The Old Philospher

Does "philosophy" mean "I love my sofa?"

This page has no advance index, although it needs one. Philosophically, this page resembles life: an unmapped jumble. Bumble through it. (Bumble in the Jumble? My apologies to Jethro Tull.)

What do we do?

• Will it work?
• Can we do it?
• What are its other effects?

TV

Televison has marvelous potential for informing us, but we realize little of that promise. TV is like a nationwide -- no, global -- system for distributing free food; all we need do is buy a food receiver. If we can tolerate small monochrome food, then receivers are quite inexpensive; if we prefer larger, more colorful food, then we pay more. In either case, food spills into our homes on demand, at any hour. Regrettably, almost everything we get is light beer and stale Twinkies.

In practice, most television programming exists to entice us to sit still and watch commercials.

Us and Them

Men may have unrealistic expectations of women. We seem to expect that -- simply because they are women -- they will act with consistent good-natured, compliant civility, even though we do otherwise. While women may in fact be fundamentally nicer than men, they are not (all) the ideal and unblemished creatures of our fantasies. Women are people; being people, none is perfect and some of them are jerks. Women seem to understand this about women. Judging by the number of apparently nice women married to obnoxious guys, women may not understand the same of men.

This reciprocal blindness may be good for everyone.

Race Relations - 1

I have something to say to black people and to white people. I have good news and bad news for both of you. You won't like it, but you may find it useful.

White folks first. I admit that I am a white man. I was born white and Southern; I can't change that. I grew up in Georgia (if I have grown up at all). I love the South; I don't plan to move.

White folks, listen up! I have bad news and good news about black folks. The bad news is: you can't run; you can't hide; they won't go away; and you can't kill them all.

The bad news is: there is no suburb so remote that black folks cannot move there; there is no club so exclusive that blacks cannot join; there is no restaurant so expensive that a black cannot afford to eat in it. The bad news is: we are going to have to learn to live with them.

The good news is: we can learn to live with them, and we will be better for doing so. The good news is that all this bad news is not so bad.

Black folks, I have news for you, too. Your ancestors suffered horrors and humiliations, probably at the hands of some of my ancestors. I cannot even imagine slavery; it gives me creeps and nightmares. I certainly cannot apologize enough to repair the hurt of centuries. No white man can.

The bad news is that we cannot undo the past evil that my people have done to yours.

The good news is: I am not my ancestors; today is not two hundred years ago; you are not a slave.

The bad news is that white men are not the current cause of all your problems, and we can't fix them all. Black culture has some severe problems that only black people can deal with.

The good news is that you can do it.

Later note: Although I mean the above as encouragement, some black readers may find it obnoxiously patronizing. You know you can do it, and you don't need me to tell you! And God knows that white culture has severe problems, too. My point -- I think -- is that we all have more or less the same problems; let's work on our problems instead of blaming each other.

Infoculture

According to a fellow where I used to work, businesses ought to consider information as food. "We should be cultivating it," he said, "but most of us are still hunter-gatherers."

Naked Truth

Why is clothing a nearly universal cultural invention?

Protection

In many climes, we wear clothes because we would otherwise freeze. I suspect this to be the original necessity. As mankind spread from its tropic home, we adopted skins and fibers to insulate us in place of our vestigial hair.

Ornament

Clothing gives us a flamboyant and varied canvas on which to paint our personal advertisements. Without clothes, restricted to our natural exteriors, we speak in a monotonous "flesh-colored" visual language. With clothes, we can show or suggest nearly anything.

Control

Clothing can suppress overt and unintended sexual display. Clothing in this usage may be a social necessity. We can more easily tolerate each other's presence to common social good without the distracting visiblility of secondary sexual characteristics! Think of it, guys: can you really get any work done at the beach?

Deception (or compassion)

Many of us look a good deal better wearing clothes than without them.

See Allison Lurie's The Language of Clothes.

Truths, and nothing but the truths

Literal

Physical, "absolute" truth. True for all people, in all places, at all times, like physical law.

Statistical

Generalities; accurate in describing a population, but not equally true for all individuals in that group; cliches.

Metaphoric

Not necessarily literal truth, but illuminative or indicative of truth; parables, fables.

We may consider Subjective truth as a fourth class of truth, although I am not entirely comfortable with that label. Regardless of whether our beliefs are literally, statistically, or metaphorically true or false, we regard them as true; we act as though they are true.

Litteracy

The discarded crap decorating our streets has arrived there by a combination of negligent acts. We tend to blame trash on the end-discarder, but it is also the fault of merchants who sell disposable junk. Nominally they promote cleanliness and order with admonitions to "dispose of waste properly;" in practice, by their actions, they encourage waste and irresponsibility. With every Gonzo Burger, McWendy's sells the idea that Earth's resources are plentiful, cheap and disposable. With every Super Soda, Burger Queen tells us to guzzle as much as we want and throw away the leftovers.

