Buddha in Berkeley: economics revolution

CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; UC Berkeley; Kathleen Maclay; Leland Wong (californiagoldenblogs.com, 3-19-14) via the Tipitaka Network

The new U.S. greenbacks with their high tech anti-counterfeiting measures (latimes.com)

Advances being made at the world's most prominent public university: Cal Berkeley

That's Berkeley

Golden Scholars: UC Berkeley researchers control cell migration, revolutionize economics with Buddha

Offerings, Thiksey Gompa (Aswin/flickr)

This is the start of a new series focusing on the academic discoveries at UC Berkeley. Getting things started with the non-magic magic of Berkeley is Prof. Brown teaching economics with the Buddha, and others using Oski to help advance tissue engineering and wound healing.

 

California Golden Blogs (CGB)'s new series highlights the research and academic work being done at UC Berkeley. One of the things to love best about this place is its ability to succeed in the world of athletics and academics, so spending more time sharing the amazing work being done by UC academicians and athletes makes sense.

 

Budai (Hotei) and a wad of Asian bills

Coincidentally, the university just released a video on Twitter to promote this balance of success (see above). 

It features prominent Berkeley researchers -- including Jay Keasling, Homayoon Kazerooni, and Robert Reich -- whose work will be discussed later in the series.

 

Some stories that capture Berkeley's spirit include economics professor Clair Brown, who's looking to change the way the world views spending money and focus instead on reducing suffering and helping others. 

To accomplish this, she's helping spread the word and advocate for Buddhist economics. More

Buddhist Economics: oxymoron or idea whose time has come? Kathleen Maclay (Media Relations, 3-13-14) 

“How would Buddha teach Econ. 1?”

BERKELEY, California - UC Berkeley economist Prof. Clair Brown acknowledges that “Buddhist economics” may seem like an oxymoron.
 
Nevertheless, she’s teaching a sophomore seminar on the topic this semester -- the campus’s second such offering over the past year.
 

What's the future of money, Bits or Buddha?

Brown said she created the one-unit Buddhist Economics course after students in her Introductory Economics (Econ 1) class expressed frustration with the relentless Madison Avenue message that more is better, economic growth paves the path to a better life, and “retail therapy” is a quick trip to nirvana [ultimate bliss].

It's sustainable, it's all sustainable!

Nicholas Austin -- an economics major from Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, and a student this spring in Brown’s Buddhist Economics class -- said he was hungry for some fresh ideas about economics after seeing so many students in the field pursue finance careers and “moving money rather than creating a product that will help the world.” More

• Green summit marks growing culture of sustainability
• "Envisioning Human Rights" begins with student art
• Shane Bauer tackles the U.S. "Prison Problem" after Iran
• Berkeley’s David Collier wins Johan Skytte Prize in poli sci
• Berkeley discovery named one of year’s 10 key breakthrough technologies

"At Berkeley" (new film)

CC Liu, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Frederick Wiseman (zipporah.com); KPFK.org

"At Berkeley" is a documentary film by Frederick Wiseman about the University of California at Berkeley -- the oldest, most prestigious, and most radical member of California's ten-campus public university system.

Berkeley is one of the finest research and teaching facilities in the world, excelling most of the world's private institutions while rivaling Ivy League schools. This film shows the major aspects of university life with particular emphasis on the administrative efforts to maintain the academic excellence, public role, and the economic, racial, and social diversity of the student body of America’s premiere public university.

(Mandy Whittles) "Berkeley in the Sixties" documentary of the student movement in Berkeley in the 60's. Uploaded for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only.

 

Berkeley in the Sixties

All of this is taking place in the face of drastic budget cuts imposed by the State of California, big business (represented by its hand selected Board of Regents), and competing colleges. The goal of the film is to show how a major American university is administered and to suggest the complex relationship among its various constituencies -- students, faculty, administrators, alumni, the City of Berkeley, the State of California, and the federal government.

 

In a more abstract way, the film looks closely at Berkeley’s intellectual and social mission, its obligation to the state, and to larger ideas of "higher" education. It illustrates how decisions are made and implemented by the administration in collaboration with its various constituencies. Tickets

Rave review (The New Yorker)
Jordan Moore (Nov. 13, 2013)
Frederick Wiseman, one of our greatest and most prolific documentarians, always delves deeply into his subjects. And for his latest, "At Berkeley," that’s truer than ever. He found one of California’s great treasures, U.C. Berkeley, such a rich subject that it required a four-hour film. It is receiving some rave reviews, including one from astute film critic David Denby of The New Yorker. Laemmeles is proud to open the movie at the Music Hall, Beverly Hills.

 

REVIEW (Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist, indiewire.com) Over the years, veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman has covered what sometimes feels like almost [every] kind of institution and every aspect of life in America (and occasionally, life abroad too). "Titicut Follies," "Juvenile Court," "Zoo," "Racetrack... More