and universal laws to be compelling. At the same time, I believe there are aspects of existence that transcend human comprehension, pointing to deeper layers of meaning and purpose beyond what empirical science can explain. These layers become especially clear when we examine the duality of the human and divine realms, particularly through the framework of time and process. In the human experience, time operates in what I would describe as a two-dimensional framework. Events unfold linearly, with each one dependent on the one that came before it. This sequence creates a process-driven reality, where outcomes are not immediate but require effort, causality, and progression. This need for processes is a direct consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve, which fragmented an otherwise unified and immediate reality. In this framework, we experience time as a single “slot” in which events build upon one another, each step necessary to reach the next. The constraints of this reality mean that even when one knows what ought to be done, implementing it requires navigating a process fraught with obstacles and delays. By contrast, the divine realm operates in three-dimensional time. Here, each event exists independently, unbound by sequential causality. Each event has its own “slot” of time, enabling it to exist fully and immediately, without dependency on prior events or processes. In this framework, there is no separation between intention and actualization; what is meant to exist does so completely, in a state of harmonious unity. This timeless, process-free state reflects the divine order that existed before the sin of Adam and Eve — a reality where ideals and their realization were one and the same. This distinction between two-dimensional and three-dimensional time illustrates the metaphysical duality between the human and divine realms. In the human world, we are bound by causality and fragmentation, struggling to bridge the gap between ideals and their fulfillment through sequential processes. The divine realm, on the other hand, manifests completeness and immediacy, embodying a harmonious state where intentions are realized without delay. The sin of Adam and Eve introduced the necessity of process into human existence. Before the sin, the divine order allowed for the immediate actualization of principles — what needed to exist simply existed. After the sin, humanity was relegated to a fragmented reality, where processes became an unavoidable intermediary between knowing what should be done and achieving it. This fragmentation is not merely a hindrance but also a mechanism for growth, forcing humanity to grapple with challenges, learn from them, and ultimately develop the capacity to engage with deeper truths. I believe that redemption will reconcile these two metaphysical frameworks. The fragmented, process-driven reality of two-dimensional time will give way to the harmony of three-dimensional time, where the fulfillment of ideals occurs directly, without the need for sequential causality. This metaphysical perspective provides a framework for understanding the interplay between the material and immaterial, the temporal and the transcendent. The physical universe operates according to consistent and observable laws, but it is incomplete without the immaterial dimensions of consciousness, morality, and free will. These immaterial dimensions are not just complementary but essential to fully understanding the nature of reality. The human condition, situated in two-dimensional time, reflects the tension between fragmentation and unity. While it presents challenges, it also allows for growth, self-discovery, and the development of wisdom. The divine realm, operating in three-dimensional time, offers a vision of completeness that transcends the limitations of the human experience. Redemption, in this framework, represents the resolution of this tension, where the barriers imposed by fragmentation are removed, and humanity can experience a more immediate and harmonious reality. Through this metaphysical lens, I see the pursuit of knowledge and the acceptance of mystery as complementary endeavors. Rational inquiry allows us to engage with the material world, uncovering its structures and principles, while humility and introspection open us to the transcendent dimensions that lie beyond empirical understanding. This integration of the rational and the transcendent, the material and the immaterial, offers a meaningful and workable framework for interpreting the complexity of reality and striving for greater understanding.
Jacobsen: What worldview-encompassing philosophical system makes some sense, even the most workable sense to you?
Hozez: Neither would I have been able to find a greater understanding of the world than in its mathematical structure and orientation toward pure logic, nor will I, for more than twenty years, ever have been considering the possibility of my enduring passion for research being obstructed: not only by the end of my existence but also by any obstacle whatsoever.
Jacobsen: What provides meaning in life for you?
Hozez: Gratitude for the life I have been given.
Jacobsen: Is meaning externally derived, internally generated, both, or something else?
Hozez:
Jacobsen: Do you believe in an afterlife? If so, why, and what form? If not, why not?
Hozez: I believe the afterlife serves as a midpoint between our current realm and the post-redemption realm. It is a transitional state where the soul has fully shed the limitations of the physical world and is entirely prepared for the ultimate realization of existence. However, it is not yet “ready” in the sense that the post-redemption reality has not yet arrived. This perspective aligns with my view that life is part of a larger continuum, where each phase — physical life, the afterlife, and the post-redemption reality — serves a distinct purpose in the journey toward ultimate unity and fulfillment.
