Dissertation

### ***This is a closed course that can only be booked and attended as a whole.*** ***So it’s best to join one of the other sMove! trainings beforehand – either on Thursdays in the park or online on Saturdays: [www.baerbelsinger.de/smove ](www.baerbelsinger.de/smove)*** \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ### Sensing and Expanding 🌿 sMove! invites you to expand your sensations and ways of expression through the body. The movements are simple and playful – yet they go deep: by moving with awareness, you discover qualities within yourself that are often covered by habit or tension. ### The Body as a Container 🌀 The body is more than muscles and bones – it is a container of memories, energy, and possibilities. In sMove! training, we explore this potential through rhythm, new movements, and focused attention. Each movement becomes an opportunity to sense more clearly, to shift old patterns, and to unfold new qualities – vitality, calm, presence, joy. ### Clarity through Intention 🎯 What makes sMove! special is not performance or perfection, but the direct experience of your body paired with intention, precision, and letting go. When you allow your body to guide you, space opens: your mind becomes quieter, energy can flow, aliveness grows. sMove! strengthens you inside and out – with more flexibility, strength, and ease. ### Experiencing Community 🤝 In the group, connection arises. Everyone moves in their own way – and yet we resonate with the shared rhythm. This collective presence builds trust in your own strength, encourages curiosity, and makes it easier to try something new. ### Who is sMove! for? 🌍 sMove! is open to everyone – previous experience is recommended (feel free to ask). 15 sessions * **November 2025**: 11., 18. * **Dezember 2025**: 9., 16. * **Januar 2026**: 20., 27. * **Februar 2026**: 3., 10., 17., 24. * **März 2026**: 24., 31. * **April 2026**: 7., 14., 28. 💶 Fee Early Bird: 280€ Full package: **320 €**

Dear Community, Another month with two great talks in the agenda. This time we are meeting at our home **NLND Berlin**, with one talk covering AWS AgentCore while the second one about Redshift Data sharing. =================================================== 18:30 - Warming up and networking chat 18:45 - Intro by AWS UG Berlin & NLND 19:00 - 19:40 - **Gamei Chin & Milad Rezaeighale // The Diabetes Sweet Spot: Using AWS AgentCore to Empower Data-driven Lifestyle Decisions** This session is about building production-ready agentic workflows with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore—from running agents securely at scale on a managed Runtime, to exposing and orchestrating tools via AgentCore Gateway (including MCP-based tooling), adding different types of memory for context and personalization, and enforcing security and governance with Identity and Policy for controlled tool access. It ends with a live demo of a practical use case: an agentic app for glucose monitoring, showing the end-to-end workflow and monitoring in action. 19:40 - 20:00 - Networking break with food, snacks and drinks 20:00 - 20:40 - **Jirka Hubacek // Breaking Down Monolithic Redshift Using Data Shares** As data platforms scale, managing competing workloads in Amazon Redshift becomes increasingly challenging. Traditional WLM (Workload Management) often isn’t enough to effectively prioritize traffic — you end up facing a classic “chicken and egg” problem: should ETL pipelines or client-facing queries get priority? With the introduction of Redshift Data Sharing, there’s now a more flexible approach — you can create multiple Redshift instances that consume data from a shared source, isolating workloads without duplicating storage. 20:40 - 20:45 - Closing & Final Remarks =================================================== **Very Important: There is no "waitlist" for our regular sessions.** However, there are limited seats available. If you want to make sure you can attend: Register yourself with your "full name" here at meetup.com Arrive on time - seats are first come, first serve. As soon as there are seats available, you are welcome to join with your registration. In case there are no more seats available, we won't be able to let you join us this time.We thank you very much for your understanding! ================================== Additional Information **This event is wheelchair friendly.** Help us spread the word, and invite your friends & colleagues! If you're attending with wheelchair and need assistance, please mail us: organisers@berlinawsug.de for further details. Would you like to host AWS UG Berlin events at your company? [Register here](https://bit.ly/aws-host) Would you like to speak at AWS UG Berlin sessions? [Submit your talk here](https://bit.ly/aws-talk)

* *For English, please see below* Der Philosophische Stammtisch ist für alle, die gerne über das Leben philosophieren wollen ohne dabei zu verbissen den Fragen auf den Grund zu gehen. Wir wollen gemeinsam zu neuen Einsichten kommen und einen Raum schaffen für Menschen, die sich auf tieferer Ebene austauschen wollen. Die Fragen können von tiefen metaphysischen Fragen bis zu praktischen Lebensfragen reichen. Diese Veranstaltung soll gerade auch die ansprechen, die sich über solche Fragen Gedanken machen und sich austauschen wollen. Das hier ist kein politischer Diskurs. **Das Thema für diesen Abend** Wird bald bekannt gegeben. **For our English speaking members** We will have one table where the discussion is in English and you are welcome to join :) **Topic** Will be soon announced.

