Monthly Archives: February 2017

Yuval Noah Harari talks about the Future

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Frequent readers know the mariner has three alter egos: Chicken Little, whose fears are a response to imminent events, Amos, a skeptic and critic of human ethic and behavior, and Guru, a futurist, generalist and philosopher at large. Mariner mentions this because this post reflects, to a great extent, mariner’s perception of reality for all three. The post cites a number of quotes from an interview on the Atlantic website with Yuval Noah Harari, a renowned futurist who has provided books, articles, lectures and opinions about how to interpret today’s reality and project the interpretations into mankind’s future.

Read the interview.[1]

Here are some samples:

Derek Thompson: First, work. You have a smart and scary way of looking at the political implications of mass automation. At the end of the 19th century, France, Germany, and Japan offered free health care to their citizens. Their aim was not strictly to make people happy, but to strengthen their army and industrial potential. In other words, welfare was necessary because people were necessary. But you ask the scary question: What happens to welfare in a future where government no longer needs people?

Yuval Harari: It’s a very scary scenario. It’s not science fiction. It’s already happening.

The reason to build all these mass social service systems was to support strong armies and strong economies. Already the most advanced armies don’t need [as many] people. The same might happen in the civilian economy. The problem is motivation: What if the government loses the motivation to help the masses?

In Scandinavia the tradition of the welfare state is so entrenched that perhaps they’ll continue to provide welfare even for masses of useless people. But what about Nigeria, South Africa, and China? They have been encouraged to provide services mostly in the hope of advancing prosperity, [which requires] having a large basis of healthy and smart citizens. But take that away and you might be left with countries with elites who don’t care about the population.

Thompson: Americans might be richer and better educated than they used to be a generation ago, with better health care and superior entertainment options. But the fact of progress doesn’t seem to matter. The story is all that matters. And the victorious Trump story was that America’s cities were falling apart and “I alone can fix it.”

Harari: [White Americans without a college degree] are a declining class within a declining power. The U.S. is losing power compared to the rest of the world, and within the U.S., the Trump voters are losing their status. Even though they are experiencing better conditions, the narrative self which is dominant in most people tells a story of decline, which says that the future will be worse than the present. And most people’s happiness depends on their expectations, not their conditions.

—-

There is a good section on the demise of humans in the future computer age. See the interview.

For the present, however, use it while you have it:

It is not too late in February to select a pleasant day to visit an outdoor place like a park, forest, botanic garden, or walking trail to take in the fresh whiffs of Cancer thaw. While enjoying this pleasure, stop by a restaurant akin to such pleasures.

It has been a long, stressful election season. Discharge some tension by visiting the following website:

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/

Turn off the television for 24 hours and use your phone device only for phone calls – not even texts! Wander around your property to see what’s going on, discover some interesting but small tasks at hand, maybe rummage in the attic or basement. The inner you needs exercise just like your quadriceps do.

Arrange a family gathering perhaps around Memorial Day or Independence Day – include a generation in each direction.

Arrange a summer fête for neighbors.

Be glad you are alive today!

Ancient Mariner

[1] See https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/02/the-post-human-world/517206/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-022117 Also check out Yuval Harari’s new book, Homo Deus. In other words, turning ourselves into gods. There are critics, e.g. see http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/book-review-homo-deus/ however it is difficult to perceive other directions than Harari suggests.

Emolument Clause Grows Weaker

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Mariner was depending heavily on the Emolument Clause in the Constitution to be the baseball bat that would make Donald sit up and make a decision whether he was a business man or the President of a Democratic Republic. Understanding that a lawsuit would be the mechanism (Congress isn’t functioning at the moment) and it would end up in the Supreme Court if Donald resisted making a choice, Mariner opined that it would be served the moment he put his hand on the doorknob of the White House on Inauguration Day.

Many political and legal experts are expressing doubts whether the clause applies. The clause specifically references “appointed officers.” Donald is not appointed; Donald is elected.

