Yes, we do have such a problem, and it is a serious one. Because, for the most part - we are not aware of it.
We have known about it. however, for a long time, at least since the Greeks started thinking about what strange beings they were. And since then, we have become even stranger.
The problem can be stated simply - we do not want to think about what we are, how strange we are. We insist, with all our might - that there is nothing strange about us, at all. That we can explain ourselves simply, and logically. That we have no mysterious ingredients.
I will have no difficulty telling you, that I am strange. But enormous difficulty telling you that you are. Because once you admit that, heavens knows where your thinking will led you. You might end up thinking you are mysterious yourself!
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Is This Good?
For me, this is the most fundamental question, and it really bothers me if it is not other people's fundamental question. Or if they say it is, and I can see it is really not. Being happy seems to be their most important value - and they concentrate on that.
I have nothing against being happy, and I spend most of my life, as any animal does, letting my body take care of that. But I am not just an animal - some of my ancestors decided to become something other than an animal, and we call that different way of being - being human.
But this different way of life, did not include an instruction manual. We were simply made that way, and had to do the best we could with what we had. And what we had was not the best, and caused us lots of problems.
We have to start with that - we are imperfect beings, with some fundamental problems, that are not going to solve themselves. We have to do the best we can, with the cards we have been dealt with.
.
I strongly disagree with the belief that perfection is possible, and we should aim for that. This is a pernicious belief, and has caused us lots of problems. We have to start where we are - and not where we want to be.
This not what most people believe. They believe they are perfect, but have become imperfect, because of demonic forces - and they have to go after them, first. Then they can become perfect, easily.
They will not accept, that they are not perfect, and cannot be perfect. They cannot, cannot, and cannot accept this. And no one can change their minds about this.
This is what the Liberals have not realized - what they are up against. They have to look deeper, into what people really are - not what they say they are. They can easily say the right things, and then do the wrong things.
This is one of our basic defects - we can easily deceive ourselves.
I have nothing against being happy, and I spend most of my life, as any animal does, letting my body take care of that. But I am not just an animal - some of my ancestors decided to become something other than an animal, and we call that different way of being - being human.
But this different way of life, did not include an instruction manual. We were simply made that way, and had to do the best we could with what we had. And what we had was not the best, and caused us lots of problems.
We have to start with that - we are imperfect beings, with some fundamental problems, that are not going to solve themselves. We have to do the best we can, with the cards we have been dealt with.
.
I strongly disagree with the belief that perfection is possible, and we should aim for that. This is a pernicious belief, and has caused us lots of problems. We have to start where we are - and not where we want to be.
This not what most people believe. They believe they are perfect, but have become imperfect, because of demonic forces - and they have to go after them, first. Then they can become perfect, easily.
They will not accept, that they are not perfect, and cannot be perfect. They cannot, cannot, and cannot accept this. And no one can change their minds about this.
This is what the Liberals have not realized - what they are up against. They have to look deeper, into what people really are - not what they say they are. They can easily say the right things, and then do the wrong things.
This is one of our basic defects - we can easily deceive ourselves.
Friday, February 2, 2018
What Makes People Do What They Do?
This is not a question that keeps most people awake at night. Like sensible people, they just go to sleep - and go on with whatever they were doing, the next morning. The world they left behind, will still be the same the next day.
But there are still some people (such as me) who will persist in asking why - why does everything work this way? The basic answer, for thousands of years, has always been - supernatural beings make everything work the way it works. And this is still the default answer for most people.
But a few hundred years ago, Science arrived, with a different answer - there were scientific laws, expressed as mathematical equations, that described how things worked. And these laws could be used to give people control over their world - to make them more powerful, and to make them rich!
This was immediately put to use by the Industrial Revolution - that devised many machines, that could use the power of fossil fuels, initially Coal, but later Oil.
And this made some people rich - but the rest, poor - and very poor. There had always been poor people, but this was a new kind of urban poverty, that was appalling. Clearly, something had gone wrong - but what?
People had devised a new ideology, that was called by many names - none of the very flattering to the society that devised them. This new ideology gave too much control, to the wrong kind of people.
This was easy enough to see, and most people agreed with it - but they could not agree on how to solve this problem. They knew something other than people had to be in control - and they could not betray this fundamental belief.
The Enlightenment had an answer - the rule of Reason. But this was quickly overruled by Passions, that were much more powerful. As shown by the French Revolution, that destroyed an entire nation.
This brings us up to the end of the 19th Century - and WWI, the Depression, WWII, and the Cold War. What was in control here? Whatever it was, it was not very nice - even though people tried their very best to make it look that way.
