Wikkidpissah - Life Manual Thread (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

in the "what's your passion?" thread, @wikkidpissah answered with what I thought was a super interesting reply. I then asked him a few more questions and he replied. I''ll post them here as I think this deserves it's own thread instead of branching off in the passion thread. 

I know he's hesitant to dive too deep in discussion so this maybe won't go anywhere. But thought I'd give a try in hopes of generating discussion. I think this is important stuff.

Wikkidpissah's posts:

My consuming passion is that, before i leave this impatient rock, the human race has an operating manual. There is a lot to criticize about modern behavior and society. It has been dragging ### and knuckles to keep pace with technical progress and the senile demise of God, and i know why. As i've said before around here, i have a very good idea how humans will be acting centuries from now (if we make it there), and they will look back and laugh at this era's conduct the way we do at the medicine of a few hundred years ago.

The first step toward reform will be agreeing on models of health. Ask a dozen people what constitutes a happy, healthy, productive, useful human being and you will get 14 different answers. Simply put, that's a procedural flaw. As i've also said before, when it comes to constructs & conduct, improvising is for fools & genuises.

 I have troubled this question since my wife (who, though brilliant & vibrant, could never repair the damage from molestation) died 20some years ago and i have an acceptable model and a set of gameplans & rituals that have helped set a living criteria for many guinea pigs (including a couple dozen FFAppers). I'm writing it up to be an early map of the contours of happiness and personal resolution for a people ready to move beyond old fables, myths & fairy stories to get to the business of living well & together. There's no money in it, but there's more than that to life.

making a wikkidthread of it would be like making a Trump thread - converting the converted and rejecting everyone else. just gonna keep poisoning pertinent wells for the time being, but thx for your input. as with all the other projects i never finish, y'all will be in on the unveiling...

ETA: I may roll out chapters in advance of publishing the entire manual and, unless "publishers" incentivize me not to, FFA will always be my first consideration in so doing. Mr Ishida's Self-Help Book

Like many FFAppers dream, you break the huddle of fellows who've come to count on you, go up to the line, look at the defense, call out the appropriate adjustments, bark the snap count as 50,000 screaming fans and millions of TV viewers watch in anticipation, take the ball, step up to beat the rush and throw a perfect spiral down the field for the winning touchdown.

No, wait. You haven't practiced a lick of this and, if you don't fumble the snap and fall flat on your face as a result while competitors shake their head or laugh, you get your spine snapped in three places by people who've actually trained for this moment.

This is pretty much what everybody is doing with their lives. For 10,000 years of civilization there was a code, an ethic that pretty much everyone around you observed and you led, joined or followed within that construct. There are reasons, authoritarian abuses mostly, why those codes are being thrown away. Being the first generation free to believe what we choose, we've chosen to believe in our self or nothing at all. And we intend to get away with that WITHOUT any kind of plan, only a minimum of forethought, practice or consideration. As a result the field is littered with mud-caked "quarterbacks" writhing on the ground in pain. Whoda thunk it?!

Folks don't want to talk about it. Some will listen, but few will discuss it. There's a simple, abiding reason for that - no one wants to admit they're ordinary, that their trials & triumphs aren't all that different from the next guy. We will follow any snake oil salesperson who convinces us we might not be ordinary. Great is better than good by a country mile these days and that's just wrong.

Since we've chosen to believe in naught but ourselves, we've done little but establish the difference between us and others. Sorry to inform, but this all only works together. Just barely, even then. In the world i was born into, 2 out of 3 Americans (women, non-whites & differents) were not free to choose their lives for themselves and, actually 2 outta 3 white men weren't free to choose much neither. Now we all can, pretty much, and i've resigned myself to the fact that humanity has wasted two gens and will waste at least two gens more celebrating that freedom. Goodonya.

But the fact that we've made great progress demystifying every aspect of life but behavior troubles me terribly. That's why i'm charting the shoreline of the land we'll need to sail to once we've burned everything else down. Just as Spinoza & DesCartes & Bacon & Pascal charted the path to political freedom well before altar & throne would indulge any attempt at liberty, it's time for some us to begin to show that life is not about proving but about improving and providing, that liberty does not mean license.

But the noise outside the window is too loud right now. I'll be happy to bat some of it around privately with any who want (as i have with many forum members already) but, between treatment of those in need and my writing work, i haven't the time and strength to row against the tide.

 

[Joe Bryant]

As i've said before around here, i have a very good idea how humans will be acting centuries from now (if we make it there), and they will look back and laugh at this era's conduct the way we do at the medicine of a few hundred years ago.