Several pundits have used the words of Jesus: You cannot serve two masters. Quite applicable in Donald’s case. Already he has made it clear that the United State is not a democratic republic; it is the latest acquisition of his Corporation and he is the Chairman of the Board and CEO. Since the election, Chicken Little has not ventured outside the henhouse; among the electorate, Chicken sees the directness of authoritarian government as a pleasant relief from slow and deliberate democracy. An autocratic King might be a productive change to those without foresight.

Mariner learned on a newscast weeks ago that there is evidence that shows Donald, Rex, and Vladimir have conferred about reversing sanctions against Russia so that Rex’s corporation, Exxon, is allowed to drill oil in Russia. Turns out Vladimir needs Exxon’s technology to retrieve oil from difficult terrain.

So who is Secretary of State? Rex. Who is Secretary of the Treasury? Mnuchin who worked for Goldman Sachs and made billions from the housing market collapse. Who is Secretary of Health and Human Services? Price. He worked in the Health industry before being elected to the House where he frequently purchases stock in health services corporations then writes legislation that benefits the corporation which runs up the stock – making a tidy profit for Price. Price is one of the most adamant enemies of the Affordable Care Act. If nothing else, government-managed health care will put a damper on his antics in the stock market.

It is only the mariner’s opinion – and a general statement – that Donald has roamed the world of business working primarily with shady financers, organized crime leaders and making deals where he can exit at some point with all the cash (the casinos, several construction projects and sideline businesses –two of which ended in lawsuits). When Asked about Donald early in the 2016 campaign, Colin Powell, usually an understated individual, said “Trump is a pariah in the world of business.”

Narcissistic, defectively egocentric, pathological liar, immoral – all these detract from a positive administration that will look after the nation’s best interest. What mariner fears most is Donald’s ability to ignore all ethical arguments save one: profit, profit, and profit. His trashy business practices and his less than noble cohorts don’t bode well for Mr. and Mrs. Citizen.

Too bad about the Emolument thing.

Ancient Mariner

Generalisms

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Mariner has been writing often about myths. Myths are a legitimate, indeed critical part of religious understanding; without myths, the indescribable spirituality we draw from our faith would not be possible. From the same box of tools for explanation is the generalism.

Everyone uses generalisms every day. We use generalisms to express opinion without having to give a lecture and in the context that offering the generalism does not mean it is absolute. A simple and innocuous example is:

Larry says, “Hello, Tom. I plan to have a Thanksgiving dinner this year. What do I need?” One knows instinctively that Larry does not want a half-dozen recipes dictated or directions to the library or a show and tell about Tom’s last four Thanksgiving dinners. Tom uses a general statement to offer Larry an opinion: “Oh, maybe the common items are a turkey, potatoes and gravy, some vegetables and desert, like a pumpkin pie.” A generalism is an excellent means for expressing a large, unofficial collection of information. It should be noted that a generalism is not an idea; it is an assimilation.

Like myths, while absolutely critical to insightful communication, generalisms can be abused:

One can adopt a literal value for a general statement. This is called prejudice. Good or bad in intention, a generalism is not a specific, formulated entity; making a general statement innately means there are many exceptions and diverse perspectives included – one cannot legislate by means of generalism. It is this error that confronts Donald at every turn. Further, one cannot live a healthy and insightful life trying to act according to a set of prejudices.

One cannot infer a further generalism from an existing generalism. That is the same as executing a split-middle in a syllogism: All cats are four-legged animals; all horses have four legs; therefore all horses are four-legged animals. The derived generalism: all animals have four legs; ducks are animals; therefore ducks have four legs.

However, it is this abuse, building a generalism referencing another generalism that is the foundation of racial prejudice in the US: Whites are successful; blacks are less successful; therefore blacks are not the same as whites. The derived generalism: Successful whites are ambitious; blacks are not as successful; therefore blacks are not as ambitious. One can imagine the multiplicity of prejudice by those who believe generalisms to be literally true.

Broadcast news has drifted from investigative reporting to information of viewer interest, that is, generalisms and placating viewers. This weakness has allowed Donald, among many other misrepresented issues, capable of running an entire campaign and Presidency leveraging generalisms. Donald’s flamboyant pontifications were the news – invalidated by facts. News organizations have lost credibility as a consequence; individuals and legislation hurtful to our culture succeed without scrutiny or public awareness. Generalisms are not always the proper form of communication for the task at hand.

