Often when trying to improve our world we fall into a trap of saying what something is not, instead of seeking actual solutions. I find myself falling into this same trap, I know what is not a green city, but have few answers as how to improve things.
The reasons for this are because of how our brains learn. Typically described as a difference engine, the brain learns more from mistakes and errors than from being correct. Because of this, we tend to notice the flaws before we notice the advantages.
I recently read that they were working on "spray on" solar cells, to make it possible for any surface to be made into a solar panel. I love this idea, and it is the solution to why I don't like solar or wind farms. Spraying the outside of all the buildings is a perfect way to avoid claiming more land space.
To find such solutions, a person must rewire their brains to focus more on possible solutions, enter the inventor. Inventors are capable of learning from their mistakes, as well as able to see successes. They either have a rare trait, or have broken free of the reptile brain more than others.
So we return to the difference engine, the reason we have an easier time seeing what is wrong instead of what is right. When we make a mistake, the brain notices that the result was not desirable, so it alters the neural pathway values so the next time it encounters that same event a slightly different response is generated.
The structure of the brain results in similar inputs following similar paths, so when one is adjusted it effects the outcomes of other stimuli. But what happens when an outcome is desirable? Well, there is an increase in the chance of that same response happening. This means that there is a larger number of possible "bad" pathways for any stimuli recorded than good.
Think of it this way, when facing five doors and no one tells you what is behind them you open the first and see a pile of trash blocking the way. The next one you open you find a bunch of alligators. Then the third one you try opens to a place you feel safe.
The next time you come to these same doors you are more likely to open the one you know leads to a safe place than to try one of the two you don't know yet. This demonstrates the difference engine's effect on our perception on the world.
This also explains the sad state of affairs in the world today. We see many people simply unwilling to alter their behaviors, remaining with what they see as working out safe enough for them. We need to, as a species, break away from this pattern of comfort, to break away from the difference engine, and learn to make ourselves uncomfortable for the sake of advancement and learning.
So every month, try to find something you have always been afraid to do, something which has a small risk of hurting you or making you uncomfortable. Seek out the new things, new ideas, and new frontiers to explore. Expand your mind so it no longer dwells on the flaws and failures.
I have been taking this adventure since the beginning of the year, seeking out new things to try every month. Because of it I have found many new foods, friends, and experiences that make my life better. Post your stories in a blog, or record them on camera, encourage our future generations.
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
The Awe of a Young Mind
When I was young I often made predictions, mostly with technology, based on what I had seen. Usually they became true in some way, but one in particular only recently came true, and I was more accurate than I had thought I was back then.
I had this old solid state drive computer, the memory and the storage were essentially the same thing, so you could run something, suspend it and switch to another app, then switch back and everything would be right where you left off. I thought it was the coolest thing and predicted it would replace conventional hard drives.
Then I was disappointed, as I never saw the technology used again. At least, I didn't see it in use again until recently. Now it is literally everywhere, smart phones and tablets are the primary devices we now see this same technology in, with some improvements. It's faster and smaller now, so we have much more memory than when I was young.
I thought about this recently and pondered why it is we remember these kind of predictions so well, and why do we make them more when we're young yet not so much as we get older. My inner scientist began working on this inquiry, recalling all pertinent information.
The conclusion offered another very important reason we need to keep pushing our youth to learn as much as they can. Also why we need to expose them to as many aspects of science as possible at a young age. The simple awe we see in new things wears off, eventually life loses that luster, that new car smell.
But during those glorious years of youth our minds are more open to possibilities, some seemingly impossible things to an adult will be nothing more than challenges for the young minds. We lose our sense of wonder and awe as we grow because our brains are only capable of holding so much information, until that limit is reached they are like sponges for everything.
But once we reach that limit things begin to be compacted, and our desires to fill our brains lessens. Some of us renew our desire for knowledge by trying new things, mixing it up a bit, so our brain doesn't feel like it's just rehashing the same things over and over again. This is not a flaw in our species, ironically, it is a huge benefit.
Once you get older you want to talk about your life and share your experiences as a result of losing most of your desire to learn, you become the teacher for the next generation, sharing what you have learned so they don't have to relearn it. As humans this has become the most valuable method of advancing our society and culture, yet it is something we are failing to do.
In my blog I share what amounts to my life, the things I experience, in the hopes that it will help others in some way, specifically younger people. Let them know of my mistakes and my lessons so that they can progress without having to relearn what I did. That is what all blogs should be, a massive collaboration of ideas, lessons, and general life knowledge, wisdom of the elders.
We have been failing to do this in other ways, mostly because our species has grown too massive in population, but also because there are people who prefer to brainwash or indoctrinate the young, rather than teach or allow them to learn. But they can't stop the youth from seeking out the wisdom online, so this is our chance to correct the mistakes made by society, let's make humanity perfect together.
I had this old solid state drive computer, the memory and the storage were essentially the same thing, so you could run something, suspend it and switch to another app, then switch back and everything would be right where you left off. I thought it was the coolest thing and predicted it would replace conventional hard drives.
Then I was disappointed, as I never saw the technology used again. At least, I didn't see it in use again until recently. Now it is literally everywhere, smart phones and tablets are the primary devices we now see this same technology in, with some improvements. It's faster and smaller now, so we have much more memory than when I was young.
I thought about this recently and pondered why it is we remember these kind of predictions so well, and why do we make them more when we're young yet not so much as we get older. My inner scientist began working on this inquiry, recalling all pertinent information.
The conclusion offered another very important reason we need to keep pushing our youth to learn as much as they can. Also why we need to expose them to as many aspects of science as possible at a young age. The simple awe we see in new things wears off, eventually life loses that luster, that new car smell.
But during those glorious years of youth our minds are more open to possibilities, some seemingly impossible things to an adult will be nothing more than challenges for the young minds. We lose our sense of wonder and awe as we grow because our brains are only capable of holding so much information, until that limit is reached they are like sponges for everything.
But once we reach that limit things begin to be compacted, and our desires to fill our brains lessens. Some of us renew our desire for knowledge by trying new things, mixing it up a bit, so our brain doesn't feel like it's just rehashing the same things over and over again. This is not a flaw in our species, ironically, it is a huge benefit.
Once you get older you want to talk about your life and share your experiences as a result of losing most of your desire to learn, you become the teacher for the next generation, sharing what you have learned so they don't have to relearn it. As humans this has become the most valuable method of advancing our society and culture, yet it is something we are failing to do.
In my blog I share what amounts to my life, the things I experience, in the hopes that it will help others in some way, specifically younger people. Let them know of my mistakes and my lessons so that they can progress without having to relearn what I did. That is what all blogs should be, a massive collaboration of ideas, lessons, and general life knowledge, wisdom of the elders.
