N-Lighten Me

TUG OF WAR: Surveillance Capitalism, Military Contracting, and the Rise of the Security State

Author: Jocelyn Wills

Abstract: This book offers a detailed political history of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), tracing its evolution from a small 1969 Canadian software consultancy into a powerful multinational supplier of space-based systems. The narrative frames MDA’s growth within the emergence of surveillance capitalism, detailing how its innovative work in remote sensing and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) facilitated its deep integration into North American military and intelligence alliances, particularly with the United States. MDA’s success was heavily dependent on consistent taxpayer-funded R&D and government procurement contracts, which enabled the firm to develop and supply critical C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) architecture, including systems like Radarsat-2 and Canadarm-2. The firm's history exemplifies the perpetual "tug of war" experienced by Canada between its attempts to assert national sovereignty and the structural pressures to conform to the interests and demands of the technologically dominant US military-industrial complex.----------------------------------------------------------------#SurveillanceCapitalism #MilitaryContracting #SecurityState #MacDonaldDettwiler #C4ISR #RemoteSensing #SAR #CanadianSovereignty #USMilitaryIndustrialComplex #Radarsat

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Author: Shoshana Zuboff

Abstract:

book defines and analyzes Surveillance Capitalism as a new economic order that unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material. This raw material is translated into behavioral data, fabricated into prediction products that anticipate future actions, and then traded in behavioral futures markets. This system concentrates unprecedented wealth, knowledge, and power. The core economic logic subordinates the means of production to a comprehensive means of behavioral modification, fundamentally shifting the goal from simply analyzing information about individuals to actively automating behavior for guaranteed commercial outcomes. This dynamic generates a new species of power called Instrumentarianism, which is realized through the ubiquitous computational architecture known as Big Other. The author argues that surveillance capitalism poses a significant threat to human nature and elemental democratic rights, characterizing its expansion as an expropriation or a coup from above against the people’s sovereignty.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------#SurveillanceCapitalism #BehavioralSurplus #PredictionProducts #BehavioralFuturesMarkets #Instrumentarianism #BigOther #BehavioralModification #CoupFromAbove #HumanNature #DigitalPower

Title: Dignity in the 21st Century: Middle East and West

Authors: Doris Schroeder and Abol-Hassan Bani-Sadr

Abstract: This book offers a unique historical and philosophical analysis of the highly controversial and multifaceted concept of dignity, examining perspectives from the Middle East and the West. The authors contend that the term is often employed with contradictory meanings in politics, philosophy, and everyday life. Political events in the early 21st-century Middle East have given the term new weight, with some analysts calling the uprisings the "dignity revolutions." The book systematically distinguishes six types of Western dignity, categorized broadly as aspirational (e.g., dignity as virtue, rank, or comportment) and intrinsic (e.g., Kant's Formula of Humanity or God-given sanctity of life), plus "dignity as slogan".Abol-Hassan Bani-Sadr, drawing on the Koran, presents an interpretation of dignity (rooted in fetrah and tawheed) that is irrevocably linked to freedom and the removal of power/domination from human relations, urging readers to replace humiliation with dignity. By reconciling the main Western philosophical streams with the Koranic perspective, the authors propose a common core for dignity: the sense of self-worth, which humans have a duty to develop in themselves and a duty to protect in others. The work, part of the SpringerBriefs in Philosophy series, argues that clarifying these diverse meanings is essential for meaningful intercultural dialogue and resolving disputes over dignity.--------------------------------------------------------------- #DignityInThe21stCentury #MiddleEastAndWest #SenseOfSelfWorth #KoranicDignity #KantsFormulaOfHumanity #DignityRevolutions #PowerAndDomination #AbolHassanBaniSadr #DorisSchroeder

Title: An Islamic Utopian: A Political Biography of Ali Shari'ati

Author: Ali Rahnema

Abstract:

