Atlas City Project

Jacque Fresco's Essays
& "The best that money can't buy"- this should be obvious to anyone slightly familiar with RBE. Not the best sources of information, but a good place to start.

George Orwell's "1984"- One of my favorite books, and a must read in my opinion. This is where "big brother is watching you" originated so take the time to get it from your local library or online for a few dollars.

Aldous Huxley's "A brave new world"- closer to the reality then "1984", nearly all social and physical aspects are controlled.

"Freakonomics" by Levitt & Dubner- it shows economics as the study of incentive and breaks it down into three categories (economic, social, moral). Very interesting alternatives to viewing past events and the causation. Basic rules:
1. Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life.
2. Conventional wisdom is often wrong
3. Dramatic effects often have distant causes.
4. Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world less so.

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Good for someone new to these topics to get a good idea of what it’s all about, and good for the veteran to keep up with new information. Also, check out:
RBE playlist - atlasinitiativegroup.org/forums/music-a-sound/1062-rbe-playlist.html
RBE movies (and other important flicks)- atlasinitiativegroup.org/forums/rbe-learning-and-rbe-concept-advancement/3100-rbe-movie-list.html#3100
RBE book list- atlasinitiativegroup.org/forums/rbe-learning-and-rbe-concept-advancement/3096-rbe-booklist-and-other-interesting-material.html#3096
RBE sites- atlasinitiativegroup.org/forums/rbe-learning-and-rbe-concept-advancement/3097-rbe-sites-and-informational-sites.html#3097

I really think that the following should be read:
P.S. I included links for people to download for free. I am not liable for any harm to your computer or you by you downloading the torrents. If you are worried, don't download OR you can switch to Linux.

Raymond Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near: The Singularity is an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.
http://bit.ly/gi6Vc

Thomas L. Friedman's The World Is Flat: This book goes into detail in regards to complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.
http://bit.ly/aHASFj
Note: I will be uploading this book as .ogg to be "listenable" on my site, so you won't have to download it.

Book "The Next Evolution" by Community Planet Foundation

www.communityplanet.org/the_next_evolution_book/pdf/The_Next_Evolution_excerpt.pdf

a book I will be bring to the atlas library in "Rare Paper Hardback" its a book about
The Very First Steps of making something out of nothing.

Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills

It’s 450 pages and is divided into six parts.

Part One Land: Buying It- Building on It includes:
Buying Country Property
Planning Your Home
Preparing the Site
Converting Trees Into Lumber
Building a Log Cabin
Building with Adobe
Building a Stone House
Raising a Barn
Developing a Water Supply
Saunas and Hot Tubs
Sanitation
Fireplace Construction and Design
Stone Walls and Brick Pavements
Fences

Part Two: Energy From Wood, Water, Wind and Sun includes:
Making Your House Energy Efficient
Wood as a fuel
Heating With Wood
Water Power
Wind Power
Solar Energy
Other Energy Sources

Part Three: Raising Your Own Vegetables, Fruit, And Livestock includes:
The Kitchen Garden
Gardening in Limited Space
Herb Gardens
Fruits and Nuts
Pest Control
Grains and Grasses
Beekeeping
Fish Farming
Raising Livestock

Part Four: Enjoying Your Harvest The Year Round includes:
Preserving Produce
Preserving Meat and Fish
Making Your Own Dairy Products
Maple Sugaring
Homemade Beverages
Baking Bread
Regional Cooking
Cooking With Wood

Part Five: Skills and Crafts for House and Homestead includes:
Natural Dyes
Spinning
Weaving
Hooked Rugs
Braided Rugs
Patchwork Quilting
Rope and Twine
Tanning and Leatherwork
Woodworking
Broom making
Scrimshaw
Household Recipes
Metalworking
Stenciling
Flower Drying and Pressed Flowers
Gourd Craft
Soap making
Candle making
Basketry

Part Six: Recreation at Home And in the Wild includes:
Old-time Good Times
Crafting a Mountain Dulcimer
Celebrating Holidays
Canoeing And Kayaking
Wilderness Camping
Outdoors in Winter
Fishing
Living With Nature

thecurriculumchoice.com/2010/04/back-to-basics-how-to-learn-and-enjoy-traditional-american-skills/

That looks like it would be extremely useful. It's going to take some time to get through though

It's asinine that I must retype this from my textbook, but I think it's worth it. It perfectly explains why money can lead to decrease in intrinsic (internal) motivation. Excerpt from "Theories of Human Learning" 5th edition by Guy R. Lefrancois when discussing Cognitive Dissonance.




"When individuals are intrinsically motivated," explain Eccles and Wigfield, "they engage in an activity because they are interested in and enjoy the activity. When extrinsically motivated, individuals engage in activities for instrumental or other reasons, such as receiving a reward" (2002, p.112).

External reqards, such as money, are very powerful motives- witness the lengths to which many people will go to get some. But, caution Deci and Flaste, "While money is motivating people, it is also undermining their intrinsic motivation..." (1995, p. 27). As counterintuitive as this may seem, some studies seem to indicate just that. For example, Lepper and Greene (1975) gave two groups of children some geometric puzzles to solve. One group was told that they would be rewarded by being allowed to play with some toys; the other group had no reason to expect any reward. Subsequently, both groups were allowed to play with the toys. And both were later observed to see whether they would be sufficiently interested in the puzzles on which they had worked to play with them spontaneously. Surprisingly...significantly more of those who had not expected a reward were motivated to play with the puzzles.

Lepper and Greene (1975) suggest that perhaps the most plausible explanation for this is a cognitive one. It's important for us to make sense of our behaviors, to understand why we do things. Typically, they explain, we resort to two types of explanations for our behaviors: intrinsic and extrinsic. In other words, we recognize that we do things for external rewards- such as money, or being allowed to play with a toy- or internal rewards- such as because we are interested in them, because we enjoy the activity and derive personal satisfaction from it. Or, we do things for both internal and external motives.

When external motives are large, obvious, and expected, we are most likely to use these motives to explain our behaviors, notes Lepper (1981). That is, we are then most likely to be extrinsically motivated. But when we expect no significant external reward, we have to explain and justify our behavior with more intrinsic motives. Thus, those who expect no external reward subsequently display more intrinsic motivation- more interest- in the activity.

Another great excerpt:

Dweck (1986) states, "children who are most likely to make internal attributions- that is, to take personal responsibility for their successes and failures, are also the children who are most likely to strive towards increasing their competence. Externally oriented children are less willing to accept challenges and less likely to strive to improve their competence."