We have been failing to do this in other ways, mostly because our species has grown too massive in population, but also because there are people who prefer to brainwash or indoctrinate the young, rather than teach or allow them to learn. But they can't stop the youth from seeking out the wisdom online, so this is our chance to correct the mistakes made by society, let's make humanity perfect together.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Information - Why the Free Information Has Increased It's Value
This era is often called the Information Age, a time when information became free, and at our fingertips. I have spent the last decade reading scientific papers, often donated by scientists who love to see someone fascinated in their area of expertise. I have watched lectures, of varying levels of education, for free on various sites. I have discussed this information with others, scientists in the fields and those studying them. All because I have the most insatiable sense of curiosity.
My primary focus has been on biochemistry, medicine, and neurology. This has brought me into neighboring fields of study to help supplement the information. I finally took a break then looked back on everything I had learned, refreshing my memory, basically. Suddenly it dawned on me, I had just learned enough to earn master's degrees in at least three fields of scientific research, and it didn't cost thousands of dollars. Far from it, most of it was completely free, often just for the asking.
First, what drew me to the fields was my strong background in chemistry, and a fascination with how chemicals interact with each other. When I learned that complex organisms were really walking chemistry labs, my curiosity got the better of me, I dove in head first. Picturing the chemical interactions within the human body became a way to relax, tracing the rout of a single carbon atom through all the chemical reactions while it travels into and out of the various cells. That sense of knowing something set my mind at ease during hard times.
But that's not the meat of this post, what I am illustrating is just how much more valuable information is today than ever before. Sort of the inverse of supply and demand constructs. One would think that the huge influx of free information, with all the excess junk also mixed in, the value of the information would fall to nothing. The junk is, luckily, not the reason for it increasing in value.
The reason it has increased in value is the same reason many lobby groups in the USA are trying to censor and control the flow of information, people can learn more than those who pay for it. This creates a huge imbalance of information in the real world, one which has upset many of those with higher educations to the point of decrying the internet as a whole. The phrase "where'd you hear that? Off the internet" is meant as a slur against those of us not stupid enough to pay for what we can get for free.
When I go to a doctor I have to pretend to be stupid, actually, the moment you betray even a small amount of knowledge in something, the rage that fills their mannerisms is plain to see. They genuinely hate you just for knowing even one thing that they spent thousands of dollars to learn. Professionals cannot tolerate any competition, nor do they like having their elitist clubs threatened by something they cannot control. So in spite of the fact that I know more about what's going on that most doctors, I play like I am ignorant so that I can get what I need from them, a second opinion and the proper medication legally.
I made the mistake of letting my general care doctor learn of just a small amount of what I knew, my diagnosis was accurate, her diagnosis made out of anger was not. Another doctor even said she was wrong, and stated my diagnosis was correct, even though I did not let him know it was my diagnosis. So the information I have learned is more valuable than the information they have learned, only because I learned it out of curiosity, for almost no cost, while they spent thousands in the hopes of making millions for that same information.
This does not mean you should take everything you read online as fact, far from it. You must sift through a lot of junk sometimes, forming connections online with various professionals can help, many of the ones who frequent the internet social sites are always too happy to talk about what they know. Scientists, real ones, who frequent social sites are also very happy to show off the papers they write that have passed peer review, meaning they are as close to factual as you can get at the time. That pesky peer review method, where everyone and their mother tries to destroy your hard work through any means possible, but more papers are withstanding this barrage every day.
That is he key to if a source is valid, the scientific method has produced an explosion of solid information that is often shared freely by those who utilize it. So don't be shy, learn what you can. Open up the links to scientific research, talk to the scientific communities, discuss and ask questions. Seek the lectures shared by universities, for free, on media sites. Most importantly, fuel your curiosity. Start letting the elitists know that they are no longer necessary, they can be replaced if they don't shape up, if they don't start treating everyone right.
My primary focus has been on biochemistry, medicine, and neurology. This has brought me into neighboring fields of study to help supplement the information. I finally took a break then looked back on everything I had learned, refreshing my memory, basically. Suddenly it dawned on me, I had just learned enough to earn master's degrees in at least three fields of scientific research, and it didn't cost thousands of dollars. Far from it, most of it was completely free, often just for the asking.
First, what drew me to the fields was my strong background in chemistry, and a fascination with how chemicals interact with each other. When I learned that complex organisms were really walking chemistry labs, my curiosity got the better of me, I dove in head first. Picturing the chemical interactions within the human body became a way to relax, tracing the rout of a single carbon atom through all the chemical reactions while it travels into and out of the various cells. That sense of knowing something set my mind at ease during hard times.
But that's not the meat of this post, what I am illustrating is just how much more valuable information is today than ever before. Sort of the inverse of supply and demand constructs. One would think that the huge influx of free information, with all the excess junk also mixed in, the value of the information would fall to nothing. The junk is, luckily, not the reason for it increasing in value.
The reason it has increased in value is the same reason many lobby groups in the USA are trying to censor and control the flow of information, people can learn more than those who pay for it. This creates a huge imbalance of information in the real world, one which has upset many of those with higher educations to the point of decrying the internet as a whole. The phrase "where'd you hear that? Off the internet" is meant as a slur against those of us not stupid enough to pay for what we can get for free.
When I go to a doctor I have to pretend to be stupid, actually, the moment you betray even a small amount of knowledge in something, the rage that fills their mannerisms is plain to see. They genuinely hate you just for knowing even one thing that they spent thousands of dollars to learn. Professionals cannot tolerate any competition, nor do they like having their elitist clubs threatened by something they cannot control. So in spite of the fact that I know more about what's going on that most doctors, I play like I am ignorant so that I can get what I need from them, a second opinion and the proper medication legally.
I made the mistake of letting my general care doctor learn of just a small amount of what I knew, my diagnosis was accurate, her diagnosis made out of anger was not. Another doctor even said she was wrong, and stated my diagnosis was correct, even though I did not let him know it was my diagnosis. So the information I have learned is more valuable than the information they have learned, only because I learned it out of curiosity, for almost no cost, while they spent thousands in the hopes of making millions for that same information.
This does not mean you should take everything you read online as fact, far from it. You must sift through a lot of junk sometimes, forming connections online with various professionals can help, many of the ones who frequent the internet social sites are always too happy to talk about what they know. Scientists, real ones, who frequent social sites are also very happy to show off the papers they write that have passed peer review, meaning they are as close to factual as you can get at the time. That pesky peer review method, where everyone and their mother tries to destroy your hard work through any means possible, but more papers are withstanding this barrage every day.
That is he key to if a source is valid, the scientific method has produced an explosion of solid information that is often shared freely by those who utilize it. So don't be shy, learn what you can. Open up the links to scientific research, talk to the scientific communities, discuss and ask questions. Seek the lectures shared by universities, for free, on media sites. Most importantly, fuel your curiosity. Start letting the elitists know that they are no longer necessary, they can be replaced if they don't shape up, if they don't start treating everyone right.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Musical Genius - Life Genius
We know what makes a scientist a genius. We know what makes an artist a genius. We know what makes a politician a genius, or a military leader, or even a business owner. But what makes a musician a genius?