I think this is interesting. I'll admit I don't have a great sense for how we'll be acting in the future. My hopeful self wants to think we'll be much kinder to each other. And in many ways, we're moving there. But another part of me thinks that won't be the case. 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

If anyone deserves his own thread it is the one and only Wikkid.

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

:subscribe: love me some @wikkidpissah 

 

[Galileo]

There is a lot to criticize about modern behavior and society. It has been dragging ### and knuckles to keep pace with technical progress and the senile demise of God, and i know why. As i've said before around here, i have a very good idea how humans will be acting centuries from now

I agree about dragging ### to keep pace with technical progress, and quite frankly, I think this is an impossible task.  I am not fully sure what you mean by the "senile demise of God".  Could you elaborate further?  Do you see a rise in secularism as good or bad thing for society?

I am also quite curious about how you think humans will be acting in the future.  I'm not so sure the human race as we have known it is long for this world.  Go back to your line about technical progress.  Technology will consume the human race.  The lines between man and machine will continually get blurred.  Centuries from now, they will be integrated as one...the new direction of evolution.  We already have people among us who are part machine...artificial lung, pacemaker, brain controlled prosthetic limbs, etc.  I think the most likely case for centuries down the road is that human and computer are integrated to a much greater extent as we seek to optimize our existence.  Elon Musk has already taken steps in that direction with Neuralink.  At what point do we cease being humans as that evolution continues?

Edit to tag @wikkidpissah

 

[wikkidpissah]

Prosciutto, basil and calabrian pep........wha?!...................nm

I think this is interesting. I'll admit I don't have a great sense for how we'll be acting in the future. My hopeful self wants to think we'll be much kinder to each other. And in many ways, we're moving there. But another part of me thinks that won't be the case. 

I know why that won't be the case. Good thing is, it can be the case once we work some stuff thru. Like all things in nature, the human organism (even the psyche) is designed to not only survive but succeed.

These days, we have a bunch of crossed wires as a result of American society converting from lives of hardship to lives of leisure. Our bodies were designed to bust a hump all day and sweat about it all night. Our minds are designed for hunt & herd. We are making restless work for ourselves that we don't need to in these times where survival is no longer the top priority. In addition, now that our time-killing boxes keep selling selfishness to us, we are taking ridiculously silly things waaaay too seriously and now we are actually buying new wires to weave into the ones that are already shorting out. Woe is us.

This is kind of the end of my writing day (gotta feed and fuss over the peeps for a while). I'll put out something about why we're not inclined to be kind on our own tomorrow morning.

 

[wikkidpissah]

I agree about dragging ### to keep pace with technical progress, and quite frankly, I think this is an impossible task.  I am not fully sure what you mean by the "senile demise of God".  Could you elaborate further?  Do you see a rise in secularism as good or bad thing for society?

I am also quite curious about how you think humans will be acting in the future.  I'm not so sure the human race as we have known it is long for this world.  Go back to your line about technical progress.  Technology will consume the human race.  The lines between man and machine will continually get blurred.  Centuries from now, they will be integrated as one...the new direction of evolution.  We already have people among us who are part machine...artificial lung, pacemaker, brain controlled prosthetic limbs, etc.  I think the most likely case for centuries down the road is that human and computer are integrated to a much greater extent as we seek to optimize our existence.  Elon Musk has already taken steps in that direction with Neuralink.  At what point do we cease being humans as that evolution continues?

Edit to tag @wikkidpissah

My first question.  . I'll throw a li'l sumn @ this this evening.

 

[Gr00vus]

@wikkidpissah's quote:

no one wants to admit they're ordinary, that their trials & triumphs aren't all that different from the next guy. We will follow any snake oil salesperson who convinces us we might not be ordinary. Great is better than good by a country mile these days and that's just wrong.

I think some of us are painfully aware that we are ordinary, will always be ordinary - while the messages we've gotten our whole lives are that it's not o.k. to be ordinary. From an evolutionary perspective being straight up ordinary is somewhat of a dead end - if you want the most mates you need to stand out in  some way. The flip side of that is that being extraordinary in the wrong way could get you killed. This leads those of us with that awareness and understanding into a lifelong depression as a result. I'm still struggling to find my way out of that - to being o.k. with being ordinary.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

@wikkidpissah's quote:

I think some of us are painfully aware that we are ordinary, will always be ordinary - while the messages we've gotten our whole lives are that it's not o.k. to be ordinary. From an evolutionary perspective being straight up ordinary is somewhat of a dead end - if you want the most mates you need to stand out in  some way. The flip side of that is that being extraordinary in the wrong way could get you killed. This leads those of us with that awareness and understanding into a lifelong depression as a result. I'm still struggling to find my way out of that - to being o.k. with being ordinary.

