Archive for the 'Philosophy' Category

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Striking the Root

Published on December 3, 2011 in In the News, Philosophy and Youtube. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I just got through watching this ten minute video of Peter Joseph being interviewed on Russia Today about the current social and economic problems that we are all facing. As always, Peter cuts straight through to the root of the problem – the inherent flaws in our social and economic systems. As I always say, when the rules of the game are screwed up, no one wins.

Peter Joseph is the creator of the Zeitgeist film series and the founder of the Zeitgeist Movement. The goal of the Zeitgeist Movement is to bring awareness to the fundamental flaws in our thinking that have brought us to the bleak place that we now find ourselves in. Most people just live in the paradigm that we are in and seldom think about the possibility of a better way. Like in the movie The Matrix: we get up, go to work, pay our taxes, buy lots of junk, and repeat the process tomorrow. The only problem is that this system has brought us to the point that we are about to run out of ‘tomorrows.’ The economic paradigm of infinite growth is on a collision course with reality and the very finite natural resources that make our existence possible.

Another interesting thing in the video is when Peter talks about the “1 percenters,” you know… those we call wealth – the ones who push the buttons. Peter says that it is a mistake to demonize them. They are basically just the best players in a twisted game that was already here. Everyone knows you don’t hate the player… you hate the game. I think that is important to understand. It doesn’t really matter how the game got here, it simply needs to be fixed. People can get along, and work together to solve our common problems. We must. Like it or not, we are at a crossroads. Change is coming regardless. We will evolve our culture or we will suffer the consequences.

Trunk-or-Treat sucks

Published on October 31, 2011 in Philosophy and Religion. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Halloween was my favorite holiday as a kid. I think it was my favorite because it allowed me a chance to demonstrate my creativity and strategy, as we assaulted multiple neighborhoods in the search for candy. I remember designing intricate costumes – more than one. We needed more than one because we discovered that we could hit the same places multiple times if in a different costume, and thus rack up on the candy. We would gather intel for drawing up detailed maps of the neighborhoods, carefully marking which houses gave the best candy, greatest quantities, and when they retired for the night. We would walk for miles into distant neighborhoods, and would return dragging massive caches of treats.

Things have changed. Today we take are timid little kids to churches, where they meander from parked car to parked car. It sickens me to see this. It is such a departure from a time-honored tradition. Halloween used to be about risking the dangers of the night, with out your mom and dad holding your hand, and coming back victorious with hoards of candy to show for it. It was about staying up late into the early morning hours, devouring your spoils, and watching horror movies. Why have we become so paranoid? Things were just as dangerous then as they are now. What has changed?

I think  a lot of it has to do with the way churches have decided to wage all-out war against this “dark” holiday. They device alternative activities like Trunk-or-Treats and Fall Festivals, and pass out pamphlets to conventional Trick-or-Treaters explaining how what they’re doing is de facto devil worship. I know this is true, because I passed out many such pamphlets myself. One of the churches I used to go to would distribute thousands of these little anti-halloween tracts. And yes, they literally used the words, ‘Devil Worship,’ to describe Trick-or-Treating. Today I know that Halloween, or Samhain (pronounced sah:win) as the Celts called it, originally had nothing to do with the Devil. The Devil is a character from Jewish and Christian mythology, and the early europians had never heard of him when the came up with the festival of Samhain.

So, call me a devil worshiper if you must, because I have my jack-o-lantern fired up and bucket full of treats ready to go. Bring on creatures of the night!

Controlling people through force

Published on October 27, 2011 in Philosophy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

If you’re like most people, you probably think the world we be a much better place if everyone just did what you told them to do. I know I do. I think that all the time. Does that make me a bad person? Well, not really. It just makes me human.

I have found that just about everyone believes that their way is indeed the best way. It doesn’t matter who you ask; be they a religious person or an atheist, capitalist or communist, city or country, man or woman… everyone believes that they have the answer – that their way is the best for all.

Personally, I would love to see a world free of violence and poverty. Most would agree that would be a pretty nice world to live in. The thing is, I didn’t always think the way I do now. I used to worship violence. I learned it early on, and thought it was completely normal. I used to think that the smaller and weaker kids getting beat up at the hands of other kids who should have departed that particular grade years ago was a good thing. I thought that it would toughen them up and make them better people for it in the long run. I used to think that it was ok to inflict violence on people if their world view differed too greatly from my own. My point is that even though I have changed 180 degrees on most of my thinking, at the time I still believed I had the answers and that the world would be a better place if people would listen to me and do things my way. We always believe we are right, and it takes a hell of a lot of pressure to force someone out of that ‘I’m right’ mindset.