Hi guys! I want to meetup more often and start a monthly thing. Would you guys be interested in something like that? Next meetup Tuesday, April 14th 2026 at Goldberg in Neukölln <3

In diesem Kurs beschäftigen wir uns mit verschiedenen Texten aus unterschiedlichen Bereichen. Das können u.a. kurze Geschichten, Gedichte, Zeitungsartikel, Kolumnen oder Videos sein. Immer sind es Themen, die uns gefallen, die wir besonders interessant, wichtig oder manchmal auch richtig schlecht finden. Gemeinsam versuchen wir die Position der Autor*in, den Stil und die Argumentationsstruktur zu verstehen. Dazu diskutieren wir über das, was wir verstehen, welche Meinung wir zu dem Thema haben oder welche Fragen offen bleiben.
Gerne könnt ihr uns auch Themenvorschläge mitbringen oder zuschicken.
Der Kurs richtet sich an interessierte Menschen mit einem B2-Niveau (oder so ähnlich), die Lust haben sich weiter mit der deutschen Sprache zu beschäftigen und ihren Wortschatz zu erweitern.
Die Termine sind sporadisch.

Französisch sprechen und anwenden mal anders! Wir entdecken die französisch Sprache und Kultur mit den Augen französischer Literaten. Ideal für frankophile Leute mit Hang zur beaux-arts. Texten sind vorhanden

AI is changing the way we build software. Agentic Software Engineering takes this a step further. Rather than using AI only for isolated tasks, teams work with specialized AI agents that take on concrete responsibilities across the software lifecycle, from planning and coding to testing and documentation. These agents operate in clearly defined roles and are coordinated through structured workflows. Developers set the goals and guardrails, guide how the agents are used, and review the outcomes. The result is a new kind of collaboration between humans and machines, with a stronger focus on quality, speed, and scalability. The first Agentic Software Engineering Night Berlin will take place on **April 14, 2026**. Join us for two talks by **Torben Keller** and **Johannes Rave**, plus plenty of time for discussion and networking. **Agenda:** 18:30 Open Doors 19:00 **From Vibe Coder to Code Owner** – Torben Keller An AI agent can generate thousands of lines of code in a few minutes. That's powerful – and overwhelming. You can't read and fully understand every line anymore when you want to take advantage of agents. But if you're shipping to production, you own that code. So, how do you take responsibility for something you didn't write and can't fully review? This isn't a new problem. Developers working on brownfield projects face it every day. You join a team and inherit a codebase with hundreds of thousands of lines written by people who left years ago. You don't know every line – yet you ship features, fix bugs, and take ownership. But how? The same principles apply to AI-generated code. What we've learned from decades of working with legacy systems and inherited codebases translates directly to the age of vibe coding. In this talk, you'll learn: * What brownfield development teaches us about owning code we didn't write * How to build an "Agent Harness" that integrates these practices into your AI workflow, ensuring agents follow your rules and standards **About Torben:** *Torben is a consultant at INNOQ, where he focuses on how software teams can work effectively with AI agents. His main area of expertise is the shift from traditional coding to Agentic Software Engineering, in which developers orchestrate multiple AI agents to carry out autonomous tasks across the development process. He also teaches INNOQ’s three-day [Agentic Software Engineering training](https://www.innoq.com/en/topics/agentic-software-engineering-training/) and regularly speaks at conferences and meetups, where he shares practical insights and proven strategies for introducing agentic development approaches.* 19:45 Break 20:00 – **No Constrain, No Gain: Structure for the Agent, Clarity for the Human, Flexibility for the Business** – Johannes Rave AI coding agents are remarkably good at producing code. Whether that code reflects what the business actually needs — and whether it still makes sense to work with six months later — is a rather different question. The temptation is to treat this as a prompting problem — give the agent more context, better instructions, clearer goals. An overlooked lever is paying attention to architecture. When domain logic has its own clearly bounded home, separated from the technical plumbing around it, something interesting happens: the agent stays focused, the human can actually review what matters, and the whole thing remains open to change without requiring a rewrite. This talk shares one approach to getting there — and how some well-placed constraints might set you free. **About Johannes:** *Johannes Rave is a Senior Consultant at INNOQ. He develops LLM-first applications and high-performance web services. He connects design and usability with scalable architecture and operations. Before tech: industrial design, automotive modeling, and running a nightclub.* 20:45 Open End

