(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
Disasters are precious opportunities. If you have no disasters then you are not generating any potential.
Showing posts with label food poisoning for thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food poisoning for thought. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
Unpleasant Truths and the New Normal (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
People die in horrible tragedies and violence every day.
Nobody cares unless they're white people.
Terror attacks are not the problem. They are the symptom. And people don't want to examine what that means.
Resource and population pressures driven by peak oil and climate change means this isn't even the new normal. The new normal will be worse.
People die in horrible tragedies and violence every day.
Nobody cares unless they're white people.
Terror attacks are not the problem. They are the symptom. And people don't want to examine what that means.
Resource and population pressures driven by peak oil and climate change means this isn't even the new normal. The new normal will be worse.
Friday, August 25, 2017
Unsorted Thoughts, Number 5 (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
Life is about taking action. Taking action requires decisions. Good
decisions requires information. I need good information. Searchable
information. Up to date information.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Waste Transfer (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
We are not generating waste. Corporations generate waste and then expect us to pay to dispose of it for us.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Propaganda (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
As Virtual reality becomes less intrusive technologically, it will become easier for tyrannical governments to use it as propaganda.
Literally filtering what people see of the real world.
As Virtual reality becomes less intrusive technologically, it will become easier for tyrannical governments to use it as propaganda.
Literally filtering what people see of the real world.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Why Capitalism Will Always be a Cancer (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
Capitalism is driven by dissatisfaction. Capitalism is there for an engine of dissatisfaction. Needs to generate continually greater amounts of dissatisfaction, in order to generate ever greater amounts of profit.
This basic Drive in need of capitalism makes it the archenemy of self-sufficiency , self-actualization , and a contented life. A person who can manage their own life, who needs no outside inputs if the greatest threat capitalism can imagine.
Capitalism is driven by dissatisfaction. Capitalism is there for an engine of dissatisfaction. Needs to generate continually greater amounts of dissatisfaction, in order to generate ever greater amounts of profit.
This basic Drive in need of capitalism makes it the archenemy of self-sufficiency , self-actualization , and a contented life. A person who can manage their own life, who needs no outside inputs if the greatest threat capitalism can imagine.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Basic Law of War (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
"When the opponent is unarmed, fight with a blade. When the opponent has a
blade, fight with a spear. When the opponent has a spear, fight from a
distance. When the opponent has either bow or firearm, fight through
trap and guile."
The Song of Seven, Paths of War
The Song of Seven, Paths of War
This is obviously metaphor, in exactly the same way that "The Prince" and "The Art of War" are metaphor
Friday, August 4, 2017
The Lie We Believe (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
We have not tumbled the secret to civilization without servitude. Our only answer is to allow the slaves to choose their masters and to present the possibility- however unlikely, that a slave might one day become king. Or at least become rich.
This is the lie we believe. This is the enchantment cast upon us. This is the story we have been told so long and so often from so many different sources that we mistake the telling of it for our own thoughts.
We have not tumbled the secret to civilization without servitude. Our only answer is to allow the slaves to choose their masters and to present the possibility- however unlikely, that a slave might one day become king. Or at least become rich.
This is the lie we believe. This is the enchantment cast upon us. This is the story we have been told so long and so often from so many different sources that we mistake the telling of it for our own thoughts.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Unsorted Thoughts, Number Epsilon (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought
as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare,
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."
- Seneca
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
- Seneca
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is now.”
- Chinese Proverb
- Chinese Proverb
Fear (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
I think my greatest fear is that I can take it. I fear that as much as I Hate the world, it won't break me. I won't truly commit to changing or fighting what I know to be evil. I fear I'll never reach the point of yelling, "no more!"
I think my greatest fear is that I can take it. I fear that as much as I Hate the world, it won't break me. I won't truly commit to changing or fighting what I know to be evil. I fear I'll never reach the point of yelling, "no more!"
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Feed and Breed (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
Feed and breed. When we eliminate all the fancy talk, this is what is left. The only two things that can be empirically defined as the purpose of any organism: feed and breed.
So why do we dress it up? Why pretend there is more than this simple pair of directives?
Because by playing games of make believe we can work together. Because by playing games of make believe we can extend our survival by feeding and breeding without destroying our home. The games of make believe that we play, when we pretend that there is meaning beyond those two essential drives, these games allow us a prosperity and a success unknown by non-social beings.
A Community is nothing but a pack living according to an agreed upon lie- to co-opt Napoleon's description of history. So lie well. And believe your lies.
Feed and breed. When we eliminate all the fancy talk, this is what is left. The only two things that can be empirically defined as the purpose of any organism: feed and breed.
So why do we dress it up? Why pretend there is more than this simple pair of directives?
Because by playing games of make believe we can work together. Because by playing games of make believe we can extend our survival by feeding and breeding without destroying our home. The games of make believe that we play, when we pretend that there is meaning beyond those two essential drives, these games allow us a prosperity and a success unknown by non-social beings.
