The rise of nuclear fear

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1. leonidasrupMay 2026
   I recommend book "The Rise of Nuclear Fear" by Spencer R. Weart

   "After a tsunami destroyed the cooling system at Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, triggering a meltdown, protesters around the world challenged the use of nuclear power. Germany announced it would close its plants by 2022. Although the ills of fossil fuels are better understood than ever, the threat of climate change has never aroused the same visceral dread or swift action. Spencer Weart dissects this paradox, demonstrating that a powerful web of images surrounding nuclear energy holds us captive, allowing fear, rather than facts, to drive our thinking and public policy. "

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2. pablopenicheSep 2020
   Vibrant cultures draw on the dynamism of innovation and creativity, but they decline through stagnation, forms of which we have been facing in recent years: deceleration of technological innovation, prospects of slowed economic growth, and a generalized cultural malaise or decadence. This seminar examines this problem and asks about antidotes, wether as progress, renaissance or disruption.

   1 - OUR PRESENT DECADENCE:

   Leo Strauss, The City and Man, Introduction p 1-12

   Ross Douthat, The Decadent Society, entire

   2 - DECLINE:

   Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, abridged edition, selections p 3-114; 176-225; 245-254; 360-415

   3 - SCIENCE:

   Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, entire p 63-111

   Derek de Solla Prince, Science since Babylon, entire

   4 - TECHNOLOGY:

   Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atom Bomb, selections p 13-28; 104-197; 279-317; 443-485; 617-678

   Film: The Right Stuff

   5 - FEAR:

   Soencer Weart, The Rise of Nuclear Fear, entire

   René Girard, "Hamlet's Dull Revenge" from Theater of Envy p 271-289

   Film: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

   6 - COUNTERCULTURE:

   Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, title essay p 84-128

   Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, entire

   Film: Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

   7 - STAGNATION I: JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNTS

   Christopher Caldwell, the Age of Entitlement, p 3-279

   Camile Paglia, Provocations, selections p 465-480

   8 - STAGNATION II: THEORETICAL AND NOVELISTIC ACCOUNTS

   Carl Schmitt, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, entire

   Michel Houllebecq, Submission, entire

   9 THE CASE AGAINST GROWTH:

   Dietrich Vollrath, Fully Grown, entire

   Donella Meadows et al., The Limits to Growth, selections p 45-155

   10 WAYS OUT?:

   Ernst Juenger, The Forest Passage, entire

   Henry George, Progress and Poverty, entire

   -

   Anyone interested in discussing this books, I would love to meet you. DM me on Twitter: @PabloPeniche

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