Internet > Patrons

Can any one of us deny it? The internet is controlling us? I mean, how often are we all on Facebook? How many hours of our free time?

Why does writing "hours" not faze us? We spend HOURS on that website. Daily. Well, maybe we're not that bad, but it's pretty bad. So, what is it doing to us? I think we're losing all initiative.

Ok, so I couldn't get the perfect quote from the novel to accent my point, but I have a quote from Vonnegut himself: "Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information. "

What a thing for the proponent of almight science to say eh? Although, looking into the book, I think Vonnegut really advocates personal faiths. Of any kind. To him, these beliefs are foma, harmless to him, but highly beneficial to the owner of said foma.

But, society as a whole today shuns the publicity of such acts of faith. We can't sit back and just look at life, as Vonnegut says, but search for new knowledge. And, of course, this is great, but what good does all of this knowledge do for us?

Ludolph van Ceulen spent a large part of his life calculating pi, I think he got up to 35 decimal places.

And now? Useless. And the knowledge of how big pi is? Still pretty unexciting.

I don't know what to say really guys. I'm tired, and I've been more and more frustrated with the internet's hold on me lately. I just have this to say:

We should spend more time developing our relationships, our faiths, our arts, our humanity. Math and Science and information are fantastic but... I am more content in perhaps some ignorance, in exchange for happiness. (look at the bomb in Cat's Cradle. Did it bring anyone, even the creator, happiness at the knowledge? Nope. Just more war and a bunch of dead people). Meanwhile, the small family in a village, loving each other and sharing in faith and life, who knew nothing of luxuries of technology, were probably a lot happier.

So, ask yourself. COULD you do without some of this stuff? What, in perspective, are your priorities? What do you believe in?

New Thoughts!

This is NOT the blog for class that you need to comment on for credit, it's the one before this (but totally feel free to read and comment this, because it relates to Postmodernism!)

So, I was thinking about how Postmodernism is against the idea of things having one transcendent meaning.

So, how can we say that the idea of Postmodernism is transcendent? Isn't it ok for some people to think that there is one meaning? The idea that there is no truth, is a truth.

Can you say contradiction? (Oh wait... I did).
Well, somebody had to.

I don't think one philosophy can apply to the whole world, just as not everyone believes in the same on truth.

Anyways, had to write that down before I forgot it.

Night all.

What in the World it all Means

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8&feature=related

Another "Did You Know" video from the same people. For anyone who's interested.

So, what in the world does this all mean?
I think it means we're pretty darn dumb. We're going to invent a computer that's smarter than a human? Can you say robot wars? :-) Even if that is a little far-fetched, at the very least we will become dependent on this thing that is smarter than us. We will be creating something SMARTER THAN US.

Here's the question I keep asking myself. Is all of this really nessecary? Why do we need to invent all of these new things. I know many people today would be all: "I can't live without my cellphone!"

Umm.. yeah you could. Human's used to all the time. These things we are inventing are as a much of a conveinience as they are inhibitory. Is there anything right now that hasn't been invented that we can't live without? I bet, once it comes out, you're going to be SO happy that it has been invented. (How could we have lived without the internet?)

Sure, there are plenty of good things. Like, the availability of information at our fingertips is wonderful. However, I find that it also robs our natural sense to go out and find things out. The other day, while driving, I saw the little bits of light that look like water on the edge of the road against the horizon. (the mirage thing that disappears when you get close to it?) I started to really wonder how and why it looks like that. I was thinking about properties of eyes and wavelegnths and stuff, and calling on a lot of knowledge I had acquired through school. And, I thought about ways I could experiement and find out. Then, I realized I could probably Google it. And, suddenly, I didn't care about the answer anymore.

All of this information is out there. So, why are we doing research reports? Kids, I'm sure, wonder that all the time as the Freshman are doing their brochures on skin cancer or whatnot.

Yesterday, I went to Irvine to visit Concordia University at the greeter asked us: Why Are You Here? (as in on the planet). It kind of goes along with something else I've been thinking about lately. If one considers the assumption that everyone who was, is, or will be born, will be born at SOME POINT in time. Then, you can ask yourself, why was I born NOW? Why the 1990s and beyond? What to I have to bring to the Earth at this time?

For myself? I don't know. I mean, you can probably tell that I don't agree science will solve all of our problems. Some of this stuff is creating just as many problems as it fixes! But, I also like science, I enjoy the knowledge, and I'm good at it. On the other hand, I strongly feel that people need to focus more on things like relationships, morals, helping others. Just be nicer in general.
So, why am I here? Of all times, why now?