This question is one that I have discovered to have implications in much of our lives. Music is one part science, one part shock, and three parts wisdom. The wisdom that is required is knowing your audience, knowing yourself, and knowing the culture. Many musicians fail, they fail because they don't get to know their audience at all, then make the fatal error of forgetting themselves.
They lose themselves in their message, becoming too inundated with what should be, they forget to address what is. Many people will argue that the lyrics are less important than the tones, they are wrong, it's not even debatable. They are wrong because even music with no singer has lyrics, the lyrics are in the tones and perceptible only to those sensitive to such things.
My tastes in music are often called eclectic, I move from sounds of the forest to Akira the Don, then to Marilyn Manson, in one day. I hear the lyrics from both the singer and the tones, the instruments cascading around my ears, flooding my head with images. Those images are the lyrics of the tones, the lyrics of the music itself. This is where the genius can be found, the lyrics of the singer and those of the tones must dance in your mind, painting a picture.
The music is the landscape, the stage, the singers are the actors. They must work together or the song is grating on the ears. Only a few musicians with sung lyrics have accomplished this, and most are not even well known, others are only well known in very specific cultures. Now what does all this have to do with life?
As we go through life, we experience the world, reality, learning from it and being altered by it. The end result is the "me," it's what and who you are. That is our sung lyrics, what's in front, what everyone sees immediately when we come into their lives. But what we leave behind, as we move through life, that is our tone's lyrics, the landscape we are seen in when we are remembered. The footsteps we leave behind, the remains of our actions or inaction, the smells and sounds people will remember with our words.
A life genius leaves a lasting impression, where their tones are in line, matched to their singing, their impressions match their words. A life genius will remain forever in the minds of those they encounter, just like a musical genius, because it all just fits so perfectly. I often work to remember those who don't have that synchronization, either their words are wrong or their landscape is off somehow. I do this mostly out of pity, they will never be remembered by many, but also because then I hope I can learn from their mistakes to help teach others not to make them.
I know I leave an impression, often people will approach me on the street, people I cannot remember for the life of me, and they will call me by name and try to discuss things I have done. No, nothing that I have done wrong, often they reminisce about things I had helped them with. That is why I am now sharing my wisdom, the things I have seen, so more people can be life geniuses.
One could call this handing out free help a way to make up for past wrongs I had committed, you'd not be far from the truth. When I was young my mother, and church leaders, discovered I had this knack, this ability, to capture the attention of people. I could speak to large groups, even when I was really young, and sway them, manipulate their thinking. My tones, my voice, my appearance, it all worked together, so well that none could ignore my words, and they could not forget them either.
So I was placed before these groups, told how they should be swayed, I was used as a tool, and did not fight back. I should have fought back, but at the time I did not understand what it was. I was brainwashing these poor people into following a religion that even I knew was completely made up. So now you are wondering what my secret is, how can you do what I do? You want to know how to capture people's attention, to become a lasting memory in their minds. Everyone wants to know this.
The first thing, make sure your voice matches your personality. Not talking about pitch, that is difficult to control for most people, but your accent, how you speak the words. If your personality is one of prudence, commanding and in charge then your words should be sharp, short, and precisely spoken, for example. Do not be afraid to experiment, and ask perfect strangers if they will remember you tomorrow.
That's the second step, you must not fear talking, share your ideas, your thoughts, your opinions. Talk to people, even talk to yourself. As you walk through life, try it, speak your thought processes aloud, the reaction of those around you will tell you how well you can make an impression. Try to think of the last person you remember talking to themselves in public, you'd likely be hard pressed to do so, but there may be that one you do remember, the one who's voice, appearance, and personality just stuck in your head. That is the person you want to be.
Style is also important, your personal style should match, clothing and other artifacts, you. If you are perky, cute clothing with adorable characters will set the stage, let people know who you are, it defines their first impression, building the stage for you to act on. If you are brooding, dark, with an air of strangeness, dark clothing and makeup is perfect, but your voice and speech pattern must match as well. Try to recall the one person, dressed in all black, that spoke with a rapid, high pitched, excited voice. The ones that remain in your head are those who speak with an angry pattern, or one of doom and gloom, deep, dark, foreboding.
Anyone can become a life genius, but very few of us are naturals. Those who turn it into a profession often work long and hard at it, testing, changing, adapting, and often failing before they succeed. Naturals like me, we tend to shy away from people in real life when we grow older, resenting the damage we had done as youth, trying to avoid doing more damage. So I invite you, the wise and experienced people of today's generation, become a life genius, make people remember you, sway their minds to a healthier society.
This question is one that I have discovered to have implications in much of our lives. Music is one part science, one part shock, and three parts wisdom. The wisdom that is required is knowing your audience, knowing yourself, and knowing the culture. Many musicians fail, they fail because they don't get to know their audience at all, then make the fatal error of forgetting themselves.
They lose themselves in their message, becoming too inundated with what should be, they forget to address what is. Many people will argue that the lyrics are less important than the tones, they are wrong, it's not even debatable. They are wrong because even music with no singer has lyrics, the lyrics are in the tones and perceptible only to those sensitive to such things.
My tastes in music are often called eclectic, I move from sounds of the forest to Akira the Don, then to Marilyn Manson, in one day. I hear the lyrics from both the singer and the tones, the instruments cascading around my ears, flooding my head with images. Those images are the lyrics of the tones, the lyrics of the music itself. This is where the genius can be found, the lyrics of the singer and those of the tones must dance in your mind, painting a picture.
The music is the landscape, the stage, the singers are the actors. They must work together or the song is grating on the ears. Only a few musicians with sung lyrics have accomplished this, and most are not even well known, others are only well known in very specific cultures. Now what does all this have to do with life?
As we go through life, we experience the world, reality, learning from it and being altered by it. The end result is the "me," it's what and who you are. That is our sung lyrics, what's in front, what everyone sees immediately when we come into their lives. But what we leave behind, as we move through life, that is our tone's lyrics, the landscape we are seen in when we are remembered. The footsteps we leave behind, the remains of our actions or inaction, the smells and sounds people will remember with our words.
A life genius leaves a lasting impression, where their tones are in line, matched to their singing, their impressions match their words. A life genius will remain forever in the minds of those they encounter, just like a musical genius, because it all just fits so perfectly. I often work to remember those who don't have that synchronization, either their words are wrong or their landscape is off somehow. I do this mostly out of pity, they will never be remembered by many, but also because then I hope I can learn from their mistakes to help teach others not to make them.
I know I leave an impression, often people will approach me on the street, people I cannot remember for the life of me, and they will call me by name and try to discuss things I have done. No, nothing that I have done wrong, often they reminisce about things I had helped them with. That is why I am now sharing my wisdom, the things I have seen, so more people can be life geniuses.
One could call this handing out free help a way to make up for past wrongs I had committed, you'd not be far from the truth. When I was young my mother, and church leaders, discovered I had this knack, this ability, to capture the attention of people. I could speak to large groups, even when I was really young, and sway them, manipulate their thinking. My tones, my voice, my appearance, it all worked together, so well that none could ignore my words, and they could not forget them either.