A Community is nothing but a pack living according to an agreed upon lie- to co-opt Napoleon's description of history. So lie well. And believe your lies.
Friday, July 28, 2017
The Refugee Crisis (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
The refugee crises borne from the arab spring seems to me to be an obvious continuation of civilization's inability to sustain the growth rate needed to sustain it. As the Roman empire began to falter once it could more longer new lands, our empire seems to have began to crack and cannibalize itself.
But what would I know?
The experts keep saying that continuous growth in a closed system is only a paradox if we are talking about other things. Human civilization is a special case the experts say.
I might point out the fall of Rome, of Babylon, of Persia, of multiple caliphates and moguls and daimyos. I might point out that empire after empire now lies like bones in our museums.
But what would I know?
The refugee crises borne from the arab spring seems to me to be an obvious continuation of civilization's inability to sustain the growth rate needed to sustain it. As the Roman empire began to falter once it could more longer new lands, our empire seems to have began to crack and cannibalize itself.
But what would I know?
The experts keep saying that continuous growth in a closed system is only a paradox if we are talking about other things. Human civilization is a special case the experts say.
I might point out the fall of Rome, of Babylon, of Persia, of multiple caliphates and moguls and daimyos. I might point out that empire after empire now lies like bones in our museums.
But what would I know?
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Copyright Canot Ever Make Sense (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*) Copyright is an attack on the processes of learning and innovation. It is an assault the survival prospects of our species it is innately elitist and authoritarian.
The copyright industry likes to claim its necessary to protect artists. Which is almost exactly like a loan shark describing his hired leg breakers as lender protection agents.
Copyright is an attempt to control what can be said by whom.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Unsorted Thoughts (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought
as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
After all
what is technology
but the imposition
of our fantasies
upon the real world?
Friday, July 21, 2017
School and Prison (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
Why school is different from work? School like prison is designed to hold people for a period of time. School like prison pretends it has an ulterior motive in order to justify holding people as it does.
Why school is different from work? School like prison is designed to hold people for a period of time. School like prison pretends it has an ulterior motive in order to justify holding people as it does.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Slavery (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
When people tell you not to bow to peer pressure, they are often doing so out of response to cultural mythology, collective peer pressure.
The belief in the noble rebel is essential in an empire. We need that illusion to tolerate our slavery
When people tell you not to bow to peer pressure, they are often doing so out of response to cultural mythology, collective peer pressure.
The belief in the noble rebel is essential in an empire. We need that illusion to tolerate our slavery
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Why We Need Open Source (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
I have said before that the most important qualification for considering oneself free is the ability to walk away. if one cannot choose not to participate then one is a slave.
With the rise of the Internet, digitization on information, and the rise of the 3d printer, we can see at the copyright industry has lost all natural sources of leverage. Information can be shared freely without restriction and without border. This destroys the leverage which the middle men who run the copyright industry once had and makes them very very scared. As such the copyright industry has gone into the surveillance business. they have lobbied and bribed and bought politicians and they have been behind a large part of the rise of surveillance culture in the modern era in an attempt to enforce copyright. The concern regarding governmental surveillance culture is obvious but what surveillance culture and copyright monopoly does in the modern digital age is less immediately obvious. In essence licensing agreements and digital ownership with always online connections transforms the world into a rental culture. Everything can be taken away at the whim of the copyright holder. We are living borrowed lives.
Purchases can be rescinded. Access withdrawn. Nothing you own is truly yours. Copyright itself must be attacked to be sure. But that is likely to be a long and hard battle.
Better to outflank. Make them irrelevant. Open source culture provides a means of outflanking them. Open Office as an example, provides a way to step around Microsoft's stranglehold on word processing with Microsoft Word.
We need more things like this more things released into the public domain and copied for things shared more free alternatives that cannot be taken away because no one owns them.
As technology makes it possible to obtain more goods for free, the vultures of commerce will attempts to bar the gates.
Our slavery has been invisible in the first world for more than one hundred years. Now that technology makes freedom a viable possibility, our chains will become a lot more obvious.
I have said before that the most important qualification for considering oneself free is the ability to walk away. if one cannot choose not to participate then one is a slave.
With the rise of the Internet, digitization on information, and the rise of the 3d printer, we can see at the copyright industry has lost all natural sources of leverage. Information can be shared freely without restriction and without border. This destroys the leverage which the middle men who run the copyright industry once had and makes them very very scared. As such the copyright industry has gone into the surveillance business. they have lobbied and bribed and bought politicians and they have been behind a large part of the rise of surveillance culture in the modern era in an attempt to enforce copyright. The concern regarding governmental surveillance culture is obvious but what surveillance culture and copyright monopoly does in the modern digital age is less immediately obvious. In essence licensing agreements and digital ownership with always online connections transforms the world into a rental culture. Everything can be taken away at the whim of the copyright holder. We are living borrowed lives.