Jacobsen: What do you make of the mystery and transience of life?
Hozez: Felicity, for me, originates from pure logic. The mystery and transience of life can be understood as integral aspects of existence that align with logical principles. While life’s fleeting nature may seem unsettling, it underscores the importance of living meaningfully within the constraints of time. The logic of impermanence teaches us to value each moment, and the mystery invites us to seek understanding, purpose, and connection. Together, they create a harmonious balance, where felicity arises from embracing both the clarity of reason and the depth of what remains beyond comprehension.
Jacobsen: What is love to you?
ה’ מֶלֶךְ ה’ מָלָךְ ה’ יִמְלֹךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד :Hozez
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society. November 2024; 13(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2024, November 22). ‘Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society’. In-Sight Publishing. 13(1).
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society’. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 13, n. 1, 2024.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S. 2024. “Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society’.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 13, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S. “Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 13, no. 1 (November 2024). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez.
Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2024) ‘Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 13(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez.
Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2024, ‘Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.13, no. 1, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez.
Vancouver/ICMJE: Jacobsen S. Conversation with Yaniv Hozez on Views and Life: Member, OlympIQ Society [Internet]. 2024 Nov; 13(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hozez.
License & Copyright
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. ©Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use or duplication of material without express permission from Scott Douglas Jacobsen strictly prohibited, excerpts and links must use full credit to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with direction to the original content.
#AfterlifeBelief #artificialIntelligence #familyLegacy #innateGenius #metaphysicalDuality #YanivHozez
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“I think when you look at the elements, the ingredients, of [Return to Forever’s] music, they are things that people still appreciate. People admire the virtuosic nature of the music. I’ve seen that admiration even by guys who are into completely different types of music. They look at something like Return to Forever and can see accomplishment. Return to Forever has a compositional element to it, but also a jam band quality, and I think people react to that.” - Stanley Clarke
Read the second part of our conversation with Stanley Clarke. N•4EVER will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Photo credit: Matt Lorentzen
#stanleyclarke #stanleyclarken4ever #n4ever #newportjazzfestival #newportjazzfest #newportjazz #music #art #postgenre #postgenremedia #postgenremusic #fusion #returntoforever #returntoforeverband #schooldays #electricbass #bass #jazz
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“I think when you look at the elements, the ingredients, of [Return to Forever’s] music, they are things that people still appreciate. People admire the virtuosic nature of the music. I’ve seen that admiration even by guys who are into completely different types of music. They look at something like Return to Forever and can see accomplishment. Return to Forever has a compositional element to it, but also a jam band quality, and I think people react to that.” - Stanley Clarke
Read the second part of our conversation with Stanley Clarke. N•4EVER will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Photo credit: Matt Lorentzen
#stanleyclarke #stanleyclarken4ever #n4ever #newportjazzfestival #newportjazzfest #newportjazz #music #art #postgenre #postgenremedia #postgenremusic #fusion #returntoforever #returntoforeverband #schooldays #electricbass #bass #jazz
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“I think when you look at the elements, the ingredients, of [Return to Forever’s] music, they are things that people still appreciate. People admire the virtuosic nature of the music. I’ve seen that admiration even by guys who are into completely different types of music. They look at something like Return to Forever and can see accomplishment. Return to Forever has a compositional element to it, but also a jam band quality, and I think people react to that.” - Stanley Clarke
Read the second part of our conversation with Stanley Clarke. N•4EVER will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Photo credit: Matt Lorentzen
#stanleyclarke #stanleyclarken4ever #n4ever #newportjazzfestival #newportjazzfest #newportjazz #music #art #postgenre #postgenremedia #postgenremusic #fusion #returntoforever #returntoforeverband #schooldays #electricbass #bass #jazz
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Now, let's put some personal perspective to this.
It's one thing to do research, or hear it from a “celebrity”, and it is totally another to learn it from an ordinary citizen (like me, who is a nobody).
From Kinder to Grade 8, I studied at a Catholic church managed school. This was from the 1980s to early 1990s. Guess what? I had gay classmates, schoolmates, and friends.
We often hear in the Philippines that the Catholic church is tolerating gays, but Protestant and Pentecostal churches will not.
That is a lie.
I studied in a Protestant church managed school in Grades 9 and 10 (mid-to-late 1990s), and we had gay classmates and schoolmates. I was close with them too.
You see, here in the Philippines, **or at least within my immediate environment**, what matters is the individual. What matters is respect.
