Tuesday, July 7, 2020
An old letter to no one in particular...
I was crawling through old emails and found this. Its a time machine to energy and enthusiasm that I can't really seem to tap into any more--in fact I honestly can't stomach to read the entire thing, I'm cringing. There are a number of glaring flaws in my reasoning. I bombarded a bunch of very smart people at fancy research institutions and many kind friends who put up with my long winded rants via email from time to time.
My current approach would seek some kind of detente between libertarians, classical liberals, and left leaning syndicalists and environmentalists. With far less of the bomb throwing and lifestyle rhetoric.
I have more thoughts on this but for now I want to dwell on the energy and enthusiasm that has faded as I near 40 (meh, how did that happen?!? lol). I was completely clueless and detached from the world... and the world has hit back good and hard over multiple efforts and new approaches to trying to inspire and instigate positive change feel to be a candle in the dark room that everyone has left locked up and alone.
So I'm just going to sit this right here without editing. And ponder.
I figure wrapping the post up with the Chumbawamba at what was claimed to be their final set is proper for the tone of this brief backwards glance in Georgia politics from the eyes of one person who wanted to do something positive.
---------
Nov 15, 2006
Wait, what Liberal America?
Open Letter to the Georgia Green Party (My response to Tony Judt et. al)
Election day 2006 was a reawakening for me, having been a recent transplant from California I was shocked to find that the Green Party did not have ballot access, nor a candidate in the race for Governor here in Georgia. I honestly had not been paying that much attention of late, demoralized from the war and back in Red America sometimes its painful to watch. After the war began my activism died down, I had spent so much energy participating and organizing in anti war activities on my local college campus and in the Sacramento area that I was spent intellectually and disheartened emotionally. Election day 2006 changed that, now I'm angry again. I'm not angry at neoconservative war propagators, I'm not angry at immigrant bashing, stem cell blocking, anti gay marriage fear mongers--history tells us there will always be conservative reactionaries and empire building demigods. I'm angry at Democrats and "Liberals" and other forms of "moderates" who should have known better than to fall in line with the Bush doctrine and the state of war. I'm angry that the Democrats this November elected conservatives and business puppets and try to feign it as a liberal revolution or some kind of mandate. "We're all safe now that Bush and Company are no longer running the show," they say to us; yet history warns of a different story. Their words ring hollow and their cowardice should never be rewarded. Cowardice, especially when one knows what is right and yet sits in acquiescence in order to stay as comfortable, affluent, and as powerful as possible should never ever be rewarded. They had the opportunity to be an opposition party, they failed. Too many have died in Afghanistan and Iraq on ALL SIDES, too much has been spent on war, too much disregard for the safey and security of ourselves and the rest of the world has occured, too much of what it means to be an American has been eradicated in the name of a war on Terrorism--anyone seen their civil rights lately?
I cringe every time I hear liberal apologetics for the Democratic party, another piss and moan story of how we need another great leader. As if leadership would make a corporately dominated systemic problem magically go away. As Orwell always noted, "we" never do wrong it is always "them"; it is the enemy that violates human rights, is the enemy that is economicaly protectionist and selfish. Our own aggression, our own selishness, our own failures are never objects of scrutiny. I have to say that the level of delusion and sheer conformity to a system that consistently fails "Liberal" principles is at a near pathological level.
After listening to a long back and forth about national level politics and childish Bush bashing I intruded into their conversation. I told them not to worry that there were people far more educated, well versed and well paid working on strategy to regain and assert power, to which, I assured them, years from now would be an assertion of power we would all surely be disappointed with. My question for the four "Liberals" sitting in front of me was what were they going to do? What were they going to do about the fact that so many local level seats ran open and unopposed? Where were we going to get the money to be competitive electorally? What were they going to do about the public debate in this country? How could we participate, what ripples of change could we make?
