Human nature
I started reading Blank Slate by some guy. I have not learned anything new as of yet. It turns out that I have a pretty good understanding of cognitive psycology and physiological psycology :-) What is interesting though is how reluctant I am to openly accept what I think is going to be a central tenet of the book: Some people are born messed up, some are born awesome, but we are all born a certain way; get over it and deal.
I might have mentioned this before but I also recently finished Brave New World also by some guy. In it the government has taken extreme steps to ensure the happyness of it's citizens. Everyone is gestated and born from a test tube (called decanting... awesome) but not everyone is born equal. Whole groups of people are deprived oxygen and fed alcohol throughout thier prenatel existance. As a result they are severly retarded mentally and physically. They form the lowest caste of society fit only to sweep floors and run elevators (this is only possible because the elevator will verbally give instructions to the "operator"). What is so facinating and repugnent is that as children they are played recordings of societal norms while they sleep. For example, "I'm go glad to be an epsilon (the lowest caste). The alphas are so much smarter but they have so much responsability! The betas must work so hard! The gamas... " is played to get them glad they were given this lot in life.
I am often swept up by the ideal of universal love of education, knowledge, and a questioning nature. I often think,"If only somehow we could get the ball rolling, somehow show these people a brief glimps of (my) utopia and break the spell of pop culture..." Ok, so that is somewhat more dramatic then my thoughts but you get the idea. Then the question morphes to how to bring about this change which is much more pleasent to think about then the question of if my ideal is even possible.
What if the vast majority of America will not or can not embrace these ideals? It is interesting that our society is based on the perception of equality. We are proud of the fact that everyone may vote regardless of social or economic position. Even the American dream draws on the possibility that anyone can someday own a house with a two car garage, have 2.5 children, mow a lawn every week, and have a dog to poop on said lawn. Everyone is entitled to an education provided by the state and, along similar lines, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
Or not.
I am begining to believe that there are several different americas and I belong to the most oblivious. There is the considerable white anglo-saxon protestant contingency which I grew up with all the way through high school. Along side this are the relatively well off Hippies, my current almamotter if you will. I am sure there are many other groups but I am going to mention one more; the poor. The percentage of people living below the poverty line without health insurance or constant supply of the basic food, shelter, and clothing is staggering and growing.
What about the culture of this group? I wish I had found the series of articles written by Sam Fullword III here in Cleveland on those living in the poorest regions of the city. The excerps that I did manage to read though are worth summerizing. He repettedly states that the poor have a different state of mind. They don't plan for the future. If they get a pay check they immediatly spend it before someone can take that money away from them. I have also heard about how in inner cities there is a deffinate perception of how education is a white man's thing. To strive for American Dream is to turn your back on your culture.
Ever since reading Ishmael I can't help but look at our Culture as some living breathing organizm bent on self perservation. Suddenly it looks like our culture is creating a Brave New World. Nothing so severe as government run baby factories exists but it sure seems as though our culture exists to satiate people at all levels. It is the easiest way to maintain the status quo.
What does this mean then. Well, it means I am currently quite jaded, for one :-). Mainly though it means that perhaps some time must be taken to look for the motivation behind "the way things are now." Maybe, like many physical systems, a certain culture seeks out some sort of least energy configuration. The difficult thing then becomes defining exactly what energy means in a culture. Once this is done, however, a long held dream of mine might be possible: a mathmatical expression for the behavior of society.
The ultimate question though is how do we make the greatest number of people fulfilled/content/happy? Somehow it seems I am drawing closer to the conclusion that, like nature, our culture and society are far to complex to be effectively manipulated by man. Or, at least too complex to be manipulated by the brute force methods I previously championed.
