KC

The Sixties & the Lessons for Today

Nov 13, 2013

HB
Stage· 583 messages
Nov 13, 2013

Kelly Tawks with prolific author, visionary and culture shaper Howard Bloom about such questions as, "are there lessons in the sexual revolution and the drug culture? How about adventure? Does it have a role to play in modern society?nnJoin us for a lively conversation about the past and how it can shape the future.

KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:00 AM

Hey Everyone! Welcome to the Tawk.
HB

howard bloom · 2:00 AM

welcome in spades
HB

howard bloom · 2:00 AM

and aces
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:00 AM

Nice to have you here Howard, and all those who are hanging out with us.
HB

howard bloom · 2:00 AM

with a few hearty hearts
HB

howard bloom · 2:00 AM

:)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:01 AM

Shall we play some poker? lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:01 AM

thanks, kelly:)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:01 AM

hi Kelley and howard
HB

howard bloom · 2:01 AM

hi, rick.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:01 AM

So Howard, thank you for being here.
HB

howard bloom · 2:01 AM

lthanks, and kelly, you have me thinking.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:01 AM

I love when you think!
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

in the old days one would say that we are coming to you live from the paramount theater
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

in beautiful gas gulch tennessee
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

but where are we coming to you from today?
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

the great cyberether
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

the invisible territory in which computers
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:02 AM

The great Cyberether...
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

whisper strange nothings to each other and
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

do not share their mutinous rumblings with us
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:02 AM

Yes. We are no where and everywhere at the same time.
HB

howard bloom · 2:02 AM

mere mortal beings
HB

howard bloom · 2:03 AM

LOL :))
HB

howard bloom · 2:03 AM

what a friggin amazement!
HB

howard bloom · 2:03 AM

ok, enough of me, back over to you, kelly
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:03 AM

It truly is. We are living inside Arthur C. Clarke's mind.
HB

howard bloom · 2:03 AM

however I'd like to tell the audience
HB

howard bloom · 2:03 AM

that you, kelly, have been saving my life for something like
HB

howard bloom · 2:03 AM

two years now
HB

howard bloom · 2:04 AM

humor and thought bubble up from a baseline
HB

howard bloom · 2:04 AM

of self-doubt
HB

howard bloom · 2:04 AM

thoreau said that the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation
HB

howard bloom · 2:04 AM

and he was right about roughly 80% of us
HB

howard bloom · 2:04 AM

we sometimes wake up in the morning feeling of no value to a soul
HB

howard bloom · 2:04 AM

then, once we get our momentum
HB

howard bloom · 2:05 AM

we forget we ever felt that way
HB

howard bloom · 2:05 AM

it would be embarrassing to realize how often it happens
HB

howard bloom · 2:05 AM

so we paper if over in our consciousness
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:05 AM

Well, if I have aided in you being able to live from the other 20% it is my honor. You are a GIFT.
HB

howard bloom · 2:05 AM

humor and deep thought are ways we fight our ways out of it
HB

howard bloom · 2:05 AM

:)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:05 AM

And you have BOTH of those!
HB

howard bloom · 2:05 AM

you aid me a lot
HB

howard bloom · 2:06 AM

you reassure me on those dark days :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:06 AM

My pleasure. As do you, I. Your ability to see the BIG picture feeds my soul.
HB

howard bloom · 2:06 AM

kelly is only in touch roughly once in six months
HB

howard bloom · 2:06 AM

but each touching base lasts half a year
HB

howard bloom · 2:06 AM

thanks, Kelly :)
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

so we have a soul transfusion going on :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:07 AM

You are welcome. Let's jump into your newest adventure....
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

ok
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

i have hyperactive typing fingers
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:07 AM

actually, it was an OLD adventure that you are recalling these days - the Sixties!
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

yup :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:07 AM

I like that you type fast.
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

my new book How I Accidentally Started the Sixties
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:07 AM

Yes. LOVE the title.
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

actually the first book i ever wrote
HB

howard bloom · 2:07 AM

in 1995
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:08 AM

So, the question is...did you start the 60s?
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

alas, i seem to have had a part in it
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

a big part
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:08 AM

and if you did, my dad thanks you...lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

