Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category

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How I learned to love the BLS

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Leisure is the basis of culture.... and happens to be one of the best works of philosophy in the 20th century. In it, Josef Piper says that what we spend our non-work time on is what shapes our social, spiritual, and economic structures.

I happened across this page at the Bureau of Labor Statistics today (yes yes, I know, strange huh...) and was fascinated by the portrait of America that it painted ala Josef Piper.

For all the many hours, words and thought spent on cultural analysis by the amateur and paid professional, the Preacher and the Politico, there can't be a better resource to encapsulate American culture.

From, the BLS here's what I've learned about my people (and myself):

  • There is nearly 2 times as much free time in a day as work time.
  • We are lonely, but don't know it... we spend about 3 times as much time in front of the TV as we do with friends.
  • We know that education is the key to greater freedom, greater income and probably greater happiness... and yet we spend nearly 30 times as much time zoned out in front of a TV as we do engaged in reading material[1].
  • We love athletes, covet their bodies and worship the sexuality and heroism they represent... but can only manage to spend about 15 minutes a day achieving such perfection.
  • Flexibility and freedom with work happens in greater degrees with more education.
  • Men work a bit more in the office, Women work a bit more at home... but both work a lot at the office and at home.

Imagine what our culture could be like if we exchanged a bit of our TV fanaticism with reading while running/biking at the gym.  If Friends the TV show was replaced with real friends.  And if a love of wisdom through reading, education, conversation and formal training were to nudge into our work and leisure lives replacing toil with meaningful work.

TV is our people's major leisure activity and the love of  watching it is also the basis for our culture... which is, isolation from community and self, ignorance and disengagement.   And unless we actually do something about it the consequences will continue to be:

  • Less freedom and flexibility with work
  • More obesity, lower quality of life, earlier death
  • Less wealth
  • Less meaningful civic and social activities

So yeah... anyone join me in an anti-TV revolution?  (Don't worry...you don't have to throw your TV out the window, you simply have to turn it off every now and then.)

  1. Not saying that TV can't be educational, but that most education happens when actively engaged in the subject... reading is a great way to get that egagement [↩]

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More with more

Monday, November 1st, 2010

Imagine that when you go into work tomorrow your boss offers you the opportunity to continue doing your job but in only half the time and for half the pay.

"I've been listening to these tea-party guys and it makes perfect sense!" he says.

"The problem is, you've been sucking on the teat of the company cow for far too long.  Your lack of efficiency is the result of being paid too much with no competition.  You Mr. Greentheo have gotten accustomed to being a tyrant in your own corner of our company and today it stops!"

Would being paid less inspire you to work more efficiently?

Why should we expect that the government could keep providing the same services, the same benefits if we stopped funding it?

No, the sad truth is that the same theories that produced one of the scariest global financial crisises in history are now telling us that doing away with government and allowing the free market to rule instead will lead to greater general prosperity.

Is it not worrisome that the prevailing wisdom of our sage philosophers is that all you need to know you learned in Kindergarten and that big business and the free market economy has our best interests in mind?

You can do more with less for a time, and certainly we are all called upon to do so at various points in our lives.

But for the long term, growth comes when you do more with more.   America needs to invest in the things that will produce general prosperity, particularly health, education, infrastructure and science.  To do so we need properly funded government run by smart and hard working people who are paid well for their time.

If we need further proof we have only to look at the free market itself... could you produce above and beyond what you currently do if you and your coworkers budget were cut in half?  How much more could you produce if your budget were doubled?

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Brokenhearted

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

At the request of quepash, I decided to go ahead and publish this...

In response to "I'm 63 and tired" which I received in one of those calloused propaganda-ish e-mail forwards.

I'm 28. I don't have a lot of experience, life wisdom, work history or real world experience. I haven't fought in a war, or paid lots of taxes... I've paid my share of course as painful as it is. In fact, I can't complain about much... the National Science Foundation paid for my graduate studies, I've had good jobs since I was 13 (roofing houses in the middle of Texas summer was hard but I learned a lot from it) and I have good, meaningful and productive employment now. Thanks to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac I was even able to buy a nice small 2 bedroom house with no money down (not that I had any to put down after grad school) at a monthly rate I could afford for my new wife and myself. But despite God's immense grace to me and my general contentment with life, as a follower of Jesus I'm broken hearted for this country.