I might have mentioned this before but I also recently finished Brave New World also by some guy. In it the government has taken extreme steps to ensure the happyness of it's citizens. Everyone is gestated and born from a test tube (called decanting... awesome) but not everyone is born equal. Whole groups of people are deprived oxygen and fed alcohol throughout thier prenatel existance. As a result they are severly retarded mentally and physically. They form the lowest caste of society fit only to sweep floors and run elevators (this is only possible because the elevator will verbally give instructions to the "operator"). What is so facinating and repugnent is that as children they are played recordings of societal norms while they sleep. For example, "I'm go glad to be an epsilon (the lowest caste). The alphas are so much smarter but they have so much responsability! The betas must work so hard! The gamas... " is played to get them glad they were given this lot in life.
I am often swept up by the ideal of universal love of education, knowledge, and a questioning nature. I often think,"If only somehow we could get the ball rolling, somehow show these people a brief glimps of (my) utopia and break the spell of pop culture..." Ok, so that is somewhat more dramatic then my thoughts but you get the idea. Then the question morphes to how to bring about this change which is much more pleasent to think about then the question of if my ideal is even possible.
What if the vast majority of America will not or can not embrace these ideals? It is interesting that our society is based on the perception of equality. We are proud of the fact that everyone may vote regardless of social or economic position. Even the American dream draws on the possibility that anyone can someday own a house with a two car garage, have 2.5 children, mow a lawn every week, and have a dog to poop on said lawn. Everyone is entitled to an education provided by the state and, along similar lines, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
Or not.
I am begining to believe that there are several different americas and I belong to the most oblivious. There is the considerable white anglo-saxon protestant contingency which I grew up with all the way through high school. Along side this are the relatively well off Hippies, my current almamotter if you will. I am sure there are many other groups but I am going to mention one more; the poor. The percentage of people living below the poverty line without health insurance or constant supply of the basic food, shelter, and clothing is staggering and growing.
What about the culture of this group? I wish I had found the series of articles written by Sam Fullword III here in Cleveland on those living in the poorest regions of the city. The excerps that I did manage to read though are worth summerizing. He repettedly states that the poor have a different state of mind. They don't plan for the future. If they get a pay check they immediatly spend it before someone can take that money away from them. I have also heard about how in inner cities there is a deffinate perception of how education is a white man's thing. To strive for American Dream is to turn your back on your culture.
Ever since reading Ishmael I can't help but look at our Culture as some living breathing organizm bent on self perservation. Suddenly it looks like our culture is creating a Brave New World. Nothing so severe as government run baby factories exists but it sure seems as though our culture exists to satiate people at all levels. It is the easiest way to maintain the status quo.
What does this mean then. Well, it means I am currently quite jaded, for one :-). Mainly though it means that perhaps some time must be taken to look for the motivation behind "the way things are now." Maybe, like many physical systems, a certain culture seeks out some sort of least energy configuration. The difficult thing then becomes defining exactly what energy means in a culture. Once this is done, however, a long held dream of mine might be possible: a mathmatical expression for the behavior of society.
The ultimate question though is how do we make the greatest number of people fulfilled/content/happy? Somehow it seems I am drawing closer to the conclusion that, like nature, our culture and society are far to complex to be effectively manipulated by man. Or, at least too complex to be manipulated by the brute force methods I previously championed.
posted by Craig Snoeyink at 3:32 PM
1 Comments:
I have no idea how I stumbled onto this blog but after having read it and found it interesting. . .
I once had a group of 10 year olds from the inner city shipped out to join us at this local dairy farm for a day. There were a few of those kids who were afraid of the cows. Why do you ask? One little girl told me that she thought cows were only 'this big' holding up her little hand, about the size of one you would see on TV. This has lead me to believe that the issue isn't purely economical, it is much deeper rooted than the American dream or the pseudo-Christian culture, racial or class separation. I have realized that the majority of people inhabiting the U.S. simply do not understand the physiological connection they share with the world around them. How many people do you know that would not eat a pig if they saw it roasted on a spit, but gladly gulp down prepackaged sausage biscuits every morning. Oblivious doesn't begin to describe that type of ignorance. If this country is going to change, it will have to start with the fundamentals. . where does your fur coat come from, how does your food get to the grocery store, and most importantly . . who cleans up your garbage when you throw it on the ground.
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