LOL
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:08 AM

we need to blame someone
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

it was an accident
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

i was looking for the beatniks
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:08 AM

Aha!
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

but they had disappeared
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

i thought they might like me
HB

howard bloom · 2:08 AM

no one else did
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:08 AM

lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:09 AM

i was looking for a batch of sympaticos
HB

howard bloom · 2:09 AM

i had run into them one summer on cape cod
HB

howard bloom · 2:09 AM

thus terrifying my father
HB

howard bloom · 2:09 AM

who had taken us to the cape at great expense for a vacation
HB

howard bloom · 2:09 AM

and, kelly, they DID like me
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:10 AM

Berets....cigarettes...poetry - what's a nice Jew like you doing with THEM? I can hear him now...
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

the put me at the center of a discussion group of amazing adults in an art gallery
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

LOL
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:10 AM

they really liked you!
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

we talked art and philosophy
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

i was 16
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:10 AM

Yes, Howard is the Sally Field of the Beats...
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

it was heaven
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:10 AM

Nothing is better than FINALLY being seen and heard.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:10 AM

So essential to life.
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

but when i dropped out of college in portland orgegon and hitchhiked to california to find them
HB

howard bloom · 2:10 AM

they were gon
HB

howard bloom · 2:11 AM

poof
HB

howard bloom · 2:11 AM

no more
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:11 AM

hmmmm.
HB

howard bloom · 2:11 AM

so i was stuck
HB

howard bloom · 2:11 AM

becoming an accidental catalyst for something new
HB

howard bloom · 2:11 AM

very accidental
HB

howard bloom · 2:11 AM

yup, rick
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:12 AM

What attracted you to the Beats?
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

they had made a wonderful fuss over me simply by taking me seriously and taking me in
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

well, i was growing up in buffalo, ny
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

and there was almost no one i could relate to
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

and very few who wanted to have anything to do with me
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

but i read time magazine from cover to cover every week
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:12 AM

An outsider just like them.
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

from roughly the age of twelve
HB

howard bloom · 2:12 AM

yes
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

and henry luce
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

the man who invented time and life magazine
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

had a formula
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

he addressed his magazine, time
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

to the commuter coming into nyc from connecticut
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howard bloom · 2:13 AM

by train
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

packed in with a sardine tin of other commuters
HB

howard bloom · 2:13 AM

all wearing gray flanner suits
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

who needed to be told what news events, films, books, and plays
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

they needed to babble about that week
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

to seem smart
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:14 AM

Yes...
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

but these poor men, and in those days they were all men
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

were sexually repressed
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

i mean, you know marriage
HB

howard bloom · 2:14 AM

a wild romance
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:14 AM

Ah, the 50s
HB

howard bloom · 2:15 AM

you can't wait to get into each others blouses and pants
HB

howard bloom · 2:15 AM

then three years later
HB

howard bloom · 2:15 AM

you are lucky if you have sex twice a year
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:15 AM

lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:15 AM

so henry luce, time's founder, needed to give these poor men sex
HB

howard bloom · 2:15 AM

but reading about sex was beneath contempt
HB

howard bloom · 2:15 AM

so he had to package the sex as somethiing you
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

could conveniently look down upon
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

frown upon
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

castigate
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

and rejects
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

his solution?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:16 AM

....drum roll
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

talk about sex in a subculture these execs from connecticuyt
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

could despise
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

in other words, find a bohemian subculture
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

then market it
HB

howard bloom · 2:16 AM

give it a nsme
HB

howard bloom · 2:17 AM

give society a sexual whipping boy
HB

howard bloom · 2:17 AM

so it could imagine punishing a transgressor
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:17 AM

So you are saying that Madison Ave./Publishing created the 60s to entertain the masses?
HB

howard bloom · 2:17 AM

while secretlly obsessing about guess what?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:17 AM

To give them a way to feel superior?
HB

howard bloom · 2:17 AM

sort of, kelly
HB

howard bloom · 2:17 AM

luce found an existing movement
HB

howard bloom · 2:18 AM

alan ginsberg, gregory corso, jack kerouac
HB

howard bloom · 2:18 AM

the movement was real
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:18 AM

