text:
Puzzle Quotes (35 quotes)
Alvarez seemed to care less about the way the picture in the puzzle would look, when everything fit together, than about the fun of looking for pieces that fit. He loved nothing more than doing something that everybody else thought impossible. His designs were clever, and usually exploited some little-known principle that everyone else had forgotten.
Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.
Consider a cow. A cow doesnt have the problem-solving skill of a chimpanzee, which has discovered how to get termites out of the ground by putting a stick into a hole. Evolution has developed the brains ability to solve puzzles, and at the same time has produced in our brain a pleasure of solving problems.
Disinterestedness is as great a puzzle and paradox as ever. Indeed, strictly speaking, it is a species of irrationality, or insanity, as regards the individuals self; a contradiction of the most essential nature of a sentient being, which is to move to pleasure and from pain.
Everything in nature is a puzzle until it finds its solution in man, who solves it in some way with God, and so completes the circle of creation.
How did I discover saccharin? Well, it was partly by accident and partly by study. I had worked a long time on the compound radicals and substitution products of coal tar... One evening I was so interested in my laboratory that I forgot about my supper till quite late, and then rushed off for a meal without stopping to wash my hands. I sat down, broke a piece of bread, and put it to my lips. It tasted unspeakably sweet. I did not ask why it was so, probably because I thought it was some cake or sweetmeat. I rinsed my mouth with water, and dried my moustache with my napkin, when, to my surprise the napkin tasted sweeter than the bread. Then I was puzzled. I again raised my goblet, and, as fortune would have it, applied my mouth where my fingers had touched it before. The water seemed syrup. It flashed on me that I was the cause of the singular universal sweetness, and I accordingly tasted the end of my thumb, and found it surpassed any confectionery I had ever eaten. I saw the whole thing at once. I had discovered some coal tar substance which out-sugared sugar. I dropped my dinner, and ran back to the laboratory. There, in my excitement, I tasted the contents of every beaker and evaporating dish on the table.
I am convinced that this is the only means of advancing science, of clearing the mind from a confused heap of contradictory observations, that do but perplex and puzzle the Student, when he compares them, or misguide him if he gives himself up to their authority; but bringing them under one general head, can alone give rest and satisfaction to an inquisitive mind.
I am not insensible to natural beauty, but my emotional joys center on the improbable yet sometimes wondrous works of that tiny and accidental evolutionary twig called Homo sapiens. And I find, among these works, nothing more noble than the history of our struggle to understand naturea majestic entity of such vast spatial and temporal scope that she cannot care much for a little mammalian afterthought with a curious evolutionary invention, even if that invention has, for the first time in so me four billion years of life on earth, produced recursion as a creature reflects back upon its own production and evolution. Thus, I love nature primarily for the puzzles and intellectual delights that she offers to the first organ capable of such curious contemplation.
I am persuaded that there is not in the nature of science anything unfavourable to religious feelings, and if I were not so persuaded I should be much puzzled to account for our being invested, as we so amply are, with the facilities that lead us to the discovery of scientific truth. It would be strange if our Creator should be found to be urging us on in a career which tended to be a forgetfulness of him.
I do not understand modern physics at all, but my colleagues who know a lot about the physics of very small things, like the particles in atoms, or very large things, like the universe, seem to be running into one queerness after another, from puzzle to puzzle.
I wish people would more generally bring back the seeds of pleasing foreign plants and introduce them broadcast, sowing them by our waysides and in our fields, or in whatever situation is most likely to suit them. It is true, this would puzzle botanists, but there is no reason why botanists should not be puzzled. A botanist is a person whose aim is to uproot, kill and exterminate every plant that is at all remarkable for rarity or any special virtue, and the rarer it is the more bitterly he will hunt it down.
If any student comes to me and says he wants to be useful to mankind and go into research to alleviate human suffering, I advise him to go into charity instead. Research wants real egotists who seek their own pleasure and satisfaction, but find it in solving the puzzles of nature.
In physics we have dealt hitherto only with periodic crystals. To a humble physicists mind, these are very interesting and complicated objects; they constitute one of the most fascinating and complex material structures by which inanimate nature puzzles his wits. Yet, compared with the aperiodic crystal, they are rather plain and dull. The difference in structure is of the same kind as that between an ordinary wallpaper in which the same pattern is repeated again and again in regular periodicity and a masterpiece of embroidery, say a Raphael tapestry, which shows no dull repetition, but an elaborate, coherent, meaningful design traced by the great master.
Im trying to assemble pieces of this great jigsaw puzzle of the origin of the solar system, to see if we can illuminate our own processes on the Earth more fundamentally.
Later scientific theories are better than earlier ones for solving puzzles in the often quite different environments to which they are applied. That is not a relativist's position, and it displays the sense in which I am a convinced believer in scientific progress.
Mathematics began to seem too much like puzzle solving. Physics is puzzle solving, too, but of puzzles created by nature, not by the mind of man.
Nothing puzzles me more than time and space, and yet nothing puzzles me less, for I never think about them.
Of my own age I may say I was x years old in the year x × x. I dare say Professor De Morgan, or some of your mathematical correspondents, will be able to find my age.
Ohm (a distinguished mathematician, be it noted) brought into order a host of puzzling facts connecting electromotive force and electric current in conductors, which all previous electricians had only succeeded in loosely binding together qualitatively under some rather vague statements. Even as late as 20 years ago, quantity and tension were much used by men who did not fully appreciate Ohm's law. (Is it not rather remarkable that some of Germany's best men of genius should have been, perhaps, unfairly treated? Ohm; Mayer; Reis; even von Helmholtz has mentioned the difficulty he had in getting recognised. But perhaps it is the same all the world over.)
One of the most interesting parts is the detective element. Archaeology is like a jigsaw puzzle, except that you can't cheat and look at the box, and not all the pieces are there.
Owing to his lack of knowledge, the ordinary man cannot attempt to resolve conflicting theories of conflicting advice into a single organized structure. He is likely to assume the information available to him is on the order of what we might think of as a few pieces of an enormous jigsaw puzzle. If a given piece fails to fit, it is not because it is fraudulent; more likely the contradictions and inconsistencies within his information are due to his lack of understanding and to the fact that he possesses only a few pieces of the puzzle. Differing statements about the nature of things, differing medical philosophies, different diagnoses and treatmentsall of these are to be collected eagerly and be made a part of the individual's collection of puzzle pieces. Ultimately, after many lifetimes, the pieces will fit together and the individual will attain clear and certain knowledge.
The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.
The development of mathematics is largely a natural, not a purely logical one: mathematicians are continually answering questions suggested by astronomers or physicists; many essential mathematical theories are but the reflex outgrowth from physical puzzles.
The laws of science are the permanent contributions to knowledgethe individual pieces that are fitted together in an attempt to form a picture of the physical universe in action. As the pieces fall into place, we often catch glimpses of emerging patterns, called theories; they set us searching for the missing pieces that will fill in the gaps and complete the patterns. These theories, these provisional interpretations of the data in hand, are mere working hypotheses, and they are treated with scant respect until they can be tested by new pieces of the puzzle.
The overwhelming astonishment, the queerest structure we know about so far in the whole universe, the greatest of all cosmological scientific puzzles, confounding all our efforts to comprehend it, is the earth.
The overwhelming astonishment, the queerest structure we know about so far in the whole universe, the greatest of all cosmological scientific puzzles, confounding all our efforts to comprehend it, is the earth. We are only now beginning to appreciate how strange and splendid it is, how it catches the breath, the loveliest object afloat around the sun, enclosed in its own blue bubble of atmosphere, manufacturing and breathing its own oxygen, fixing its own nitrogen from the air into its own soil, generating its own weather at the surface of its rain forests, constructing its own carapace from living parts: chalk cliffs, coral reefs, old fossils from earlier forms of life now covered by layers of new life meshed together around the globe, Troy upon Troy.
The Question is what is The Question?
Is it all a Magic Show?
Is Reality an Illusion?
What is the framework of The Machine?
Darwins Puzzle: Natural Selection?
Where does Space-Time come from?
Is there any answer except that it comes from consciousness?
What is Out There?
Tis Ourselves?
Or, is IT all just a Magic Show?
Einstein told me:
If you would learn, teach!
Is it all a Magic Show?
Is Reality an Illusion?
What is the framework of The Machine?
Darwins Puzzle: Natural Selection?
Where does Space-Time come from?
Is there any answer except that it comes from consciousness?
What is Out There?
Tis Ourselves?
Or, is IT all just a Magic Show?
Einstein told me:
If you would learn, teach!
The test of a theory is its ability to cope with all the relevant phenomena, not its a priori 'reasonableness'. The latter would have proved a poor guide in the development of science, which often makes progress by its encounter with the totally unexpected and initially extremely puzzling.
The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true. We have a method, and that method helps us to reach not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truthnever there, just closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities. Cleverly designed experiments are the key.
This sense of the unfathomable beautiful ocean of existence drew me into science. I am awed by the universe, puzzled by it and sometimes angry at a natural order that brings such pain and suffering, Yet an emotion or feeling I have toward the cosmos seems to be reciprocated by neither benevolence nor hostility but just by silence. The universe appears to be a perfectly neutral screen unto which I can project any passion or attitude, and it supports them all.
Twinkle, twinkle, quasi-star
Biggest puzzle from afar
How unlike the other ones
Brighter than a billion suns
Twinkle, twinkle, quasi-star
How I wonder what you are.
Biggest puzzle from afar
How unlike the other ones
Brighter than a billion suns
Twinkle, twinkle, quasi-star
How I wonder what you are.
We have all heard of the puzzle given to Archimedes . His finding that the crown was of gold was a discovery; but he invented the method of determining the density of solids. Indeed, discoverers must generally be inventors; though inventors are not necessarily discoverers.
Wheelers First Moral Principle: Never make a calculation until you know the answer. Make an estimate before every calculation, try a simple physical argument (symmetry! invariance! conservation!) before every derivation, guess the answer to every paradox and puzzle. Courage: No one else needs to know what the guess is. Therefore make it quickly, by instinct. A right guess reinforces this instinct. A wrong guess brings the refreshment of surprise. In either case life as a spacetime expert, however long, is more fun!
When puzzled, it never hurts to read the primary documentsa rather simple and self-evident principle that has, nonetheless, completely disappeared from large sectors of the American experience.
Winwood Reade remarks that while a man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician.


