Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Econtalk comment

Your question about the possibility of the internet causing our polarity and contrary opinions caused me to think of a John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach quote.  "Competition reveals character it does not build character."  My opinion is that the internet reveals our ignorance it does not create it.

Your interview with Calomiris about the questionable value of models, I vote models are worthless, except in the case of nerds versus nerds where the so called facts can be situated in their context and relegated to a sustaining role which adds a degree of credibility. Models are still worthless but the nerd/nerd issues are more accurately articulated.

Absence of Good

There is a notion that evil may be the absence of good rather than an entity in and of itself. Just as darkness is the absence of light. There is also a notion that evil is the exaggeration of good or good gone bad.  When pleasure turns to pain, when love turns to lust, when care turns to constraint, when hope is replaced by hippocracy, when faith becomes fallibility, and when charity becomes chastisement.

This makes some sense to me because I don't think duality is a stable environment. Either one wins or the other. If singularity is the norm then it is possible for extremes to be expected but never with the possibility of total destruction. Opposition in all things is achievable but not at the risk of defeat. Enlightenment is achieved but only through exertion.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

There is a saying in India that "everything will be all right in the end-- so if it is not right-- then it is not yet the end".

I happened upon this statement in a movie trailer on the While watching The Big Year DVD. The coincidence of it is that a day or two before I had been contemplating the apparent trajectory of mankind as things seem to get better in spite of the best efforts of evil to destroy the world.

Countless bad things have happen to the resident of this world but the trend seems to be of getting better.  Each epoch is characterized by good and bad events and yet my situation is demonstrably better than my parents and they theirs.

The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position in which they cannot work competently. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous [1] treatise, which also introduced the "salutary science of hierarchiology."

     This apparently is true for nations as well. It is quite obvious that the World's leadership has descended into incompetence. Our so called leaders don't know what they are doing. They don't know what is happening. And they haven't a clue about how to correct it.
     Our governance systems have so completely broken down that the world is at the brink of chaos and anarchy.  Our fiscal systems have been abandoned and are in the hands of corrupt political operatives who are pilfering the public coffers, pillaging its citizenry's economic potential, and plundering the future in the name of expediency but actually by their acts of selfishness, self-interest, and self-indulgence.
    As a result, the consequences of their actions and especially the unintended consequences of their decisions has expanded the breadth of incompetence to an extent that the world has never seen before and the world appears to be headed for a resetting of global priorities.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Stupid Thinking

     B.O. made a blatantly stupid statement by reciting from the teleprompter how it is not possible to "drill our way out". He can somewhat truthfully make that stupid remark because he purposefully constrains his views to narrow perspectives which supposedly makes his statements true but which is demonstratively stupid.
     North America has the resources and technological wherewith all to produce enough energy to sustain itself. The question is, whether that is the best course of action considering the environmental consequences associated with drilling and mining. Is that the best course of action considering the American, et al consumers propensity for wanting to get something for nothing or at the lowest cost possible. As well as their political leadership's willingness to sacrifice the future to get themselves elected.
     All parties are guilty of stupid thinking. The liberals think the environment shouldn't be harmed, that money can just be printed, and everyone else is too stupid to make decisions for themselves. The Political class think only about themselves and are willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their position and perks. The conservatives think that all they need to do is be responsible for themselves and everything will work itself out.
     The world's population of humans is infected with stupidity and has survived only because there was enough room and resources to permit it to roam, consume, and pollute its way to extinction. Coincidentally the world's population is imbued with the intelligence to choose a different outcome but is it smart enough to counteract the rampant stupid thinking?

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The genie

The proverbial genie will not be put back in the bottle. Political correctness is here to stay, entitlements are considered inalienable rights, public surveillance and overt scrutiny of a person's life is foregone conclusion,  civil discourse has no meaning any longer, ethics are situational if relevant at all, honor and integrity are practiced by honorable and honest but stupid people, etc...

The misplaced hope that this society will some how realize that individual worth and social order is better served if the principles and precepts of justice, forgiveness, and accountability can be regained and magically adhered to is boarding on foolishness. There are simply too many contrary voices and too much shouting and taking of extreme positions to expect consensus.

Unlike the past where one idea can give way to another because there was places to escape to and accommodate the divergent ideologies, it now has become a battle of supremacy and dictates orchestrated by the most ruthless protagonists.

Time marches on, things change, and you either participate, step aside, or get run over.  There is no solution only a set of ideals that people support or forget.  i.e. religion or secularism, law and order or civil disobedience and chaos, representative government or dictatorship, individual accountability or social justice and collective salvation.

The challenge is not only getting people to stand up for a particular ideal but getting them to pass it on to their children.