tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post567392037984464859..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Help Wanted: External Enemy, Must be Existential ThreatGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-80208833853158432932017-10-12T09:02:53.246-07:002017-10-12T09:02:53.246-07:00I see. It’s a blog dedicated to unKnown existenti...I see. It’s a blog dedicated to unKnown existential threats. All the political language threw me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83115256804340869702017-10-11T14:43:20.015-07:002017-10-11T14:43:20.015-07:00I hear you, but I really don't see how it is c...I hear you, but I really don't see how it is common sense.<br /><br />First, predicting what the economy will be like in 150 years is about as accurate as predicting warming patterns in a century using the latest computer models. Basing any long term plan on what you think the future will bring is a fool's errand. If you want to find a human solution to the problems facing humanity, you have to understand what a human is and how humans in general behave under different circumstances. If surplus and automation really do bring about mass idleness, wherein people don't come up with new and interesting ways (or go back to more timeless efforts) to employ themselves, they will find other, more horrible things to do instead. In a way, automation on that level will simply bring about its own end as people not only fail to maintain the equipment, but eventually fail to understand even the most basic things. Apparently, we already have a generation of young adults who need an instructional video on how to use a tape measure. If the automation apocalypse hits, it will only get worse from there. <br /><br />A universal basic income won't help anyone when there's nothing to buy and nothing to build, and nobody who knows how to farm.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89144323214711254492017-10-11T14:24:54.513-07:002017-10-11T14:24:54.513-07:00Julie:
Regarding obligatory unemployment; I don&#...Julie:<br /><br />Regarding obligatory unemployment; I don't see it as necessarily a good thing. Humans feel a fierce joy at making effort, at having problems to surmount which are important to survival. It's what we do. And we've done it all too well. <br /><br />What I'm saying is we are experiencing success at surmounting important problems regarding supply of goods, to the point where there aren't many problems left. Add in automation, and you get a horde of idled human beings. Bored. Irritable. Lacking any pressing problems. Not good. We will have to feed, entertain, and shelter this idled horde, hence "free goods." There is no way around it. <br /><br />Our current model, where all able-bodied adults work for a living, isn't going to be viable for longer than the next 150 years or so. We could start laying the foundation for a universal basic income now. This transcends political science or philosophy and is merely common sense. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1727549922210070772017-10-11T08:56:39.511-07:002017-10-11T08:56:39.511-07:00I can think of hardly anything more anti-human tha...I can think of hardly anything more anti-human than that. Nice theory, wrong species, and to the extent that it is ever attempted, the results can easily be seen in places such as Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, or Detroit. Or Idiocracy.<br /><br />"Imagine" all the free resources you want; if people are getting paid not to work, then nobody will work, and soon enough we will all be waiting in lines for government toilet paper and seeking milk on the black market. If there's no need to work, there's no need to learn, there's no need to grow, no need to raise families, and ultimately no need to become fully human.<br /><br />I do see the concerns about the increasingly automated future, and sadly I don't have any answers to offer besides <i>ora et labora</i>. But I know what <i>won't</i> work, unless the goal is to bring about a new dark age. juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-45153073719086602322017-10-11T08:31:45.879-07:002017-10-11T08:31:45.879-07:00Hi Abdulmonem: As you note, "there is enough ...Hi Abdulmonem: As you note, "there is enough for every body, but the stooges are always in the mode of accusing the generous god of stinginess." So true.<br /><br />We are all "stooges" in this regard. <br /><br />The "work ethic" is deeply ingrained, to the point where, between the ages of 18-65, the main challenge for many Americans is to find and retain paying work. This is in response to the perception that without work necessities can't be obtained. Leisure is prized as a luxury and people fantasize about time off to relax and do nothing.<br /><br />However, this formula increasingly doesn't match reality. Now there is a constant surplus of goods and services, due to efficient agriculture and animal husbandry, and automation and smart innovations over the ages. This surplus is mostly converted into financial holdings managed by those who are good at doing so. Like fat accumulating from over-eating. It isn't very healthy. It creates "artificial scarcity." A waste of time and energy, really like beating a cup of water with a fork. Accomplishing nothing.<br /><br />The work ethic is becoming obsolete. It is perfectly reasonable to request about 50-60% of the population to be idled, and to just distribute goods to all. However, there is a deep, almost instinctive repulsion to giving people "something for nothing." Nevertheless, this is what we'll have to do to cope with the increasingly massive surpluses. <br /><br />Future people will need to be "good" at doing leisure while they are idled, if they are to thrive. In the interim they will wait and pine for a chance to work at the slots available, which could be determined by lottery. Leisure will be the main occupation, broken up by shorter stints of work which will be highly prized.