text:
The Enchiridion - Part 12
This one gets a bit convoluted, but it also has two of my favourite lines.
If you intend to improve, throw away such thoughts as these: if I neglect my affairs, I shall not have the means of living; unless I chastise my slave, he will be bad. For it is better to die of hunger and so to be released from grief and fear than to live in abundance with perturbation; and it is better for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy.
Again we have an example of the dichotomy of control, applied to every day (ancient Roman) life. Worrying about how to make a living will distract you from your path, as will attempting to control other people. Even, in this example, people who are as close as possible to being in your control.
I adore the line it is better for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy. It is simple, yet cuts to the heart of Stoicism.
Begin then from little things. Is the oil spilled? Is a little wine stolen? Say on the occasion: "at such price is sold freedom from perturbation; at such price is sold tranquillity, but nothing is got for nothing".
And now the regular practical advice. Start small. When something irritates you, remind your self that these things are the price you pay for peace.
Again, the line at such price is sold tranquillity, but nothing is got for nothing really resonates with me. Tranquillity does not just turn up on your doorstep; you must sacrifice control to get it.
And when you call your slave, consider that it is possible that he does not hear; and if he does hear, that he will do nothing which you wish. But matters are not so well with him, but altogether well with you, that it should be in his power for you to be not disturbed.
This echos part 4: when you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is. The last line is a bit of a jumble. I think what it's saying is: your slave may be frustrated at his inability to disturb you, but that is how you should want it to be. Open to suggestions on that one though.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Sorry, an error was encountered while loading comparison.
Sorry, an error was encountered while loading the book.
Sorry, you don't have permission to view that book.
No matches.
Sorry, an error was encountered while loading part of the book.
An error occurred while marking the devotional as read.
An error occurred while accessing favorites
Sign in with your Logos.com account
or Create A Free Account
You have not started any reading plans.
Sign in or register for a free account to set your preferred Bible and rate books.
Add this verse to your website by copying the code below.
16 how did you fare? cWhen2 one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.
Read More
Hag 1:6
Probable reading (compare Septuagint); Hebrew Lord, since they were. When


