Thursday Revisited Classic: Waste Baskets

I think that we should regard the waste basket as a mark of shame for our culture.

Our culture is built around disposability. We are the first culture in the history of humanity to believe so completely in the idea that there is always going to be more for us to extract from the earth. We seem to believe that sustainable means extracting resources that are finite at a slightly slower rate, and extracting renewable resources while only giving back a quarter of what we took.

If we extract a finite resource at any steady rate, it is not sustainable. It will run out, and we will be left overdrawn on out planetary credit card. This is not rocket science.

If we extract renewable resources without replenishing that resource or at least allowing it time to fully recover, then that resource will decline until it runs out. Once again we will be left overdrawn- this time on our planetary bank account. This is also not rocket science.

As long as our culture and general attitudes render waste baskets necessary- then we are still not living in a sustainable way. Even the day when recycling bins replace all wastebaskets is not going to herald the advent of sustainable culture. This is because we cannot recycle 100% of something we have fabricated. So if we are using and discarding items for recycling at the same rate that we are currently throwing items into the wast basket, then we are still living in a culture that believes in a world of 'ever more' resources.

To live sustainably means to live within LIMITS, and accept that the human race is not exempt from these basic biological limits any more than any other species.

Saturday Thoughts: Steampunk and Inequality

The blogging community seems to be discussing the value of the science fiction sub-genre known as steampunk- where victorian fantasies of coal powered steam driven super robots are writ large and Prussian armies battle French aristorcrats and English Mad Scientists. The charge seems to be that Victorian culture was exploitive and repressive and racist and sexist and pollutive and therefore steampunk is bad by association.

What this facile argument fails to take into account is that moden domesticated culture is far more exploitive and repressive of its underclass, and far more pollutive, while still being racist and sexist. Modern culture just hides these things better by pushing them further off shore, having better public relations, and handing over control of the exploitation to local compliant leaders who do the exploiting in our stead and alow the upper classes of the first world to wash their hands of the deed like Pontius Pilate.

The Victorians were rank amateurs next to modern culture, and attacking a literatary genre that suffers from nostalgia is nothing more than an attempt to ignore our own culpability in the matter.

Grow up.

Thursday Revisited Classic: Work and Sleep, Where's the Glory?

I work and I commute and I sleep. This is the bulk of my life. And the people around me seem to feel that this is some milestone of which I should be proud. I do not dislike my work most of the time, some of the time it is even fulfilling. I am able to read during my commute, meaning that my commute too is not unpleasant. This being the case, why am I complaining? And about what am I complaining?

I am complaining about this- there is no reason, there is no purpose, there is no point. If I died now, no great work would apparently go unfinished. If I died know it would be on some great
quest or some worthwhile endeavor.

I would leave behind only the waste that my body has excreted, some art, and a little bit of writing here and there.

And there in lies the problem.

Or there in lies the lack of a problem- to be more specific.

I have no great struggle and no great great. Almost nobody in my generation does. And that being the case, is it any wonder that we don't care? Is it any wonder that we will cheer the most ludicrous struggle- witness sports, witness reality television contests, witness video games, witness professional video game tournaments. We want something to struggle over and when that is denied to us, we will desperately grasp a struggle by proxy.

This current world has taken away our glory and our quest. There is no reason to care, and so we don't. Why would anyone want to save the world? That doesn't mean trekking into the dark heart of South America to discover a secret ritual, or flying into satellite orbit to stop a space ray, or even questing alone into the woods to face a solitary vigil, or anything worth doing. Saving the world means putting your empties in a BLUE BIN! Saving the world means switching light bulb brands! Why should we care! Where is the nobility of the cause? Where is the value?

Life needs more purpose and more value and a hell of a lot more drama, because me and my generation are collectively sleepwalking through our lives and something has to give.

Tuesday Word of the Day: Treason

The highest crime in the land in most countries is treason- crimes against the government itself. Highest than murder or rape in most countries, is the crime that signifies an assault upon the abstract concept known as the state. In some countries, including certain states in the USA, a person can still be put to death for this crime.

What is interesting about the word itself is its origins.

Treason comes from the same root word as tradition. Both words derive their meaning from the idea of passing something on to somebody else. That this is the root of a word that is associated with the deepest of national crimes suggests an age old fear of giving up power, one that may be intrinsic in domesticated culture, especially in the leadership caste.

Likewise, there may be a connection here with domesticated culture's quest for immortality- a desire to forever forestall change and loss of control.

Monday Meditations: The Book of the Knife

Never forget that you are meat. You have not spirit independent of your body and this world is all you will ever get. You do not have much time, and no time to waste. You have this life, no past life, no next life, no afterlife. You have this life. And you are throwing it away.

You are not the pinnacle of evolution. You are not made in God's image. You are a reasonably well adapted primate with delusions of grandeur. You are not the villain, and not born sinful. you are not a flawed creation of god or a monster amongst the beauty of nature. you are simply a culture living beyond your means.
You are not separate from nature. You are not separate from your body. 'You' are an expression of your body, and an expression of your culture, and and an expression of natural selection and the history of life on Earth.

You think with your brain, not with your mind. What you think of as your self is simply the electricity passing between cells in the brain. The mind is a ghost, a phantom, it does not exist- save as a convenient way of explaining our thinking brain as a unit. You are a miracle of Frankenstein proportions- a great thing of flesh and bone running via the electricity coursing through your nerves and muscles, powered by solar energy (for what else is our food but condensed sunlight?).

Who told you that you were good enough? You have been on the clock since birth. Your value is measured by what you give back to the Earth- your only home- in your short life. There is no prize for efficient extraction, you have to give back. There is no free lunch, you have to give back. The world owes you nothing, and you owe it everything. You have to give back.

Do not seek happiness. It does not live alone. Seek contribution. Seek to find where you are called to be. Seek what excites and terrifies you all at once. Seek what needs doing, because it is the right thing. It is there that you will make your own happiness.