Purchases can be rescinded. Access withdrawn. Nothing you own is truly yours. Copyright itself must be attacked to be sure. But that is likely to be a long and hard battle.
Better to outflank. Make them irrelevant. Open source culture provides a means of outflanking them. Open Office as an example, provides a way to step around Microsoft's stranglehold on word processing with Microsoft Word.
We need more things like this more things released into the public domain and copied for things shared more free alternatives that cannot be taken away because no one owns them.
As technology makes it possible to obtain more goods for free, the vultures of commerce will attempts to bar the gates.
Our slavery has been invisible in the first world for more than one hundred years. Now that technology makes freedom a viable possibility, our chains will become a lot more obvious.
Monday, July 17, 2017
God's Fruit (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
Eating is a holy act.
What you put into your body is an offering.
Put only your best offering before your altar.
Ask yourself: "If I were a god would I honor or smite the mortal who gave me this offering?"
Your body will do the same to you
Sunday, July 16, 2017
The Problem with Living for the Weekend (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)
Do you like your job? I hope so. But statistically you are unlikely to like your job.
If you are lucky, like me, you do not hate your job and it provides you with a good wage good hours and good benefits.
But so what?
My job is essential to the functioning of modern civilization. Like many boring but essential jobs, my job keeps the wheels of civilization turning. And I know co workers for whom this is their justification for going to work everyday.
But so what?
Let's ask horrible question shall we. What is the value of retaining civilization?
The great advantage of civilization, is it enables massive population growth, and specialization of labor.
The cost of civilization is that it requires massive outlays of resources. but because it is not sustainable it must grow more with each new generation and it did the last.
As a result of the population, and labor specialization. civilizations tend to produce massive technological and social innovation.
But so what?
because of what they require massive consumption of resources and ever increasing growth numbers, the price is
... everything.
And on top of that, if destruction of ecosystem isn't a large enough for you, there is of course the cost to each and everyone of us for our participation in civilization.
Industrial scale total war, hierarchically enforced poverty... and that is before we start examining your work week. The overcrowding of urban centers squeeze more people into one place than a human mind is wired to process. The pace of work and the stress of intangible enemies we can't see or strike with a spear drives 70% of us quietly insane at some point.
We work longer hours with less rest for worse results than our hunter gatherer ancestors and mental illness is our reward from our pointy haired bosses.
But so what?
Isn't that just how the world is? Were making ourselves sick, and in the process we're killing life on earth. But that's just how things are. Right?
7 billion of us toiling at job we mostly don't like so we can medicate with media and chemicals on the weekend?
So what's the alternative? The deck is stacked against us and if we step out of line we risk our livelihoods and security.
But so what?
Do you like your job? I hope so. But statistically you are unlikely to like your job.
If you are lucky, like me, you do not hate your job and it provides you with a good wage good hours and good benefits.
But so what?
My job is essential to the functioning of modern civilization. Like many boring but essential jobs, my job keeps the wheels of civilization turning. And I know co workers for whom this is their justification for going to work everyday.
But so what?
Let's ask horrible question shall we. What is the value of retaining civilization?
The great advantage of civilization, is it enables massive population growth, and specialization of labor.
The cost of civilization is that it requires massive outlays of resources. but because it is not sustainable it must grow more with each new generation and it did the last.
As a result of the population, and labor specialization. civilizations tend to produce massive technological and social innovation.
But so what?
because of what they require massive consumption of resources and ever increasing growth numbers, the price is
... everything.
And on top of that, if destruction of ecosystem isn't a large enough for you, there is of course the cost to each and everyone of us for our participation in civilization.
Industrial scale total war, hierarchically enforced poverty... and that is before we start examining your work week. The overcrowding of urban centers squeeze more people into one place than a human mind is wired to process. The pace of work and the stress of intangible enemies we can't see or strike with a spear drives 70% of us quietly insane at some point.
We work longer hours with less rest for worse results than our hunter gatherer ancestors and mental illness is our reward from our pointy haired bosses.
But so what?
Isn't that just how the world is? Were making ourselves sick, and in the process we're killing life on earth. But that's just how things are. Right?
7 billion of us toiling at job we mostly don't like so we can medicate with media and chemicals on the weekend?
So what's the alternative? The deck is stacked against us and if we step out of line we risk our livelihoods and security.
But so what?
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Grimdark (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)
Is the popularity of grim and gritty reboots of children's programs driven by a desire for continuity? Once Upon a Time kids played at being adults. They played house. They played college. They played cops and robbers. Cowboys and Indians. War. Not all are positive and uplifting of course. But all share something in common. The child is playing at being an adult. They are practicing the future.
As Children's Entertainment has become more fantastical, has it become more difficult for kids to make that connection? It's hard to pretend playing Batman or Voltron or My Little Pony friendship is Magic are in any way a practise for adulthood.
Is the act of rendering these children's programs into grim and gritty formats attempt to balance this unequal equation?
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