text:
From Revolution into
Evolution: Living Nihilism in the 21st Century
Once the superficial and unnecessary pieces are stripped away
we're left with the unavoidable, and the unavoidable is always
of particular concern to the nihilist, and most any thinker,
with death being the most obvious factor. But what about the
much more important time before the end? How do we live as Nihilists? Here
are some final conclusions taken from The CounterOrder as
a whole ...
Reading an article
about the cancerous corporate growth patterns of
Starbucks Coffee Inc. made me
think about a contradiction between words and action that seems
quite common. Why are stated values and the subsequent actions
of individuals so often contradictory? For instance, why do
people rail against a company like Starbucks but then turn right
around and buy their over-priced, over-roasted coffee anyway? Or another example,
and I'm sure the reader can imagine many more, why do people so
often complain about the quality of television programs but then
spend hours watching them anyway? Why does the public patronize
their own self-described 'evil' institutions purely out of
choice and in blatant contradiction to their own expressed
values? Clearly something is going on here that's deeper than
appearances suggest.
It seems likely that
either impulse continually overpowers reason or many people are
simply making complaints and criticism not based on their own
reasoning but rather on group-think -- attempting to ascertain
and adopt group values. But whatever the reason for it,
hypocritical behavior as compared to self-expressed personal
values cannot be psychologically healthy for it leads the
individual into a chronic state of self-debasement.
The disconnect
between words and action carried out over time leads to a
perpetual state of hypocrisy and wears down the subconscious,
rendering the individual a floating, baseless consumer that says
whatever others want to hear while attempting to sound logical
but acting purely on whim and impulse. It's not surprising that
so many people turn to religion in this kind of environment, a
veritable sandstorm of hypocritical values and rationalization
of behavior.
Religious morality provides a sense of center and focus, an ethical
context with which to reference throughout daily life. It
doesn't matter that the beliefs are based on archaic fantasies
and have little or no bearing on modern life, or that one
believer is just as happily deluded in their faith as every
other regardless of how and who they worship. The beliefs are
not what matter, rather it is the framework and sense of context
that creates a structure for the adherents to base their daily
lives upon. This code of ethics leads to psychological health by
eliminating the internal and external value-action hypocrisy.
Everyone needs a
code and structure for living that they can aspire towards but
also one that they can actually follow in practice, not just
desire to follow, so that their words will match their deeds – a
critical element of mental health. This is also why religious
believers tend to be more honest in daily interactions and more
likely to follow through on their promises. Success here means
making a conscious effort to always match words to actions.
Doing this empowers the individual as well because they gain the
authority of coherence and the mental stability of consistency.
This is all the belief-need really is; many people think it
requires faith and attachment to arbitrary rules from mystical
deities but in fact it's simply an intentional effort by the
individual to act on what they speak and speak to what they do.
This is also why it's so important to recognize the limitations
placed upon action by human nature because ignoring or denying
the limits leads to a perpetual state of defeat in mind and
To construct this
necessary framework for daily life one must first have a solid
awareness of what they can do, meaning one's own practical
capacities for decision-making. In other words simply stating
that Starbucks is a rip-off is not enough if one drives past one
of their stores every day on the way to work and has a coffee
addiction, because they'll soon find their best plans foiled by
need and impulse! Something has to change, either the impulses
are curbed, redirected, or one's words change to match the
Say what you do and do what you say.
machinations are often explained as the inveterate search for
happiness, and while this explanation suffices to a minimal
degree in casual philosophical discussion in fact the human mind is
not so simple that it just seeks happiness in every action and
decision. Many people seek things that don't make them happy,
power for instance. Many people seek to become Presidents, Prime
Ministers and dictators but look at how much trouble they get
out of the bargain when and if they arrive? Or what about fame;
the famous say 'don't be famous - it isn't worth it', but who
listens? Something deeper is going on here ...
In reality the human mind,
and the body supporting it, is enmeshed within a complex
system of relationships, connections, and interactions and we
have to very carefully, continually and with great effort, map
out a path and measure our actions against the consequences and
impacts that our efforts will have upon the people, objects and
connections in our environment. Unless they're a woefully
dysfunctional psychopath, people aren't little atoms bouncing
around trying to feel good all the time and the few fools that
try this don't last very long! It seems surprising how few seem
to recognize this fairly simple concept of interconnections and,
perhaps because it's so difficult to quantify, this
misunderstanding is especially common in the male mind.
Most important to
recognize is that humans are not living beings that can exist
independently; humans are not one-celled organisms, they are
highly networked, social creatures. We all exist inside, and
because of, a complex network of relations formed between
objects, individuals, and an ever-changing array of groups
composed of both. Our goals and values are a direct result of
that system we are enmeshed within.
Hypothetically, the
choice of which value system we adopt depends on what kind of
goal we want to achieve but in practice we rarely know exactly
what we want and even less often how to get it. So the entire
argument that characterizes philosophy and metaphysics, as a
dissection of the individual human mind and body, is a charade
and it just ends in the same dead-end of argument because it
doesn't aim towards, or find the root, of the issue.
The message
emanating from the reduction-oriented methodology of Nihilism
concerning values is simply that because of our tenuous and
constantly changing situation our values and goals are not
absolutes but are in a continual flux. Consequently our values
are not fixed but actually quite relative. For various reasons we
typically use great effort to hide this value ambiguity by
concocting false absolutes, such as through myths and religious
beliefs held together by dogma, but in the end our actions
reveal this for the delusional foolishness that it is.
The fully and
properly developed human mind and body are seeking more than
simple short-term self-interest, but also seeking to better
fit into the vast and often complex surrounding environmental network. This entails a constant process of adaptation,
questioning, solution seeking and struggle while continually
creating and destroying the networks that characterize our
social and physical environment. Because of this, in this
struggle called life the Nihilist has a profound awareness to
not hold anything sacred and never get too attached to
To help explain the basics of
morality consider this situation: someone stranded alone
on an island cannot act immorally for there is no God and there is
no posthumous judgment of deeds except by earthly survivors.
Similarly as Ayn Rand once stated, no situation without a
decision can have a moral component. So if you have no choice or
context, or if an outside value system is imposed upon you, then
you have no morality - you cannot be moral or immoral in action
or thought.
Indeed morality itself is a
product of society, of interconnections, of social bonds and the
inevitable search for power equilibrium between individuals.
Further, moral codes serve as tools of control but not
necessarily always as a top-down imposed authority force but
very often as a means of balancing power between individuals, of
keeping 'them' from getting more than 'me'. Morality changes
over time and indeed is itself largely relative and culturally
derivative. But the social and psychological effects are
nonetheless quite real even if inconsistent and plagued by
chronic efforts to 'cheat' or for 'me' to get more than 'they'
I remember
an old episode of the Twilight Zone where a crew of space
explorers crash-lands on what they think is a distant, desert
planet. They proceed to battle each other over diminishing water
supplies, and thus personal survival, only to eventually
discover that they actually crashed in the Mojave Desert and
civilization was just over the hill. I think the implied,
made-for-TV feel-good message was that one should always value
human life and not be greedy. But on a practical level the true
message is that regardless of the pre-existing cultural and
moral overlay, ultimately human behavior, meaning 'right' and
'wrong', is contextually defined and founded upon the basal law
of personal survival and propagation.
Using another
fictional example, consider the classic novel by HG Wells,
The island of Dr. Moreau, where the doctor
tortures animals using the excuse of scientific progress -- what
moral position does this have? None? But the doctor could not do
this without continual assistance from the outside world through
supplies, food, and so on. So Doctor Moreau is not isolated, he is
connected to a larger society and can be judged by its dominate
moral codes. Regardless of the morality of his actions, the
ethics of his research are easily criticized for the wayward
results that were produced, not to mention the Doctors original
motives that were based purely on faith in achieving a
questionable goal. So now that he is connected to the outside,
most would consider Dr. Moreau's actions to be morally wrong. Here is
where nihilism enters for it argues that 'wrong' or 'right' are
secondary not primary as most, especially religious views, would
hold. Right or wrong are irrelevant if in this case Dr. Moreau
can get away with what he's doing. This is why using morality as
a social security system is one very dangerous way to live and
why authority must jump in like an 800 pound gorilla and take
over to hold a society together with an outcome that is more
vast and convoluted than the original simple problem could have
possibly ever produced on its own.
Human morality, as it's
traditionally employed, is an artificial construction, and
as such it can be changed to be almost anything.
While there's no right or wrong in a cosmic sense we nonetheless
still exist within a universal framework of cause and effect.
And within the boundaries of cause and effect it's clear from
even a passing view that certain behaviors are more functional
than others – for instance, cooperation is more universally
beneficial than conflict, or even competition in most cases.
These facts are obscured by common cultural myths, such as the
belief in 'dog-eat-dog' struggles and a zero-sum world. This
misreading of Darwin's theories only serves as a convenient
excuse to justify otherwise unacceptable actions of abuse and
exploitation, actions that are ultimately self-defeating anyway.
Further, because humans are social creatures we need guidelines
and protocol in one form or another in order to function
collectively on even a rudimentary level. Morality emerges as an
inevitable byproduct of the social interactions of multiple
participants. So, although much of morality is cultural
variable, consistent underlying elements can be found. These
consistent elements first emerge as a result of personal
interactions, primarily acquired through the socialization
process in childhood.
The reason we need to reconsider and reassess the values
within our moral codes, along with our cultural concepts
of right and what's considered wrong, is that by
continually taking them on assumption we can easily be led
astray or compelled to do things that are harmful to
ourselves and others. Not all moral rules are equally
valid, just as the rules must inevitably change as
circumstances evolve, and that's why it's important to
recognize where these rules that compel us to act in
certain ways are coming from to begin with.
The really remarkable aspect of morality is that in many instances
the rules can be mathematically described, using game theory for
instance. Even more important, these quantifiable values are not
restricted to humans, and in fact also serve to describe the
behavior of other animal species as well. Because morality is a
byproduct of social living other social and intelligent species,
such as birds and apes, display the same moral behavior that
humans must, emphasizing the universally applicable aspect of
many moral guidelines and behavior patterns. [5] Intelligent
social animals display the same needs for justice and
fair-treatment that humans do, and will even react in similar
fashion when injustice is manifest.
"It is part of a long evolutionary history in which cooperation and equity go
hand in hand, even though it is undeniable that we have also a
hierarchical streak. This is equally true for other primates,
not to mention for canines, but no species accepts these
vertical arrangements 100 per cent of the time." [8]
It's often believed that morality comes from religion, but
scientific research into animal behavior, moral rules, and game
theory analysis, clearly indicates that morality does not come
from religion or religious beliefs. Actually, religion
hijacks moral rules and associated behavior to serve
ulterior motives. Basic morality is hard-wired into us as social
Unless mentally or psychologically damaged we intrinsically know,
with the aid of the socialization process, how to behave because
of consistent cause and effect and because the majority of
interactions are reciprocal in nature. In other words, you
reap what you sow.
The problem of morality and
misbehavior boils down to at least two deficiencies residing in
the individual, and at least one can be corrected. The first is
lack of power. The core problem is lack of personal efficacy
and those who perceive themselves as powerless, selling freedom
to authority for a sense of security, and an equilibrium at the
bottom where if 'I' can't have it 'no one' can. Fear of loss,
also fear of the other, fear that others will gain at my expense
hence the desire to submit to social conformity and specious
rules just to try and hold on to what little 'I' have now.
Especially in a transitional society people are very insecure
and they will cling desperately to whatever scraps they've
already acquired in life.
The first deficiency is
largely an issue of education and the things people learn as
they grow and develop. For instance, if while growing up you're
always told what to do, criticized for minor details and had
parents or authority do things for you or to you, then a lack of
efficacy, lack of self-worth, and a need to strike at something
inside or outside can result later in life. In this case
perspectives of power become perverted and appeals to authority
forces may appear the only way to rectify internal deficiencies;
if enough individuals are this way they form a society of
concomitant character. The second deficiency is partially a
cumulative issue stemming from the first and also external large
scale factors such as environmental and economic instability.
Those who control the images rule the world. As such it's
critical to manage your inputs, because our individual
characters are deeply influenced by external factors,
from physical substances to the intangibles of images
thoughts and ideas -– it all comes together to create who
you are. So, if you want to control who you are you must
control what you absorb
your surroundings in people,
places and things.
Context or Absurdity
As we've learned already morality is relative and meaning is contextual. Our
own meaning is encapsulated in personal identity, and identity is
the interface of our own self-value or worth and the outside
external composed of
others. An individual isolated on an island can have no
identity, or maximum identity which is effectively the same,
zero or infinite. But they have no future as well so everything
they do is ultimately meaningless, although not necessarily
immediately meaningless since survival is an immediate need and
everything which works towards fulfilling that need is
meaningful, it has value. But since this poor lonesome being is
doomed to die anyway and they have no social context to create
meaning for everyday life then their sum is zero. Life for someone
permanently stranded alone and destined to die alone is thus absurd, it's
meaningless. Everything is absurd without a society to
contextualize action and value, as well as a future to perpetuate
the self. Similarly if reality is solipsistic then it's
absurd since we (or just I) are all stranded alone on islands,
metaphysically speaking.
But now we can see
that meaning is a two part issue consisting of the immediate
personal and the strategic non-personal. Long-term meaning can
only come through perpetuation of the self in some form; it is
an extension of tactical meaning. Although tactical meaning is
more important it is not what one considers when philosophizing,
it is not what obsesses philosophers and theologians. Strategic
meaning is the age old question, why are we here? Does anything
matter? And so on. Although one could logically argue these
vague issues don't even matter, there seems to be a fundamental
psychological need to be convinced they do. While it's possible
to explain this desire as just an extension of the instinctive
survival motive being projected through an intelligent mind
attempting to find a means of lengthening existence, it probably
has something to do with the human body being a vehicle for the
genes to perpetuate on a time-scale far in excess of any single
person and human nature evolving within societies.
Both strategic and tactical
meaning is firmly rooted in the genetic core of every living
being. This is not fanciful but quite real even though widely
misunderstood and misinterpreted, and thus abused and perverted
in practice. This genetic drive is clouded in euphemisms and
mystique, the soul, the spirit, love, and so on. The simplicity
of meaning, life, and everything is its own deception within the
intelligent and introspective human mind, and further, people tend
to manufacture complexity to mask responsibility. Maria
Montessori, one of the most profound genius' of 20th century
social science (because she operated based on observation not assumption), once wrote,
great deal of time and intellectual force are lost in the world,
because the false seems great and the truth so small and
Meaning truly is 'all in the
mind' because your own personal perspective and attitude
literally determines whether you live or you commit suicide.
The will to live is biological; the will to die is
psychological. The
physical universe doesn't care at all one way or the other and
will continue humming away long after you are gone, just as it did
long before you were around. Our very identity is defined by
relative connections. If you want to alter who you are you
must control what surrounds you, what the inputs are.
Identity, just like meaning itself, is largely (but not completely
discounting genetic origins) relative to surroundings.
people prefer denial, they choose to believe in fantasies and
get high on the veritable buffet of pop-drugs from God to TV to
heroin (it's all the same) in order to escape, but the
price they pay for a temporary feeling of happiness is going
through life wearing a thick blindfold and both arms tied behind
their back, metaphorically speaking. In truth most of humanity
is far, far too weak to accept anything but cultural narcotics
and self-delusions.
Yet for these sad specimens in a very dangerous world where
intelligence and cunning are your one true ally, suffering,
confusion, and anguish are their only rewards. As Nietzsche said
through Zarathustra, "To many men life is
a failure; a poison-worm gnaweth at their heart. Then let them
see to it that their dying is all the more a success."
So, let the dying
Fortunately as a species we
can adapt and overcome, or else we wouldn't still be here
on this planet, but nevertheless the ones that can't adapt
will die. In a world of anomie and rapid change, nihilism
often acts as a fitness test for survival; those that can
only see meaninglessness and futility self-destruct
through suicide, the survivors overcome, and the
successful see opportunity, challenge, and new
First of all meaning is
relative, it is relational. Take anything out of context and it
loses its meaning and becomes absurd. This is why meaning seems
so transient and difficult to define, it is not a 'something' it
is a 'because of' (derivative). Ultimately the
reason we seek meaning is to establish our social position and
context, and to find a sense of happiness, or at least a sense
of momentary ease. The existentialist position delves into this
and eventually concludes that happiness is impossible. This view
satisfies no one and only highlights the flaws of the
existentialist position, for although they are correct in
realizing that conflict is inherent in all social interactions
they are not correct in concluding that harmony cannot emerge
from the fracas of life.
Obviously no one
wants to be redundant and feel useless or that their place and
potential are a waste. Marx was closer to the truth by realizing
that human worth is connected to what we do, labor is key to
happiness. Nietzsche was closer still by
connecting values to the internal will-force.
If you look around
you'll find that some of the happiest and most optimistic people
are those that own their own business. They work hard but remain
upbeat and I think there's more to this than just personality.
Any healthy person will put enormous effort into an endeavor if
it fulfills at least two qualifications:
1. It's something
they are interested in and enjoy dealing with.
2. The rewards from the endeavor are unambiguously returned to
them personally, preferably with a direct connection between the
effort (input) and the reward (output).
1. It's something
they are interested in and enjoy dealing with.
2. The rewards from the endeavor are unambiguously returned to
them personally, preferably with a direct connection between the
effort (input) and the reward (output).
The third
qualification is the frosting on the cake so to speak,
3. Other people also gain from the endeavor.
3. Other people also gain from the endeavor.
If all three are met then
that's generally a happy person.
Further, the
happiness principle involved here has nothing to do with
capitalism since profit in terms of money is a secondary issue.
Profit is just a means of perpetuating the enterprise and
quantifying the reward. After all, many people work in
non-profit businesses that serve the community and take little or
no pay for their often very significant personal efforts;
they're rewarded through principle three. Indeed selfishness and
the inveterate need for personal profit in life is a vastly
misunderstood concept that muddles some critically important
aspects of human nature. The real question
here is: are we gaining from taking or gaining from giving?
An interesting example which
demonstrates the importance of principle two is that of video
games where the connection between action and reward could not
be more clear - and that's the appeal! Even deeper than that is
the action, the 'labor' part. Being productive (or at least
active) does two very important things, it occupies the mind
with concrete and substantive issues, and it connects the
physical world with the mental being.
easy and overly convenient life spawns a general lack of
meaning and purpose. Instead, expand the known limits,
explore, climb a mountain, learn new things, push your
physical and mental boundaries, accomplish the
'impossible'. Rediscover purpose through resistance,
friction, and challenge. The easy life kills us, but the
difficult life invigorates us.
Over millions of years we as a species, like other life, have
adapted to fit our environment because failure to do so
inexorably leads to death and even extinction. This basic rule
of existence hasn't changed; we still must fit our surroundings
or suffer the pitiless consequences. Yet our technological
development is so profound and potent that we have begun to
create our own environment apart from the natural realm
that interactively created us as biological beings. Our
artificial technological environment is currently incompatible
with the natural environment, as evident from the widespread
ecological devastation that has been perpetrated upon the
natural world's life forms, oceans, atmosphere, and land.
Primary responsibility for the devastation of the natural world
can be traced back to religious beliefs, particularly the Jewish
and Christian holy book of Genesis, dictating that the Earth's
life and elements are for man to use as his property, generating
a pernicious mindset that views everything as a resource to be
endlessly exploited for private profit.
Although humanity is being compelled to develop a wisdom beyond
religiously-derived resource exploitation, the artificial
changes to the natural world have become so pronounced that we
have actually generated an entirely new geological era,
transitioning from the Holocene that began at the end of the
most recent ice-age, into the anthropocene, meaning that
human activities are marking the Earth in ways that will be
detectable millions of years in the future, and altering our
surroundings on a significant scale in the process.
When you fit your environment it no longer seems 'chaotic' and
'evil'. Think of a swamp -- to outsiders it appears to be
a miserable and disorderly realm of darkness and decay,
but to the native inhabitants it's a paradise to thrive
So, not only do we have to be compatible with our artificial
environment, but it also has to be compatible with the