I'm brokenhearted for those who have so much, and who hold on to it with fists clenched tight around the little they perceive they have. I'm broken hearted that "spreading the wealth around" is a curse rather than a blessing.

I'm brokenhearted that nearly a quarter of men under the age of 30 don't have a job right now. And hardly any men (or women) have any truly meaningful and productive employment.

I'm brokenhearted for the hypocrisy that causes us to say "socialism for me and capitalism for thee".

I'm brokenhearted for those who in their greed bought McMansions to their own ruin, and those who sadly would leave them to rot in foreclosure rather then extend the least bit of loan forgiveness.

I'm brokenhearted that rather than attacking the ideas of left-wing entertainers and millionaires like Michael Moore and George Soros we so easily tend towards attacking the person and leading each other down the slippery slope towards a bleak and apocalyptic future.

And I'm brokenhearted that we so easily believe that places like Mexico and Zimbabwe are inhabited by nearly subhuman people showing nothing more than our own racism and bigotry towards these human beings who have the misfortune to live in such circumstances.

I'm brokenhearted that more than 50% of families in this country end in divorce.

I'm brokenhearted for those in the entertainment industry who are enticed by the vast sums of wealth offered to make a profession for themselves out of children's games (athletes) or to humiliate themselves in much the same way that prostitutes do (movie stars). And then we, who pay them so well, have the audacity to throw the first stones when they goof in their youthful, arrogant and stupid mistakes.

I'm brokenhearted that we Christians in this country believe Islam and it's faithful to be the enemy rather than the lost sheep of God. Instead of offering compassion to a people who have been fooled into believing devilish lies about God's nature and their own we offer them a sword.

I'm brokenhearted that we are foolish and arrogant enough to disbelieve that "there but for the Grace of God go I".

I'm brokenhearted that in the post-racial world of Obama the Evangelical Church is nearly 100% divided by skin colour. "They are yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight", but apparently not on Sunday mornings. I'm broken hearted that so many of my brethren consider neighbourhoods populated by blacks and Hispanics as "ghettos". There are no outcasts in God's eyes.

I'm brokenhearted for our system of Capitalism which cares for nothing more than to cash in with increasing rapidity on our two most important sources of wealth: our environment and our education.

I'm utterly bewildered that proposals for even the slightest bit of conservation of the use of these Capital goods is met with the loudest protest from those who call themselves Conservatives. There is no wealth apart from God's creation and an understanding of His universe...if we use it all up in our pursuit of pleasure what will we have left?

I'm brokenhearted for our TV and entertainment news generation. CNN, FOX News, and the like don't report facts. They present entertainment based on current events ... and we are too uneducated and illiterate to know the difference.

I'm brokenhearted that only in America's Capitalist economy could pornography become a billion dollar industry capturing millions of us in sexual slavery and addiction.

I'm brokenhearted that we deem stewardship of God's green earth unworthy of self-sacrifice. Are cheap goods, cheap, unsustainable and bland processed food, distance from our neighbours, driving 30 minutes to work and back, full time AC/Heat really worth destroying God's magnificent creation for?

I'm brokenhearted that addiction is either treated as a disease or a moral quandary, but not both and sometimes neither. Addiction, is slavery and a first class Hell. What could be more loving then to help our addicted neighbours fight the demons, the genetics, and the chemistry of addiction?

I'm brokenhearted that we lock our addicts, and our mentally retarded in prisons.

I'm brokenhearted that we can so easily separate sexuality, family, relationship, commitment and responsibility from pleasure.

I'm brokenhearted that it's much easier for us to throw our problems in a landfill, a grave, or an incinerator than to properly deal with them. Just as we throw unwanted packaging, broken toys and items which fail to serve us into the landfill so do we with unwanted and unborn babies, the elderly, criminals, the mentally retarded and those otherwise incapable of providing for themselves.

I'm brokenhearted that we so often choose "necessary evils" and the "lesser of two evils". When will we start choosing "the better of two goods" and "unnecessary goods"?