Race Relations - 2

When you ask me, "Are you prejudiced?" what do you mean?

Do you mean: "Do you hate black people simply because they are black?"

No, I do not.

Do you mean: "Do you believe that blacks are genetically inferior to whites?"

No, I do not.

Am I prejudiced? You bet! I am a human, normal in some ways; I have human prejudices. I judge people by their appearance, not by their acts. I leap to judgement before I see evidence. But do I believe that blacks are irredeemable subhumans?

No way!

I believe that if we begin with healthy babies: black, white, red, yellow, or any other color; if we raise them with equal love, nourishment, nurture, education, and society; then black babies have equal chance of growing into healthy, sane, socially useful adults. If a disproportionate number of blacks seem degenerate parasites, then we should not condemn blacks as a group; rather, we should ask ourselves "Why?" What do blacks experience more than whites to so degrade them? If blacks grow antisocial, what are we as a society doing to make them so? Understanding these answers will help not only blacks but all of us.

Eternal whatever

The price of freedom is not
eternal vigilance;
the price of freedom is
eternal responsibility.

Civilization

Why do we associate? What do we gain by forming social groups? Why don't we live as singles, pairs, or families, apart from other humans? A practical answer is that society offers survival advantages: we can do better, larger things together than we can alone.

Restraint

Don't annoy your neighbors by obnoxious behavior

Tolerance

When your neighbors annoy you, don't kill them

The playing fields of Eton

Competetive sport is ritual combat. This is nowhere more visible than in boxing and football. Boxing is simple personal combat constrained to rudest weapons; football is stylized war, plain territorial conquest. Fencing is a duel; javelin, archery, and riflery are remote assault; polo is a cavalry raid; soccer is a street riot.

Voluntary Seduction

Market research leads many companies astray. Rather than investigate customers' needs and their products' deficiencies, marketeers ask variations on the question "How can we sell you more stuff?" Repeatedly asking the same questions about our subliminal desires, they receive the same answers: we like sugar, fat, and salt in our food; we prefer sex and violence in entertainment; we would rather not think or work too hard. Well no kidding, Sherlock!

Robotically responding, manufacturers offer irresistible junk food and junk culture. Piously they protest that it's not their fault when we grow fat and stupid. (Possibly it's not their fault, but certainly they're not helping us!) If corporate marketeers are merely "giving people what they want," how then are they different from drug dealers and pimps?

Anyone whose faith in market research remains strong, remember these words: New Coke.

Seeing the lamentable effect of market-driven commerce on literature, food, music, and film (not to mention politics), I suspect that profit should not control any culturally important enterprise.

Cosmic Debris

Perhaps one metaphysical conjecture is as good (or as unprovable) as another, but if mystic causes affect our physical world, then they must at some point connect to the world. We should be able partly to describe the worldly mechanism, to trace physical effects in our world to that point of cosmic connection. If we can't detect effects, then the cause may as well not exist.

Race Relations - 3

I don't think we should call ourselves "black" and "white". Those easy labels make us seem more different than we are. White is the color of bleached cotton, computer paper, or titanium oxide. Black is the color of new tires, night in a coal mine, or the sky a billion miles from Earth.

I'm not white; I'm more-or-less pink ("flesh" color). If people call you black, then you're probably not black but brown. I have a cat who is black, and even he looks brown in a strong light.

See, we're closer already.

Agreement

No independent data sources agree exactly.

Corollary: if data sources agree exactly, they are not independent.

Decades

Disenchanted with the 1990's? Disgusted with the Republican Congress? Tired of whining feminists, homosexuals, and welfare mothers? Fed up with George Bush, Dan Quayle, Bill Clinton, Howard Stern, O. J. Simpson, and Newt Gingrich? Doubtful that the Braves will win another World Series? Certain that Strom Thurmond will live forever?

There are no good old days! Or these are the good old days, but we don't know it yet!

Past, present, future

We cannot undo the past's mistakes. We can by today's actions improve tomorrow. We cannot remove our mistakes but we can learn from them. Time's arrow flies one way only; we can move only forward. We can build only on the ground beneath us. What we do now lays foundations for future works. Dig where you stand.

Circularity

History teaches contradictory lessons:

• To progress, we need goals
• Goals are illusory

Shift of perspective

I find that understanding usually comes not in revelation's lightning, but in a gentle rain of small epiphanies; not in a plate-shattering earthquake, but in a train of light tectonic jolts that accumulate to continental -- or conceptual -- drift.

