We Assumed our Future would be Wonderful

The we I am referring to was Beth and I, in 1965, when we got married, in Jew York City. We weren't alone - most Americans back then felt the same way - we had a brilliant future ahead of us.

What went wrong?

We had no idea what was really going on - and these hidden forces did us in.

I saw this most clearly in Beth's emotional problems - but my own were not much better. After all, I married her, and I never left her - she ended up leaving me, instead.

The hidden forces I referred to, were from both of our families. Both of whom were considered wonderful.

When we called the local church, told them who are families were (they belonged to the same small church), and told them we wanted to get married - they agreed immediately, and said they would arrange a wedding ceremony, right after the preaching service the next Sunday morning. Then they took us out for lunch, took up a collection, and gave us $45!

If they could have seen what happened in the next five years! But maybe it is just as well they couldn't see what happened. We had our problems, but America had even bigger problems. And the combination killed Beth (she committed suicide).

I survived, but had to leave America to do this.

America is a Good Place to Shop

The shopping malls in the US, are one of the wonders of the world - and have been imitated everywhere!

This is one disadvantage to living in Costa Rica. To take advantage of the online shopping on Amazon (which is excellent!) - I have to have my packages delivered to Miami, I can't have them delivered to Costa Rica directly. Evidently, this violates some international treaty.

I can shop at - a Walmart store, or a McDonalds, or a Subway, or a Pizza Hut, or a Taco Bell - and I do this, once every week, at the nearest large town of Cartago.

These are American companies who have adapted their marketing skills to Latin American cultures - an amazing feat!

Hopeful, Hopeless, Bad

I have lived through some amazing times. And the most amazing thing about them - was that the people in them, never noticed this!

Perhaps they had been exposed to the shock of the new too many times - and they had gone into shock themselves. They had gone from being hopeful - to being hopeless. They had one more step to go - to being bad, or self-destructive.

I will now put these steps, for America, into a timetable:

Hopeful

This was America in the early 19th Century - home to millions of immigrants, who were making a new life for themselves. This overlooks the blacks, and the native peoples - who did not do so well.

Hopeless

This was America later in the same Century - after a Civil War, and then into the 20th Century, with WWI, the Depression, and WWII. A large Middle Class had been formed, however - who were not doing too bad.

Bad

I would date this to the Seventies - when Americans realized their situation was hopeless - and in response, became bad.

The Domain

I am reading Domain Modelling with the F# Type System - where the author clearly intends domain to refer to Business - the royal domain of our time.

By contrast, I hate Business, with a passion. And believe we must place ourselves in a human domain - and base our allegiances on that.

No one will disagree with me, in principle - this is a basic humanitarianism. But in practice, in business practice, that is - they will act differently - and put the needs of Business before that of People.

Functional Programming (that includes F#) makes putting people first easy - compared to the dominant programming paradigm - Object-Oriented Programming.

Have I stumbled unto something important here?

Mormonism was part of the Second Great Awakening

There is nothing controversial about this, to historians. But most Mormons reject it entirely. Their religion came directly from God - not from History. And this, they know, is what made it so successful, back in the beginning of the 19th Century.

Back then, Industrialization was changing the world, and the people affected by this, needed a way to cope with it. One way was through religious revival, also imported from England with the First Great Awakening. But the Second Awakening was an American event. And the Smith family, in upper New York State, were caught up in it.

Except for one son, Joseph Smith, who founded a church of his own - a surprising development, caused by his publication of the Book of Mormon. When people in England  read this - they concluded that he was a Prophet of God - exactly what they were looking for! A role that Joseph himself, quickly became comfortable with.

What I am saying here, has been said by many historians of American History. And even some of the Mormon historians, based in Utah.

But my family were Missouri Mormons (the RLDS, no the LDS) - a much smaller church, that did not accept this historical approach.

How does Business affect People?

This question, it seems to me, should be an important component in everyone's thinking. But what I see instead, is a careful avoidance of the problem. 

The reason for this is easy to see - Business has most of the money, and can call the shots as it pleases. People need jobs, and Business has most of the jobs. In other words, Business is in control of nearly everything - and it knows it. 

This problem originated relatively recently - at the end of the 18th Century, when the Industrial Revolution changed who we were. People after that time, were not the same as they were before it. But they did not know this - and did not want to know this. 

The reason for this, I believe - is our religious nature. We want to be part of an overall structure - such as that defined by medieval Christianity. This overall structure (after some terrible religious wars) became the Industrial world, dominated by Business. 

Business became our new religion. An embarrassing development, we do not want to admit to. 

Property Rights in Nicaragua

I did some traveling in Nicaragua soon after I starting living in Costa Rica. I did a lot of traveling, trying to find a place I wanted to live in permanently.

It didn't take me long to discover that Nicaragua was not one of those places. Anytime anyone developed a new kind of business - someone else grabbed it from them, sometimes killing them in the process. This was especially true in the Caribbean lowlands, where conditions were unbelievably bad.

I met a man there who had worked in the States, and learned the cable TV business. He returned to Nicaragua and built his own network, perfectly legally. As soon as he got it working, and making some money from it - other people took it from him, illegally - but there was nothing he could do about this.

Property

Property is Theft - and it certainly was that for the people like my parents. Everyone was concentrating on getting more, and keeping what they got. With no thought of how this was working for everyone.

This was one result of Industrialization, or Free Enterprise - the belief that individual greed, operating in a Open Market, would produce collective wealth. Even though anyone could see this wealth was being unevenly distributed.

As a practical matter, back in the Fifties - this meant a new home in the suburbs, with a new cars in the garage. And one more thing - no one should think about what was going on - but just let it happen. This ignorance was a vital part of the system.

For our parents, this worked like magic - home prices rose and rose, and they got richer and richer. And more arrogant. This arrogance was noticed by some of their children (such as my wife and I) and we decided to stay out of the rat race.

We weren't the only ones, who tried to get out in the Sixties (that actually lasted from the late Sixties through the Seventies) there were a lot of hippies (I even did some time in a Mexican jail, for being one).

At the same time (during the Seventies) the economy was imploding. But Americans - who had been well-trained to notice nothing - didn't notice this.

They were rescued by the Computer - without their noticing this either. I switched from being an Electronic Engineer to a Tech Writer. And I watched with amazement as company after company went belly-up.

A new economy was being built out of the ruins of the old. And Google seems to be showing the way - for the tiny minority, who can understand what they are doing.

Property, in this landscape, is acquiring new meanings - that we cannot yet imagine.

MIghtyText

I decided I wanted to do messaging on my Laptop - as well as my Phone. And there was a way of doing this - for free! And it was called MightyText.

This one of the amazing things, that are revolutionizing how we and our computers interact. It is part of a movement (social and technical) that is surfing us on an invisible surfboard - and we cannot help but get our feet wet. 

Is using it easy? Not really. You have to install it on your Phone, and on your Laptop. And then link it all together, with special software that lives in a cloud somewhere. I don't know how this works - but, strangely enough - it works! 

And one more thing - once you get it - you are not exactly sure what you got. And this is true for much of the stuff out there.

Nothing is certain anymore, baby - and we have to get used to that.

When Things go Completely Wrong

Our basic instincts tell us that it is impossible for everything to go wrong. But of we listen to our inner voices, in our present situation - they are telling us something like that. Something is really wrong!

And we don't feel any better, when we hear hysterical voices assuring us that "Everything is all right!" Right then, we know something is wrong - and an important something, at that.

And we will resist the demand that we explain exactly what it is that is wrong. For the simplest of reasons - this implies that we must understand completely what is going on - which is impossible!

We can understand a lot, and we should understand a lot. But we should also understand, that complete understanding - is impossible!