Once the conversation was redirected it was amazing to sit back and listen to the passion and ideas; these aren't easy answers after all. But nevertheless it became a radically productive conversation about local level politics. And with that conversation a coalition of liberals was formed to at least challenge the conservative infrastructure that controls local level politics in my county. Because five can become ten, and ten can influence 100; and never question the power of 100--sadly a 100, with a cause and the capital to back it, can delude millions if need be. But that's the purpose of participating, the job of the citizen, the purpose of democracy is to destroy the authoritarian impulse in each one of us; and by influencing others to participate the tendency for the politically active to become Stalinistic commissars is at least balanced and hopefully rebuffed. I happily exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and said I would do whatever it took to help out in reasserting "Liberal" principles at a local level.
But I was not satisfied and before we dispersed for the evening I digressed into my upper middle class white male observations on systemic political patterns and how you have to be the change you demand to see in the world especially in a corporately driven empire. And with that the Fayette county Green Party was formed. For the simple reason that I know that at the end of the day, a coalition with one of the two majoiritarian parties is one thing but with no radical and vocal minority things will never change. Socialized health care, demilitarization, participatory democracy will never be fought for by the Democratic Party. The real changes I want to see are illusions unless there is an army of hard dedicated activists willing to work with the like minded when they can and work alone when they must. I'd happily let wealth and power co-opt some semblance of my libertarian-socialist principles and priorities; cause there would be more work to do the very next day.
The blogoshere has been alive as a result of Tony Judt's essay in the London Review of Books. Everyone chasing after their own enlightened principles, mere intellectual shadows of well-fed, well-read, comfortable Liberals pontificating. I feel the need to throw my two cents in, and asking you to help me start the Green Party of Fayette county is my two cents because at least in Georgia and I'm sure in much of Red America the right has successfully made the Democrats sound radical. Health care, education, civil rights, human rights, responsible national defense is not radical. There is an anti flag song that goes
My current approach would seek some kind of detente between libertarians, classical liberals, and left leaning syndicalists and environmentalists. With far less of the bomb throwing and lifestyle rhetoric.
I have more thoughts on this but for now I want to dwell on the energy and enthusiasm that has faded as I near 40 (meh, how did that happen?!? lol). I was completely clueless and detached from the world... and the world has hit back good and hard over multiple efforts and new approaches to trying to inspire and instigate positive change feel to be a candle in the dark room that everyone has left locked up and alone.
So I'm just going to sit this right here without editing. And ponder.
I figure wrapping the post up with the Chumbawamba at what was claimed to be their final set is proper for the tone of this brief backwards glance in Georgia politics from the eyes of one person who wanted to do something positive.
---------
Nov 15, 2006
Wait, what Liberal America?
Open Letter to the Georgia Green Party (My response to Tony Judt et. al)
Election day 2006 was a reawakening for me, having been a recent transplant from California I was shocked to find that the Green Party did not have ballot access, nor a candidate in the race for Governor here in Georgia. I honestly had not been paying that much attention of late, demoralized from the war and back in Red America sometimes its painful to watch. After the war began my activism died down, I had spent so much energy participating and organizing in anti war activities on my local college campus and in the Sacramento area that I was spent intellectually and disheartened emotionally. Election day 2006 changed that, now I'm angry again. I'm not angry at neoconservative war propagators, I'm not angry at immigrant bashing, stem cell blocking, anti gay marriage fear mongers--history tells us there will always be conservative reactionaries and empire building demigods. I'm angry at Democrats and "Liberals" and other forms of "moderates" who should have known better than to fall in line with the Bush doctrine and the state of war. I'm angry that the Democrats this November elected conservatives and business puppets and try to feign it as a liberal revolution or some kind of mandate. "We're all safe now that Bush and Company are no longer running the show," they say to us; yet history warns of a different story. Their words ring hollow and their cowardice should never be rewarded. Cowardice, especially when one knows what is right and yet sits in acquiescence in order to stay as comfortable, affluent, and as powerful as possible should never ever be rewarded. They had the opportunity to be an opposition party, they failed. Too many have died in Afghanistan and Iraq on ALL SIDES, too much has been spent on war, too much disregard for the safey and security of ourselves and the rest of the world has occured, too much of what it means to be an American has been eradicated in the name of a war on Terrorism--anyone seen their civil rights lately?
