The RLDS And the American Economy

Any American organization, to be successful, must become part of the American economy.

The RLDS were not part of this economy, and they failed. The LDS were part of this economy, and they succeeded.

Mormonism originated early in the 19th Century, but most of its converts were Industrial workers, with little education, but great powers of belief.

After a disastrous period in Nauvoo, Illinois, that resulted in the death of their leader, Joseph Smith, they moved westward to the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

It took them 100 years to become part of the American economy, but they did make that transition.

Splat! - Down I Went !

Fortunately, Ray way there and helped me into his car. This was not easy, because I had no strength in my legs.

This morning I was sore all over, and I could hardly walk around. What the hell happened?

Whatever it was, it was total. No messing around this time!

Secrets

I have been reading the book Secrets and Lies. Only two words, but I have a hard time remembering the first one.

This about Software, our newest technology. but it applies to much of our older technologies, and our behaviors. These are closely related.

We have always created our technologies and they have always created us.

But it is also true that our early social experiences (before we were even born) have great effects on our life.

This has been known since ancient times, but our modern world, with all its technologies, has been difficult to absorb.

We have to realize we live in hard times, which keep getting harder.

They want to br Stupid, because that way they are like Everyone Else

Their first priority was to be like everyone else, their second priority was to be like whatever everyone else was.

I hope this makes sense.

Since I now live in Costa Rica, I see many people with dual identities: part Tico and part American. With little help in sorting these out.

Their schools should be helping them with this, but they are not aware of the problem.

I had the same problem when I was growing up in Middle America. My family belonged to a small church, almost a sect, that was going on hard times, and eventually died. At the same time, the Economy, which had provided good jobs, also went out of existence.

I survived by becoming an Electronic Engineer and moving away from the Midwest, where nothing was going on.

I then got into Computers, in California, in the Eighties and Nineties, which went thru a boom, and then a bust.

And then I left the country.

She Wears Panty Hose as part of Her Business Suit

Wikipedia

Thus gal has good legs, and I couldn't help looking up them.

Men gain power by putting on clothes. Women gain power by taking their clothes off.

Business Suits

Wikipedia

See also U.S. Ambassador to the U.N Samantha Power and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin wearing business wear suits as per their gender.

She is wearing Panty Hose as part of her business suit.

Not being Aware

I continue my struggle to understand my Times. While Most People are determined to not understand them.

Fundamental to our Times is the distinction between Most People and everyone else. Most People are like everyone else in their crowd, as conformist as they can be. And completely unaware of this.

I have been reading carefully the book Secreta and Lies. Which was about Software, but can be applied anywhere.

And asking myself "When did this happen?" It must have been part of huge social change, probably the Industrial Revolution, when machines took over. And now the Computer, with its Internet and Cellular Networks.

The Computer is aware, but computer users are not.

Joseph Smith's Secrets and Lies

These have been revealed in the book Kingdom of Nauvoo, which I am still reading.

I am also reading Secrets and Lies, and the two go together nicely. in my Kindle reader.

Joseph Smith was ahead of time, as a ruthless scoundrel.

Microsoft must be Regulated

I have two Windows 10 laptops, and neither one works.

The problem with the newer one is clearly the fault of the Windows Operating System. That Microsoft will not fix.

Since most of the Computers in the world run on Windows and Microsoft is an American company, this is a problem America has to fix.

And it can fix it the usual way - by adding a branch of the Government tasked with fixing the problem.

This will not be hard, there are many qualified Software Developers who are aware of Microsoft's problems. Laws must be added to back them up.

I worked for 15 years for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and no one has complained about its making the sky safer.

Another administration must be added to make computers safer.

Most People will not Code Computers

They seem to feel it is below their dignity, to interact with such inferior beings.

They are inferior beings, no question about that, but useful ones if we can take the trouble to understand them.

But for most people, this is impossible! Their minds have already been stretched too far, and they will not go further.

They have been insulted by the Industrial Revolution, which made machines more important than they were. And they can see the Computer is another machine, worse than ever.

Our technologies have taken us too far and left us in the Land of Oz.