I am not saying there is something that knows everything (God, perhaps) - and we can rely on that.

I am saying that human understanding relies on Language, and it cannot understand everything. This is an ancient observation, often reiterated by the poets - that we need to learn again.

Especially when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being hyped to the high skies. The Computer, we are told knows everything.

Anyone, with the slightest understanding of computers - knows this not true, in the least. The Computer is stupid, and only clever programming makes it seem smart.

The Computer is another Trojan Horse. There is nothing wrong with the Horse - but hidden inside it are people who are very wrong.

The Computer is Pushing People out of the Picture

We live in an Information Economy - we are told, over and over. And this is true - the Computer is  using the Information we give it, to help us (or some of us) take over the world. Or help itself take over. It is not clear if the dog is wagging the tail here, or the tail is wagging the dog.

Information is now called Data - that is somehow removed from the People who made it. This is the alarming development I want to write about today.

People have been pushed out of the Picture before - many times, in fact. The discovery of Agriculture, for example - or later, the discovery of Bronze.

Every successful technology has used us to make itself more powerful.

The Computer is now such a technology. And it is using us, in ways peculiar to itself.  We have become its reproductive agent - making more copies of it all the time, and much better copies of it.

We did the same thing with the Steam Engine - that eventually became the engine driving our cars - that took over our landscape. After this happened, we were not so sure we were happy with the results - but we could not turn the clock backwards.

The Computer - with its networks, the Internet and Wireless - has taken over, in only twenty years - and we cannot turn this clock backwards either.

We can only do one thing - be smarter than it is. And use it, instead of letting it use us. It is a powerful new tool that can help us, in many new ways.

We have to drive a bargain with it "We will help you, if you will help us!"

Americans Lie

And they have doing this for so long, it feels natural to them - and they don't realize what a problem it is.

It's a problem when you don't know who you really are - and don't want to know, because you suspect the worst.

What is the worst?

When I asked myself that, my friends - I had to stop and think. What was this horrible thing we are so afraid of being?

It is being nothing at all. Not good, not bad - nothing!

How do these nothings behave? They set about destroying the world that has made them nothing!

This is an amazing sight - destructive nothings at work, doing what only they can do - and doing it with intense energy!

They have found their role in life - finally!

My Jobs Didn't Work

I was thinking about my past life recently (something I can do easily, since I am now 80) and thinking about my marriage of five years. I summed it up easily "It didn't work!"

Then I thought about my jobs, from 1960-2000 - and came up with the same conclusion "They didn't work!"

They didn't work, for me. And this is not surprising - the jobs I had were not supposed to work for me - but for something else. A something else no one bothered to define, but everyone knew was there - and was running the show.

A few hundred years ago, this would have been God, and he is still God - but the god of Business.

Not a comedown at all - since he is richer than before.

They Don't Want their Way of Life Threatened

This must be a fundamental conflict in human society - between those who want to keep things the way they are (because the way they are, is good for them) and those who want to change the way they are (to make it better for themselves).

This choice is seldom made consciously - you have to look at how they behave, to deduce the reasons behind their behavior.

This sounds simple - but in real life. these reasons can be hard to decipher.

Take the election of Trump, for example. What was going on in the minds of the electorate? We can only be sure of one thing - they felt threatened, and they wanted these threats removed. And Trump, once he was in office, seems to have satisfied them.

Big Data Overwhelms Little Data

A disturbing trend in Software is toward using the Computer to focus on Big Problems, and ignore the Small Problems, that we already know about. Problems such as economic inequality - that are getting worse - and are not small problems at all.

Put this another way - the Computer wants to work on the problems it is interested in, not the problems people are interested in.

Using Meditation to Manage Pain

Pain is the big problem of our time. And certain meditation techniques, have been proven effective in its management. But they are not used very much. Why?

Because meditation improves your ability to be aware - mostly of your body sensations, but this easily extends to an awareness of your environment also. You become aware of its effects on you.

Our highly advanced society can tolerate people being aware of themselves - but not being aware of it!

Once again, I must ask why? And the answer is clear, because our society is not good for the people in it!

It is good for some people in it - very good for them. But they are only a small percentage of the population.

Being Good for People

I grew up in a culture that was not interested in this - a situation that still amazes me. Now, looking back on it - I wonder what we were interested in, if we were not interested in people.

We were interested in our ability, to not be interested in people, but in machines of all kinds. Especially as they were used in Transportation and Manufacturing. In a word, Industrialization.

This is a huge subject, that can be understood most easily, by looking at its effects on people. By taking the historical approach. Precisely the approach that Industrialization avoided.

But this avoidance made rich material for artists of all kinds. And was the motivation behind Romanticism. To be an artist, you had to be critical of Industry.

This was the fine line, that artists had to tread - being critical of Industry, but not destructive of it.

A problem that persists in our time, that is dominated by the Computer, and its Software.

We still have to ask - is this good for people?

The Deeply Ambivalent Feelings of a Missouri Mormon

I grew up in the RLDS church - the Reorganized LDS church, the LDS being known as the Mormons - named after the Book of Mormon, written by their founder, Joseph Smith, in New York State, in 1830.

After he was killed by a mob, in 1844, in Illinois - many of his followers went with Brigham Young, to Utah.

Some of his followers remained in Illinois, and were reorganized under his oldest son, also named Joseph Smith. They moved to Independence, Missouri - and became the Missouri Mormons, far fewer, than their Utah cousins.

But to my family, their little church was everything. And to this day, when it is even less important, than it was - my family continues to believe it is important.

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When I graduated from the University of Illinois, in 1959, I realized how unimportant the church was, and left it - the only one in my family to do so.

Now, looking back at it, I can see the other church members knew their church was unimportant also - but could not acknowledge these feelings, and kept them to themselves.

My best example of this, was my maternal grandmother - who desperately wanted to be a successful novelist, but knew almost nothing about the world she was writing about. She only knew about her church.

She was successful at one kind of writing, however - homilies, that she got from listening to the sermons at church. She supported herself, throughout the Depression, by writing for a company that made Offering Envelopes. Every church member in good standing, received a box of these at the beginning of each year, one for every week of the year.

Instead of dropping money in the offering plate, you dropped your Offering Envelope. A church official would open these envelopes, note the money enclosed, and provide a statement that could be used for Income Tax purposes - and for our church, a Financial Statement, that could be used for similar purposes inside the church.

But I am getting off the track - I started to write about the conflicted feelings of artistic church members. Grandmother wrote her homilies, that she wrote for Offering Envelopes. But never saved them, as part of our family history!

The only writing that was saved, was the book she wrote for the church Joseph's City Beautiful. This was not beautiful writing, and deep in her heart - she knew it. She wanted to be an artist - and failed.

And I am the only one to write about this, many years after her death.

Putting Software in Its Social Context

The social context, in the late 20th Century, and early 21st Century, can be described simply as a complete mess. But a mess few want to recognize. Instead of recognizing this amazing situation - people do their best to ignore it.

Some special types, however, have turned their attention to the small world of Software Development - and have concentrated on improving it. And have succeeded dramatically.

We now live in two worlds - the Industrial world, and the Computer world. And they are as different as they can be.

I have on my desk four computers - a Windows 7 laptop, a Windows 10 laptop, a Fire tablet, and an Android phone. They all coexist comfortably, and can talk to each other.

In the middle of these, is yours truly, dressed in his pajamas - and sorting through the spam in his inbox. As usual, there is plenty of it.

If a visitor from outer space were watching us - he would no doubt see us as different robots, well integrated, except for me. And would ask himself "What is the future of this strange assemblage?"

To answer this question, we have to widen our focus, and consider the effects of technology on us, throughout the history of the last 10,000 years, or so. Since we became civilized.

