The world is full of impersonal, ahuman forces. It is *also* full of humans.
*I* am one of the humans. Any assessment I have of the situation has to be biased because of that. This bias can be reasonable and appropriate; I find that it helps it to remain so to be conscious and deliberate about it.
Market forces exist and can be measured, much like tides. I-as-human can learn from the example of the possibly-mythical King Canute, and refrain from the foolishness of ordering the tides to retreat. If I don't like what the tides are doing, I-as-human can gather more humans and engineer a wall to hold them back.
Progress is a human-made abstraction, and is meaningless without an object: Progress *towards what*? *Goals* are human choices. I spent a lot of my time and energy working at setting good ones; took me half a century but I'm fairly pleased with my results.
We-*as-a-species* is an abstraction. *I* am an individual; I can speak as an *example* of my species, but not as its *representative*. I have received no such appointment.
Metaphors are tools. Craftsmen ruled by their tools do not generally do good work. Craftsmen who refuse to *use* their tools also do not generally do good work. Tools are to be used appropriately where they are instrumental in achieving the result the human exercising the craft desires.
I am, as you point out, really here. I'm *also* going to die. Don't like that (tried it once; it hurts a lot), but I'm not responsible for dying: when it's done with me, the Universe will let me know by killing me. No use wasting energy worrying about the inevitable.
I know what *my* primary goal is: To create an ultimate-to-me emergent social entity of which I can happily identify as a member. The words 'civilization', 'mie' (from Mandarin, translating roughly as 'uses our writing'), and 'meh' (from Mesopotamian, translating roughly as 'eats real food') have been proposed as labels for such an entity; none of them are dead-spot-on, but they'll collectively do as an arm-wave for the moment. The immediate *projects* I'm working on to *implement* that goal are five; I'll list 'em in my own LJ so as not to waste your space.
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branchandroot
Both/And
Date: 2014-08-19 04:17 pm (UTC)*I* am one of the humans. Any assessment I have of the situation has to be biased because of that. This bias can be reasonable and appropriate; I find that it helps it to remain so to be conscious and deliberate about it.
Market forces exist and can be measured, much like tides. I-as-human can learn from the example of the possibly-mythical King Canute, and refrain from the foolishness of ordering the tides to retreat. If I don't like what the tides are doing, I-as-human can gather more humans and engineer a wall to hold them back.
Progress is a human-made abstraction, and is meaningless without an object: Progress *towards what*? *Goals* are human choices. I spent a lot of my time and energy working at setting good ones; took me half a century but I'm fairly pleased with my results.
We-*as-a-species* is an abstraction. *I* am an individual; I can speak as an *example* of my species, but not as its *representative*. I have received no such appointment.
Metaphors are tools. Craftsmen ruled by their tools do not generally do good work. Craftsmen who refuse to *use* their tools also do not generally do good work. Tools are to be used appropriately where they are instrumental in achieving the result the human exercising the craft desires.
I am, as you point out, really here. I'm *also* going to die. Don't like that (tried it once; it hurts a lot), but I'm not responsible for dying: when it's done with me, the Universe will let me know by killing me. No use wasting energy worrying about the inevitable.
I know what *my* primary goal is: To create an ultimate-to-me emergent social entity of which I can happily identify as a member. The words 'civilization', 'mie' (from Mandarin, translating roughly as 'uses our writing'), and 'meh' (from Mesopotamian, translating roughly as 'eats real food') have been proposed as labels for such an entity; none of them are dead-spot-on, but they'll collectively do as an arm-wave for the moment. The immediate *projects* I'm working on to *implement* that goal are five; I'll list 'em in my own LJ so as not to waste your space.
So what's yours?
best,
Joel