So I was placed before these groups, told how they should be swayed, I was used as a tool, and did not fight back. I should have fought back, but at the time I did not understand what it was. I was brainwashing these poor people into following a religion that even I knew was completely made up. So now you are wondering what my secret is, how can you do what I do? You want to know how to capture people's attention, to become a lasting memory in their minds. Everyone wants to know this.
The first thing, make sure your voice matches your personality. Not talking about pitch, that is difficult to control for most people, but your accent, how you speak the words. If your personality is one of prudence, commanding and in charge then your words should be sharp, short, and precisely spoken, for example. Do not be afraid to experiment, and ask perfect strangers if they will remember you tomorrow.
That's the second step, you must not fear talking, share your ideas, your thoughts, your opinions. Talk to people, even talk to yourself. As you walk through life, try it, speak your thought processes aloud, the reaction of those around you will tell you how well you can make an impression. Try to think of the last person you remember talking to themselves in public, you'd likely be hard pressed to do so, but there may be that one you do remember, the one who's voice, appearance, and personality just stuck in your head. That is the person you want to be.
Style is also important, your personal style should match, clothing and other artifacts, you. If you are perky, cute clothing with adorable characters will set the stage, let people know who you are, it defines their first impression, building the stage for you to act on. If you are brooding, dark, with an air of strangeness, dark clothing and makeup is perfect, but your voice and speech pattern must match as well. Try to recall the one person, dressed in all black, that spoke with a rapid, high pitched, excited voice. The ones that remain in your head are those who speak with an angry pattern, or one of doom and gloom, deep, dark, foreboding.
Anyone can become a life genius, but very few of us are naturals. Those who turn it into a profession often work long and hard at it, testing, changing, adapting, and often failing before they succeed. Naturals like me, we tend to shy away from people in real life when we grow older, resenting the damage we had done as youth, trying to avoid doing more damage. So I invite you, the wise and experienced people of today's generation, become a life genius, make people remember you, sway their minds to a healthier society.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
And Then This Happened
Student Faces Major Trouble Over Knife Found In What He Says Is His Father's Old Car
I found this story in my Twitter feed, was bored and monitoring it for whatever caught my eye. As I read it, it is a very short article so take the time to do so now, I found so many examples of what's wrong with our cultures today.
The first clue to one of our biggest problems is the "random search" of a car driven by a high school student. Have we really reach the level of paranoia in which this is considered acceptable by society? To invade a child's privacy in such a manner does not give them much reason to respect the privacy, or lives, of anyone else. We are teaching them that people don't matter, is that what we really want them to learn?
They once tried to propose this in my school once, and my school was pretty violent at the time, the 80s were really violent compared to today. The student body, with the support of parents and many teachers, protested this notion so strongly that the board had no choice, they didn't employ such an archaic policy for us. Today the students have been beaten down by the authorities as to accept this policy, and that scares me more than the kids with knives. This scares me even more than kids with knives who intend to actually harm someone, because that's so rare now I haven't encountered one in more than a decade.
The implications of this are made worse by the fact that society does not question it, at all. A long time ago someone famous once said something very profound, if we are willing to sacrifice even our basic liberties for an illusion of security, we deserve neither. Of course I added my touch to the phrase, because security is truly an illusion, no government agency can really effectively protect it's people, that's just not possible. This is because our biggest threats are ourselves, no one else. No one can protect you from yourself. So giving these agencies the power to do what they want simply so we can pretend they are protecting us is ludicrous.
Okay, so back to the story before I go on and on. The next part that stands out was that it was not even his property, he was borrowing it. So not only was his privacy infringed on, his father's privacy was also trampled under the boot of an obviously authoritarian party. The reason for them being authoritarian is that they are taking what is unlikely to occur as justification for enforcing their authority. The reasons for the tool being present are perfectly valid on their own, however, even without those reasons, a knife is a tool far more than a weapon. If you want to get technical, retractable pens are more useful as weapons, those can be turned into dangerous projectiles with only simple modifications.
This entire situation only demonstrates why paranoia is so bad for us. Originally, in the 90s, they made a claim that violence was on the rise, which it was actually on a steep decline in that era. They attempted to blame video games for this, Super Mario was convincing kids to kill everyone around them, after they grew up and did a ton of drugs and alcohol of course. But we now know this was all nothing more than alarmists seeking a way to attack something they just didn't understand.
Today violence, the world over actually, is at an all time low. Mind you, we still have a lot of work to do, but not in the USA. Our violent crimes have been in check for a very long time now, I can remember when you had to carry a weapon at night, in rural Washington, just because us kids would rob you blind .... for fun. Now, I can walk down the streets of downtown Seattle without seeing any crime at all. We need to take back our paranoia, and focus on important matters, like helping other countries who do still have problems with serious violence.
Now here is where the story really takes a turn for WTF. They are considering punishing this student for something their father did, which was completely innocent and practically expected. This means he's guilty until proven innocent. Now remind me, what is it our justice system is based on? Oh, that's right, innocent until proven guilty. This is one of many stories that show our culture has completely discarded the basic foundation of our justice, the one thing that made the USA better than most other countries, the only saving grace in our government, and we are discarding it for a false sense of security from threats that don't even exist.
Parents, teachers, authorities in the USA, you are all wrong. Stop ignoring that fact, you are wrong, we have lost our soul here, the one thing that made this country great, the only reason I even liked the USA, you are destroying. This is not my country, my country had a sense of justice, equality, and freedom, not authoritarian dictators who want to tell you what to do.
I found this story in my Twitter feed, was bored and monitoring it for whatever caught my eye. As I read it, it is a very short article so take the time to do so now, I found so many examples of what's wrong with our cultures today.
The first clue to one of our biggest problems is the "random search" of a car driven by a high school student. Have we really reach the level of paranoia in which this is considered acceptable by society? To invade a child's privacy in such a manner does not give them much reason to respect the privacy, or lives, of anyone else. We are teaching them that people don't matter, is that what we really want them to learn?
They once tried to propose this in my school once, and my school was pretty violent at the time, the 80s were really violent compared to today. The student body, with the support of parents and many teachers, protested this notion so strongly that the board had no choice, they didn't employ such an archaic policy for us. Today the students have been beaten down by the authorities as to accept this policy, and that scares me more than the kids with knives. This scares me even more than kids with knives who intend to actually harm someone, because that's so rare now I haven't encountered one in more than a decade.
The implications of this are made worse by the fact that society does not question it, at all. A long time ago someone famous once said something very profound, if we are willing to sacrifice even our basic liberties for an illusion of security, we deserve neither. Of course I added my touch to the phrase, because security is truly an illusion, no government agency can really effectively protect it's people, that's just not possible. This is because our biggest threats are ourselves, no one else. No one can protect you from yourself. So giving these agencies the power to do what they want simply so we can pretend they are protecting us is ludicrous.
