Most of these blog entries deserve an entire chapter. I have boiled them down to the basics to make them more approachable, and perhaps more inviting. My hope is that some of these serve as the basis for thought or discussion; that readers fill in the details for themselves according to their own experiences and impressions.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Online comments


I like to spend time on  the Internet reading, following links almost at random, jumping from one subject to another and another. What I find as a maddening constant throughout is the quality and the tone of the comments.

There doesn’t seem to be any interest in civil interaction. Or worse, it doesn’t even appear to be an option. Nearly everything I see out there, at a common site like YouTube for instance which draws heavily from the 30-and-unders from around the world, is an insult about either someone’s looks intelligence, or lifestyle. And it’s not dismissable with, “Oh, kids can be insensitive.” This is firmly rooted in the culture of the next generation. Everywhere, all the time.

Take, for instance, this comment I always remember…someone had posted a thought that was obviously based on a misunderstanding, and there were 4 or 5 comments after it that had just ignored it, but then came the comment, “I can’t believe nobody’s buried this guy. Don’t you see what he said?” Like that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re missing an opportunity! We weren’t following the rules, and this poor guy wants to know, “Am I missing something?” Yeah, you are.

Or this one…I don’t remember which actress was mentioned in the article (plus I wouldn’t say anyway) but the comment was, “When is she going to get a boob job? What’s she waiting for?” Again, the assumption: like that’s what she’s supposed to do. Like everyone should, or will. Like he’s insulted that she hasn’t, because he thinks those are the rules, and how dare she not follow along. As if we’re owed that. And the arrogance of the constant clinical discussion of women in that manner is disgusting, and so very wrong. Sad.

That’s the common persona, people looking for any “wrongdoing” in order to blast and dismiss the offender, based on such superficialities.  Comment sections are combat zones. They should be communal, like sitting around the campfire. They’re places to discuss ideas with your peers from around the world. What an opportunity…in my dreams. Sure, some good stuff goes on, but not a lot. With everybody hiding behind an alias, they’re free to act any way they want to, and you know what happens then…people don’t exactly give their best.
What a waste.
 

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The civilization formula


 
I’m going to start with a little auto racing talk, but don’t worry, it comes right back around to real life.

The top racing series in the world is Formula One. Most people have heard of it. Or maybe you’ve heard of Formula Ford, a very popular and somewhat affordable starter class for the same kind of roadracing. Or you’ve certainly heard of NASCAR, the extremely popular oval track (and a couple road courses) series for “stock cars.” NASCAR is also a formula car, although it didn’t start out that way, and is not usually referred to as such. So…what’s the deal? Well, in the context of auto racing, a “formula” is a set of rules established by the organizers of the series which define all the specifications, and set all the parameters, to which the cars will be built. These are very much purpose-built cars, defined and created out of thin air, usually with an eye toward attracting factory (major auto makers) participation by giving them an arena in which to showcase their products and/or technology.

I love the parallels between that and a society, a civilization…because one way to define a civilization is that we are a group of people who function by agreeing to and operating under a set of rules. Some are codified in written law, some are accepted moral standards, some just implicit in our group understanding of acceptable conduct, but taken all together, they make up Formula Human. That’s how we all manage to coexist; the rules are clearly defined, we’re all aware of them, and we’re all aware that they are enforced. We don’t have to worry that our land will be stolen from us, or our house will, or our business, or that the angry guy at work keeps a butcher knife in one hand all the time…we operate at a higher level than that; we’re civilized.

Of course, other civilizations have evolved differently in various parts of the world. They still operate under a set of rules, just not the same ones we have. Maybe Formula Human is the name of the umbrella organization, and the individual societies are named Formula UK, Formula USA, etc. Same deal, different country.

To say that one is civilized or not refers to one’s ability to adhere to the laws and rules we’ve agreed upon…the formula. That’s the key to how we live. The formula gives us the framework for our lives. It gives us the structure to live closely with one another, the freedom to live as we choose, and the security we need to enjoy it all.
Through the ages we’ve defined and refined the laws we live by, while at the same time the formula has always defined us.
Formula Human.


Monday, January 17, 2011

Perspective…on perception



Reality comes to us courtesy of our five senses, and from the way our brains process the incoming stream of data. Our senses each receive observable data in a particular range of values according to the abilities and sensitivities of our human sense organs. We can see, hear, touch, smell, taste…we know what’s going on around us.
Let’s put that into perspective.