The retail corporations of the world know this better than anyone. They sell us on being special or at least copying the special ones. 

You may be related to ancient royalty!

 

[shadrap]

my kids have been sending me questions to answer through "storyworth".  They obviously think i might croak or something.  Anyway one of the questions was when I've been the happiest.  i said "fishing in a boat on a beautiful lake in late September with a 6 pack by myself".    Is that bad?

 

[Judge Smails]

Subscribe.  Should be paid content though - this is gold.  Included with FBG subscription.

ETA - having a beer or 5 with Wikkid is on my bucket list.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

my kids have been sending me questions to answer through "storyworth".  They obviously think i might croak or something.  Anyway one of the questions was when I've been the happiest.  i said "fishing in a boat on a beautiful lake in late September with a 6 pack by myself".    Is that bad?

No

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Meh.

 

[Arizona Ron]

 

[wikkidpissah]

I agree about dragging ### to keep pace with technical progress, and quite frankly, I think this is an impossible task.  I am not fully sure what you mean by the "senile demise of God".  Could you elaborate further?  Do you see a rise in secularism as good or bad thing for society?

I am also quite curious about how you think humans will be acting in the future.  I'm not so sure the human race as we have known it is long for this world.  Go back to your line about technical progress.  Technology will consume the human race.  The lines between man and machine will continually get blurred.  Centuries from now, they will be integrated as one...the new direction of evolution.  We already have people among us who are part machine...artificial lung, pacemaker, brain controlled prosthetic limbs, etc.  I think the most likely case for centuries down the road is that human and computer are integrated to a much greater extent as we seek to optimize our existence.  Elon Musk has already taken steps in that direction with Neuralink.  At what point do we cease being humans as that evolution continues?

Edit to tag @wikkidpissah

I want to answer this without drawing a lot of religious debate. I know that faith gives peace and purpose to a lot of people and am not wont to deny them that. Nonetheless, the human organism will not pass its adolescence until our old agrarian myths are set aside and i don't know if the human race can survive a couple hundred more years of adolescence. We need adults handling the amazing but volatile tools our sciences are developing.

I know how adulthood, for the individual and society, is achieved. If we become an adult society, i am confident we will stay ahead of our technology. We have regressed in maturity since media became a substantial entity in our lives, so i'm not completely hopeful.

The word 'secularism' scares a lot of people especially since we see a lot of extravagant and excessive behavior since religion has loosened its control of our lives. This is coincidence. People are celebrating freedom they didn't have til very recently. Since i celebrated longer & stronger than most, i am reluctant to tell others to stop. But, since these times are as unhappy as they are loud, folks are beginning to seek alternatives.

The alternatives are humility, community, devotion to the glorious miracle of the opportunity at life. I can show, beyond a reasonable doubt, the capacity for these alternatives to clear the decks for happiness and purpose to enter lives in a substantive and sustaining manner, without any significant reduction in individuality. My feeling is that, quite soon, that will become very hard to say 'no' to. Did i answer your question?

 

[bigmarc27]

Sooooo Aspergers?

 

[wikkidpissah]

my kids have been sending me questions to answer through "storyworth".  They obviously think i might croak or something.  Anyway one of the questions was when I've been the happiest.  i said "fishing in a boat on a beautiful lake in late September with a 6 pack by myself".    Is that bad?

Of course not. You're likely only wondering if it is because you are already aware of your responsibilities. Were that pleasure an entirely selfish one, you wouldn't wonder about it. Pleasure is not bad. Selfishness is. An adult human knows the difference and, if one doesn't, one isn't adult.

 

[NutterButter]

Wikkidpissah is way too smart for me to understand.   I guess I'll just keep going through life dumb and happy.  

 

[wikkidpissah]

Sooooo Aspergers?

Are you a hugger? If you are not, if eye contact is difficult, you can't be upfront with women or speak in front of crowds, that's part of the same spectrum as Aspergers or autism. Most people have control of where they are on that spectrum and can actually improve their place upon it. Some people lose control of their place on the spectrum, same as others have on the hyperactivity and emotional polarity spectrums, some folks never had control of their positions, some folks are physiologically stuck at disadvantageous spots on the spectrum. We haven't figured it out and the Identity Police are greatly interfering with that process.

 

[bigmarc27]

Are you a hugger? If you are not, if eye contact is difficult, you can't be upfront with women or speak in front of crowds, that's part of the same spectrum as Aspergers or autism. Most people have control of where they are on that spectrum and can actually improve their place upon it. Some people lose control of their place on the spectrum, same as others have on the hyperactivity and emotional polarity spectrums, some folks never had control of their positions. We haven't figured it out and the Identity Police are greatly interfering with that process.