Most People are like Other People

And not just a little bit, they conform all the way.

They choose the easiest way to conform, and the easiest kind of person to become.

This is especially true in an office, where most people have their jobs.

Any Artificial Intelligence there will not be very intelligent.

We are Perfect, Right Now

How did I arrive at this conclusion? By thinking of our Avon Lady back in the Fifties in my hometown of Nauvoo, Illinois (population one thousand).

This lady was a perfect fit for the job. Even my mother (not the most sociable of persons) was glad to see her. and buy some trinkets she didn't really need.

Why was she so popular? Because she told women what they wanted to hear: the good news. Suitably spiced up with the latest gossip.

They didn't want to hear bad things, only good things.

Job Training

This saved the life of a cousin of mine. He got into a career for which he was not well-suited.

He grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio area. One of the many backward areas in the US. He went to college and trained to become a Social Worker, and got a job doing that.

But immediately found he could not. He was a married man with children at the time. His wife left him in disgust, taking the children with her. He was a failure, just out of college.

Fortunately, he had a sister living in Northern Virginia, in the DC area. She and her husband invited him to live with them, while he got his life sorted out. He took Adult Education courses, which included tests to determine what kind of jobs he was suited for. They indicated he could be a surveyor.

He took courses to become a surveyor. got a job doing that, and became a success!

This indicates the importance of living in the right area, which are not that common. And of being mobile, able to move around.

Talk Big, but do Little

I am reading Secrets and Lies. aad this one of his main points.

He is focused on Sec\uriy, which is a business expense. Software Developers want to make good software, but the companies who hire them want cheap software.

The result is mostly cheap software, with a lot of talk about how good it is.

Talk is cheap.

Finding Good People in a Bad World

When J was working in Silicon Valley in the Nineties, I was doing therapy again. Everyone was, but few were aware of this.

Two impulses were working in us at the same time: (1) the desire to make things work. and (2) the opposite desire, to make things not work, to destroy everything. This was such a horrible impulse, we could not be aware of it.

The solution was simple: to get out of there. I moved to Costa Rica, where people still liked people.

I was not the only one, there were plenty of Gringos here making a new life for themselves, and learning Spanish.

There was an organization helping us with this: ARCR, the Association of Residents of Costa Rica. They helped me get my Residency and then faded out of existence.

Something strange was going on, that I still do not understand. Most of those Gringoes were going back! They could only live where they came from, usually the USA.

Strange things were going on there: the USSR had vanished, and the US had a Gulf War (that was very successful). The US had found a new enemy but was not sure what (o where) it was.  Maybe Afghanistan.

It also found the Computer (or the Computer found it) and the Coronavirus was added to the party!

Things were so complicated, most people ceased to exist.

The Computer cannot make People Better

The Computer and People are entirely different things. We are alive, but it is not. it is a machine.

To some people, this makes no difference. I just read the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. This mass shooting was caused by one 20-year old boy, and his weapons.

No computer was at the scene.

But you will hear people, who should know better, say that the Computer with Artificial Intelligence can make people better, and is doing just that.

BS!

Secrets and Lies

This is a book Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, that have just downloaded from Amazon, for $9.99.

I am also reading Zoom Is a Nightmare. So Why Is Everyone Still Using It?

Both of these are part of our Big Problem: We can not understand our very technical world. 

Lady Godiva

Wikipedia

See also Sidesaddle

Godiva, Countess of Mercia (/ɡəˈdaɪvə/; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English Godgifu, was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly remembered for a legend dating back at least to the 13th century, in which she rode naked—covered only in her long hair—through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband, Leofric, imposed on his tenants.

Our Basic Problem

Yes, we do have a basic problem, all of us. But most of us don't want to know anything about it, because it is so terrible.

What is it?

You probably already know. but don't want to face it.

To understand it, we have to go back in history to the point when we became a successful species, somewhere in East Africa. Sometime later, we were all over the world.

This was made possible by our invention of language, something no other species has. We soon had hundreds of them. Each occupying its own tiny space on the Planet.

This was Phase One of Human Development. We came down out of trees and walked everywhere, usually in groups, talking (and singing). What came next?