But don't you think that this is what all cultures do to the "new"?
HB

howard bloom · 2:18 AM

but henry gave it its name
HB

howard bloom · 2:18 AM

the "beatniks"
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:18 AM

The thing that is on the edge and opposite of the status quo?
HB

howard bloom · 2:18 AM

yes, all big cultures seek a subculture they can brand as demonic
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:18 AM

Yes.
HB

howard bloom · 2:18 AM

it's the way cultural bonding goes
HB

howard bloom · 2:19 AM

can I tell you a story about rats?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:19 AM

We always need a "black" for our "white"
HB

howard bloom · 2:19 AM

if my tying fingers don't wear out
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:19 AM

yes! do tell.
HB

howard bloom · 2:19 AM

this is a true test of your spelling skills
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:19 AM

lol
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:19 AM

and we are forgiving. And you can take your time.
HB

howard bloom · 2:19 AM

ok, it was back in the crease between the 40s and
HB

howard bloom · 2:19 AM

the 50s
HB

howard bloom · 2:19 AM

some guys at yale had come up with the frustration aggression
HB

howard bloom · 2:20 AM

hypothesis that plays a big role in
HB

howard bloom · 2:20 AM

the lucifer principle, my first book
HB

howard bloom · 2:20 AM

they'd discovered that if you punish a rat
HB

howard bloom · 2:20 AM

he will take his pain out on another rat smaller
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howard bloom · 2:20 AM

than he is
HB

howard bloom · 2:20 AM

and beat the bejeezus out of him
HB

howard bloom · 2:20 AM

for god knows what reason
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:21 AM

Oh, this doesn't end well...
HB

howard bloom · 2:21 AM

an experimenter decided to try something novel
HB

howard bloom · 2:21 AM

instead o putting just one rat on an electrified grid that would sizzle its feet
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:21 AM

eek
HB

howard bloom · 2:21 AM

the popular way to torture rats alll over the civilized world
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:21 AM

I think that's a mouse, Rick. lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:21 AM

he put 7 rats on an electrified grid
HB

howard bloom · 2:22 AM

and turned on the juice
HB

howard bloom · 2:22 AM

guess what happened?
HB

howard bloom · 2:22 AM

something that had no name in those days
HB

howard bloom · 2:22 AM

today it's called quorum sensing
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:22 AM

Hmmm.
HB

howard bloom · 2:22 AM

the rats immediately felt out which rat was the weakest
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:22 AM

Ah...yes. Of course.
HB

howard bloom · 2:22 AM

bonded together into a group of the six strongest
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:22 AM

Wow.
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

and those six bullies beat the wack out
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

of the weakest rat
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

apparently
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:23 AM

I told you it wasn't going to end well.
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

scapegoating helps groups bond together
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

i was a scapegoat as a kid
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

and henry luce had built a scapegoat for all of america
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:23 AM

And that is why, folks, MSM is so loathsome these days... lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:23 AM

which meant that every single issue
HB

howard bloom · 2:24 AM

52 issues a year
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:24 AM

Yes! And yet....that group of people became a force of nature...
HB

howard bloom · 2:24 AM

of time magazine had to have at least one beatniks story
HB

howard bloom · 2:24 AM

and there i was in buffalo
HB

howard bloom · 2:24 AM

reading time from cover to cover
HB

howard bloom · 2:24 AM

and tying with my best friend in the annual competition sponsored by time in every high school
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:25 AM