We would notice the dramatic speedup (and increasing insanity) of the 19th and 20th Centuries. And could say, accurately "We have gone crazy,"and "We have been extended by Television and the Computer, to form a global culture." Both are accurate (and interacting) descriptions.

Right in the middle of all this, is what I started to write about - Software. Whose practitioners, are getting rich from all this mess - that they helped create.

Some of them, are trying to become more ethical. but, being technicians - are not doing very well at this.

Suicide is Depressing

They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America's Wars

Suicide has different effects on you - depending your emotional distance from it. When my ex-wife killed herself - after five years of marriage, and two years of living with almost no contact - and it took me thirty years to recover. Most of that time, I was not aware that I was suffering - but deep down, I was. 

This book records many suicides, but many more veterans - wounded in every possible way - including emotional wounds. Reading about them, over and over - you become numb to them. 

I had a friend once, who had survived the Vietnam War - with minor injuries, from when he was searching a house, with an explosive charge hidden in it. But the emotional injuries, caused by committing crimes against humanity, were far worse. 

His emotional problems began before the War, and continued after the War - but the War made them much worse. 

Money in Software

Money was a central component of Capitalism - money is Capital, and Capitalism put it to work, making more Capital.

This was the great discovery of Industrialization - that wealth can be created, and more and more of it all the time!

It didn't turn out to be quite this simple - all this wealth was unevenly distributed, and this created serious social and environmental problems. But Big Money (and Big Organizations) were so powerful, these objections were pushed aside - as something that could be dealt with later.

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Then came the Computer, that was operated by Software - using its networks, the Internet and Wireless. And everything changed.

Wealth was still being created - but a different kind of wealth - powerful new ways of doing things - almost anything! This might require Big Money - or might not.

Software companies were still being organized, and needed plenty of money to get going. But the most successful ones were based on simple ideas, and needed little money. Google, for example, was based on a new Search algorithm - that made it wealthy overnight. And it used this money to create more apps, such as the Chrome browser - that made more users become part of its ecosystem.

Software attracted Money, and lots of it - because this is where money was being made the fastest. But to join this parade - you had to understand it. And very few people (and almost no companies) were capable of this.

Software had discovered a new world - and this discovery was as important as the discovery of the Western Hemisphere (filled with strange new people) in the 17th Century.

Americans have Learned how Not To Be

And this has become their most important export. Everyone else is learning it from them. As non-persons they can be as bad as they please - and get away with it.

Why do they want to be bad, instead of good? Because they have been treated badly - and they want to get even with the culture, that treated them so badly. Revenge is their motivation - a very powerful emotion - that makes them feel self-righteous.

As they destroy everything.

Converting Legal Code into Software Code

This should be done, because the hundreds of pages now needed. to express a law in legal text - that ordinary people can barely understand - can be turned into software code that can be understood by a computer - who can then tell ordinary people, if it makes sense. 

Every word, or phrase, of the legal code would be translated into software code - a variable, a constant, an entity, a comparator, a directive. My list here is not adequate, I am sure - I would have to look at actual code, and figure out what the translations would be. 

For new legal code, an editor would be provided. that would prompt the writer what to write next - or translate it after it has been written, phrase by phrase. This is what an IDE does in software - it makes writing code much easier.

If it refers to The President, or Congress. for example - the translator would note the existence of these entities - and expect them elsewhere in the code. In a separate window, it would list all these entities, and the writer could then drag and drop them into place. 

At a higher level, different sections of a law being written, could be written by different people - debated, and then the results merged into the final law. Everyone would know where every part of a law came from. 

Becoming Jane Goodall

To enjoy this, you need to look at the National Geographic magazine for Oct. 2017. If you read the text - and not just look at the photos - you will discover the very talented, very clever woman - behind the celebrity she has become.

This magazine doesn't cost very much, and is crammed with important stories. Which is probably why most people do not subscribe to it - despite the beautiful photographs.

They do not want to know about all the bad things in the world.

Working Together

This is the most basic problem the Human Race has ever had. And it has never been very good at solving it - or even recognizing that this is a problem it has.

This also applies on a smaller scale - the Family, where cooperation between family members is minimal - or even destructive. Especially of the children.

The quality of family life can be most easily seen in the success (or failure) of its children. This is why I had none - I knew I would be a bad parent. And Beth, my wife, who had a similar background - agreed. This was perhaps the only smart decision we made in our marriage of five years - no kids!

My siblings, however, had to have children - who did not do very well. Which was not noticed, because everyone else's children were not doing very well.

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Which brings me right back to the overall problem I started to write about - we cannot work together - and we do not seem to want to.

This most clearly seen in our political life - our governments cannot function very well. Laws are hundreds of pages long - laws no one can understand, and simply do not work.

We live in a global world, that is not working! This is such a horrible situation - no one wants to know about it.

And so they say, as loudly as they can "Nothing bad is going on!"

They Want to be Wonderful

I have been asking myself "What do Americans want?" And this is the answer - they want to be wonderful. Or, more precisely, they want to feel they are wonderful.

The two are the same thing, in their minds. For them, their mind is the whole world - a crazy idea, but a common one in the 20th Century - where they still live.

This is also what Evangelicals give Ticos - a community of wonderful people, like them. These communities, or churches - are built in their towns, using money donated from up North.

These churches not only make them wonderful - they make them richer, using the same techniques they acquired from Industrialization - that has not penetrated much down here.

Explaining the Global Rise of “Dominance” Leadership

Scientific American

Feelings of uncertainty and losing control bring a preference for “dominant” versus “prestige” leaders.

Political pundits, commentators and average citizens continue to have trouble accounting for the rise of populist authoritarian leaders across the globe. The common question batted around continues to be how leaders such as Donald Trump, Viktor Orban, Rodrigo Duterte, Nicolás Maduro, Recep Erdogan could become the standard-bearers of democracy for countries like the US, Hungary, Philippines, Venezuela and Turkey.

This study uses the software techniques of Big Data to arrive at these findings. Its input is huge amounts of data - and its output are new insights. This is one of the major trends in software development - and one people should be aware of.

It does not consider the larger question - of why people are not interested in these findings, and, indeed - are not interested in Science itself. 

China vs. America - Managing the Next Clash of Civilizations

Foreign Affairs

The United States has spent nearly three decades as the world’s most powerful country. During that time, Washington’s massive influence on world affairs has made it crucial for elites and leaders in other nations to understand American culture and the U.S. approach to strategy. Americans, on the other hand, have often felt that they have the luxury of not needing to think too hard about the worldviews of people elsewhere—a lack of interest encouraged by the belief, held by many American elites, that the rest of the world has been slowly but surely becoming more like the United States anyway.

I never thought of it this way - but, in my travels, I did notice that Americans had little interest in anything outside America. And this struck me as alarming.

The Impulse To Know, and Not Know

In America, at the present time - these two impulses (direct opposites) are active. But few are aware of this.

America had been an Industrial country, having little idea of what this entailed - except they were not supposed to think about it. The Industrial machinery worked better, if the people in it, did not get in the way. This is what built the Railroads, and the Manufacturing, that made America rich.

Then along came the Computer, operated by Software, that was built by people - that had to know how it worked.

In the Nineties, when I worked in Silicon Valley - I could see companies using the Industrial model, to write software - that never worked. Everyone could see this wasn't working, but could not understand why. And the whole edifice collapsed in 2000.

Out of this wreckage, new approaches to making computers (and their software) software emerged. Two cultures now coexisted, uncomfortably - with little awareness of each other. But with more awareness on the Software side.

On the Software side, people are thinking intensely - about Building Evolutionary Architectures, for example. It's not hard to see how this applied to the larger world, that Software is part of. And this knowledge transfer made the Old Guard uneasy.

