It's only Make Believe
The planet's only now becoming able to support life
again.
So the Talosians who came underground found life
limited here, and they concentrated on developing their
mental power.
But they found it's a trap, like a narcotic. Because
when dreams become more important than reality, you
give up travel, building, creating.
You even forget how to repair... the machines left
behind by your ancestors.
You just sit, living and reliving other lives... left
behind in the thought record.
Star Trek - The Cage
I quite often have to teach and explain computer concepts
in my current job. That's not what my job is, but it has become
"part of the territory" as the saying goes. I am not an administrator.
I am a technician - of sorts. I maintain the DNS system and
various Unix boxes. I am one of only two people in my
department that is familiar enough with the ins and outs of Unix
to do this. When I leave, the department I work for will likely
not replace me. You see most people who have the experience
that I have would want much more that the Univ. would be
willing to pay. And there are fewer and fewer of these people.
Of late I have noticed a rather disturbing trend. A trend not
just in out country or society, but in humanity - for lack of a
better term.
More and more of our time, effort and resources is being
channeled toward entertainment and distractions.
Cell Phones, iPods, High definition TV, surround sound,
movie special effects. Items that will let you sing like any
anyone you choose. Whether you can sing or not. Fantasy
computer games that let you fight (and win) any battle you
wish. You can even pretend you are part of a great rock
band without even having to know how to play the guitar.
And we repeat and replay the music of the past instead
of coming up the anything new.
Remake movies and even TV shows.
And less and less is being put toward the exploration and
and development of new forms of transportation, energy,
living environments and food resources.In stead of putting
energy into exploring space we make movies about how
we would like to explore space. I began this post with
a quote from Star Trek. Unless we commit to actually
inventing the means to really be able do to so, all we will
have are TV shows and movies.
Time and resources being used for illusion. The illusion of
wealth, the illusion of health, the illusion of...happiness.
Illusion carries no risk but yields no benefits. Creates nothing
and improves nothing. There is no growth.
We get on the illusionary virtual cyberspace and pretend we
are doing something useful by moving bits of data around.
We write about wanting to change the world and how we
are going to do it. But few are willing to take the risk or put
forth any effort, outside of writing, to bring it about.
It's easy and safe. But without growth and advancement.
And when you stop growing, you stop living and eventually
die.
C
again.
So the Talosians who came underground found life
limited here, and they concentrated on developing their
mental power.
But they found it's a trap, like a narcotic. Because
when dreams become more important than reality, you
give up travel, building, creating.
You even forget how to repair... the machines left
behind by your ancestors.
You just sit, living and reliving other lives... left
behind in the thought record.
Star Trek - The Cage
I quite often have to teach and explain computer concepts
in my current job. That's not what my job is, but it has become
"part of the territory" as the saying goes. I am not an administrator.
I am a technician - of sorts. I maintain the DNS system and
various Unix boxes. I am one of only two people in my
department that is familiar enough with the ins and outs of Unix
to do this. When I leave, the department I work for will likely
not replace me. You see most people who have the experience
that I have would want much more that the Univ. would be
willing to pay. And there are fewer and fewer of these people.
Of late I have noticed a rather disturbing trend. A trend not
just in out country or society, but in humanity - for lack of a
better term.
More and more of our time, effort and resources is being
channeled toward entertainment and distractions.
Cell Phones, iPods, High definition TV, surround sound,
movie special effects. Items that will let you sing like any
anyone you choose. Whether you can sing or not. Fantasy
computer games that let you fight (and win) any battle you
wish. You can even pretend you are part of a great rock
band without even having to know how to play the guitar.
And we repeat and replay the music of the past instead
of coming up the anything new.
Remake movies and even TV shows.
And less and less is being put toward the exploration and
and development of new forms of transportation, energy,
living environments and food resources.In stead of putting
energy into exploring space we make movies about how
we would like to explore space. I began this post with
a quote from Star Trek. Unless we commit to actually
inventing the means to really be able do to so, all we will
have are TV shows and movies.
Time and resources being used for illusion. The illusion of
wealth, the illusion of health, the illusion of...happiness.
Illusion carries no risk but yields no benefits. Creates nothing
and improves nothing. There is no growth.
We get on the illusionary virtual cyberspace and pretend we
are doing something useful by moving bits of data around.