natural world, or we'll run out of resources amidst ecological
collapse. Fortunately we have the technology to adjust our
artificial realm, and the power to alter ourselves to fit within
it. Unfortunately our collective wisdom in decision-making is
often lacking, and this is the crux of the matter, for just as
religious mentalities got us into this mess, strategically-sound
scientific methods can get us out.
the meantime, it's critical to recognize that
the main physical reason for widespread environmental degradation,
disease, wars, and even uncivil behavior, is simply a
result of crowded living and the overpopulation of our
own species as rated against the limited space and material we
have on this small planet.
more crowded it gets, the cheaper life becomes, and the easier
it becomes to exploit people." - Donna Locke, 2006
more crowded it gets, the cheaper life becomes, and the easier
it becomes to exploit people." - Donna Locke, 2006
We have several choices and they aren't mutually exclusive. We can
reduce our population numbers, drastically increase our resource
efficiency, or leave Earth and expand our frontier.
Although culture is as palpable as it is immeasurable and
complex it's really just a collection of common beliefs, values,
and ideas that slowly change with the winds of fashion and
perception. Culture functions as a means of conveying collective
knowledge from one generation to the next; and indeed many
animals have culture too, so it's not even unique to humans. As
participants, willing or otherwise, culture also serves as a
dimension with which to perpetuate the concept of self. Culture
is proxy immortality for the participants, a selfish gift to the
next generation.
force of culture shapes both behaviour and biology across
generations. Culture has been confused with genes because
behavioural studies are short-term, while culture operates on
the scale of generations with a kind of tyranny and force that
has not been widely recognised. - Sue Savage-Rumbaugh,
force of culture shapes both behaviour and biology across
generations. Culture has been confused with genes because
behavioural studies are short-term, while culture operates on
the scale of generations with a kind of tyranny and force that
has not been widely recognised. - Sue Savage-Rumbaugh,
Much of cultural knowledge was useful in the past but isn't any
longer, and may even be harmful to development, but it gets
pushed forward by inertia and habit. So, a culture that isn't
questioned or revaluated, destroyed and reinvented, is a
hopeless loop of history repeating itself where subsequent
generations must repeatedly toil against the same pain and
wrestle the same fictional demons. Culture unquestioned is just
habit - it's the comfort of routine within the context of
perceived history.
It's entirely natural for youth to revolt against the culture of
their parents and their ancestors in order to test the necessity
and validity of established cultural notions, to rid the world
of dead and obsolescent ideas and harmful beliefs, and at the
same time to craft an identity for themselves that's built from
the foundation of the past and combined with their assessment of
the present in order to survive and prosper in the future.
We know the reasons behind culture but the important issue is
what form should our culture have -- what values are our culture
based on and perpetuating? If it's based upon faith in fantasy
it will inevitably crumble to dust and spin everyone attached
into disorder and self-destruction. If it is based instead on
facts, skepticism, and a verifiable methodology it will have
greater longevity while generating peace and prosperity for the
cultural participants.
What's the meaning of life? Where did life come from? These have
long been fundamental human questions motivating theologians,
philosophers, and scientists searching for answers.
as far back as can be discerned the fundamental algorithm for
everything around us is the ability to be copied and extenuated.
Anything that can fulfill this role will spread and succeed to
varying degrees based on multiple factors, such as copying
fidelity or cleverness in avoiding hazards and outwitting
opponents. This is the root meaning of life; a tautology
in that life exists because it exists, and continues to do so
because it can adapt and overcome.
As the scale of our awareness increases, the often inflated sense
of self-importance shrinks in proportion. And things are not
always what they seem because we so often distort actual events
through the lens of our selfish impulses. We now realize that,
contrary to ego-driven beliefs, a human being, like all life, is
the vehicle for genetic continuity. The reproducing animal is
actually just the form genes use to spread and perpetuate. The
ego-cult of the individual has been overthrown, yet the critical
concept here is the act of replication, for even ideas moving
through a sea of culture can outlast genes.
life came from isn't certain, but the basic outline is already
known. From spectrographs scientists
can detect that life's primary chemicals form in clouds of
interstellar gas, a chemical soup warmed by a steady stream of
cosmic radiation. Comets and asteroids
bombarded the early Earth and delivered the basic chemical
ingredients needed for life, such as water and amino acids.
Curiously, almost every living organism on Earth uses
left-handed amino acids instead of their right-handed
counterparts. In the 1990s, scientists found that meteorites
contain up to 15% more of the left version too. That suggests
space rocks bombarding the early Earth biased its chemistry so
that life used left-handed amino acids instead of right. [3]
Curiously, almost every living organism on Earth uses
left-handed amino acids instead of their right-handed
counterparts. In the 1990s, scientists found that meteorites
contain up to 15% more of the left version too. That suggests
space rocks bombarding the early Earth biased its chemistry so
that life used left-handed amino acids instead of right. [3]
Convincing evidence indicates life could have originated in
underwater alkaline vents, consisting of bubbly rocks riddled
with labyrinthine pores, which existed before Earth had an
oxygen atmosphere.
The last common ancestor of all life was not a free-living cell
at all, but a porous rock riddled with bubbly iron-sulphur
membranes that catalysed primordial biochemical reactions.
Powered by hydrogen and proton gradients, this natural flow
reactor filled up with organic chemicals, giving rise to
proto-life that eventually broke out as the first living cells -
not once but twice, giving rise to the bacteria and the archaea.
The last common ancestor of all life was not a free-living cell
at all, but a porous rock riddled with bubbly iron-sulphur
membranes that catalysed primordial biochemical reactions.
Powered by hydrogen and proton gradients, this natural flow
reactor filled up with organic chemicals, giving rise to
proto-life that eventually broke out as the first living cells -
not once but twice, giving rise to the bacteria and the archaea.
This ingenious idea solves the mystery of two key elements
necessary for cellular life – an energy source and a discrete
package to protect the special chemical reactions. If this is the
case the necessary situation and ingredients for life to begin
must be remarkably common throughout the universe.
But if life really did originate on
Earth it did so suspiciously fast -- as soon as possible,
immediately after Earth's formation during tumultuous volcanic
cataclysms and violent meteorite impacts. Since the
necessary situation and ingredients for life to begin must be
remarkably common throughout the universe, it's not a great leap
to consider the possibility of a
cosmic origin for life in a theory called panspermia or
exogenesis. In two separate experiments India launched rockets
to search for signs of life in the upper atmosphere, in what was
thought to be an inhospitable region for living things
considering the high-levels of radiation. Yet life they did find
– three previously unknown species of bacteria. [4] Incredibly,
these two experiments establish that life can survive in
outer space.
Consider these
three recent discoveries that point towards life originating in
outer space:
2013, a balloon was flown into the stratosphere during the
Perseid meteor shower. It returned with samples of
microorganisms found 27 kilometers up, too high to have been
lofted from Earth's surface.
The infrared light coming from many distant astronomical objects
matches the kind that biological materials would give off.
In 2001, Kerala in India was showered with
reddish rain that contained unusual cell-like structures. The
rain followed a sonic boom that may have been a meteor breaking
up in the atmosphere. [9]
Consider these
three recent discoveries that point towards life originating in
outer space:
2013, a balloon was flown into the stratosphere during the
Perseid meteor shower. It returned with samples of
microorganisms found 27 kilometers up, too high to have been
lofted from Earth's surface.
The infrared light coming from many distant astronomical objects
matches the kind that biological materials would give off.
In 2001, Kerala in India was showered with
reddish rain that contained unusual cell-like structures. The
rain followed a sonic boom that may have been a meteor breaking
up in the atmosphere. [9]
life started here on Earth, or somewhere in space and was
delivered to Earth by a comet or asteroid, the point is that our
very physical existence is the direct result of cosmic events.
Jumping from inorganic chemicals to self-perpetuating cells,
life eventually evolved into sentient beings capable of
recognizing what's happened!
logical conclusion is that
life must be ubiquitous, even if it's isolated and hidden from
our currently very limited capacities for detection.
realization contains enormous significance. As living beings we are not unique or alone in the universe. No
longer is Earth an anomaly and we can establish a context for
our existence as a part of the greater universe. Our effort and
struggle doesn't have to die here, alone and forgotten.
For tens of thousands of years people have gazed into the
night-sky at an amazing multitude of scattered fires. They
invented stories and elaborate religious beliefs to explain the
burning lights. The ancient Greeks developed philosophy as a way
to explain events and forces through subjective rhetoric.
The scientific method was developed and it competed with philosophy and
religion, eventually superseding both by providing objective,
verifiable, and predictive conclusions. Between religion and
philosophy, and between philosophy and science, someone imagined
a different state of affairs and others helped to create it.
Philosophy was overthrown and the
burning spots in the sky turned out to be stars, and the stars
turned out to have planets of their own, and someday we'll even
find out what's on those planets.
Meanwhile the natural forces on our small and
dynamic planet are continually creating the new by destroying
the old, and a balance emerges from this natural state of chaos.
Yet human effort so often struggles to retain the status quo
long after it transforms from a benefit into a burden. It was
once a blasphemy to suggest that the Earth revolved around the
Sun rather than being the center of everything. Even today
natural selection and biological evolution are attacked as
heretical. Similarly it was once only the family, and then it
was only the tribe, then the nation, the empire, the
state, the global institution, and now the network. Despite the force of
cultural inertia and social conservatism, superior ideas and
predictive methodologies inexorably supplant the useless and
Fire: Not even the healthy are safe
in a forest of disease
Nihilism is often best conveyed
within the context of biological parallels because they're so
concisely applicable to our own survival. A prime example
resides in the vast stretches of forested wilderness within
western North America. If you live near, or visit the forests,
you'll see the death toll: sick and dying trees forming a grim
monument to a hundred years of human error and bogus solutions. Thousands of square miles showcase
natural systems driven to unnatural states, forming an imbalanced
order that presently defies resolution except through complete
A hundred years ago the western North American forests consisted
of about 70 percent ponderosa pine and 30 percent Douglas and
grand firs.
Today the order is reversed, and this is a major problem because harmful budworms attack, eat and kill firs, but they don't
eat ponderosa pines.
conservation programs, often necessary as a result of human
development encroaching ever further into the forests, have had
unintended consequences because prevention of all forest fires
has created a very unnatural state.
Ponderosa pines need regular fires and before fire suppression
efforts took place a ground fire would burn through the forests about once every ten years. These ground
fires cleared underbrush, giving young pines space to grow, and
with naturally fire-resistant bark the mature pines thrived. But
regular clearing fires the small trees and undergrowth multiply
and this benefits Douglas firs that tolerate more shade better
than pines. The Douglas firs have spread across the American
West at the expense of fire-resistant pines.
When fire does
occur in a forest filled with underbrush the fire easily leaps
to the tops of trees, creating an uncontrollable crown fire.
When a crown fire occurs it's so severe that firefighters can
only back off and defend elsewhere.
As budworm
infestations spread so do the pernicious effects, eventually
creating a 'stand-replacement event', a fire that burns the
entire forest to the bare ground. As one expert put it,
"The forest is ripe for catastrophic
summer news crews cover the outbreaks of forest fires and each
year the conflagrations become more widespread, tougher to
control, and more deadly to homes and fire fighters. Fire,
usually in the form of lightning strikes, is a natural part of
the forest life-cycle serving to clear out forest-floor detritus
and prevent tree overcrowding. These natural periodic burns
prevent the large scale unnatural holocaust conflagrations we
now witness every summer. This is the result of a dogmatic
approach to forest 'conservation' guided by wayward
environmental activism and coupled with mistaken government and
industrial attempts to alter equilibrium and exploit nature as a
'resource'. Consequently the only way the forest can be saved is
to leave it alone, let it burn to the ground, and allow the
trees to start all over and grow back from seed.
The same malevolent parties
responsible for reducing the western forests to a state of
lingering death have brought human life to an equally unhealthy
nadir. Blame government for horrendously flawed and short
sighted policy. Blame monomaniacal environmentalism and the
legion of similar dogmatic ideologies. Blame mass-media for
conveying erroneous and overly simplified filtered views of
reality, Smokey Bear cartoon truth, manic fire prevention and
'build a house in the woods'; all the while failing to properly
explain the science behind the fires or the danger of living in
the wilderness.
Blame industry for logging off the
natural life to begin with and either clear cutting or
replanting with the wrong trees as well as importing foreign
species that take over and wreak havoc, all for improved pulp
production, faster growth or whatever the reason.
Nihilism is not abstract
philosophy, it's tangible and of imperative significance. Much
as our forests have become unstable and doomed to destruction,
warped to where sickness, disease and death are endemic, so has our
own society. The forest of our society has become deadly to
the human inhabitants, a natural system chronically corrupted,
the equilibrium fractured and our environment driven to unnatural states. But it's a
slow change, just slow enough that most can entertain the notion
everything is fine while those perplexing problems will all be
rectified without personal price or harmful collective
consequence. But in parallel with the spread of subconscious
unease comes knowledge of what few can admit even to themselves
- the end is very near and there's only one way out.
To a Nihilist, destruction for
survival is not counterintuitive it's just common sense, and all
the technology, all the faith, all the prayer and all the effort
to stop it will not tarry that eventual event.
Rage Beyond Right or Wrong
early years of the 21st century have already featured
increasingly widespread and violent outbursts of suburban
youth-driven rage, growing from the ranks of the impoverished,
into the working class, and now including even the middle class.
The deliberate police shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros
Grigoropoulos in Greece sparked riots and protests in December
2008, but this was only the catalyst that released simmering
anger over much greater social and economic trouble.
As a result thousands of Greeks staged street protests and
violent riots, attacking police and property and creating the
most severe civil unrest since the collapse of Greece's military
dictatorship in 1974. [1] Yet unlike traditional public protests
planned and organized to address one, or a few, key issues and
then the demonstrators return home afterwards, the new rage is
notable for spontaneity and a lack of clear aim on the part of
those involved.
Actions in the Paris suburbs, and other cities in France in 2005
and 2007, and across Greece in December 2008, are potent
examples of this new rage. Indeed, this
is nihilism by dictionary definition:
conditions in the social organization are so unhealthy as to
make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any
constructive program or possibility.
After seeing peaceful demonstrations ignored by authorities,
voting produce no substantive political change, and the gap
between the rich and the poor and what those in power do
and what everyone else needs grow ever wider, it's only
natural that violent and unfocused anger emerges from chronic
injustice and disenfranchisement.
post-anarchists have no heroes, nothing to believe in, no
progressive future to look forward to, and everything around
them is FUBAR. This
is pure nihilism; it's all wrong so tear it all down. This
is a generation of nihilists without a label, living in an anomic
world, many lacking even a name to call themselves or a
symbol for recognition! It may be an
unspoken nihilistic rage, but in the process we're reminded that
the only way to be heard by those in power is through violent
because peaceful protests are ignored. In order for your voice and
concerns to be recognized by those in power you have to shake
things up and force authorities to respond.
And without a
resolution and a solution the rage only grows.
new generation of urban guerrillas has tried neither to garner
popular support nor explain its actions. Instead, the Sect of
Revolutionaries, believed by experts to be a branch of
Revolutionary Struggle - a group that made its debut with a
rocket attack on the US embassy in 2007, and also thought to be
behind the attack on Citibank - has stood out for its cold
cynicism and marked lack of ideology. "We don't do politics,
we do guerrilla warfare," it declared [in Greece, February
new generation of urban guerrillas has tried neither to garner
popular support nor explain its actions. Instead, the Sect of
Revolutionaries, believed by experts to be a branch of
Revolutionary Struggle - a group that made its debut with a
rocket attack on the US embassy in 2007, and also thought to be
behind the attack on Citibank - has stood out for its cold
cynicism and marked lack of ideology. "We don't do politics,
we do guerrilla warfare," it declared [in Greece, February
So, while
authorities try to suppress the nihilism, and
philosophers debate how bad it is, the sentiment remains and
spreads regardless of official opinion. This amorphous revolt has
to be carried through to the natural conclusion, otherwise it's
just like government's attempted rescue of the broken
economy – bailing out criminal billionaires and busted banks
when if we just allowed natural failure we could purge the
mistakes, punish the guilty, and move
you begin to visualize a world that is different, a system
that we like and want to participate in as opposed to the
current corrupt authority-establishment predicated upon
mass-disenfranchisement, you've made the first step
towards creating it.
21st Century Existence
Existence is predicated upon by relationships, just as meaning
emerges from the interactions of those living relationships. So
just as primitive human societies, and indeed most life,
functions in a nominal state of equilibrium with
surrounding environment, we must form a new state of nominal
balance between our surroundings and ourselves expressed through
an array of relationships. Technologically primitive humans had
to do this through myths and beliefs that were gradually
developed over hundreds, even thousands of years based on
continuous and steady interactions with a relatively stable
natural environment.
Yet today we live in an advanced, primarily artificial,
environment crafted by our own enterprise and structured for
our own short-term benefit -- but at long-term costs that are
rarely included in near term expenses. If we are to survive
individually and collectively our new equilibrium must be one
based upon the same consistent, verifiable, and predictable
forces that we use to build our surroundings – primarily
physics, math, and science in general. This requires a radically
different approach to living than what we have experienced in
our collective past, just as our own environment has already
radically changed from traditional lifestyle patterns.
Although we can't go back to a stagnant past, we can go
forward into a dynamic and fruitful future. But evolution
doesn't occur without cost or sacrifice. Archaic and traditional
beliefs still dominate social values and assumptions even though
every structure we have built has been through a completely
different viewpoint, that of reason and science! The
values and beliefs that many still cling to now lead us
collectively into self-defeating dead-ends while our words,
abstracted ideas, and expressions are all too often contradicted
by our real actions based on necessity or desire. As has become
painfully obvious amidst a record-breaking economic crisis,
epic ideological collapse, gory religious wars, and widespread
anomie, much of what has been accepted as truth has turned out
to be abominable lies, while holy gods have failed, and
supposedly overwhelming authorities have crumbled to dust under
scrutiny and public challenge.
As the social scientist Gustave Le Bon once
"The beginning
of a revolution is in reality the end of a belief."
Take a cue from Mikhail Bakunin and ignite the fires
of revolution around the globe, one belief at a time.
our words match our deeds, and our deeds match our words, until
our values are finally based upon consistent elements, we will
only foolishly struggle against inviolate forces while wallowing
in a morass of suffering, internal contradiction, and
detrimental social hypocrisy. In order to overcome we must test
to find weakness, while openly challenging assumptions and
established beliefs so we can learn what remains valid and what
is simply myth.
In life it's not enough to just be told the answers and ordered
what to do,
because some answers may be correct for one but not for another,
or invalid in a different time or place.
is why 'learning'
by command is one of the most blatant and harmful flaws of the
establishment education system.
Ultimately you have to learn the answers on your own, but more
importantly we all need a robust methodology to be able to find
valid answers regardless of the time, place, or situation.
can't control your own life until you start to think for
Just as Maria Montessori did what Friedrich Nietzsche could not
do as a philosopher
– turn radical ideas into a practical methodology, so it is
today in the 21st century we need a revolution to
establish a methodology that allows us to evolve and develop on
a social and environmental level in conjunction with our
technology, so one force doesn't far exceed the other.
Nihilists we are terminators of belief, enemies of social
hypocrisy, and opponents of a society that forces aberrant and
contradictory behavior creating schizophrenic values and mental
In this way Nihilists are
they're lightning bolts setting fire to the diseased and dying
forest and compelling a new paradigm to grow in the newfound
absence, the nothingness of a healthy and invigorating
– Freydis
Policeman 'aimed in direction of' Greek schoolboy, by
Helena Smith, The Observer (UK), January 18, 2009.
Death threat to Greek media as terrorists plot
bomb havoc, by Helena Smith, The
Guardian, February 22, 2009, (italics added for emphasis).
Watery asteroids may explain why life is
'left-handed', by Hazel Muir, New
Scientist, March 17, 2009.
Discovery of New Microorganisms in the Stratosphere,
ISRO, March 16, 2009.
5. The documentary Animal Minds (1999) presents an
incredible look into intelligent animal life that reveals the
inner workings of moral behavior in social animals, and much
For an interesting explanation of how a basic
moral sense is built into us and the way that religion hijacks
it read Religion Explained – The Evolutionary Origins of
Religious Thought, by Pascal Boyer, 2001, Basic Books.
Was our oldest ancestor a
proton-powered rock?, by Nick Lane, New Scientist,
October 19, 2009.
Fair play:
Monkeys share our sense of injustice, by Frans de Waal, New
Scientist, November 11, 2009.
9. World
Turned Upside Down, New Scientist magazine, August 8-14,
2015, pg. 34.
We must overthrow
the material and moral conditions of our present-day life. ... We
must first purify our atmosphere and completely transform the milieu
in which we live; for it corrupts our instinct and our will, and
constricts our heart and our intelligence.
- Mikhail Bakunin
We must overthrow
the material and moral conditions of our present-day life. ... We
must first purify our atmosphere and completely transform the milieu
in which we live; for it corrupts our instinct and our will, and
constricts our heart and our intelligence.
- Mikhail Bakunin
Content & Design By
May, 2018
Created: 2009