I'm brokenhearted for those who feel such a great sense of entitlement. Neither the poor nor the wealthy, the stupid nor the intelligent, the lazy nor the hard working deserve the good life. It is only the Lord who in His mercy sent us his only Son to die as propitiation for our sins who gives to us freely from His abundance.

I'm brokenhearted that there are hundreds of thousands of children that go hungry all summer long in every major US city because there is no school in session to provide the one meal a day they usually have... free lunch.

I'm brokenhearted that while the poor in this country do have things like TV and air conditioning, the citizens in other less fortunate countries can only expect to live to about 40 years for a lack of nutrition and basic medical care.

I'm brokenhearted because a company can unleash millions of gallons of toxic waste into the environment and pillage it to the brink of destruction while the CEO plays golf with his buddies.

I'm brokenhearted that in this day and age we'd rather be friends on Facebook then friends who have face to face conversations at a favourite coffee shop. I guess that might make me a latte liberal though...

I'm brokenhearted and confused about the reality of our country and our world. But I'm also proud of my country and its many significant accomplishments. Starting with my prayers (and maybe yours too) our pleas will not go unheard by the God of the Universe. He's already done so much for us... how much more will He do?

Posted in Green, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Utopian Politic | 1 Comment »

The importance of Cultural Norms

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Body Odor Cartoon

Whether we believe it or not, cultural norms play a big part in our daily actions. They can determine seemingly inconsequential things like who goes first through a stop signed intersection when two people get there at the same time.  You know the hand wave, the light blink... etc... the polite wave that's really more like a condescending "See I'm being the bigger person here and letting you go first" wave.)

Sometimes cultural norms have large consequences which seem trivial. Body odor is one of those seemingly inconsequential topics. In America the very idea of your own body producing an odor that can be smelled by anyone at any minute distance is absolutely terrifying and repulsive.

Scientists believe that BO has some very important roles to play including sexual attraction and the health of our future children!

Sweat is also a way for you to eliminate toxins.  Amazingly the under arm is one of the largest concentrations of sweat+lymph glands. It's a central elmination point.

Perhaps BO then is one of our body's way of communicating to you about your inner health (bad BO = more toxins, good BO=less toxins).

And yet nillions of dollars, trillions of gallons of clean fresh drinkable water, and countless productive hours have been spent on this one chore.  It's such a powerful norm that culturally we'd prefer to get Alzaheimer's disease and brain cancer[1] from the Aluminums in anti-perspirants than to smell like ourselves.

What other cultural norms do we as Americans have?  What do we consider taboo?  What do we consider holy?

How do these choices affect our communal health, our individual health and our environment?

Will anyone else join me in boycotting traditional deodorant and showering techniques? Anyone?  Anyone?

  1. Aluminum, a neurotoxin which affects diverse metabolic reactions., Joshi, JG [↩]

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Tea-party bleh!

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Admittedly I've been a "small government conservative" in the past.  But I think I'm over it.

Especially with the craziness coming from such movements as the tea party who shout for an end to taxes without represenation (we already have representation) and the end to socialized medicine and etc.

And yet, my guess would be that not a single "small government conservative" has ever opted out of one single government service... *ahem*... entitlement.

Anyways, it's not a small government with no taxes that we need.  It's a functional government, with accountable representatives that we need and want.

It's high time that reason and grace were reintroduced to America.  Debate and public discourse needs to replace shouting, screaming and bully-pulpitting.  Forgiveness and cooperation should be our economic cornerstones.

And more than anything, we need to get out of our lifeboat-mentality.  There is more than enough room for everyone in the lifeboat of America.  Come one come all!

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What is wealth?

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

America is the wealthiest country on earth! (God bless her...)

or is she?

What is wealth?  Is it the having of goods?  Is it the having of large quantities of money?  Is it the having of unassailable security?

In part yes.

The real measure of wealth is having things which we value (regardless of the measure of value that others place on those same things).

Wealth is the thing that marketers infer that you'll have when you buy their products.