And has produced a powerful reaction - in the Presidency of Trump.

The Perils of Pearl and Olga

New Yorker

Articles like this make blogging simple - just pick the best from your inbox, and provide a link to those.

This is about two young women in New York City, in 1946 - and the sinister. clever man in both their lives.

Why isn't this story better known? Because it only exists in print format - and people do not like to read, anymore.

Understanding

For me, people's attitude toward understanding is critical. Do they want to understand, or not? And for many people, the answer is No - they do not understand, and they do not want to understand.

This question has to be clarified, however - what kind of understanding are we talking about? Understanding of what?

The Big Question is always - what kind of world do we want to build? And the answer depends on what people actually do - not what they say they want to do.

The perfect example of this was the Great Society proposed by LBJ - that produced huge advances in Civil Rights in the South, rights that had been neglected ever since the Civil War. But right after this, Americans had their Vietnam War, where the rights of the Vietnamese (and the soldiers drafted to fight them) were ignored. And most Americans could not see the difference between the two attitudes. One was constructive, and the other was destructive.

They were determined to not understand - anything this important. They could understand little things - but not big things. And sometimes - not even the little things, that make up the big things.

Let me give you another example. A family from San Salvador set up a Pupusa stand on weekends. They are poor, and I want to help them - so I buy a pupusa. Yesterday, I stopped by their stand at 10:30, but they were not ready yet. I came back at 2 PM, to get a pupusa - but they did not have the ingredients on hand to make them. They went into a panic mode, and ran off to get the makings, so they could make one for me - while I waited patiently, and wondered what was going on in their heads.

The husband speaks some English, so I became acquainted with their history. They were refugees from a civil war, that had immigrated to Costa Rica, illegally - and like living here. But they do not know how to run a business - and frankly, do not like to work! They do not understand - that to run a business, they have to have the supplies on hand to do this. And they have to be willing to work at running their business - and improving on it.The business is not going to do this for them - they have to do it themselves.

If people cannot understand their world - their world cannot understand them - and will get rid of them.

The Software Revolution

So far as I know, no one else has written about this - even though everyone, even remotely connected with the Industry - will admit that it has happened. Why?

There were many reasons:

The Software Revolution happened at the same time as many other technical revolutions - so many of them, in fact, that people felt them to be one huge event.

The Coming of the Internet, for example, was like the Coming of Christ - it changed everything. I am not being facetious here - both were historical events, and both had enormous consequences.

The Internet changed the way Software was put together, the way it was sold, what machines it operated on, and what larger components it was part of.

Software Development was greatly affected by the large amounts of excellent free software that was available for it to use. This had never happened before, in the history of the world. And was something of a shock for the traditional businessmen, who thought everything had a price on it - and a price they could control. But it greatly lowered the price of software.

New methods of Project Management were developed, that allowed different teams, from all over the world to participate in building Software projects. These methods were quickly adopted by other industries - such as Aircraft Construction, to assemble components made by many vendors.

Methods of testing these components, as they were being assembled - and even after they had been sold - were developed. These products were so huge, there were bound to be bugs in them.

Microsoft keeps finding these in its Windows operating system. And issues updates frequently. This is one of the huge advantages of Software - it can be updated continuously.

Computer Software was also affected by Computer Hardware - and vice versa. The outstanding example is the Phone (or SmartPhone) that is now found everywhere in the world. And usually runs on the free Android software, provided by Google.

Objective Reality

The discovery of Objective Reality was the breakthrough that made the huge advances possible that characterized the Industrial World.

Let me explain. During the Middle Ages, the Western Man was deeply religious, and saw everything as Subjective. God made the world, placed Man in it - and everything was related to everything else, in a huge harmony, referred to as The Great Chain of Being. And central to this, was The Church, that God had established to rule for Him.

But the Reformation changed this, and challenged the ultimate authority of the Church. This produced the worst Religious wars (and Civil wars) the world has ever seen.

And also the Scientific Revolution, that could see there was an Objective (or Scientific) Reality, that could be used the settle these religious conflicts. And be used to make people rich, instead.

The world became divided into the Protestant (and affluent) North - and the Catholic South.  In the Western Hemisphere, this became North America, and Latin America.

---

But then, something very strange happened - in the middle of the 20th Century, this Advanced world turned against itself - without realizing this had happened!

These people could see something had happened, and whatever it was, it was not good. And they came up with many solutions to this problem, all of which overlooked the basic one - that they were the cause of them!

I keep coming back to this basic point - and I am always ignored. We have become technically aware - but socially unaware. And not able to tell the difference.

When Stalin Faced Hitler

Foreign Affairs

The amount of good information now available, at no cost or very little cost - amazes me. Only one thing amazes me more - the inability of most people to understand it, or use it.

America now consists of two groups - the vast majority (at least 90 percent) who know little, and but have political power - and a small minority who know a great deal, but have little political power.

The know-nothings still have a great deal of power, because of their numbers - but their power in the long run, cannot last. The only question is - how long it will take, for the long run to take effect?

No one knows the answer to this question - but it probably will take one or two generations - or about 30 - 50 years, when most of us will be dead.

If we date the beginnings of the present era to 1990, when the computer became powerful, and also when the Gulf War began - we are clearly in the middle of a great change - the result of which, we cannot predict.

Thomas Jefferson Explained

The following quotes all come from: Ellis, Joseph J.. American Sphinx (p. 8). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Jefferson was not a profound political thinker. He was, however, an utterly brilliant political rhetorician and visionary. The genius of his vision is to propose that our deepest yearnings for personal freedom are in fact attainable. The genius of his rhetoric is to articulate irreconcilable human urges at a sufficiently abstract level to mask their mutual exclusiveness. The Jeffersonian magic works because we permit it to function at a rarefied region where real-life choices do not have to be made.

For example: that abortion is a woman’s right and that an unborn child cannot be killed; that health care and a clean environment for all Americans are natural rights and that the federal bureaucracies and taxes required to implement medical and environmental programs violate individual independence; that women and blacks must not be denied their rights as citizens and that affirmative action programs violate the principle of equality.

The primal source of Jefferson’s modern-day appeal is that he provides the sacred space - not really common ground but more a midair location floating above all the political battle lines - where all Americans can come together and, at least for that moment, become a chorus instead of a cacophony.

Don't Think, Go Crazy Instead

How many times I have seen this - with individuals and and whole societies. Life hands them some BIG advantages - and they throw them away!

Most recently, this happened to America in the Nineties - they were handed the Computer and its networks, the Internet and the Cellular, that could have made them all rich.

But they gave those to the upper one percent, who promptly became the upper one tenth of one percent - that gave them control. They could then buy anything (including the votes) that they wanted.

This was crazy.

Becoming Your Own Self

To become your own self, as an adult - is what adolescence is for. A natural transition, however that is often not successful.

Most parents have not made this transition themselves - and they do not want their children to make it either. They have not grown up themselves, and they do not want their children to grow up either.

Bad parents make children who become bad parents - who, in turn, make more bad parents.

How many ways can I say this?

The Pursuit of Happiness

Where on earth did Thomas Jefferson get such a wacky idea?

This is a rhetorical question, however - because whatever its origin, it was definitely an American idea - and continues to be one. And could only have been imagined by a nation of immigrants, not very happy with their situation, and forced to improve on it.

It was very much to their credit, that they did this satisfactorily (if you overlook their inability to solve the Slavery question).

And continues to be an American idea - an obsession, actually - that has both good and bad repercussions.

Jefferson was a product of the Enlightenment - and not the Industrialization that followed it. And the Americans who followed him, have also had muddled thinking about the conflicts between the two.

He was the author of America's Declaration of Independence - but not part of its Constitutional Convention.

