This is the most important question anyone can ask "Is the world good for me?'
Little jellyfish do not ask themselves this - but little animals with a brain sure do. Because their life depends on it.
Humans ask this all the time - because they have to know how to behave.
They were not born knowing this - human babies only know how to drink and defecate. But they learn quickly. And one of the first things they learn is, how to get along in their world. And what place their world has for them.
This is not some place prepared for them, before their arrival. But someplace that has to be built, by them - and everything else. And everything else may not be eager to help them along.
When we judge other people (something we have to do) we can only observe their behavior right now. The many influences on their behavior, many of the going back to their early childhood, are not visible to us - even though they are present, in the present.
They have asked themselves "Is this world good for me?" And all too frequently, they have to answer "Probably not!"
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Hope Hicks resigns
Harper's Weekly Review
Hope Hicks, a 29-year-old former model who is among the highest-paid White House staffers, announced her resignation from her role as communications director a day after she stated, in a more-than-eight-hour testimony to a House committee investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, that she sometimes told "white lies" while working for Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, who reportedly made 2,436 false or misleading claims since he took office. "She is strategic, poised, and wise beyond her years," said chief of staff John Kelly of Hicks, who was once featured on the cover of a young-adult novel about wealthy children who time travel.
Hope Hicks, a 29-year-old former model who is among the highest-paid White House staffers, announced her resignation from her role as communications director a day after she stated, in a more-than-eight-hour testimony to a House committee investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, that she sometimes told "white lies" while working for Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, who reportedly made 2,436 false or misleading claims since he took office. "She is strategic, poised, and wise beyond her years," said chief of staff John Kelly of Hicks, who was once featured on the cover of a young-adult novel about wealthy children who time travel.
Ethical Awareness
This is something everyone agrees on - but few actually believe in. They know, with an absolute certainty - that their world is against it. They are supposed to say one thing - but do the opposite.
Everyone knows this is what their world is like - but they also know they are supposed to keep their mouths shut. So they do.
I was exposed to this strange behavior, back in the Nineties - in Silicon Valley. This morning (twenty years later) I discovered Tristan Harris.
Look him up.
Everyone knows this is what their world is like - but they also know they are supposed to keep their mouths shut. So they do.
I was exposed to this strange behavior, back in the Nineties - in Silicon Valley. This morning (twenty years later) I discovered Tristan Harris.
Look him up.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Not Interested in the Facts
This is one of the amazing developments of our time, people who are not interested in the facts of the situation - any situation. And they find this completely normal.
I was so amazed, when I started thinking about this - I didn't even know how to think about it. How do you think about nothing? Then I realized that not being was a way of being. And this not being included not being interested - as well as many other negative things.
Negative things are just as much things, as positive things.
That being said - why would people bother with such complicated, negative logic? I don't know, but that doesn't matter - they are this way, and they are going to stay this way. And the rest of us have to take this into account.
President Trump is an excellent example of this type. Many people try to understand him, but are constantly frustrated - because he says (and does) so many contradictory things. Once they realize he is nothing - and this, for him, is something. He makes sense.
And many other people make sense also. He was elected by the majority of Americans - who are also not interested in the facts.
I was so amazed, when I started thinking about this - I didn't even know how to think about it. How do you think about nothing? Then I realized that not being was a way of being. And this not being included not being interested - as well as many other negative things.
Negative things are just as much things, as positive things.
That being said - why would people bother with such complicated, negative logic? I don't know, but that doesn't matter - they are this way, and they are going to stay this way. And the rest of us have to take this into account.
President Trump is an excellent example of this type. Many people try to understand him, but are constantly frustrated - because he says (and does) so many contradictory things. Once they realize he is nothing - and this, for him, is something. He makes sense.
And many other people make sense also. He was elected by the majority of Americans - who are also not interested in the facts.
The Computer can Read Human Emotions
Gizmodo
At least that is what they claim. When evaluating these AI (Artificial Intelligence) claims, one has to be skeptical.
But even if it is an exaggeration, it is shocking! It gives some people more power - when they have too much already.
At least that is what they claim. When evaluating these AI (Artificial Intelligence) claims, one has to be skeptical.
But even if it is an exaggeration, it is shocking! It gives some people more power - when they have too much already.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Most People are Not Interested in What is Good
There has been a subtle, but important shift in what most people are interested in - what they think is possible, and desirable - and what they want to do themselves.
I am speaking of most people (and most companies) here - who do not think about what is going on, but are very good at keeping their feelings in tune with other people's feelings.