Three cheers and a gold plaque for NBC White House press reporter Peter Alexander when he corrected Donald’s claim to have the Electoral College’s highest win votes in history since Ronald. Peter had done his investigative homework and called out Donald on his blatantly touted falsehood; Donald wasn’t even fourth. Asked how the public could have faith in him if he lies, Donald said someone else gave him the information. Except for Peter, would the public have accepted the generalism not knowing the facts that make the generalism false and self-serving?

Generalisms are not facts, they are presumptions.

Yet, because the public prefers not to spend time postulating and judging facts, generalisms are more entertaining therefore draw a larger viewer share. As the official prevaricator of information, broadcast news owes the public more than entertaining generalisms. A condition lasting several generations, the public will require therapy to restore the requirement for facts.

[The first news center was converted from a public service to a profit center in 1977 (20/20). By the late 80’s all news was competing for profit rather than better news based on facts.]

The public has become lax about being correctly informed – paradoxically, during an era when more facts are free, more information is quickly accessible and more available than ever. If the news won’t investigate, the viewer is vulnerable unless the viewer decomposes news generalisms into the ‘facts’ that may or may not support them.

Ancient Mariner

 

Can Love Create Matter?

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Today, religious folk are having a hard time with spiritual icons. Viewing the main religions over two thousand years, it is obvious religious institutions have inserted disciplined belief systems which largely benefit continuity of the institution rather than enriching the lives of believers.

Uncountable numbers of books have been written about religion; too many have had to explain again for each historical era what the icons mean and have had to reinterpret the complex integration of spirituality and cultural morality. Now, in the Information Age, principles of religious belief are drowned in a waterfall of instant and constant speculation, experimentation, and analytical second guessing. The mariner confesses to be a part of the deluge. Even so, his motivation is to ease the angst prevalent today.

Believers of many religions are caught today without an acceptable story describing the power of faith and spirituality. On the one hand, the traditional stories are increasingly defined as myths which are not the core value but rather the value is an extended and often confusing meaning of the myths. What is the new creative force? What is the replacement story not of belief but of the powerful reality that still catches our awareness today?

A few clarifications are in order from which we may construct a modern story.

As a broad overview, there have been only three distinct forms of animals in Earth’s history: invertebrates, reptiles and mammals. Only mammals have a brain with a limbic function. The limbic is the source of emotions; emotions are required for mammals because they must manage the early lives of their offspring – therefore requiring a means of sensing the state of offspring. Emotional feelings like sympathy, empathy, and compassion, just to name a few emotions, are the means by which parental awareness is managed. We call these emotions ‘love.’ There are emotions like hate, disdain, possessiveness and many more which ignore the caring emotions – the emotions that grow sustainable life.

The creation story begins many religious histories. The element that is still very much a value today is the awareness that an event or thing is good or that it is bad. The human sense of judgment is far more sensitive than any other mammal’s – even other simians and modern dogs.

The final clarification is imagination. Only humans can perceive what a Universe is; only humans can perceive a different state of being after death and even in inspirational moments while alive; only humans can perceive a nuclear weapon….

A new story about the creative power of God can be derived from our power to create life by using love. Is the act of loving a creative power in the Universe? The old stories hold firmly to the idea that God is Love – the most powerful myth!

The cultural morality derived from love has suffered the most. Early civilizations placed human authority above the larger but less abrasive power of love. Humans drifted from the purity imagined by their religions to follow other emotions like greed, capitalism, nationalism and authoritarianism. Humans used emotions to manufacture selfish benefits rather than support the power that comes from acts of love.

The twenty-first century is a hellish scene: a troubled planet, a restless Sun, a drifting Moon – all props for an Armageddon movie. Then there is the intense greediness of all organizations from governments to corporations to religious institutions – all equating righteousness to numbers of dollars or political favoritism. Sympathy, empathy and compassion are not in control of creation and the situation demonstrates that non-love destroys.