---

Two hundred years after the Declaration of Independence, we can see the positive benefits of this Independence - in the American dominance of Computers and Software.

This is a huge advantage, but an advantage not understood (and in some cases, not wanted) by most Americans.

To see what I mean here look at Me on the Equifax Breach - where an American expert explains a recent security violation to Congress. He is extremely critical of a software industry - that puts profits before their responsibility to the public.

This kind of criticism could only happen in America - that also considers the good of the world at large. America is not benevolent out of the goodness of its heart - but because its own survival is at stake.

The Ascendance of Data

I am reading Data Science from Scratch, one of the many books provided to me by the Safari service. That you really must have, if you are serious about learning Software.

The very first subject this talks about is The Ascendance of Data. Which is closely related to the Ascension of Jesus in Wikipedia. Which is also related to His Resurrection.

All very abstract conceptions - with profound implications. All requiring a belief in their importance.

Let me repeat that - you must believe in Data (with a Capital D). Because it contains everything, and everything can be derived from it - using some of the latest software (such as TensorFlow).

That frankly I cannot understand - but I do have faith in.

How the Computer Made a Difference

It made a difference in how we work with the world. A difference we have not taken seriously enough.

We have never taken any of our technologies seriously enough - and have always let them control us, instead of us controlling them.

We are basically religious beings, and believe there are spirits in everything, that make them work. And we see every technology as a kind of spirit - that must be obeyed. Any idea that we must control them - strikes us as ridiculous.

---

But let me return to the Computer, and its effect on us.

By the middle of the 20th Century, we had been profoundly influenced by the Industrial Revolution, with its revolutions in Manufacturing and Transportation. Machines had taken over - and they had not treated us kindly, but produced WWI, the Depression, WWII - and the Holocaust. Nevertheless, we continued to be ruled by them. Because we had no other alternative.

This changed drastically with the Computer - a different kind of machine, controlled by Software. Which had effects just as profound - that we ignored, as usual. Once again, we invited other forces to take control. Because this helpless was so thrilling!

We no longer worshipped the Golden Calf - but something we could not see, or understand. But we knew it was there, and it was powerful. And we went crazy over it. This produced an economic boom, and then a bust.

That no one understood, but only had a vague idea that something was different - and this made them uneasy. What followed, in the first decades of the 21st Century - was very strange. And we cannot even pretend to understand it. But it resulted in the election of Trump.

At the same time, the Computer (especially Software) advanced enormously. Everyone now has a laptop connected to the Internet - and a Phone, with the same connections.

I can summarize this easily - we have advanced technically, but regressed socially.  And we have not noticed this at all.

Grace Hopper

YouTube - a free service provided by Google

This is a video by Google showing how great they are for women. I know you will take this with a pinch of salt - or maybe a whole lot of it!

The location is Orlando - and guess what? Disney World!

Can a Robot Join the Faith?

New Yorker

Sophia is a chatty A.I. android born of the Hanson Robotics lab, in Hong Kong. In conversation, she will look you in eye in order to memorize your face; she will present, in succession, like cards from a deck, her sixty-two facial expressions; she will wink in patterns designed to put you at ease. Sophia processes speech and, above all, she learns constantly. Her creator, David Hanson, an alum of Disney, is the kind of person who throws around such phrases as “framework for computational compassion.”

As a product of a religious family myself (we were Missouri Mormons, RLDS) it was easy for me to see, that ordinary humans were capable of robotic behavior - and they were much cheaper. 

Information

The Coming of the Computer sparked an intense interest in Information - and then an intense reaction to it. This reaction is what I want to write about today.

This reaction is part of a much broader reaction to the world as a whole. Most people (most Americans, for sure) have turned against it - against the world they were once part of.

Instead of considering this alarming (as I do) they consider this a huge advantage. If things have gotten too bad - the smartest thing to do is ignore them (they think). And things had gotten too bad. And they have gotten worse, since then.

---

Back to the reaction against more Information. Software people have become obsessed with this, and refer to it as Data - and they cannot get enough of it. This, in my opinion, is going too far.

We have alway been information gatherers - this is what has made us so successful. We found what we needed (mostly food) in new area, after new area - until we were everywhere. We were still a minor species, but were satisfied with our place in the world. We had everything we needed.

This comfortable existence lasted for a long time, perhaps millions of years. And we should regard this as our basic state of being. And not the existence that followed it - that we refer to as Civilization. That was marked by one thing - we wanted more, of everything - including information of the most basic kind. We wanted to know how things worked.

At this point, I must clarify myself. I am not saying we should go back to our pre-civilized condition, as some people (who knew nothing about this) have advocated. We have become civilized, and cannot go back.

All we can do - is do the best, with what we have. And that happens to be a great deal.

We can now manage more information, of all kinds - especially digital. If we can overcome our fear of knowing too much.

We have been told not to question certain things - and, as a result, we have not questioned them. And we have not even noticed - that there were such forbidden topics. But the time has come when we must question them.

Plenty of people agree with me - but they cannot face the most fundamental fact - that the world didn't want them, considered them defective - and they were forced to agree, with this judgement against them.

I am learning Git

I started by searching for Git books in the Safari Library - and excellent service that lets you view a huge number of Computer Books. I settled on Git Essentials. This is how it starts:

Git is, in fact, a breaking point in the history of computer science. Differently from most other versioning systems, Git builds its design on the core idea that the development activity is inherently a communication and collaboration exercise.

The same could be true of any text-based enterprise - such as writing laws, which are nothing but text, and more and more - a lot of it! This is Big Data, that the Computer can handle easily.

Writing laws this way, could involve input from many people, with many ideas of their own. All these ideas can be considered, evaluated, and then merged into one final law. While retaining all the ideas and decisions that went into its development. Nothing is thrown away, or wasted.

This is Democracy in action - where everything is transparent and open!

The Technical Cannot Understand the Social

Trump and Transforming Capitalism: Making Our Movement See Itself

MIT on the East Coast, and Stanford on the West Coast have lively initiatives for Social Improvement. This article is from MIT, and is an excellent example of its thinking. 

But it is missing a candid analysis of the world as it is now. "What?" You may be saying, "Have you paid any attention to what he is saying?" Yes, I have, and what he says is excellent - but what he doesn't say, and cannot say - is how bad we have become. Yes, boys and girls - how bad we have become! And I include myself in this. 

He almost says it - he speaks about destruction, but avoids speaking about self-destruction. Which, in my opinion, is what we are doing - destroying everything, including ourselves! And we are not aware of this. 

This last phrase is important - we are not aware of this - or much of anything else. And we consider this our highest virtue! 

Our latest technology is Software - and our advances there are enormous. Including Google's Angular and Firebase platforms - that are simply amazing! 

I can say this, and realize, that only a tiny percentage of the Public (less than one percent) understands what I am saying. They don't know, and they don't want to know - how these technical advances could help us, in so many ways. 

Why? Because they do not want to be made better - they want to be made worse! 

"What," you will say "This cannot possibly be true!" But it is true - it is the simple truth. 

Empires rise, and empires fall - and today's empire is global. We know it is falling - but we cannot possibly know, how it will recover. Perhaps thousands of years from now. 

Where Evangelicals Came From

NY Review

This is a long, complicated article - that most people will not bother with, but it is so important to me, that I read it carefully all the way.

Most people will not do such careful thinking - but will merge people of all kinds together in the minds, and in their religious practice.

Evangelicals often deny they are evangelicals, but in their very next breath - will clarify that by saying are more radical than they are.

I know one that believes doctors are killing the world, and he is solving that problem by killing the doctors instead (especially the abortion doctors).

The Social Media

For most people, this is everything - but for me, it is nothing. And I would say nothing about it - if other people (who should know better) would stop pushing it so hard.

