Archive for the ‘ The World ’ Category

Praising

In Plato’s symposium a group of men are having a discussion about love, they are taking turns around a circle each giving their praise to the god of love. The authors technique is that each character builds upon a foundation so that when Socrates finally speaks he can make a killer speech, kinda like the minor characters set it up, he knocks it down.

Right before Socrates is Agathon, and he makes a really good dedication with a general cheer coming up from the group.

Socrates know’s that his dedication to the god love is going to be killer and that it will blow everyone out of the water. But before he speaks and makes Agathon’s argument look like child’s play he praises Agathon. In an actually genuine way he makes Agathon feel good about his high quality thoughts (Even though he knows they are wrong). Socrates could have taken the easy route and said “Yeah, but… *insert how Agathon is completely wrong*” but he didn’t.

This may have been something that was part of ancient Greek culture (It might have been disgraceful to put someone else to shame). But these days it seems like if there is an opportunity to prove someone wrong people will jump on the chance to make the other person feel bad.

Socrates’s recognised that although he was better than Agathon, it wasn’t from a lack of trying. He was just in a completely different class. It is like a heavy-weight boxer recognising that a light-weights punch is actually really powerful for a light-weight, even though the heavy-weight could outdo him with ease.

I feel that if this virtue were practiced for a persons entire life, that person would be extremely likeable. But I think it is a trait that was lost centuries ago.

 

2012
11/06
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The World
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Meticulous Details

When I was in high school I used to get annoyed at my English teacher for analysing every single detail of every single book that we read. At the time I thought that authors wrote like I did, using something in their scene because it was the first thing that came to their mind. Since then I have changed my mind. The truly great books (and works of art) have every detail scrutinized to make sure that they have the greatest effect on the reader.

It’s probably one of the reasons why making art takes so long, it apparently took 3 years to sculpt Michelangelo’s David; which is insane. Can you imagine working full-time on a single project for 3 years?

This is why details are important, because if the work is good enough then it can be guaranteed that the creator has contemplated them. Making their interpretation important.

2012
11/03
CATEGORY
books
The World
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Context is everything

Early in Plato’s symposium it is suggested that a specific action in itself is neither good nor evil. But the context and intentions are what makes the action good or bad.

The interesting thing was that the action they were talking about, within today’s context, is always assumed to be evil.. an older man “loving” a young boy.

I guess this example shows a major cultural difference, but it did get me thinking.

What if every action shares this characteristic? What if no action in our world is inherently good or evil, but it is only when considered within a specific context that it becomes so.

So I thought through some of the things that are labelled as evil and tried to think of a context within which that they could be acceptable. To this I found it was particularly easy. Murder is acceptable for a soldier, there are wierd fetishes involving rape, robin hood was a hero for stealing…

I have heard somewhere with enough assumptions any action can be justified.

It is a wierd concept, that everything is dependent on the where and why aspects, and that universal truths don’t exist.

This is actually one of the reasons I hate watching the news. They strip the context out of every story to make it more entertaining.

Its just one of the reasons why you need to be careful about critiquing a situation using the “default” assumptions (Because these assumptions change a lot in different environments).

2012
11/02
CATEGORY
The World
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creativity and intelligence

I like to believe that these concepts don’t exist. Rather that the only important trait is experience (and practice).

If someone has experience in an activity that is socially defined as “creative” then they are described as creative, but a musician with no experience in painting is not very creative with a paintbrush.

Similarly someone with experience in “physics” will be labelled as smart but they may or may not be able to change a tire.

If you are a rookie and try something new but find that it doesn’t work, it is more likely to be human error rather than a bad idea. The more experienced you are with something, the more comfortable you get with you own ability and thus are able to know when something works or doesn’t.

This allows one to create things like music, mathematical proofs, computer programs etc. But it requires confidence in ones ability which can only come from experience.

What is known as intelligence might be simply defined as knowing lots of information. This definitely comes from experience.

That is why I don’t think humans can be creative or smart, we just get experience in area’s associated with these “labels”.

2012
10/29
CATEGORY
The World
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Being exhausted

One of the most crippling things about working full time is that you come home exhausted. There is no desire to do anything but lounge around and be unproductive, this is exactly why people fall into the rat race and/or wage slave paradigm. The basic cycle is as follows:

  • You get up in the morning, still sleepy and not completely rested and force yourself to get ready for work.
  • You go to work, contribute nothing towards your own self improvement.
  • You get home exhausted, and watch TV or some other pointless activity.
  • You go to sleep.

Obviously its a little more complicated than that (Work occasionally is a medium for self improvement), and weekends and holidays and jazz. But in essence you can’t break free, you live to work. It’s a terrible situation that many are faced with.

2012
10/24
CATEGORY
The World
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Don’t forget to bring a towel

I have been reading the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy series and have kinda become addicted to it. I don’t read novels too often but they really are amazing books.

My favourite character is Ford who spends his whole life hitch-hiking while writing articles for the guide (And going through crazy experiences as if they were nothing). But I especially love the idea that the most important item anyone can own is their towel. In their universe none of the crazy advanced gadgets or spaceships or technology is important. It is all disposable, but not their towel.

It draws a parallel to the real world. Not specifically towels, they are pretty useless as they are. But we have all this technology; Televisions, Cars, Computers etc.. and it is all disposable crap.

What is the most important item that exists? no clue. But the simple, cheap and common items do tend to be the most useful things around.

2012
10/23
CATEGORY
books
The World
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The brain measures time by events

A day is a day and a week is a week. In your memory however, a length of time changes depending on how much occurred in that time period.

If you spend a week flat out doing experiencing memorable moments then thinking back the week will seem like it lasted much longer than a week.

Alternatively, an uneventful year will speed past, mostly because there aren’t enough memorable events to reference.

Compare one person who lives outside their comfort zone their whole life. They experience so much and have so many memories that retrospectively their life seemed like it lasted an eternity. Another person works their whole life, living safely and cautiously. The years begin to blur together because they are all very similar.

The difference? when death approaches one of them will look back and feel their life came and went too quick. The other will say “That sucks but it doesn’t matter, life was getting exhausting anyway”.

2012
10/20
CATEGORY
Fitness
philosophy
The World
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Words are just words

Words can never be taken at face value, one must always consider the motivations behind the words, think about how the speaker is feeling and examine the context of a speakers statement.

For example I noticed a car for sale in the paper, it was really cheap and although I didn’t really want it, I probably could have resold it for more than what the guy was asking. However there was a condition in the ad “Call after 2pm”; so I called at 1.30pm to find the car had already been sold.

My mother immediately remarked “That doesn’t make sense, he said… blah blah” but she didn’t consider the motivations behind the words in the ad. The guy probably knew he would be swamped with calls and had stuff to do, but buyers called anyway and he was happy to be rid of the car quickly.

It just goes to show that people are complex and our statements aren’t reliable at the best of times. But they are consistently unreliable, meaning an intelligent person should factor this unreliability into their decisions. This is not to say that people aren’t trustworthy, most are, but miscommunications are common and we have to take responsibility for interpreting words correctly.

2012
09/26
CATEGORY
The World
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