Ecological Economics Lecture Series
| Event Start Date: 25th August 2016 | Event End Date: 1st September 2016 | Event Venue: Bangalore |
Prof Mark Lindley Bangalore Lecture Tour: Aug 2016
Organised by the Ecologise Network and Graama Seva Sangha
The renowned American ecological economist, Gandhian thinker and author Prof. Mark Lindley will be delivering a series of lectures and public talks in Bangalore, from 25th to 31st August. An alumnus of Harvard and Columbia universities, Prof. Lindley is a polymath scholar who has taught at universities all over the world.
Of late, Prof. Lindley has been working on the findings of a landmark research project conducted by researchers at University of Zaragoza. The research assesses the long-term viability of non-renewable resources, especially the critical metals and minerals that support technologically advanced industrial production. The results of the research hold crucial implications for the sustainability of our hi-tech society, and warn of severe future disruptions that need to be avoided.
Another key aspect of Prof. Lindley’s work focuses on the concept of “Economic Man” premise in neoclassical economic theory. He argues that the premise has been disproved by research in psychology, which has shown that there is a lot more to human nature than the premise allows for, that quite a few of the most eminent 21st-century economists have acknowledged this fact, and yet that the lingering effect of the scientifically outmoded premise is aggravating the social and ecological crises we face today.
Prof. Lindley is also an expert on the history of Gandhian economic thought, and has authored a book on the life and work of the legendary economist J.C. Kumarappa, often called ‘Mahatma Gandhi’s economist’, and on Gora, the remarkable freedom fighter, philosopher and anti-caste social reformer who was also a close associate of Gandhi. Apart from his work in economics, Prof. Lindley has authored several scholarly writings on musicology, including books about Turkish and Western classical music.
LECTURE SERIES SCHEDULE
Date: 25th Aug, Thursday 4.00pm
Topic: “Exergy Cost” and some related concepts devised recently in Spain
Venue: Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Yeshwanthpur (closed event)
Date: 26th Aug, Friday 2.00pm to 3.30pm
Topic: The “Economic Man” Premise
Venue: Azim Premji University, PES Campus, Pixel Park, B Block, Electronics City, Hosur Road (Beside NICE Road)
Date: 28th Aug, Sunday 11.00 am
Topic: J.C. Kumarappa and Gandhian economics
Venue: Gandhi Bhavan (next to Chitrakala Parishat), Kumara Krupa Road
Date: 29th Aug, Monday 3.45pm
Topic: The “Economic Man” Premise
Venue: Auditorium, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur, Yelahanka
Date: 31st Aug, Wednesday 4.00pm
Topic: “Exergy Cost” and some related concepts devised recently in Spain
Venue: Lecture Hall, Faculty Block, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Yeshwanthpur
Date: 1st Sep, Thursday 1.30pm
Topic: Current Economic Crisis in the view of JC Kumarappa and Gandhian Economics
Venue: Christ University, Bannerghatta Campus
NOTE: All lectures are free of cost and open to the public (no registration required) except the first, on 25th Aug, at IISc, which is a closed event.
Contact:
Sajai Jose, Mob: 8147960489, (0)9061551483 Email: sajaijose.poi@gmail.com
Sharada Ganesh, Mob: 9844659141, Email: sharada.ganesh@gmail.com
About Mark Lindley
Mark Lindley was born in Washington DC in 1937 and studied at Harvard University (A.B.) and Columbia University (D.Phil.). He has taught widely (at Washington University, City University of New York, Columbia University, Oxford University, University of London, University of Regensburg, University of Zaragoza, Istanbul Technical University, Bogaziçi University (likewise in Istanbul), Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Kerala, University of Hyderabad, and the Gokhale Institute). He is the author or co-author of more than 15 books (including “J.C. Kumarappa: Mahatma Gandhi’s Economist”, Popular Prakashan, 2007) and more than 100 scholarly articles. One of his academic websites is https://independent.academia.edu/MarkLindley.
Lecture Details
Lecture 1: “Exergy Cost” and some related concepts devised recently in Spain
Abstract: Thermodynamically savvy researchers at the University of Zaragoza have recently been assessing quantitatively each kind of mineral commodity in terms of its “thermodynamic rarity”, which they define as the amount of exergy that would have to be spent in order to get from ordinary rock (i.e. not from ore) a desired amount of it, purified to the desired extent, using the best prevailing techniques. With this concept they can take into account, at once, both (a) the expenditures of consumable energy in the mining, beneficiation and purification processes and (b) the natural bonus of having access to concentrated mineral deposits (ores) in the first place. The lecture will explain the theory in more detail and will describe some current and potential applications of interest to industrial engineers and to economists.
Lecture 2: The “Economic Man” Premise
Abstract: The lecture will cite some representative brief formulations of the “Economic Man” premise, show that scientific psychologists publishing in the USA have now convinced some eminent mainstream economists that it is invalid, and argue that (a) to teach it has become, in recent decades, conducive to environmental and social trouble, and (b) Adam Smith did not subscribe to it. I will offer some thoughts as to how it might be improved upon, and describe some likely implications of such a change.