What God looks like is not important. God doesn’t look like anything we can imagine. But what does God do? God loves. There is our doctrine. The twenty-first century needs someone to love it.

NOTES

Errata – the URL for the Atlantic magazine is www.theatlantic.com Pardon the error.

The frequency of mariner’s posts will drop a bit as the gardening season approaches. He still will send an email notice so look for an email that a new post is on the website. Anyone wanting to email the mariner please write to skipper@iowa-mariner.com

Ancient Mariner

Are You Willing to have sex to pay for Education?

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Sharyl Attkisson is an independent, somewhat conservative news journalist. She covers stories that are one step away from “Big News” stories that often are more telling than splashy headlines. Attkisson uncovered a situation affecting college students – particularly women.[1] It turns out there is a dating service that doesn’t advertise on television called “Sugar Daddy University.”

College students of both sexes (but one can imagine that the great majority are women – our daughters) who are desperate to pay their bills. Not necessarily tuition directly but fees, add-on costs, additional book fees, Lab fees, parking fees – over $800/month at New York University – etc. all of which are a pay-as-you-go economy. Students interviewed said it wasn’t really a pay for sex arrangement although if you consented, sex pays better.

What does this make our Congress? Pimps? The Congress refuses to assist any form of education or issue regulations or raise taxes to address the fact that students must pay $35 – $80 thousand dollars to obtain a college degree which, according to those who look at the future, is mandatory if our children will be eligible for decent paying jobs.

Even overlooking Congress-sanctioned prostitution, if the US has a prayer of being a leading power in twenty years, the key is education. Congress is not only immoral, it is stupid.

Friends, a 1985 Congress just won’t cut it any more. You all have your good ol’ buddy Congressmen that you’ve voted for all your life but that good ol’ boy is killing us far more than Donald is. When you vote, vote restricted only to fixing one issue; that keeps you from being distracted. And give serious consideration to the candidate’s age. Mariner is an ol’ codger himself. He knows if you grew up before students were shot and killed by the National Guard at Kent State University (1971), you have no idea what’s happening today.

Ancient Mariner

[1] See http://fullmeasure.news/news/cover-story/degree-of-debt for the full story of broken and abused budgets in colleges.

For Richer, For Poorer

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Recently, the liberal economists and the conservative economists began expressing growing concern about the same thing: inequality. Virtually every validated and respected futurist, economist, even international banks, agree about the future: money is rushing faster and faster to only three sectors: manufacture of computers/information, international corporations, and banking/investment.

Mariner could toss lots of numbers and names of countries and corporations at the reader; that would take lots of words and trying to grow reader interest in a desert of information.

Though most readers are resistant to watching mariner’s Internet references, he implores the reader, he begs the reader, he insists the reader, he respectfully requests the reader watch an episode of Forward Thinking, “For Richer, For Poorer – the Dangers of Inequality” last broadcast on Bloomberg television June 17, 2016. In your search engine type:

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-17/forward-thinking-for-richer-for-poorer

Watch it in its entirety. It is not fake news; there is no special interest agenda; it is too complicated for politicians – that doesn’t mean it is too complicated for you.

Further, check your current Atlantic magazine for a review of what Donald is doing. Mariner will let Atlantic speak about the Donald in his stead. The reader also can read the articles at www.atlantic.com.

Ancient Mariner

 

If One Loves, One Loves Alone.

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A couple of readers commented that the mariner has not written much about Donald and the Federal and state Governments. That is true. Mariner has written pointed letters to his Senators and Representative and responds to them often in behalf of Food and Water Watch. He chooses however, to avoid a horrid, depraved and broken place – a diseased Gehenna, Sheol itself. And his peers voted to place Lucifer in charge.

Even as love, compassion and Grace have no bounds, so, too, do depravity, thievery, deliberate enslavement and lust. White Man has never stopped committing genocide; it is close to wiping out an entire nation.

