Silly Rabbit, Don't Go Down That Hole

People seem to enjoy making bad decisions. Two articles that I read today really highlight this. The first one is about teaching through crowd sourcing techniques and the second is very scary. Seems a scientist took the bird flu and modified it so that it was capable of killing half of the people on earth.

Doctor Tipster - Dutch Researcher Created A Super-Influenza Virus With The Potential To Kill Millions

What reasonable person would create a flu that is capable of killing half of the people on earth? In the book "Faust" by Goethe there is a scientist who creates a little human man. The little man is constantly causing the scientist trouble and Faust asks the scientist why he created the little man in the first place. The explanation was that he wanted to see if he could. That is poor logic when it comes to putting others at risk.

The Globe and Mail - Physicist's crowd-sourcing philosophy gains traction in the classroom

Basically the article is promoting group think or at least that is what we used to call it. I have written about crowd sourcing before, in teaching situations I consider it pure poison. The fact that ten people might come to a good conclusion does not mean that they learned much individually. Let me try it this way, I understand how subtraction works and you understand how multiplication works, we can together arrive at the answer to some math problems; but, neither of us learned anything more, we just used what we already knew.

Working collaboratively has great value, consider the things that we have built that could not be done alone; however, the byproduct of compartmentalization and specialization is the inability of anyone to understand how things fit together, to understand the big picture and consequences of our actions. That sort of brings me back to the first article, the scientist created a thing that has dangerous consequences because he was more concerned about what he was capable rather than understanding that what he was doing was dangerous with little to no value.

Two sides of the same coin, two extremes. The truth is that some of us know more than others; but, all of us are part of a greater community. Not everyone is going to understand quantum physics, be able to create great art, find the deepest philosophical understanding or reach the limits of our human potential because each persons potential is unique to them. At the same time, our duty to the community should keep us from thinking just about us and when we impact the community in too extreme a manner without a valid reason then the community should censor us.

The problem is not one of individual freedom nor is it one of societal dictatorship, it is about reasonableness and balancing both. As we head towards a world where because of technology anyone will be able to bio-engineer something that can kill everyone on earth we need to seriously consider how we will limit these technologies and to do that we need to understand their consequences, it requires wisdom and groups do not exhibit wisdom because that is more comprehensive.

The internet has given us the opportunity to tap into the knowledge base of people worldwide and find new solutions and come to a greater understanding of one another. In the end though, there must still be the individual and he must also be allowed to flourish. We cannot advance society by holding back the individual's search for meaning and we do not have a society worth living in if we restrict variety; but, that does not mean anything goes.

Our national representatives have sold us out (seems completely unrelated doesn't it). Currently congress is considering passing a bill called Senate Bill 1867. This bill would allow the military to imprison Americans without trial indefinitely. This is prohibited by the Constitution as we have a right to go before a judge and have a trial by a jury. The "Patriot Act" denied these rights to foreign citizens and this bill would deny those rights to American citizens if the government so chose.

Theoretically, the relevant language is intended to catch "terrorists", presumably so they do not become the dreaded "terrorrizer guys", the modern day equivalent of the boogeyman. The changes in our laws and the outright rejection of the constitution as the law of the land has happened because people failed to pay attention to what was going on. A few have been telling people about the erosion of our basic liberties for years; but, none listened until all could see. The people we should listen to are not the people who control the world; but, instead the people who can and will honestly explain what is going on. The world needs outliers, those who are unique because they bring a perspective that no group ever would.

I am absolutely exhausted and would have preferred to have discussed these articles at another time; but, I didn't want my readers to miss them. Not my greatest post by any stretch; but, things to consider. More important that either of the articles is the question of the relationship of rights and responsibilities within society, the relationship between the individual and the group, both matter.

To New Readers

I have seen an amazing amount of new readers. While I don't know exactly what to make of it, especially the rise in views from Russia, welcome. Look around, read my oldest posts and anything in between. Don't know how you got here or what you expect and it doesn't really matter, I say what I feel when I think it.

Please feel free to post comments either with your login or anonymously. The site is not monetized, identifies it's quotes and gives attributes it's links. There is no reason to agree with everything I write, much is meant to raise questions more than provide answers. I am much more about discussing perspective than proving how others should think, I didn't live your life and only know what I have learned.

This site is not about telling you the truth, it is about raising questions and providing scenarios to consider. Some of my hypotheticals are very complicated and created in conjunction with others. Others are spur of the moment. It really doesn't matter. The issue for others is not if I am right or wrong, it is whether or not you have fully explored the possibilities, we never can, yet, we can expand on what those possibilities are. In the end, only you know what your truth is, the one that is inside of you. Be well.

Busy Weekend

At the last minute I had to leave my house on Friday, drive about 150 miles and give some advice and spend some time with a relative of mine. I came back today just in time to finish a sermon that someone had to come in and begin at the last minute because of my being delayed.

I haven't even finished eating my sandwich and that is all that I have had all day along with some water and a cup of coffee. After service we had a half out meeting and then rush off home. Got here and tried to catch up on the news. My brain is frazzled and I feel rushed because I feel how little time I have before I have to sleep. Had a great time; but, I love coming home.

