Senior Fellow, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; President Emeritus, The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship
Boston
Joined July 2009
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This is both terrifying and very helpfully-clarifying. Those "conditions" will sooner or later inevitably arise. IF the "adversary" has nuclear weapons, they will use them. So our ONLY hope for surviving the nuclear weapons era is abolishing those weapons.
#USSTRATCOM Posture Statement Preview: The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable. We must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.
1/5 Deeply thoughtful reflections from Rob Feld on a profoundly-important issue -- the frequent gaps between:
(1) the lofty, inspiring ideals of our ancestors, our contemporaries, AND our own selves;
and
(2) their -- and our own -- imperfect lives.
63 years ago today, MLK delivered “I Have a Dream.” As more FBI surveillance material on King comes to light, America may soon face a harder question: Can we still tell our story through imperfect heroes? My new essay in @JoinPersuasion: open.substack.com/pub/persua…
4/5 As Rob stresses, being serious about any Ideals _requires_ honestly acknowledging even deeply-uncomfortable Truth(s) about our heroes -- and about our own selves. That is the _only_ solid starting-point ground for real progress toward those Ideals.
5/5 See my March 2024 Harvard Crimson piece that channels two of my own greatest heroes -- Albert Schweitzer and Paul Farmer -- on these issues: "Truth, Social Justice, and the ‘Telos’ of a University" thecrimson.com/column/counci…
See also this earlier Ebola Prevention video Firdaus created during the West Africa outbreak, w vocals by 5-time Grammy awardee Angelique Kidjo: youtube.com/watch?v=lt7wiwSJ…
Nahid: AMEN. And we can also help grieving family members channel their Love into effective _prevention_, as Firdaus Kharas's new video "Do Not Let My Death From Ebola Take You Too" (in 7 African languages), available to use/distribute for free, shows: youtube.com/watch?v=hbkGyjvU…
Nahid: AMEN. And we can also help grieving family members channel their Love into effective _prevention_, as Firdaus Kharas's new video "Do Not Let My Death From Ebola Take You Too" (in 7 African languages), available to use/distribute for free, shows: youtube.com/watch?v=hbkGyjvU…
1/3 Rebecca's new book is a major contribution to the vibrantly-ongoing Bach Fugue that started in 1776, her Variation on the initial Theme of "The Greatest Sentence" just substituting "Nature" for "Creator" and "Mattering" for "Happiness".
Walter Isaacson discusses his book with the greatest title ever written about ‘The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.' I agree with his judgment: my eyes well up every time I read the sentence (particularly in context, where it appears as a climax after a moderate preamble. The following clause isn't bad either). news.harvard.edu/gazette/sto…
2/3 Her book calls on each of us, in this 250th anniversary year of 1776, to add to our own personal "Mattering Maps" a commitment to making our own distinct contributions to "a more perfect Union", proving that our nation's founders chose the right motto: "E Pluribus Unum"
1/2 If you want to join in contributing to the work Rebecca's book provides each of us with a "Mattering Map" for how/why to pursue, please join her Substack -- subscribe to The Mattering Map rebeccanewbergergoldstein.su…
1/4 Perfect to start 250th anniv of 1776; the gist: "This Truth is Self-Evident: ALL human beings are created Equal, endowed by our _Nature_ w the longing to _Matter_, and thus endowed w the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness", each in our own distinctive ways.
Coming out in less than two weeks; preorder here: amazon.com/Mattering-Instinc…
3/4 This is the outline of her argument, supported with rich descriptions of how it has applied in real human beings, from William James to a young man today finding his "mattering" in a group of violent neo-Nazis (spoiler: he is now a friend of Rebecca's)
4/4 The rich diversity of the distinctive "mattering maps" we each bring to our individual lives gives us all reason to unite in mutual respect, proving that E Pluribus Unum was the right founding motto of the U.S. @sapinker @davideagleman @bizbookpr @michaelshermer
4/5 The highest office in this country is -- and must always be -- the office of “citizen”. On Nov 5 our votes for the highest _elected_ office in our country must be cast as an _American_, not as a member of any party/faction. Save that for all the “down-ballot” voting.