As to Donald, the simpleton electorate had opportunities to force him out and did not. Donald is something everyone complains about but does nothing about – just like THIRTY THOUSAND PEOPLE DYING EACH YEAR BY GUNS! The solution lies in the hands of the same flaccid electorate. God bless us everyone. Ironically, polls show 43 percent of the electorate thinks Lucifer is doing a good job. This is not mariner’s country; time to refurbish the boat…

The US Government looks more and more like the soulless oligarchy run by Vladimir. And Lucifer is leading the way.

Mariner could not help but hear today’s headline when Chief Turtle McConnell shut down Elizabeth Warren for reading Coretta King’s letter in opposition to making Jeff Sessions a judge. How dare Elizabeth impugn a blatant racist?

Mariner is not insane in his ethos, just alone.

Ancient Mariner

 

Religion Starter Kit – III

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There are a few satanic religions and a few pragmatic religions, for example, capitalism, communism, socialism, Nazism, etc. But many hundreds of standard religions have the premise that a religion is here to do some spiritual good; god in whatever form is a positive force from which followers can draw positive influence or at least perform ethical behavior.

What every devout practitioner must possess is a feeling of liberation from negativity and failure and in addition a sense of being in a singular state of being – knowing one has transcended duality if even for a microsecond. In order to move on from the Starter Kit, one must experience positive buoyancy from one’s faith. Buoyancy gives one conviction in the day-to-day tumult of duality.

The traditional religions were documented at a time when there was little scientific knowledge and mythical explanations filled the gaps. Further, cultures have come and gone and our planet spins around with a different set of issues. It is not suggested that the religions have failed; the altruistic intent is as pure and valid as it has ever been. What is required in today’s society, one of technical solutions to every issue without perseverance, without obligation to biosphere or human value – or a bond to singularity and Grace (a church word meaning basking in goodness), is a travel pack that has resonance in situational ethics and a solution backed by god’s influence – as Father Fletcher said in his book, an act of love. Religion today is executed on the run.

One of mariner’s favorite ‘executions’ is the act of benefitting another person’s life without reparation of any kind – just making it a nicer day for someone; it has a street term: pass it forward, implying that the person who benefitted from your execution will execute one of their own. Note that both of you had a liberating experience.

Returning religion to society, however, is a large challenge. The past election illustrates clearly that the common citizen does not possess the confidence, the religiously reasoned morality, the unbiased ability to judge duality, or any obligation to the singularity intrinsic in our planet and our own species. These absences are of the spirit of life, not technology or the importance of machine rules.

Just the disorder for religion to repair!

Continuously use the measuring sticks like divining rods to find good duality and avoid reinforcing bad duality. A simple phrase is “two wrongs don’t make a right.” There are eight measuring sticks:

  • Is this event, thought or motive good duality or bad duality?
  • How much of god’s singularity is present?
  • How much beauty?
  • How much love?
  • How much order?
  • How much truth?
  • How much empathy?
  • How much compassion?

Some steering suggestions: Don’t fall into the trap of compensating for negative duality; one will end up fixing situations with more negatives and machine rules. Stick to using positive duality and acts of god to enhance the good things that need help. Joseph Campbell, another favorite of mariner, said the arc of life, the path of the hero, flows from negative circumstances (negative duality) into achievement (positive duality) and ultimately into a state of perfection (singularity).

Good luck.

Ancient Mariner

Why a Starter Kit is attempted.

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As mariner suspected, suggesting the definition of pieces that together comprise a base for religious practice is challenged by many who have unique beliefs already in place. Mariner has no business disturbing established religious practices. He attempted this complex issue because in our current global state our ethics, morals, scruples, whatever one would choose to call them, are in disarray. Global society operates entirely under a moral base that humans can change whenever they desire. The difficulty is identical to people desiring, quite sincerely, to lose weight and improve their physical condition. Why is it that perhaps only one person in 1,000 or even 10,000 achieves the goal and the rest fail? The one achiever believed the rules were beyond modification and were mandated.

The shift from a singular, untouchable source of rule began with the book ‘Situation Ethics’ written by the priest Joseph Fletcher in 1966. His intent was to say no written or believed set of rules can be the source of faith; only love, the actual act of love qualifies as a measure of faith. His point was that written material or habitual behavior was not qualified to represent God – only love was authorized to do that – only an act of love could represent God. Fletcher said only love could be exercised best in a situational event.

