Irrational Focus

The really stupid thing is that even if they succeed, which is extremely rare, terrorists that bring the world down around them always end up replacing it with something more hideous, more evil. Their means defines their being, which generally places them deep in the sewage with the other lessor humans, a pool for all those creatures that failed to make the leap from animal to person. And worse yet, are the fanatical ones, whose own simplistic selfishness deludes them into thinking that their deranged view on the world could somehow improve others lives, rather than as is clearly obvious, make them more miserable. The world is always far from perfect, but it takes a truly dense malevolent being to believe that more rules, strictly enforced and less freedom will do anything but pour fuel on that fire. It's even hard to believe that some of these people are swayed by martyrdom, or some moronic lie about a harem of virgins in the afterlife, causing them to trade their one and only rea...

Fundamental. I just had another one of those sudden flashes, where things become horribly clear. This one at a most fundamental level. Most people, it seems, of all persuasions, go about their daily lives wearing "blinders". Yes, those things they put on horses that allow them to walk through city streets filled with noxious cars and loud pedestrians. The idea, simple and clever, behind horse blinders is what the horse can't see, it won't be afraid of. Now, it's not much of a stretch to realize that your average common man or woman reaches for a convenient set of blinders every morning, so that they can focus on and accomplish the things in their lives that need to get done. In our modern world, if you were to walk out in the noon-day sun, unbridled, the world you encounter would paralyze you instantly. There is too much, too wrong, too crazy and too out of control for even the greatest of our minds to cope with a fraction of the madness. We live in a big confused...

We swing wildly between states of utter-selfishness and over-enthusiastic concern for our fellows. We do so because we cannot help ourselves, our background programmed us with a sense of self preservation, but our intellect forces us to realize on how much we actually depend on others. In exploiting our selfishness, some political parties weasel their way into our baser natures, offering us a chance at a better life by allowing us to be more inwardly focused. Less tax, less interference, and more luxuries. They sell to us, what was embedded deep in our consciousness so long ago. They're tapping into an old and dangerous meme, a set if ideas that are gradually dying out. Of course, every time we succumb, the world enters into another of these depressing periods, where hunger and strive seem to rule. Mankind retreats into their corners, allowing great works of evil to wash over the planet. In the interlude, quietly, many toil away at subverting, or gaining positions. This pattern...

I just read the following news excerpt: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080806/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_bin_laden_s_driver The driver? Really? How insane is that? So, if I understand the facts correctly: they invaded his country, caught him driving some one around as a job, shipped him to an illegal prison, violated every international prisoner of war agreement ever made, and now they think that by his doing his job in a foreign country that constitutes supporting terrorism, but not conspiracy? Does he at least get a pension? Hmmm, next they'll charge him with supporting terrorism for not breaking out of their illegal, immoral and despicable prisoner of war camp. History shows that things have crossed the line when you can't even bother making up good excuses for your evil deeds anymore. At least plant some evidence that he flew into the states and did something notable. Then it might at least seem plausible. Come on, put some effort into this sham. Nothing is worse than evil,...

The woman rolled towards me at full power. It was one of those electric chairs, often implying that they can walk, it just might be difficult. There was room for her to curve a bit to the left, a foot based pedestrian would have done so, but for whatever reason she choose the quickest, shortest route. I don't care to know why, I just know she rudely pinned me against the concrete planter, forcing me to dodge so quickly I just barely got out of the way. Afterwards I was a little short on empathy. With one hand on the wheel, the guy continued his screaming match over the cell phone while nearly running me and my dog over with his car. That little point about us having right of way, or being pedestrians, or something, was clearly not more important than his multi-tasking between an immediate rush to get somewhere and an argument. You could tell he was a real mover and shaker. You could just tell. If it's unobstructed, perhaps one and a half people could get through the doors o...

It rolls around my thoughts like an out-of-control ping-pong ball, popping up at different times throughout the day. That realization, vibrant at times, of just how shallow, how minuscule, how phenomenally un-deep we really are here in our expanding global culture. Like a hyperactive herd of minnows, we zig and weave, bouncing here and there, always chasing the next senseless wave. An endless sequence of pop-cultured hula-hoops, dressed up like they matter, like we should care. One moment we're all driving huge freaken cars because we think it's safer, the next it's dangerously unsafe mini-cars because we noticed that were killing lots of things, or that it's costing us more than just a few necessary cups of coffee per day. Purses, super-stars, stupid little dogs that might accidentally get crushed, we stare, gawk, and then swear we need one of those. There is, after all, some space left in our basements for more junk; they kindly build 'em bigger these days. One da...

