Going to be kids. Read this article and liked it so, I am posting an link to it.
Musings on Marriage
I like her explanation of what works in marriage. It is about doing the things that the other person hates to do the most. I give her one thumb up, it is also about being thrilled by your partners successes. Sharing success and sharing problems, each doing what they can for the other. Knowing that their joy will cause you joy; but, doing it because you want them to be happy.
We are taught that we are innately selfish, we are told that when we do good acts it is because we want to see ourselves a certain way and get joy from that, it is a lie. A man does not jump on a hand grenade to save his friends because of how he wants to view himself. Only people who wouldn't jump on a hand grenade say such things.
I tell the people who work for me to do the right thing for the right reason. I never tell them to do what is best for my organization or myself, if me and my organization are doing what we should, my answer will always be right, if we are not then it is time we got things right. I am amazed at how some people that work for me still cannot understand that. It is because they don't think in those terms.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
A Great Comparison
A person posted a comic on the website "Above Top Secret". I loved it, he was dead on. His point was that our world is more like "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley than it is like "1984" by George Orwell. I will argue that we are a bit of both.
Orwell believed we would become controlled into slavery. Huxley believed we would walk to it for the cookies. I say a bit of both; but, the majority go where the cookies are. It is not one approach it is using both with the blessings of the majority. If you can lead the majority with bread and circus then you can restrain the vocal minority with ridicule and monitoring. The very few who can explain what needs to be done are killed. That is the law of totalitarianism.
The vast majority of the people who live in China and Cuba do not think they are enslaved by their governments. Sheep go where the grass is, that is why they need sheep dogs and Shepherds. The vast majority of people will respond as you want to promises of pleasure and demonstrations of pain. For them, for the sheep, you give them just enough cookies that they will come back in a week or two. They will never travel far. Train them to respond to cookies and they will perform whatever trick you want. Because they respond to pain and pleasure in a predictable manner they respond best to pleasure. Impulse driven.
We live in a world where we are bombarded by images. We become addicted to the sounds and sights, they are more addictive than cocaine. Even reading the news can become addictive when it ceases to serve a purpose. While I read numerous news sources each day, I never read the about the same event twice. I don't care about the opinions or the spin that the paper takes, I just look at the relevant parts.
Lose your electricity for a week and see what your kids do. One week without television, radio, computers. They will be on the cell phone non-stop. They are trained to have constant data input. Look what happened when Facebook went down for two stinking days. Few people can handle the amount of data that is presented to us, they shut down or only take in what they find pleasurable.
When the majority refuse to chase the cookie, they get to decide what the world will be. If they still chase the cookie but are allowed to decide what the world will be, they make things worse.
Orwell believed we would become controlled into slavery. Huxley believed we would walk to it for the cookies. I say a bit of both; but, the majority go where the cookies are. It is not one approach it is using both with the blessings of the majority. If you can lead the majority with bread and circus then you can restrain the vocal minority with ridicule and monitoring. The very few who can explain what needs to be done are killed. That is the law of totalitarianism.
The vast majority of the people who live in China and Cuba do not think they are enslaved by their governments. Sheep go where the grass is, that is why they need sheep dogs and Shepherds. The vast majority of people will respond as you want to promises of pleasure and demonstrations of pain. For them, for the sheep, you give them just enough cookies that they will come back in a week or two. They will never travel far. Train them to respond to cookies and they will perform whatever trick you want. Because they respond to pain and pleasure in a predictable manner they respond best to pleasure. Impulse driven.
We live in a world where we are bombarded by images. We become addicted to the sounds and sights, they are more addictive than cocaine. Even reading the news can become addictive when it ceases to serve a purpose. While I read numerous news sources each day, I never read the about the same event twice. I don't care about the opinions or the spin that the paper takes, I just look at the relevant parts.
Lose your electricity for a week and see what your kids do. One week without television, radio, computers. They will be on the cell phone non-stop. They are trained to have constant data input. Look what happened when Facebook went down for two stinking days. Few people can handle the amount of data that is presented to us, they shut down or only take in what they find pleasurable.
When the majority refuse to chase the cookie, they get to decide what the world will be. If they still chase the cookie but are allowed to decide what the world will be, they make things worse.
A New Explanation of Why You Are Dreaming
This article from the New York Times is pretty funny. It talks about a Dr. Tononi and his research into consciousness. Contrary to most "consciousness scientists" he believes that they can rate consciousness. The other scientists think consciousness is merely a electro-chemical reaction. Wow, science at its best.
Dr. Tononi believes consciousness is merely data connecting to other data. In other words, your illusion of consciousness is merely information, thoughts combining. What nonsense. Helen Keller was conscious and purely emotional, no data. They never talk about emotions as being the basis of our consciousness because that would be beyond their belief set.