Now, some people take this latent ‘rightness’ to the next level by trying to force others to do things their way. We see it in all cultures at one time or another. One group will rise up and force their way on another. The National Socialist Party in Germany had a vision of what they believed would be a perfect world. The problem was that their perfect world did not have any Jews, Negroes, or Asians in it. Religions have this control thing down to a fine art. If you don’t believe my way, you’ve got to burn. If you don’t have sex my way, you’re an abomination. In the old days if people didn’t agree with the mainstream religious dogma, they were burned as heretics. Things have gotten a little more civilized since then I suppose.

One of my strongest philosophies is that every human being is an individual. Sure, we come together to build families and civilizations, but we are sill all individuals. My partner in life, Denice, knows that I don’t think our marriage license is worth the paper it’s printed on. If either one of us want out there is no legal document on the planet that can prevent it. Of course on the other hand, if we want to be together, there is no force that can tear us apart. I want her to be with me more that any thing in the world, but she will be with me of her own free will. I don’t want to control her mentally, emotionally, or economically. I don’t own her. Did you hear what I said? I don’t OWN my wife, and you don’t own yours. I don’t care what they taught you in Sunday School. She is a free agent. I don’t want her to be dependant on me. I want us to be interdependent on each other. The difference is huge. Dependent people don’t have a choice. They don’t have equal power. Interdependent people are really just independent people who realize that they can create far more awesome things if they work together, willingly, with other independent people.

Ultimately, trying to control other people with force is fruitless. They will probably break free eventually, but even if they don’t… do you really want to be in a relationship where you have to hold something over the other person to get them to do what you want? I want people to be around me because they like me, and I want them to take my advise because hopefully it makes sense. If it doesn’t, I want them to be able to set me straight. If we live like this, then we all win.

Monday, monday, monday, monday… MUSHROOM, MUSHROOM

Published on October 24, 2011 in A Day in the Life and Philosophy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I haven’t done a DITL in a few days, and I’ve definitely been alive the whole time… so, here we go. By the way, if you’re wondering what the heck the title is all about, it’s a reference to a completely random piece of Internet humor called ‘Badger, Badger, Badger.’ Just click on the link and watch. It’s funny, but you have to make it to the very end to get it.

It’s been a pretty uneventful day. The weekend is over, and I miss it. Work was busy today. We have just a couple of weeks before we head out to Colorado for vacation, and we’ve been trying to get everything in order around the house before we leave. Basically, that means both Denice and myself are going to be busy at work and at home for the next two weeks. It’s going to be crazy, but I have no plans to slack on my blogging. I’m pretty dedicated to it now.

That’s pretty much the day today. I’m sitting on the couch with Denice and the critters, watching DVR’d episodes of Sister Wives again. It’s a fun show, but personally, I don’t find it controversial. Like I said before, there are a lot of different ways to make this love thing work, and what works for one may not work for everyone. To each their own. One thing I don’t like though is how people put so much enfasis on the legal side of it. I think it is foolish to seek the approval of the State in your interpersonal relationships. It gives them power that they shouldn’t have. I am married to Denice, but not because I have a legal contract (which we do), but because she has my heart, and I have hers. We didn’t need anyone’s permission to love one another, and I would stay with her regardless of whether or not the world liked it. If you love someone you will move heaven and earth to be with them. If you don’t love them, there is no legal contract or religious ceremony that can make you stay with them. Boy, that was deep.

 

Sister Wives, because no one can marry just one

Published on October 23, 2011 in Philosophy and Religion. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Denice and I are watching Sister Wives right now. I find it funny that Christians of all denominations and even LDS Mormons have a problem with Kody Brown and his ‘sister wives.’ Am I the only person on the planet that happens to remember the tiny, insignificant detail that both the Bible and the Book of Mormons were written by polygamists? I mean, come on… just about every religion that is older than a hundred years has a strong tradition (if you want to call it that) of one man having multiple wives.

I personally think polygamy is a throwback to a time when men used their brute gorilla strength to dominate females. It only makes sense that the barbarian men of the past designed their religions (whether consciously or unconsciously) to make God in their image, and to make the female inferior by such a God’s decree. Because of these primitive beliefs, women have been denied an equal education to their male counterparts for generations, and we have all suffered as a result. You can’t not use over half the minds in your population and not suffer societal retardation as a result. I think it’s one of the big reasons why we haven’t advanced further than we have.

Anyway, I could personally care less whether Kody has one wife or one hundred, as long as it is a consensual realationship. It doesn’t bother me one bit. In fact, I think they have a cute and very well-adjusted family. However, I do have a problem with Kody’s catch phrase, “love should be multiplied, not divided.” I think that only applies if he’s the common denominator. It’s really kind of hypocritical because if one of his wives wanted to bring home a ‘brother husband’ for him, I doubt he would very enthusiastic about the proposal.

