18 hours ago: We can attempt to predict but prior attempts to do so have been notably inaccurate. We're also highly unlikely to account for the unintended consequences of our planning. "Try our best" - absolutely, but with a realistic view of where current market pressures are driving us. I suggest acknowledging current realities, identifying likely tipping points, and then maintaining a wide ranging flexibility as conditions dictate. We can use global warming as a point of reference. There is a general agreement that this is a significant life and death issue, however, very little of consequence has been implemented to combat it due to significant countervailing economic forces. I'm not suggesting that we should give up and go home, but rather that we should consider economic realities as well as idealistic goals.
3 days ago: Things are the way they are because a sufficient number of individuals are convinced that they represent the best solution to a perceived problem. The fact that you or I see things differently is of primary interest to ourselves and of little interest to those who have invested large chunks of their identifies in the status quo. Most of what we have to offer in exchange is a theoretical improvement which remains theoretical no matter how much passion we invest in that theory. What's necessary is practical evidence of a better way. While the "hundredth monkey" story may not be factual, I think it works well as a metaphor. You cannot change anyone else. You can only change yourself and others will respond or not based on their perception of whether or not your way is "better". When enough monkeys switch to your way of thinking, a new status quo will come into being. A status quo which will almost certainly need to be challenged almost immediately.
3 days ago: Is ignorance bliss? It might be. I don't mean "ignorance" in terms of education but rather an ignorance of choice. How aware are you of the almost limitless possibilities that life has to offer? Can you remain in blissful ignorance for a lifetime? There is something very appealing in that prospect. The breadth of choice that we have today is a a primary source of a generalized dissatisfaction which appears to infect a large portion of humanity.
Reality seems to be that life is complex whether you want it to be simple or not. A broad educational experience, whether in a formal college setting or in a self-designed exploration provides you with a greater potential to adapt as the complexity of life closes in on you.
Thoreau experimented with the simple life and it was very productive for him. Ultimately though, he left; "I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one." Make sure you have the ability to escape that small apartment if it turns into a prison cell.
3 days ago: The world is moving towards an inevitable homogenization sprinkled with pockets of "Disneyfication". The future will happen before we figure out how to manage it.
3 days ago: The success of an organization is almost incidental to the success of the individuals who comprise that organization. If the individuals are well suited to their responsibilities and excited about the potential to have a positive impact, then the organization will be successful by default. Organizations exist to serve the needs of individuals, not the other way around. To much time is spent in trying to re-engineer individuals to fit a need rather than in finding and developing the right individual to fulfill that need.
Mar 10 2013: The terms need to be defined. What does it mean to "exist" in this context? Economic loss in a macro or micro sense? "Debt" in terms of a financial, ethical or moral obligation? From the way you've asked the question and from the nature of your responses, it appears that you are much less interested in the question itself than in trying to provoke some sort of imaginary, preconceived response. Although I may have missed them, I haven't seen your promised counter-arguments presented in a clear, concise and cogent manner. What do you think and why?
Mar 4 2013: The ultimate delusion is that we can be objective and that this illusory objectivity gives us a special insight into "truth". We almost always act on the basis of our opinions rather than objective reality. I suggest that we keep this in mind when criticizing those who's opinions differ from our own.
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Reality seems to be that life is complex whether you want it to be simple or not. A broad educational experience, whether in a formal college setting or in a self-designed exploration provides you with a greater potential to adapt as the complexity of life closes in on you.
Thoreau experimented with the simple life and it was very productive for him. Ultimately though, he left; "I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one." Make sure you have the ability to escape that small apartment if it turns into a prison cell.
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