The king calls the rebel a villain. Ask why. Our good books are written by one side of the story. Imagine how our good books would read if the adversary were really the hero. Beware! If you challenge your faiths, your cherished beliefs, you may find that are hollow or shatter under examination. You may find that your beliefs must change. But we must all change or die.

Your faith is frail and disloyal if you do not test it. One's faith should rest on a mountain of evidence. It should have withstood an army of your own doubts and attacks, lest it fall at the puff of an enemy's breath.

Death should be be sad, but it need not be a tragedy. The end of a life well spent, no matter how short, no matter how sad the end itself, will be a triumph every time. When you die you will be put into the earth, and and one day you will be earth. Nothing will remain and no spirit will linger. You do not have eternity, you have today! Act now!

When somebody tells you to turn the other cheek, they are telling you to be an obedient slave. When somebody asks to be your shepherd, they are telling you to be livestock. When you are called a patriot it means they expect you to believe before you think. If you are called a heretic, it means you have demanded the right to choose your own way.

Genius is not measured by talent or intelligence or skill. genius is measured by accomplishment. Geniuses create while the masses criticize. Geniuses step into the mist, while the masses tell them that they will fail. Geniuses are willing to to die trying, because it is better die well than to survive without ever living at all.
Great things are not within you. They are without you. you must step beyond yourself to reach them. The one who builds a bridge does so by stepping into the void and placing stones upon the sky.

You will never cease to fear as you step beyond you self. Do not try to. Instead, look upon your fear as a trusted companion who keeps you alert and reminds you that great things must be fearsome to be worth having and keep the rabble at bay.

You have your life to live, not somebody else's. Do not be so cowardly as to attempt to live through another rather than take your own risks.


Why do you equate goodness with obedience? Why are the docile and easily led exalted? Why are we told that the meek shall inherit the earth? We know full well that if this were to happen it will be only because the rich man has devoured everything of value first. The servant is afraid to be wrong. For if he is wrong, he is beaten. The free man is not afraid to be wrong. For if he is wrong, he learns something new. A god that demands loves does not understand love. A god that demands obedience does not understand freedom. A god that creates hell does not understand eternity. A god that holds the son accountable for the sins of the father is wicked.

We must defy authority, because all authority is illegitimate. True leaders do not seek power, and do not retain the power that they are offered. They use it to the group's advantage and then return it willingly- gratefully. Anyone who claims power should be opposed. Anyone who claims authority should be defied.
The trinkets you seek will not complete you. The empty things you consume will leave you still hollow. You cannot replace meaning with having.

Something is not rendered true because you would prefer it to be so. The world does not accommodate you. The world does not negotiate. The world dictates terms. If you wish to make an impact, then you must learn to see clearly. And you must learn to adapt.

You exist only as the mark you leave on the world. You can leave the world richer or you can leave the world poorer. You can leave your children with a richer, cleaner world or you can choose to damage the world for them.

Bluster about a problem does not solve it. Telling people to work harder does not work. To make change, you must change yourself and you must change the setting. Do not assume that people will change their basic nature. Instead adapt your plans so that they work with people's basic nature.

To teach a person to depend on others for their safety is to train slaves. To teach a person to be kind and merciful to oppressors is to perpetuate violence.

Enlightenment is a deathtrap. The existential dread that enlightenment claims to solve comes from a lack of purpose and a lack of true community. The dread does not come from too much attachment, but attachment to worthless things. The enlightened master offers a mental suicide when what is needed is action and meaning. The void comes soon enough.

The world is not a temptation. Life is not something to be transcended, but something in which to become immersed. We will die, and then we will be dirt. This is our one chance to be immortal, not in soul or mind- they are phantoms- but in deed and impact. Legacy is our only immortality.

Better to try and fail and die loudly, than to pass quietly from the light. Better to be remembered as one who tried and failed than one who never tried. The genius of failures is that they lay the ground for success- and that is a legacy for which one may be satisfied to die.

Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is a resource. Power is your resources multiplied by your efforts.

All true philosophy begins not with the mind, but with the body. It begins in our genetic instructions. Anything not so grounded is blind speculation. We are not merely our genetic information, anymore than a IS its rules. The rules are the basis for the game and game is created by flexion against the constraints imposed by the rules. We are the results of genetic information in the same way.
Bureaucracy is the weapon of the coward. Implied power, unspoken authority, power based on organizational hierarchy are the domain of the parasite and the villain. A system designed to make everyone slaves will always be built upon such principles and such power. It is a monster that devours itself and is never satisfied.

Any apparent benefits to bureaucracy and hierarchy are overshadowed by the monster that it turns us into. No claims to efficiency or organization or progress can justify the rape of our home and our potential and the burning of our history.
We use structures and bureaucracies to protect those who do not perform from the rigors of the real world. "Be our slave", they offer "and nothing will ever swallow you whole". Instead we are devoured in little bites by bureaucratic fangs.
True system, trues culture flows like water and adapts like a living species. Bureaucracies are rigid and brittle things that survive change by growing larger and seeking to absorb and sedate change agents. but life is change and bureaucracy is the domain of the walking dead.

We are weighed by our results. All of our actions have results. The ends do not justify the means or vice versa, because every action taken is end- a result dropped into the world. We must consider this in all things.

Do not confuse the abstract with the eternal. Those who seek ideal form find that they are always disappointed. The physical world does not spring from the abstract, the abstract springs from the physical: from the electrical interplay of our neurons, and has value only as long as it has use.

You are going to fail, and fail again. People will be better than you. They won't understand your vision. You will get knocked down. You will get knocked out. you will be scorned and you will be laughed at. And, if you are a warrior, none of this wills top you- and thus you will have a chance. In the end it is not about success, because success is not assured. It is not about effort- which means little. It is not about sportsmanship- which means a lot. In the end, it is about drive, perseverance and the ability to do what scares you and get back up when you are knocked down and say "Now I know how to avoid getting hit like that again."
Do not confuse intent with action. Do not confuse planning with creating. Intent is necessary, planning is vital. These things lay the foundations, but only action brings results.