Okay, so back to the story before I go on and on. The next part that stands out was that it was not even his property, he was borrowing it. So not only was his privacy infringed on, his father's privacy was also trampled under the boot of an obviously authoritarian party. The reason for them being authoritarian is that they are taking what is unlikely to occur as justification for enforcing their authority. The reasons for the tool being present are perfectly valid on their own, however, even without those reasons, a knife is a tool far more than a weapon. If you want to get technical, retractable pens are more useful as weapons, those can be turned into dangerous projectiles with only simple modifications.
This entire situation only demonstrates why paranoia is so bad for us. Originally, in the 90s, they made a claim that violence was on the rise, which it was actually on a steep decline in that era. They attempted to blame video games for this, Super Mario was convincing kids to kill everyone around them, after they grew up and did a ton of drugs and alcohol of course. But we now know this was all nothing more than alarmists seeking a way to attack something they just didn't understand.
Today violence, the world over actually, is at an all time low. Mind you, we still have a lot of work to do, but not in the USA. Our violent crimes have been in check for a very long time now, I can remember when you had to carry a weapon at night, in rural Washington, just because us kids would rob you blind .... for fun. Now, I can walk down the streets of downtown Seattle without seeing any crime at all. We need to take back our paranoia, and focus on important matters, like helping other countries who do still have problems with serious violence.
Now here is where the story really takes a turn for WTF. They are considering punishing this student for something their father did, which was completely innocent and practically expected. This means he's guilty until proven innocent. Now remind me, what is it our justice system is based on? Oh, that's right, innocent until proven guilty. This is one of many stories that show our culture has completely discarded the basic foundation of our justice, the one thing that made the USA better than most other countries, the only saving grace in our government, and we are discarding it for a false sense of security from threats that don't even exist.
Parents, teachers, authorities in the USA, you are all wrong. Stop ignoring that fact, you are wrong, we have lost our soul here, the one thing that made this country great, the only reason I even liked the USA, you are destroying. This is not my country, my country had a sense of justice, equality, and freedom, not authoritarian dictators who want to tell you what to do.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Comsumerism - Ignorance Abound
I am known to beat a dead horse quite a bit, and this is almost an exception to that rule. However, the entire reason the USA will not become a Capitalist society is because of how inundated our culture is with religious nonsense. If a child is not offered the chances to make decisions as they learn, they will not learn to make decisions well as an adult, this holds true for society as well. For too long people have been given answers to questions that benefit only those in power, and people became too use to having someone else watch out for them.
This phenomenon has been the primary reason Capitalism cannot take root in the USA, people are slow to learn how to make smart decisions and thus still need someone else to tell them what to do. This "someone" is often a government agency, such as the FDA. This has opened a path for criminals to take advantage of people, instead of being smart and looking up information to validate claims and businesses, people just accept what information is handed them as fact.
In true Capitalism, the consumer has the power, businesses must please the consumer or fail due to a lack of profit, and failed businesses just get replaced by better ones. The consumers make the ultimate decision in which businesses are healthy, and which are bad, making for a very powerful, and stable, form of society. The problem is that this requires the consumers to become educated, to know what they are buying, why, and how it's made and sold. It means the consumer must ignore the figurehead "masters" and be responsible for their own decisions.
This is a difficult task, because people are still stuck on "now now now," they want quick answers, quick results, and even quicker paybacks. In the past we had little time, as a species, to think on matters, and having someone who looked out for us was of some benefit. But in this day, everyone has access to all the information required for any intelligent decision. This means we can ... relax. For the first time in history we are able to actually learn, study, and analyze every decision, every product, every service we need or want.
So I challenge anyone who reads this, ignore the advertisements, ignore the government's opinion, ignore the opinions of others, and investigate everything you buy. Turn to scientific research, to actual facts and figures. Turn to the things that can actually inform you on matters, the opinion of a perfect stranger can often be more valuable than that of a friend for such matters, because the friend will worry more about your relationship than the facts, while a perfect stranger will just tell you what they think.
Scientific papers are the most valuable sources of information, and now, thanks to the internet, you can buy these papers or acquire them from friends at the click of a link. The thing about scientific papers is that they go through a rigorous method of peer review, make sure you check for that specifically to make certain it's valid. This process eliminates errors, almost flawlessly, in the data, making the information more accurate and thus more valuable.
Try it yourself, you will find that many of the products you have been ignoring due to false information are some of the best products you could have been using. You will find that many of the companies you have been avoiding are some of the best companies as well.
This phenomenon has been the primary reason Capitalism cannot take root in the USA, people are slow to learn how to make smart decisions and thus still need someone else to tell them what to do. This "someone" is often a government agency, such as the FDA. This has opened a path for criminals to take advantage of people, instead of being smart and looking up information to validate claims and businesses, people just accept what information is handed them as fact.
In true Capitalism, the consumer has the power, businesses must please the consumer or fail due to a lack of profit, and failed businesses just get replaced by better ones. The consumers make the ultimate decision in which businesses are healthy, and which are bad, making for a very powerful, and stable, form of society. The problem is that this requires the consumers to become educated, to know what they are buying, why, and how it's made and sold. It means the consumer must ignore the figurehead "masters" and be responsible for their own decisions.
This is a difficult task, because people are still stuck on "now now now," they want quick answers, quick results, and even quicker paybacks. In the past we had little time, as a species, to think on matters, and having someone who looked out for us was of some benefit. But in this day, everyone has access to all the information required for any intelligent decision. This means we can ... relax. For the first time in history we are able to actually learn, study, and analyze every decision, every product, every service we need or want.
So I challenge anyone who reads this, ignore the advertisements, ignore the government's opinion, ignore the opinions of others, and investigate everything you buy. Turn to scientific research, to actual facts and figures. Turn to the things that can actually inform you on matters, the opinion of a perfect stranger can often be more valuable than that of a friend for such matters, because the friend will worry more about your relationship than the facts, while a perfect stranger will just tell you what they think.
Scientific papers are the most valuable sources of information, and now, thanks to the internet, you can buy these papers or acquire them from friends at the click of a link. The thing about scientific papers is that they go through a rigorous method of peer review, make sure you check for that specifically to make certain it's valid. This process eliminates errors, almost flawlessly, in the data, making the information more accurate and thus more valuable.
Try it yourself, you will find that many of the products you have been ignoring due to false information are some of the best products you could have been using. You will find that many of the companies you have been avoiding are some of the best companies as well.
Garbage - The True Value of Psychiatry
Psychiatrists are often looked on for diagnosing the sanity of another person, or to determine if that person is a danger. In the USA our courts still give these witchdoctors the power to, essentially, end someone's life for any reason they see fit. I do mean any reason.
Psychology is a scientific study of behavior in humans, a very scientific one that utilizes the scientific method and incorporates information from solid sources. Yet psychologists are largely ignored in the USA, the people in charge still give psychiatrists a free ticket to torture, maim, and even kill patients who often need nothing more than a hug.
So what makes a psychiatrist no more than the modern witchdoctor? Simple, they have absolutely no scientific research backing up any of their claims. It's all based on stereotypes and personal opinion, often relying on the highly inaccurate anecdotes of other people. Basically, the psychiatrist just chooses who they want to destroy, and who they want to leave alone, the "mad scientist" archetype.