Here's the deal. To me third party politics is a pipe dream, the
American system was set up to co-opt minor party ideas and ideals that
become popular. The America I understand and know is the America James
Madison spoke of when he said that the point of the newly forming
government was to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority.
But that does not make third party politics useless. The state of
political debate in the United States is so poor that it is hard for
Democrats to make headway when the average person I talk to sees people
like Hillary Clinton and thinks socialist, and is fighting mad to
protect tax cuts for the top 2% because its "our money". The corporate
oligarchy wants it this way, the only option is to vote for candidate A
who is a Statist reactionary bought and sold by big business that's
going to go out and kill kill kill blow-back be damned or candidate B
who is the socially "open minded" big business candidate busy selling
out labor, minorities, human rights standards, the environment, and
killing with moralitic hypocracy.
I'm not an idealist, I guess you'd call me a radical realist;
though radical seems too romantic of a term to use on a privileged young
white male living in the age of American Empire. Participatory
democracy is a revolution or two away, but that doesn't mean that every
day isn't a day to go out and make my libertarian-socialist ideals a
reality at least in a small way.
The day after the election I was sitting in Starbucks (you cringe to
read that I'm sure) with my reawoken anger and happened to overhear a
small group of what turned out to be local Democratic newbie activists.
They were speaking in all the right terms, questioning what it takes to
win and make real change, how principles can become reality--its always
amazing that I can sit down with most "Liberals" and agree with them in
principle on what real change means only to be amazed at the level of
delusion they have in justifying leaders who happen to always go
"astray" from their so called "principles"; those who choose can plainly
see that these enlightened noble leaders are not going astray since
following the money, privilege, and power plainly shows that it is the
"liberal" principles that are the ideological chimeras not the
consistent and historically observable pattern of outcomes that come
from our great and glorious "Liberal" leadership.
I cringe every time I hear liberal apologetics for the Democratic party, another piss and moan story of how we need another great leader. As if leadership would make a corporately dominated systemic problem magically go away. As Orwell always noted, "we" never do wrong it is always "them"; it is the enemy that violates human rights, is the enemy that is economicaly protectionist and selfish. Our own aggression, our own selishness, our own failures are never objects of scrutiny. I have to say that the level of delusion and sheer conformity to a system that consistently fails "Liberal" principles is at a near pathological level.
After listening to a long back and forth about national level politics and childish Bush bashing I intruded into their conversation. I told them not to worry that there were people far more educated, well versed and well paid working on strategy to regain and assert power, to which, I assured them, years from now would be an assertion of power we would all surely be disappointed with. My question for the four "Liberals" sitting in front of me was what were they going to do? What were they going to do about the fact that so many local level seats ran open and unopposed? Where were we going to get the money to be competitive electorally? What were they going to do about the public debate in this country? How could we participate, what ripples of change could we make?
Once the conversation was redirected it was amazing to sit back and listen to the passion and ideas; these aren't easy answers after all. But nevertheless it became a radically productive conversation about local level politics. And with that conversation a coalition of liberals was formed to at least challenge the conservative infrastructure that controls local level politics in my county. Because five can become ten, and ten can influence 100; and never question the power of 100--sadly a 100, with a cause and the capital to back it, can delude millions if need be. But that's the purpose of participating, the job of the citizen, the purpose of democracy is to destroy the authoritarian impulse in each one of us; and by influencing others to participate the tendency for the politically active to become Stalinistic commissars is at least balanced and hopefully rebuffed. I happily exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and said I would do whatever it took to help out in reasserting "Liberal" principles at a local level.
