But a society that has perfectionist
attitudes doubled with a "keeping up with the Jones'" outlook have and do progress faster.
Um, progress?
While this worldview, historically, has led to some good stuff, it's hardly an unquestioned virtue -- and certainly not the best way to 'progress'. Ye gads, I hope you don't actually believe that rampant consumerism is the best way for societies to forge forward. If anything, they're pushing us _backwards_. Witness American (Oh, Great America, Home Of Progress) problems: rampant obesity, increasing wealth disparity, rampant depression -- as well as lots of happy little pills to 'cure' same, outsized, useless SUVs, etc etc etc
I hate to sound like another anti-American American, but I'm sick and fucking tired of being some sort of rebel or outcast just because I'd rather hike than drive, cook than eat out, enjoy a good conversation rather than stare at the TV, and so on.
As far as I'm concerned, the more we as a society promote vapid, easily purchased shit as more useful/relevant/valuable than truly fulfilling activities, the deeper we drag ourselves and the rest of the world into the crapper.
That sort of 'progress' is something we ought to question carefully before trying to apply it universally.
I'm not a fucking hippie. I'm not a conformist rebel liberal. I'm just someone trying to be a human being, not just a consumer, not just a market actor. Every day it gets harder. Is *that* progress?
"Do you want a judge to walk into the courtroom being his own expert?" Mr.
Oppenheimer asked. He also wondered whether "by training our judges to be
friendly to business, we will deliberately build in a bias to attempt to attract a
certain class of litigants to the state."
Who do you think will be 'educating' these judges? Microsoft and the RIAA, or the FSF?
(warning: off-topic) I think that postmodernism is the root cause of many of todays 'lunatic fringe' phenomena.
And I think that the cult of objectivity has been the root cause of thousands of years of human tragedy. The truth is a constant, fluid concept which we constantly redefine -- or do you still think that the "objective truth" of a flat earth is worth hanging to defend?
Alternatively, have you ever read Aristotle's defense of slavery? Nazi reasoning for the Holocaust? Documents of religious indoctrination? . . . etc: All are based on the assumption of The One True Truth. Hogwash, I say.
'Facts' are no longer believed in, and people think they can come up with all sorts of idiotic ideas.
. . . like quantum physics, or relativity (Einstein, not moral), or chaos, or visiting the moon...
In this case we have the usual conspiracy theorising and reliance on big bad men with lots of power and a desire to hoodwink the public.
Au contraire: those who are trying to hoodwink the public are those who are promoting their ideas as the 'one true way': fundies, libertarians, tyrants, the politburo... (Yes, that was a troll. Flame away, libbies!) What better way to propogate an ideology than by refusing to admit the existence, let alone validity of alternatives?
When I'm writing software, it's obvious I can't model the 'Truth.' So I try to pick and choose a decent-enough model to achieve my goals -- but it will never be a True model. It's an approximation, and that's the best we can do, when programming or when thinking. To forget that is to lose touch with reality, and to fall down the slippery slope of dogma. (Or, two release cycles later, really krufty code.)
There is such a thing as irrefutable fact,
Au contraire, all facts are refutable. See? Look, I'm refuting you. Nyaaah!
Further reading:
Bertolt Brecht, Galileo
James Gleik, Chaos
Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
and lots more; those are just what comes to the top of my head. (Zen.. I read recently. Great book, especially for coders/technical folk.)
Slashdot Mirror
But a society that has perfectionist attitudes doubled with a "keeping up with the Jones'" outlook have and do progress faster.
:)
Um, progress?
While this worldview, historically, has led to some good stuff, it's hardly an unquestioned virtue -- and certainly not the best way to 'progress'. Ye gads, I hope you don't actually believe that rampant consumerism is the best way for societies to forge forward. If anything, they're pushing us _backwards_. Witness American (Oh, Great America, Home Of Progress) problems: rampant obesity, increasing wealth disparity, rampant depression -- as well as lots of happy little pills to 'cure' same, outsized, useless SUVs, etc etc etc
I hate to sound like another anti-American American, but I'm sick and fucking tired of being some sort of rebel or outcast just because I'd rather hike than drive, cook than eat out, enjoy a good conversation rather than stare at the TV, and so on.
As far as I'm concerned, the more we as a society promote vapid, easily purchased shit as more useful/relevant/valuable than truly fulfilling activities, the deeper we drag ourselves and the rest of the world into the crapper.
That sort of 'progress' is something we ought to question carefully before trying to apply it universally.
I'm not a fucking hippie. I'm not a conformist rebel liberal. I'm just someone trying to be a human being, not just a consumer, not just a market actor. Every day it gets harder. Is *that* progress?
Okay, rant over. Have a good day.
I think that postmodernism is the root cause of many of todays 'lunatic fringe' phenomena.
And I think that the cult of objectivity has been the root cause of thousands of years of human tragedy. The truth is a constant, fluid concept which we constantly redefine -- or do you still think that the "objective truth" of a flat earth is worth hanging to defend?
Alternatively, have you ever read Aristotle's defense of slavery? Nazi reasoning for the Holocaust? Documents of religious indoctrination? . . . etc: All are based on the assumption of The One True Truth. Hogwash, I say.
'Facts' are no longer believed in, and people think they can come up with all sorts of idiotic ideas.
. . . like quantum physics, or relativity (Einstein, not moral), or chaos, or visiting the moon...
In this case we have the usual conspiracy theorising and reliance on big bad men with lots of power and a desire to hoodwink the public.
Au contraire: those who are trying to hoodwink the public are those who are promoting their ideas as the 'one true way': fundies, libertarians, tyrants, the politburo... (Yes, that was a troll. Flame away, libbies!) What better way to propogate an ideology than by refusing to admit the existence, let alone validity of alternatives?
When I'm writing software, it's obvious I can't model the 'Truth.' So I try to pick and choose a decent-enough model to achieve my goals -- but it will never be a True model. It's an approximation, and that's the best we can do, when programming or when thinking. To forget that is to lose touch with reality, and to fall down the slippery slope of dogma. (Or, two release cycles later, really krufty code.)
There is such a thing as irrefutable fact,
Au contraire, all facts are refutable. See? Look, I'm refuting you. Nyaaah!
Further reading:
and lots more; those are just what comes to the top of my head. (Zen.. I read recently. Great book, especially for coders/technical folk.)