**⚠️ IMPORTANT: REGISTRATION MANDATORY ⚠️** Registration on **Luma** is **REQUIRED** to attend this event. **Link: [https://luma.com/nklicoct](https://luma.com/nklicoct)** Your registration is subject to host approval. You must complete the registration process on lu.ma to receive the full event location details and confirmation of your attendance. **Please note: Without approved registration on Luma, you will NOT be able to access the event location or attend.** We are excited to invite you to an interactive workshop hosted by LISS x Semrush and led by **Saeid Nobakht, Lead AI Engineer at Semrush**, focused on bringing agentic AI into production. The session will last around 2 hours, followed by a networking session with Semrush and fellow AI enthusiasts (and free pizza 🍴😋🍕!). Bring your laptop! And please arrive a bit early to get settled :) **Schedule** * 17:45 - Doors Open * 18:00 - Start of Workshop * 20:00 - Networking + Catering **Abstract** Building reliable agentic systems requires more than evaluating individual LLM outputs — it demands a systems-level approach to testing, observability, and operations. This session covers how to design evaluation frameworks for multi-step, tool-using agents; how to instrument and trace agent decisions for debugging and audit; and how to recognize and respond to common production failure modes. **Who is this for?** This workshop is open to everyone curious about building with agentic AI. Technical background and Python knowledge recommended. **⚡ FINAL REMINDER ⚡** **You MUST register and be approved on Luma to attend. The event location will only be visible after your registration is confirmed by the host. Link: [https://luma.com/nklicoct](https://luma.com/nklicoct)** *** About BLISS: Berlin's AI community connecting like-minded individuals passionate about machine learning and data science. BLISS Workshops connect students and young professionals with industry partners. Website: [https://bliss.berlin](https://bliss.berlin) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bliss.ev.berlin

**Labor: Past, Present, and Future – Work, Power, and Purpose** Labor is a defining force of human life. It shapes how we survive, how societies are organized, and how power and resources are distributed. Work can provide stability, dignity, and meaning—but it can also lead to inequality, exploitation, and exhaustion. More than just an individual experience, labor is a collective reality that reflects the structure of our world. At its foundation, labor is tied to survival. Like all living beings, humans must expend energy to sustain life. Our bodies and minds are wired for effort, cooperation, and problem-solving. Yet human labor goes far beyond biology—it is structured by economic systems, cultural values, and political decisions that determine who works, how, and for whose benefit. Across history, labor has continuously evolved—and so have the struggles surrounding it. Workers have organized to demand rights, protections, and fair wages, giving rise to unions, movements, and political parties. In many countries, labor movements shaped modern democracy, from the Social Democratic Party of Germany in Germany to the Labour Party in the UK, alongside similar movements across Europe and beyond. These efforts are remembered and celebrated globally on Labor Day. Labor is not only a human phenomenon. In the natural world, cooperation, division of roles, and collective effort are essential for survival—from insect colonies to social mammals. These systems offer a broader perspective on work as something deeply rooted in life itself, while also highlighting what makes human labor unique: its complexity, inequality, and capacity for change. In today’s world, labor is undergoing rapid transformation. Automation, digital platforms, and globalization are reshaping traditional employment. Stable careers are giving way to flexible—and sometimes precarious—forms of work. At the same time, the psychological experience of labor is becoming more visible: questions of burnout, motivation, identity, and purpose are central to how people relate to their work. Looking ahead, the future of labor may challenge long-held assumptions. Artificial intelligence and robotics could significantly reduce the need for human labor in many sectors, while increasing demand in others. This raises fundamental questions: What is the role of work in human life? How should wealth be distributed? And how do we define purpose in a world where labor is no longer central to survival? We will explore how labor has evolved through history—from early forms of work to modern economies—and how worker movements and political forces like the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Labour Party shaped rights and social change. We’ll also reflect on labor as a biological, psychological, and social experience—how effort, motivation, and cooperation shape both humans and the natural world—and how work today is being transformed by technology, from gig economies to automation. Finally, we’ll look ahead to the future of labor, asking what happens if work changes fundamentally, and how we might rethink purpose, fairness, and the role of labor in our lives. Join us for a critical and engaging discussion on labor—not only as work, but as a force that shapes society, identity, and the future. Together, we’ll reflect on how labor defines our lives today and how it might be reimagined tomorrow. *** 📅 Event Details 🗓️ Date: Saturday, 18 April 2026 ⏰ Time: 14:30 📍 Location: Hardenbergstraße 10, 10623 Berlin 📱 WhatsApp: For prep materials and directions (Group Chat) [Group Chat](https://chat.whatsapp.com/Ba8ZAaH2Yuk6FGmD3LLO7H)