text:
There is now an RSS feed for this website. This means that you can add the blog to your iGoogle page using the "add" widget, and it will show the three most recent blog posts as clickable links. Just click "Add to Google" and choose "Add to Google homepage."
(Is it just me, or did that seem almost like a foreign language?)
Instructions for creating the iGoogle widget for your blog can be found on my Technology blog.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Elaborations for Creative Thinking in STEM
- What should K-12 teachers be learning about technology?
- The Road Back to Higher Education
- 10 Books to Push Your Thinking about Learning Design
- University of Copenhagen Keynote


text:
|Message view
|« Date » · « Thread »
|« Date » · « Thread »
|Alexei Kosut <ako...@organic.com>
|Re: Netscape and Keepalives
|Thu, 15 Aug 1996 18:01:32 GMT
On Thu, 15 Aug 1996, Jim Jagielski wrote: > Maybe I'm seeing something different then... When I access some pages > served by 1.2-dev using Netscape, occasionally Netscape will just > "hang" for few/several seconds before it reports Done. No additional > updating is done during this period (if I hit Stop, the page is the > same as it would be if I let NS continue)... Doesn't happen at all > with MIE. > > Is this one symptom of the keepalive problem? This is the symptom of a different keepalive problem with Netscape. Are these pages very small (under 1024 bytes) and are you on a fast local network? If so, you may be running into the problem where if Navigator reads the entire body of the entity in the same read as the headers, it won't recognize keepalive status. We added the fflush() to stop this from happening, but on a very fast network, it still can sometimes. -- Alexei Kosut <email@example.com> The Apache HTTP Server http://www.nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~akosut/ http://www.apache.org/
|View raw message