If you are gay, bi, lesbian, so what? That doesn't make you any less than straight people. If you are white, brown, black, or you are a Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Agnostic, Atheist, Anglican, Adventist, Jewish, Muslim, we don't care either.
(Did I mention that we had classmates and schoolmates who were black, Buddhists, Muslims, in a church-run school?)
Yes, there were discrimination, I am not saying there weren't any. But usually it comes from within the family, and some kids bring what they learn from their homes to outside. And when they do, they get reprimanded.
As I've mentioned earlier, “within my immediate environment” (like home and schools), there has always been acceptance regardless of your skin colour, origin, sexual orientation, and religion. Again, this was in the 1980s to 1990s, when supposedly fairness, equality, and human rights, weren't big a thing.
This is why I agree with Jessica when she said, “Overall, the acceptance of LGBTQAI+ individuals in the Philippines is still a complex issue **that cannot be reduced to a single factor, such as religion**.” (Emphasis mine.)
If it was simply because of religion, then the schools I attended to wouldn't even tolerate gays, but none of them did anything to (let me borrow a word) “correct” them. None. They treated all students as… well… students, period.
There are gays in our (my) family-clans. I have many gay friends too. (Just don't get offended if I'm not hugging or touching… I'm #Autistic, I don't like hugging, regardless if you are straight or a goddess.)
Is it the same in most places here in the Philippines? Is it the same with many Filipinos? I sure hope so, especially today in 2023.
With that said, I think our tourism slogan fits well: #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines. ^_^
Have a great day. Shalom!
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Staring Evil in the Face: Some Thoughts on Hanson’s “The Other Greeks”
Victor Davis Hanson, The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization (The Free Press: New York, 1995)
I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labour of the other. Broad and general as is this assertion, it is fully borne out by history. This is not the proper occasion, but, if it were, it would not be difficult to trace the various devices by which the wealth of all civilized communities has been so unequally divided, and to show by what means so small a share has been allotted to those by whose labour it was produced, and so large a share given to the non-producing classes. The devices are almost innumerable, from the brute force and gross superstition of ancient times, to the subtle and artful fiscal contrivances of modern.
– John C. Calhoun, “Slavery a Positive Good,” 6 February 1837 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Slavery_a_Positive_Good
I finally read The Other Greeks by Victor Davis Hanson in summer 2018. This book, published in 1995, contains an argument that farmers working 9- to 13-acre (20-30 3 to 5 hectare) plots were key to Greek culture wrapped in two rants about the decline of the American family farm and the decadence of American academics. Victor Davis Hanson’s writings on ancient agrarianism are less famous than his political columns and his ideas about Greek warfare, but I enjoyed working through this book. Farming is obviously a topic that Hanson cares deeply about, and because he put so much care into this book I can tell that he sees some of the implications of his argument.
The ancient history in this book is interwoven with the story of a 40 acre farm near Selma, California which the Hansons have held for five generations (only three generations were able to make a living from it, his parents got jobs in town and he tried to keep the farm going after his grandfather retired but found that the only way was to use his salary and royalties from teaching and punditry to subsidize the farm). In his view, both classical Greek and modern US culture were at the best while society was dominated by rural small farmers, and any threat to this class is a threat to freedom and democracy.
To my knowledge, Victor Davis Hanson has never written about why his Swedish great great grandparents were able to take a share of “the richest farmland in the world” for a token price in 1875, just like Wikipedia estimates that the indigenous population of the San Joaquin Valley fell 93% from 1850 to 1900 but falls silent on what exactly happened (today all the nations of the Yokuts are a few thousand strong, about as many as one of the little farming towns Hanson loves).
There is a debate about what share of the population belonged to the traditional property-owning, hoplite-fighting, speaking-in-the-assembly class. If you read this book quickly, you will see that the families with 10 acres or so of land who he calls yeomen made up “half to a third” or “a near majority” of the free male population (pp. 207, 208, 459 et passim). At first that seems like a large proportion, but his yeomen have “small farms for a family and a slave or two” (pp. 207, 208, 459). He estimates 80-100,000 adult citizens, 10,000? adult metics, 80-150,000 slaves, total “perhaps nearly 200,000 adult residents of Attica” in the fifth century BCE (p. 209), and 12,000 hoplites out of 60-000-70,000 adult residents of Boeotia. So Hanson believes that there was a glorious age of freedom as long as Greece was run by “yeomen” farmers, and believes that his “yeomen” families made up 15-22% of the population of Attica and 13,000-25,000 adult men.