We are the ability to be aware of emotions and thoughts, we are not the thoughts and emotions. The first awareness we have of ourselves is of our emotions, our reaction to our existence. Our ability to be aware of our emotions is the big bang theory of personal existence. No amount of scientific logic can undo our awareness.
Beware of the type of science these clowns are attempting to pass of on us. The first set of scientists is dismissive of your life and existence. Their belief is that you are random chemical reactions, that does not make you or your life very significant. Dr. Tononi's answer is not much better. We will rate your life, your consciousness. "All animals are equal; but, some are more equal than others." The implications of his logic could be used in very bad ways.
Just like our cacao bean that has more genes than humans, what if the scientists discover that chickens are more conscious than you or I. There rating is not of consciousness, it is of data connections. If a chicken thinks about only two things and never stops thinking about them it may rate higher; but, it is not more complex or aware.
Consciousness, more importantly self-awareness, threatens science. It shouldn't be based on their world model. In addition, to accept that we have free will and self-awareness forces science to consider God. If consciousness is not merely mechanical then it must be divine. Computers will never become self-aware, the claim that they will cheapens and is an attack upon our humanity.
I believe that we will see more and more attempts to prove to people that they are merely mechanical reactions. Altered States of Consciousness that are achieved prematurely through drugs like DMT can destabilize peoples perception of themselves. We should allow our evolution, our growth to proceed at it's own pace. You matter.
Read this article about a dying man and his daughter then ask yourself if we are merely electrochemical reactions and/or data collections. I think we are more than that, I think we have souls and that is the part of us that is aware of this experience.
Dr. Tononi believes consciousness is merely data connecting to other data. In other words, your illusion of consciousness is merely information, thoughts combining. What nonsense. Helen Keller was conscious and purely emotional, no data. They never talk about emotions as being the basis of our consciousness because that would be beyond their belief set.
We are the ability to be aware of emotions and thoughts, we are not the thoughts and emotions. The first awareness we have of ourselves is of our emotions, our reaction to our existence. Our ability to be aware of our emotions is the big bang theory of personal existence. No amount of scientific logic can undo our awareness.
Beware of the type of science these clowns are attempting to pass of on us. The first set of scientists is dismissive of your life and existence. Their belief is that you are random chemical reactions, that does not make you or your life very significant. Dr. Tononi's answer is not much better. We will rate your life, your consciousness. "All animals are equal; but, some are more equal than others." The implications of his logic could be used in very bad ways.
Just like our cacao bean that has more genes than humans, what if the scientists discover that chickens are more conscious than you or I. There rating is not of consciousness, it is of data connections. If a chicken thinks about only two things and never stops thinking about them it may rate higher; but, it is not more complex or aware.
Consciousness, more importantly self-awareness, threatens science. It shouldn't be based on their world model. In addition, to accept that we have free will and self-awareness forces science to consider God. If consciousness is not merely mechanical then it must be divine. Computers will never become self-aware, the claim that they will cheapens and is an attack upon our humanity.
I believe that we will see more and more attempts to prove to people that they are merely mechanical reactions. Altered States of Consciousness that are achieved prematurely through drugs like DMT can destabilize peoples perception of themselves. We should allow our evolution, our growth to proceed at it's own pace. You matter.
Read this article about a dying man and his daughter then ask yourself if we are merely electrochemical reactions and/or data collections. I think we are more than that, I think we have souls and that is the part of us that is aware of this experience.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
You are less complex than a chocolate bean
An article in an English newspaper states that "a human seems genetically less complex than a chocolate biscuit". What a thing to say. It totally misses what complexity is.
The scientists looked at the number of pairs in the dna sequence. Cocoa has more pairs of genes, that does not mean there is complexity. 40,000 identical pairs is not complex. 10,000 pairs that are each different is complexity. It is the number of genes, it is the combinations complexity that allows a living thing to have a wider variety of aspects.
It is the purity thing versus the variation thing again. Purity is all the same, heavy like gold. Variation is steel, it is much stronger than gold. Did you ever wonder who decided that gold had value? Think about it, gold was considered valuable 4,000 years ago. As a metal it is pretty useless except in electrical applications. It is too soft, it is difficult to find and is only good for jewelry. It is not the pretties thing, it is no prettier than copper which is a usable metal. So who decided it had value?
What made it valuable? What made it valuable was that it was heavier than any other metal. That had value because you could use it in weights. Remember, they use to weigh money. Weights and measures were critical to commerce prior to their being "official" money. The king set the weights, to violate the weight was sure death.
A cocoa bean would not know these things. It would never occur to a coffee bean to build a car. Why do they keep trying to trivialize us? Why do they keep trying to tell us that we are less than the things we experience? They are wrong, you matter, you are not the only one who matters; but, you matter too. The guy next to you, guess what, he matters. That cocoa bean cannot feel pain, it cannot learn and it has no concept of loneliness.