We write about wanting to change the world and how we
are going to do it. But few are willing to take the risk or put
forth any effort, outside of writing, to bring it about.
It's easy and safe. But without growth and advancement.
And when you stop growing, you stop living and eventually
die.
C
Advertisement
hahaha. I remember that song. I always hated it if the truth be known.
THERE IS A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS ARRIVING C. It I do not need the thousands of notecards and yellow pad pages to write a book anymore. Like Bugliosi and others still do.
You must KNOW SOFTWARE however so that you have the virtual cards and yellow pages of course. Otherwise you are merely part of the audience.
Great blog.
October 5, 2009 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is a trend, indeed, Chris.
At my work, not only do people spend a few hours on the internet 'fooling around' they justify it.
I don't do that. Maybe I ought to. What amazes me is that in spite of all that, we are more productive, or maybe, it's the few supporting the many.
I don't know. I just sometimes wish there were less machines and more jobs. I think things were better when there were.
October 5, 2009 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Bwak I think the first time this hit me, as it were, was when he ham radio magazine I get for belonging to the American Radio Relay League started having a glossary in the back explaining the terms used in the article.
To get a ham license requires that you pass a fairly involved technical test. But it seems that people are learning the test rather than the subject matter.
And then a Ham Radio store I go to had to put up a sign that said "Not knowing how to operate the equipment is not a reason to return it."
I could not believe it. That they would even have to do that.
To be direct..we are generating a great number of idiots with degrees.....sigh.
C
October 5, 2009 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is it maybe people who feel they are entitled to certain things?
October 5, 2009 9:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
No...I thinks it's people to lazy to learn. The have been spoon fed everything all their lives and never had to dig for anything.
C
October 5, 2009 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
But this is what we’re teaching in schools. Learn what you need to pass the test, and don’t bother with anything else. Teach what they need to pass the test and don’t bother with anything else. So why would anybody think they should bother with anything else?
I remember my most disillusioning semester in college. I took an extra course pass/fail so I wouldn’t have to put too much effort into it but could learn a bit about the subject. So I would read the book, jot down quotes that sounded cute for the paper on the book while reading it, number the quotes in an order that seemed to make some sense, sit down at the typewriter and type an introduction, then string all those quotes together with bridging sentences, then type a conclusion and the required footnotes (those footnotes were very important for grades, hence the need for actual quotes). Didn’t learn a thing doing it. Got straight A’s on all the papers and would have gotten an A in the class except it was a Pass instead so it didn’t help my grade point average. All the classes where I actually put in some effort and learned something, my grades were lower. (And yes, I said typewriter - I was one of the lucky few who had a manual typewriter inherited from my mother, which should give you an idea this was some time ago.)
October 6, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well I know for myself, at any rate, that I rarely learned much - if anything - in a class that was easy.
I remember taking assembler language programming (on an IBM mainframe) and getting a D in the course. I also learned a lot and eventually became very proficient at it.
C
October 6, 2009 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
There was a movie, "Before Sunrise" (by Richard Linklater) wherein the main character (male - played by Ethan Hawke) says something like:
'You never hear somebody say, "With all the time I've saved using my word processor, I think I'm going to take 3 months off.".'
I'm sure people do use the internet at work (I'm doing it right now - but I own the joint, so...)... My employees do use it a little bit...
And I realize that this is productive time they could be using...
But part of me understands the need for them to decompress a little bit.
It's true. Computers have really create an environment where we can do a LOT more work than we'd ever done before... And that's just what we do!!! WORK!
I pretty much think these computer thingies were a trap. I think most of us willingly jumped right in not knowing what we were getting into... You know?
October 6, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sometime I fear I'm too wrapped up in entertainment.
October 5, 2009 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bondage is soooooo 1990
October 5, 2009 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's funny - say something else!
October 5, 2009 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Something else
October 5, 2009 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmm, where's my remote?
October 6, 2009 8:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
But dreams are so lucrative. ROI far exceeds that of actual space exploration, (at least in the short run - is there any other run?). Is this where capitalism hits the wall, it's very own anaerobic threshold? Rec.
October 6, 2009 1:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sometimes it seems that to the most radical thing one can do is simply to be fully present in the moment.
Breathe.