Many other experts think this is too high. In “The Myth of the Middle-Class Army” (p. 54), Hans Van Wees estimates that they comprised 9 to 30% of the citizens of Athens (between 3,000 and 10,000 adult men). In another article he argues that there were three slaves for every free person in Athens a few years after the death of Alexander (“Athens’ property classes and population in and before 317 BC: Demetrius and Draco,” Journal of Hellenic Studies (2011) 131 pp. 95-114.) In Men of Bronze, Lin Foxhall argued that there is no sign of a dense network of medium-sized farms in the archaeological record until the end of the sixth century BCE. Part of the dispute is technical issues such as whether half the grain fields were left uncultivated in a given year: Hanson’s “yeomen farms” are smaller than van Wees zeugitai farms because he thinks they could get more from a smaller piece of land, and Hanson relies mostly on literature whereas Foxhall focused on archaeology. But I want to focus on what Hanson is arguing, not whether he is correct.
If you read The Other Greeks carefully, you see that “a third to one half” of the citizens being yeomen farmers translates to a fifth or a sixth of the population. And while Hanson says again and again that he does not like big estates worked by gangs of slaves, in a footnote on page 457 he tells you how these one or two slaves fit into the lives of his yeoman farmers with 10 or 12 acres:
Agricultural slavery, even more than homestead residence, made intensive agriculture possible. It prevented the spread of helotage. It sharply defined the independence and freedom of the rising Greek yeoman in a way not found elsewhere.
And he also admires the way Greek colonists gave each other equal plots of land in a beautiful grid designed with Greek geometrical science (pp. 194-196). He does not have a lot to say about whose land it was before they arrived, but readers of The Western Way of War or Carnage and Culture can get the general idea. When Macedonian or Persian barbarians threaten to conquer “westerners” Hanson launches into a flow of eloquent speech about freedom and slavery, but when “westerners” are about to conquer and murder or enslave foreigners he slips into a flat descriptive mode or just drops the subject. And he is very frank about the tyranny of ancient and modern farmers over their wives (pp. 130-135).
So when you look closely, The Other Greeks is arguing that its wonderful balanced regimes of homesteaders were ruled by about 15-20% of the population. We hear about a widow spinning for piece-work pay in the Iliad, and male and female labourers hired by the year in Hesiod’s Works and Days, but Hanson seems to think it was important for Greek freedom that these lowly free workers were replaced with slaves: he describes the poor Athenians who accepted pay for jury service as “the mob on the dole” (p. 5) and hired farm workers as “shiftless” (p. 70). And he thinks that slaves may well have formed the majority of the population of Attica in this period. That kind of argument that slavery is a positive good and necessary for anyone to live a civilized life was last current before the American Civil War, although Hanson does not approve of large plantations or race-based slavery.
“Agricultural slavery … sharply defined the independence and freedom of the rising Greek yeoman”? I think Hanson has read and understood the ideas of thinkers like Samuel Johnson (“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”) or Edmund Morgan (American Slavery, American Freedom) who observe that people who talk about freedom often mean the freedom to dominate and enslave. He just does not find that kind of freedom despicable.
Underlying and fundamental to our most basic philosophy is our concern and respect for the dignity of the individual. … Upon reflection, it is easy for us to realize that our conception of the dignity of the individual could have originated only in Christianity. … the Christian religion, born on the border of East and West, found its acceptance in the West, and became a part of the heritage and culture of the West, as contrasted to the East of the Orientals. … There are also those in this world who are the devisees of a totally different heritage and with whom we have no identity in either antiquity or modern times…. Our society may well be said to be… the exemplification of the maximum development of the Western civilization…. At the opposite extreme exists the Eastern heritage, different in every essential, not necessarily in a way that it is inferior, but different…. The chasm of difference between the two… is in heritage, the force that shapes the man to form unchangeable, except, if at all, by the infinite passage of time…. Oriental and Hawaiian groups constitute in excess of 70% of Hawaii’s population. This large segment of the population has a heritage… in a word, Eastern…. There is serious doubt in my mind as to whether the Hawaiian people would not be seriously handicapped, possibly even precluded, in defending themselves from such as the communist-dominated Longshoremans Union by the imposition upon them of Western institutions of government, since their heritage has not equipped them to comprehend the philosophy essential to the effective operation of these institutions. … There is even greater doubt in my mind that the Hawaiian people could contribute to the degree of harmony remaining in the conduct of affairs of our Federated Republic…. An abandonment of the United States of America in favor of a United States of America and Pacific— precedenting a United States of the World— would actually benefit no one but toll the death-knell of our Federated Republic…
– US Senator (for South Carolina) Strom Thurmond, a prominent opponent of the Civil Rights Act and supporter of racial segregation who angrily denied that he was a racist, “Against Hawaii Statehood” (1959) https://delong.typepad.com/files/thurmond-hawaii.pdf
In sum, the Greek agrarian city-state had been able to fashion an unusually egalitarian social, political, and military system, but one (like many modern liberal states) closed to the larger, ever-present (and growing) world of have-nots surrounding the polis, the other who desperately wanted the economic and social advantages of polis life. Herein lay the dilemma. To open up the discriminatory gates of polis citizenship was- as modern states have often discovered- to corrupt the carefully constructed equilibrium and the unifying agricultural heritage that had evolved over two centuries of agrarianism. For the Greek geôrgoi to refashion the traditional polis for all residents might just as likely lose it for everyone.
