Word: materialistic
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...first is tribalism, as in Bosnia. This is, of course, nothing new. But democracies are often maladroit at dealing with minorities that seek group empowerment. The second challenge will be fundamentalism. Capitalism can be cold, consumption oriented and spiritless, alienating those who feel repelled by its modernity and its materialist values. Some will respond by embracing traditional religions or New Age spirituality, but there is also likely to be, especially in the Islamic world, a more fierce religious challenge that rejects individual liberties as well as the materialism that comes with capitalism. Finally, there is the radical environmentalism...
Mother Teresa, the Nobel Laureate, is said to have left only two saris and a bucket as her worldly possessions, but she is more respected than modern Queens, Kings and billionaires [WORLD, Sept. 22]. Is there a lesson here for our materialist world? VINAY MAHAJAN Melbourne...
Many of Bennett's themes resonate with boomer parents who were '60s liberals but now seek an antidote to the antisocial, materialist messages their children are absorbing from popular culture. And as someone who himself played guitar in a rock band, had a date with Janis Joplin, opposed the Vietnam War and campaigned for civil rights in Mississippi, Bennett demonstrates through his personal journey how far America has moved during the past three decades on cultural issues...
...wreck blamed progress itself. And so, come to think of it, did Melville's possible disciple in this line of thinking, the Unabomber, who was a moral train wreck in his own right. The complaint seems a little simple. It can appeal to a flintstone fundamentalism that argues that materialist secular humanism, with its seductive technological wealth and toys and vices, fosters a godless hubris. But no one except Melville's grandfather thinks Flight 800 fell from the sky because its passengers wanted to travel too fast...
Dennett has answers to these critiques. As for the extraness problem, the question of what function consciousness serves: if you're a strict materialist and believe "the mind is the brain," then consciousness must have a function. After all, the brain has a function, and consciousness is the brain. Similarly, turning the water into wine seems a less acute problem if the wine is water...