Spectacle is not impact, but neither is it powerless. The spectacle is proof to the fool, and evidence to the easily led.

Discontent is the seed of change. Anger and frustration, if used and not succumbed to, are the fuel of action. The angry person will, while awake and in control, persevere in the face of trouble. Without emotional engagement, without passion, we give up.

All calls to dissolve the mind and identity in order to achieve a perceive enlightenment are impractical. A temporary dissolution of mind and identity can give perspective or lead to personal growth. To desire this in the long term though, is merely nihilistic.

Know yourself. know your strengths. Know your flaws. Then set about to creating yourself as you would like to be. This is done through action. Habit breeds identity.

We fear death when we squander life. We know we will die with our dreams still inside our hearts, like cowards hiding from a world that beat us only because we did not dare to try. We are addicted to getting ready- it feels good, and actually starting scares us.

Saturday Thoughts: Daddy's Girl

Is the standard sexual interaction of the domesticated human, that of a Father and a Daughter?

The idealized domesticated human female has little or no body hair, particularly pubic, in the manner of prepubescent (pre-sexual) girls. The catholic school girl outfit has been infamously sexualized to the point that many schools no longer allow its use. Also sexualized are lolipops, pig-tails, pleated skirts in general, and naivity about sexual things. The ideal sexual woman in domestic culture is not in fact a woman at all, but a sexually naive (and virginal) girl whom the male can instruct, control and dominate.

This leads us to the question, in what other domestic relationship is a young girl instructed, and controlled and even potentially dominated? Follow this up with the question, what is the idealized sexual man in domestic culture? He is experienced (whereas the girl is not) and thus he is sexually mature. He is physically developed and thus fully an adult.

On top of these uncomfortable facts we add the domestic culture's obsession with patriarchs. Whether in the halls of the gods- Zeus was father to many gods, Odin was father to many Aesir, and so forth- including of course the infamous Father of the Catholic trinity. Historically Kings have been compared to fathers and fathers have been described as heads of the household- with final say over what happens within said household. Patriachs are hugely important in the bible- starting with Adam and Abraham and continuing through whole chapters concerned only with lineage as determined by the males of the family.

Even in a marriage, the man presents himself at the altar- and the bride is given away to her new sexual owner by her father (her old sexual owner?).

What does this say about the underlying fears and neuroses of modern culture? What does this say about how we treat the rest of the world?

Thursday Revisited Classic: Sword and Book

Literacy and the martial skills: these are the two most restricted groups of skills in history. Books and weapons the most restricted items in history.

Throughout history government has sought to restrict public access to information and the ability to defend themselves.

The reasons given for these restrictions are often reasonable. Who needs an assault rifle? Some information must be restricted for the purposes of National Security. The police are here to protect you and vigilante justice harms the whole community. Consult with your doctor or health expert before embarking on any change in your fitness regime.

Time and time again we are implored to trust and rely upon the experts in matter large (national security) and small (how best to reduce our waist lines). And this makes perfect sense, if the experts you rely upon are worthy of your trust.

If the experts you rely upon are not worthy of your trust, then you are a lamb (helpless by your own actions) trusting your fate to wolves you have allowed to guard you. And so you must ask yourself, are the people in charge trustworthy, or not?

Does getting caught drunk driving make you fit to lead a government? Does running smear campaign after smear campaign against the opposition leaders, even when there is no upcoming election make you fit to lead a country? Does returning to the country of you birth after years of being absent, apparently for the sole purpose of heading the opposition party and attempting to cash in on your fame make you fit to lead a country? Does lying time and time again on the campaign trail make you fit to lead a country? Does playing to the people's fear and jealousy and hatred and bigotry make you fit to lead a country?

When you've run through the list in your head, can you find anyone you trust in our government? Now how about those other groups? Who benefits if you are constantly unhealthy? Who benefits if you are unable to make simple decisions? If you believe that satisfaction comes from purchasing something more?

The book and the sword. These are the tools of the adult, of the person who would be there own master. Learn to use both and recognize the man who would take these from you as foe looking for slaves he can use.

Tuesday Word of the Day: Barbarian

A Greek word for anyone who was not Greek, adopted by the Romans and adopted by domesticated humans ever since for somebody who is not civilized.

The roots of the word is an onomatopoeia- bar bar, like blah blah- the sound of conversation in a language you cannot understand. The roots of the word Barbarian is literally an ancient Greek looking at a non-Greek and shaking his head and then miming "blah blah". The assumption is that, because I can't understand your language, there is something deficient in you rather than me.

Greeks applied this to all non-Greek, Romans applied it to non-Romans. The suggestion is clear. Domesticated humans do not consider other cultures (even other domesticated cultures) fully human.

Hidden in the word barbarian is the assumption that only our culture is true, only our way is acceptable. We have the one true culture. We have the one true religion. We are the one race acceptable to the gods.

Hidden in such as straightforward word is the same fear that permeates domesticated culture, the fear of the other. The king fears his subjects. The nation fears its neighbors. The city fears the woods.

Such a sad small little fear driving so destructive a culture.

Friday Book Review: "Spell of the Sensuous" By David Abrams

David Abrams first book, Spell of the Sensuous is a meandering book on a mission. Looking at connections between language and culture and what domesticated humans consider the natural world.

Abrams examines in detail, how the connection between the incarnate world and the language of a culture effects how that culture interacts with the world. The abstractness of modern English is examined, with its letters derived from Greek letters adapted from Hebrew letters- so disconnected as to be abstract. Abrams argues that this allows domesticated humans to abstract themselves away from the rest of the world, and then argues his case by pointing to the close connections that traditional languages have to place, from sound to methods of using the language amongst Native American languages.

Although not conclusive, this is Abrams at his thought provoking, unsettling best.

Verdict: Recommended Read

Thursday Revisited Classic: Burning us out for fun and profit

I have a theory that we are burning ourselves out to help us cope with our culture.

I look at several things in our culture when I say this. I know that the examples that I give here will be gross simplifications. So I ask that people who read this go and seek to expand upon my very simple argument here to draw their own conclusions.

