http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron text@machinemachine.net http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/03/last-stand-of-the-amazon The best way to think about the remaining tribes in 2011 is to imagine a series of concentric circles, all of which interact on each boundary. There are the tribes that stay on their own homelands in the forest (or seek to do so), but who have regular relations with the outside. These retain a strong tribal identity, but they are coming to know the world all too well; they will travel to fight legal battles for their territories and their children will leave for the cities. Then there are a good number of tribes (or parts of tribes) who… ]]> Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:07:07 -0700 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/03/last-stand-of-the-amazon http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto In the wake of the controversy that greeted his paper, Everett encouraged scholars to come to the Amazon and observe the Pirahã for themselves. The first person to take him up on the offer was a forty-three-year-old American evolutionary biologist named Tecumseh Fitch, who in 2002 co-authored an important paper with Chomsky and Marc Hauser, an evolutionary psychologist and biologist at Harvard, on recursion. Fitch and his cousin Bill, a sommelier based in Paris, were due to arrive by floatplane in the Pirahã village a couple of hours after Everett and I did. As the plane landed on the water,… ]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:00:00 -0700 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult A cargo cult is a type of religious practice that may appear in traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults are focused on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture through magical thinking and religious rituals and practices, believing that the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors. Cargo cults developed primarily in remote parts of New Guinea and other Melanesian and Micronesian societies in the southwest Pacific Ocean, beginning with the first significant arrivals of Westerners in the 19th century. Similar behaviors have, however, also appeared… ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:51:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult http://fora.tv/2009/03/20/Daniel_Everett_Endangered_Languages_and_Lost_Knowledge#Daniel_Everett_Debunks_the_Essence_of_Human_Language Professor Daniel Everett, author of Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes, discusses the importance of preserving dying languages. He describes his experience living with the Piraha people in Brazil, and explores what Piraha, both the people and the language, can teach us about human nature. ]]> Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:28:00 -0700 http://fora.tv/2009/03/20/Daniel_Everett_Endangered_Languages_and_Lost_Knowledge#Daniel_Everett_Debunks_the_Essence_of_Human_Language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8zWH3T5RCA ]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:06:00 -0700 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8zWH3T5RCA