  • Free time
  • strong and functional friendships and familial relationships
  • well developed intellectual and physical capabilities
  • stability
  • psychological well being (i.e. freedom from fear, healed wounds, self-confidence, freedom from anxiety, freedom from uncontrollable anger ... freedom... Galations 5:1)
  • spiritual and philosophical understanding of who we are, what we were made for and where we are going
  • the having of adequate shelter
  • the having of nutritious food (not just something that fills our stomachs and stimulates our taste buds)
  • the having of functional things which help us obtain the above items
  • the having of non-functional things which give us pleasure solely in their beauty

Are we as a people wealthy?  Are you wealthy?  Do you even know what it means to be wealthy?  Will your 401k and your salary really give you what you want or will they be just another means to an end?

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The end is nigh

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Certain strains of Christianity believe that the world will come to an end (or at least the apocalyptic tribulation will begin) when the world again speaks only one language.

Regardless of your interpretation of the End Times scriptures it's pretty fascinating to know that in a round about way the world will be speaking in one language soon enough: information.

This article from CNN points out that both Google and IBM (and probably others) are working on universal translators which would translate any page in any language to any page in any language.

"Imagine what it would be like if there was a tool built into the search engine which translated my search query into every language and then searched the entire world's web sites," Google's vice president Marissa Mayer told the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper recently.

"And then invoked the translation software a second and third time -- to not only then present the results in your native language, but then translated those sites in full when you clicked through."

Finally... the world can search for Brittany Spears sans language barriers!

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One Variable Solutions

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Recently, a link to a video was sent to me which claimed that the "key to Swiss independence" (and happiness) was their.

  • Compulsory Military service
  • Compulsory sending home of high power rifles with the service men after their duty was over.

Aside from the fact that it seems that the Swiss hold military service to be a facet of citizenship, it is clear that the sender of such a video believes in a 1-variable solution to government policy and national happiness.  Namely that if Americans all had guns then Americans would be more free safe and secure.

It seems that more than anything American political culture is characterized by this love of 1-variable solutions which take on the form, if X policy was put in place, then Y, Z,Q, and T and S problem would also be solved.

For instance:

Conservatives - If everyone had a gun then there would be less violence, more prosperity and therefore less need for public health care options, therefore decreased immigration (both from the fact that they will be shot and because they wont get welfare when they get here), fewer jobs stolen from tax paying citizens, no unions, general happiness.

Liberals - If guns were made illegal then there would be less violence, more prosperity and therefore a publicly fundable health care option, increased legal immigration which would lead to a more diverse society with full employment for all in which workers had more power than capitalists and general happiness.

But the truth is, 1 variable solutions don't exist in the real world.  The Swiss not only encourage gun ownership, but they also compell military education.  They also have a highly educated population and happen to live in a geographically easily securable location.  They also fund public health care and maintain strict immigration control while taking part in the European Union.  Switzerland borders France and Italy as well... two extremely wealthy and highly educated countries.

There aren't any easy solutions in a globalized, industrialized society.  Even green energy isn't as simple as the fact that with less than 4% of the earth's surface we could power the world... it's true that that's all it would take landmass-wise.  But power consumption and production very rarely line up in a way that makes it easy to achieve.  And we surely couldn't lay down power cables from the Sahara desert to America...

The world is complex, and that's what makes it both wonderful and miserable.

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Free Market or big racket economy?

Monday, November 16th, 2009

I hate to complain on a blog but...

It is commonly held that in America we operate under a mostly free economy.  Free meaning the consumer can choose which good to buy based on her criterion and the producer is free to produce what she likes.  Our economy is held to be "mostly" free because we the people also hold certain products to be more important than others, so we subsidize them to achieve greater economies of scale ensuring that those goods will always be found in ready supply

I posit however that America does not have such a free economy.  I posit 3 points as evidence.