One morning in breakfast line at McDonald's, I watched a young man ahead of me. He wore denim overalls in then-current fashion with one strap dangling and his baseball cap askew. He shuffled and jived; he joked loudly and crudely with his fellows. As I watched, it struck me that he dressed and acted in a manner that I identified as "black." He was in fact a pudgy white boy who looked like he should drive a Ford truck and chew Red Man. Visual dissonance, for sure.

We seem to find obscure reasons to hate each other. From my remote perspective, I have a hard time distinguishing Bosnian from Serb, Tutsi from Hutu, Contra from Sandinista, Israeli Sabra from Palestinian Arab, or Irish Catholic from Irish Protestant. Often I cannot on sight differentiate Republican from Democrat. We think that we see obvious differences between black and white people; however, the sight of a white kid "acting black" implies that even those differences are mostly cultural.

There goes the neighborhood

Our human nature is no worse than in previous times; rather, our nature has not improved and there are more of us now than ever before. In the short term, we are too successful at reproduction and survival for our long-term good. Deserts spread in Africa in part because settled peoples destroy trees for housing, fuel, and cropland. A similar thing seems to have happened to Mayan civilization in Central America, and is now occurring in the Amazon basin. A few years ago, an article in Scientific American reported that evidence of periodic erosion (stream siltation) correlates well with evidence of peak human habitation in prehistoric Greece. We have a long-standing habit of trashing our neighborhood.

In small numbers on a large planet, it doesn't much matter what we do. If I walk alone into the parking lot at Turner Field -- not on a game day -- and break wind (I would say "fart", but I'm trying to be polite.), then who will care? Except me, who will know? However, if 20 friends crowded into one room of my house all simultaneously break wind, we will all know and we won't like it. Density constrains behavior.

Our options seem to be:

• Reduce our numbers
  or
• Change our behavior
  or
• Pray for divine intervention
  or
• Degrade the world

Knowing what you don't know

All non-trivial decisions (anything that actually requires a decision) are based on incomplete data.

According to Harry Hess, geologists make better intelligence analysts than mathematicians, physicists, or chemists because geologists are accustomed to making decisions on fragmentary and contradictory evidence.

Philosobits
(Attack of the Philosoraptor)

Everyone is wrong about something.

Results come less from the tools we use; results come more from how we use our tools, and the work for which we use them. It's not what you have; it's how you use it.

The only disadvantage in doing something right the first time is that few people appreciate how difficult it was.

A body changes velocity only when acted upon by unbalanced forces. If no force pushes us, we don't move.

The world is not perverse, but it is complex and often obscure.

There are not two sides to every questions; usually, there are at least a dozen.

No act has only one effect; no event has only one cause.

Learning requires mistakes. The strongest impediment to learning is fear: fear of failure, fear of ridicule, fear of making mistakes.

It's damned difficult to repair a broken thing if you don't understand how it works when it's not broken.

Any honest classification system includes the categories "Other" and "Unknown."

People act like they know what they are doing; I was greatly comforted when I understood that mostly they don't.

In growing-up, we become progressively more aware of the world beyond ourselves.

The Classical idea that "Man is the measure of all things" has some validity if man is doing the measuring. Perhaps on Mars, Martians are the measure.

To the continuing debate over heredity vs. environment, I wish definitively to add "I don't know," "It depends," and "Both."

Against popular wisdom, you don't always get what you pay for. While it is difficult to get more than you pay for, it is easy to get less.

We always have more demands on time, money, energy, than resources to satisfy those demands. We can't possibly do everything. Rather than rise to meet all demands, we need to select. Much of what we are asked to do is not worth doing.

Assuming that what we do is worth doing, it is seldom a mistake to do it efficiently.

Politeness costs us little and returns much; however, politeness to fools is difficult.

Flowers evolved to take advantage of bugs. If we did not have bugs, we would not have flowers. Thank the next insect you see.

How we are, and how we got that way

We gotta do it!

We are a compulsive species. We feel strong pressure to repeat pleasant, stimulating experiences; we try to avoid discomfort, boredom, and pain. The stronger and briefer the sensation, the more intense our compulsion.

Addiction occurs when rewards of compulsive behavior stimulate us to repeat that behavior. It's a closed, self-reinforcing loop, the nearest thing we have to perpetual motion. Repetition dulls initial thrills; each time, we seek stronger sensations; more is never enough. We are all potential addicts.

We mammals feel strong compulsion to reproduce. We're good at it; look at how many of us there are! Perhaps we carry this trait because in days past when predators, foes, disaster, and disease ravaged our tribe, those who reproduced compulsively tended to survive in greater numbers. If so, then by natural selection we are obsessed with sex.

Generally, compulsive traits persist because they have survival value. (As a statistical generality, not true in every case.) Compulsive behavior gets things done. Hyper-compulsive behavior -- obssession, addiction -- can be a problem because:

• Stimuli that give us a short-term buzz probably have bad effects in the long term.
• Obsessions distract us from the mundane but necessary and desirable business of life.