People are more important than beliefs

Published on October 12, 2011 in A Day in the Life, Philosophy and Religion. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

I finally made it to Wednesday. It’s been busy this week. I fell behind in my blogging a little bit. I actually have been working on three different drafts, but they all seem to be going in a direction that I’m not sure I want to go. For some reason, even though I don’t intend it to, my writing seems to be getting, well, nasty. I don’t mean filthy, I mean… mean.

For instants, one of the drafts I’m working on is about the book of Jonah from the Bible. We had a church service on it last Sunday, and Denice and I ended up discussing it over a delicious lunch at the Soccer Taco. She believes that story is literal, and I spent the entire time explaining all the reasons why there’s no way a guy could survive in a fish/whale/ocean dwelling creature’s stomach for three days and nights and live to tell about it. The discussion went nowhere as usual. She held firm in her belief in the story and I ended up feeling like a jerk for trying to sway her away from it. Anyway, I have been working on a post about the Jonah story for about three days now. I almost posted it a couple of times, but when I proofed it I felt ashamed at the meanness of my words. I’m not going to go into the details of what I was planning on saying, but let’s just say I was going to take some cheap-shots. I have decided that I am better than that, so I will be self-censoring my thoughts on the subject until I am believe I am capable of expressing them in a more constructive way.

I used to watch debates between theists and atheists on Youtube all the time. The arguments would go back and forth without either side budging an inch on their positions. It was entertaining at first, but after a while it became highly irritating. At some point I gave up on the whole concept of debate. I gave it up because it us ultimately fruitless. There is no scientific argument that can convince a theist to give up his or her deeply held beliefs. Their beliefs are a part of their culture… their very identity. And likewise, there is no supernatural experience that you can share or ancient story that you can tell that will convince an atheist to give up their linear reasoning. It is what makes them who they are. Debates are a waste of time, for they rarely bring change to either side.

I have looked back on my experience of departing from the Christian faith many times, trying to figure out just what it was that made a hard-core believer like me change. It’s a very hard thing in deed to put your finger on. I suppose at some point I accepted the possibility that I could be wrong. Once I admitted to that possibility, the self-policing part of my mind relaxed, and then it just all started to fall apart. I went from knowing everything to knowing nothing, to being sure about nothing. It was a scary time. Hell, it still is, but it’s exciting. The world is not nearly as well lit now, but it’s full of mystery again. It’s full of potential. Since I have stopped believing, I have learned about many other belief systems and ways of thinking, things that I used to insulate myself from. Basically I’ve learned that people will believe just about anything that their culture tells them is true. This is true for me and every other human being. It’s just how we’re wired. The thing that I am trying to learn now is to accept people the way they are, and not give in to the urge to make them like me. I am who I am, and I need to let them be who they are. What I do want to do though is seek out the things that we all have in common, and use those things to build meaningful relationships with my fellow human beings. I believe that this is my straight and narrow path, and I intend on walking it.

We are the Ferengi!

Published on September 27, 2011 in Philosophy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I know a lot of people out there may have no idea what a ‘Ferengi‘ is, baring any Trek-Heads that I may have in my small audience. The Ferengi are a fictional race of extraterrestrials from Star Trek the Next Generation. They are characterized by their mercantile obsession with profit. The Ferengi culture revolves around money and greed. Their entire social structure is built around how good you are at making a profit in whatever weaseley business you happen to be in.

When the Ferengi encountered the United Federation of Planets, they were completely dumbfounded. They couldn’t understand how a society could exist that wasn’t built around a for-profit system. The UFP (the Enterprise) didn’t use money anymore. Money and greed was what almost destroyed human society a millenia before. There was no need to make a profit – all the necessities of life were provided for by their advanced technology. People worked to fulfil their need for purpose, or to satisfy their collective curiosity… like the crew of the Enterprise. The meeting was a major culture shock for both parties.

currently in human society, we aren’t much different from the money-grubbing Ferengi. Almost everything we do is for the express purpose of making a buck. Our whole system is build arround this. Instead of cooperating to make a better world, the system forces us into competition. The system creates scarcity where it could easily be overcome with the proper application of existing technologies. It puts un into survival mode, and sets us against each other. We are the Ferengi. But, we don’t have to be.

About 14,000 people will starve to death today. This need not be. We have more than enough resources to feed all the world. The only problem is the control of these resources are tied up in a global game of monopoly. We could end hunger, poverty, and suffering in less than a generation. In fact, we could have done it half a century ago. The knowledge is there, but it is in the wrong hands.

