Today’s learning

I, like many others of my generation, and presumably from other generations as well, am sickeningly dependent on my computer. More specifically, I depend on the internet. Broadcast television has become a near worthless commodity to me. T.V. news shows and newspapers are a mockery of themselves reduced to the loathsome rank of tabloid.
My current events come from my daily feeds, not my daily news. My subscriptions are free, my news is filtered to accommodate me; above all else, it’s fast and when I want it. This is not only limited to news. I have thrown away my yellow pages, I have not stepped foot in a music store, or video rental store in years, and the very notion of an encyclopedia is laughable. I am often irritated by restaurants that do not publish a delivery menu, let alone offer an option to place your order, online. Why do I, and many others, have this attitude toward “non-web” communication? Because it is slow, and inefficient.
There have been some recent studies into the information gathering skills typical of specific age groups. The evidence is incontrovertible; the way we learn is changing. I used to refer to a particular phenomenon as “test taking mentality”. I did so because public schools encourage a special kind of learning when an important test is at hand. The process is fundamentally this; a large amount of information is introduced and repeated until it is practically automatically accessible (much the same way a parrot learns to talk). The information is not manipulated; therefore it is not technically learned. A change in context or condition will not evoke the same associative neural connections, thereby not producing the same answer. The information is effectively stored in the brain’s RAM. Once the test is taken, the data is dumped, making room for more of the same. I felt largely that this practice degraded the quality of education, leaving students with little or no retained dynamic knowledge. And we come to the real question at hand; which is more important, data retention, or acquisition?
I have developed a habit of not writing down phone numbers, I don’t bookmark websites, I don’t print info from the web. I do these things, because I know that if I follow my info acquisition process, which is a “set in stone” method, I will find it again. Data is so readily accessible that I don’t have to waste storage space (physical or mental) keeping track of where to find it. Following that logic, it is utterly preposterous to waste space on holding the information itself. If I am at a computer, and a subject is brought up in conversation, within moments, I will have a reference to that subject, in case such a need arises. Many traditionally minded people, to include myself until recently, would consider it a travesty that I do not have the information committed intimately to memory. But why is that so important?
Effectively, the old way of learning, is like a computer using its’ hard drive for info usage. Now imagine that you could run all of your data from RAM, faster, capable of gathering a much larger amount of data. The digital age has facilitated the adoption of a new skill set. True, it decreases the attention span, but inversely, it vastly increases the ability to gather info. We acquire knowledge at previously unthinkable rates, our capability, as a species, is improved at the minor cost of our individual storage capacity. More than we realize, we are becoming a global community. Our species is moving rapidly toward a hive mind, incapable of functioning without the support or direction of others. The exception is that we do not answer to a queen, like ants or bees. We exist like a flock of birds evading a predator, the result of many tiny actions synchronized by a unified knowledge base.
The notion of universally flowing knowledge is utopian; it represents the culmination of all of humanities’ efforts to improve our existence. I think of it and become awestruck by the beauty of it all. Suddenly I am jarred back into reality by the resounding truth that there are two major flaws. Again, I do not know the source of my (paraphrased) quote, nevertheless; “there are three times when a man is truly alone; one of them is birth, and one of them is death.” This reminds us of an important reality, we are fundamentally alone in the world. You and I have no means, whatsoever, of sharing our experience. The closest we can achieve is a re-creation, a simulacrum, version via what means of communication we have. As individuals, each of us could not possibly store all of the information on the internet. We do not even have the capacity to store the web’s utilitarian data. In our “infotopia”, we rely on a variable which is outside of ourselves, and is therefore outside of our control, the internet, or computers, or technology in general (that’s actually several variables). If those variables become unreliable, for whatever reason, we will be forced to depend on only ourselves for data. If we allow ourselves to disregard the development of retention skills, we will be progressively less capable of self-sustenance.
In addition to the quid pro quo nature of our new methods, there is the ever perplexing issue of quality. To this date, I have yet to learn of anyone who has been able to philosophically define quality. That aside, much of what affects our opinion of someone’s quality of character, is that person’s retained knowledge. We determine, not only the quality of character, but a myriad of categorical info from what data a person chooses to retain. If we, as humans, learn not to keep permanent knowledge, it will fundamentally change our entire system of social interaction. Possibly, this change will be to the detriment of humanity, as it will affect breeding tendencies, and productivity. No one will be especially qualified for anything. Excellence will diminish as average capability increases. The ramifications of a global intellectual equality are vast and overwhelmingly complex. We have no way of predicting if the outcome would be good, or bad. We haven’t even touched on the possibility of global misinformation, and subsequently what a clever ill-willed individual could do to the world.
I would very much like to start an open dialogue about this subject. There is so much promise on the horizon of transhuman informational globalism. So much progress that we could make. Yet, there is so much fear, so much danger. Does it reduce the quality of the human animal? Does it improve the quality of the human society? Does it do both? And if so, which takes precedence? Please, offer your thoughts.