Entertainment is seeking to divert rather than engage people. Instead of dancing- we watch "Dancing with the Stars". Instead of singing we watch "American Idol". Instead of playing sports, we watch sports. Instead of going on adventures in our youth, we play video games that seem to simulate the effect. Our past times now exist to divert our needs and keep us from feeling the need to engage to strongly.

Entertainment further seeks to isolate rather than engage. We vote with a massive and anonymous television audience on shows like "So you think you can Dance" and "Britain's got Talent". We watch televised political debates, rather than question candidates in person. We sit alone in our living room and watch television. We sit alone in our den and play or talk anonymously online. Marketing specialists call this phenomenon 'cocooning' and see it as one of the current big marketing trends.

How does this relate to burning ourselves out as a method of coping with our culture?

Look at our culture.

We go to school longer and more intensively than any period in history. We are expected to assimilate and regurgitate more abstract information that any generation in history. Much of this information is irrelevant to our lives, save to rewrite on a test paper or in an essay.

We absorb more advertising than any generation ever created. We absorb more information regarding current events than any generation. We absorb more information about so many abstract subjects that have no bearing on our lives.

Why?

What does it do?

Who benefits from it?

The majority of us do mind numbing jobs. We do repetitive jobs. We jobs that offer little chance for expression or individuality.

I believe that we would rebel against this, if we were not already overloaded, and burnt out by our environment. I believe that we need this isolating diverting entertainment to allow us to deal with the overloading burnout damage and the numbing effect of mind numbing jobs that not even the burn out can completely manage.

I believe that we are broken and must brake ourselves further in order to get through each day without falling apart.

But we are falling apart. Isolated and without out a substantial inner life, we have nothing to provide support us through rough patches. And the rough patches come hard and heavy. We are overwhelmed by school and advertising. We are numbed by pointless jobs. We lack proper exercise and proper nutrition- unless we take excess time from our already overloaded lives to attend to such matters.

Our daily activities are disconnected from the land, from our past, from anything that we have evolved connected to throughout out evolutionary history. We must navigate a system that removes power from the individual and supplies that power to the bureaucrat who manages us like the human resources we have become- homo sapiens domesticus.

We do we go from here? We turn to religion for answers. We turn to vicarious achievement in sports, or celebrity watching, or televised entertainment to attempt to fill the void.

But the void gets bigger. We are addicts, but nothing will fill the hole in our guts.

But burning us out will keep us with our noses to the collective grindstone, and numbing us will keep us there until we burn out, and the emptiness will keep us seeking quick thrills which generates an another generation to take our place when we finally succumb.

"To know enough is enough, is enough to know"
Lao-Tzu from the "Tao Te Ching"

Tuesday Word of the Day: Sustainable Growth

To sustain means to maintain, to reach equilibrium, to create an environment whereby an activity can continue into the future indefinitely. To grow means to expand, to push boundaries, and to break equilibrium by surpassing old standards.

Within a closed system, which earth currently is at a practical level for human life, the two terms are contradictory. One cannot continue growth within our little backwater planet indefinitely into the future without running into the limitations imposed by the earth itself. The planet is only so big. The planet can only maintain so much biomass.

After a certain point, if we which to continue sustaining our growth, we must begin (and have begun) transforming other species' biomass into our biomass. The problem with turning other species biomass into our biomass, is that we need the other species to generate breathable air, and soil that we can grow our food in, and to inhale our carbon dioxide, and to run the water cycle and the nitrogen cycle and so forth.

To sustain growth means to be at the bottom of a very large hole with no apparent way out and continue digging.

On Debt and Dependence

As animals we move through three periods during the course of our lives. We begin as dependent beings and we slowly grow into independence and then flower and become interdependent beings.

Unless you are a domesticated being. Domesticated beings- such as most dogs, most house cats, most humans and most farm animals to a greater or lesser extent- never leave the dependent stage. This outcome is not the result of any accident.

Those people who domesticated these beings, dog, cat, cow, or human; did so with the intent of making them dependent. Dependence is part of the definition of domestication, a being that does not not depend upon the good nature of another to survive is not domesticated. Such beings may remain potentially capable of throwing off their domestication and becoming wild again, and becoming free again, but they are dependent as long as they do not break this chain.

There are many forms of dependence that a would be master may attempt to force upon their intended livestock.

The means of violence is denied. Cats are de-clawed, dogs are muzzled, bulls de-horned, chickens are de-beaked, peasants are forbidden to use swords and so on. The first method of enforcing dependence is to remove the means to assert oneself through violence or the threat of violence.

The means of education is denied. Horses are fitted with blinders, dogs are not allowed to hunt, mothers are separated from their babies moments after birth. Books are burned, scholars are executed, literacy is curtailed, topics are rendered taboo. Without the ability to learn and, as importantly, the ability to choose what we will learn- the domesticated being will not be able to see their captivity.

Docility is bred for and trained into the animals. Obedient animals are rewarded with food, or attention, oat bags and gold stars, a scratch behind the ears and a place on the Dean's list. Disobedient animals are used as object lessons, shock collars and canings, public humiliations and forcible confinement in a kennel. Such tactics make it rational for any single animal to stay obedient.

Obligations are created. Student loans, mortgages on houses and cars, credit card debt and on and on. Now the domesticated being is trapped within the system, until it untangles or ignores these obligations.

Saturday Thoughts: Predictions

Predictions are a tricky thing, they have a tendency to make one look foolish. I will risk looking foolish.

I expect this to be the last great empire of the False King. I expect that other empires may follow this one, but they will be lesser- because less will be left to work with after this empire falls. I do expect this empire to fall.

I do not know how it will fall. If the earth is lucky, it will fall quickly and quietly- like a puppet with cut strings. This last greatest empire of the False King is fragile. goods travel thousands of miles with very little margin for error. And these are not luxuries, these are basic needs such as food, natural gas to heat homes, gasoline to run cars and make fertilizer and pesticides, minerals and timber and other raw manufacturing materials, clean water to drink (or more likely waste) and electricity to power everything else. It is possible that if the systems are threatened by large enough systemic pressures, that all supply lines will break at once or nearly so, and the empire will fall like a broken puppet to floor of the stage.