My common response to the difference between the two is "a psychologists asks you what you are thinking, a psychiatrist tells you how you should think." This adage is highly descriptive on so many levels, I will look at them all. The first being that we know, for a fact, that there is no real insanity, for if there was there would be no real sanity. Every type of thinking, or method of logic, is inherently unstable, that is the price of being an organic organism. This we know from neurology and genetics.
This means that a psychopath is no less sane than a pacifist, a vegan no less sane than a carnivore, and a hypochondriac no less sane than a sky diver. The problems arise when these modes of thinking interfere with social interactions in a manner that causes unnecessary harm to others. Note, that does not include one's self, which I will get into in a bit. A psychotic personality works very well as a military soldier, or even a slaughter house, because killing is the primary thought in their logic. In reality, most psychotic people are never a problem, and many do work in fields which killing is acceptable, or required.
I am a morbid personality type, everything my logic follows is mechanical and curiosity can cause me to do things which others may consider stupid, or insane. The reason it's considered morbid is that I am willing to look into things that others dare not contemplate, I know of the most painful way a human can die, for example. However, I am far from suicidal, I fear being dead more than anything else imaginable.
As for being a danger to one's self getting a free pass, it does anyway, all psychiatrists do is determine which calculated risks they approve and then deem all others "insane," often resulting in the destruction of many lives. But living is not simply breathing, and altering a personality kills that person, making them a completely different person. Psychiatrists employ many methods to kill someone, from drugs to electroshock "therapy," even surgery. Yes, even today psychiatrists, untrained as neurologists, can perform surgery on patient's brains, even in the USA.
They work around the laws by using consent forms, while the patient is under the influence of potent drugs. Ironically, these same methods available are ignored by medical doctors, who actually have the proper training to do surgery. But that is for another time. The psychiatrists have a license to kill, and no one ever questions it out of fear of becoming one of their victims. So what do we do? We fight back, inform the people in charge that these monsters are not only wrong on everything they assert as "sane," but that we are tired of them being given a free license to kill.
One of my friends fell victim to these murderers, she was talked into getting electroshock "therapy," which is only effective for combating extreme cases of seizures, by a psychiatrist. She is gone, her body is now inhabited by someone else, someone who is not her. That psychiatrist got away with murdering my friend, killing her in a savage way. Psychiatrists are no better than Gilles De Rais.
Psychology is a scientific study of behavior in humans, a very scientific one that utilizes the scientific method and incorporates information from solid sources. Yet psychologists are largely ignored in the USA, the people in charge still give psychiatrists a free ticket to torture, maim, and even kill patients who often need nothing more than a hug.
So what makes a psychiatrist no more than the modern witchdoctor? Simple, they have absolutely no scientific research backing up any of their claims. It's all based on stereotypes and personal opinion, often relying on the highly inaccurate anecdotes of other people. Basically, the psychiatrist just chooses who they want to destroy, and who they want to leave alone, the "mad scientist" archetype.
My common response to the difference between the two is "a psychologists asks you what you are thinking, a psychiatrist tells you how you should think." This adage is highly descriptive on so many levels, I will look at them all. The first being that we know, for a fact, that there is no real insanity, for if there was there would be no real sanity. Every type of thinking, or method of logic, is inherently unstable, that is the price of being an organic organism. This we know from neurology and genetics.
This means that a psychopath is no less sane than a pacifist, a vegan no less sane than a carnivore, and a hypochondriac no less sane than a sky diver. The problems arise when these modes of thinking interfere with social interactions in a manner that causes unnecessary harm to others. Note, that does not include one's self, which I will get into in a bit. A psychotic personality works very well as a military soldier, or even a slaughter house, because killing is the primary thought in their logic. In reality, most psychotic people are never a problem, and many do work in fields which killing is acceptable, or required.
I am a morbid personality type, everything my logic follows is mechanical and curiosity can cause me to do things which others may consider stupid, or insane. The reason it's considered morbid is that I am willing to look into things that others dare not contemplate, I know of the most painful way a human can die, for example. However, I am far from suicidal, I fear being dead more than anything else imaginable.
As for being a danger to one's self getting a free pass, it does anyway, all psychiatrists do is determine which calculated risks they approve and then deem all others "insane," often resulting in the destruction of many lives. But living is not simply breathing, and altering a personality kills that person, making them a completely different person. Psychiatrists employ many methods to kill someone, from drugs to electroshock "therapy," even surgery. Yes, even today psychiatrists, untrained as neurologists, can perform surgery on patient's brains, even in the USA.
They work around the laws by using consent forms, while the patient is under the influence of potent drugs. Ironically, these same methods available are ignored by medical doctors, who actually have the proper training to do surgery. But that is for another time. The psychiatrists have a license to kill, and no one ever questions it out of fear of becoming one of their victims. So what do we do? We fight back, inform the people in charge that these monsters are not only wrong on everything they assert as "sane," but that we are tired of them being given a free license to kill.
One of my friends fell victim to these murderers, she was talked into getting electroshock "therapy," which is only effective for combating extreme cases of seizures, by a psychiatrist. She is gone, her body is now inhabited by someone else, someone who is not her. That psychiatrist got away with murdering my friend, killing her in a savage way. Psychiatrists are no better than Gilles De Rais.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Gender - The Damage Done By Religion
About 400 years ago, gender was considered as nothing more than "what you're attracted too." A phrase we commonly used when discussing that era was "the time when women were women, and so were the men." The reason this phrase was so apt was because of the fashions and styles of the time, everyone wanted to wear lace and ruffles, the fancier and prettier, the better your status was. That meant that the men and women looked alike, so alike that if you accidentally slept with someone of the same gender, no one batted an eye.
That was also the time that religion had just began taking hold of the masses, a specific religious ideology actually, and people began to buy into the nonsense, people who couldn't afford the lace and ruffles. Now I am not one to deny a poor person their right to be jealous, I am always jealous of things other people have that I don't, however, what made this particular era so sinister was that this jealousy was used as a means to trick people into following a specific religion. This particular religion said it was "bad" or "evil" to be like everyone was at the time, giving the poor masses a false sense of superiority.
I am, of course, talking about the first of the christian religions. The odd thing was that it was not being "gay" or the cross-dressing that the religion stated as evil, at least not the part that the masses at that time were told about, they were told it was being wealthy or successful. But why tell them that? To keep the control, actually. The priests and religious leaders were all milking the poor people of their money, and status, just like all other eras, and all other religions.
The religious leaders did not stop there, to ensure that their power was secure they berated women holding any position of authority, undermining the authority of the queen, treason, essentially. To accomplish that the religious leaders had to convince the masses that women were inferior, incapable of making good decisions, and weaker. This was also to make the better dressed noblemen look weaker as well, they were, after all, dressing like women.