We became Civilized. This was based on the use of clay for everything, including writing.

The amount of writing we did was prodigious, museums are still full of clay tablets. Mostly records of offerings to Gods and Goddesses, which we also invented.

We were inventing alternative realities. And these would get us into plenty of trouble!

There was Reality, that everything had. And many Realities, that only we had.

And these quickly got out of control. Our technologies (including Religion) were now running us.

You wanna get smart?

Then you need AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Getting Smart is not the same thing as Being Smart, and this is explained nicely in the video produced by Microsoft called Reprogramming the American Dream, which is also a book.

This is so hard for me to understand. I have a separate tab for it in my browser, so I can watch it for 15 minutes at a time.

The Reconstruction of Microsoft

Microsoft was called the Evil Empire for ifs ruthless business practices, back in the Fifties. And was being sued by nearly every State in the Union.

But the Feds stepped and said "Let us take care of this," and appointed a Federal judge to handle the case. She did practically nothing.

But the EU did do something. and forced Microsoft to change its ways.

And along the way. I am not sure when, Microsoft had a change of heart. And realized cooperation was better than competition - at least for Software. And Bill Gares became a big-time philanthropist.

The Software Industry was changing from hundreds of companies to four, and Microsoft had to hustle to stay in business.

And part of that hustle was changing the way it was seen. It became one of the Good Guys, that everyone could get along with. Someone you could Trust.

What a renowned infectious diseases doctor learned when he got COVID-19

ABC News

This is the best thing I have read about the Virus.

It shows the experts are confused about the subject.

Widely Used AI Machine Learning Methods Don’t Work as Claimed

SciTechDaily

I start the day by looking at Google News, which gave me this link.

I could only understand its reference to Machine Learning and its reference to Software Developers. because I was one of those myself.

I was also a tech writer, and I could tell this guy knew what he was writing about.

Northern Virginia has Money

I learned this when I visited my cousin, who lives there.

His house was right next to the intersection of two large streets containing four lanes (two lanes each way). The lights controlling this intersection impressed me. They were smart, controlled by a smart computer, which must have cost money.

Just across this intersection was a shopping center containing the largest supermarket I have ever seen.

The highlight of the day was the evening meal, at which my cousin displayed the wine purchase he had made that day. He had developed a good taste for wine, but the main point for him was how cheap it was, and what a good shopper he was!

He walked down the aisle at the supermarket, looking for on sale tags. And if the price was low enough, he bought it and took it home for the evening meal.

Northern Virginia contains the Pentagon, practically a city within a city, with a budget larger than most countries.

And it now contains Amazon's new headquarters, also with a huge budget.

My Preference for being Knowledgeable

Knowing what is going on is one of life's pleasures, it seems to me.

But most people feel differently. For them, the best solution is to not know what is going on. And they feel strongly about this.

What is going on is so terrible, they don't want to know about it.

To finish this essay properly, I should say what this horrible thing (that most people are terrified of) is.

But all I can do is urge you to think about it.

People who are Good at Software want to make other People good at Software Too

Computers run on software, and software is made by people. These people are different, but not that different. 

I discovered this back in the Eighties when I bought the first portable computer and put it to work writing computer documents.

I was a tech writer then. I could write my documents. save them to floppy disks, and take my disks to our word-processing gals, who had their own computer. They could do their thing (there wasn't much left to do. actually) and send it out to be printed. My boss did the figures, and I was three times as productive! He never got smart and offered me a raise.

I also noticed I could use my computer to do some programming, and I set to work doing that. I was working in the same room with the programmers, and I was showing them my work. They offered me a job as a programmer! 

I had my own terminal with a much larger screen, that was connected to a network that included their mini-computer in a room next door, that had a huge fast printer!

I went up un the world without even trying!

The Appeal of Polygamy

This was one of the secret practices taught by Joseph Smith in the last days of his life, in Nauvoo, Illinois. Which resulted in his death at the hands of a mob in 1844.

People have since wondered how he and his followers (the Mormons) could have been so stupid? What did they see in this strange practice?