October 6, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Herbert Blau wrote: "We may live in anonymous structure of production that, in commodified behavior, reproduces desire, but among the factors of quality control is the matter of improving the fabric of our illusions. Provisional as they may be, and fragile under duress, some illusions activate, while others disempower."
The illusions that tend to be pushed upon us, and which we embrace, are those that disempower, take us out of the game. But in a sense we can think that the desire for a better world, for social justice, and a healthier planet must find a target in some illusion in order for it to propel us toward action. A necessary fiction.
October 6, 2009 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.dalealplay.com/informaciondecontenido.php?con=92136
It was a pretty picture
It almost made me cry
He's got Big imagination
It's better than real life
He can be a macho man
And now he's a game show host
Well one minute hilarious comedian
Now he's an undercover cop
Say
Oh - let the poor boy dream
Oh - livin' make-believe
So how can we be strangers
He's got no personality
It's just a clever imitation
Of the people on TV
A line for every situation
He's learnin' trivia and tricks
Havin' sex and eatin' cereal
Wearin' jeans and smokin' cigarettes now
Oh - let the poor boy dream
Oh - livin' make-believe
Oh - let the poor boy dream
Oh - livin' make-believe
I can be you and you can be me
In my mundo, todo el mundo
Everyone's happy and everyone's free
Todo mundo, mundo mambo
Here in my mundo where nothing is wrong
Todo mundo, in my mundo
I'm a lady and you are a man
Mundo mambo, todo el mundo
Oh - let the poor boy dream
Oh - livin' make-believe
In my mundo, todo mundo
Mundo mambo, in my mundo
Todo el mundo, mundo mambo
Mundo mambo, Todo mundo
Oh - let the poor boy dream
Oh - livin' make-believe
Mundo mambo, todo el mundo
In my mundo, todo mundo
Todo el mundo, mundo mambo
In my mundo, mundo mambo
October 6, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
"One wonders whether a generation that demands instant satisfaction of all its needs and instant solution of the world's problems will produce anything of lasting value. Such a generation, even when equipped with the most modern technology, will be essentially primitive - it will stand in awe of nature, and submit to the tutelage of medicine men."
Eric Hoffer
October 6, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the Year 2525. I remember when that song came out. It got played to death on the radio. It hits hard the first time you hear it, and then after you hear it a number of times the impact is lost. I liked it a lot the first time, but it didn’t take too long for me to get so tired of it I changed the station. Basically, it turned the initially powerful message into what you’re criticizing here - mere entertainment.
Problem is, how do you get an important message across without turning it into entertainment, for people who are used to entertainment? How do you get people to stop and think when they’re used to constant motion? Constant audio-video stimulation?
October 6, 2009 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
it got played to death on the radio
The horror! How could you be so cruel as to remind me of that? I believe it took a decade to get it out of my head. :-)
October 6, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ever read "Brave New World" -Aldous Huxley ????
October 6, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
A long time ago. I also saw the movie, which was OK.
Soma
C
October 6, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's supposedly another Movie coming... by Ridley Scott (with Leonardo DiCaprio)...
Anyway... SOMA
Did you know that there is a fairly popular (ABUSED!) drug on the market called CARISOPRODOL.
It's a "Pro drug"... which means as it is, it's not much... but as it is metabolized in your body it turns into MEPROBAMATE.
Some of you may recognize Meprobamate... It's the active ingredient in MILTOWN or EQUANIL. Back in the 50's all the ladies just had to have their MILTOWN.
It's effects are similar to Valium (Diazepam)... Sorta goofy high... feel good... be happy... kind of thing.
Anyway...
The "BRAND NAME" for CARISOPRODOL is:
....wait for it....
SOMA
The drug companies HAD TO KNOW what they were doing when they named that drug.
Straight out of the 1930's novel "Brave New World". That was the name of the drug everybody (EVERYBODY) took in order to be "Happy".
Tell me big pharma ain't evil.
October 6, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately that is the case with the media. I can only think of a few cases where the message did not get lost in the entertainment. Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Morrow to name but two.
But with music and songs, such was the case with the Top 40 format. But it did entertain and the Rush and Savage and all the rest are only there because they are the last gasp of radio.
AM Radio station do by them selves make much money. Radio has become a niche format and as such can only be sold in a Walmart fashion.
C
October 6, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
In General, people prefer to adopt opinions instead of forming their own.
October 6, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink