Hope Wells prefers light to dark, ambiguity to certainty, three to two (or rather, more often, five to four).
children on a summer beach.
It is easier and cleaner to care about others than it is to care about yourself. But the only way to care for others is to encourage them to care for themselves. It is this contradiction that keeps me awake during the day. And, no, it is not an eternal paradox, which case it wouldn't be a contradiction, but rather, you guessed it, a paradox. This particular one is only temporal. These two terms must not be confused.
Quantum physics, displacement of air, the nature of understanding, the separation of self from other, the possibility that choice theory is all bullshit, and the nature of bullshit
making fudge.
(This white box is so alluring...filled with the exciting nothingness that will bear me wonderful lessons.)
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A comment on Conversation: Is the increased occupation of earth's less-livable terrain a productive endeavor?
The biggest question that comes to my mind when I hear this sort of "OMG I LOVE THE FUTURE, GUYS" talk is "What is the point?" If I didn't know any better, I would think that Fahad Al-Attiya really believes it when he says, "We want to live forever." No, he does! Isn't that what we're hoping science will bring us, in the end? A way to not die? So that if, a hundred years ago, you would die in the desert in Qatar, now you're alive and well and having an architect design your house. Score! And we've already added twenty-eight years on! Sweeeeeet! Let's just keep going. Why not have a life expectancy of 100? Or 150? No need to give in to pesky Nature. Just R&D some cool technology to upload your brain to a machine.
We collectively have a bias against any sort of tribal or nomadic way of life, because we see it as sub-par ... you die at fifty, and you had to work for your food, and there were no cool gadgets to play with. Bummer. But I argue that perhaps the mental health of the people who recently became citified in Qatar is what is actually sub-par. If your choices are modernity and its absolutely inescapable alienation or living with a group of people whom you know and care for very dearly ... maybe choose the latter. What's an extra 28 years of misery?
A reply on Talk: Colin Powell: Kids need structure
Quickly, one thing that is specifically misguided in this talk is the idea that all structure is the same, and good. But a child's family giving him structure is remarkably different from a state's giving him structure. Oh, also, the US has the highest incarceration rate, I would argue, not because we raise our children poorly but because we have unjust laws.
A reply on Talk: Bruce Feiler: The council of dads
What takes away from Mr. Feiler's message is the fact that he made money on it later ... that the Council of Dads (the modern version of "all hands on deck, come on now, people," which, as he pointed out, failed) became a book, a national "thing," a part of the alienating Spectacle, talked about in Time and USA Weekend, publications which are fueled by advertising for products that make their producers money. This strips away its power. Gaining such respect for life and then deferring to the money game seems a bit, well, disrespectful of life.