It was easy to see the advantage for the men - it gave them access to more women. But what was its appeal to women?

This hard to understand unless you understand the Mormon mindset at the time. They saw themselves as continuing the Will of God. One of the basic ideas behind any religion.

They had left America in search of a land they could call their own. And they had found it on the shores of the Great Salt Lake!

What followed was the gradual accommodation of the Mormons to American Life in the next one hundred years.

This took a while, but resulted in Mitt Romney, a Republican senator from the State of Utah, voting to depose Trump!

Reorganization of the Software Industry

This happened from 2000-2014 when hundreds of Software companies were reduced to four (Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft).

I saw this myself, in Silicon Valley in the Nineties, during the dot-com boom and bust.  This was craziness on the largest scale ever seen. Blood was flowing down the aisles between the cubicles.

The people in those cubicles did not see anything. But struggled to meet their mortgage payments. They were not going to say "This is crazy!" because this would cost them their jobs.

Wealth at the top was measured in trillions of dollars, and at the bottom by the sickness produced by Coronavirus.

How these two events are related, no one knows.

Before You can Understand the Computer, You have to Understand Yourself

But for most people, this is the last thing they want to understand. They are not interested in understanding much of anything, and that is why elected Trump.

I am taking a course on understanding the Google Cloud Platform, but this course does not realize how old I am, and has shut me off before I could complete the lab. It assumes I have a nice, young brain, when at 83, this is hardly the case.

The Transition from the RLDS church to the Community of Christ church

Someone should write about this, but no one has, and no one probably will. Because it is too embarrassing for the people involved.

How did they transition from a proud little church (who thought itself to be the center of the universe)  to practically nothing?

We will have to start in 1881, when rich farmers from Northern Illinois.who organized the RLDS church, purchased farmland in Southern Iowa. And built a town they called Lamoni.

Their religious leader was Joseph Smith III, the son of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, who was killed by a mob in 1844.

The Church grew under his leadership. The exact statistics are hard to obtain because after he died, in 1914, the growth rate slowed down.

The church history in the 20th Century was marked by a lack of leadership and a loss of members despite an infusion from Australia.

The lack of leadership in the last half of the 20th Century led a complete takeover by an unknown named Veazy, who continues to lead the church.

Nicole (and her breasts) on YouTbbe

Vice

Neekolul, whose first name is Nicole, rose to popularity through a single TikTok video. In it, she's dancing to a song by YouTuber Senzawa called, "OK, Boomer." She smiles, winks and dances at the camera, lip-syncing along, "Whatever you say, Boomer." Her tweet of this video was retweeted 20,000 and has more than 100,000. 

They live in a Computer Economy, but they are not part of it

We live in a strange world! One created by the Computer, but populated by people who do not understand it. And who are determined to not understand it.

Our technology has improved rapidly, but we have not changed very much. I try to keep up with the latest software improvements, but my old mind is not up to it.

The few companies who do understand computer technologies are incredibly rich, but the companies who do not understand it (and their employees) are lucky to just survive.

The result is increasing rule by dictators, who promise to make things better, but only make things better for themselves.

Was Joseph Smith a good father for his sons?

We don't know, but probably not.

They must have had a strange family life by today's standards, with Joseph spending much of his time on the second floor of his store.

Two hundred years ago, people were not concerned with their parenting. They had children. but these children were not an important part of their parent's lives.

The lives of children and adults were too different.

One thing I enjoy seeing in rural Costa Rica is adults spending time with children. And they are in no rush to make them grow up. Children can be children as long as they want.

Consider John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers. We know something of his family life from the letters of his wife Abigail. She has her own Wikipedia entry.

To the intense relief of Abigail, she got to live with her family in Paris, where they spoke French as a second language. And where she developed an intense dislike for Thomas Jefferson.

John Quincy Adams, their son. was a President himself.

Honesty

Honesty is one of the basic things that make human society work - or not work. If a society becomes too dishonest, it stops working, and cannot be fixed. Mexico may be in that situation now.

Another case in point was the Soviet Union, that eventually self-destructed. It had everything going for it, but honesty. And the same is now true of the US, the UK, and the EU.