Needless to say, readers picked up on the idea of an ethic that is relative to the situation but overlooked the hard part: loving God’s world, especially God’s people; to emphasize again, the act of loving. Several religious leaders and theologians took up the cause of situational ethics as a means of fine tuning moral behavior but that was not Fletcher’s intent.

Fifty-one years later, situational decision making prevails but the love part hasn’t been around for years. In fact, as an influence on general society, even religious institutions look more like dried figs – believing participants notwithstanding.

The first part of the Starter Kit tried to share some principles about how belief in a perfect entity works. Perfect entities can’t change. One would think they could change like a chameleon but in fact, a perfect being is perfect – nothing is able to change or perfectness would not have been. The mariner also spoke of seeking a non-anthropomorphic perfection; humans after all, are not perfect.

But it is from an ethical source that cannot be changed by any human or any participant in the state of duality that our instructions must come. Like the one successful person who achieved weight loss, believed in the unchangeable principle; to be true to their ethic they couldn’t change if they wanted to change.

The last part of the Starter Kit will be posted in a few days. Perhaps by then the reader will find a divine source of wisdom in which to root their stable and righteous morals. Perhaps like Fletcher you will be able to love.

Ancient Mariner

 

Religion Starter Kit – II

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Review your accomplishments.

You are aware that there is a different kind of existence than you know in your current life; your current life exists in a state of duality. The different existence is a state of perfect being, perfect in the sense that decisions are not required as in duality. There is only one experience: perfectness. Therefore, having only one experience, this existence is a singularity.

You use the word ‘god’ which is a metaphor for singularity; saying or thinking god means you are saying or thinking about the meaning or influence of singularity in your life; god is neither the manager nor an emissary – god is a word that identifies the fact that the state of singularity is on your mind. Briefly, your relationship between duality and singularity is to shape your understanding and habitual behavior in a way that improves your experience of singularity – an experience of perfection replacing the turmoil of constant duality.

This is only a starter kit. On a relative religious completeness scale the kit is similar to a flashlight with bad batteries at midnight versus the Sun at Noon.

A few ideological/theological comments to help you start thinking about the role of religion:

The naturalist and empiricist dilemma.

Humans were born into a combative, sinful world AKA born into duality. Humans are cursed to have superior brains capable of making human centric decisions. Therefore humans can violate god’s balanced creation and continually do. God’s balanced reality is constantly unbalanced by disregard for nature and the cosmos. Humans demonstrate their lack of divine morality even among themselves with wars, violent abuse and disregard for the quality of H. sapiens wellbeing.

The ritualist conflict.

Every organized religion has the ritualist conflict. In sum, god handed down rules of obedience, humans are to adhere to these rules and thereby be rescued from duality. The conflict is that to a great degree, it is the same dilemma the naturalists and empiricists have – humans keep changing god’s rules. Disciplining structures are based on negative duality AKA machine rules (machine rules are rules that have ulterior motives not related to god’s perspective on things; rules are more about the wellbeing of the machine).

The spiritualist’s and conspirator’s escape.

Spiritualism and conspiracy theories are pursued because in their hearts these folks know the rest of us don’t know what we’re doing. They avoid dualistic conflict by believing in a back door that looks like reality but is beyond their ability to alter – a kind of faux singularity.

Atheism, humanism, deism and other deniers of god – life without singularity.

Simply put for atheism, no gods exist. Repeat no gods exist. It is difficult, in the whole universe, to adopt an authoritative ethic not subject to human frailty but atheists can live with that. Humanists live by a cocktail of ideologies which include traditional religious practices and verbal commitment to holistic Grace but refuse to conjure dominance over human competence. Pantheists believe god was here for a while but left when creation was complete.

There are other ideologies but these are the most common. Before you move on in the Starter Kit, ponder these to decide what relationship seems to influence you as you put together your theology and how you may accommodate your role between duality and singularity – or not.

Your religious purpose, ethics and social behavior are built on your theology.

Ancient Mariner