text:
If you happen to be taking into consideration occurring a bodyweight reduction method, it might be perplexing and in many cases a little frightening. Inquiries occur to thoughts and you usually are not absolutely sure of the responses. Which systems or goods seriously function? Are they secure? Do they really obtain the success that they assert? Shall I exploit nutritional supplements or eating plans or workout? What is the most beneficial application for me? Properly, I'll give you some advice within this location. I am going to be discussing why try to be specializing in fats decline not weight loss. When you target on unwanted fat reduction, as an alternative to pounds loss, you are headed within the ideal way towards a wise and productive body fat loss program. Allow me clarify.
The weight loss field is usually a $55 billion a yr organization. The marketing of weight loss plans, diet foods, dietary supplements, bodyweight reduction products, and exercise techniques that will help folks lose pounds is usually a very aggressive business. As a result, numerous misleading and bogus promises are offered by some providers to realize the income edge in this particular valuable market.
For instance, a lot of excess weight administration or food plan courses entice you to use their program with promises like "you will eliminate thirty pounds in thirty days". Quite possibly the most ridiculous claim I've noticed was created by a food plan complement firm who claimed that their products could "blast nearly forty nine lbs . off user in just 29 times, obliterate five inches from waistlines, and zap three inches from thighs, without dieting or exercising". Obviously, the FTC slapped a restraining buy versus this enterprise for their obviously false statements.
There are many body weight decline or diet regime courses that assert that you could lose a great deal of bodyweight inside a brief stretch of time. Some of these promises are phony. Also, some of them are legitimate, but the speedy pounds loss is unsafe and unhealthy for you. In case you are within the "market place" seeking alternatives to decreasing your pounds, then you definitely need to be educated about which strategy will be the handiest, healthiest and most secure to suit your needs.
The best objective in losing weight will be to reduce body excess fat completely. Several bodyweight loss packages will help you to get rid of weight fast. However, numerous with the rapidly fat reduction applications cause you to definitely lose muscle together with the fats. Any speedy body weight loss system that claims you can "lose thirty lbs . in 30 days" will probably trigger you to definitely get rid of muscle mass along with the excess fat reduction. This is often self-defeating considering that muscle utilizes energy to operate and the supplemental muscle decline will bring about your rate of metabolism to fall which cuts down your extra fat burning capacity. This why it's essential to take part in a method that concentrates on fat decline as opposed to excess weight loss.
Losing system fat is focused on creating an electrical power deficit. To get rid of physique unwanted fat, you need to expend much more electricity than you ingest (in food and consume). This example creates an power deficit that have to be made up from stored carbohydrates, saved excess fat or muscle tissue. The trick is usually to develop an electricity deficit within a method that spares the muscle and makes use of primarily body fat to help make up the deficit. "Crash" or starvation diets lead to an extreme electricity deficit which results in consuming body fat and muscle mass to satisfy the deficit.
Get More Info fatlosspoint.com