Finding the way

Some see the world as a constrained road with well-defined lanes and turns, leading from point A to point B. Others see it as a web of paths that ultimately connects all points; to them, exact instructions have less meaning than a general orientation and a sense of where their destination lies. Some want clear directions: go here; turn there. Others prefer maps and opportunity to ramble.

The Ancient Greeks were Right (Sort-of)

On the face of it

We respond to most stimuli by emotion rather by reason. Our rational faculties serve mostly to to organize our emotions, and categorize events into emotionally recognizeable patterns.

Features on a human face excite our emotional responses. A face suggests the emotional state of its bearer, and his probable actions toward us; however, other influences may shape a face. Heredity gives us features molded by our ancestors' lives; accident or disease may scar and distort a face; sun, cold, and wind may coarsen it. Such incidentally arranged features convey emotions not held by the person behind the face; they may excite in us responses not appropriate to the face-bearer's intent.

If Northern-European Caucasians tend to live together with less conflict than some other human groups -- and I don't know that this can be demonstrated -- then our bland faces may prove a major but superficial cause. Perhaps we prosper not because we are innately better or nicer, but because we look less scary. While our hearts may be as black as those of any other group, our white and non-threatening faces comfort us to fellowship and cooperation. The roots of European civilization may lie only a little more than skin-deep, as plain as the (long) nose on our collective pale face.

Roots of Medicine

Medical culture seems to have evolved from the Catholic Church. This makes sense when you consider that the Church acted for hundreds of years as a repository of knowledge, cared for the sick, operated hospitals and sanctuaries. Medicine, although technically advanced, retains habits and symbols of the Church. Think about this:

• Why do nurses wear severe plain white uniforms and starched, folded caps? Because once nurses were nuns.
• Why do doctors wear long gowns, and why do we treat them with such reverence? Because doctors used to be priests.
• Why does medicine use ritual latin? It's the historic language of the Church.
• Why is medical knowledge -- some of which is straightforward -- shrouded in mystery? These are secrets of the order.
• Why does medicine demand such toil and self-denial from its practicioners? It's holy work.
• Why do medical organizations exhibit rigid hierarchies, authoritarian administration, and hidebound intransigence? Because they descended from Church bureaucracy.

This almost qualifies as conspiracy theory; however, I see it as history, not conspiracy. Also, I think most medical people are not aware of their profession's parentage. Maybe it's an unconcious super-conspiracy. (See Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.)

To be fair, we must acknowledge that Medicine shares this Churchly heritage and historic baggage with Education and Science, generally.

The White (and Black and Brown and Yellow and Red) Man's Burden

Males are nearly irrelevant.

Life's purpose is to make more life. In this pursuit, females are the major actors. We males are useful accessories; our functions are to fertilize eggs and to help progeny survive to reproductive age. The gaudy accoutrements of maleness serve to persuade females that a given male is fit for his task. At a deep practical and instinctive level, a male human is important to a female human mostly because he has a supply of gametes and an income. Although this offends our manly pride, it is none the less true. Men are adjuncts to women's work; we are otherwise useless, and we know it. Distinctly "male" pursuits (e.g. sports, war, exploration, politics) serve to distract us from our lack of other purpose. Male efforts to subordinate and oppress women are at heart attempts to deny their importance and inflate ours.

Women live to reproduce. Reproduction is important to men, but to women it is essential. Women do:

• All the physical work of reproduction (Aptly we call childbearing "labor".)
• Most nurturing and teaching of offspring
• Most food procurement and preparation
• Most domestic maintenance

"Courting" is an extended set of negotiations for opportunity to reproduce. Therein, a male tries to persuade a female that he has resources and stability to raise offspring, while a female tries to make him comfortable with that obligation.

Being complex primates, we hide all this under intricate social camouflage; however, truth -- a strong and ancient beast -- lurks at depth.

Fate of Earth

Earth probably will survive mankind. If Earth -- and life on Earth -- survived the event that extinguished dinosaurs and most other large life at the end of Cretaceous time, then probably it will survive our best or worst efforts. The Cretaceous ended about 65 million years ago. Astrophysicists estimate that our sun will flare and incinerate Earth in about 4 or 5 billion years, a period about as long as Earth has now existed. If tomorrow we annihilate everything more complex than moss, Earth should recover easily before toasting time. We are not likely to destroy Earth, but we could easily destroy ourselves. Certainly, we could damage Earth enough to make our lives miserable.

Some of us believe that God created Earth and all life on it by His own hand in six days. Others of us believe that Earth -- and life -- in essence created itself by natural processes during 4.5 billion years. In either case, we did not create Earth or life. If we destroy either, we cannot restore it.

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