This is when I came on the scene, as an Electronic Engineer (U of Illinois, 1959). I could make no sense of what was going on - but no one else could either. We just kept on making money from the Cold War, that was bankrupting the USSR.
Then the Vacuum Tube became obsolete, and I was out of a job. So I moved to where the money was - in Computers. This made sense, at the time, because I had a technical background, and I could write - so I became a Tech Writer, in high-tech California.
I had walked into a minefield, and was lucky to be able to retire on my Social Security pension - in 2001, in Costa Rica. Here I can sit, in my pajamas, and my laptop, with a fast Internet - and watch the craziness going on back in the States.
This includes the Bits Newsletter from the NY Times. You might want to subscribe to it, for yourself.
Computer Science is a new kind of Science, that works entirely differently - using a different kind of mathematics, called algorithms. That most people cannot comprehend.
But there are still some people (such as me) who will persist in asking why - why does everything work this way? The basic answer, for thousands of years, has always been - supernatural beings make everything work the way it works. And this is still the default answer for most people.
But a few hundred years ago, Science arrived, with a different answer - there were scientific laws, expressed as mathematical equations, that described how things worked. And these laws could be used to give people control over their world - to make them more powerful, and to make them rich!
This was immediately put to use by the Industrial Revolution - that devised many machines, that could use the power of fossil fuels, initially Coal, but later Oil.
And this made some people rich - but the rest, poor - and very poor. There had always been poor people, but this was a new kind of urban poverty, that was appalling. Clearly, something had gone wrong - but what?
People had devised a new ideology, that was called by many names - none of the very flattering to the society that devised them. This new ideology gave too much control, to the wrong kind of people.
This was easy enough to see, and most people agreed with it - but they could not agree on how to solve this problem. They knew something other than people had to be in control - and they could not betray this fundamental belief.
The Enlightenment had an answer - the rule of Reason. But this was quickly overruled by Passions, that were much more powerful. As shown by the French Revolution, that destroyed an entire nation.
This brings us up to the end of the 19th Century - and WWI, the Depression, WWII, and the Cold War. What was in control here? Whatever it was, it was not very nice - even though people tried their very best to make it look that way.
This is when I came on the scene, as an Electronic Engineer (U of Illinois, 1959). I could make no sense of what was going on - but no one else could either. We just kept on making money from the Cold War, that was bankrupting the USSR.
Then the Vacuum Tube became obsolete, and I was out of a job. So I moved to where the money was - in Computers. This made sense, at the time, because I had a technical background, and I could write - so I became a Tech Writer, in high-tech California.
I had walked into a minefield, and was lucky to be able to retire on my Social Security pension - in 2001, in Costa Rica. Here I can sit, in my pajamas, and my laptop, with a fast Internet - and watch the craziness going on back in the States.
This includes the Bits Newsletter from the NY Times. You might want to subscribe to it, for yourself.
Computer Science is a new kind of Science, that works entirely differently - using a different kind of mathematics, called algorithms. That most people cannot comprehend.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Why am I Interested in Software?
Be darned if I know. I worked in that Industry for 20 years, and I saw so many bad things go on there - it should have given me a permanent aversion for the subject. But somehow I knew that was not what Software was supposed to be - and things would get better.
And things have gotten better - in some ways. And there are plenty of people who want to show me those ways - without sending me to college first.
They are not going to make the world better - only make software better. But we will have to settle for that.
Enterprise Must Be Free
This is what Adam Smith said in 1776, and what his followers have been saying ever since. The Government must let Business alone - so it can make money, and everyone else can benefit from that precious money.
This is what brought my father's family to Ft. Madison, Iowa, early in the last Century - jobs! This is what brought me to Silicon Valley, in the last half of the Century - I had to have a job, to support myself and my lovely, but crazy wife.
This was I was paid to write, as a technical writer "Our product is Enterprise-Ready, and you have to buy it, right now!" You, no matter who your are, must spend your money, right now!
Money has to be kept flowing, or horrible things happen - to the producers and the consumers. And you do not want that to happen!
This is what brought my father's family to Ft. Madison, Iowa, early in the last Century - jobs! This is what brought me to Silicon Valley, in the last half of the Century - I had to have a job, to support myself and my lovely, but crazy wife.
This was I was paid to write, as a technical writer "Our product is Enterprise-Ready, and you have to buy it, right now!" You, no matter who your are, must spend your money, right now!
