Phone apps and self reliance

I couldn't get to work today because an 18 wheeler decided to flip and shut down all the lanes of the freeway that I travel. My average travel time is 2 hours each way, this was going to make it 4 just to get there, or longer. So, I took vacation day and decided to work from home. My work is complete and now I want to write.

Since yesterday two of my readers complimented me on the blog. One of them sent me a link to an article about a phone application that lets you track where your phone is in case it is stolen. Kim Kardashian has a weight loss app, they only charge $1.50 to use it. The business of creating apps is the business of the future and it will be done by average people who are out of work; but, what do the apps really do?

As we rely on apps to do our thinking for us, we become less self reliant. Who will want to learn to do things themselves if there is already an app for it? A very long time ago I used travel all over Southern California going from City Hall to City Hall to get information for Realtors, I did it so much that I could find a city and it's City Hall without a map over 90% of the time, even if I had never been in the City before. My brother can tell you where a freeway is and which direction it goes if you just tell him the number (there is a numbering strategy).

If we observe our world we can figure out quite a lot and the power and knowledge becomes part of us, using apps we never learn. In the last twenty years we have managed to destroy writing. Have a 15 year old write a two page document on any current event and you will be appalled. Language is critical to our ability to understand the world clearly and make choices. Twitter and texting are an abomination and are further dumbing us down.

Shortcuts are fine once in a while, when you rely on them too much you acquire fewer skills and the ability to be independent. The use of apps for decision making leads to less ability to make decisions on your own. A recent post I made on "Freedom to Worship" as opposed to "Freedom of Religion" is a good example of word substitution. We use similar words that have a slightly different meaning in order to deceive people.

My ex-wife said she wanted independence, in fact she wanted dependence. She substituted the word independence for freedom, freedom to do as she wanted without responsibility to others for the effects. Independence means that you receive nothing from others, she sued me for divorce and asked for as much as she could get; yet, at the same time said she wanted independence. And no, this is not about her, it is about the use of words by substitution.

I have heard sooooo many people say that you should not smoke because your body is a temple, mainly Christians as it is from the New Testament. I have to remind them that the phrase was in regards to sexual immorality not health. Words are ever increasingly being misused and phrases taken out of context to achieve the opposite of what they mean. Very 1984.

There was a sign on one of the concentration camps that was recently stolen. The camp was Auschwitz and the sign said, "Work brings Freedom". In the United States there are a number of groups using the term "Work is Freedom". Work is not freedom and it does not bring freedom, it is slavery unless done for oneself or done willingly for another. Work is work.

Every change we are making to the country is being referred to as REFORM, it is not, it is a fundamental change to the structure of our nation, it is not reform it is change; but, if we call it reform we assume it is not a fundamental change, merely a small adjustment.

I fear that we will willingly give up our ability to think for ourselves and become a nation of eternal children. The Peter Pan Principle.