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#55468 03/12/08 10:32 AM
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journeyman
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This is a thread for me to use as a scratchpad for my project. The working title is:
'Toots Grand Unified Explanation of Why Everything is So Fupped Up and Can't Ever Be Fixed"

I had one of those amazing insights this morning as I awoke - you know the kind - and I got the big picture which immediately faded away. But I remember a little and I'm typing it here.

First, it seems to me that there are fundamental flaws in the intelligent design of homo sapiens. Without going into the technicalities, I'll just use a few examples to illustrate the point.

1. Jerry Springer's audiences (and the long line waiting to get in.)
2. George Bush is Presidebt of the USA - TWICE!
3. No one argues that Eliot Spitzer should be impeached if he won't resign.
4. Bush and Cheney, not even on the table.
5. alright - the rest is fading..... for now.

Working Hypotheses:
People respond to external stimulation in odd, quirky, and often self destructive ways, and are irrational just at the moment that being rational could actually be transformative.

There is a sort of 'Tower of Babble' effect that divides large groups into smaller groups, this years' politics has several examples. Think of the passion with which the Ron Paul fans supported their guy. That group could not get critical mass but it had extreme energy in a small group. If you visit Taylor Marsh's website and read the comments section, you will see what can only be described as a nuthouse.

OK. Enough for now.

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A better thread title: The World according to Toots

[Linked Image from i48.photobucket.com]


Contrarian, extraordinaire


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journeyman
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Actually, Rick, I hope it will be bigger than that - the Universe!

Along those lines, I think we all live in individualized Universes that interact on;y at the edges. There are strange forces - mostly mysterious (like dark matter or dark energy) - that effect all of us, but are perceived differently by each of us. We share a bafflement over why other people don't see things the way we see them. Sometimes it makes us angry and frustrated.

Geographically co-located individuals clump up and start to share a kind of loose or tight 'group-think', which gives rise to societies, cultures, and religions. When the groups bump against each other - the killing starts. 'Killing' is just one extreme expression of the conflict spectrum that ranges from a good-natured joke at someones expense on the one end to nuclear annihilation of the planet at the other extreme.

Note to self: Advertising people (and their groups - Ad firms, for one example - Political consultants, Public Relations firms, Political Strategists, Preachers, etc. are perhaps the most powerful forces acting on our individual and grouped Universes).

A specialized subgroup called Lobbyists concentrate their attention on influencing the most powerful 'grouped universes' and have an amplified highly-leveraged effect on the larger context in which all the individual universes and their groupings operate.

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Tragedy of the commons results when rational actors pursue their own best interests while disregarding the interests of others. No evil need be intended.

We all know best of course, and those who disagree with us, after a reasonable amount of time to correct their thinking, must be persuaded to agree, or at least stop disagreeing, by more effective methods.

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journeyman
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Successful Politicians play this milieu like a stradivarius, a honky-tonk piano, a washboard, or whatever instrument is appropriate to their district. They use certain shared 'musical' concepts (equivalent to key signature, crescendo, trill, chord, accidental) and usually favor a particular genre (equivalent to classical, country, rock, easy listening, rap, jazz, etc) and they know all the latest hits (crossover hits are especially useful).

So you can think of what gets said in a speech or an ad or a debate leading up to the primary in Missississippi in terms of what's gonna get the most people humming along with you.

Find the Hook!

[And as Carl Rove has discovered, all that is necessary is to play the tune that gets 50% + one to tap their toe on election day.]

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Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory

OK, therefore, simplist answer possible: People are generally morons. All of us.


sure, you can talk to god, but if you don't listen then what's the use? so, onward through the fog!
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Originally Posted by 2wins
Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory

OK, therefore, simplist answer possible: People are generally morons. All of us.

[Linked Image from savagechickens.com]


"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
(Philip K.Dick)

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journeyman
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Yes, 2wins, the bottom line is certainly 'moron', but the equation that gets us all there is rather complicated. My goal is to prove that the situation is entirely hopeless. This exercise is a complete waste of time, but if I am successful, I will prove that absolutely everything is a complete waste of time.

Which is, BTW, what makes your contribution so valuable.

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by toots sure
Yes, 2wins, the bottom line is certainly 'moron', but the equation that gets us all there is rather complicated. My goal is to prove that the situation is entirely hopeless. This exercise is a complete waste of time, but if I am successful, I will prove that absolutely everything is a complete waste of time.

Which is, BTW, what makes your contribution so valuable.

Thanks!

yes, well, thank you for validating the fact that, in essence, anything i have to say at this point is an exercise in futility and a waste of time. perhaps, however, one could simply acknowledge that because it is a waste of time, all one must do is nothing in an effort to achieve nirvana.


sure, you can talk to god, but if you don't listen then what's the use? so, onward through the fog!
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Perfect. You have grasped the general concept and adapted it to the reality in your own universe. I just realized that my little avatar is serendipitously illustrative of my little useless exercise. How kewl is that?

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