Money has to be kept flowing, or horrible things happen - to the producers and the consumers. And you do not want that to happen!
The Prozac Hoax
I was part of this, beginning in Silicon Valley in the Nineties - and ending in Costa Rica ten years later.
I had a therapist in the Valley, who diagnosed me as suffering from Depression. In a way, he was right - being in the Valley was an awful experience, for me - for a number of reasons, some of them quite valid.
I had worked for many computer companies, on many projects - and all of them had failed. And most of the companies had gone out of business. And no one saw this as a problem, for anyone to worry about. I saw it as an ongoing disaster.
He only saw I was depressed. But he had a solution for me - Prozac, the wonder pill that would solve my problems. He worked with a Psychiatrist, who gave me a prescription for it, starting off at 10 milligrams a day, when the normal dosage was 20 milligrams. This was powerful stuff, and he wanted to take it easy.
It did nothing for me, so they keep increasing the dosage. And when I moved to Costa Rica, they kept increasing the dosage to 60 milligrams, a very high dosage, that my doctors worried about.
Meanwhile studies were being done, by medical researchers - to determine its effectiveness. Some people were given Prozac, and some people were given a pill with no active ingredient - and the results were compared. There was no difference in the results!
On my own, I decided to reduce my intake down to nothing. immediately. And experienced no ill effects. I was feeling better, because I was in a country that still liked people. And my condition continued to improve.
I do not recommend my solution for everyone - but it was the right one for me.
I had a therapist in the Valley, who diagnosed me as suffering from Depression. In a way, he was right - being in the Valley was an awful experience, for me - for a number of reasons, some of them quite valid.
I had worked for many computer companies, on many projects - and all of them had failed. And most of the companies had gone out of business. And no one saw this as a problem, for anyone to worry about. I saw it as an ongoing disaster.
He only saw I was depressed. But he had a solution for me - Prozac, the wonder pill that would solve my problems. He worked with a Psychiatrist, who gave me a prescription for it, starting off at 10 milligrams a day, when the normal dosage was 20 milligrams. This was powerful stuff, and he wanted to take it easy.
It did nothing for me, so they keep increasing the dosage. And when I moved to Costa Rica, they kept increasing the dosage to 60 milligrams, a very high dosage, that my doctors worried about.
Meanwhile studies were being done, by medical researchers - to determine its effectiveness. Some people were given Prozac, and some people were given a pill with no active ingredient - and the results were compared. There was no difference in the results!
On my own, I decided to reduce my intake down to nothing. immediately. And experienced no ill effects. I was feeling better, because I was in a country that still liked people. And my condition continued to improve.
I do not recommend my solution for everyone - but it was the right one for me.
Saving the World
This used to be something a lot of people were working on - and they took their duties seriously. There must be some of these people still around, but I don't know any of them. I suspect they got discouraged and gave up. But they haven't realized this, and are not likely to.
They observed, correctly - that the world was no longer good for people. And they also observed, correctly - that this situation was not likely to be changed. There were too many forces working against it.
This conclusion needs to be carefully examined - but to do that, they must first realize, this conclusion had been reached.
How did this happen?
Little by little - in their collective unconscious. And this is an important point - the collective unconscious does exist, but we have not taken it seriously.
It is a vast repository of observations, people have made collectively, and stored away for future reference. Since it is unconscious, people are not aware of it - but it affects how they act, anyway.
If they had been smart, they would have spend some time getting acquainted with it - getting acquainted with their unconscious beliefs. But they were not smart, and avoided doing this.
When I was back in Silicon Valley, in the Nineties - I had therapists, a number of them. But none of them encouraged me to examine my unconscious beliefs. This was not something that was done in the Valley.
In fact, this was not being done anywhere.
They observed, correctly - that the world was no longer good for people. And they also observed, correctly - that this situation was not likely to be changed. There were too many forces working against it.
This conclusion needs to be carefully examined - but to do that, they must first realize, this conclusion had been reached.
How did this happen?
Little by little - in their collective unconscious. And this is an important point - the collective unconscious does exist, but we have not taken it seriously.
It is a vast repository of observations, people have made collectively, and stored away for future reference. Since it is unconscious, people are not aware of it - but it affects how they act, anyway.
If they had been smart, they would have spend some time getting acquainted with it - getting acquainted with their unconscious beliefs. But they were not smart, and avoided doing this.
When I was back in Silicon Valley, in the Nineties - I had therapists, a number of them. But none of them encouraged me to examine my unconscious beliefs. This was not something that was done in the Valley.
In fact, this was not being done anywhere.
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