Estuarine Mapping ist ein mächtiges Werkzeug aus dem Cynefin-Ökosystem, um strategische Entscheidungen in komplexen Umfeldern zu navigieren – aber wie sieht das konkret aus, wenn man es zum ersten Mal in einer Organisation einsetzt? Wir haben Estuarine Mapping selbst durchgeführt und dabei wertvolle Einblicke gewonnen: Was hat gut funktioniert? Wo sind wir an unsere Grenzen gestoßen? Und welche Fragen haben sich erst im Prozess aufgetan? Beim diesem Meetup teilen wir unsere Erfahrungen aus der Praxis – ungeschönt und ehrlich. Kein perfekter Case Study, sondern ein offener ACHTUNG: Anmeldung über das [Meetup der CyCoBe](https://www.meetup.com/cynefin-community-berlin/events/313817652/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share-btn_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link&utm_version=v2&member_id=206720451) Austausch über das, was wir gelernt haben und was uns noch beschäftigt. Was dich erwartet: * Ein kurzer Einblick in unsere Estuarine-Mapping-Session und den Kontext * Konkrete Learnings und Herausforderungen, die wir mitgenommen haben * Offene Diskussion: Wie geht ihr mit ähnlichen Situationen um? * Raum für Fragen, Ideen und gemeinsames Weiterdenken Ob du Estuarine Mapping bereits kennst oder erst neugierig geworden bist – komm vorbei. Wir freuen uns auf den Austausch mit Menschen, die sich für Complexity Thinking, Cynefin und strategisches Navigieren in unklaren Situationen interessieren.

Der politische Diskurs ist für alle diejenigen, die politische und gesellschaftliche Themen verfolgen und sich gerne darüber austauschen wollen. Wir alle wissen, dass der Vorteil einer Demokratie gegenüber autoritären Systemen darin besteht, dass Meinungen geäußert und Kritik geübt werden kann - so let's do this! Jedesmal steht ein neues, eher generelles Thema im Zentrum, über das wir uns respektvoll austauschen wollen. Das Thema unseres kommenden Abends ist die Frage: **Landtagswahl Berlin '26** Aktuelle Wahlprognosen und daraus folgende, mögliche Koalitionszusammensetzungen gibt es [bei dawum](https://dawum.de/Berlin/#Koalitionen) . Zudem wollen wir vorläufige Wahlprogramme diskutieren, soweit diese vorliegen. Interessante Informationsquellen für: [Nationale_Politik](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/podcast-106.html), [News_aus_Wirtschaft](https://open.spotify.com/show/0MqROiCw2Vl0aVqxWdPjRC?si=dioN4162TqytZm210rXpYw), [Internationale_Nachrichten](https://ground.news/) **WhatsApp Gruppenchat**: Regt dich ein Politiker / eine Argumentationslinie auf? Hast du einen Podcast gehört, den du unbedingt teilen und mit anderen besprechen willst? Möchtest du aktiv bei der Themenwahl unserer Diskussionsabende teilnehmen? Es gibt eine Whatsappgruppe. Sprich mich gerne auf einem Event an, dann füge ich dich hinzu. Wir freuen uns auf deine Ansichten! Foto: Ergebnisse Wiederholungswahl 2023. (Mehrheiten nach Zweitstimme)