If the earth is less lucky, the fall will be fast and violent. Resource wars will break out, people will starve and panic and run. There will be vast devastation, but nothing that life cannot recover from- just nothing human beings can survive.

If humans are lucky, and the earth is even less lucky, the end will arrive like a battered wife falling down a long flight of stairs. There will be jarring blow after jarring blow as the first crisis- whatever it is- ignites the next and so on down through a fragile web of systems. Some humans may survive this in a humbler manner than the last two or three centuries have allowed us to get used to. There may again be empires, but they will resemble Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great- large but drawing only upon the renewable resources of the planet and thus not a danger to it.

The apocalypse may not thunder in at all. The end could creep in by degrees like the dusk at midsummer. So the when the end arrives, it will not be noticed, but will be the 'way things are.'

The earth is- as far as human civilization is currently concerned, a closed system. We are using up limited non-renewable energy to power unchecked growth in population and consumption. This will not end well under any circumstances. The only hope for continuing the current empire's preferred method of existence is to find a cheap, high return renewable energy source that rivals the energy density of fossil fuels. This is the current strategy that the empire is betting on.

I don't expect this work. I think it is probably possible, but I don't think we have allowed ourselves enough time or resources to achieve that goal.

I don't know when things will fall. I have some ideas, but I am not certain. I am planning with the assumption that I will live to see the end. But many prophets expecting to do so were proven wrong, so I am also planning for other contingencies.

But I expect to see an empire fall in my lifetime that will dwarf the fall of Rome and leave its citizens feeling as though the world has ended.

Thursday Revisited Classic: Coming at life from the Wrong direction

"We have only one thing to give up. 

Our dominion. 

We don't own the world. 

We're not kings yet. 

Not gods. 

Can we give that up? 

Too precious, all that control? 

Too tempting, being a god?" 

--Anthony Hopkins, Instinct, 1999

Should we solve world hunger?

If so, how should we do this?

The growth rate of any population seems- based on a wealth of evidence from all species (humans most definitely included)- to be irrevocably tied to available food. Take a population of any species and give them access to enough food to support a higher population than currently exists and the population will (barring mitigating factors) grow at least until it reaches that higher population.

The population may overshoot of course and then crash as a result. Likewise, limiting factors such as available space or other factors may slow or stop population growth. But barring this, populations of anything will grow to the capacity dictated by the available food.

How then do we address world hunger? As soon as we hit the carrying capacity of the current food supply, those people on the margins will start to fall off into the less than gentle arms of natural selection. It happens this way in every population of every species we have ever found.

Are we looking at this the wrong way?

We see human life as sacred- or so I have been repeatedly told. But does that mean that the loss of any human life should be prevented? Obviously I do not wish to see anyone I care about die. But that wish does not change the biological imperative.

I have heard serious scientists who are actually attempting to eradicate aging, speak of old age as though it were a disease. Aging is one of the few things that keeps our near geometric population growth in check. I do not wish to see people die, but I understand that this is how life works.

It starts, it travels a certain distance and then it stops- consumed to fuel the next starting life.

If we seek to prevent the final stage, we remove one quarter of the wagon wheel upon which life turns. A world where nobody died would crush with a human population that would strip the Earth bare like locusts. A world without hunger would devour the Earth in a single day as population exploded like a nuclear bomb across the globe. Lining the oceans with cities would not prevent our very speedy demise in such as case.

Perhaps in our obsession with abstract ideals, we have forgotten that nothing is abstract and we are not special. Our time, as a species, as a culture and as individuals is finite.

We may strive to prolong our stay, but to do so in a manner which ends the whole experiment of life on Earth is bad form.

We are not worthy of special attention as species go. We were not made special on the sixth day. We do not have special dispensation to ignore biological law.

Hunger is a feature of life, not a problem. It will persist as long as life persists. The problem is that we fancy ourselves as gods- and think that we have the right to say "No, this shall not be!"

One day soon we may wake up to find that our Godhood was a delusion that lead us off a cliff and into a free fall towards a canyon floor with which we cannot survive colliding.

Tuesday Word of the Day: Heresy

Heresy is a strong word with strong associations. In modern popular usage the word connotes crimes against the church-normally the Catholic Church- and smells strongly of witch trials and the Spanish Inquisition.

But where did the word come from and what meaning lies at the core of this word's family history?

Heresy comes from the Greek verb meaning: to choose.

Church and state were inseparable for centuries in Europe and are still inseparable in many countries, and there are strong elements in many first world countries that would love church and state to once again merge. The idea that choice is a crime, and indeed the highest crime imaginable in such governments, says a great about how modern domestic culture works and where said culture's fear can be found.

Friday Book Review: "Being Animal" by David Abram

"We cannot abide our vulnerability, 

our utter dependence upon a world that can eat us."

--David Abram

I love the title of this book. Domesticated human so often forget that they are animals. I read and hear even domseticated humans who should know better say things such as "our closest relatives are the primates". Humans are primates- and the domesticated human forgets that.

I really enjoyed Abrams' first book Spell of the Sensuous, and would recommend that book over this book. There was more meat and less poetry in the first book, more direction and more focus. That said, this book unsettled me, which is a compliment. I did not disagree with it, though many times I wanted to disagree.

Abrams approach is to question and pull at modern assumptions about seperateness as though he was pulling strands from a blanket. Slowly your certainty loses it's integrity and everything begins to loosen. He makes good points regarding the awareness of all being. He goes too far, which is likely nowhere near far enough. He is ridiculous in the way Picasso or Van Gogh is ridiculous- not because he is wrong, but because he sees so differently.

If you are certain, then you should read this.

Verdict: Recommended Read

Thursday Revisited Classic: Why Solving Small Pox is a Problem for society

I recently saw a sharp little video that argued that our ability as a species to eliminate small pox is reason for us to be optimistic about our future.