This book serves as the political and cultural biography of Ali Shari'ati, who is widely regarded by many as the ideological father of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Shari'ati's life spanned a critical period during which the Pahlavi dynasty consciously attempted to transition Iran toward a Western-defined state of modernity. This context created a central national dilemma: the genuine need for modernity conflicting with the struggle to protect Islam as a vital cultural heritage. Shari'ati was among the few intellectuals who sought a union of these opposites, creating a redefined Islamic doctrine rooted in Islamic utopianism. This doctrine presented Islam as a revolutionary, just, and modern force in areas of economics, politics, ethics, and culture. His influence, derived from synthesizing contradictory currents and providing a compelling alternative ideology, made him an instrumental figure in the eventual collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty.---------------------------------------------------------------#AliShariati #IranianRevolution1979 #IslamicUtopian #PoliticalBiography #IslamicModernity #PahlaviDynasty #UnionOfOpposites #IdeologicalFather

Title: Covenants with Allāh: Keystone of Islam

Authors: Halim Rane and Ibrahim Zein

Abstract:

This groundbreaking book explores the concept of covenants (ʿahd and mīthāq) as the keystone of Islam, arguing that these binding commitments between God and humanity define the conditions for human existence and coexistence. The authors assert that this foundational dimension of Islamic theology and law has been largely overlooked by contemporary scholarship, typically favoring later legalistic approaches.Drawing on extensive study of the Qurʾān, the covenants of Prophet Muḥammad (such as the Constitution of Medina and pledges to Christian communities), and the historical record of Muslim governance, the book demonstrates that covenants are not peripheral but central to Islam’s ethical architecture. These commitments serve as the instrument by which Allāh establishes provisions for accountability, justice, trust, and peace for all people, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. The book examines the enduring imperative of these covenants in promoting moral societies, safeguarding human dignity and security, and confronting modern crises arising from the violation of both divine and international commitments. The pervasive presence of covenants throughout the Islamic tradition mandates a shift in the understanding of Islam away from political or reductionist readings toward a comprehensive covenantal worldview.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------#CovenantsWithAllah #KeystoneOfIslam #AhdAndMithaq #IslamicCovenantalParadigm #ProphetMuhammadsCovenants #AccountabilityAndJustice #HumanExistenceAndCoexistence #HalimRane #IbrahimZein

Title: On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

Author: Naomi Klein

Abstract:

This book, a collection of essays and reporting, argues that the global climate crisis demands a response as ambitious and urgent as the proposed Green New Deal (GND), treating it as the "burning case" for transformative change. The central premise is that addressing ecological unraveling requires fundamentally confronting the economic and ideological systems—particularly deregulated capitalism and free-market fanaticism—that created the crisis and continue to block solutions. The era of incremental change is over, necessitating a "civilizational mission" to rapidly decarbonize and transition to a fairer economy. The author advocates for an intersectionality approach, asserting that the GND must simultaneously tackle economic inequality, racial injustice, and social systems (the gig and dig economy) that treat people and the planet as disposable resources. By weaving together seemingly disparate crises (climate, poverty, colonialism, militarism), the GND offers a "people's emergency" vision that mandates systemic repair and massive public investment in renewable energy and social programs, moving away from the consumption-driven model toward a society rooted in care and collective purpose.-----------------------------------------------------------#OnFire #GreenNewDeal #ClimateEmergency #SystemicChange #CapitalismVsClimate #Intersectionality #RacialJustice #PlanetaryLifeline #NaomiKlein #Decarbonization

Title: Hot Money: How Free Market Fundamentalism Helped Overheat the Planet

Author: Naomi Klein

Abstract:

This book argues that free market fundamentalism has fundamentally contributed to overheating the planet by promoting excessive consumption and unregulated globalization, thereby hindering effective action against the climate emergency. The crisis became unignorable around 1988, but solutions were blocked by an ideological offensive for deregulated capitalism that crushed alternatives like deep ecology and Keynesianism. The text highlights the central contradiction between free trade agreements (such as NAFTA and the WTO) and climate negotiations, where trade commitments, backed by harsh penalties, systematically trump voluntary climate pledges. This system enabled corporations to seek cheap labor and dirty energy globally, causing emissions to soar dramatically after 2000. To avert catastrophic warming, the author advocates for a Great Transition that necessitates managed degrowth in wealthy nations (annual emission cuts of 8–10%) and profound systemic change that challenges the core logic of indiscriminate economic growth. This requires abandoning the focus on individual consumer choices and instead embracing public investment, localization of economies, and the robust enforcement of the Polluter Pays principle, taxing the fossil fuel industry and the wealthy to fund a just, equitable, and cleaner future. The scale of the required transformation is compared to historical shifts like the abolition of slavery.----------------------------------------------------------------#HotMoney #NaomiKlein #FreeMarketFundamentalism #ClimateEmergency #FreeTradeVsClimate #PolluterPays #ManagedDegrowth #SystemicChange #GreatTransition #ConsumptionCrisis

Author: Mike Berners-Lee

Abstract:

This book serves as an evidence-based handbook addressing the vast, interconnected global challenges of the Anthropocene era, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource constraints. Given that "There is no Planet B", the updated edition provides a comprehensive and practical course of action. The central argument is that technical fixes and efficiency alone are insufficient because of the rebound effect, which often nullifies environmental savings at the macro-system level. To navigate this new era, humanity must transition to a new model by pursuing systemic change. Key priorities include: reducing environmental impacts; significantly lowering consumption of meat and dairy and cutting waste to address food and climate crises; and achieving an enforceable global deal to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Ultimately, achieving a sustainable and prosperous world requires adopting new globally shared values (such as respect for all people, the planet, and truth) [193–194, 224] and developing new thinking skills (including global empathy and systems thinking) to match humanity's increasing technological power.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------#Anthropocene #NoPlanetB #SystemicChange #ReboundEffect #FossilFuelCap #MeatAndDairyReduction #GlobalValues #ThinkingSkills #ClimateEmergency #MikeBernersLee

Title: The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times

- Giovanni Arrighi

Abstract:The book provides a systematic analysis of historical capitalism through the lens of four successive, overlapping systemic cycles of accumulation (SCA) (Genoese, Dutch, British, US),. Each cycle is defined by an epoch of material expansion (MC) followed by a recurrent phase of financial expansion (CM'),. Financial expansions signal the maturity (or "autumn") of the current regime and initiate a destructive/creative transition to a new one,. The successive leading regimes show an evolution towards increasing size and power, marked by the progressive internalization of costs: protection (Dutch), production (British), and transaction costs (US),,. The work focuses on the long twentieth century as the era of the fourth (US) SCA, arguing that the financial expansion starting around 1970 signalled the signal crisis of US dominance,,. This current crisis is uniquely defined by an unprecedented bifurcation of world financial power (increasingly concentrated in East Asia/Japan) and military power (retained by the US), raising critical questions about the prospect of forming a global world empire or reverting to systemic chaos,.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------#SystemicCyclesOfAccumulation #FinancialExpansion #MaterialExpansion #HistoricalCapitalism #LongTwentiethCentury #USRegimeCrisis #CostInternalization #MoneyAndPower #GeopoliticalBifurcation

Title: The Age of Empire 1875–1914

- Eric Hobsbawm

Abstract:

This book, the final volume in a survey of the historians' "long nineteenth century," analyses the period from 1875 to 1914,. This era is defined by profound structural changes and internal contradictions within the triumphant liberal bourgeois society. Economically, the period saw the rise of capitalist concentration ("trusts") and intense international competition, which replaced the old age of free trade,. Politically, this era is known for the surge of new colonialism, leading to the formal partitioning of most of the world into European and American spheres of influence. Concurrently, the inevitable democratization of politics brought the masses onto the political stage through the rise of powerful mass socialist and labour movements. The central argument is that these internal and international tensions ultimately undermined the established social and political order, leading the world towards the catastrophic outbreak of the First World War in August 1914,. #AgeOfEmpire #EricHobsbawm #FirstWorldWar #CapitalistContradictions #NewColonialism #Democratization #MassSocialistMovements #BourgeoisieDecline