So in a way, it back fired, you were attracted to those you were supposed to loathe.
HB

howard bloom · 2:25 AM

to determine who knew the most about international and national news
HB

howard bloom · 2:25 AM

yes :)
HB

howard bloom · 2:25 AM

that's how subcultures work
HB

howard bloom · 2:25 AM

they divvy up slots
HB

howard bloom · 2:25 AM

and give options to us that may well offer the slot that
HB

howard bloom · 2:25 AM

resonates to our frequency
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

that's one reason big societies have been so
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

much more successful on this planet
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

than small societies
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

big societies offer more slots
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

more subcultures
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:26 AM

Interesting....So, what are some of the attributes of that era that emerged in our culture for the 1st time, and had a permanent effect on us?
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

in which our peculiarities can be amplified
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

and harnessed for the common good
HB

howard bloom · 2:26 AM

the youth culture
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

there had been no such thing
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

literally
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

in roughly 1968 youth cullture got its name
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

psychedia
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:27 AM

Wow. So no one was paying any attention to the youth and their tastes before then?
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

the whole concept that you could get a life experience
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

out of drugs
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

no, youth was not allowed to count
HB

howard bloom · 2:27 AM

it did not have its own social niche
HB

howard bloom · 2:28 AM

it was not given a slot as a subculture of its own
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:28 AM

yes. It changed my dad's life. Literally. He became the man he is known as b/c of acid in 1969.
HB

howard bloom · 2:28 AM

the history of a lot of this is in the lucifer principle
HB

howard bloom · 2:28 AM

but the phrases for teenage and adolscence
HB

howard bloom · 2:28 AM

were invented in roughly the 1920s
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:28 AM

★ Spotlighted from Scott Sherwood

much bigger undergrounds too

HB

howard bloom · 2:28 AM

the rituals of adolescence were invented back them
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

or recognized by society
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

things like dating and making out
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

and as parent became more affluent
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

they gave kids allowances
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

in 1969 the publishing and advertising biz
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:29 AM

yes, because adolescent rituals are very important in other cultures. But we don't really have official ones in ours.
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

woke up to the facts that kids were a market
HB

howard bloom · 2:29 AM

they could be spenders
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:30 AM

And now they are the ONLY market!
HB

howard bloom · 2:30 AM

i was in the offices of the guys who put out the first publications for madison ave
HB

howard bloom · 2:30 AM

on how to market to this new thing
HB

howard bloom · 2:30 AM

the "youth culture"
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:30 AM

we know the children are our cash cow
HB

howard bloom · 2:30 AM

you're right, kelly
HB

howard bloom · 2:31 AM

we are missing rituals for some very vital things
HB

howard bloom · 2:31 AM

when our hormones begin to surge
HB

howard bloom · 2:31 AM

we have bar mitzvahs and confirmations
HB

howard bloom · 2:31 AM

but the entry into sexual behavior
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:31 AM

So, Howard - it seems like this had become out of control now...like there are NO ADULTS in the culture...we cowtow to this market so much.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:31 AM

Where are the grown ups?
HB

howard bloom · 2:31 AM

the feat of putting your arm around the seat next to you at a movie theater with the girl you're dsting
HB

howard bloom · 2:31 AM

is still huge
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:32 AM

lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

hmmmmmm
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

good question
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

really we are all over the place
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

obsessive parents
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

giving their kids the education that will give them access to harvard at three
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

i see this in my neighborhood
HB

howard bloom · 2:32 AM

a kid i love who isnt talking yet
HB

howard bloom · 2:33 AM

his parents agonized getting him into the school that would get him to oxford someday
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:33 AM

OY. I mean are they the Koch bothers cynically raping the planet and democracy for their bak accounts - it seems like these are adolescents out of control - no future planning...
HB

howard bloom · 2:33 AM

LO
HB

howard bloom · 2:33 AM

the koch brothers, i need to study them someday
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:33 AM

★ Spotlighted from Ellen November

The adults are being peddled pills by the big pharma co's.

KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:33 AM

yes you do!
HB

howard bloom · 2:33 AM

kelly those guys are trying to buy off people like me
HB

howard bloom · 2:34 AM

they sponsor all the good science on tv :)
HB

howard bloom · 2:34 AM

yes, the pill biz is big
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:34 AM

