Views & Thoughts
View on Society: Natural High
Not a big rant today.
I basically had a great day yesterday. I wasn’t that productive, or active or anything for that matter. But after meeting a project partner for a cup of coffee, and visiting the gym with a good friend. My mood was just extraordinary. The only thing lacking was my girlfriend.
But really, nothing could destroy my mood and I had the feeling I could handle everything life could throw at me.
Of course, this morning, I slept through my alarm and arrived late at work..
Any of you have experience with this feeling? And if you do, what caused it?
View on society: We are all Liars
And it is the one thing keeping us together.
We are not designed to live in a dense city. We do not like only having a small amount of space to put our stuff (as George Carlin aptly calls it), and we certainly do not like for other people to stand in our way. Be it on the street, in a mall (where it is to be expected though) or even in a bar where we go to meet people. We are often annoyed by people we don’t know.
Which is exactly the reason why! We don’t know those people, but we share a living environment with them. I think we can safely say most of our subconsious urges and inner-body workings come from a time where the earth wasn’t crowded and we certainly did not live stacked on top of eachother. We did live with other people though, we lived in tribes that could be very big from time to time. But these were people we felt kindred to, and most of the time actually were. In later times, we felt connected through a common religion or by sharing a small part of history together if you lived in a town for 50 years. Nowadays, we have no ties to the people around us and we should thank whatever lord you wish for etiquete.
Because if we weren’t taught to lie innumerable times a day, if we would always speak our mind or act immediately. Things would quikly turn sour, very sour. Have you ever thought of the reason why people start looting immediately when there’s a riot? I imagine its because all other reasoning falls away and people think straightforward to what they desire most, to have it all.
It is a blessing that we are taught to think from the point of view of others, it saves us all from a lot of trouble. But would it be true to say that in an living environment as dense as a major city, people should think from the perspective of the others they encounter, not their own? By living this close to eachother, we should start to think as one organism, not as individuals.
Whatever is new
Sadly, this is what most people are chasing. The latest, why this is so is beyond me, but I do know that most people should be focussing on what their latest passion is. Because passion gives you the edge, running along surely does not!
Legalizing Brain-Enhancing Drugs
According to the following article, featured on the Wired.com homepage, a few scientists and doctors are sharing the opinion that brain-enhancing drugs should be legalized. By stating that if they are not harmful, why should you not take them, or if you do not want to, why stop others from using them.
This is a minefield in my opinion. When all your collegues take the drugs, you are behind, so you are forced to start using them as well. So in a way, allowing these drugs to roam free, forces the professional workforce to start using the brain-enhancers. Which is not bad, but it begs the question; how far should we go.
Perhaps we could start doing brain upgrades in the future. That way, the mad scientist would come closer and closer, because a mistake is bound to happen. I would say that in this case, they are right, it should be allowed, but at the same time, we should think about where the line is going to be drawn.
Any thoughts?
The Strangest Thing
While waiting for the train to arrive, I wrote the following:
It is an absolutely strange feeling, feeling alone. Not in the melancholic, depressing, sense, but feeling utterly alone in terms of there being no other people around. This strange situation happened after finishing up at an event close to Amsterdam. From being there with a team, to missing the train that only goes every thirty minutes. Spending thirty minutes utterly alone is a strange experience.
You start to wander, mentally, and your mind gives you insight in the oddest things, never thought of before. But in the end, these thoughts don’t last. The train arrives and I get in, immediately surrounded by people talking on cellphones and bright light. I can only wonder where my thoughts would travel if I’d spend an entire day like that.
What about a week, a month, or ever a year. How long would it take before others would classify me as insane. Perhaps the most interesting question is;
If being totally alone could make you insane, could the exact opposite not do the same? It could be healthy to assume the insanity of society, I would call it enlightened.
G-Speak; Interface of the Future?
Sometimes, we can see ahead of our time. This might be at some technology exposition, or in a SciFi movie. In this case, it is both; the G-Speak operating systems allows someone to operate computers using their hands in all dimensions. The company responsible, Oblong Industries, is calling the OS a spatial operating environment.
Sound familiar? Right, you have seen Minority Report, the computer system displayed there is based on actual research and a concept written in the 90’s. Check the movie below to see what I mean, it is certainly worth it.
