The Enemy is Us

It bothers me we humans waste so much time, money and focus on the petty, the "never should have been a problem" problems, all the while ignoring or worse, denying the more than likely Humanity Ending calamities heading our way.

Maybe there is nothing we can do about the climatic tragedies, the over grazing, and out of control polluting. But then maybe we can. To not try harder to mitigate the upcoming damage is giving up. Status quo token efforts just won't do. We either go all in with our attempts to save what we have or we are done. It is no longer if, but when. The window to affect any change is closing at a faster rate than ever before. 

What do humans focus on while they exploit the planet to the point when the planet can no longer support our stupidity?  Their focus is on what can they buy that will help them stay erect, what can erase those lines etched in their faces and surely losing one's hair is more of a crisis than watching a desert grow where trees once stood. 

Based on our self-infatuated lifestyles, we know there are more important issues than saving the Race. Besides, we have plenty of time. And BTW, short term goals always upstage long term planning. Living for now is so much more important and easier than living with our children's futures in mind. Leave them lots of money if we can, the only plan. Besides the price we might pay for our efforts now will probably be painful. And we all know pain sucks. And besides, we have plenty of time.

The politics of saving ourselves should not be complicated. The problem is not complicated; the solutions are. Yet, the opposing sides of this issue would rather waste their energies pissing on each other's feet than pulling together to meet the biggest challenge we will ever face. 

One side wants to continue our reliance on old polluting technologies and keep their heads shoved up deep into their respective asses using denials and yo momma, fuck you, we don't care policies. Their opposites wring their hands and while supporting efforts to change, their worries about the inconveniences and disruptions to their pampered lives make them hesitant. And besides, there's plenty of time left.

Pointing fingers at everyone else without calling out my own planet saving efforts or lack thereof would be disingenuous. And while I often get on my high horse and look down my nose at the careless and ignorant people who have no clue or feel no need, no obligation to help us save ourselves, .... I have some cred, but I could and should do more, give more, and put a bigger dent in my personal carbon footprint. There is always room for improvement.

Is there plenty of time left? .......................... We'll see.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ........................................

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The song for the post I found well before I finished writing the post. I was listening to a YouTube Blues compilation. I think the song is a cover of Lightening Hopkins, "One Eyed Woman". It is performed by Gary BB Coleman who used to back up Hopkins near the end of his career. Pour yourself a shot or two of sour mash before you punch it up.

 

A Figment of Our Imaginations

It was probably a mistake, but I again read an article from "Big Think". Didn't I tell myself many times that I am retired, hoping to sit back, smoke dope and let others worry about the things that matter and for that matter, also worry about the things that don't matter. Sadly, it is one thing to tell others I am retired from the pain of dealing with reality, it is entirely another thing to successfully follow through.

If anything, all of the things I have no control over have set up center stage now. Before, I was too damn busy with my reality of owning a business to consider just how disconnected from what is important myself and the swarming hordes of our planet seem to be. Regardless, I don't own a business anymore which leaves me nothing but the random musings that wander around in what I charitably call my mind.

"Big Think" offers up layman explanations for ideas that have geek speak beginnings. Complicated notions boiled down so hopefully a doofus like me can make hide or tails of it. This article starts with a question from science guy, Robert Lanza;

" Is the physical universe independent from us, or is it created by our minds?"

Without reading the article, I first tried to consider just the possibility of the premise. It only took maybe 30 seconds and I decided reading the article might help me past the initial idea.  I got 500 words into the article before my head started to ache. 

Quite awhile ago, I had read, heard or watched a show regarding the incompatibility of general relativity and the subsequent competitor on the block, Quantum theory. Einstein wasn't having any of it as an explanation of Reality. So the smart folk came up with String Theory to try to connect the other two in a logical way. 

That has not worked out yet. 

And now it seems another attempt is being made to explain it all. "Biocentric Design" seems at first a total delusion like Lanza ate too much LSD and was sure he had changed Realities, Universes, something was different. The more I thought about his idea, the more room I gave in my trove of impossibilities that cannot be tossed without more scrutiny.

e can and have made up whatever we wanted  as long as the intelligentsia at the time is in agreement with past interpretations. Which seems to open the door that if enough of us agree, we can/will/have changed what comprised the past, the future, and the present. I immediately extrapolated that Reality is always in a kind of flux depending on what Quantum Foam it finds itself in. Quantum Foam is defined as:

"Quantum foam (also known as spacetime foam or spacetime bubble) is a theoretical quantum fluctuation of spacetime on very small scales due to quantum mechanics"

Somewhat in agreement, kinda, maybe; Steven Hawkings said of the past and future:

"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities."

Of course I am guessing it doesn't boil down to something so simple. But it sure seems like it. Since many of our great thinkers are now at least entertaining the notion we are to blame for this cluster fuck of a Reality we find ourselves in, I wonder if they are onto something "Real" or is it just another theory like String Theory which has not been wholly accepted since its creation 40 years ago.