Eventually, being an exponetial society as the book says, we will run out of room to grow. We already have a population crisis. Our slope (imaginei the J graph) will be undefined as we head straight up? Armegeddon? Who knows, hope I'm dead.

Everyday, our lives are becoming less personal. And this new technology is bombarding us from all angles. How does one embrace it without letting oneself be consumed?

In another angle, what good does some of this knowledge do us? We know now, what makes it rain. Does that mean it rains any more or less than it would if we didn't know? We know everything about the human body just about now, but even if we assembled one, we couldn't make it work. To me, science lacks the core of humanity: a soul. It's used for wonderful things, but knowledge begets responsiblility, and humans are not responsible with what we have been entrusted with. Because, with all of the new technology occupying our time, we've forgotten to make relationships, foster our sense of self, APPRECIATE things.

Anyways, I'm rambling now. I will see you all anon.

Andrea

A late late post

I won't go into the circumstances that made this so late, as it would bore you. Just know, that these circumstances prevented me from getting the book till Monday, at which point every bookstore known to man ran out of Cat's Cradle. Aside that, I finally have the book. And, therefore, you have this blog.

So, I am all caught up and I must say: woah. This book makes you think, that's for sure. And I'm pretty sure no one can argue AGAINST its Postmodern tendencies.

First off, (the advantage of doing this late) you can apply it to Deconstructionism. For example, the lady who said a real truth was: God is love. And Honneiker replied "What is God? What is love?" In both cases, there is an interpretation of the definitions of God and Love. And clearly, with both of these people, neither will change. Both HAVE to exist and have a chance to take turns in the 'center.'

So... I'm still not entirely sure what to make of any of this. Let's see...
What it seems to be saying, is that the "center" or viewpoint of something depends on the current society. Such as, the definition of Love has certainly changed. (Arranged marriages vs. Free Choice)

This is seen the the satire Theif of Time. When the 5th Horseman of the Apocolypse (yes... 5. Just go with me so I don't have to explain) Kaos, realizes that he doesn't really fit in anymore. No one remembered him, so he didn't exist. And Death became the whole Skeleton thing because humans gave him human characteristics. In the end, Kaos switched to Chaos, a sort of organized, modern version of the two.

Another thing I notice is that Bokonon thinks everything is a lie, and that there is no truth. So, instead of one transcendent truth, it's gone the other way entirely.

What is with people and extremes?!!? Why can't we ever just find a happy medium. Some things are true and some aren't? In the end, I believe in the concept of a transcendent Truth. (see previous entries on my thoughts of truth vs. perception).

Take, religion. . In the end, we'll all die, and find out what was right. We'll either be in Heaven/Hell, Nirvana, reduced to Carbon Matter etc. Either way, whatever is TRUE will happen.

Which, makes me wonder about this concept of Pure Research that they are advocating. I mean, in THAT case, why bother? Whether or not we know how it happens, it's still gonna happen. So now we know WHY the rain falls, have we been able to make it fall more? Oh, well I guess that BETTERS society, so it's not pure. Pure research is fun and intersting, but it will not, as Breed says, make all troubles go away.

I'll never understand why people want to delve so deeply into such ideas like this too. I mean, "Live by the fomas that make you happy... healthy..." etc. I mean, I know we're a more ADVANCED society now, but I;d almost rather live in the old family oriented time. RELAITONSHIP oriented times. Thinking about how we're perhaps marginalizing others is a good thing, but why can't we just stop there? Maybe? And maybe this is a cop-out, unintelligent way of running away, but it makes me happy. It's my foma to focus on what's important to me, what I believe, and frankly, I'm less concerned with those who don't agree with me and judge me for it.

(like my neighbor who stood on his doorstep in just shorts on halloween calling it a Devil's holiday, so no candy etc. That was ridiculous. Turn your light off! But really, I don't care about him, and he shouldn't care about me. Like, when people do things I don't agree with, I just don't do them and that's it)/

Am I rambling? Who knows.

OH! One big major philosophical concept I wanted to share with you guys, brought to my attention by the brilliant YouTuber: Dan Brown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRzpQrZo-TE

It is the concept of Tribes!
Basically, it says that everyone acts on one of 5 tribal levels.

1--- life sucks
2---MY life sucks
3--- I am cool, and YOU suck (IE, selfishness. Most interactions are this)
4--- I'm cool, and so are you.
5--- Life is awesome!

And you could apply the term Tribe to Karass? What kinds of interactions does this group have? Are they conscious. I've been thinking about this lately. It's an interesting idea no? I will explore it more next time.

Night all.