For example, I am taking a course from edX called Leading from the Emerging Future. Building this future, it says, is a group process. I agree. But the online group process they have, cannot work.

For people to become acquainted - they have to meet, in person. Later, they can continue their acquaintanceship online - but only later.

Specialists in any field know this - they have conferences where they can meet - and socialize. If they cannot do this - their interest in each other dies.

It's Not Working for Most

At one time, this would not have mattered - but in today's world it does. Every country in the world has become a democracy, or at least claims to be one. And it has to give some recognition (if only a little) to its people.

You may reply that this hardly matters - these people are just barely functioning as people, and are more like pieces of machinery - controlled but not doing any controlling. But they also watch Television and their Phones, and they know that they exist, as a mass audience - and not only that, they often know they are not satisfied with their existence.

I can put this another way - the World was an Industrial World, but is becoming a Computer World - with its Internet and Wireless networks, that have become global. These networks are everywhere - unseen, but irresistible.

Once again, people have created technologies they cannot resist - but cannot control either. It would be accurate to say their technologies are controlling them. But they are not aware of this. They think they have a perfect soul, that does not change, that they can always rely on.

People do not understand their world - and don't want to understand it. I can sympathize with them, this new world is baffling, and is hard to understand - but this is no reason for not trying.

I will be explicit. I am learning GitHub - marvelous software that lets groups of people manage their text files. Different versions of a file can exist simultaneously, as different people work on it - and then be merged back together, as one greatly improved file. The legal implications are obvious.

The implications for Software Development (which it was built for) are obvious also. But I have observed (to my surprise!) that most people do not want to improve the way they work - whatever the field they are working in. They do not want to be improved, and resist this strenuously!

This is a new development in our present world - people feel they have been changed too much - and they do not want any more changes. Their fundamental identity (who they are) is being destroyed - they think!

Why the Marines were in Haiti

My Father was in the Marine Corp from 1930 to 1934 - and he was part of the American occupation of this country. We were never told the reasons for this occupation, and I decided recently to find out.

The story was simple. Haiti was originally a colony of France, who used it to grow sugarcane - using slave labor. This was the pattern throughout most of the West Indies.  It had a slave rebellion, got rid of its slave masters, and became a new country. The American president at the time was Thomas Jefferson, and he refused to recognize their country, because he was afraid of a slave rebellion, in the US.

So far, what I have said is history, and the next part is history also - but not a history Americans want to remember. Over the course of the next 130 years, or so, American businessmen gradually acquired most of the agricultural land in Haiti - because the Haitian government was so corrupt. The local people, needless to say - were hostile to this development.

And, as a result, the Marines were called in - to protect American property - that happened to be in another country.

Microsoft has Taken Me Back into The Fold

I was a Black Sheep, but have been Washed in the Blood of the Lamb. Or something like that.

Not too long ago, Microsoft cancelled my account in its Cloud, they call Azure. But this morning, when I used my new Windows 10 laptop to login - they gave me access to my account again.

Have I gotten better (not likely) or has Microsoft gotten smarter?

The Perfect Coffee

There is no such thing - there are only many kinds of coffee, blended and processed, in many different ways.

But there is a coffee farm, not far from where I live, in Orosi, Costa Rica, owned by an American couple - that was determined to make the perfect coffee, anyway.

They called it Cafe Cristina. It would be organic, and not only organic - but extremely organic. In a word, perfect!

I don't know if they are still in business, or not. I suspect they are tired of this little adventure - and want to sell it.

Google is Too Smart for Its Own Good

This is an unusual situation - a company that is too smart!

You may simply respond by saying I am stupid to be talking about this - any smart person would leave it alone. No one wants to be insulted,  and I am insulting a lot of people.

One exception however, would probably be Google.. It is so far ahead of everyone else, it cannot imagine a dummy like me - would have anything useful to say.

So I will just open my mouth and say it - Google should have its own IDE. One that would use its technologies, and integrate nicely with its Cloud. It could then tell everyone "This is the way to do it!"

I am trying to learn Angular, and am using IDEs from two companies - Microsoft and JetBrains. They are both interpreting Google's technology in their own way. Both companies are more than willing to take your hand, and show you the way. Two different ways, however.

Let me state the problem another way - Google assumes its users are as smart as it is, When this is far from the case. It has to take the world, the way it is (very imperfect) and proceed from there.

Its Philosophical position, however, is Idealism - Ideals are real, and everything depends on them. All anyone has to do is provide the Ideal solution for any problem. This approach has been proven defective so many times, it's embarrassing to see anyone still using it.

The Violent Reaction to the Information Economy

Strange things have been happening recently, and this is one of them. The Computer has created a new world - but most people do not want to be in it!

To make its new world, the Computer first had to destroy parts of the world that it inherited. Parts that most people had strongly identified with. These changes hit them right in the gut, bypassing their minds entirely. 

For this reason, they reacted violently, and unpredictably. As observers, we can only note the violence, and how irrational it is. They are out to destroy - what they think, is destroying them!

I can write this calmly, sitting in front of my laptop - and tell myself, that all this will go on, and cannot be prevented. 

Microsoft's Implementation of Angular

I am still trying to learn Angular - that has a steep learning curve. And I was delighted to discover that Microsoft had built Angular into their Visual Studio IDE.

Or, I should say, Microsoft is in the process of doing this - but hasn't got the process smoothed out yet. I followed their instructions, and got all the files necessary for this (a bunch of them) arranged properly, in Visual Studio 2017, on my Windows 10 laptop. Now I have to make them do something useful.

And I still don't know what is going on here. Someone should explain why Angular is necessary - what problems it solves, and how it solves them. Everyone starts in explaining how it works, before explaining why it is necessary in the first place.

But first, the good news - Microsoft is doing something new here. It is working with Google, that is working with Microsoft, by using its Typescript language. These two companies are cooperating, instead of competing. And everybody benefits, as a result.

And Microsoft is using its .NET Core library (Open Source software) - in its implementation of Angular. It claims its approach is better - and it probably is.

Internet Applications consist of two parts - the Browser, and the Server. The Browser is what the User sees, and interacts with. The Server is what Browser talks to, when it asks for information - it can be located anywhere on the Internet, even on the other side of the world. The Browser says "Gimme this." And the Server then gives (serves) that information to it.

Not everyone is comfortable with all this free information.They think information should owned, so it can be sold. And should support the existing power structure - not challenge it.

All this Information, has made a new world (the Information Economy) - that the few understand, but are eager to use, anyway. Who can resist so much free stuff! Especially when you can hold it in the palm of your hand.

Angular facilitates this transfer of information - by making the Browser easier to talk to. How it does this, as I said, I do not know.

To be Successful, You Have to Be Stupid

Or at least, seem to be stupid.

Obviously, this is not true in every situation. But it was true in most organizations that I worked in - back when I was working. And I was one unhappy dude.

It never occurred to me that I should build a life that was good for me. I just assumed, if I did whatever people wanted me to do - I was doing the right thing, and I had to be happy. Whether
I felt that way, or not.

I had plenty of therapists (and other advisors) but none of them told me, my problems were caused by other people. Heavens no! All of my problems were caused by me. Society could not be changed, and I would have to change instead. How I would change, was up to me - they could not help me with that.

People back then (from the middle of the 19th Century to the middle of the 20th Century) were supposed act like machines - which some people could do, and some people could not. Those that could, found their place in the social machinery, and were considered productive persons - because they made the machinery work better. Or at least seem to work better.

But one thing was lacking - the ability to think about what was going on in the world - and where it was going. Everyone insisted that the way things were, was fine, and should not be changed.

They had a simple diagnosis for my problems - I was depressed! And they had pills that would cure me of that.