text:
There's a very cool shop you can peruse online called The Venetian Bead Shop, and what's special about them is that they work directly with beadmakers in Venice and Murano.
These folks say that it's a very privileged friendship and collaboration. As they put it, "Doing business internationally has its risks; there are no 'laws' which cover commerce with individuals and small groups". And as global bead traders and buyers know, it's all about relationships. The owners provide the insight that "Venice is a very small place", and that their industry of handmade, artisan beadmakers is even smaller. Everyone knows everyone, and most are related by families or marriage.
The Venetian Bead Shop is a family-owned business. Theirs is a story of the love of Venetian glass, a fascination with the techniques of glass blowing and, of course, a love of Italy and its people & culture. It all started with a trip to Venice in 1984 when one of the owners purchased a Moretti glass necklace with the famous Murano beads. Many compliments and requests by friends prompted another trip and more purchases and sparked an interest in the glass. They began studying the language, and their love and appreciation of the people and the culture grew. Importing the wonderful glass of Murano became a natural extension of their new life in Italy with friends and family.
The company works directly with the Venetian beadmakers and glassblowers -- selecting and designing the styles, colors, shapes and sizes to be produced for their stores. They connect with all the major bead producers as well as a large group of cottage industry beadmakers who produce beads specifically for them.
The beads begin with Effetre™ glass canes, produced only on the island of Murano. Every bead is made by hand, one by one, using a few simple tools and the crafter's mastery in lampworking. Sitting behind torches for hours at a time, they hold a mandrel in one hand and a cane of glass in the other, and create some of the most beautiful beads in the world.
The beadmakers are quintessential artists, and the company works closely with them at every stage. Sometimes they collaborate to modify the tooling or design to make it easier to produce, without losing the beauty of the original design. And there are many other stages, from measuring things like the amount of glass, production time, and materials like gold or silver foil. It is hard work for everyone.
At the end of a day where everyone has argued over colors, techniques, delivery, designs, soccer teams and politics, there is always still time for a Brindisi (toast) together. And those lucky ducks -- they get to enjoy a beautiful sunset looking towards Venice from Murano. They say that's part of the secret of getting the best beads in all of Murano and Venice. Learn more about them here:
Until Next Time,


text: Women like their men to wear blue. They associate blue with reliability and dependability. Women often desire to find a man who is going to be faithful and honest, and the color blue reflects these qualities subconsciously. This is the shirt every guy needs in his warm-weather spring. A shirt with inconsistent vintage wash lends well-worn appeal to Scotch & Soda's Tee shirt, that feels like it's been through an adventure or two, right out of the box.


text:
Closed meeting
(8:30 am - 8:40 am)
Draft report of Panel for submission to the Provisional Legislative Council
PLC Paper No CB(2) 1140(01)
Open meeting
Research report RP 06/PLC
PLC Paper No. CB(2) 1140(02)- the Administration's comments on the data presented in the research report
PLC Paper No. RL6-supplementary information provided by the Research and Library Services Division
PLC Paper No. CB(2) 1140(03) - paper provided by the Administration
PLC Paper No. CB(2) 1140(04)-paper provided by the Administration
Provisional Legislative Council Secretariat
6 March 1998


text:
Wild Earl Grey Tea
Wild Earl Grey Tea
Earl Grey is a classic indulgence, but made with bergamot essential oil that can kill the good bacteria in your digestive tract. Wild Earl Grey is his countryside counterpoint, using "wild bergamot" aka bee balm, a native flower that grows rampantly and attracts bees and butterflies. It tastes just like Earl Grey, but feels a little bit wilder.*
Ingredients: organic single-estate Assam tea, New York-grown bee balm (all organic)
To use: Steep 2 teaspoons of tea in 8 ounces of hot water, covered, for 4 minutes.
Approximately 15 servings of tea.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product does not intend to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease.