The Blogosphere . A virtual void filled with an exponentially increasing multitude of numbered lists professing every possible combination of meaningless platitude possible. Why, it's darned easy to choke on all of those fuzzy, dripping, slobbering pre -chewed forms of pseudo-intelligence, isn't it? What is it in us that even after we've seen the first couple of bullet points, still makes us continue downwards knowing it is only going to get worse. It's like watching a car wreck in progress, we are drawn to it in some inhuman, and ugly way. Maybe it just makes us feel better that we're not the author? Thus, I give you seven truly uninspired platitudes about the types of uninspired platitudes that ineffective writing -- including this piece -- offer up to us on such a frequent basis that they are washing out all of our rational and real thinking: 1. It's a happy happy world. Let's face it. The world is not a happy place, it's all about pain and suffering,...

I saw this mildly interesting bit on TV the other day where a group of almost-influential people were discussing how to bring environmental reporting to corporations. At least that's what I think they were talking about. I had jumped in the middle, and was only partially paying attention. They seemed to think that with enough effort the world could be changed and made a better place. That if there was dialogue and everybody was honest, it would all work out somehow. When I stopped laughing, I figured I might as well dedicate a bit of thinking to trying to deal with the same underlying issue. From my quick glance at the tube, I figured they weren't going to get too far. So, it can't hurt. And I get some satisfaction for at least for trying to be a wee bit positive about the circumstances. My bet is still that we are tumbling towards the abyss, but just in case it's not a done deal yet, I can toss in my 2 cents. My first observation is easy: you can't get people to do...

Yikes. The first principle of a really gifted conspiracy theorist is always that there is some type of 'super' intelligence at work in the background -- ruthlessly plotting and scheming to bring about some great master plan. Hmmm . Given the state of our world, my only comeback is "we should be so lucky". Lucky? Yes, for if you're really objective about our current state of affairs you'll see that it is only by sheer luck that we haven't managed to blow ourselves into space, or crack the planet in half, or some other major species-ending calamity. Mankind, you see, having just recently found its way out of the trees, still acts with a pretty low collective intelligence. Pretty low indeed. If you've ever seen the TV drama West Wing -- a great show about what it is like to be running the USA from the Whitehouse -- you may well be impressed by the intelligence and understanding shown by the various characters. They come together frequently in various epi...

It is easy, as it were, to affix most of the world's problems onto those very few people who actually appear in charge of our goings on. In that way, we the people, can buy into some specific set of propaganda, which has a narrow tilted view of the issues; a one-sided feast of poor quality information. Once we have our 'truth', we can then return to our 'lives' happy and content in knowing, or at least in thinking we know, about the real facts of the case. In a world where it is not that easy, we clearly want it to be. That is why so many of us buy into the international news, or we buy into a specific government's propaganda, or some other 'simplistic' view of the world. We can rail at the evil ones, and still feel good about ourselves. "You" are the bad guys, "we" are good. "You" have done wrong, "I" have not. And so it goes. History's greatest justification for us continually burying our heads in the sands a...

I read this excellent article, written over forty years ago, about what life would be like in 2008: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/24/what-will-life-be-like-in-the-year-2008 It's amazingly accurate on so many different fronts, although it did manage to get a few things wrong. This has inspired me to try to make my own predictions for forty years out in the future. We all need to strive for something and hopefully predicting the future is a way to turn my optimism into something more tangible. With so many great trends I should be able extrapolate out enough things that a few will ultimately turn out to be correct. So, I'll follow in the same writing style: It's 8am, Tuesday Nov. 18, 2048, and you are headed for an early morning business meeting. You hop out of your cave, waking to the rising sun to start your day. With the abundance of rules and regulations, most people find it easier to live in a cave, than to actually manage to live up to the strict building codes...