I am not really big on travel anymore; haven't been for awhile. I love where I live and sitting at my little table, just reading and writing. I like the tranquility and quiet, I have had too much turmoil and noise the last few years. Still, we find reasons that we have to travel on occasion and should enjoy it when we do. I just know that coming home is even more fun than traveling.

Anyways, over the last few days my relative and I were discussing politics, the what and how of it and what the proper approach is to it. I kept re-iterating the concept of the representative and defining what it meant. To go straight from that to discussing the concept of the hope within you is interesting.

I said that if you are a Christian than the bible says that we should always have an answer for the hope that lies within us. That is generally used to refer to our salvation and it does; but, as Christians we should have more hope than just our salvation if we are to love others as ourselves it would be for salvation for all. That is real hope.

The hope within us should include our believing that God makes everything work to his plan. We should look at everything to see how it can be used to help, learn from, know to avoid, whatever. We should eek the good out of every bad situation, not deny it was bad; but, find a way to learn from it our use it to help others.

Supposedly tonight at 12:01 the police are going to remove people from the park surrounding L.A. City Hall. I wonder if it will go peacefully or if the police will use force and then we can read in the papers how a confrontation occurred at Occupy L.A., then again, what if they do leave and no use of force is needed. What would that say. There is a man named Ron Kaye, in general I like what he has to say; but, he is being a bit of a weasel right now. He referred to the protesters are the red rabble and now is saying that he things they should force a confrontation.

I have always considered Mr. Kaye to be a progressive and supporter of "good government" and cannot understand why neither the left, the right, the progressives or the Tea Party can find any agreement with the Occupy movement. I believe it is because they have been unable to utilize them for their own political ends.

My relative plans on running for office. My advice was simple, don't let any supporters change your message just to get elected. Run on your ideas and if people elect you then do what you said you would do because if they vote for you they are saying that your ideas represent them.

My prayer is that nobody gets hurt tonight and that all ends peacefully in Los Angeles. I hope all of us find some peace this week and find ways to help one another rather than lead one another or harm one another. Be well.

L.A. to Evict the Occupiers

According to reports Los Angeles plans on removing the Occupy LA protesters on Monday. What will this look like? Will it involve the police using batons and pepper spray or will it be peaceful? I guess we will see, lets hope it is peaceful.

Don't Ever Count Me Out

So many people have made the mistake of counting me out, thinking that I will give up. It won't happen, it has not happened. Thanksgiving is about appreciating what we have and I have me. I hope you have you. Be well.

Happy Thanksgiving

Easter and Christmas are for children. Neither holiday is about God, at least not how they are celebrated. Thanksgiving is the best holiday for Christians, it is about saying than you God for all that we have. Life is much better than eternal silence and separation from God and it only gets better.

In the last month I lost a very good friend that always challenged me and helped me to grow and my childhood sweetheart. I also learned that one of my loved ones was running for office and that one of my daughters is getting married. Life changes and I miss my Julia because it was not her time and I cannot fix it. I can just miss her. Still I am thankful that we can still try and do good.

Shameless Media Spin Regarding OWS

This is from Fox News. Hey, isn't Fox owned by Rupert Murdoch. The same man who owned the newspaper in England that was found to be paying cops for information and hacking the phones of celebrities?

The article's titles is "Weapons Cache Found During Zuccotti Park Cleanup, Sources Say"

One line from the article is very telling, "Officials from the NYPD would only confirm that one knife was found buried in a planter on Tuesday." We read earlier in the article about this weapon of mass destruction. "Gardeners employed by the park owners, Brookfield Properties, to clean up the mess made by occupiers during their two-month stay discovered various knives, including a large kitchen knife and other potential instruments of violence in flower beds throughout the public space, according to officials."

They had a large kitchen knife, of my, didn't they also have a kitchen? I wonder if the two things are connected? Kitchens and kitchen knives, I see a pattern here. How does this pass for reporting? In another part of the article it talks about how Sanitation workers found items that COULD have been used as weapons. No kidding, anything can be used as a weapon. What it did not say was that anyone who has been arrested or anyone who was a participant was found with any weapons, not even a gun. Across the United States over 1,000 protesters have been arrested and how many had guns on them, none.

The New York police department is not claiming that they found weapons, no, the honest and good folk at Fox news are making this garbage up. Who are these unnamed sources and why not just name them? Because it is a smear piece and not real journalism, it is propaganda.

Here is the issue. I can understand not liking what the movement stands for, I can especially understand people not liking the approach; but, why just run a smear campaign, why not deal with the issues? The reason is the same, because the people that have power see this as an attack upon the system that they use to take advantage of the rest of us.

Everybody knows that the rich got bailed out and the rest of us have to pay the bill. That is what upset everyone on the left, right and even in the middle. We know that the politicians represent the interests that get them elected and it isn't 99% of us, doesn't matter if you are left, right or in the middle. We don't matter and we don't like that. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have the same issues, their solutions are just different.

The Tea Party was disliked by the conservatives until they found a way to manage them. The Occupy movement is not liked by liberals because they haven't found a way to get them into the party to support their candidates. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement members need to meet together to find out what they do agree upon and then insist upon legislation that achieves their united goals rather than agree on candidates.

The most common thing that both agree on is that the Federal Reserve should be abolished and that people should be prevented from paying off politicians with anything. At this point the goal of the media is to make sure that it does not happen and they do that by vilifying both and making both look like wackos.