The key phrase in that opening: human sense organs. Turns out, because of our particular set of sensory organs, we humans have a unique reality. No animals on the planet are experiencing what we experience. Dogs, as we all know, can hear the high pitch of a certain whistle that is used to call them, and we can’t hear it. They also have a sense of smell that is hundreds of times better than ours. There is a hovering bird-of-prey that can take up a position over a field, hang motionless while looking down, and see only what moves…like for instance a mouse. When it looks at a fixed scene the stationary objects and background fade away to grey, and only movement is detected. Further examples abound…point being, there’s nothing superior or special about our senses; what we have are the ones that serve the survival of our species, just as it is with animals.
 

Another way to look at our perception can be seen here in the chart of the electromagnetic spectrum. Note that the color bar representing our visual range is a breakout of that little sliver between ultraviolet and infrared. Out of that  whole range of energies/wavelengths, we’re equipped to see only a tiny little bit. It makes our capabilities look so random-ish and insignificant, and by extension so do we find that our  perception of reality is nothing special. Maybe we don’t, so much, know what’s going on around us; there’s more to it than meets the eye!

And with all that, I think, larger points can be made:
   In the grand scheme of all the species on earth, and the millions of years we’ve all been here, we normally exaggerate how special and important we are.
   There are things happening around us all the time that are beyond the range of our senses.

From that perspective, that there’s always more than meets the eye, it is easier to think broadly and stay open to possibilities…to think outside the box.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Perspective…on driving fast




perspectivethe state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship

If there is one concept to keep in mind to help make sense of the daily grind, it is perspective. It has a few meanings, most concerned with art and perception, but the useful one here is largely a synonym for point-of-view. Referring back to my initial posts, “we’re all in this together but we’re all on our own,” to get along together in the first part it helps to keep in mind the different perspectives we all have in the second part.

For instance…let’s talk about the issue of “driving too fast.” We should start by defining the term: not mental fast, or as fast as you can go, but 10-15 miles over the posted limit, which is a speed that statistically a great many people (though still a minority) are comfortable at, including me. I think it’s perfectly fine to go 75-80mph, that it’s not dangerous, and that speed limits are too low. Most people think otherwise. We have different perspectives.

In fact, the issue here is our perspectives. The meaning of “driving too fast” is the hidden problem, because both sides assume that their definition is the topic at hand.  It’s not, and it hit me like a ton of bricks when I suddenly realized… I borrowed a friend’s car a few years ago, a new luxury-type car from one of the Big Three (Ford,GM,Chrysler), and I thought, “OMG, I wouldn’t go over 65 in this thing, either.” It plowed in the turns, the brakes were mushy, the suspension too soft, etc., and I was shocked at how bad I thought it was. Meanwhile, being an “enthusiast,” a winning road-racer, an extremely focussed and attentive driver, I have always driven performance cars. For 25 years, every car I’ve had is further from its limits and more in control at 80mph than the average car at 65mph. You look at the two sides of the argument…(for the most part) we don’t drive the same cars! It makes the discussion of driving too fast an “apples-n-oranges” deal. If you say you would never drive 80mph, well, neither would I, if I was you. And I’ll bet if you drove my car for a day, you’d see the rationale in my (wait for it) perspective.
Perspective is everything

This is an awfully clean and tidy example, but still useful as a reference model for any discussion or argument. We might be using the same phrases when we talk, but they don’t necessarily mean the same thing. Depends a lot on our respective experiences, on how and where we learned something. It doesn’t hurt to ask a few questions up front to help ensure we’re all on the same page. I know now the few speed limit discussions I’ve had were just a waste of time. 



Enjoy the impressive dioramas of '50s and '60s America by Michael Paul Smith, seen here in one of his settings.  

Sunday, January 2, 2011

What the fuck?

As I page forward from my blog to “Next Blog,” it appears that I’m in with a group of religion-oriented writers. What the fuck?

NOT WHERE I BELONG.

No offense…just not who I am. I suppose I have used tags that put me there; they’ve been changed, and I expect to be reclassified soon enough, in a periodic index sweep. I hope this posting helps to send me on my way.

I’m tempted to review George Carlin’s 7 words that can’t be said on television 8D
Remember those? Let’s see…gotcha.
Not necessary to offend anyone further right here.
You go on your way, and I’ll see you when we get to the 11-dimensional space.

I’m off.
Later, chief.




Apologies and all due respect to Marc Maron's WTF podcast (on iTunes), but I needed it here!