Tuesday, March 21, 2006

What are we? What do we know? What do we do? Do we care?

The “choice” to avoid thought

How much do we value our ability to think (introspectively)? Today, people spend free time being entertained by movies and TV. Often intentionally avoiding thinking too deeply.

The argument is that their work requires so much mental strain, that they need a break from it. But what great job do they have that they are constantly addressing the big questions?

Are we doing a disservice to the very trait that makes us human?

Fortunes are made in marketing & entertainment; our desires are catered to as if we were needy children, pacified by a toy or TV show. Our short term desires are easily manipulated. We are informed without dialogue or debate. Spoon fed.

Our own lives spent, watching other's live. Stuck in a society similar to that from the movie The Matrix, we believe we have free choice. But what kid wants to be the only one who missed the premier of the new hit show?

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Deceiving the public, at 11

I'm so sick of unnecessary polarization of issues.
There is something to be learned from synthesis, or exploration of the possible truths behind contentious ideas.

It's the media's fault. But they are just relying on their marketing staff, and everyone is evaluating the ratings. Do we benefit that much from watching conflict? Or are we just driven to it like a bloody car wreck on the side of the road?

I think moderators should do a little more to moderate the debate. I'm not saying that we shouldn't raise the big issues, or reveal the shocking statistics, just that it's nearly impossible to listen to a debate and come away learning anything new from it. Politicians appear to present directly contradictory statistics. I can't learn about the real issues or the policy arguments behind them. All I am left to do is make uninformed decisions, hold dogmatic positions, and side with the most attractive presenter.

True, the American judicial system is based on adversarial debate, with fact finding taking a secondary role, and some say it finds justice or equity.

BUT, media has a much different role than a trial lawyer does. I still hold the outdated belief that the media should inform, not just entertain. The media today is certainly doing a lot of subtle information trading . . . but most of it informs me of products that I wouldn't have known I needed.

Can we blame this all on human nature? Are just really like the neat boxes of pro and con? I don't think so. Go find your own examples, I’m already convinced. I would point to other cultures and religions, but I don't want to be accused of romanticizing. Music and literature seem to thrive in subtleties. Beauty is in the subtle more than the shocking and human learning is a slow accumulation, a building of concepts.

Regardless, what would we gain by throwing up our hands and calling polarization an inevitable human trait? Why should we place our faith in our weaknesses? It's not like putting faith in religion where you benefit from the belief.

I hope to learn in Torts II about the legal ramifications for dumbing down the nation in order to increase profits, then taking advantage of the public by coercing the purchasing of unnecessary things, which was ultimately made overseas by citizens do something productive.
Which brings me to my next question.

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Production

How do we survive if we don't produce anything? What is a service economy based on?

We have been moving in this direction for such a long time though, and the production of computers and things primarily marketed to the US... such services weren't necessary for the economy many years ago. Maybe the job shift will give rise to new American ingenuity to expand into a new basis for our economy. Anyway, we don't actually need to produce anything.

Maybe we just need to cycle money around. After all, what we produce now is so indirectly related to our basic human needs. They are really all comfort items at this point. And it’s not like the US is raking in money in the export/import business. We have managed to create technology that so efficiently addresses our real needs, that the American (consumer) economy is based on socially created desires! Wow!

Clearly, I have no facts or authority to verify any of this thought exploration. But now you'll have to ask yourself if you are really being "productive" at your desk, or if you are just cycling money.

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Property law insight

interesting thinking about how I might be discriminating under the law by not wanting to sublet my apartment to anyone but a fellow female grad student. I would feel more comfortable with a woman sleeping on my bed, than I would with a man or a couple. Plus I think women are more likely to treat my stuff respectfully. So I'm only returning phone calls of interested women. Odd that I'm defending discrimination.

Though of course, my continuing interest in my stuff and my apartment would mean that most courts would say this was permissible. But it's still discrimination... just on a permissible scale.

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