But I was not satisfied and before we dispersed for the evening I digressed into my upper middle class white male observations on systemic political patterns and how you have to be the change you demand to see in the world especially in a corporately driven empire. And with that the Fayette county Green Party was formed. For the simple reason that I know that at the end of the day, a coalition with one of the two majoiritarian parties is one thing but with no radical and vocal minority things will never change. Socialized health care, demilitarization, participatory democracy will never be fought for by the Democratic Party. The real changes I want to see are illusions unless there is an army of hard dedicated activists willing to work with the like minded when they can and work alone when they must. I'd happily let wealth and power co-opt some semblance of my libertarian-socialist principles and priorities; cause there would be more work to do the very next day.
The blogoshere has been alive as a result of Tony Judt's essay in the London Review of Books. Everyone chasing after their own enlightened principles, mere intellectual shadows of well-fed, well-read, comfortable Liberals pontificating. I feel the need to throw my two cents in, and asking you to help me start the Green Party of Fayette county is my two cents because at least in Georgia and I'm sure in much of Red America the right has successfully made the Democrats sound radical. Health care, education, civil rights, human rights, responsible national defense is not radical. There is an anti flag song that goes
it's on the radio, it's on the TV news
conservatives and liberals
with ever clashing views but as the days go by
I can't tell which side is talking their left is in the center
and labeled "liberal doctrine"
With a thriving, vocal, and well represented third party with radical
priorities the right can no longer ape the Democrats as extremists. I
may disagree with war criminal Free-Traders(sic) like Bill Clinton, but
it's a step in the left direction. That's why I want to have your
permission to begin organizing the Fayette county Green Party. I want to
drive the debate at a local level--and by proxy the national level--far
to the left of what it is now. When the Democrats are attacked from the
right they need people like me who truly are members of the (remember
the club for growth attack add on Howard Dean?) "tax-hiking,
government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New
York Times-reading... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show" openly and
aggressively participating in the political process. Actively
participating in politics (and not this letter) is my response to Tony
Judt, Todd Gitlin, Bruce Ackerman, and anyone else looking for my own
personal take--narcissistic intellectual ramblings on the part of all of
us--on being Liberal in the waning Bush era.
conservatives and liberals
with ever clashing views but as the days go by
I can't tell which side is talking their left is in the center
and labeled "liberal doctrine"
Maybe you don't want me, I can tell you I don't fall right in line
with the party line on every single issue (although I do agree totally
with the 10 key values). Not radical enough and often times too
hypocritical for a few, too radical and idealistic for most--compromise,
where ideals and reality merge is a fine line we all must walk and I am
not one to say I am qualified to point fingers or lead the way to some
fictitious revoltuion. I sit on my ass and bitch which is exactly what
they want middle class privilege to do--once again its time to call
myself on it and do something. With your help I will work to strengthen
and build a viable Green Party in this state. With your support maybe we
can gain ballot/debate access for the Green Party's next candidate for
Governor, with your support maybe Fayette county can gain one or two
competitive races or even a radical on the board of education(?!?), and
maybe together not only does the debate shift just a little to the left
but the political outcomes do as well.
I look forward to working with you...
Jim Nichols
"I never gave up, I never gave up...
I crawled through the mud, but I never gave up" --Chumbawamba
----
Friday, July 3, 2020
Karl Popper and the two faces of common sense... or why one should not apologize for being a philosopher
Karl Popper:
For more on Karl Popper check out Karl Popper on Wikipedia.
Also Karl Popper (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
I've been reading a used copy of his Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach from Oxford Press. Here are a few more choice quotes from Popper. I've been thinking about his place in the long tradition of liberty and freedom that we are going to be celebrating tomorrow here in America. And I have yet to spend the time to really flesh out my own thoughts on this.
And do check out the Open Society Foundation. One of his children so to speak.
I'm wanting to read some more Berlin at the moment. Its almost overwhelming to try to keep up. For now I'm heading with the wife for home improvement supplies, because happy wife happy life (book nerds of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our study).