– Victor Davis Hanson, The Other Greeks (1995), p. 364
-To Hanson (and Thurmond) creating the good community for some requires holding others outside or keeping them as hewers of wood and drawers of water. And at some point, whether you define those others in terms of race, “heritage,” religion, or culture is an academic quibble. Most people look, talk, and worship like their parents and schoolmates, so talking about race, culture, or religion lets you exclude the same people. As Roel Konijnendijk has written, Hanson’s vision of the good society is white supremacist in practice, even though he firmly rejects racial theories. If you poke around in the darker corners of the internet, you can find open racists like F. Roger Devlin lecturing him for lacking the courage to push his arguments as far as they can go or begging him to contribute to their journals (both links are to the Wayback Machine- ed.)
One of the reasons for the primacy of violence is that, unlike the industrial world, in the agrarian world wealth can generally be acquired more easily and quickly through coercion and predation than through production. Consequently ‘specialists in violence are generally endowed with a rank higher than that of specialists in production.’
– Moshe Berent, “Anthropology and the Classics: War, Violence, and the Stateless Polis,” The Classical Quarterly 50.1 (2000), p. 258 (thanks Josho Brouwers)
If you know some world history or ethnography, you know that there are plenty of societies where most families have about the same size of house, the same quality of diet, and bury their dead with the same things as most people of the same age and gender (and yes Mr. Thurmond, there were millions of Christians in Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, and India before the first white Anglo-Saxon Protestant arrived). Those societies were not always organized around patriarchy and private land ownership, and sometimes they even let women work in the fields, but they didn’t leave a lot of writing because until recently the materials were too expensive (and because settler states in the 19th and 20th century often destroyed their records, or just declared them irrelevant so that eventually someone threw out grandpa’s box of old books to make room for a new television). If civilization, however defined, is going to survive this century, I think that self-organized communities of equals committed to humane values are more likely to save it than Hanson’s violent farmers who care about nothing more than passing on the farm better than their father left it to them (and there is a lot of inspiration for those communities in classical Greek texts, just not the bits of those texts which are cited in this book). I think we need to look forward to the way we can make a changing world as consistent with our values as possible, not pump ourselves up with stories of a vanished golden age and higher cultures erasing lower ones. (And The Other Greeks sort of agrees, there is praise for Parent-Teacher Associations and farmers’ co-ops alongside the warnings that political action is useless, your neighbours will steal your water and your vine-props, and the family farm in the United States is doomed). But I think it is important to be frank that our disagreements are not just about what the ancient world was like, but about what kinds of social order are worth defending, and that you can’t divide Hanson’s books into some that describe the past and others which try to change the present.
This blog is not funded by a public-sector pension or The National Review Online, just by my gentle readers
This post was written in ?2018? and edited and scheduled at the beginning of 2020 before the present tragic situation in Europe. I delayed it from its scheduled publication date of 21 March.
Further Reading: If you want works on early agriculture by someone who believes that early Greek and Roman small farmers achieved something special but doesn’t argue that slavery was a positive good, check out the works of Geoffrey Kron (although I am a bit concerned to read a 33 page article on the classical Greek economy which focused on “equality” but does not mention slaves in Greece at all and only mentions serfs in Greece once). Two Oxen Ahead by Paul Halstead sounds fun and describes actual Greek farmers raising staple crops. And if you want a direct attack on this kind of politics, check out Gwynne Dyer’s Waiting for the Canadian Hordes (2004) or Gabriel Schoenfeld’s Sophistry in the Service of Evil (2019).