They were wrong - they were the problem, and my solution was simple - I left them, and moved to Costa Rica.

Does Google Like People?

I don't think so. It is a technology company, not a people company. The products it makes can be used by people, and they can be used by organizations (usually corporations) - and it does not differentiate between the two.

In my opinion, this is a distinction that must be made. Capitalism has been taken too far, and we need to back up, and make it more people-friendly.

The Gap

There is a huge gap between two kinds of people in today's world. The smart ones and the stupid ones - although plenty of other adjectives could be used to describe them. And the stupid are getting stupider and the smart are getting smarter.

You may object to this, as an overly simplistic classification scheme. Which it may be - but it is a practical one. And has the advantage of emphasizing the immense stupidity in the world - as well as the immense intelligence.

It is important to note the number of people in each category. And observe that the stupid are much more numerous. And they are the ones who object most strenuously to this scheme of classification.

I am a refugee from Silicon Valley - where this gap was extreme. And where people refused to recognize this. They all said "Nothing bad is going on!" When things (for the most part) were as bad as they could be.

They were part of a society that hated people! And did not know this at all. And were afraid of knowing this. And this is worth noting - they live in a world where fear is pervasive! Where people are afraid of understanding their world.

But the smart people understand it - and write about it, in publication after publication, and book after book.

For example, The Cultural Axis. Reading this, made me understand Fascism and Nazism much better. From their point of view - what they were doing was completely rational!

The Rage in America’s Soul

Medium

This guy is walking where angels fear to tread - and where I have only ventured timidly.

He is saying what I have been saying, but almost no one else has - that Americans no longer exist!

I would differ with him, in only one way - I think this rage has spread beyond America's borders.

Our Identity is Who We Are

This statement is clear enough, but has HUGE ramifications. People have to fit into with the world they live in. What they can be, is almost anything - but what they are allowed to be, is much less.

In the Medieval World, for example, everyone knew his place in the Great Chain of Being. And that place (his identity) did not change much for a thousand years. The identity you were born with, was the identity you died with. There were some changes, but these were few, and gradual.

This changed with the Reformation - that introduced big changes, and violent warfare. The Scientific Revolution reduced this warfare, and made Progress possible. Note that one word - Progress - a new idea that had not existed before.

The societies that were Progressive (that could change rapidly) became Affluent - something also entirely new.

At the Present Time, society (or more correctly, the huge number of societies) are changing rapidly, and people have to change constantly, to keep up with these changes.

This, in itself, would not be an impossible problem - if people were aware of it, could discuss these demands freely, and chose which ones they wanted. This was one of the assumptions of the Enlightenment.

But the Enlightenment failed, over and over - because it did not understand how people really are. People must have a fixed identity, and not a changeable one.

This identity is built into their collective unconscious - and is almost impossible to change. Any successful leader understands this identity, and helps his followers be this way.

I will use an example from my family's religion - Mormonism. Early in the 19th Century, Joseph Smith, wrote a book, that he called, the Book of Mormon. To his amazement, people immediately saw it was of Divine origin, and that he was a Prophet of God. And they still believe this, to this day.

What is important to note here, was the motivation of the people who became Mormons. What kind of people were they? This is a complicated question, and few have attempted it. But it seems to me, their timing was important - at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

They were part of the reaction to this - part of the Second Great Awakening. A huge event, that shaped what Americans would become.

Software is Hard

And it is hard to explain why it is hard. You can only discover this for yourself, by trying it out. When you do, you will find yourself up to your ass in alligators.

You will be surrounded by very smart people, who live in their own world - and do not relate very well to the real world. They will try to explain their world to you - but you (as a normal person) will have a hard to understanding what they are explaining.

Most people will not even try to learn this, because it is so weird. But some people (like me) are attracted to it. They know it is the future, and they want to be in that future.

Having said that, I must also relate my conclusions about this Brave New World. Getting into it now would be too soon, for me. I will wait for another 20 years, or so - before I get my feet wet again.

The future can wait for me to get in it.

How to Think About the World

In the most general terms.

There are two factors to consider here - (1) how difficult the world is to understand, and (2) how capable we are of understanding it.

Both of these are changing - and both can be plotted on the same graph, with time on the horizontal axis, and understanding on the vertical axis.

We can start right now. Are people capable of understanding their world? For most people, the answer is "No." But perhaps that is too general a question.

Perhaps it would better to back up in time and focus on one event - the Iraq War. This involved two groups of people, the Iraqis, led by Saddam - and the Americans, led by President Bush. Neither one, was very bright - and neither one understood the other. The people involved did not understand their situation - and did not realize this.

This is a very common situation - not just a common situation, but a very common situation. And we can generalize on this to say - most people, in most situations - cannot understand their situation.

This settles the situation for most people - but not for the few who do understand the situation - and these always exist. Will they save the world?

This is the answer we are waiting for.

The Invisible People

The basic trick people have learned is - how not to be. They could see, easily enough - that the world didn't want them - so they did the right thing, and ceased to be!

Here I must distinguish between conscious behavior and unconscious behavior. Consciously, these people feel they are perfect, loving people (to their own kind, of course). But unconsciously, they are just the opposite - as bad as they can be.

They are both ways simultaneously - and have to be considered as a combination of good and bad. A combination that has always existed - but now they had the advantage of being invisible.

Being invisible was made possible by Industrialization - that was operated by invisible forces, where those who ruled (a vast hierarchy of big rulers and smaller ones) that were the embodiment of those forces. 

These invisible forces were reinforced by the discovery of Radio, and then Television. These were quickly acquired by those in power - and used to make everyone like them. Everyone, everywhere was made more powerful by this new power. And, at the same time - became even more invisible.

Getting the Job Done Right

This is a personal obsession of mine, and one of the reasons I study Software - because Software Developers, really work to make Software better - for everyone!

The last part of their job description - that they work for everyone - derives from the nature of their work, not from any sense of moral obligation. This is a HUGE difference, and is the subject of this posting.

The emphasis in - Industrialization, Capitalism, and the Market (different names for the same thing) - the American society of the 19th and 20th Centuries - was on the Individual, or on a Company. In my hometown of Ft. Madison, Iowa, for example - the West End of town was dominated by the Santa Fe Railroad, the East End by the Sheaffer Pen Company. It had lots of jobs. It is now part of the Rust Belt, and has no jobs at all.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Computer appeared. The Market is still as important as ever - but another economy now exists alongside it. It will provide only few jobs - but those jobs pay well.

Americans have been slow to grasp this - and sometimes they have resisted it strongly.
They do not want the Internet to intrude into their personal lives. But they want to use it against others.

It does not occur to them, that this is completely contradictory.

Understanding Venezuela

I am reading The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World

And have have gotten to the part about Chavez and Venezuela. I recommend you read it for yourself, the Kindle version does not cost much. What is said here is different from anything else I have read.

But, as I make this recommendation - I realize most Americans do not read! But do not realize, they do not read.

Good Orosi Coffee is No More

Orosi is the coffee town in Costa Rica that I live in. It is surrounded by coffee fields, and used to produce some fine coffee - and was sold as such, by the local Coffee Store.

The coffee picking season has just started this year, and I have watched how this is being done. Only a few cherries are ripe now, and these should be picked, leaving the green cherries to ripen. But this is not being done - the whole branch is stripped of all the cherries, and dropped into the picker's basket!

Most of the crop is being wasted, as the season is just getting started!

Americans support Trump, Because He is Like Them

NY Review - The Adults in the Room

For the first time, America has a president who does not act like an adult. He is emotionally immature: he lies, taunts, insults, bullies, rages, seeks vengeance, exalts violence, boasts, refuses to accept criticism, all in ways that most parents would seek to prevent in their own children. 