So...back to what the 60s spawned...
HB

howard bloom · 2:34 AM

but, ellen, it saved my life
HB

howard bloom · 2:34 AM

in fact, it's saved my life several times
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:34 AM

yes, it can help.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:34 AM

★ Spotlighted from Ellen November

saving lives is good

HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

by odds, i should have been dead 54 years ago
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

but that is a long story
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

however it's major
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:35 AM

So, there are some things that the 60s allowed us to live into...
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

but growing up in buffalo
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

had one advantage
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

canada
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

yes, the sixties gave us permission
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:35 AM

like more equality for people in minorities
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:35 AM

yes permission!
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

to expand our perceptions
HB

howard bloom · 2:35 AM

to expand our brains
HB

howard bloom · 2:36 AM

and it gave us the pill and
HB

howard bloom · 2:36 AM

permission to have sex as whatever sex is for each of us
HB

howard bloom · 2:36 AM

for me it's become a spiritual expression of the highest kind...at least in a way
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:36 AM

But in some ways it also left us with no healthy boundaries...
HB

howard bloom · 2:36 AM

the 60s gave us the doors of perception
HB

howard bloom · 2:37 AM

up until then, we were ruled by alcohol
HB

howard bloom · 2:37 AM

and tobacco
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:37 AM

★ Spotlighted from Blake Ian

Im sorry I missed so much of this! I love the sixties and I love lessons! Catching up now... There's Tawking happening here

HB

howard bloom · 2:37 AM

and no associated rituals telling us that these things could "expand our consciousness"
HB

howard bloom · 2:37 AM

hi, ian :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:37 AM

But, you can't expand forever Howard. At some point you need to acknowledge the limits too.
HB

howard bloom · 2:37 AM

and, yes, you are so ABSOLUTELY
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

right kelly, life is a matter of balance
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

balancing opposites
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

and you saw what lack of boundaries
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

can do in your own growing up years
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:38 AM

And it seems that the Baby Boomer generation has not learned this...but will...aging and death.
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

damn, death
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

i hate it
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:38 AM

Fuck death.
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

it's a very good reason to want to kick nature in the shins
HB

howard bloom · 2:38 AM

exactly :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:38 AM

lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

but we won't get into gripes against nature tonight
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:39 AM

So here we are on a planet that can't give all that we want...
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

they are not in How I Accidentally Started the Sixties
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

yes, and that's a huge advantage
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

because the same nature that gave us death
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

gave us the ability to want
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

to desire
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

to dream
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:39 AM

yes...
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

to dream of things tha never were
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

and ask why not?
HB

howard bloom · 2:39 AM

and that is the greatest gift
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

nature could have ever provided
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

because she put us here
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

to change her
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

to upgrade her
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

to remake her
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

by following our desires
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

and instantiating our dreams
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:40 AM

Yes! Innovation! Discovery!
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

wow, my typing fingers are wearing out
HB

howard bloom · 2:40 AM

but this is a terrific something
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:41 AM

But, I worry Howard. I worry that sometimes we will not be able to innovate our way out of this mess.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:41 AM

I worry that we have spent all our good ideas.
HB

howard bloom · 2:41 AM

you are helping me pull together a lot of thoughts i haven't had a chance to yoke together before
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:41 AM

That people are infighting so much that we won't focus on the need to find solutions...
HB

howard bloom · 2:41 AM

not at all, kelly
HB

howard bloom · 2:41 AM

just look at the things that have been invented in the last 20 years
HB

howard bloom · 2:41 AM

popularization of the internet, the world wide web, google
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:41 AM

That we are more worried about Kim Kardashian than about the water we will drink in 20 years.
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

wikipedia, facebook, tawkers
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

roger simon the economist
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

the guy who went toe to toe with paul ehrlich over the population bomb
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

pointed out something very important
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

the more people we have
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

the more minds we have
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

the more minds we have
HB

howard bloom · 2:42 AM

the more creativity froths and boils
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

go to china
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:43 AM

Of course...
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:43 AM

I see that.
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

and you won't see any of our gloom
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

all you will see is the exhilaration of a nation that sees itself at the beginning
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

not the end
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

india, too
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:43 AM

So, our fears about climate change, water shortage, refugees, wars are all the same fears we've always had?
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

but we are the ones making the new frontiers they dream of in asia
HB

howard bloom · 2:43 AM

and we have to once again
HB

howard bloom · 2:44 AM

take possession of our dreams
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:44 AM