You could have just said “yes.”

 

[wikkidpissah]

@wikkidpissah's quote:

I think some of us are painfully aware that we are ordinary, will always be ordinary - while the messages we've gotten our whole lives are that it's not o.k. to be ordinary. From an evolutionary perspective being straight up ordinary is somewhat of a dead end - if you want the most mates you need to stand out in  some way. The flip side of that is that being extraordinary in the wrong way could get you killed. This leads those of us with that awareness and understanding into a lifelong depression as a result. I'm still struggling to find my way out of that - to being o.k. with being ordinary.

Perhaps i chose words poorly. Modern life never stops reminding us we are ordinary. Fortunately, whether we heed those reminders is entirely up to us. We are capable of knowing precisely what we are doing at all times, do not need to be judged by anyone else. We are usually too busy taking life personally to develop that level of understanding. The solution is surprisingly simple and something i will expand upon in these pages.

 

[wikkidpissah]

You could have just said “yes.”

I'm on the negativity spectrum

 

[shadrap]

I want to answer this without drawing a lot of religious debate. I know that faith gives peace and purpose to a lot of people and am not wont to deny them that. Nonetheless, the human organism will not pass its adolescence until our old agrarian myths are set aside and i don't know if the human race can survive a couple hundred more years of adolescence. We need adults handling the amazing but volatile tools our sciences are developing.

I know how adulthood, for the individual and society, is achieved. If we become an adult society, i am confident we will stay ahead of our technology. We have regressed in maturity since media became a substantial entity in our lives, so i'm not completely hopeful.

The word 'secularism' scares a lot of people especially since we see a lot of extravagant and excessive behavior since religion has loosened its control of our lives. This is coincidence. People are celebrating freedom they didn't have til very recently. Since i celebrated longer & stronger than most, i am reluctant to tell others to stop. But, since these times are as unhappy as they are loud, folks are beginning to seek alternatives.

The alternatives are humility, community, devotion to the glorious miracle of the opportunity at life. I can show, beyond a reasonable doubt, the capacity for these alternatives to clear the decks for happiness and purpose to enter lives in a substantive and sustaining manner, without any significant reduction in individuality. My feeling is that, quite soon, that will become very hard to say 'no' to. Did i answer your question?

cool answer.  It's subtle, questionable,  &  not overbearing.   

not bad.

 

[Galileo]

I want to answer this without drawing a lot of religious debate.

Thank you.  It was not my intent to elicit full blown religious debate.  We have enough of those threads, but it is difficult to discuss purpose, philosophy and happiness in life without entertaining it as part of the discussion as it is so woven into the very fabric of life for many.

The alternatives are humility, community, devotion to the glorious miracle of the opportunity at life. I can show, beyond a reasonable doubt, the capacity for these alternatives to clear the decks for happiness and purpose to enter lives in a substantive and sustaining manner, without any significant reduction in individuality. My feeling is that, quite soon, that will become very hard to say 'no' to. Did i answer your question?

Yes, I get your gist.  I like the adolescent/adult society analogy.  You paint a nice picture here of the features of adulthood.  I am just not sure I see a clear path for society to get there.  I guess that's why we need your manual! 

 

[wikkidpissah]

Thank you.  It was not my intent to elicit full blown religious debate.  We have enough of those threads, but it is difficult to discuss purpose, philosophy and happiness in life without entertaining it as part of the discussion as it is so woven into the very fabric of life for many.

Yes, I get your gist.  I like the adolescent/adult society analogy.  You paint a nice picture here of the features of adulthood.  I am just not sure I see a clear path for society to get there.  I guess that's why we need your manual! 

I count several devout Christians among those doing my program and i can assure you not one of them will say my work has disturbed their devotion at all. In fact, i sent an FFA member more deeply into his faith for the simple reason that it helped him focus his efforts. All that i require is that someone be able to indulge discussion of evolutionary factors in their behavioral makeup. The Sermon on the Mount is the single greatest influence on the inspirational side of my teachings, but i am quite comfortable stating that every abiding religion of our time are inventions of man and the people i work with know that

 

[Ned]

Dot

 

[NotSmart]

Perhaps i chose words poorly. Modern life never stops reminding us we are ordinary. Fortunately, whether we heed those reminders is entirely up to us. We are capable of knowing precisely what we are doing at all times, do not need to be judged by anyone else. We are usually too busy taking life personally to develop that level of understanding. The solution is surprisingly simple and something i will expand upon in these pages.

 

[ChiefD]

To me, the operating manual has already been written:

“Treat others as you wish to be treated.”