A closely related concept is trust.

Crypto is based on the discovery that trust, in some situations, is not necessary. It is now busy discovering how far this can be extended. In my opinion, this will require an improved ability to determine if a person is honest or not. 

This also applies to religion. The protestants protested that the church was dishonest. The worst wars in history resulted.

How much sex can you have?

If you are a woman the answer is easy: an unlimited amount, although it might get boring after a while.

If you are a man, the answer is almost as easy: right after the last time. Your batteries will have to recharge, but this will not take long.

I learned this from personal experience, with a live-in girlfriend. She learned it from her mother. who saw how much money GIs had in wartime England, and wanted some of it for herself. The easiest way to get this was lots of sex. Tit for Tat.

This was not an original idea, Cleopatra had used it, and it worked. If babies were produced, so much the better!

My girlfriend did not stop to think that doing it less often might work just as well. She was not a thinking person.

If I sometimes asked myself "Didn't we just do this?" She would answer "Yes, and we are going to do it again!"

Marina Abramović

You can see everything now on the Internet, and she is now one of its most prolific performers. As this YouTube video shows, she has invented a new kind of performance. It is violent more than it is sexual - but there is some of that too.

He believed Missouri was the Promised Land the Saints should Occupy

This was the biggest mistake of Joseph Smith's life. One that resulted in the deaths of many of his followers and the loss of their property. And was the cause of several Mormon Wars.

And in a few years, it turned into the American Civil War, that devastated America for a hundred years. Until LBJ and his Civil Rights.

Missouri now, two hundred years later, is a normal place. It's hard to imagine it as it was: with dead bodies everywhere.

Joseph Smith had the ability to become whatever other people wanted him to be

This made him attractive to women especially. They knew he was the man they had been looking for, all their lives.

His own wife, Emma, believed in him all her life, even as he changed frequently. She did not insist that he remain the same person, but was willing to accommodate whoever he had become. Whatever he was, was all right with her.

When he died. at the hands of a mob, this left her with a problem: which of his selves should she remember?

She adopted Joseph's solution: she remembered him as other people wanted to remember him. If they had forgotten polygamy, she forgot that also.

Her sons adopted this solution also as they joined the RLDS church. Their father was the perfect man everyone wanted to remember.

Emma Smith told her Sons little about their Father, Joseph Smith

When they joined the RLDS church, their first project was to convert members of the LDS church, in Utah, working from their home. in Nauvoo. Illinois.

This failed completely, and they had to move to Plano, Illinois. The youngest son, David, lost his mind after one of these trips to Utah and spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.

Caring for People, or caring for Business

As I read everything about the Virus this morning (and there was plenty to read) a familiar pattern emerged - a lot of concern for Business (or the Economy) but much less concern for the People in this Economy.

Especially those in the worst shape. What do I mean by that? I mean People with Mental and Medical problems. Mental problems are the hardest to define but are just as important. When they affect most of the population, they become invisible to them. 

Minimal Skills, Minimal Wages

In America, most young people fall into this category. And they (and their parents) seem satisfied with it.

Having good skills (and good wages) is roo much work -- they feel.

I am taking an online software course. that is easy If I wanted a software job, I could get a good one.

But for most people, this scares them.

Go figure. 

Yami is without a Job

And she is desperate.

She assumes, rightfully. that world should take care of her - but it is not. She asks "Why?" but there is no answer. 

She has always been able to get a job before, but now there are none. 

Her government will give her $200 a month, but since she is the primary provider for her family (four children by three husbands) this is not enough.

Her oldest son (who is an American by her first husband) has a job rafting in Alaska in the summers, so she does not have to support him. 

Her husband works occasionally in construction. but there are no jobs there either.

The global economy is down. because of a new Virus. Something Yami cannot comprehend.

One answer to all this popped into my inbox this morning The Pandemic and Organized Crime in Latin America.

And Why AMLO Is Going It Alone, Again, on Coronavirus

The Life and Death Shift

NY Times Magazine

The Times here is experimenting with a new digital format. And I have to say it is successful.

I can sit here, in my pajamas, in Costa Rica, and watch a tragedy unfold in Italy.