text:
Letters to the Editor
Last-minute turf-to-dirt has fans livid
So, Gulfstream Park "management," in its infinite wisdom, took the last race off of the turf last Sunday, while the horses were already in the walking ring ("Late call to take race off turf leaves Gulf bettors stuck," March 13).
They say that the jockeys, who rightfully made this choice, had just informed them of their decision. The jocks say they told them way before that.
But the problem isn't who, or even when. The problem is what they did next.
The real problem is that the pick threes and daily doubles were all locked in by then. Players were either stuck with their picks on dirt or, in the pick threes, they got the post time favorite, as three horses were immediately scratched.
Obviously, (and this is obvious to me, a schmo in L.A.) they should have made consolation payoffs to all bettors with live tickets. This would have been the right thing to do. Also, it would have protected the integrity (such as it is) of the game.
But no, instead they chose to rob the fans completely of almost any fair chance at winning their bets. This from what is supposed to be a major racing circuit.
Oh, yeah, the favorite ran fourth and the longest shot in the field won.
The good news is, by the 11th race, who has any money left to lose, anyway?
Jerry Hauck
Studio City, Calif.
Information deficit a serious disorder
How appropriate, the day that "A Season on the Brink" was being aired on ESPN, Gulfstream Park was having a season on a stink!
I was alive to two turf horses for a nice pick three when in horror I heard the track announcer give the absurd news that the race was taken off the turf - as the horses were entering the paddock!
Memo to Frank Stronach: This is a wagering game where accurate, timely information is paramount. All I can say is I'll be glad when Keeneland opens!
Mike McGuire
Louisville, Ky.
Management's gaffe typically shameful
Sunday's fiasco at Gulfstream should not come as a surprise to anyone.
It's easy to blame the jockeys, but it's not their fault. Let's see a management official pilot an 1,100-pound animal a mile or more. How about the board of stewards? What were they doing after the ninth race? I'll tell you what - hiding out. If they side with anybody, it's with management. The bettor is the last one to be considered.
The jockeys did the right thing. The track should have and could refunded daily doubles and pick threes as no-bets, but it's about the money.
No matter how things got handled, things like this happen a lot in pick sixes: late scratches, surface switches, etc. But the board of stewards was not there for us, the bettors, on Sunday.
I guess it wasn't in the best interest of racing. So what is, then?
Gene Davenport
Lodi, Calif.
Bettors fell victim to blind switch
When Sunday's 11th race at Gulfstream was taken off the turf after the 10th was run, ruining many a late double bet, you would figure there must have been a lot of rain, right? Not quite: The weather was sunny and warm like the people in Florida brag about.
So why, then, such careless disregard of the betting public? If after the ninth race, which was run on the turf, the riders and/or track personnel determined the course was not safe, why wasn't the race pulled immediately before the late double wagering?
The people in charge at Gulfstream must give more consideration to the bettors, as we are the ones who pay their salary.
Mark Levin
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Gulfstream's woes have several facets
Andrew Beyer, in his March 6 column "Fiddling while Rome burns," accurately cited the loss of stalls at Hialeah this winter as a main cause in the lack of quality racing at Gulfstream in 2002.
The reason the Hialeah situation occurred was not so much the loss of stalls, but the loss of a good surface over which to train horses.
Nobody I know is happy about training at Gulfstream Park. The track has long had serious problems with its racing surface and management has taken a band-aid approach.
Faced with a choice of having to train at Gulfstream and going elsewhere this year, Team Valor - like many other owners - decided to skip Florida this winter with most of its stock.
Frank Stronach cannot be blamed for the situation at Hialeah. And he deserves credit for taking immediate action with his Boynton Beach facility. If this track does turn out to be a good place to train, the good horses once again will return to Florida in the winter.
But Stronach needs to address the track and turf course at Gulfstream to really solve the problem of high-class horses racing at Gulfstream Park.
Barry Irwin
Team Valor
Versailles, Ky.
Current testing standards make for bad blood
My hat is sincerely off to Stan Bergstein for his March 2 column, "Blood-boosters present real threat." It's naive to think that, if these drugs are being used in bicycle racing and cross-country skiing, that they're not being used in horse racing, where so much more is at stake and so much more money is changing hands, from purses and betting to stud fees and horse sales. And I take little comfort in the recent racing symposium that supposedly found little illicit drug use in horse racing.
But how many more times do we have to see a horse outrun his pedigree or turn in an uncharacteristic performance?
Unfortunately, the industry's testing procedures aren't capable of detecting these blood-boosters, which are much more relevant to increased performance than morphine or the other drugs that are tested for now. And let's face it, the horse racing community is a pretty tight fraternity, and trainers aren't likely to voice their suspicions publicly about fellow trainers.
Perhaps Bergstein could interview some racing officials and find out if they plan to get a hold of the test used at the Olympics for EPO and the other blood-enhancing drugs.
Morty Mittenthal
Pasadena, Calif.
Booting D'Amico reeks of double standard
I read with disgust that the trainer of Repent had removed jockey Tony D'Amico for a more proven, "name" rider, in the Louisiana Derby ("D'Amico shrugs and bears it," Feb. 28).
D'Amico did everything right aboard Repent and still lost his mount for the completely silly notion that a Kentucky Derby winner will make the difference. No rider will ever learn more about Repent between now in the Kentucky Derby, and that experience is invaluable.
Based on the logic that dismissed D'Amico, Repent's owners should immediately remove the horse from the Kenneth McPeek stable and turn him over to Bob Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, or Nick Zito. After all, if you want to win the Kentucky Derby, you might as well go with someone who has been in the winner's circle before.
Kevin Honig
Altamonte Springs, Fla.


text:
- Profile
Salterns Marina Salterns Way
BH14 8JR Poole, Dorset
United Kingdom
With over 20 years of experience in the motor yacht industry PMYA strength has been to deliver you, the boat owner, the best in Training, Charter and Management Service.
Whether you are new to boating, wish to increase your boating skills, or would like your family to learn a bit more about boating they offer training on an informal or formal RYA basis.
The PMYA can also manage the chartering of your boat, ensuring a professional approach to both you the owner and our clients.
- Services:
Yacht Charters
- Service Areas:
Related Luxury Travel Companies:
Elite Rent offers luxury car rental and chauffeur services in Europe. Elite Car Rental services are founded on core values of service, quality, repsect, responsibility and availability. Elite Rent offers an extensive fleet of luxury car rentals, including Mercedes, Rolls Royce, BMW, Range Rover [...]
PROAIR Private Jets is one of the world's fastest growing aviation companies, with roots firmly integrated in both the European and Global Aviation Markets, PROAIR is not only seen as a market leader but as a pioneer in the future of private
In the wake of the London Show, Global Yachts have remained surprisingly busy with robust sales for the ever popular Trusty T23 motor cruiser, a good turnover of their brokerage listings, and some impressive resilience in the sales of their ranges from Europe, despite the adverse exchange
Classic Vacations provides perfectly tailored vacation experiences for discerning travelers. For nearly 30 years, all types of travelers – individuals, couples, families and groups – have trusted them to plan memorable and enriching vacations to the world's great destinations. Classic Vacations [...]
Yacht experienced Staff ashore and fully trained Crew on board will make it possible for you to enjoy your Yacht by benefiting automatically from Crew Agency's expertise and experience, their facilities, their global network of subsidiary companies representatives and agencies including in house [...]


text:
SIT & SEWS: March thru October – Third Sat. of the month.
All Sit and Sews will be held on the third Saturday of the month, at the Henhouse from 10 am to 4:00 pm. Bring any projects that you want to work on or need help with. Bring your sewing machine. Please bring a covered dish to share and your own beverage.
Baby Blankets~June 2014
Jan 2014 Sit~Sew~ HONOR QUILT RAFFLE
Nov. ~ Sit n Sew ~working on Spring Tea Quilt
2014 Sit n Sew
Jan 18
Feb 15
March 15
April 19
May – No Sit n Sew
June 21
July 19
August 16
September 20
October 18
November 15


text:
A man who blew £18,000 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer has been told he does not have the disease after all.
Phil Collins, 61, quit his job, planned his funeral and went on the spending spree when he was given six months to live.
Using his pension cash, he splashed out on luxuries including a £6,000 Triumph motorbike and £6,000 Ford Focus for wife Isabel.
But when he went back to hospital six months later checks revealed his tumour was in fact an abscess.
Now Phil is suing the NHS because he claims drugs he took for the non-existent gall bladder and liver cancer have ruined his health.
Yesterday he said: "I'm an absolute wreck. I was a fit man but now I can't do anything. When you're told you're going to die, then you are told you are not, it knocks you backwards."
Phil was referred to Dorchester County Hospital in Dorset two years ago after losing weight. Doctors later diagnosed advanced cancer of the gallbladder, which they said had spread to his liver.
Phil was advised to give up his lorry driving job and Isabel quit her cleaning work.
As well as vehicles, he blew cash on a leather sofa and second gold ring for his wife.
Isabel, 62, said: "He bought me everything I needed so I wouldn't want for anything."
Six months later, doctors could not understand why Phil was alive and new tests in April revealed there was no cancer.
Dorset County Hospital boss Jan Bergmann has apologised to the couple and said the original test results had not been properly analysed.
But Phil, of Yetminster, Dorset, now has a series of unexplained health problems and is seeking compensation.
The hospital said: "We cannot comment for reasons of patient confidentiality."


text:
Interesting theology from the vatican.
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.
The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.
But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."
Coming up in a day or two I've got another link where a bishop talks about respecting atheists. It's strange to see Catholicism as the progressive Christianity. The intersection & conflict between science and religion is a subject that I'm greatly interested in, and you'll probably see some more links on it in the future.


text:
Thank you for your interest in SpiritBroadcast.com. We would love to carry your show on our platform. SpiritBroadcast.com is a great way to extend your show's reach, find new listeners and give more flexibility to your listening audience. Partnerships are quite simple. Complete our online form.
Please let us know if we can answer any additional questions at all for you. We look forward to working with you!