And to expand on it for today’s environment:

“Don’t say anything about anyone you wouldn’t say to their face.”

That’s how I live my life, and that’s what I am teaching to my children. If that is the one lesson they learn, then I have succeeded. 

 

[cosjobs]

my kids have been sending me questions to answer through "storyworth".  They obviously think i might croak or something.  Anyway one of the questions was when I've been the happiest.  i said "fishing in a boat on a beautiful lake in late September with a 6 pack by myself".    Is that bad?

Not if you want your kids to stop asking you for your memories.

 

[Mister CIA]

Sooooo Aspergers?

I see you found the punch bowl.

 

[Steeler]

@wikkidpissah answered with what I thought was a super interesting reply.

Yeah, that happens a lot. 

Thanks for starting this thread Joe and thanks for being you, Wikkid.  

 

[Mister CIA]

Just as Spinoza & DesCartes & Bacon & Pascal charted the path to political freedom well before altar & throne would indulge any attempt at liberty, it's time for some us to begin to show that life is not about proving but about improving and providing, that liberty does not mean license.

Beautiful words.

 

[Gr00vus]

Perhaps i chose words poorly. Modern life never stops reminding us we are ordinary. Fortunately, whether we heed those reminders is entirely up to us. We are capable of knowing precisely what we are doing at all times, do not need to be judged by anyone else. We are usually too busy taking life personally to develop that level of understanding. The solution is surprisingly simple and something i will expand upon in these pages.

I look forward to reading this.

 

[Buddy Ball 2K3]

The older I get the more I am learning that all of the THINGS I have don't make me happy. I have the newest phones, the smart home, etc etc etc. I realized the past summer that what I have enjoyed the most over the past year or so was simply working outdoors with my old man at our mountain cabin.   I started felling trees with my father who is at the end of his life. We take the trees down, cut them into rounds and then I split the wood and we stack it. We then burn it in our fireplace or out by our fire pit and the process is incredibly satisfying.  Years ago he started a huge field of blueberry bushes and over the years I would occasionally pick a bucket or two to help him out. This past summer I went up for a week and spent days picking berries. At first I was bored with it, but at some point I looked around and my dogs were playing and laying in the sun while I was sweating and totally lost in my thoughts. I spent three days picking berries, cleaning them and freezing them. It was the most enjoyable week of my summer. 

I also started building things to make the "wood" process easier. I built log splitting holder thinger majig. I am in the process of building a new wood shed and doing it all makes me incredibly happy.  BTW, I am about as unhandy of a guy as you will meet. 

I recently had a conversation with my best friend about how much I hate my "tech" life. I am tethered to my phone, the internet, everyone can contact me whenever they want. I can't escape my customers or day to day life at all.  He mentioned that he felt exactly the same way. I told him about my experience of being at "The Cabin" and how I am enjoying and longing for a "simpler" life. This conversation led us down a path to agreeing to go fishing or hiking together at least once a month and him helping me build a few things. 

 

[higgins]

 

[munga30]

:sehorn:

 

[wikkidpissah]

The older I get the more I am learning that all of the THINGS I have don't make me happy. I have the newest phones, the smart home, etc etc etc. I realized the past summer that what I have enjoyed the most over the past year or so was simply working outdoors with my old man at our mountain cabin.   I started felling trees with my father who is at the end of his life. We take the trees down, cut them into rounds and then I split the wood and we stack it. We then burn it in our fireplace or out by our fire pit and the process is incredibly satisfying.  Years ago he started a huge field of blueberry bushes and over the years I would occasionally pick a bucket or two to help him out. This past summer I went up for a week and spent days picking berries. At first I was bored with it, but at some point I looked around and my dogs were playing and laying in the sun while I was sweating and totally lost in my thoughts. I spent three days picking berries, cleaning them and freezing them. It was the most enjoyable week of my summer. 

I also started building things to make the "wood" process easier. I built log splitting holder thinger majig. I am in the process of building a new wood shed and doing it all makes me incredibly happy.  BTW, I am about as unhandy of a guy as you will meet. 

I recently had a conversation with my best friend about how much I hate my "tech" life. I am tethered to my phone, the internet, everyone can contact me whenever they want. I can't escape my customers or day to day life at all.  He mentioned that he felt exactly the same way. I told him about my experience of being at "The Cabin" and how I am enjoying and longing for a "simpler" life. This conversation led us down a path to agreeing to go fishing or hiking together at least once a month and him helping me build a few things. 

There is, for each of us, a beauty only we can serve. Find it, serve it and you are free.