The speaker shows us how much damage global warming will do to Bangladesh alone. He gives us a view of how devastating our actions will be to the earth and ultimately to ourselves.

He also shows us a host of communicable diseases that we have almost eliminated- such as Guinea Worm.

Now he is very right. Dedicated individuals eliminated small pox, and other dedicated individuals have nearly eliminated other communicable diseases such as guinea worm.

The question is not 'does this mean then that we are able to achieve this kind of effect upon problems such as global warming?'. The question is 'why did we put such effort towards this problem, and why have we failed to put that same effort towards problems such as overpopulation or global warming?'

I believe that the problem has to do with cultural mythology.

We seem to believe that the world was made for man, and man was made to conquer and rule the world. Because of this we will put a lot of effort into destroying enemies and competitors- like wolves, and Indians, diseases that hurt human beings (sorry, diseases that hurt domestic humans) and anything thing else that stands as opposition to our rule.

On other hand, global warming is just a side effect of ruling the world. Over population is our cultural destiny. We can talk about fighting these things, but to actually do something significant about them would require us to change our cultural mythology.

A Short and Simple Overview of Our Free Game Workshop!

A Collapse! Game Workshop?

What is that?

Genus Rex Enterprises Inc. runs free Game Workshops using Collapse!, our educational board game. The board game teaches players the need for sustainable skills such as gardening, and awareness of how environmental damage anywhere in the world can impact them at home.

We run a 2 hour free event for you club, school, event or organization- that will help engage and excite your members, while allowing them to explore concepts and teach themselves.

How Will This Help You?

Finding the Why
The Game Workshop teaches motivation, which is difficult to teach under regular circumstances- such as a lecture or readings. Through experiencing the game workshop, players will teach themselves of the need for community involvement and the need to acquire leadership and self-sufficiency skills.

Supported Information
The events depicted on the Event Cards in the game are based either on actual events that have occurred already or based upon scientific theories and conjectures currently being discussed in political and scientific communities. Each Event Card will give an example to help connect the game to real life and make players curious about these subjects.

Self Running
Genus Rex Enterprises Inc. sends its own team in to set up and run the Game Workshop entirely. The event takes 2 hours, and can be allowed to run to 3 or even 4 hours for longer requested events. And during this time, you do not need to coordinate anything! you may even play the game along side everyone else.

Who would be Interested?

A Collapse! Game Workshop is ideal for anyone seeking to raise interest in  Sustainability, Community Involvement,  Self-Sufficiency Skills,  Environmental Concerns,   
and Teamwork skills.

A Collapse! Game Workshop is ideal for Classrooms (grades 5 and up), Scout and Guide Groups and related Youth Groups, Environmental Groups, and any group interested Sustainability and encouraging Youth Leadership.

The Game itself

The game takes roughly 2 hours to set up, explain, play, and answer questions about following play. Scoring is designed so that players compete against the game rather than each other. All elements of game play are designed so that players teach themselves and each other, rather than being taught, in order to improve the impact of the game. Players must obtain their personal needs of food, shelter and safety, while also protecting the community well-being and infrastructure. Players receive both a group score and a personal score, allowing players to choose between community centered altruism or personal gain- and teaching the consequences of both. Up to 30 players can be mentored through five separate games, playing against the other players and the other boards in the room- learning social responsibility as they do.

Players will learn about: International environmental challenges and how they can affect local conditions The networks that make modern industrial life possible and how they can be affected by an emergency The importance of community involvement in maintaining communal stability The need for practical leadership and self-reliance skills

For workshops outside the British Columbia Lower Mainland- you will be charged for our travel expenses. All workshops done within the Lower Mainland are performed free of charge.

How We Make This Easy For You

We arrive at least thirty minutes prior (and up to one hour prior if needed) to the start time to set up and and deal with any surprises.

We do all necessary clean up relating to the workshop itself, although there shouldn’t be much.

We are easy to get a hold of through Senior Event Coordinator Ryan Cove- via his cell number (778-998-1377).

We run the event free of charge. We do not charge for the workshop, but make our income through advertising and sponsorship through social conscious organizations.

The workshop itself is not active and does not have safety concerns. Players sit in groups of 5 to 8 and play a board game and discuss what they are doing, as facilitators walk around and clarify rules and help keep the games moving along.

The workshop is also amenable to pauses and breaks as needed by the venue and any larger events to which the workshop may by subordinate.

Schedule Your Free Game Workshop Today- And Teach people about Tomorrow!

We are now scheduling November and December workshops for our learning game "Collapse!". Please call us at 778-998-1377 or email us at ryan.leach@genusrex.com for more information. We also still have a few available dates in October if you are interested.

Further information can be found here.

Contact Us

Phone: 778-998-1377
Email: ryan.leach@genusrex.com

Volunteers and Sponsorship

Genus Rex Enterprises Inc. is a social business and is not trying to maximize profit. That is not our goal. We need to make money so that we can continue to do what we do, and expand the services and resources that we offer. But we are not out to maximize profits. As a result, we give a lot of stuff away and do a lot of stuff for free. The reasoning behind this is simple- our number one goal is to get the message out. Money is simply the medium of exchange that society has agreed to use. So we use it, but we aren't very attached to it.

Volunteers

Right now, we are all volunteers. Nobody is being paid for what they do. We hope to reach a point where we can provide room and board for everyone and possibly pay people in the next year. This means we are all on the same level. Some of us have more of the picture than others, this site is a resource to put us all on the same level of information, so that we can all contribute on the same level.

We are working to create a massive social change that will improve competency in people under 30 across Canada. We want to save the world by making adults out of consumers, and leaders out of 'the masses'. This sounds huge and maybe a little intimidating, but it will happen one small step at a time. These small steps will not normally be difficult, but they will normally look difficult. We have to realize that things maybe scary, but they are not normally difficult once you grab them by the horns.