I will never be what I want to be.

The sad thing is that that notion no longer scares me. Each of us has something, a standard by which all other standards are set. It is most often a binary concept, a yes or no, go or no go. I would venture to say that it is unanimously, one’s happiness. Forget all of that self-delusional non-sense about putting others before yourself. The bottom line is, if we are not happy, we do not function well in society, therefore we cannot mate. We fail to pass on our genetic material, as such, we fail as living things. Although, we generally accept varied levels of happiness, the measure of lifetime success (in regards to happiness) has a stringent criterion. Either you do what makes you happy, or you don’t. When observing a pass/ fail situation, we notice this aspect; there is no option for “why”. There is also no room for “but”, or “because”. No excuses, no remarks, no comments. When confronted with the question of whether or not you meet that single requirement for doing what makes you happy, you may answer only yes or no, 1/0. As far as I’m aware, most people fall into the no/fail/0 category. The only reason everybody isn’t jumping out of windows, to their doom, is the variety in degrees of resignation.
We are raised, by nearly everything in our environment, to believe that diligence and interest in something will ensure our lot in life. We labor under the notion that we can be anything we want. Thinking this way encourages dedication and pursuit of greatness. Not only does it encourage positive traits, it’s true. There is no single thing standing in our way, there isn’t even a collection of things in our way. I often wonder why everybody isn’t working their dream job. It’s simple; the answer to the go/no go question is determined by practically infinite variables. As we travel through life, and make decisions, it would require near god-like foresight to predict an outcome. Nothing stands in our way, manufacturing an environment conducive to our goal is just incomprehensively complicated. This is where that diligence comes in, when we reach a milestone and it doesn’t match up to our expectations, it produces a fork in the road. We can choose to continue to pursue this method of goal accomplishment, or go back to the drawing board. Often it is as simple as our emotional reaction to adversity.
The presentation of an obstacle can be met, basically 1 of 3 ways. The first is anger/sadness/frustration, the second and third are both a kind of calm acceptance. For the sake of discussion, we will call the R1 and R2. R1 is a result of determination, it appears as; “this obstacle too, shall be overcome because I will not accept defeat”. R2 is far sadder; it is a result of pure resignation. It often looks like R1, with one major exception, the subject is in denial. He tells himself that he is an R1 kind of person, and he used to be. In his case, what makes him happy has changed; it is now simply, indisputably, to die trying. He has given up on accomplishing his goals, for one reason or another, and the only thing that matters to him is insisting that has hasn’t. He must lie to himself; if he does not, he has failed, and has no reason to continue in life.
Someone once said, “You never fail until you quit.” This is the mantra of our R2 person. He represents those who receive awards for participation, the honorable mentions, the “what matters is that you had fun” crowd. The sad saps and suckers who aren’t winners, but are too weak to admit they are losers. Naturally, a person should react with anger or sadness, when confronted with self disappointment. R1 is a well adjusted person of inhuman stoicism. One becomes an “R2” when he has learned not to fear failing in life.
I used to panic and get furious when I realized that I wasn’t on the planned track. Recently, I had one of those moments of internal confrontation, and realized that I wasn’t afraid. I had never truly been afraid, at least not for a very long time. It was a revelation that showed one important thing; I had already resigned myself to failure. Failure was the thing that I feared most and I couldn’t admit its’ presence. I am not giving up on life, I am taking the only alternative; strive to die trying and hope that no one notices.