If I ever publish these ideas in print, I may track down and talk about a passage on “whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not prevail numerically?” in “Editorial: Why the South Must Prevail,” William F. Buckley Jr. ‘s The National Review, 24 August 1957
Edit 2020-04-29: Corrected the figure in hectares (although I don’t have a paper copy of the book available to check)
Edit 2021-04-16: For another statement by a far-right American that the ideal government would be run by the richest 20%, see David Forbes, “The Secret Authoritarian History of Science Fiction” https://www.vice.com/en/article/9ak7y5/the-secret-authoritarian-history-of-science-fiction “In ‘Constitution for Utopia,’ written in 1961, (editor and crank John W.) Campbell (Jr.) argued outright that the best possible government would only allow the wealthy—specifically the wealthiest fifth of the population—to vote.” This essay was reprinted by other hard-right science fiction writers like Jerry Pournelle.
Edit 2021-09-28: converted to block editor after migrating to self-hosted wordpress
Edit 2021-10-21: fixed links which were broken when WordPress introduced the block editor
Edit 2014-08-24: some more threads to pull on the relationship between Greek slavery and Greek freedom
This invites comparison to the frequently noted relationship between the growth of both personal freedom and civic rights, on the one hand, and chattel slavery, on the other, in Greek poleis: these two trends not merely coincided but reinforced each other (Finley (1981), (1998); O. Patterson (1991)).
Walter Scheidel, “Monogamy and Polygyny,” in Beryl Rawson, ed., A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Wiley 2010) pp. 112, 113
#ancient #bookReview #earlyGreekWarfare #modern #settlerColonialism #slavery #victorDavisHanson
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I probably shouldn’t post about this… It’s just that watching my wife suffer through covid this last week and rush back prematurely to an unmasked #bced school is beyond disheartening. I feel sick.
After barely 6 covid sick days off, bced staff started calling, desperate for her to return to work. There were no substitutes available to cover for my wife, who previous to covid has had to live with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
She is now slowly recovering from a #covid infection she received from the unmasked #bced class she’s so hastily been thrown back into.
This is truly unsustainable #bctf. Covid sick students should be masked. Fellow staff and teachers should be masked. My wife got sick while wearing an N95 everyday simply due to the unchecked viral load being accepted and normalized in #bced schools.
If we’ve learned anything this last year, it’s that one way masking is just not good enough. Does #worksafebc even care? I’m sorry but your child’s maskless attendance should not be more important than my partner’s lifelong health.
Due to my wife’s diligent masking while sick, I managed to avoid covid this time. We also slept apart every night and barely saw each other this last week.
It’s not lost on me, however, that had parents and teachers done the same and masked their sick kids, this all could have been avoided.
In the end we’re all only as strong as our weakest link. In this case our weakest link is our covid minimizing, uncaring “top doctor” health minister #BonnieHenry.
Teachers are not expendable. Society should be #masking to protect them. I can’t believe I’m begging people to care at year four of this tragic pandemic but that’s where we’re at.
Our #educators lives matter, care for one another and #MaskUp ‘cause this #bcndp govt has long since signed off on sickness.
#MakeSchoolsSafe
#SaveOurTeachers
#FireBonnieHenry #Masks4All #MasksForSchools #schoolsaresuperspreaders #bcpoli #cdnpoli -
I haven't seen Dickie for ages, but we played 5-a-side together 10, 15 years ago.
His memories of being at Hillsborough.
I didn't go to it, but remember one of my schoolmates was there, in the upper stands luckily for him.
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Song of the Day March 20 2024
In honor of the birth of Sheldon Jackson Lee bka Spike Lee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee
Pieces of a Dream - “We’ve Already Said Goodbye (Before We Say Hello)”
https://youtu.be/k7jtwnSKp-E?si=SXvgLKZpSM_hgQsj
#SongOfTheDay #SOTD #SOTD2024 #March20 #SheldonJacksonLee #SpikeLee #PiecesOfADream #WeveAlreadySaidGoodbye #Film #AcademyAwardWinner #MotionPictureDirector #Screenwriter #SchoolDaze #LawrenceFishburne #WakeUp #HBCU #BillLee #1980s