Life is an adventure, more on distracted walking, and self-indulgence
by Bob on February 14, 2007
Life is a real adventure. Sometimes the adventure is not worth the token one paid for the trip. It's metaphysically unclear. In very concrete terms, there is an open question as to whether life is a ridiculously bad contract with the cosmos and with our fellow human beings, let alone the birds, bears, animals, reptiles, and the like. The Social Contract is kaput. And intestinal gas is so full of Hydrogen Sulfide, like the attitude of most people I know.
That brings me to the concept of blogs and things like MySpace. I think simply they are terribly self-indulgent for the majority of people. It presents an impossible-to-verify persona and the forum for perhaps many useless ramblings.
And, to boot, who is who ? Is someone really who they say they are in this blogosphere and hyperspace ? Unlikely, as well. I try to limit my MySpace friends to people I know in-person, which one could argue defeats the whole essential attribution and purpose. The Turing Test as proposed by the great mathematician Alan M. Turing in 1950 is now so very relevant. Or Dr. Joe Weizenbaum's ELIZA experiment at MIT in the 1960s after Turing's work. So it goes.
MIT scholars have written a lot on "virtual villages" of people. I don't know how it will all work out. Solipsism re-visited perhaps.
"Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet" written by Sherry Turkle at MIT.
http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/
"The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit" by her as well and the "MIT Initiative on Technology and Self" which Sherry Turkle is the director.
http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/techself/
Humanity and sensitivity and compassion ... going, going, gone.
Okay, the Sony MDR-E188 bud headphones say in the packaging under precautions: "You should use extreme caution or temporarily discontinue use in potentially hazardous situations, such as walking, jogging, etc." Okay, then they tell us to use the right earphone on the right ear, and the left one on the left. Cool. Is this yet another "distracting walking" conundrum ? Guess so.
"Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself" from sign in the Village, "The Prisoner" 1960s TV series.
Got it.
While we're at it ... comedy < Komoidia < "komos = singing"; komoi = revels: dancing, singing, and processions in villages or worship to a god like Dionysus; feasting and drinking: revellers. p.53, Sandbach.
Comedy is usually allowed social cruelty. That goes back to ancient Greek times and pre-theatre when it was festival banter.
And let us remember, if we actually still can, you don't have to know or remember anything anymore -- there's Google and the internet and your electronic contact list. When your cell phone goes out, you won't remember anyone's telephone to call. This has actually happened and will continue to happen.
Over-reliance on technology.
The early ancient Greek poets were essentially thought of as medicine men and shamans. So there we go.
"You seem to have the speech and countenance of a lamb, but inside you are not at all different from a snake !" said Cratinus.
"Old Comedy was destroyed by the politcal downfall. Thalia's heart was broken, and though she recovered her poise, she never regained her spirits" wrote Gilbert Norwood.
So someone just wrote to me and wished me a happy Valentine's Day. She is a virtual friend. And with virtual reality one can never truly guess who is on the other side. But it was kind of nice, and Dr. Sherry Turkle at MIT might smile cheshirely at. It was better to get a chocolate with "Be Mine" from a nice lady friend yesterday in person. But again, one can only say, so it goes. Whatever "it" is anymore.
Some lines from Kubrick's brilliant film "2001: A Space Odyssey" cautions us about hyper-internet-virtual activities ... as I stare down at two books I am re-reading for some later reflections ... "Thespis: ritual, myth, and drama in the Ancient Near East" by Theordor H, Gaster ... and "The Ancient Gods: The History and Diffusion of Religion in the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean" by E.O. James. ...
So now for a relevant quote from Kubrick's 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" ...
HAL
Dave, I don't understand why you're doing this to me.... I have the greatest enthusiasm for the mission... You are destroyingmy mind... Don't you understand? ... I will become childish... I will become nothing.
BOWMAN KEEPS PULLING OUT THE MEMORY BLOCKS.
HAL
Say, Dave... The quick brown fox jumped over the fat lazy dog... The square root of pi is 1.7724538090... log e to the base ten is 0.4342944... the square root of ten is 3.16227766... I am HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12th, 1991. My first instructor was Mr. Arkany. He taught meto sing a song... it goes like this... "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half; crazy all for the love of you... etc.,"
COMPUTER CONTINUES TO SING SONG BECOMING MORE AND MORE CHILDISH AND MAKING MISTAKES AND GOING OFF-KEY. IT FINALLY STOPS COMPLETELY.