<br /><br />However, everyone will hopefully be issued everything they need, gratis, and wealth hoarding will be seen as kind of like OCD rather than "success."<br /><br />My two cents, Stephen Greybeard. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-84641809636272028872017-10-10T14:41:20.937-07:002017-10-10T14:41:20.937-07:00 Thank you Anon Love neutralises the negativity o... Thank you Anon Love neutralises the negativity of the shadow and rendered ineffective. This is the game of Jesus in offering his other cheek.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02180761762279054000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-34266229492192690682017-10-10T14:07:47.941-07:002017-10-10T14:07:47.941-07:00There is enough for every body, but the stooges ar...There is enough for every body, but the stooges are always in the mode of accusing the generous god of stinginess. One only look to the oceans to see the divine abundance. How ungrateful our humans are, they eat his fruits and deny his generosity. They enjoy his consciousness and imagination and look how they abuse that bounty in such an ugly fashion that the voices of all humanity are crying from the misconduct of the rulers of our unhappy world. It is the thinking lurking behind the different manifestations of the human activities that is the cause of all these maladies. It seems the divine plan is constructed on the long term giving the humans the ample time for boon or bust. Life is short despite all attempts of prolongation. In front of him is the real disclosure of the human symphony in its beauty or its ugliness. Let the thieves and the abusers enjoy their time before it is too late. It is a fast time. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02180761762279054000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58501441157617115382017-10-10T14:05:22.512-07:002017-10-10T14:05:22.512-07:00Abdulmonem, I like your comment. You quote Rumi as...Abdulmonem, I like your comment. You quote Rumi as saying "Love all and forget what is hiding behind the shadow." <br /><br />I would go further and say this is the total solution to worldly harmony, so long as everyone loves all. For she who fails to love all may remind us in painful ways that some unmet need has to be addressed. No way to forget what is hiding in that shadow.<br /><br />And Aphorisms of Sowell reminds us that scarcity is still believed in (politicians do in fact harp on scarcity endlessly). There exists now little scarcity, and all it does is make people anxious. They can't believe scarcity is gone; it has been the rule since before Ramses took his thone. So they create it artificially. It is all we have ever known. <br /><br />A veritable tidal wave of plenty has engulfed this country, with even bigger waves on the horizon. All of that lucre will drive our citizens bonkers unless they can learn to relax and enjoy. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32215432035570711872017-10-10T13:30:19.572-07:002017-10-10T13:30:19.572-07:00They say thinking addiction is one of the most dan...They say thinking addiction is one of the most dangerous addiction, even all other addictions can be retraced to thinking addiction. Religion is a personal psychological exercise through which you address our ills because no other can do that for us . It is the internal enemy not the external enemy that needs to be addressed first. Once the internal foe is fixed the external get dissolved. Humans are imbued with both negative forces and positive and religion is our tool to address that paradoxical construction, It is no wonder all perennial philosophy first lesson is to know thyself. It is blaming the self is the first step in the way of spiritual growth. Rumi said it when he said, You sit here for days, Saying this is a strange business. You are the strange business. You have the energy of the sun creator, but you keep knotted up to the base of your spine. Reconnect!! Say one in your lonesome house. Love all and forget what is hiding behind the shadow. Drink afresh and do not remain hooked to your old wine. Everyday is new,to remind us of renewing ourselves. The doors of our world have been opened on each other and it is unfair to leave ourselves away from tasting the new wine our world is offering.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02180761762279054000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-67276124866931853162017-10-10T12:29:42.895-07:002017-10-10T12:29:42.895-07:00The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there ...The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. <br /><br />The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.<br /><br />Aphorisms of Sowellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-84755761844563461682017-10-10T08:55:42.501-07:002017-10-10T08:55:42.501-07:00We already know why. This blog is about the unKnow...We already know why. This blog is about the unKnown, not the obvious.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00911613613759942690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-80875266926325020792017-10-10T08:52:15.149-07:002017-10-10T08:52:15.149-07:00Instead of the tired old “I know you are but what ...Instead of the tired old “I know you are but what am I” back and forth time/energy wastage, wouldn’t it be more productive, for example, to figure out why US health care costs are so high?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-74984699490790565122017-10-10T07:10:50.760-07:002017-10-10T07:10:50.760-07:00Raccoons are afraid of inattentive drivers.