Sponsorship

As said previously, we do a lot thing for free and give away a lot of stuff. This is because we are trying to reach as many people as possible. We are looking to partner with other social businesses who would like to get word about their mission, product or service to people who would be interested in it, instead just throwing advertising at vast demographics and hoping to find people who want to change the world.

We'll go looking for them for you, and when we find them, your information will be among the resource pack that we give them.

We do we do this? Shakespeare's St. Crispin Spech from "Henry V"

This speech that follows is from "Henry V" by William Shakespeare, and I felt that it was important to post it. 

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow     
To do our country loss; and if to live,     
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.    
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.     
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,     
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;     
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;     
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.     
But if it be a sin to covet honour,     
I am the most offending soul alive.     
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.     
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour     
As one man more methinks would share from me     
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!     
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,     
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,     
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,     
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;     
We would not die in that man's company     
That fears his fellowship to die with us.     
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.     
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,     
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,     
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.     
He that shall live this day, and see old age,     
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,    
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'     
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,    
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'     
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,     
But he'll remember, with advantages,     
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,     
Familiar in his mouth as household words-     
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,    
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-     
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.     
This story shall the good man teach his son;    
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,     
From this day to the ending of the world,     
But we in it shall be remembered-     
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;     
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me     
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,     
This day shall gentle his condition;     
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed     
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,    
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks     
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

'Collapse!' A Game of Social Responsibility

In a free society, we are dependent upon the involvement of everyone to keep society running. The board game ‘Collapse!’ teaches, through play, about the interrelated systems that depend upon citizen involvement to keep working for all of our benefit. It’s a delicate web of systems that deliver food, run the buses, keep the peace, and respond to emergencies.

World Politics, economic upheaval, environmental concerns, and natural disasters (here and abroad) can disrupt the normal functioning of a city or community, and even cause its collapse if there is not sufficient infrastructure and community involvement (as in New Orleans during Katrina, Pakistan's recent flooding, or Haiti's Earthquake).

'Collapse!' helps players draw a connection between the world stage, the municipal stage and their own actions. It is available free as an electronic download for any use that is non-commercial in nature. And if you are located in the Vancouver area, contact us now to schedule a free demonstration session with mentors, enough boards for 30 to 40 players and a personal instructor.

The Red Cedar Project

his is our first offering.
We’ve noticed a problem. This generation doesn’t know how to really live. We know how to play Farm Town, but can’t grow food. We can play Street Fighter, but not defend ourselves. We can play Civilization, but don’t know how to contribute in our own town. As young people today, we have become The Matrix generation- living in a dream world. And worse, we’ve signed up for this dream world without any coercion. We’ve bought our own prison cells!
The Red Cedar Project is a toolkit to help us re-engage with the real world. The Project is a set of games and resources to help into adults that we can respect when we look ourselves in the mirror.
It’s time to stop playing at having adventures, and actually live them.

Off Topic Book Review: Ender in Exile

I just finished reading Orson Scott Cards's new book "Ender in Exile" which covers some of the territory between the end of "Ender's Game" and the beginning of "Speaker for the Dead" and also wraps up some story elements form the "Ender's Shadow" series.

I didn't care for the last two Ender books "Xenocide" and "Children of the Mind". I thought that they were good, but I had come to expect greatness from Card and so 'good' tasted awfully bitter in my mouth when I read them. "Ender's Shadow" and the subsequent series improved my mood and seemed to find Card back in fighting form.

Fortunately "Ender in Exile" keeps the successes going. Like "Speaker for the Dead" it is a very different novel from "Ender's Game", but still reminds you just how smart Ender is and how capable he is. If there is a flaw in this book, the flaw is that the book feels like two novels and a short story stitched together. They are all great stories, but the work did not feel like a single work. This doesn't bother me because, as I said the stories are all great, but the effect does make the narrative a little bumpy as the author transitions from one story to the next.

I enjoyed the book enough that I bought it, which says something. I rarely buy fiction anymore. And having finished the book, I am still glad that I bought it. I will likely regift it- but even there I think the book will be enjoyed.

Monday Meditations: By Word, By Blood, By Tribe

I have nothing in this life, but three things.

I have my word. Do I do as I say I do? Every time I do, I place a hand full of earth on the place where I stand, and raise myself up a little in the eyes of those who matter to me. Every time I do not, I scoop out a handful of earth and descend a little bit into a pit of my own making. Most people spend their lives adding one handful of earth with one hand as they remove a handful with the other hand. And by doing so, and by attempting too much and many alone, they grow tired. And eventually they sink a little, and then the rally, but not quite enough. And so slowly most people sink in slow motion, becoming a failed compromised version of who they wished to be when they were young.

My word is magic. My word is an invocation that I cast upon myself to make myself better today than I was yesterday. My word is my promise to myself, and this is why we lose respect for those who have no word that matters, who have dug themselves a pit. For how do you respect one who does not respect their own word and themselves by association?

I have my blood. How much do I commit to what I do? What will I risk when the cause it right? I may always keep my word and be ill respected, because I will risk nothing. I toil each day in the service of a master, loyal and meek and well looked after. My word is good, but my blood is lacking. I need to spill a little blood for a good cause. I need to sweat and toil in a place where I could fail and fail when the world is watching. I need to raise the stakes now and then and put something of value into the pot or I will find that I have been playing for small stakes my whole life and have nothing worth protecting anymore. I will find that because I risked nothing, I am worth nothing.

My blood is magic. My blood is a ward that demands my commitment and my full attention. My blood is my bond and my proof that I will see this through. For how can one who has never bleed understand what I means to fight?

I have my tribe. Who am I loyal to, no matter the cost? For whom will I face death and court disaster? I cannot build a tribe for myself. I find my tribe, but they choose me. I must prove myself worthy of them through word and blood. If they deem me worthy they will choose me, and I deem them worthy I will choose them. Fear the tribe of worthy men and women who have chosen each other, for they are immortal.

My Tribe is magic. My tribe is the force by which I amplify my efforts. My tribe is my legacy long after I am gone. My tribe is my offering to the earth and my great grandchildren. For who can topple a wall made of warriors bound together so tightly?