The scientists looked at the number of pairs in the dna sequence. Cocoa has more pairs of genes, that does not mean there is complexity. 40,000 identical pairs is not complex. 10,000 pairs that are each different is complexity. It is the number of genes, it is the combinations complexity that allows a living thing to have a wider variety of aspects.
It is the purity thing versus the variation thing again. Purity is all the same, heavy like gold. Variation is steel, it is much stronger than gold. Did you ever wonder who decided that gold had value? Think about it, gold was considered valuable 4,000 years ago. As a metal it is pretty useless except in electrical applications. It is too soft, it is difficult to find and is only good for jewelry. It is not the pretties thing, it is no prettier than copper which is a usable metal. So who decided it had value?
What made it valuable? What made it valuable was that it was heavier than any other metal. That had value because you could use it in weights. Remember, they use to weigh money. Weights and measures were critical to commerce prior to their being "official" money. The king set the weights, to violate the weight was sure death.
A cocoa bean would not know these things. It would never occur to a coffee bean to build a car. Why do they keep trying to trivialize us? Why do they keep trying to tell us that we are less than the things we experience? They are wrong, you matter, you are not the only one who matters; but, you matter too. The guy next to you, guess what, he matters. That cocoa bean cannot feel pain, it cannot learn and it has no concept of loneliness.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
On being old and the last
The world's oldest man is 114, people have lived to be that old before. Mr. Walter Breuning was born in 1896. He was born before planes, cars, television, radio, computers, houses with electricity, World War I, World War II. He was born before my family came to this country.
There are three other people, ladies, who are as old as him. The world has changed around them. For Mr. Breuning, everyone who was alive and around him when he was born is gone. He is the Omega Man, the Last Man on Earth that was alive when he was born.
How strange it would be to be the oldest person in the world. What must it be like to see all of the changes that he has? They say his mind is still sharp and just think about the context he has and the knowledge he has about people. Happy Birthday Mr. Breuning.
There are three other people, ladies, who are as old as him. The world has changed around them. For Mr. Breuning, everyone who was alive and around him when he was born is gone. He is the Omega Man, the Last Man on Earth that was alive when he was born.
How strange it would be to be the oldest person in the world. What must it be like to see all of the changes that he has? They say his mind is still sharp and just think about the context he has and the knowledge he has about people. Happy Birthday Mr. Breuning.
Monday, September 20, 2010
A Loving Husband
A couple of posts back I tried to describe love. I read an article that in a very sad way demonstrates this. I think I will pray for this young lady. It is about a husband who sacrificed himself to save his wife, he loved her more than himself. That is love.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Miracles
Do you believe in miracles? I not sure I would know how to describe a miracle. On the one hand I consider it a miracle that any of us exist as sentient beings. There is no need for anything to exist. When you really think about it nothing really needs to exist especially self aware beings. On the other hand we see nature, we see the life process and we know that we are part of it. If we see nature do we see a miracle?
While the things I mentioned may be miracles, I do not think that is what the term refers to based on our knowledge. When people talk about miracles they are referring to things that are "supernatural", they are referring to things that do not follow the law of physics. Funny thing is that nothing on the quantum or subatomic level follows the laws of physics, does that mean that everything that is subatomic is miraculous?
In our usage of the word, a miracle seems to be something God does that appears to violate the law of physics. How do you explain a world that has miracles and no cause? That is the problem of quantum physics. Professor Hawkins seems to be okay with having miracles, he thinks it is natural. How do you logically get there?
Mr. Hawkins is basically saying that it makes perfect sense for subatomic objects to violate every rule of physics as long as we understand we have parallel universes that fill in the blanks; but, we don't know how they fill in the blanks. He resorts to saying that everything is connected by one dimensional strings that we cannot see or understand.
I have more respect for physicists if they just said, "We don't understand why things do what they do yet, we are still working on it." Hey, that would be honest; but, then we might not think they have all the answers, we might look for ourselves and arrive at our own conclusions.
While the things I mentioned may be miracles, I do not think that is what the term refers to based on our knowledge. When people talk about miracles they are referring to things that are "supernatural", they are referring to things that do not follow the law of physics. Funny thing is that nothing on the quantum or subatomic level follows the laws of physics, does that mean that everything that is subatomic is miraculous?
In our usage of the word, a miracle seems to be something God does that appears to violate the law of physics. How do you explain a world that has miracles and no cause? That is the problem of quantum physics. Professor Hawkins seems to be okay with having miracles, he thinks it is natural. How do you logically get there?
Mr. Hawkins is basically saying that it makes perfect sense for subatomic objects to violate every rule of physics as long as we understand we have parallel universes that fill in the blanks; but, we don't know how they fill in the blanks. He resorts to saying that everything is connected by one dimensional strings that we cannot see or understand.
I have more respect for physicists if they just said, "We don't understand why things do what they do yet, we are still working on it." Hey, that would be honest; but, then we might not think they have all the answers, we might look for ourselves and arrive at our own conclusions.
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