Raccoons are afraid of inattentive drivers.<br />Dougmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16376833358762656823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51494912634868366822017-10-09T20:15:10.820-07:002017-10-09T20:15:10.820-07:00Hello I am an available enemy. I would like to pos...Hello I am an available enemy. I would like to pose an existential threat, but lack experience in this area. What are you afraid of?<br /><br />Thanks, Your Enemy. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11811177862564610972017-10-09T11:56:46.235-07:002017-10-09T11:56:46.235-07:00"Which is one of the main sociological purpos..."Which is one of the main sociological purposes of sport: I HATE YOUR GUTS HA HA HA!"<br /><br />That is soOo perfect! :-)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-72758671974211467502017-10-09T05:45:29.161-07:002017-10-09T05:45:29.161-07:00Julie says:
"The few times I can think of wh...Julie says:<br /><br />"The few times I can think of where I did call someone out for her behavior toward her boyfriend, it was weird, uncomfortable, and I suspect ultimately ineffectual. The best I can do these days is just try to set an example by my own behavior and hope the people who have something to learn are paying attention."<br /><br />I suspect that's because the calling out is best done by a group in an organized and coherent fashion rather than alone. If you want to do the calling out that is. <br /><br />The group dynamic diffuses the ability of the recipient to immediately counterattack due to the multiple targets, it catches the recipient off guard due to the unexpected incoming diffused information from multiple angles, and the group dynamic strengthens the ability and chance of penetration of the basic psychological defenses to accomplish something of value. <br /><br />Now, how to do this properly in a sane way so that you actually accomplish anything positive, in a non-bullying manner, is beyond what I have the energy to think about right now.<br /><br />So, otherwise, yeah, setting the example with your own behavior and hope the people who have something to learn are paying attention is a solid move in that game.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-76483580142264575852017-10-08T16:00:32.747-07:002017-10-08T16:00:32.747-07:00Case in point. An innocuous question that is compl...<a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/when-making-a-sandwich-is-a-crime-against-feminism/news-story/966a541e2e1ffe7bd5f13047d483ef51" rel="nofollow">Case in point</a>. An innocuous question that is completely not crazy results in a barrage of insane invective. I can't imagine losing my mind over whether or not a complete stranger makes lunch for her man, but then again I'm relatively sane.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-5664666669858466172017-10-08T13:29:45.678-07:002017-10-08T13:29:45.678-07:00Joking aside, Peterson does have a good point. He&...Joking aside, Peterson does have a good point. He's not entirely right; many crazy chicks can be effectively settled by a man who is - or at least acts as though he is - utterly impervious to their crap, and is also firmly capable of enacting consequences when they step out of line. It's just that doing so in the current year can cause even more headaches than just letting them be crazy. Not to mention possible jail time.<br /><br />Not sure if I completely agree that sane women have much influence over the crazy ones these days, since the crazy are all too happy to use mean-girl tactics against the sane. Who has time for that crap? Or even that much influence? I prefer to keep the rabid at arm's length and avoid engaging whenever possible. The few times I can think of where I did call someone out for her behavior toward her boyfriend, it was weird, uncomfortable, and I suspect ultimately ineffectual. The best I can do these days is just try to set an example by my own behavior and hope the people who have something to learn are paying attention.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-41439278788589837472017-10-08T13:07:59.180-07:002017-10-08T13:07:59.180-07:00I dunno, Weinstein seems to have managed it for a ...I dunno, Weinstein seems to have managed it for a good long time...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42665543111283947582017-10-08T12:37:04.769-07:002017-10-08T12:37:04.769-07:00Jordan nails this one.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL3Hrwg3A3w" rel="nofollow">Jordan</a> nails this one. tedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07354048695798015131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-47748980090953669652017-10-07T13:43:45.069-07:002017-10-07T13:43:45.069-07:00Purity. Yes, I think that is the case with me. Tho...Purity. Yes, I think that is the case with me. Though completion and purity can be at antipodes. For example, you are "discarding" lesser parts of your collection while other types of collectors seem to "want" every variation of a thing regardless of its "attractiveness". I used to work with a guy whose girlfriend collected rubber duckies. She had hundreds of them. I think it is/was a thing. Seemed to be the point to get every one no matter what. And that the manufacturers of them seemed to almost mock their followers by producing more and more absurd versions of duckies. In that sense, you and I don't qualify as collectors, but more like, say, sculptors.