Self-Destruction in Nauvoo

How many times has this happened in human history!

I am reading Kingdom of Nauvoo, about the events there in 1843. I recommend it to you.

This is four years of history on the American frontier, with the last year being the most eventful.

Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln were active at the same time and in the same place, but neither took the other seriously.

Lincoln's death was mourned by the whole country, but Smith was quickly buried in an unmarked grave.

Kenya is Making Face Masks

Washington Post

Kenya must be one of the poorest counties in the world, but it has a factory making these masks. These women work in 8-hour shifts and sleep in dormitories, provided by the company. Working conditions are brutal, and most of the workers are women, who are used to being abused.

The US, masks are being made as a cottage industry, a few at a time.

Bad local conditions here are having a beneficial global effect.

Good Coffee has to Smell good and Taste good

I bought some yesterday because it combined the taste of chocolate with the taste of coffee. These tastes, however, are not compatible.

I made some this morning, and the smell was great! But the taste was not.

Into the trash, it goes.

Educational Apps

Schools are now using Chromebooks and Educational Apps, instead of teachers, because this solution is cheaper.

They are not asking if this solution is better - they just ask if it is cheaper.

I am taking an online course now, and it is excellent. The instructor understands the subject, and the company supports him with good instructional software.

People do not understand that the computer is stupid, and people have to make it smart. If this combination is not in place, the overall combination is stupid.

Me and the Virus in Cartago

I had to do my weekly grocery shopping in Cartago yesterday. virus or no virus. I got the job done. bur it took longer than usual because many employees were not working.

I got to see for myself how dependent we are on each other, to order to meet our basic human needs.

One of these basic needs is for face coverings - which are not available.

These are simple devices, but they have to be made properly, of the right materials, that are not available in the usual home.

They have to force the air coming into the mouth and nose to be filtered through the material of the covering.

The Computer will not Save us

I was learning the Python programming language, but I have lost interest in this. Why?

Because I have realized how inadequate the computer is for solving our important problems.

I am not speaking of the coronavirus, that the Computer can help us with. I am speaking of our self-destructive tendencies, that we cannot control, and which the computer has made worse.

I am qualified to speak of this. I worked in the Computer Industry from 1980-2000. I served my time in the trenches, with bombs going off all around me.

The software did improve from 2000-2020 but these improvements were so technical most people could not understand them. They elected Trump, and will probably elect him again.

His message was simple "I will save you." And Americans believe him.

Photography and my Father

My Father had a Photography Studio in Ft. Madison, Iowa.

He had joined the Marine Corp in 1930 (because of the Depression) and developed an interest in photography, especially home movies, in the next four years. He sent all his money home to his mother, and when he returned home, he bought a photography studio and got married.

I arrived in 1936. People were still having babies, even though they could not afford them. We could not afford a car, and Dad rode a bicycle to his Studio.

Then WWII happened, and we were rich, having the only photography studio in town. Everyone was rich then. We moved into a new house, with a garage for our new car!

Dad's studio moved to a better location, and he was in his prime! His favorite room was the Darkroom. and I got a box to stand on, while I worked the prints through the Hypo. Then the prints then went to the Washer, and Dad made little paddleboats I could use there.

Photography in those days was a complicated business, requiring lots of machinery and chemicals. But Dad could use all of them. He was a small businessman, and could not work for anyone else.

After the war, returning soldiers opened their own studios and charged lower prices.  Dad's studio went out of business.

In 1947 we moved across the Mississippi River to my Mother's home town of Nauvoo, Illinois. It was a beautiful, fruit-growing place that grew lots of table grapes (and grapes for wine also).

I liked living in a small town, and I live in one now - in Costa Rica.

Polygamy and Industry

You probably know what I am going to say, just from reading the title.

Mormonism was caused by the Industrial Revolution. A huge event we have never understood very well.

Joseph Smith, the creator of Mormonism, was also a spokesperson for Industrialization.

This emphasized more of everything, and to Smith's mind, this meant more wives.