Throughout history this tactic is the most effective method of overturning a regime of any sort, paint the small group in power as something "evil" and the masses will agree, without realizing they are only giving that power to a different minority group, like preachers, for example. Ancient Egypt had a solution to this, though it was on intentional, their religious leaders were akin to political parties, each god representing an ideal. In turn, the party with the most willing followers was considered the will of the people, ultimately giving the people the real power.
The system is great, but as we have seen countless times, even today, it had the flaw of being too close to Anarchy to remain organized for long. However, the theocracies that we see in the more modern eras, and today, are worse because of the damage they do to the societies and cultures. Even today women are thought of as weaker, less capable, all because some preachers wanted to wrest power from one woman in the past.
This notion has been manipulated further by the modern religious leaders so that it attacks everyone who is not a straight, white, religious male. I use the word "white" because the notion of "race" has been decimated by too much misinformation, I will address that specific topic another time. This new trend of attacking anything that's different from what one person has labeled as acceptable has also corrupted the medical industry, financial industry, almost every government, and most of the cultures.
Ironically, even as we begin to open up, our cultures mend this damage caused by religious leaders, the progress is very slow. Mostly because we still allow the delusion that we call "religion" a free pass. Religion still has a free pass to do what it wants, people can still claim their beliefs trump even reality, allowing or even causing harm to others as a result. Today the medical industry will accept that the extremes exist, but continually ignore and deny the "in-betweens."
Now, I am not saying we should go out and jail, or worse, all religious people. That would make everyone else just like them. Instead we need to simply stop accepting their excuse of "it's my beliefs" and hold them accountable for all their actions, or inaction. We also should find treatment for those who are delusional enough to think their god talks to them directly, medical treatment, like how we treat all people who are delusional.
The trick is getting the professionals who do not have the same delusion to treat them.
That was also the time that religion had just began taking hold of the masses, a specific religious ideology actually, and people began to buy into the nonsense, people who couldn't afford the lace and ruffles. Now I am not one to deny a poor person their right to be jealous, I am always jealous of things other people have that I don't, however, what made this particular era so sinister was that this jealousy was used as a means to trick people into following a specific religion. This particular religion said it was "bad" or "evil" to be like everyone was at the time, giving the poor masses a false sense of superiority.
I am, of course, talking about the first of the christian religions. The odd thing was that it was not being "gay" or the cross-dressing that the religion stated as evil, at least not the part that the masses at that time were told about, they were told it was being wealthy or successful. But why tell them that? To keep the control, actually. The priests and religious leaders were all milking the poor people of their money, and status, just like all other eras, and all other religions.
The religious leaders did not stop there, to ensure that their power was secure they berated women holding any position of authority, undermining the authority of the queen, treason, essentially. To accomplish that the religious leaders had to convince the masses that women were inferior, incapable of making good decisions, and weaker. This was also to make the better dressed noblemen look weaker as well, they were, after all, dressing like women.
Throughout history this tactic is the most effective method of overturning a regime of any sort, paint the small group in power as something "evil" and the masses will agree, without realizing they are only giving that power to a different minority group, like preachers, for example. Ancient Egypt had a solution to this, though it was on intentional, their religious leaders were akin to political parties, each god representing an ideal. In turn, the party with the most willing followers was considered the will of the people, ultimately giving the people the real power.
The system is great, but as we have seen countless times, even today, it had the flaw of being too close to Anarchy to remain organized for long. However, the theocracies that we see in the more modern eras, and today, are worse because of the damage they do to the societies and cultures. Even today women are thought of as weaker, less capable, all because some preachers wanted to wrest power from one woman in the past.
This notion has been manipulated further by the modern religious leaders so that it attacks everyone who is not a straight, white, religious male. I use the word "white" because the notion of "race" has been decimated by too much misinformation, I will address that specific topic another time. This new trend of attacking anything that's different from what one person has labeled as acceptable has also corrupted the medical industry, financial industry, almost every government, and most of the cultures.
Ironically, even as we begin to open up, our cultures mend this damage caused by religious leaders, the progress is very slow. Mostly because we still allow the delusion that we call "religion" a free pass. Religion still has a free pass to do what it wants, people can still claim their beliefs trump even reality, allowing or even causing harm to others as a result. Today the medical industry will accept that the extremes exist, but continually ignore and deny the "in-betweens."
Now, I am not saying we should go out and jail, or worse, all religious people. That would make everyone else just like them. Instead we need to simply stop accepting their excuse of "it's my beliefs" and hold them accountable for all their actions, or inaction. We also should find treatment for those who are delusional enough to think their god talks to them directly, medical treatment, like how we treat all people who are delusional.
The trick is getting the professionals who do not have the same delusion to treat them.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Doctors Who Care
Nope, the title does not describe doctors in the US, not by a long shot. Perhaps one out of every thousand doctors here does care about their patients, but that's being generous. Medical doctors in the USA probably care less about you than moth being hunted by an owl cares about the owl.
One of the key pieces of evidence is how many doctors wanted the health insurance act proposed by Obama and many other politicians, including most Republican politicians, enacted. What does this act do? It certainly does not require doctors to care for their patients, it does not force hospitals to take any urgent care patients, nor does it require that a patient's rights are honored.
All this act did was force every patient to pay for a middle man to deal with the doctors. Why would the doctors support this? Greed, plain and simple. If you have insurance, they will be paid, in full, by someone, even if you die because of their mistakes, or lack of care. A medical doctor can now get away with ignoring all your symptoms, ignoring all your ailments, and still be paid all the money they want.
The key to why this is a problem lies in the fact that you need insurance, even for basic care, regular checkups, and life saving medications. I am not for "handouts" at all, especially handouts for those who own yachts and overpriced cars. The insult to injury in all this, doctors are not basing their practices on scientific research at all.
There's why I hate doctors so much. A university physics professor once said, on a national program, that he had failed most of the medical students for his classes. This is very easy to see, when you see a doctor and happen to know a thing or two about biology or genetics, you can easily test them. Most doctors still assert that asexuality in humans is impossible, when not only is nothing impossible (according to scientific research), sexuality is a genetic trait and this means every possible behavior that we know of is possible within every organism that has a genetic system. Meaning, not only is it possible for humans to be asexual, it's one of those traits that will always be present in the population.
That is the simple test I use, being asexual I get to see their reaction when I explain to them what I am. Their expressions are often the first sign, but how their attitude changes is the most telling. Almost every time they take on the attitude that I must be ignorant or lying, not realizing that I have been studying biological sciences for the last decade, lacking anything better to do really.
So now the doctors can do whatever they want, ignore scientific research and information, even kill their patients, and still be paid a lot more than they deserve. All because of patients buying into the lie that insurance is the problem. This is often referred to as a placebo, create a solution that only appears to address some problem, then convince the people it does.
The danger of placebos is that they ignore the real problem, the root of the problem, something doctors are very skilled at doing in the US. They often claim "pain is not a symptom" to me, which I know is complete folly as pain is often the first alert, and primary, symptom of the most deadly and serious ailments. This phrase is simply a cop-out, a method of placating the patient so they can still get paid without having to do anything. Their reasons for not wanting to do anything will vary, though it takes a cold heart to not care about a patient, a very cold heart indeed.
