Monday, May 6, 2019

Running Dry: Chained by Lies


Do you know this song?

  

The melancholy refrain captures my mood at the moment: I'm running dry.

However, the lyrics don't work entirely because rather than chaining myself with lies (lyrics: "I've chained myself with lies"), I feel that I've been chained by lies.

I am the one enchained by lies - lies about what is real.

What is real? I define the real in this particular context as the effects of policies, values, and actions on the experiences and sustainability of life, especially for the vitalities of future people and other sentient beings on the planet.

What lies enchain me?

"Nuclear power is green and clean" 

"The economy is thriving so Americans will prosper" (don't have the energy to deconstruct this but with tech, finance, energy, and health care dominating wealth production you can connect the dots in a hermeneutics of suspicion.

"Limitless surveillance will make you safer and happier"

"People's character is driven by their religion, race, gender, or ethnicity" 

"We live and work in authentic meritocracies"

Just to name a few to start with....









2 comments:

  1. What is real? Physical things? These we only know indirectly through our senses and a certain amount of cognitive addition. We might actually be those windowless monads that Leibniz writes about in his philosophy. Kant the foremost philosopher of the modern age dismissed the possibility of metaphysical knowledge. It could be argued that all we know is a seemingly unending river of experience which we mentally interpret according to the intellectual traditions of the West. In fact to go one step further even this flow of experience is itself outside us like things are outside us. Which leaves us with only one certainty.

    What is it about human beings that they do wrong things, at least that seems to be the case quite often? The chains you speak of are the thoughts given out by various institutions because they sooth the masses. They prevent utter chaos. No one is wise enough to know exactly what to do or how to do it. And we know from experience the grave dangers that attend those who KNOW. Hitler knew and so did Stalin as did Mao Tse Tung. Long ago Caesar knew and the pharaohs of Egypt. Luther and John Calvin knew. University professors claim to know. And then there is the Bible and Fraud. Congress people believe they know and media pundits. For over two years Adam Shiff knew that Trump was a Russian agent and he said he had seen irrefutable proof with his own eyes. And he is but one instance of our leaders and deciders. Woe unto us American citizens that such people have power.

    Socrates was said to be the wisest man by the Oracle at Delphi, because he knew he knew nothing. How very hard it is to know nothing.

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    1. There are a lot of bots that are not even alive. Or half alive with a puppet administratorr that chimes in when it gets too exposed. Artificial intelligence bots administered by ccorporate groups, like i360 or cambridge analytica. Deep pocket pronuclear oligarch and mic pacs.They simply say the same things over and over sometimes rephrased to make it look good. Hammer on the same meme themes No specifics. Few thinking capabilities or technical specifics. Seems to be tied to a philosophy database and rightwing political propaganda database. Probably administered by cmbridge analyitca

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