This was not accepted by Joseph Smith's own wife Emma, who threatened to divorce him. To prevent this, he gave her a lot of his property. Which forced her to stay in Nauvoo after his death.

She never mentioned any of this to her sons, who became involved in the RLDS church.

We are Surrounded by Defective Apps

Why? Because we live in a world where nearly everything is defective, and being defective feels normal.

My solution? Write my own apps, using the Python programming language - as taught by DataCamp.

I just started and it looks like fun.

For most people, this sounds crazy "Learning is fun?"

Alcohol

We cannot live with it, and we cannot live without it. 

I have just experienced this myself. I bought some Rompope (a local beverage with 4% alcohol). Just to see what it tasted like. I didn't like it. And I put it back in the Refrigerator, with the firm intention of disposing of it the next day. The next day, I liked it and drank the whole thing.

What happened? I developed a tolerance for alcohol overnight!

I can see why alcoholics can say "I don't know what came over me!" And then take another one. 

They will not Share their Personal Lives with Anyone

They can be clever at hiding this. I was married to a woman for five years, before she had a mental breakdown, ended our marriage - and then, a few years later. killed herself.

Why? I will never know. But I can be sure it was because of her crazy family. Just as my problems are caused by my crazy family.

This is a crucial point that many people will not admit - that our problems are caused by others. Or even more fundamentally, that they have serious problems.

We all have serious problems, they are part of the human condition. They make us interesting, if we can look through a crack in their shell.

The Coming of the Secular Organization

America has always had a mixture of secular and religious components. The Enlightenment was s mostly secular, and America led the world with its Constitutional government, which produced great wealth.

During the 19rh Century, there was the Second Great Awakening which produced new churches, such as the LDS (Mormon) church - and Industrialization. And the Civil War over Slavery. These were huge events, and they consumed the American public, which had little awareness of what was going on.

The 20th Century produced WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII. And in the last half of that Century: the Computer, with its Internet and Cellular networks.

These were Secular organizations (as well as Technical). The world became divided into those who understood these new technologies - and those who could not (most of the population).

Another Religious organization arose: Evangelicalism. who wanted to return to the past. and its wealth.

Why Decentralization Matters

one zero

There is some deep thinking here, I can hardly fathom. But also something that grabs my brainstem - that mediates between my brain and my body.

This js new stuff, where we feel like we did when we descended from the trees in East Africa. 

How did it All End?

I am thinking this morning about my life in the Sixties and Seventies. Looking back on it, it seems amazing. But it seemed ordinary enough at the time.

We were all doing the Right Thing together. And what the Right Thing was, was obvious.

I was living in Denver. And I went every weekend to a workshop. The ones I usually attended were run by a young woman, another engineer, who had her own boyfriend, who she was sexually active with (everyone was sexually active). She called her organization People House.

Some of her workshops taught Gestalt therapy, a therapy taught by Fritz Perls who lived at the Esalen Institute in Californa. He taught a different therapy each year and would teach that therapy to his students every year. Who would then teach in workshops all over the country - and even abroad.

This teacher had been a Psychology professor before he went into Gesralt. And Frtiz had been part of Freud's gang (which contained people who did not believe in him at all).

All of this fit comfortably together in California. But this was the scenic desert in Southern Utah, close to Arches National Monument.

My teacher had become a publisher for Fritz, in a company he called Real People Press. And was making a lot of money that way. He bought a ranch in this area, that gone broke because it lacked water, when there was plenty of water in the Delores river that ran along the property. 

Then Electricity was brought to the area. and everyone could have water by installing a pump.

There were houses on the property, that my teacher was renovating. I moved into one of them and was sleeping with wife #1, in another house close by.

We frequently went skinny-dipping in the river.

All this ended in 1980. and we now have a computer world, where skinny-dipping is not so easy.

People who Want to be Deceived

I continue to wonder about the people around me, and I continue to correspond with my family about the family Church.

And I have concluded that they are people who want to be deceived. And this desire is strong in their lives. 

This is most easily seen in their devotion to the Book of Mormon, which they believe in. 

You may reply that this is only natural for religious people, and I should not expect anything different.

You are right, and I will confine most of my critical comments to this blog.