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Next journal due - I used the Cairns abortion thingie and spent some depressing time looking at different philosophical approaches to abortion. Ugh. My heart hurts. So does my brain. This class was very interesting but a bit incoherent now that I look at my notes, I've a lot of scattered thoughts.
P. came in to take us through the SPARK results from our first assessment.
SAPA is where you asses your performance relative to the team. SPA is everyone except you. Of our team of six, three of us actually did it, and the other three were confused about whether we were doing it or not so our results are a bit restricted.
R. is nervous about whether the interview questions will give us the material to do the group assignment. M. says we may have to do telephone interviews. I'm just wanting to get on with it as it is now due in four weeks.
Discuss: The only purpose of an organisation is to make money for stockholders.
Point form summary.
Discussion about market failure (crushing spasm of Adam Smiths invisible guiding hand) and government regulation - how government regulation is supposed to compensate for how the guiding hand doesn't actually work :p
Random:
Apparently you *can* recycle mattresses in Perth, yes, it made sense at the time.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was radical in its time – and apparently judged very harshly.
The Story of Stuff
Milton Friedman's Arguments
Interesting dude.
We watched The Corporation Video (Ch.1.) about… Corporations! I kind of love the repetition of 'bad apples'
Break! In which I talked to S. and M. about using OTW as a backup if we don't get our interviews completed this week – time pressure makes me more assertive :p
Discussion: What externalities are our organisations perpetrating?
Carbon tax? Green environment? As a consumer am *I* responsible for the plastic bottle that my drink came from? The drinks company? Profit and cash flow is like breathing - a corporation needs them to get out of bed in the morning.
What is enough? Stacie made it clear she felt corporations and making a profit are not evil.
More video! Ch. 6 Pathology of Commerce
Is a corporation a psychopath? Who bears the responsibility for it's actions? Noam Chomsky speaks on morality. Distinguish between institution and individuals, person has values even though institution may be monstrous. CEO's have the ability to put resources into idealistic pursuits as well.
The Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken - apparently quite good.
Three things this movie made me think about
What evidence do I have directly, in my own experience that this is changing? The people I am close to, the people that I love.
Group discussion
Social pressure to not look like jerks forces corporations to shift behaviour over time?
Devastation equals opportunity?
What would happen if everything (air, water, oceans etc.) was privatised?
What is corporate social responsibility?
- you never expect justice from a company do you?
- they neither have a soul to lose nor a body to kick
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilisation by Thomas Homer-Dixon
Video - Ray Anderson TED talk Feb2009
• Large, pervasive, powerful - plunderer of the Earth.
• Take nothing, do no harm.
• Unless somebody leads, nobody will - it's axiomatic.
• A recovering plunderer.
• Theft of our children's future will someday be a crime.
This was very cool.
P. came in to take us through the SPARK results from our first assessment.
SAPA is where you asses your performance relative to the team. SPA is everyone except you. Of our team of six, three of us actually did it, and the other three were confused about whether we were doing it or not so our results are a bit restricted.
- SAPA = self evaluation / average of others
- SPA = others evaluation of you / average group mean rating
R. is nervous about whether the interview questions will give us the material to do the group assignment. M. says we may have to do telephone interviews. I'm just wanting to get on with it as it is now due in four weeks.
Discuss: The only purpose of an organisation is to make money for stockholders.
Point form summary.
- Transparency enabling choice - no buying slave labour chocolate
- Stockholders needs as distinct from stakeholders needs
- Stockholders may choose to invest ethically - it's not the Corporation's job!
- Humans may be ethical, corporations may not
- Sustainable?
- Ethical investing? Portfolio?
Discussion about market failure (crushing spasm of Adam Smiths invisible guiding hand) and government regulation - how government regulation is supposed to compensate for how the guiding hand doesn't actually work :p
Random:
Apparently you *can* recycle mattresses in Perth, yes, it made sense at the time.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was radical in its time – and apparently judged very harshly.
The Story of Stuff
Milton Friedman's Arguments
Interesting dude.
- Corporate Social Responsibility distorts capital allocation. "The social responsibility of business is to increase it's profits."
- Senior executives should not be allowed to act as unpaid tax collectors and unelected benefactors of various organisations.
- Corporations are legal fictions, not real people, and therefore cannot possess responsibilities.
We watched The Corporation Video (Ch.1.) about… Corporations! I kind of love the repetition of 'bad apples'
Break! In which I talked to S. and M. about using OTW as a backup if we don't get our interviews completed this week – time pressure makes me more assertive :p
Discussion: What externalities are our organisations perpetrating?
Carbon tax? Green environment? As a consumer am *I* responsible for the plastic bottle that my drink came from? The drinks company? Profit and cash flow is like breathing - a corporation needs them to get out of bed in the morning.
What is enough? Stacie made it clear she felt corporations and making a profit are not evil.
More video! Ch. 6 Pathology of Commerce
Is a corporation a psychopath? Who bears the responsibility for it's actions? Noam Chomsky speaks on morality. Distinguish between institution and individuals, person has values even though institution may be monstrous. CEO's have the ability to put resources into idealistic pursuits as well.
The Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken - apparently quite good.
Three things this movie made me think about
- How am I going to make a difference?
- Do we, as species 'deserve to survive'
- How do we take responsibility for what we do?
What evidence do I have directly, in my own experience that this is changing? The people I am close to, the people that I love.
Group discussion
Social pressure to not look like jerks forces corporations to shift behaviour over time?
Devastation equals opportunity?
What would happen if everything (air, water, oceans etc.) was privatised?
What is corporate social responsibility?
- you never expect justice from a company do you?
- they neither have a soul to lose nor a body to kick
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilisation by Thomas Homer-Dixon
Video - Ray Anderson TED talk Feb2009
• Large, pervasive, powerful - plunderer of the Earth.
• Take nothing, do no harm.
• Unless somebody leads, nobody will - it's axiomatic.
• A recovering plunderer.
• Theft of our children's future will someday be a crime.
This was very cool.