And that we will turn a corner before it is all too late?
HB

howard bloom · 2:44 AM

take possession of our right to fantasize a future
HB

howard bloom · 2:44 AM

and to make it
HB

howard bloom · 2:44 AM

exuberantly
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:44 AM

it feels so damn hopeless...
HB

howard bloom · 2:44 AM

with exhilaration
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:44 AM

Oh, I know what I want to ask you!
HB

howard bloom · 2:44 AM

ok :)
HB

howard bloom · 2:45 AM

awaiting question
HB

howard bloom · 2:45 AM

but while youre at it
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:45 AM

What do you make of all this End of the World stories in our culture....Zombie movies...and all of that...it seems we are inundated with these scenarios...what are we REALLY preparing for?
HB

howard bloom · 2:45 AM

we are talking ourselves into armageddon
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:46 AM

I see it as archetypal
HB

howard bloom · 2:46 AM

we went dystopian with our future fiction in, of all eras,
HB

howard bloom · 2:46 AM

the 1960s
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:46 AM

Or are we talking ourselves OUT of it?
HB

howard bloom · 2:46 AM

and 50 years of dystopian dreaming
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:46 AM

★ Spotlighted from Scott Sherwood

They are all scare tatics

HB

howard bloom · 2:46 AM

is taking its toll
HB

howard bloom · 2:46 AM

the only way to avoid catastrophe
HB

howard bloom · 2:46 AM

is to build the next level of opportunity
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

like building that vast real estate known as cyberspace from 1970
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

when darpa kicked it off
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

to today
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:47 AM

A common goal and/or a common threat always leads to coalescence
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

we next that next great landscape
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

john, alas
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

the research indicates that it's not dreams that unite us
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:47 AM

So. some will sign on for the end...and some of us will sign on for THE BEGINNING...
HB

howard bloom · 2:47 AM

but threats
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

yes, and john, kelly, is another comic :)
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

and we DO have to learn to coalesce around dreams
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

and to turn the hardships of achieving them
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

into our enemy
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

do you know who was brilliant at that?
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

though he had a lot of help
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:48 AM

Who?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:48 AM

That's it!
HB

howard bloom · 2:48 AM

from the ussr and sputnik
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

jfk
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:49 AM

Hmmm.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:49 AM

And they killed him.
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

when he said, we go to the moon
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

not because it is easy
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

but because it is hard
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

he turned a dream into a challenge
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:49 AM

So where is our Kennedy? Where are the Grown ups?
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

a battle against difficulty
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:49 AM

Are we to all become the Kennedy for each other now?
HB

howard bloom · 2:49 AM

i'm trying my best from my tiny, tiny platform
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:49 AM

★ Spotlighted from Scott Sherwood

good quote

HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

and you know i manage to reach the white house and
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:50 AM

And jfk put a deadline on the challenge
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

people like the 11th president of india
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

from time to time
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:50 AM

Thank god! Someone is listening to you Howard!
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

but i am a squeak in a pip
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

however we all need to squeek
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

as loud as we can
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

god,
HB

howard bloom · 2:50 AM

this conversation keeps coming back to mice :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:51 AM

lol
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:51 AM

lol
HB

howard bloom · 2:51 AM

i was never able
HB

howard bloom · 2:51 AM

to identify with mickey or minnie
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:51 AM

So, what can the 60s give us now that we so desperately need? There was such a feeling of purpose and hope back then.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:51 AM

Donald?
HB

howard bloom · 2:51 AM

we have to reoepen the floodgate
HB

howard bloom · 2:51 AM

of positive fantasy
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:51 AM

Donald is a duck Rick. We are on mice.
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

we have to realize that dreaming wildly
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:52 AM

Positive fantasy!
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

then making it come true is our obligation and our
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:52 AM

★ Spotlighted from Scott Sherwood

It gave us a feeling of being one with humanity

HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

birthright in the west
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

yes, here in the usa
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:52 AM

Our birthright...the American Dream...
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

and we have to open ourselves up to a simple fact
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

no resource on this planet
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:52 AM

without the picket fence.
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

was ever given by nature
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

every resource has been invented
HB

howard bloom · 2:52 AM

from hostile stuff
HB

howard bloom · 2:53 AM

it is our job to stop the dream that we are running out of resources
HB

howard bloom · 2:53 AM

and go back to imagining
HB

howard bloom · 2:53 AM

then working our fucking asses off to achieve our dreams
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:53 AM