Of course it is. Our future is clearly determined by the path we choose to walk. And we humans -- as we all so well know -- have the capacity to rise above all other animals because of our superior intellect and civility. Of all our admirable higher-order attributes, none stands so far above our primitive origins than our innate ability to share. It is in those simple acts of selfless behavior that we truly rise above our animistic origins and make good on all of our internal might and potential. That is why it is such a treat, no, pleasure, when one of our fellows choose to go above and beyond just sharing. I mean, sharing of the possessions is enough, sharing of ideas is plenty, but those marvelous humans that we so love to encounter go beyond this all by not just idly sharing the good, they also choose to share the bad as well. Nothing is more impressive than someone willing to share their problems with you. Why, the other day, in a crowded downtown neighborhood, someone was clearly...

I don't think it is all that hard. I simply expect a government -- any one that thinks it is competent -- to setup and enforce a series of simple, reasonable rules for its people. The act of doing this correctly aught to make a fair and stable society. These rules govern the interaction and protect people from hazards. They allow us to come together as a society for mutual benefits. They are important. So how annoyed should I be when a city can't even afford to cleanup the snow or patch the roads, but has enough money for the counselors to get perks? How disappointed should I be when I see a province suffering from gas shortages? Water shortages? Electricity brown-outs? But instead they want to enforce policies on which types of dogs they like and which type that think are 'nasty'? How frustrated should I be when I see a country that doesn't help its own stuck in foreign prisons? Instead it downloads it expenses on other so it can create 'tax breaks' for pop...

"Ya, I know I should do that, but ..." We get so much advice. TV, radio, newspapers, web pages, strangers, even family is constantly offering up good and tasty tidbits about how we should live our lives. There is financial advice, which you really should follow. Career advice which hugely affects your life. Health advice, the most critical of all. Advice about how to care for the car, house or cottage. Advice to be happier or more productive. Advice about relaxing. Advice about learning and advice about hobbies. We are, it seems downing in an unlimited sea of advice. That might be OK, if underneath it all it was well-meaning, but much of it is not. Lots of the advice we receive is tainted by the fortunes of someone, somewhere. Buying advice helps corporations, lifestyle choices help consultants, charitable advice keeps not-for-profit leaders in BMWs . Living advice is sometimes pegged to political parties or other social agenda. It seems that most advice has that stench of m...

"What do we really know? Hmmm ." I pondered as we walked. I was out with the dog the other night. The quiet tranquil nature of empty suburban streets is a great place for deep thinking. The cold chill of winter keeps one from wandering too far off topic while wandering aimlessly in the streets. Dogs make wonderful intellectual companions for these types of journeys because they don't interrupt with too many questions. They are very good listeners. I was pondering information quality, and I foolishly started to wonder about how much inaccurate information was choking up my memory. Certainly, there are lots of spin, lies, half-truths, deceptions and other stuff built up over the years from less than quality sources like politics, news and TV. Somethings in my memory are just easy simplifications. Somethings are out right fabrications. There is also the changing nature of science, and our non-stop quest for learning. Some of my knowledge is just 'relative', it wouldn...

I probably shouldn't writing about this. Going against what seems to be the current popular viewpoint, particularly when you are not an expert, is never a good idea. Under most circumstances I might not chime in, but for this one in particular, I've seen it going on for far too long and I though at least I might put my perspective out there. Carefully. So I'll add a disclaimer, that says something like bla , bla , bla , I'm not an expert, bla , bla , bla , this is all observation, bla , bla , bla , use your own brain. And of course, positive comments are hugely appreciated, negative ones you should probably keep to yourself. I'm not looking to start a controversy, I just want encourage people to think a little more deeply about this. There is clearly a problem, and we are doing our best to ignore it. The winds changed after I left high school, with the shift often dominating the news. It started with things like the zero tolerance towards violence in high schools. A...

Beep, beep. Misunderstood and abused, the horn in your car is actually a very clever communications device. We say more with a simple tap on the horn than I think most people could ever realize. For many, their communication choices might change if they really understood what they were shouting. For instance, with some honks we may be making a statement about another driver. A simple short honk directed at a car that has just cut you off is a quick statement of saying "hey, watch it, you almost caused an accident with your reckless driving!" Letting someone know this hopefully helps them to try and behave in a less foolish manner the next time. Short and sweet. A longer more dramatic honk aimed at someone performing an illegal maneuver says something more serious like "if it were up to me, I'd remove your licence, you idiot!". Longer it is, the more dramatic the statement. A series of short staccato honks, over and over again, says more emotional things like ...