This current ‘economic’ system is in its death throes… just ask Greece. I only hope we survive as it grinds to a halt. Much suffering is just over the horizon if we do not change are ways and our values. People are more important that profit.

Jacque Fresco

Published on September 26, 2011 in Philosophy, Science and What I'm Reading. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

During my study of the ideas put forth in the Zeitgeist movies, I came across a fellow by the name of Jacque Fresco. Fresco is the founder of The Venus Project, and has expertise in a number of scientific disciplines, including something called ‘social cyberneering.’ …sounds a little Brave New Worldish, I know, but it’s really interesting. Also, Jacque Fresco is the originator of the ‘Resource Based Economy’ concept. I’ve been reading and listening to every piece of material I can find from this guy. He has apparently been trying to change the world for the better since the early 20′s. Yes, the ’20′s,’ he’s 93 years old. A lot of what he says is new to me, and that doesn’t happen very often. I wish I had time to talk a little bit about what I have learned so far, but it’s late, and I have monkey tasks to tend to in the morning. I think I’m going to devote my next few post to attempting to explain as best I can some of Jacques’ ideas. If you can’t wait til then, check him out yourself at… The Venus Project, and Youtube.

 

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

Published on September 10, 2011 in Movie Reviews, Philosophy and Youtube. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

We must become the change we want to see in the world.

-Mohandas Gandhi

I believe that as a species, we have arrived at a kind of crossroads. We can continue on the path we are currently on, which will no doubt lead to our own destruction. Or, we have the opportunity to take a higher path; a path of reason and enlightenment, a path of peace, a path of freedom, a path that could mean our survival and prosperity for thousands of years into the future.

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward is the third installment of what has become one of the most popular documentaries to ever race viral across the Internet. At their core, the Zeitgeist films have been about understanding the nature of societal evolution. Unlike the previous two films, Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist: Addendum, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward puts forth some concrete solutions to the rampant societal degradation that we are now faced with.

You will have to bear with me here, because I am by no means an expert in any of these topics, but I will do my best to relay my understanding of the science based solutions that Zeitgeist has brought to my attention.

Peter Joseph, the creator of the Zeitgeist films, advocates a thing called ‘The Resource Based Economy.’ Now, at first glance, I have to admit, it seems kinds of Marxist. Basically (very basically), a Resource Based Economy asserts that all resources (i.e. everything necessary for human life and human civilization) should be deemed the collective heritage of everyone. The scientific method would be utilized to take inventory of all the available resources that we need, like: clean air, fresh water, food, raw materials for construction, and arable land for growing crops. This inventory would be used to discover the earth’s ‘carrying capacity,’ which is the number human inhabitants that the earth can comfortably accommodate. After this information is known, the RBE would make use of ‘mechanization,’ or the use of machines and technology to free human beings from repetitive/mundane labor. In this economy, money, or the system of working for money, would be unnecessary. Science would be used to create a state of efficiency so extreme that lack of any kind would become a thing of the past. In the RBE, the emphasis would be on ‘Access’ over ‘Ownership.’ Hunger, poverty, and crime would (in theory) virtually disappear. If everyone has access to everything that they need, then there would be no poverty. In the RBE you would ‘own’ nothing, but have ‘access’ to everything.

I know, I know… it sounds utopian and Marxist, and it may be. I haven’t really made my mind up yet. There is a lot of information to go through, and I am just scratching the surface. However, whether or not the RBE is a viable solution, it is apparent that the current system has set us on a collision course with doom. I don’t care how much money you print or how much wealth you think you have: once we start running out of stuff, the shit is going to hit the fan. When the oil stops flowing and the shelves run dry, a lot of people are going to starve to death. The ones that don’t will be freaking out! When the Ponzi debt scheme that the central banks have played on us collapses (and it will collapse), the welfare checks are going to stop coming. The same people who are happy now in their free housing, with their free food, and free luxury items are going to turn into desperate animals when it all goes away. The massive global debt, which really only exists on paper, cannot be repaid, for it doesn’t correspond with tangible resources. It is completely made up, just like the paper money that they are printing out faster than you can shake a stick at it. I don’t know whether or not this insanity is deliberate, but it doesn’t really matter now. If we don’t find a better system, we are indeed headed into an economic apocalypse that will make the Great Depression look like a cake walk.

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward puts forth a lot of ideas that may have tremendous merit, but I’m not sure the world is ready for them. We are a wonderful species; so full of promise, so full of beautiful dreams, but at the same time we are capable of such horrifying nightmares. This film brings to light a lot of self-knowledge about the human race. It’s very moving, especially the ending. I hope we overcome our demons some day, and are able to live in a world like Zeitgeist envisions, but without a doubt – we have a long road ahead of us.