New Study Reveals: Life Too Dangerous. Experts Recommend Suicide.

Be afraid, without reprieve. Run screaming through the streets (with proper safety equipment of course). Make amends, call your mother, tell that girl at work how you feel or perhaps just lie down and give up, because this may be your last chance. Don’t laugh, I’m serious, this is no joke. We are surrounded by death, danger, and calamity. Over the past 30,000 years there has been a drastic increase in dangerous events. It has been proven that as our population increases, more people die. Injuries occur on a progressively growing scale. Now, more than ever, people are being injured or killed by things which previously injured or killed less. You are going to die. Your children are going to die. I will die. And we should consider our alarming mortality as a deviation from normal existence. People are suddenly discovering threats, and they are frightened, you should be too!
As I am sure that we are similar, you and I, you are certainly asking the following questions: What are these threats? How can I protect myself and my family? Somebody is supposed to be responsible for me, right? Why aren’t they keeping me safe? What can I give them to make me less scared? Well, I’m here to tell you, “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Society. You just leave everything to me.”
Reports suggest the occurrence of bombings, structural collapse in urban areas, diseases, geothermic activities, powerful weather phenomenon, and a host of other scary things. Also global warming. At the risk of alarming people, there are things happening everyday, around the world, that could be dangerous to you or someone else. Such as, military conflict around the world, political strife, floods, famine, commodity surplus and shortage, and death in your sleep. These are legitimate fears not to be taken lightly, and we wouldn’t let you take them lightly, even if you could. We are dedicated to making sure that you and you neighbors consider these things as seriously as you possibly can, because we can’t protect you if you’re not overwhelmed by fear. Then there are car accidents. We are at a high state of alert, so you can relax. Stingrays.
It might seem pointless, but you and your family will be less in danger if you are on edge. You should remain vigilant; there are courses of action that can be taken by you, to ensure your safety. These include; reporting anyone you don’t know personally to the police, and paying close attention to anyone who doesn’t worship your god (especially those who aren’t trying to hide their heretic ways). If you receive any mail, don’t open it unless absolutely necessary. If you must read it, open and handle it with the utmost caution, as anything with the written word on it can be dangerous. Remember to never talk to anyone, in any case, because even you are a potential threat. Buy a gun, and load it, unless that is discouraged by your local government, then you should fear guns as well.
I, for one, encourage your lack of personal accountability; it’s not your job, that’s what the government is for. You pay taxes in order for the government to keep you safe. Look at your taxes, 90% of the taxes you pay go toward the safety fund. The other 10% pays for insignificant things. I assure you, you government is working as hard as it can to make you safe. It’s doing a good job, and you should feel secure, but not too secure…be afraid. Things will get safer if you give up little things. If you aren’t doing anything dangerous, there’s no risk in telling us what you do. On second thought that seems like a lot of work, we’ll make it easier on you, let us watch you. Safety. We just want to help you. Danger. Remember, your life is threatened.
In case you couldn’t tell, this is satire. Sshhhhhh.