In the meantime somebody write something really smart about Karl Popper that I have yet to consider. And if you see anything online worth checking out and sharing with others about Popper (good/bad/or ugly--as long as its constructive and helpful for understanding his place in intellectual history) please send it my way!
My excuse is this. We all have our philosophies, whether or not we are aware of this fact, and our philosophies are not worth very much. But the impact of our philosophies upon our actions and our lives is often devastating. This make it necessary to try to improve our philosophies by criticism. This is the only apology for the continued existence of philosophy which I am able to offer.via Two Faces of Common Sense; An Argument for Commonsense Realism and Against the commonsense Theory of Knowledge.
For more on Karl Popper check out Karl Popper on Wikipedia.
Also Karl Popper (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
I've been reading a used copy of his Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach from Oxford Press. Here are a few more choice quotes from Popper. I've been thinking about his place in the long tradition of liberty and freedom that we are going to be celebrating tomorrow here in America. And I have yet to spend the time to really flesh out my own thoughts on this.
And do check out the Open Society Foundation. One of his children so to speak.
I'm wanting to read some more Berlin at the moment. Its almost overwhelming to try to keep up. For now I'm heading with the wife for home improvement supplies, because happy wife happy life (book nerds of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our study).
In the meantime somebody write something really smart about Karl Popper that I have yet to consider. And if you see anything online worth checking out and sharing with others about Popper (good/bad/or ugly--as long as its constructive and helpful for understanding his place in intellectual history) please send it my way!
Friday, June 5, 2020
Monday, December 31, 2018
Best books and blogs of 2018
So here are the most significant books of 2018 for me. Just the opinion of a truck-loading, Uber driving, equities trader--take it for what it is.
Not all were necessarily written in 2018, I just happened upon them for the first time this year. Where 2017 was my year of Deirdre McCloskey, 2018 was the year that I finally picked up Nassim Nicholas Taleb and realized what I had been missing out on.
The best bloggers remain to be Dean Baker's Beat the Press and Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns. The best podcast is Tyler Cowen's Conversations with Tyler.
Nonfiction
Unredeemed Land: An Environmental History of Civil War and Emancipation in the Cotton South by Erin Stewart Mauldin
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming by Agnes Callard
The Rise of Superman Decoding the Science of Ultimate Performance by Steve Kotler
The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology by Horace Freeland Judson
Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games by Ian Bogost
Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett
How History Gets Things Wrong The Neuroscience of Our Addiction to Stories by Alex Rosenberg
The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work by Eli J Finkel
The State, the Market and the Euro: Chartalism Versus Metallism in the Theory of Money by Stephanie A. Bell (Editor), Edward J. Nell (Editor)
Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence by Esther Perel
A Treatise On Probability by John Maynard Keynes
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson
Fiction and Poetry:
Twilight of the Gods by Robert C. Covel
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I Praise my Destroyer by Diane Ackerman
After the Plague: and Other Stories by T.C. Boyle
A Little Larger than the Entire Universe by Fernando Pessoa
See you next year!
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Pornography, love songs in C, and everything you love at 32 kilobits per second--Reflections on the early days of blogging and the net
So I'm writing a 2018 reflection. For my own sake. I'll be posting it if/when I finish it. But its had me reflecting on a lot of things.
One thing that struck me, that I wanted to take a moment to write about, is about the early days of the Internet and blogging. Back before shit got too fast and everything was in real time. Back when people could go into cyberspace, but had to do it in written word by dial up phone connection. Back when pornography was a five minute endeavor to upload a picture--not the rapid streaming of whatever you can think to search for.
The orgy of cat videos, corporate advertising, and unrefined political hot takes by distant family members wasn't fathomed in our minds yet. We who would connect by phone to random strangers and form newsgroups around interests and passions--music, philosophy, writing, stamp collecting if that was your thing.... whatever. Whatever you found interesting and had a passion for had a newsgroup with some interesting and articulate stranger--likely from the other side of the world--who also shared that interest and would take the time to engage with you on that topic. The internet felt less lonely back then.