Editorial: The Souls of White Folk?

This title may have offended you. That was my intent. We are used to thinking about soul of Black people or Native Americans, or Meso-Americans or Asian peoples. It sounds somewhat blasphemous to talk about the souls of White Folk.

We are the villain- repression and conquest personified. To be a white person today is to lay claim to the spoils and crimes of generations of white people who came before. So I think this question is very relevant? What happened to the souls of white folk? Where did those souls go?

The African born slave could dream of returning to Africa. And in that dream there was a connection to an identity- a soul that gave him or her purpose and meaning and validation. An American born African-American can still look to the heritage of that past in Africa. And if that identity is too distant, the modern African-American can find identity in the struggle to be free. Where can white folk turn for an affirming identity that gives them strength and morality?

There is not a square inch of North America that is not occupied land. Every patch of earth is testimony to the crimes of white folk. Every shopping mall or high rise is a tombstone to murdered Native Americans and raped eco-systems. There is nowhere in North America that does not call out to the white person and call them a monster and murderer and betrayer and rapist. What about Europe? There is not a plot of land that is not stained with the blood of women and children. There is no arable land that has not been fought over by kings and conquerors, despots and tyrants and raiders and bandits and butchers. Nowhere is there not an unmarked grave from some injustice. On both continents, the landscape itself indicts the white person for crimes against life itself.

So where can the white person reclaim the soul lost so long ago? Are we doomed to be villains and monsters forever? People better hope not, because if the white folk don't find their soul and reclaim a collective identity that is positive- the world won't survive for much longer.

Editorial: The Avatar Contraversy

Avatar has pissed off conservatives who feel that it is attacking their way of life, and the movie also pissed off liberals who see the specter of the 'white messiah' in the movie's protagonist Jake Sully. In this case the conservatives have the movie figured out much better than the liberals. Avatar is an attack on the 'traditional' destructive way of life that is typically associated with first world European descended white folk- normally white males. It is not, however a story about the 'white messiah' as many commentators have claimed. It is a story about redemption.

The story of Avatar could easily be told from the point of view of only the Na'vi. It would be simple to make Jake Sully's character a young untried warrior instead of a white guy in a Na'vi avatar. The story would function just fine and most of the relevant plot points would work with very little tooling.

But it would not serve its purpose then. What do I mean? The function of stories like 'Dances with Wolves' and 'Avatar' and even 'Pocahontas' are not to tell non-white people that they need white people to rescue them- at least not when the stories are told well and done right.

Done right these stories are stories told to young white people who want a place in a culture that is not a destructive all consuming demon. For young people- and old people- who do not wish to take there place in the white folk's culture of death, there needs to be an option besides that culture. They need to know that even a white person can peel off the layers of civilization and walk quietly amongst the trees and live in balance.

Going back to the movie 'Avatar'. If white people don't find a better story to be in than the one perpetuated by the villains of this story, then more white people will come, and they will carpet bomb Pandora from space before moving in to extract the minerals. Without another story, these hopeless souls who would rather not destroy the world will step into line and do just that. 'Avatar' is not attempting to accurately represent the world, but to tell those people who are still part of the culture of maximum harm, that there is another way and another story to be in.

The View from the End of the World

"Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer of oil, has pumped a total of 46 billion barrels of oil in the past seventeen years, without any decrease in its stated reserve figure of about 260 billion barrels. The world is likely to get no warning before Saudi output peaks — an event that credible authorities suggest could happen soon."

"Diverse events like the Iraq war, the 9/11 attacks, the 2005 urban riots in France, and hurricane Katrina may be the foreshocks of a coming global breakdown."

"About 40% of the world's population now lacks sufficient water for basic sanitation and hygiene, and nearly one out of every five people does not have enough to drink."

"Nearly half of the world's major fish stocks are now fished to their maximum limit; since 1950, industrialized fishing has reduced the total mass of large predatory fish in the world's oceans by 90 percent."

"Over the past twenty years, warming of the Arctic ocean has been eight times faster than it was over the past hundred years."

"Scientists have recently found that the Greenland ice sheet's rate of ice loss has more than doubled in the past ten years, from 90 to 220 cubic kilometers annually. In 2006 the ice sheet will dump into the ocean about 225 times the amount of fresh water that Los Angeles consumes."

"In 1870 the average income in the world's richest country was about nine times greater than that in the world's poorest country. By 1990 it was forty-five times greater."

"The number of overweight people in the world — about 1.2 billion, mostly in rich countries — now roughly equals the number of underfed and undernourished, almost all in poor countries."

All of these quotes come from the fact page for "The Upside of Down."

How would you like the world to end?

You have a lot of choices today. Civilization could end because of peak oil and the resulting collapse of agriculture and transportation. Civilization could end because of resource wars resulting from the loss of arable land and the increasing acidity of oceans brought about by climate change. Civilization could end because of local wars brought on by the economic collapses of nations like the United States. Civilization could end because of civil strife brought on by the discrepancy between the lifestyles of the rich and the poor, which are at their highest ever in history.

Civilization could collapse because of any number of other problems. Climate scientists worry that climate change could potentially shut off the Gulf Stream, dropping Western Europe back into an ice age (darkly ironic). Colony Collapse Disorder is the current phrase used to describe the catastrophic die offs occurring in the honey bee industry. 75% of all plants rely on pollination and 30% of the world's crops rely on pollination. We are currently in the largest mass extinction since the Dinosaurs disappeared. And worse than this, we never know when the loss of a key species will lead to a cascade of extinctions.

The number of challenges currently facing civilization is so large as to be almost unbelievable when they are recounted. Civilizations have faced and survived challenges before, but lesser challenges have brought down longer lasting civilizations than ours. Rome looked invincible, so did The British Empire Babylon and Egypt, and Tokugawa Japan. But civilizations fall, and things change.

It would be foolish to think that our precariously balanced creation, with its myriad problems and self-inflicted challenges, would be immune to this basic fact.