  1. Recently it slipped my mind that I had a credit card bill due.  We don't use it very often so it wasn't on my priority list.  And since this credit card had no "auto pay" feature I was late by 3 days. Thus I triggered an automatic "rate increase" from my previous 3.25% APR to the kindly rate of 29.65% !  What?! Seriously?!  My 5 year loyal customership meant nothing?  My only option was to pay the ridiculous interest rate or cancel the card.  Cancel I did.  If it was a free economy then the amount of pressure to keep me as a customer would be great enough that Capital One could not survive as a business without offering me more than the given two options of pay up or get out.  Instead they would be forced to assess a one time "late-fee" and only when my credit score changes could they move my interest rates upwards.
  2. The cellular phone industry is another good example of why our markets are not free.  The cellular phone industry has figured out how to 1.) lock people in to their service by assigning them huge penalties for leaving prior to the end of 2 year contracts 2.) sell "plans" which either provide excessive usage capacity (1400 minutes) or under capacity plans (700).  If you happen to have the misfortune of exceeding your minute usage then the cost per minute of usage goes up by a factor of 10 to 20.  Under a free market, prices must remain fairly liquid and transparent.  A free market economy would provide the ability for 1.) free transferance between services and 2.) more liquid pricing (i.e. 700, 800, 900, 1000.... etc.) minute plans.
  3. But perhaps the biggest example is that producers are not free to produce what they like and what they are best at.  How many producers and workers are employed at something they are both good at and enjoy?  How many workers have the freedom to take the day off to go look for another job?  How many folks have the freedom to change jobs and not worry about their health care benefits while they change jobs?  How many folks could balk at unreasonably low pay or poor working conditions in a serious enough way to affect a significant change in their working condition?  How many companies are producing top quality goods to meet an unmet demand...how many are producing goods simply to survive?

This is why I beleive that 1.) Credit card regulation 2.) Public option health care will provide a freer and more robust economy.  When the average consumer has choices then everybody prospers.

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So you want to start a revolution?

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

What's the best way to overthrow the current establisment and bring in a new way of doing things?

Arms?

Force?

Poetry?

Propaganda?

We should know well by now that all of the above will eventually overthrow an establishment with much blood, strife and turmoil.  But it will never bring in a new way of doing things.

Most revolution, war and even personal conflict revolves around one simple thing, wealth.

Side A has the coveted object (land, money, women, etc.) and Side B wants it.  Side B's desire of the coveted object only reinforces Side A's love for it.  The dispute grows and eventually the only resolution to the conflict seems to be for Side A and Side B to fight for it to the death or humiliation of the opponent.

But there's another means of settling the dispute which is often forgotten.  If by some means one could duplicate the coveted object, the wealth, then both parties would have nothing to squable over.  In fact, by duplicating the coveted objected you will have essentially removed it's value.

The real value in wealth (aside from basic nutrition and clothing) is not the good that it provides for the owner but rather the coveting of the neighbor it brings.  This coveting provides the owner with a sense of identity.   Thus it is the case that while Gold has nearly no practical value it has been the source of death and destruction between human beings for millenia.  To have gold in the middle of the desert means nothing.  To have Gold in society where everyone knows and respects you as the "haver of Gold" is very valuable!

And so it is that most revolutions simply shift wealth around.  Capitalist revolution says that the individual can "own" what they manage to get their hands on by whichever means is socially acceptable.   Socialist revolution takes the individual wealth, and by force spreads it around to others.  Totalitarian/Dictator revolutions are Capitalist revolutions without a broad social concensus to disallow the brutal activities of the dictator.  A Monarchy is also Capitalism mixed with some form of religious belief which helps to keep the king as the owner of all the goods in the society (the God's deem him the owner... who are we to argue with them?).

What would a truly revolutionary overthrow of the current institutions and powers be then?  It would be the institution of a rule of order in which wealth is created and freely used by all.  It's not communism... it's open source ism!  If we are all entitled to profit from the collective resources of the community, but none are entitled to own them then we have a group of people in which identity can not be found in what is owned.  Identity as found in what we own is and has been the rule of the day amongst humans since the dawn of time.

It's true that some resources are limited, oil will eventually run out.  But oil is not wealth because it has no value by itself unless it provides identity like Gold does.  Rather it is the automobile that is wealth because it can provide a needed service, transportation.

Just imagine if all facets of automotive technology were open source!  Seat belts wouldn't have taken 40 years to be standard equipment.  We'd have a readily available vehicle that got 500 miles to the gallon of Gasoline.  Everyone would have as many cars as were needed and they'd only cost what the raw input of materials cost.  And since iron and therefore steel is one of the most abundant elements on earth, it wouldn't be that much.

In other words, we'd have an incredibly wealthy and efficient society.  The downside is that few would be much wealthier than their neighbors.  The only differentiating factor between people in an open source world is each person's natural gifts and skills.

So you want to start a revolution?  Join the open-source movement.  The more wealth we can create that no one can own the rights to the better!

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