It was delightful to be both in your mind and open to others. I now at 38 have the sense of self and social capacity to pull this off in public, with a glass of wine, and interesting company from time to time as schedules allow. But to a flat broke teenager with not many friends who shared my interests this was an exciting and brave new world that made life seem not only bearable, but meaningful, and interesting.
I marvel at how exciting hyperlinks were. That I could say something. And give you the autonomy and freedom to figure out and follow my thought wherever it led you. As it gave me the ability to move on myself and not wait for you. I could keep dancing with words on a page and let you check in when you saw fit. We could go on journeys together in the land of ideas, and check in with one another to see where our adventures led us. New ideas, new places to go, new insights would cascade like a damn breaking and all of a sudden you would look up and realize it was 5am and you had been staring at a screen of words for 8 or 9 hours.
My Dad nearly flipped his lid when I was in 8th grade in Sacramento when I once busted the time limits of his billing cycle and he had a $148 up charge to his Internet bill one month.
Social media is now big business, and introverts with a narcissistic proclivity to share their thoughts don't have as much elbow room now that massive profits are to be had. The organic and authentic experience of the early days of the Internet will never be recreated--though there are those constantly in search of creating new spaces that create such personal and uncommodified connection. Small gardens where like minded strangers can share tips, refine ideas, and trade on the knowledge and aesthetic pleasures they have concocted and come across.
As an aspiring writer and autodidact the early days of the Internet were marvelous and reassuring.
To an isolated and lonely middle class kid in the suburbs with a taste for punk rock and the infinite possibilities of this world it created a space where I could not only be myself, but figure out and play with ideas and words, without judgment or social pressure from my peers and adults--those pesky muggles, in the more modern Post-Harry Potter vernacular.
It still can be. It just takes more work and diligence. The technology requires us to now have more discipline and better filters to keep from having online time be a massive and wasteful time suck. But the human beings that I connected with are still out there, still doing amazing things. And the tools are still at our disposal. It just looks and feels different. I was reminded of that recently when I crossed paths with a stranger online and had a delightful exchange on the discovery of the structures of cellular macromolecules and a history of molecular biology that then morphed into an introduction to TC Boyle whom I am now devouring at an epic pace. With time and a little luck we can get some place interesting together. At 38 I just forget this fact from time to time. Its nice to remember what it was like back then. Its even nicer to realize we can create even better more meaningful spaces now. As long as we put in the effort.
Update:
One thing that struck me, that I wanted to take a moment to write about, is about the early days of the Internet and blogging. Back before shit got too fast and everything was in real time. Back when people could go into cyberspace, but had to do it in written word by dial up phone connection. Back when pornography was a five minute endeavor to upload a picture--not the rapid streaming of whatever you can think to search for.
The orgy of cat videos, corporate advertising, and unrefined political hot takes by distant family members wasn't fathomed in our minds yet. We who would connect by phone to random strangers and form newsgroups around interests and passions--music, philosophy, writing, stamp collecting if that was your thing.... whatever. Whatever you found interesting and had a passion for had a newsgroup with some interesting and articulate stranger--likely from the other side of the world--who also shared that interest and would take the time to engage with you on that topic. The internet felt less lonely back then.
It was delightful to be both in your mind and open to others. I now at 38 have the sense of self and social capacity to pull this off in public, with a glass of wine, and interesting company from time to time as schedules allow. But to a flat broke teenager with not many friends who shared my interests this was an exciting and brave new world that made life seem not only bearable, but meaningful, and interesting.
I marvel at how exciting hyperlinks were. That I could say something. And give you the autonomy and freedom to figure out and follow my thought wherever it led you. As it gave me the ability to move on myself and not wait for you. I could keep dancing with words on a page and let you check in when you saw fit. We could go on journeys together in the land of ideas, and check in with one another to see where our adventures led us. New ideas, new places to go, new insights would cascade like a damn breaking and all of a sudden you would look up and realize it was 5am and you had been staring at a screen of words for 8 or 9 hours.