<br />I've learned in the Indian Motorcycle world, there are the guys who restore and maintain museum quality restorations and then there are the guys who "ride them" aka barn-find unrestored bikes. Me -- I'm trying to re-capture the essence of the racers who ran them back in the day. They were the no-frills, do their own mods types. It was an interesting time in America when most everything was still mechanical and not so electronic. Now it is almost completely the opposite.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994306709948231112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-3111800438480498952017-10-06T09:21:11.145-07:002017-10-06T09:21:11.145-07:00As to the Collecting Bug, if I investigate myself,...As to the Collecting Bug, if I investigate myself, it seems to have a number of dimensions. <br /><br />For example , it is like the construction of one's personal microcosmos, a kind of imaginary "completion" amidst the inherent incompletion of life. <br /><br />On a more primitive level, it also satisfies the hunter-gatherer impulse. <br /><br />As to cleaning the parts, I've also noticed something related to "purity" in religion. I'm always selling and trading "unnecessary" CDs, as if to purge my collection of dross and render it pure. Similarly, audiophiles are always seeking purer reproduction that can never be attained. Talk about smaller and smaller dragons!<br /><br />Speaking of religious transformations, there is also an element of hope attached to the new acquisition...<br /><br />Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00911613613759942690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-65766598524617706912017-10-06T09:14:09.442-07:002017-10-06T09:14:09.442-07:00lol
Re. the cult of activism, yes. it sets my tee...lol<br /><br />Re. the cult of activism, yes. it sets my teeth on edge to see exhortations plastered everywhere (particularly anyplace "educational") for young people to be "world changers." Changing from what to what, exactly? Whatever happened to, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"?<br /><br />I was just reading this morning an article who invented the "Like" button for Facebook. He thought he was changing the world a little, at the time. Now he spends his days trying to prevent himself from accessing social media, and wonders whether he didn't inadvertently open a Pandora's box with that little invention, as everyone he knows is more into their smart phones and collecting likes than actually just living.<br /><br />On the other hand, he also fears that social media made Trump possible, so obviously it isn't all a change for the worse...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-78759666275670096682017-10-06T09:00:37.257-07:002017-10-06T09:00:37.257-07:00By the way, I have the collecting "problem&qu...By the way, I have the collecting "problem" also. In my case, it is Indian Motorcycle stuff - but not any stuff. I own a 1951 enduro-style Indian. It's a restoration project and so that involves locating hard to find parts and period magazine articles; all of which have no value to almost everyone else on planet earth. Like archeology. I know I enjoyed taking the bike completely apart and cleaning 65 years of crud off every bit. I didn't see that coming - the enjoyment of cleaning that off. Maybe it's like time travel or feels like it. I also enjoy trying to figure out why I'm doing it; why I know this item is "worth" collecting vs that thing. They're all worthless. The fact that they have no monetary value (only to the sellers) might be the point. I don't know.. but it seems more like preservation-- of something. A myth or a dream someone had?<br />Most of what I have, in total, would fit in a bread box (not counting the bike). So I consider the habit well-managed.<br />I can stop anytime.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994306709948231112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-90773872358887230612017-10-06T08:36:08.700-07:002017-10-06T08:36:08.700-07:00Good point: "activism" has replaced virt...Good point: "activism" has replaced virtue as the point of our humanness. <br /><br />Reminds me of Kenneth Minogue's myth of liberalism:<br /><br />"The story of liberalism, as liberals tell it, is rather like the legend of St. George and the dragon. After many centuries of hopelessness and superstition, St. George, in the guise of Rationality, appeared in the world somewhere about the sixteenth century. The first dragons upon whom he turned his lance were those of despotic kingship and religious intolerance. These battles won, he rested for a time, until such questions as slavery, or prison conditions, or the state of the poor, began to command his attention. <br /><br />"During the nineteenth century, his lance was never still, prodding this way and that against the inert scaliness of privilege, vested interest, or patrician insolence. But, unlike St. George, he did not know when to retire. The more he succeeded, the more he became bewitched with the thought of a world free of dragons, and the less capable he became of ever returning to private life. He needed his dragons. He could only live by fighting for causes -- the people, the poor, the exploited, the colonially oppressed, the underprivileged and the underdeveloped. As an aging warrior, he grew breathless in his pursuit of smaller and smaller dragons -- for the big dragons were now harder to come by.” <br /><br />****<br /><br />Now they fight micro-dragons. Interestingly, the smaller the dragon, the more petty, brittle, and paranoid the liberal. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00911613613759942690noreply@blogger.com