They are emotional conformists, who believe in groupthink - a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics (from Merriam-Webster).
And most of the input they get is from the social media, primarily Television - but also Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
I just read a long, serious article on WIRED magazine, about Facebook. That you really ought to read. It says Facebook is growing up, and becoming more ethical. Even at the expense of becoming less profitable. And it is doing this by tweaking its algorithms.
It still believes the Computer can understand people - better than people can! People have spent millions of years, fighting with other people - and one of the weapons they use is deceit. As a result, they have learned ways of detecting deceit - mainly by reading body language.
Computers are still limited to what people write, and cannot detect body language (although this may change in the future, when people get wired in). So much has been written about Artificial Intelligence, people assume the Computer has broader kinds of intelligence also.
I disagree, and I want to explain why I disagree.
I will not go into a long-winded philosophical discussion, but start with something more recent -Google's search engine. That was truly revolutionary, insightful - and profitable. Which most people did not bother to understand.
It was based on the Internet, which most people did not understand either. They only knew there was a lot of information there - and they wanted some way of getting at that information - and making money off of it.
Google's solution was simple - scan (look at) all the information on the Net. And rank all of it, based on how often other sites referred to it.
But to do this, it first needed to look at everything out there - a staggering amount of information. So it developed some clever hardware and software that could crawl the Web, and reduce it (index it) to something much simpler. That people (and companies) could use easily.
Google made its Search available (that cost it a lot of money) for free - and used it to place related advertisements (on the side) that made it lots of money. This was a standard Capitalistic tactic - invest money, to make even more money.
But most people had stopped thinking about The Good (something hard to understand) - and concentrated instead on something easy to understand - using the Computer to make money!
I am speaking of most people (and most companies) here - who do not think about what is going on, but are very good at keeping their feelings in tune with other people's feelings.
They are emotional conformists, who believe in groupthink - a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics (from Merriam-Webster).
And most of the input they get is from the social media, primarily Television - but also Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
I just read a long, serious article on WIRED magazine, about Facebook. That you really ought to read. It says Facebook is growing up, and becoming more ethical. Even at the expense of becoming less profitable. And it is doing this by tweaking its algorithms.
It still believes the Computer can understand people - better than people can! People have spent millions of years, fighting with other people - and one of the weapons they use is deceit. As a result, they have learned ways of detecting deceit - mainly by reading body language.
Computers are still limited to what people write, and cannot detect body language (although this may change in the future, when people get wired in). So much has been written about Artificial Intelligence, people assume the Computer has broader kinds of intelligence also.
I disagree, and I want to explain why I disagree.
I will not go into a long-winded philosophical discussion, but start with something more recent -Google's search engine. That was truly revolutionary, insightful - and profitable. Which most people did not bother to understand.
It was based on the Internet, which most people did not understand either. They only knew there was a lot of information there - and they wanted some way of getting at that information - and making money off of it.
Google's solution was simple - scan (look at) all the information on the Net. And rank all of it, based on how often other sites referred to it.
But to do this, it first needed to look at everything out there - a staggering amount of information. So it developed some clever hardware and software that could crawl the Web, and reduce it (index it) to something much simpler. That people (and companies) could use easily.
Google made its Search available (that cost it a lot of money) for free - and used it to place related advertisements (on the side) that made it lots of money. This was a standard Capitalistic tactic - invest money, to make even more money.
But most people had stopped thinking about The Good (something hard to understand) - and concentrated instead on something easy to understand - using the Computer to make money!
Sunday, March 4, 2018
The Body Repairs Itself, as Long as It is Alive
When it can no longer repair itself - it dies!
I am 80, and I am frequently reminded of this. My bicycle rides (such as the one I took this morning) take longer and longer.
Skills that do not take muscular stamina (such as those of a concert pianist) can last until 90, or so.
But we all know people who did last nearly as long as this - and died, for various reasons, while still a young person. People mourned their passing - but not for very long.
And this will be the same for us - we will quickly pass out of living memory. And will only be a photo in a picture album - that no one can remember.
I am 80, and I am frequently reminded of this. My bicycle rides (such as the one I took this morning) take longer and longer.
Skills that do not take muscular stamina (such as those of a concert pianist) can last until 90, or so.
But we all know people who did last nearly as long as this - and died, for various reasons, while still a young person. People mourned their passing - but not for very long.
And this will be the same for us - we will quickly pass out of living memory. And will only be a photo in a picture album - that no one can remember.
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