That was one of the first maxims I wrote when I started putting this "manual" together a decade ago and it's a significant part of my program. But when i started to teach it to others, i realized that i was being kinda artsyfartsy about it, that not everybody has a "creative" orientation. I was making a lot of folks take out their guitars or easels to squawk or splash paint when it's not really what they are, merely what they hoped they'd be or I was talking em into.

So I thought on it a long time. Pure. That's the word. In this world of gadgets, gossip, office politics, family squabbles there has to be one thing that is just for you, that you do without motive or ambition but to tune your heart. If it's run to the top of a hill and do the Rocky dance instead of round&round the hood, bake an excellent cake, teach the pick & roll to a troubled kid, put up a treehouse or a tight cord of wood, do special projects for the sheer pleasure of makin' sum'n outta nuttin' or loved ones smile, or indeed squawk to the twang of a guitar or splash some paint on a surface. Pure. 

Today. Think about it. What have you always wanted to do if you had the time? What can you do to add the best of yourself to the world? How can you give so well that it's you who receives? No one has to know. This isn't a New Year's resolution. This is between you & creation. Use that clogged instrument you were given to make life more and heart sing. Pure. It will lighten all the other loads, I promise.

 

[beer 30]

Perhaps i chose words poorly. Modern life never stops reminding us we are ordinary. Fortunately, whether we heed those reminders is entirely up to us. We are capable of knowing precisely what we are doing at all times, do not need to be judged by anyone else. We are usually too busy taking life personally to develop that level of understanding. The solution is surprisingly simple and something i will expand upon in these pages.

Very true, most everyone you've ever met is simply ordinary. But, and I firmly believe this, we all have the capability to be extraordinary in something or at a point in time and THAT ia what defines you. That moment you drove past a wreck and pulled someone to safety. The time you bought the homeless guy a meal and actually talked to him. Coaching your kids (choose one) team. Hundreds of examples that truly define who are. And if you've not had that moment yet? "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." I think everyone has a gift, something that sets them apart from the crowd. Endeavor to discover that  for it will give you great pleasure to partake in that activity.

To me, the operating manual has already been written:

“Treat others as you wish to be treated.”

And to expand on it for today’s environment:

“Don’t say anything about anyone you wouldn’t say to their face.”

That’s how I live my life, and that’s what I am teaching to my children. If that is the one lesson they learn, then I have succeeded. 

I heard something on the radio today along those line, "don't do anything to someone that you wouldn't want a man to do to you in prison." Sound advice I think.

 

[Tom Servo]

I am also quite curious about how you think humans will be acting in the future.  I'm not so sure the human race as we have known it is long for this world.  Go back to your line about technical progress.  Technology will consume the human race.  The lines between man and machine will continually get blurred.  Centuries from now, they will be integrated as one...the new direction of evolution.  We already have people among us who are part machine...artificial lung, pacemaker, brain controlled prosthetic limbs, etc.  I think the most likely case for centuries down the road is that human and computer are integrated to a much greater extent as we seek to optimize our existence.  Elon Musk has already taken steps in that direction with Neuralink.  At what point do we cease being humans as that evolution continues?

Great, my great-great-great grandson will be stuck for his life with the equivalent of Windows 95 neural network.

 

[Tom Servo]

So I thought on it a long time. Pure. That's the word. In this world of gadgets, gossip, office politics, family squabbles there has to be one thing that is just for you, that you do without motive or ambition but to tune your heart. If it's run to the top of a hill and do the Rocky dance instead of round&round the hood, bake an excellent cake, teach the pick & roll to a troubled kid, put up a treehouse or a tight cord of wood, do special projects for the sheer pleasure of makin' sum'n outta nuttin' or loved ones smile, or indeed squawk to the twang of a guitar or splash some paint on a surface. Pure. 

Today. Think about it. What have you always wanted to do if you had the time? What can you do to add the best of yourself to the world? How can you give so well that it's you who receives? No one has to know. This isn't a New Year's resolution. This is between you & creation. Use that clogged instrument you were given to make life more and heart sing. Pure. It will lighten all the other loads, I promise.

I've been taking pictures with my iPOD for a couple of years now, and this past week bought a DSLR camera to up my game. I take photos of the world around me as well as historic buildings and places. It's how I can share the world around me and what I love with others so they can enjoy them too.

 

[wikkidpissah]

I've been taking pictures with my iPOD for a couple of years now, and this past week bought a DSLR camera to up my game. I take photos of the world around me as well as historic buildings and places. It's how I can share the world around me and what I love with others so they can enjoy them too.

You've reminded me of a perfect example of how one's talents can work against them.