So it is the friction of the times meeting the vision of the future that creates possibility....I'm making the T-shirts!
HB

howard bloom · 2:53 AM

resources are invented, not given
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:53 AM

I love this.
HB

howard bloom · 2:53 AM

and it is our job to invent the next resource base
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:54 AM

Resources are invented, not given.
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

that is how this friggin planet got oxygen
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

oxygen was NOT a part of our atmosphere
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

under the tender loving care of mother nature
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

oxygen was manufactured
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

by living things
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

cyanobacteria
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

and when it first polluted the atmosphere
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:54 AM

Ah...the Secular Genesis Machine!!!!
HB

howard bloom · 2:54 AM

roughly 2 billion years ago
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

it was toxic
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

it was a deadly poison
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:55 AM

★ Spotlighted from Scott Sherwood

Wrong thinking, we need to make our resorces last!

HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

but we invented a way to use it
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

and that way
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

transformed the planet
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

gave it plants and animals
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

gave us the nature we weep for and agonize over and worship
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:55 AM

Scott - yes, it is controversial...but just take in the whole thought...
HB

howard bloom · 2:55 AM

but that nature was violently unnatural
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

once upon a time
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

nature puts us here NOT to tend the status quo
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

nature HATES an equilibrium
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

nature puts us here
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

to reinvent her
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

to remake her
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

to upgrade her
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

and we need to absorb that lesson
HB

howard bloom · 2:56 AM

or we will be unnatural
HB

howard bloom · 2:57 AM

and we will be flushed away
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:57 AM

But, there is a chance, dear Howard, that this human species with this big brain is only a small step in the evolution of this big Secular Genesis machine, yes?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:57 AM

Yes.
HB

howard bloom · 2:57 AM

ok, enough of ranting at you :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:57 AM

we were typing the same thought at the same time!
HB

howard bloom · 2:57 AM

we hare exactly that, kelley
HB

howard bloom · 2:57 AM

one small step
HB

howard bloom · 2:57 AM

sorry, my typing fingers are a bit burned out
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:57 AM

We are one small step. My EGO HATES THAT.
HB

howard bloom · 2:57 AM

but we are on a roll
HB

howard bloom · 2:58 AM

yes, someday we will be replaced
HB

howard bloom · 2:58 AM

but perhaps not
HB

howard bloom · 2:58 AM

think of this
HB

howard bloom · 2:58 AM

3.85 billion years ago
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:58 AM

So...yes we are on a roll....let's make a date to come back here in two weeks and keep this conversation rolling then?
HB

howard bloom · 2:58 AM

the first life forms sprang up on this poisoned and appalling earth, a rock of incessant disaster
HB

howard bloom · 2:59 AM

they had cells and apparently dna
HB

howard bloom · 2:59 AM

we too have cells and dna
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:59 AM

a rock of incessant disaster...
KC

Kelly Carlin · 2:59 AM

lol I love that.
HB

howard bloom · 2:59 AM

those inherited things are us
HB

howard bloom · 2:59 AM

then came bacteria, our first ancestors
HB

howard bloom · 2:59 AM

today, we are doing our best to outrace bacterai
HB

howard bloom · 2:59 AM

but did the bacteria ever disappear?
HB

howard bloom · 3:00 AM

no, not a bit
HB

howard bloom · 3:00 AM

they are probably thousands of times more abundant now
HB

howard bloom · 3:00 AM

than at the beginning
HB

howard bloom · 3:00 AM

perhaps trillions of times more abundant
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:00 AM