Never mind the claimed subatomic underpinnings of Reality, what about the citizens of the planet and how they deal with Reality they /we/us have created for ourselves? Based on this new notion of Reality being born out of a group think cooperative made of generations of thinkers, it would appear to a large degree, humanity agrees on the physical reality within which we humans interact. Where our mutual perception of the nuts and bolts of Reality stop is how the various groups perceive and use that reality. I would call those our cultural, religious, and possibly linguistic differences. Reality in Vietnam is not the same reality in Calgary, Canada and so on and so on around a world that itself spins in a Reality made up of all of us, by all of us, for all of us. 

My original reason for writing this was to tie Religion in somehow. But I think that is a discussion for another day when I might even care. Instead, I find myself calming down and accepting one more impossible possibility in my Life. For if what and where we all exist is the result of an umpteen thousand years of generational group effort, then my hat is off to us. We sure created a beautiful planet upon which to exist. We just seem to be having problems agreeing how we should live here together. 

Keep it 'tween the ditches ...................................................

_____________________

I picked the group Lost Frequencies and their tune,  "Reality". Poppy, but the images are nice.

Compiling My Own Truths

The day I heard Kellyanne Douche-bag stand in front of the media and defend her president's serial lying with an inference that out there in the space that is filled with facts and non-facts, there exists facts that will support any kind of deviation from the accepted factual norms. With a straight face, she insisted that "Alternative Facts" did indeed exist and because they existed, her president was not a liar. 

I immediately thought of the atom; that basic building block upon which every physical thing in the Universe depends on for their structure, their purpose, their existence. Within the atom there are three even smaller objects known as subatomic particles. They are the electrons, the protons, and the neutrons. The protons and the electrons do most of the real work it seems, while the neutrons just buzz around getting in the way. Protons and Electrons represent facts and non-facts. And Neutrons represent Kellyanne's "alternative facts". They orbit around the nucleus at astounding speeds. Their purpose is still a mystery as are the Alternative Realities conjured up in the toilet stalls of the Trump White House. 

This revelation happened a few months into Trump's only term as president. Like many anti-Trumpers, I had not yet become hardened to the day in, day out flow of bullshit that oozed out of Trump's pie hole. I could not believe my ears. I was outraged. This is not the kind of Texas Leaguer crap I expected from a national leader. It cemented my contention that short of assassination, I would accept almost any effort that successfully removed that clown from office.

Looking at that one news conference now five or six years later, I have decided that it was a pivotal moment in the distribution of news around the World. From that one stupid and wrong assertion that real facts had twisted twin facts that could be used to destroy the facts most of us considered the truth, well, today, facts just do not matter to a sizable minority of Americans anymore. Uncomfortable truths can be be discarded and/or ignored by relying on any deceit or deception they want to come up with for themselves.

Not happy with the truth, create your own truth and live happy as if you had a brain. The Right has always tended this direction, but nothing close to the new psychotic need to "own the Libs". And almost as automatically, the Right does not even bother looking for the truth anywhere but in the fantasies that bubble up from the cesspools they know as their minds.

As I wrote earlier, the acceptance of "alternative facts" into our conversations has dramatically changed how we view and use what we see and hear to help define our place in the scheme of things. And as much as I hate to admit it, some good has come out of the resistance of the Right to any information not conjured up on their side of the aisle. It has made me a better observer of current events, policy changes, and the crazy behind the scenes BS that muddies the events unfolding in government. I now will often look for supporting information on claims, events, etc that are loudly being denied by the Wingers.

I have also begun to compile a list of my own truths. Not "alternative facts", but truths I have decided are true. They are what I base on my opinions on. 

• Many, many people claim we live in a Democracy. I do not think we do. More than a few poli-sci folks with letters after their name agree with me. I am of the opinion as many others are that this mess we call US Democracy is actually a Constitutional Republic. In my opinion the only true democracy in my life is the annual Acton Town meeting where everything is decided one person, one vote.
• Trump lost the election and anyone who disagrees with that truth is an idiot or some slimy evil Winger slug who doesn't deserve any consideration from me.
• Jan. 6 was an insurrection and the people caught up in it are traitors and should be punished more harshly than they have been to this point.
• In groups, humans tend to project their worst character flaws. Exclusion, deception, bias, lethargy, ambivalence and hate all seem to take deeper root in a group think scenario; making all of them harder to root out.
• Looking for the Good in people needs to be tempered by having a sense of the Hate that may lurk just under the surface. Never assume all people are Good and never assume all people are Bad. 
• Of all the hate, discontent and useless whining over the petty issues of Humanity, the absolute top tier issue our stupid race should be addressing is Climate Change. If we do not address that, none of all the stupid shit we waste time on will matter. 
• The Planet does not give a hoot what we do. It will continue on with or without us. It does not care what we do to it. But not caring what we do to it is flirting with disaster.

The list is far from complete. And I can see at least a couple of these first entries as candidates for later reassessment. Regardless, I am going to find my own truths now with the idea that I can back them up with reasonable logic.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..................................

_____________________

Music for this post .... Hmm. Give me a minute.

Found this by mistake. "Hopelessly Hoping" by Crosby, Stills and Nash should fit okay. Not perfectly , but then who cares. It is a great tune..... Timeless.