My Dad nearly flipped his lid when I was in 8th grade in Sacramento when I once busted the time limits of his billing cycle and he had a $148 up charge to his Internet bill one month.
Social media is now big business, and introverts with a narcissistic proclivity to share their thoughts don't have as much elbow room now that massive profits are to be had. The organic and authentic experience of the early days of the Internet will never be recreated--though there are those constantly in search of creating new spaces that create such personal and uncommodified connection. Small gardens where like minded strangers can share tips, refine ideas, and trade on the knowledge and aesthetic pleasures they have concocted and come across.
As an aspiring writer and autodidact the early days of the Internet were marvelous and reassuring.
To an isolated and lonely middle class kid in the suburbs with a taste for punk rock and the infinite possibilities of this world it created a space where I could not only be myself, but figure out and play with ideas and words, without judgment or social pressure from my peers and adults--those pesky muggles, in the more modern Post-Harry Potter vernacular.
It still can be. It just takes more work and diligence. The technology requires us to now have more discipline and better filters to keep from having online time be a massive and wasteful time suck. But the human beings that I connected with are still out there, still doing amazing things. And the tools are still at our disposal. It just looks and feels different. I was reminded of that recently when I crossed paths with a stranger online and had a delightful exchange on the discovery of the structures of cellular macromolecules and a history of molecular biology that then morphed into an introduction to TC Boyle whom I am now devouring at an epic pace. With time and a little luck we can get some place interesting together. At 38 I just forget this fact from time to time. Its nice to remember what it was like back then. Its even nicer to realize we can create even better more meaningful spaces now. As long as we put in the effort.
Update:
So I was rereading Paul Franco's Nietzsche's Enlightenment The Free-Spirit Trilogy of the Middle Period just now and I come to this passage talking about Nietzsche's take on aphorism's [my emphasis added]
It was not only the cold, precise, anti-romantic character of the aphorism that appealed to Nietzsche. He also recognized that its fragmentary nature could be very effective in conveying philosophical ideas. The incompleteness of an aphorism forces the reader to fill in what is left unsaid and thereby to think along with the philosophical writer. Nietzsche explains: the "incomplete presentation of an idea, of a whole philosophy, is sometimes more effective than its exhaustive realization: more is left for the beholder to do, he is impelled to continue working on that which appears so strongly etched before him in light and shadow, to think through to the end."[Kindle Loc 470]This is exactly what short hyperlink filled blog posts did. They created space, and obligation for both the writer and the reader to each do some heavy lifting in the endeavor, creating a positive feedback loop towards more clarity and better ideas.
Thursday, November 8, 2018
The party of large employers, major bond holders, and aggressive empire, had a good day Tuesday.
A check on the executive branch is a good thing, no doubt, especially with the expansion of power over the past few decades in the Executive. But if the end result of Tuesdays elections is that the narrative on Fiscal policy shifts to a fixation on deficits, at a time of low inflation, this whole toxic brew of culture war as political mobilization tool--that both political parties are using to their quasi-fascist hearts content--could turn bad really quickly once we happen upon a recession.
The Federal Government pays for things by printing US dollars. My tax dollars are fealty to the creator of a legal/monetary order, not the source of how the nice lady down the street gets her Medicare payments to her (already overpaid) Doctor--if reducing the age it takes to qualify for Medicare is on the agenda (and it should be, to say, age zero).
I haven't posted in a long while. With my Dad gone I'm not as compelled to blog anymore, as I've always found blogging to be a tool of thinking outloud and our current political climate doesn't take too well to clarifying thoughts in a public manner.
I haven't posted in a long while. With my Dad gone I'm not as compelled to blog anymore, as I've always found blogging to be a tool of thinking outloud and our current political climate doesn't take too well to clarifying thoughts in a public manner.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
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