Magic, Inc. (think tank)

History

Magic grew out of David Schrom's dissatisfaction with his life and its "underpinnings," as he phrases it, as a senior at Yale University in 1968. After attending Yale Law School, he worked in a variety of jobs but remained "really disgusted" by the "immorality, dishonesty and pointlessness of what he was doing." In 1972, he and a group of friends who were "camping out in life - home was a backpack or a van or a gym lockers (sic)"{{Cite web

Structure

Permanent residents and interns, sometimes called Magicians, live on donations and income from programs such as teaching,{{Cite news

Ideology

Valuescience, the philosophy behind Magic, is defined by the group as "scientific methods and principles applied to questions of value."{{Cite web

The organization's website describes its mission as working "in a radical, integrated, scientific way to increase human satisfaction and reduce human suffering," since they regard dissatisfaction and suffering as rooted "in misinformation about value - about what people want, how to get it, and most importantly, how we can know these things."

Since 1979, Schrom and other Magic members have taught an evolving class on Valuescience at Stanford University.

Activism

Schrom and Magic have been involved in local and national ecological activism, both independently and in association with other groups. Thirty years ago, partly in gratitude to the university, Schrom started planting trees on Stanford's property in the Palo Alto foothills, and was eventually hired to manage it with volunteer labor.{{Cite web

Reception

Stanford has given Magic an award for public service; other awards the group has received include one from the International Oaks Society for work on the impact of climate change, one from the Journal of Arboriculture for urban forest planning, one for mediation and community development from the American Society of Landscape Architects, and one for swimming instruction from New Zealand Triathlete.{{Cite web

References

Bibliography

• {{Cite news

References

1. In one publication by members it appears as "Magic Box, Stanford."
2. Holbrook, p.15,19
3. Holbrook, p. 23.
4. Holbrook, pp. 24-25.
5. Holbrook, p. 20.
6. Fried gives an example of the community establishing consensus that one dependent per resident would be allowed, in response to requests from some members to bear children, and of subsequent research of options and discussions when a member conceived twins, who were then communally cared for.
7. Holbrook, p. 24.