Hey folks...I highly suggest Howard's book Genius of the Beast if you want to learn more about his take on evolution...the Secular Genesis Machine...it is AMAZING stuff.
HB

howard bloom · 3:00 AM

look, they have invented high rise transport machines
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:00 AM

us!
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

that actually go out and autonomously gather food to feed them
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

yes, us
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

so there is a chance that if we play our cards right
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

if we recognize that nature's way is not stasis
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

nature's way is change
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

radical, big time change
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

and that nature has put us here as change agents
HB

howard bloom · 3:01 AM

if we recognize all that
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:02 AM

So, the 60s did teach us something important about this very thing! Go with the FLOW. Be the Change.
HB

howard bloom · 3:02 AM

there is a chance that some high rise convenience machine
HB

howard bloom · 3:02 AM

will find us a necessity 3.85 billion years from
HB

howard bloom · 3:02 AM

now the way we find the bacteria in our gut
HB

howard bloom · 3:02 AM

that digest our food for us and make our vitamin b and vitamin k
HB

howard bloom · 3:02 AM

a necessity :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:03 AM

Wow. That is both hopeful and disturbing in the same moment.
HB

howard bloom · 3:03 AM

you got it, kelly :)
HB

howard bloom · 3:03 AM

be the change you want to see
HB

howard bloom · 3:03 AM

isn't that ghandi?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:03 AM

So Howard. Do you want to do this again in two weeks? More talk about the 60s, evolution, innovation?
HB

howard bloom · 3:03 AM

but first, take possession of your wishes, your dreams and fantasies
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:03 AM

yes, that is gandhi.
HB

howard bloom · 3:03 AM

realize that they do no DESECRATE nature
HB

howard bloom · 3:03 AM

they are nature come alive in you
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

you are nature's dream machine
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:04 AM

burp.
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

and if you work at it with all your waking hours
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

seven days a week
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

if you have persistence
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

you can make the dreams that nature has built you to concieve
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

come alive where it counts
HB

howard bloom · 3:04 AM

in reality
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:04 AM

YOU ARE NATURE'S DREAM MACHINE. Do you have that people? Those are our marching orders from the universe!
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:05 AM

Howard. we are out of time.
HB

howard bloom · 3:05 AM

do we have any questions?
HB

howard bloom · 3:05 AM

from the audience?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:05 AM

Thank you.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:05 AM

Audience?
HB

howard bloom · 3:05 AM

ummmm, all these wonderful people in the column on the right.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:05 AM

I was including them as we went.
HB

howard bloom · 3:06 AM

ahhhhh
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

I think they are pondering.
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

Would you like to join me in two weeks and continue?
HB

howard bloom · 3:06 AM

my fingers are tuckered out and you, you wonderful person, have pulled a sermon out of me. :)
HB

howard bloom · 3:06 AM

my favorite thing
HB

howard bloom · 3:06 AM

a rant with purpose :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

More TAWKING about all of this?
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

And I love when you rant. AMEN.
HB

howard bloom · 3:06 AM

yes, yes, yes. :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

Very entertaining - thank you both
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

★ Spotlighted from Ian Poole

I would ponder but I think the sleep monster is trying to sneak up on me

KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:06 AM

just trying to keep up
HB

howard bloom · 3:07 AM

rick, yes, it necessitates a lot of scrolling up, alas :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:07 AM

Let's make a date to return....it'll be the Howard and Kelly Dream Machine show...
HB

howard bloom · 3:07 AM

gotcha
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:07 AM

So many GREAT quotes from tonight!
HB

howard bloom · 3:07 AM

:)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:08 AM

Howard, thank you for your time and for exhausting your fingers!
HB

howard bloom · 3:08 AM

thank you all for coming :)
HB

howard bloom · 3:08 AM

it means a lot
HB

howard bloom · 3:08 AM

you give us energy :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:08 AM

Thank you lovely people in the Forum for chatting with us!
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:08 AM

yes - you feed the dream....
HB

howard bloom · 3:08 AM

night, kelly :) :)
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:08 AM

Good night Howard!
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:08 AM

Good night all!
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:08 AM

Dream BIG!!!!!!!!!
KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:21 AM

★ Spotlighted from DON VODKI

good nite and thanks for sharing your wisdom =)

KC

Kelly Carlin · 3:21 AM

★ Spotlighted from Heidi Bauer

Soul enriching. Thank you!