My best pal for 50 years is a hella photographer. Not only has a great eye, great sense of light & the frame and a great passion for it, but is a master of the darkroom. He more or less followed me out to New Mexico and he & his wife & i moved to Reno together when i finally gave up on NY & showbiz and his work (B&W mostly) in the desert and Rockies and Sierras and Pacific coastline was close to the level of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.

Unfortunately, making a living in photography is mostly about self-promotion and/or taking ####. And the reason my pal is my pal is that he doesn't have a disingenuous bone in his body (being ten pounds of #### in a five-pound bag myself, i need someone like that) and, therefore, can do neither. He spent decades trying to get shows, burning out the flaws in inferior but more successful "artist"'s photos and an awful lot of time printing commercially for short dough. He don't shoot no more, don't print no more, can't drink no more so and, especially once digital took over and threw the last shovel of dirt on his career, he just sits and seethes. His wife feared he was gonna off himself, so i worked hard on him to go back to playing the bass (in college, he was bassist-of-choice for this guitarist) and did sessions w him to get him caring again. Now, he sits & seethes with a bass in his hands, which is apparently enough to keep him from quitting this orb, but just barely

For all my pal's skill in photography, he NEVER did it for pure reasons. He saw his talent for it and assumed it would carry him to high places. It was obvious to anyone that he didn't have the personality to make his way in the art world, the patience to climb ladders or the undeniability of a great artist. His stubbornness in tying his hopes to his talents against all evidence ruined him and soured his talent.

I'm lucky. I didn't go all that much farther with my talents than my pal, but i never let it affect my love for stringing words and concepts together. I know that, today, i'm going to find a metaphor, an idea, a turn of phrase, a sparkling joke or a leap of faith that has never before been conceived and that's enough. Pure.

 

[wikkidpissah]

And now i'll get to the thing i promised the threadstarter for today

 

[Steeler]

i never let it affect my love for stringing words and concepts together.

I'm grateful for this - I really enjoy your writing and I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

[wikkidpissah]

I'll put out something about why we're not inclined to be kind on our own tomorrow morning.

Sigmund Freud was dead right that we all are subconsciously compelled to do things we don't understand and wouldn't consciously conceive to do.

Sigmund Freud was dead wrong that we all are subconsciously compelled to do things we don't understand and wouldn't consciously conceive to do because of sex.

wikkid say in the FFA of the USA that we all are subconsciously compelled to do things we don't understand and wouldn't consciously conceive to do because of rage.

That's right. Rage. These days are all about rage. Actually, all our days from the very beginning are about rage. And that's why nice won't win, @Joe Bryant. That's why acting decently and expecting decency and pretending everything will be alright will not abide until rage has been controlled, conquered, and ultimately defeated. That is the essential difference between how we'll be acting centuries from now and how we act now. Surprisingly, it's rather simply achieved in the individual. I'm doing this to show people how.

First, we have to understand rage and why it is such a vital and compelling part of what we are.

The first thing we have to understand is the Law of Life. The first job of any living organism, system or being is survival. Just because the human brain can conceive of the Divine Comedy, the 9th Symphony, the Theory of Relativity and Geico commercials is entirely separate from the fact that the brain's first act will always be consideration of its and its host's survival. Even though human understanding is easily the highest function in four and a half billion years of earthly progress, it is way way way way way down the list of your brain's priorities.

If i continue to post portions of my manual in this thread, you will read a lot about the dictates of survival but, for now, i want to concentrate on a single aspect. Domination. The surest way to survive is to entirely dominate one's surroundings. Therefore, it is, always has been and will be the first and strongest instinct of any animal. Domination - have it all and have it NOW. nufced

Unfortunately, anything which fuels or enhances or protects life and aids or ensures survival is something other beings are going to want, too. Pretty much every nature show you can watch involves competition for the benefits of any environment. The second instinct is to do whatever is necessary, up to and past the risk of one's life, to compete for the necessities and abiding luxuries of existence. To the death or run from death, fight or flight - the 2nd instinct of any animal.

The third instinct is a lot tricker. It is to measure risk against reward when in competition, then to respond accordingly. That is the instinct which separates primates, humans even more so, from other animals and its understanding is the essential goal of human life.

The job of human parenthood is to get offspring to the third instinct as quickly and completely as possible. The only effective way to do so is to continually and consistently frustrate the dominance and fight-to-the-death instincts of their children. The product of the frustration of dominance is rage.

til next -

 

[Dark Matter]

 

[Joe Bryant]

Sigmund Freud was dead right that we all are subconsciously compelled to do things we don't understand and wouldn't consciously conceive to do.

Sigmund Freud was dead wrong that we all are subconsciously compelled to do things we don't understand and wouldn't consciously conceive to do because of sex.

wikkid say in the FFA of the USA that we all are subconsciously compelled to do things we don't understand and wouldn't consciously conceive to do because of rage.