Most Americans will probably accept this realistic evaluation of their President - but will say, in response "So what? What difference does this make?"

And believe it or not - they are right! America has not changed a bit - all Trump has done is make obvious what they already are. And what kind of parents they already are - like their parents before them. The sins of the parents, shall be visited on their children as explained here. 

When the focus is on their parents, instead of on their nation (an abstraction they cannot focus on) Americans can remember how their parents treated them - not very well! But they will also show, in their lives - that they have been unable to cope with this most basic of problems.

For them, having a President that displays what their parents were like - is a step forward, out of the darkness they have been forced to live in. And it is a welcome relief. 

They do not have to struggle to remember their past - because Trump does this for them! 

People Cannot Cope with Today's World

This seems obvious to me - but it is also obvious, that it is not obvious to most people.

I am tempted to speculate on why this is - but will not, and only state it as an accomplished fact.

We developed, as a species, over a period of thousands of years, as a neolithic people, with amazing new abilities (including human language) - that allowed us to expand everywhere in the world, except Antarctica.

We were experts at living off the land, that was full of food, if you knew where to look. We were a minor species, but a well-adapted one.

Then we became civilized - and our good times were over. This is a crucial point, that is usually overlooked - so I will state it again. As civilized beings, we created all the advantages of civilization - and its disadvantages. And its disadvantages were enormous - endless war.

But our problems were just starting - they multiplied in the Modern World, that started about 500 years ago.

And they multiplied again, with the Industrial Revolution. in the last 200 years, or so.

And if that were not enough, we were hit with TV and the Computer, about 50 years ago.

If you graph this, you will see how things got quickly out of control.

But if you simply watch the people around you - you will see they are not aware of these difficulties, at all.

The American Disease

This can be described easily - it is the illusion of being all-powerful.

It reached its peak right after WWII, when in fact, America was the most powerful nation in history - and the rest of the world (with the exception of the USSR) lay in ruins. Americans assumed this situation was permanent, and planned their lives accordingly. The American economy was booming, most Americans owned new homes in the suburbs, and they were driving powerful new cars.

The only problem Americans could see was Communism, and they set about eliminating that, in the Cold War.

The rest of the world, however, was changing - Europe, Japan, Russia, and China, acquired the American Disease. And saw no reason why they couldn't become all-powerful also. After all, it was an attitude, and they could have it too - and once they had it, they took it seriously.

You will no doubt, view this as global insanity - which is another, equally valid, way of looking at it.

The Place of Women in Human Society

I am hardly the proper person to expound on this subject - having failed in all my relationships with women (beginning of course, with my mother). But this is also true for most men - and, for that matter - most women also.

I am listening to The Foundations of Western Civilization that says little about women, but I can easily imagine what their place in this must have been. Women are primarily responsible for reproduction - but also responsible for the pleasures that lead up to this. To put it bluntly, they are capable of multiple orgasms, that are pleasurable to them and also to the men with them.

Human sexuality existed long before we became civilized - and was part of the physical changes that included an upright posture, lack of body hair, sweat glands, frontal intercourse - and the large brain, that made language possible. And the use of Fire, that made it possible for us to cook our food - and greatly expanded the foods available to us. With all these advantages - we soon occupied everyplace in the world, except Antarctica.

But with the coming of Civilization, Women suffered. And we have to consider that as one of its serious disadvantages.

Very recently, with the coming of the Computer, and its Software - Women are attaining an equal status. But it is too soon to see how far this will go.

Attitudes

People have attitudes, and these are important. But they cannot be used as data by a computer.

The reason for this is simple - people are living beings, that operate by complicated chemical interactions between large organic molecules. The basic unit is the cell - and highly specialized cells called neurons (nerves).

The Computer is much simpler, and operates with electrical signals in Silicon substrates, that perform mathematical operations . Any input to the computer must first be digitized  (changed into a number).

Artificial Intelligence (which is getting a lot of publicity now) is software that claims it is imitating the operations of the Human Mind. This is not true at all - what it does is entirely different, but has remarkable achievements (such as translating languages and recognizing images).

This is an important difference that can be summarized easily - People and Computers are entirely different things - and cannot be made the same. And this simple fact has huge implications - that most people do not want to understand.

The Computer (especially the Phone) is amazing, and makes people feel more important. So they naturally feel it is part of them. Which is true - we always merge with our technologies - sometimes with disastrous consequences.

And we should be careful of merging with the latest ones - Television and the Computer. These are extremely powerful - and we should not use them, without understanding them.

This is not as difficult as most people think - understanding them is not difficult at all. But people want to believe these devices are part of the Mind of God. And should not be understood at all!

Pity the Poor English Major

When I worked as a Technical Writer (from 1980 to 2000) most of my fellow-writers were English Majors - who had no jobs after they graduated, and out of desperation, became techwriters. To make themselves feel better, they pretended this was a deliberate career choice - and went to monthly meetings of their professional society - dressed in their best business suits.

My background was different - I had been an Electronic Engineer, put out of work by the Transistor. But I became a techwriter for the same reason - I had to have a job. Later, I had worked as a programmer - and then specialized in software documentation. I never wore a suit.

Now, 13 years after I left Silicon Valley - I study programming as a hobby, and read Literature and Poetry, as a hobby.

I find these two (writing programs and writing writing) enhance each other.

Who Killed the ERA?

NY Review

I hardly know what to say about this. It's something every American should read, and read carefully - but very few will.

Americans have decided to read little, and understand little - and writings like this, are invisible to them.

I am reminded of Lady Macbeth's "Out damned spot!" But the spot here is even more ambiguous.

Save Money and Buy a Refurbished Windows 10 Laptop

Amazon

When you buy one of these - you also get excellent technical support from laptopexperience.com the company that refurbished them.

About a week after I got it from Amazon, and started to use it - it died! I sent an email to them, and they gave the instructions to do a hard reset of it. (I was also using a Windows 7 laptop, and got that email on it). After following the instructions carefully - it is working again, like new.

I also had a little problem with an error message I did not understand. They had me uninstall the accelerometer!

The Destructive Impact of the Computer

It is destroying what the Industrial Revolution created in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries - Industrialization, Capitalism, and the Market. A Way of Life that had become Global, and that everyone had taken for granted.

When I say this was an entire Way of Life, I am not exaggerating - it changed who we were completely - for the better, and for the worse - in ways we were not aware of - but we identified with completely. And which we do not want to change - or even think of changing. Because it is Who we Are.

It took centuries to build this environment, but the Computer has changed it, in less than a Century - leaving us in a state of shock - seeing enemies everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

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"Interesting theory!" You may say, "But too far-out, for me to believe in. How come no one else is saying it?"

Good question, but one easily answered "People are saying it - but carefully. They don't want to get squashed, like a bug on the windshield."

People have been critical of the Industrial Economy for a long time - as long as it has been in operation. But they were not considered a threat - because its success answered for itself.

The Computer is different - it is successful, and it is making substantial changes - whether we want them or not.

It has changed the way we solve our problems. I saw this when I was working in Silicon Valley in the Nineties. When any changes were contemplated - the first thing everyone did - was Form a Company - complete with the usual corporate structure and offices. This was true in any Organization - such as the Schools - a social hierarchy had to be formed, with those at the top making more than those at the bottom - and having most of the Control. Everyone knew this was the way it had to be done.

But this is not the way it was done in Software. Software Developers could see this was not working - and set about doing it differently. Concentrating on something that worked and worked better. The result was a different kind of social structure - flexible, and built to do the job on hand.

It is not entirely correct to say that Software is destroying Industrialization - it would be more correct to say it is improving on it - by replacing the parts of it that no longer work.

And the people who have gotten rich off of those parts.