Estuarine Mapping ist ein mächtiges Werkzeug aus dem Cynefin-Ökosystem, um strategische Entscheidungen in komplexen Umfeldern zu navigieren – aber wie sieht das konkret aus, wenn man es zum ersten Mal in einer Organisation einsetzt? Wir haben Estuarine Mapping selbst durchgeführt und dabei wertvolle Einblicke gewonnen: Was hat gut funktioniert? Wo sind wir an unsere Grenzen gestoßen? Und welche Fragen haben sich erst im Prozess aufgetan? Beim diesem Meetup teilen wir unsere Erfahrungen aus der Praxis – ungeschönt und ehrlich. Kein perfekter Case Study, sondern ein offener Austausch über das, was wir gelernt haben und was uns noch beschäftigt. Was dich erwartet: * Ein kurzer Einblick in unsere Estuarine-Mapping-Session und den Kontext * Konkrete Learnings und Herausforderungen, die wir mitgenommen haben * Offene Diskussion: Wie geht ihr mit ähnlichen Situationen um? * Raum für Fragen, Ideen und gemeinsames Weiterdenken Ob du Estuarine Mapping bereits kennst oder erst neugierig geworden bist – komm vorbei. Wir freuen uns auf den Austausch mit Menschen, die sich für Complexity Thinking, Cynefin und strategisches Navigieren in unklaren Situationen interessieren.

This time we will be discussing Blood & Sinners by Ryan Coogler Film info: https://m.imdb.com/de/title/tt31193180/ Don't forget to watch the film before joining the meetup :)

​Artificial intelligence is evolving at an extraordinary pace and is already reshaping how we work, learn, create, and make decisions. Some see AI as a powerful tool that will enhance human potential and solve global problems. Others warn about risks: bias, automation, loss of control, and long-term societal impact. ​In this meeting, we will explore AI from both perspectives — techno-optimism and techno-pessimism. What can AI actually do today? How does it work under the hood? Where are its real strengths, and where are its limitations? And how should we think about its future development? ​We invite both professionals and non-professionals to join the discussion. Whether you work with AI, study it, are simply curious about it, or approach it from philosophy, psychology, sociology, or everyday experience — your perspective is welcome. ## **​Preparation & Suggested Materials** ​To help you prepare, we’ve put together a curated reading list that includes books, research papers, articles, interviews, and practical guides. The world of AI moves fast, so alongside well-known books you will also find recent articles and research projects. ​You don’t need to read everything. Choosing one book, article, or even a short explainer is enough to take part in the discussion. You’re also welcome to bring your own material, as long as it relates to artificial intelligence and its societal impact. ​The full list of suggested readings (with links) is available here: ​[https://docs.google.com/document/d/17PoZmqzxQ5EJsET292lTI193ms_MZNvgv5XAnbVmRBY/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hu_dLOgnzvrfgE3CZQVBz6CqyPIgAMWxYE24o4yx3fQ/edit?usp=sharing&utm_source=luma) ***​Popular-Science Books*** ​Accessible but substantial books that explain how AI works and how it affects society. For example: * ​*Co-Intelligence* by Ethan Mollick * ​*Hello World* by Hannah Fry * ​*Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans* by Melanie Mitchell * ​*Homo Deus* by Yuval Noah Harari ​***Scientific & Popular Articles*** ​Shorter texts for those with limited preparation time. These include: * ​A brief history of AI (Haenlein & Kaplan) * ​“On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots” (Bender et al.) * ​Stephen Wolfram’s explainer on how ChatGPT works * ​Andrew Ng’s “AI is the New Electricity” ​***Real-World Applications & Practical Guides*** ​Materials for those interested in applied AI: * ​KDnuggets blog (case studies and practical use) * ​*Deep Learning Illustrated* * ​Google’s Prompt Engineering Guide ***​Research Projects*** ​For a forward-looking perspective: * ​Epoch AI * ​AI 2027 scenario ## **Important Information** ​​We aim to create a safe, inclusive space for sharing ideas and learning from different perspectives. Respectful dialogue is encouraged, and participants are asked to follow our **[Code of Conduct](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zhC3yhSvmAoO4wx5TlEmW-oyxs5FhCXN7MD0f0I_SAc/edit?tab=t.0&utm_source=luma)**. * ​​**Age 16+** * ​​The discussion will be held **in English.** * ​​**Registration is required** to attend the event. * ​​Participation is free. Donations are optional and help support our meetings.