That's right. Rage. These days are all about rage. Actually, all our days from the very beginning are about rage. And that's why nice won't win, @Joe Bryant. That's why acting decently and expecting decency and pretending everything will be alright will not abide until rage has been controlled, conquered, and ultimately defeated. That is the essential difference between how we'll be acting centuries from now and how we act now. Surprisingly, it's rather simply achieved in the individual. I'm doing this to show people how.

First, we have to understand rage and why it is such a vital and compelling part of what we are.

The first thing we have to understand is the Law of Life. The first job of any living organism, system or being is survival. Just because the human brain can conceive of the Divine Comedy, the 9th Symphony, the Theory of Relativity and Geico commercials is entirely separate from the fact that the brain's first act will always be consideration of its and its host's survival. Even though human understanding is easily the highest function in four and a half billion years of earthly progress, it is way way way way way down the list of your brain's priorities.

If i continue to post portions of my manual in this thread, you will read a lot about the dictates of survival but, for now, i want to concentrate on a single aspect. Domination. The surest way to survive is to entirely dominate one's surroundings. Therefore, it is, always has been and will be the first and strongest instinct of any animal. Domination - have it all and have it NOW. nufced

Unfortunately, anything which fuels or enhances or protects life and aids or ensures survival is something other beings are going to want, too. Pretty much every nature show you can watch involves competition for the benefits of any environment. The second instinct is to do whatever is necessary, up to and past the risk of one's life, to compete for the necessities and abiding luxuries of existence. To the death or run from death, fight or flight - the 2nd instinct of any animal.

The third instinct is a lot tricker. It is to measure risk against reward when in competition, then to respond accordingly. That is the instinct which separates primates, humans even more so, from other animals and its understanding is the essential goal of human life.

The job of human parenthood is to get offspring to the third instinct as quickly and completely as possible. The only effective way to do so is to continually and consistently frustrate the dominance and fight-to-the-death instincts of their children. The product of the frustration of dominance is rage.

til next -

Thanks Wikkid.

I'm sure there's a lot more depth to dive into. I do disagree nice and decency can't win. But I'm for sure with you on the importance of rage. I think it's the primary thing driving the news media today. They know we're a species that loves rage. 

And I agree it's 100% survival. The news story about the kid that rescued a puppy is nice. But there's no urgency or draw. The news story that barbarians are at the gate demands attention for survival. 

Totally get that. 

 

[otello]

The Wit and Wisdom of Wikkidpissah 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

 These days are all about rage. Actually, all our days from the very beginning are about rage. And that's why nice won't win, @Joe Bryant. That's why acting decently and expecting decency and pretending everything will be alright will not abide until rage has been controlled, conquered, and ultimately defeated. That is the essential difference between how we'll be acting centuries from now and how we act now. Surprisingly, it's rather simply achieved in the individual. I'm doing this to show people how.

First, we have to understand rage and why it is such a vital and compelling part of what we are.

The first thing we have to understand is the Law of Life. The first job of any living organism, system or being is survival. Just because the human brain can conceive of the Divine Comedy, the 9th Symphony, the Theory of Relativity and Geico commercials is entirely separate from the fact that the brain's first act will always be consideration of its and its host's survival. Even though human understanding is easily the highest function in four and a half billion years of earthly progress, it is way way way way way down the list of your brain's priorities.

If i continue to post portions of my manual in this thread, you will read a lot about the dictates of survival but, for now, i want to concentrate on a single aspect. Domination. The surest way to survive is to entirely dominate one's surroundings. Therefore, it is, always has been and will be the first and strongest instinct of any animal. Domination - have it all and have it NOW. nufced

Unfortunately, anything which fuels or enhances or protects life and aids or ensures survival is something other beings are going to want, too. Pretty much every nature show you can watch involves competition for the benefits of any environment. The second instinct is to do whatever is necessary, up to and past the risk of one's life, to compete for the necessities and abiding luxuries of existence. To the death or run from death, fight or flight - the 2nd instinct of any animal.

The third instinct is a lot tricker. It is to measure risk against reward when in competition, then to respond accordingly. That is the instinct which separates primates, humans even more so, from other animals and its understanding is the essential goal of human life.

The job of human parenthood is to get offspring to the third instinct as quickly and completely as possible. The only effective way to do so is to continually and consistently frustrate the dominance and fight-to-the-death instincts of their children. The product of the frustration of dominance is rage.

til next -

High level stuff right here. I hope we all move forward.

 

[sublimeone]

don't believe everything that you breath

 

[wikkidpissah]

don't believe everything that you breath

nasn't