Listen to Reason Part-3

Now that I’ve said all of that about the danger of illogical fear of an ambiguous enemy, I’d like to address another aspect of fear and the masses. Many people would argue that there is a tenuous relationship between fear and hate, at most. I believe that hate is a direct result of fear, no matter how far removed it may be. There are two components which I would like to address here, the first of which pertains to a gut reaction to new information, the second, to how we process that stimulus. (By “gut reaction”, I refer to subconscious or, at least, sub-intellectual reaction.) Xenophobia is the fear of all things alien, that is, anything unfamiliar. As living things, we need to fear that which deviates from our concept of normal. If not, predators would have no opposition at all, picking us off one by one as we ignore their presence. Apprehension toward difference was, and is, necessary for survival. This first component is, reductio ad absurdum, fear. More precisely, it is fear of the unknown, and therefore possibly dangerous.
One of the well accepted measures of intelligence in animals is the capacity of self awareness. Self awareness is defined as the ability to distinguish between oneself and others, as separate entities, a clear definition between oneself and one’s environment. This is a function of a thought process which we will refer to as categorization. Categorization is a function so basic, not at all unique to humanity, it is the foundation of nearly all higher brain function. Take the monarch butterfly for example. When eaten, it is poisonous; this is its defense adaptation. The effectiveness of this defense relies heavily on the ability of the animal’s predators to learn, and think categorically. A fox eats a monarch, gets very sick, and learns not to eat them again. The fox has filed monarch butterflies into his “not food” category. As an interesting side note, the Viceroy butterfly mimics the markings of a monarch, despite being perfectly edible, as its natural defense. Please note this is another example of animals in nature relying on the cognitive ability to sort, and deduce, and categorize. How is one to exist, survive, if he/ she cannot sort information? It is indisputably necessary to separate food from poison, predator from prey, male from female, self from environment, my race from your race. “Whoa, wait a second! That sounds like racist logic.” Regrettably, it is, in a manner of speaking.
What we are is a species which displays exceptional capability to sort information, in addition to harboring fear of the alien typical of most mammals. This is an effective, albeit unfortunate filter for sensory input. We have grown, vastly, beyond the days of evading predators and eating butterflies. Yet, we maintain the neurology suited for doing so, as it has worked thus far, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We are presented with the problem at hand; the prevalence of racism and prejudice in general. Any grown person, with faculties intact, can see that racism is wrong. It’s wrong morally; it limits social, industrial, and commercial potential. Racism is in fact so inherently wrong that it produces violence, discrimination, even genocide. Why then, is it still a prevalent issue? How can something so obviously wrong survive in a society of mature people? This is the same species that writes operas, builds skyscrapers, has been to outer space, freakin’ outer space people!! Back on Earth, we still see racism and hatred everyday. It is a perplexing situation, and it often shakes my faith in humanity.
Let’s look at this, why? Why is it even an issue? It seems like a no brainer that we should have rationalized racism away thousands of years ago. My focus is the genetic or natural predisposition toward prejudice, truthfully, it is a predisposition toward the conditions that produce prejudice, but that’s just semantics. I often find myself leaning toward a sort of naturalist philosophy; as such I find it painful to consider that we are built for racism. The reason being; that if we have a natural disposition toward something, and this thing represents traits integral to our survival as a species, it must be right, at minimum not discouraged, but thinking such sets off a screaming siren in my head. I know that prejudice is wrong; I know that racism is wrong. I, as well as any like minded individuals, find myself between a logical rock and a moral hard place.
To the best of my ability, I can surmise that this phenomenon is a vestigial tendency. Well, that is the only solution that I can come up with, offering any consolation. I’d like to take a moment to complain about nature. We couldn’t get cool vestigial traits like a tail, or ball and socket wrists like a gibbon. No! We had to get the damn racism. Sorry, I’m better now, back to what I was saying. Once upon a time, along our path of existence, we weren’t diurnal. Our sleeping schedule was basically a four part cycle. Wake up with the sunrise, forage for fruits and berries until mid-day. Go back to sleep until sunset, wake up and hunt for a few hours. Go back to sleep and the cycle begins again. The point is; we don’t do that anymore despite still being capable. We used to be quadrupeds, we aren’t anymore. Racism, (an escalation of prejudice) resides in the tricky realm of “things of which we are capable, facilitated by biological design, that serve no functional purpose today”. My assertion to advocates of racism and the passive apathetics: The institution of racism is scornful brethren with marital infidelity and dogmatic holocaust. If you are willing to degrade your humanity to such primacy, take your appendix and your geocentricism and please, go away. Go somewhere where you cannot affect society, there are, after all, those of us who wish to make progress. We have, as a species, proven our ability to abstain from certain behaviors, in spite of the capability to partake. As an adult, “because I can” is not an acceptable reason to do something that affects society, we expect more justification than that.
I’ve gone on too long about this, longer than I had intended. Join me next time, when I take a less abstract look at racism in America.