AI is changing how art is made. But when does it stop being your work and start being the machine’s? This month we're going to be doing a panel with with digital image, music, and written word artists, talking about at what point, while using AI in the creation process, does the work become not the artist creation? We encourage audience participation during this event that will be moderated by Chris Slee. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.transformlabs.com/services) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/55umjqta)

This is a relaxed, community-driven Unity GameDev meetup. There’s no strict agenda this time — just developers getting together to talk shop, share projects, and exchange ideas. **Some topics that may come up (based on attendee interest):** • Frame Debugger & performance tooling • Addressables & additive scene workflows • Input System, localization, responsive UI • AI integration approaches • DevOps & LiveOps experiences • Full lifecycle: idea → cross-platform publishing • Favorite Asset Store tools and hidden gems • Weird Unity quirks we’ve all run into *Nothing is locked in.* Bring a project if you’d like. Bring a question. Bring a lesson learned. Or just come hang out and meet other developers. All skill levels welcome!

Let’s meet and share our thoughts about Carson McCullers’ novella, The Ballad of The Sad Café.

Let’s meet, wander the exhibits and open galleries, and enjoy an evening out in the Franklinton Arts District. (Nearby pay parking is available in the garage on McDowell, right around the corner from One Line Coffee, and, past it along the curb as McDowell dead ends.)

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** GitHub Copilot is powerful, but what if you could scale from a solo AI assistant to an entire team of specialized agents working in parallel? This session introduces Squad: an open-source framework for multi-agent orchestration that lets you define teams of AI agents with specific roles, responsibilities, and expertise. We'll progress from Copilot basics to the Copilot CLI, explore how Agents add autonomy, and see how Instructions and Skills let you customize agent behavior. Then, the climax: a live demo where a Squad team of 3 agents (Lead, Developer, Tester) stands up and builds a working application in real-time, showcasing true multi-agent collaboration. Whether you're new to AI or exploring how to scale your use of Copilot, this session will show you what's possible when agents work as a team. **YouTube Link** TBD

In *City Lights*, Chaplin's Little Tramp meets a blind girl selling flowers who mistakes him for a wealthy man. When he learns that an operation may restore her sight, he sets off to earn the money she needs to have the surgery. He also befriends an alcoholic millionaire who only recognizes him when he is drunk. When the blind girl and her grandmother fall behind in the rent and face eviction, he tries working and even enters a boxing competition to raise the money they need. Regarded as Chaplin's masterpiece, *City Lights* has been ranked on more than seventeen "100 greatest movies of all time" lists. Orson Welles cited it as his favorite picture. *City Lights* is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBOMax, Tubi and PlutoTV. The Columbus Library lists three copies on blu-ray and eight copies on DVD. Watch the movie on your own, then join us upstairs at East Market to discuss the film.

This month's prompt concerns the idea of the “warrior philosopher” (seemed appropriate in these times)--that is someone whose understanding of violence, power, and justice is forged through direct experience of war. We are looking at Major General Smedley D. Butler, a highly decorated U.S. Marine raised in a Quaker (pacifist) tradition who later became a prominent critic of American militarism (there is a wonderful biography of Gen. Butler called "Gangsters of Capitalism") Butler's argument in *War Is a Racket* (1935): that many U.S. interventions were driven less by national defense than by corporate and financial interests, with Butler portraying himself as an enforcer for business and Wall Street. We can consider the moral ambiguity of his insider critique—whether complicity strengthens or undermines credibility and also consider some of the concrete reforms he proposed (e.g., “conscript” capital before soldiers, restrict the military to coastal defense, and have only those who fight decide on war). Butler’s life arc clearly changed from pacifist upbringing to warrior to antiwar crusader—and asks whether true understanding of peace requires firsthand knowledge of war, and what that implies about the cost of suffering. So do we need to suffer to understand suffering? Do we have to experience war to appreciate peace? As one more question: in the movie "A Few Good Men" Jack Nicholson's character says that "you have the luxury of not knowing what I know" so do most of us go through life oblivious to real violence and suffering? See you at Drunken Philosophy!