In this seminar-style course, we will discuss issues of the day, with a focus on imbalances and possible cures, including opportunities for personal involvement.

Nature is generally not bimodal. Most phenomena exist on a spectrum. The human mind, however, often seems to prefer ideas that are either/or. "You're with us or you're against us!" is a logical fallacy designed to separate people. We will discuss ways to bring people together in common cause.

We will consider the advantage of thinking about many issues as residing on a spectrum. The most important continuum, for our purposes, will be the one that runs from individualism to collectivism.

The book Freedom's Dominion (a recommended but not required reading) will provide examples of divergence along a spectrum of meaning. At one end “freedom” means the right of individuals to do whatever they choose, at the other end are ways to protect the rights of minorities and promote the common well being.

We will search for ways to describe human belief systems that more accurately describe their complexity than the traditional binary labels, such as liberal/conservative, pro/con, Black/White, left/right.

We will contrast the local indigenous culture, emphasizing common good, with the “Western” ideal of individual achievement.

The most recent Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded for research on prosperity gaps between countries created by European colonization. The spectrum here was from exploitation (short-term profit) to establishing more inclusive systems that benefited European migrants in the long run.

Spectrum topics may include the following; we will discuss where we (as a country or as a world) are on each scale, where would we like to be, and how do we change our culture if the two do not line up?

• the eternal tug-of-war between individual liberty and the common good
• growth in consumption (GDP) versus sustainability
• from poverty & hunger to extreme wealth & income
• governance: from globalism to anarchy
• taxation: how progressive? private philanthropy and intellectual property

Short readings will be assigned. One outcome in each class will be suggestions for involvement in organizations that are working to redress the imbalances we discuss.

Michael Forbes Wilcox has presented many OLLI courses over the past seven years, including sessions on autism, local history, and local indigenous culture. His career included a stint on Wall Street as a quantitative analyst as well as an expert witness on foreign exchange in US federal court, for the NASD, and in the Queen's Court in Canada. He has served on many advisory boards, including for the Shriver Center of UMass Medical, the Massachusetts Special Commission on Autism, and the Board of the Massachusetts Moderators Association. He has recently become a Certified Club Director of the American Contract Bridge League.

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