So what is the real problem here? Greed, in the only industry that greed should not be present. I am not one to be nostalgic, I love the future, but in this instance the old way of thinking is better. Doctors use to take a "Hippocratic Oath," in which they promised to do what they could to make people healthy, even if it opposed their religious ideals. They took that oath very serious, often even giving free medical care to uphold it, and only those who did care about their patients became doctors. Then doctors started being able to charge more money, the economy improved and even the least of us lived as kings.
That was when the oath lost all meaning, the greedy people, the ones who learned they could make a fortune by duping the uneducated and naive masses, they began flooding the medical industry. Doctors today abuse patients as a means of gaining more money than they are worth, everything from hiding the true costs to dismissing important symptoms. But the one fact that bothers me is that these are almost all doctors in the US.
Doctors in various other countries are often more giving, or more understanding. Many will even take cash on delivery, some do not get paid until the patient is healthy, others will listen to patients through long distance communications without any promise of being paid for it. Doctors in Washington state are some of the most greedy though, a state I am currently stuck in through no fault of my own. I am sure others exist in other states, but as a general rule any US doctor should be suspect of being driven by only greed.
One of the key pieces of evidence is how many doctors wanted the health insurance act proposed by Obama and many other politicians, including most Republican politicians, enacted. What does this act do? It certainly does not require doctors to care for their patients, it does not force hospitals to take any urgent care patients, nor does it require that a patient's rights are honored.
All this act did was force every patient to pay for a middle man to deal with the doctors. Why would the doctors support this? Greed, plain and simple. If you have insurance, they will be paid, in full, by someone, even if you die because of their mistakes, or lack of care. A medical doctor can now get away with ignoring all your symptoms, ignoring all your ailments, and still be paid all the money they want.
The key to why this is a problem lies in the fact that you need insurance, even for basic care, regular checkups, and life saving medications. I am not for "handouts" at all, especially handouts for those who own yachts and overpriced cars. The insult to injury in all this, doctors are not basing their practices on scientific research at all.
There's why I hate doctors so much. A university physics professor once said, on a national program, that he had failed most of the medical students for his classes. This is very easy to see, when you see a doctor and happen to know a thing or two about biology or genetics, you can easily test them. Most doctors still assert that asexuality in humans is impossible, when not only is nothing impossible (according to scientific research), sexuality is a genetic trait and this means every possible behavior that we know of is possible within every organism that has a genetic system. Meaning, not only is it possible for humans to be asexual, it's one of those traits that will always be present in the population.
That is the simple test I use, being asexual I get to see their reaction when I explain to them what I am. Their expressions are often the first sign, but how their attitude changes is the most telling. Almost every time they take on the attitude that I must be ignorant or lying, not realizing that I have been studying biological sciences for the last decade, lacking anything better to do really.
So now the doctors can do whatever they want, ignore scientific research and information, even kill their patients, and still be paid a lot more than they deserve. All because of patients buying into the lie that insurance is the problem. This is often referred to as a placebo, create a solution that only appears to address some problem, then convince the people it does.
The danger of placebos is that they ignore the real problem, the root of the problem, something doctors are very skilled at doing in the US. They often claim "pain is not a symptom" to me, which I know is complete folly as pain is often the first alert, and primary, symptom of the most deadly and serious ailments. This phrase is simply a cop-out, a method of placating the patient so they can still get paid without having to do anything. Their reasons for not wanting to do anything will vary, though it takes a cold heart to not care about a patient, a very cold heart indeed.
So what is the real problem here? Greed, in the only industry that greed should not be present. I am not one to be nostalgic, I love the future, but in this instance the old way of thinking is better. Doctors use to take a "Hippocratic Oath," in which they promised to do what they could to make people healthy, even if it opposed their religious ideals. They took that oath very serious, often even giving free medical care to uphold it, and only those who did care about their patients became doctors. Then doctors started being able to charge more money, the economy improved and even the least of us lived as kings.
That was when the oath lost all meaning, the greedy people, the ones who learned they could make a fortune by duping the uneducated and naive masses, they began flooding the medical industry. Doctors today abuse patients as a means of gaining more money than they are worth, everything from hiding the true costs to dismissing important symptoms. But the one fact that bothers me is that these are almost all doctors in the US.
Doctors in various other countries are often more giving, or more understanding. Many will even take cash on delivery, some do not get paid until the patient is healthy, others will listen to patients through long distance communications without any promise of being paid for it. Doctors in Washington state are some of the most greedy though, a state I am currently stuck in through no fault of my own. I am sure others exist in other states, but as a general rule any US doctor should be suspect of being driven by only greed.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
The Double Standard of Typical
Often people will call something "normal" or "abnormal" when talking of human behavior, but not only is that inaccurate, it is also a double standard. The term "normal" cannot be applied to anything dealing in biological organisms, especially behavior, personality, and personal tastes. At best we can label it as typical or a social standard, however, to be more accurate it's nothing more than a common lie.
Let's look at one behavior, often thought of as "abnormal" or even a "perversion," the "adult baby." There are so many myths on this matter, so many false preconceptions that a psychologist could write an entire library to simply dispel the common myths. The most prevalent being that it's a sexual fetish. Yes, it is common for many to entwine sexual fetishes into the role playing, however that is not inherent in the term.
An "adult baby" is really just someone who acts, and enjoys doing so, like a infant or toddler, even to the extent of dressing as one and adopting a parental figure to help with the role playing. That's all it is, nothing more, no inherent adult themes or even any psychological traits. Many people enjoy role playing, there are two primary role playing industries that dominate every culture, the role playing games (RPG) and what is commonly mistaken for cosplay.
The role playing of sexual fantasies as a fetish is a subculture in the cosplay style role playing, though not, in any way, the larger portion of the industry. The SCA is the most dominant subculture in the cosplay style role playing, and yes, adult babies fit into the same type of culture as the SCA, the only difference are the types of roles played.
Suddenly this "adult baby" thing doesn't seem so strange, does it? Or perhaps the SCA culture seems stranger? There's the double standard I want to focus on. The SCA focuses on re-enacting the 17th century European life, though with so many inaccuracies it's almost laughable. The adult babies focus on re-enacting their childhood, with control over the way in which it develops. If you ask me, the adult babies are better than the SCA in that they admit they are taking artistic license with their role playing.
Other cultures also have this kind of double standard, the transgendered are another that is often forced into many double standards. First, many homosexuals will often treat transgendered as if they are somehow wrong, a double standard I have observed personally many times. Another is that even many transgendered think it's all about sex, even when some transgendered will be asexual, statistically expected, actually.
The other are video game fans, by those who claim video games make people violent yet go to a sports game where they bash in each other's heads for points. Video games cause complacency if they have any effect, this is something that was actually tested and verified through almost scientific methods. Turns out, when people are playing video games they can even ignore pain during surgery, their brain is too focused on the actual game. Quite the reverse of the common claim, yet we know that football has caused people to be violent on many occasions, the players are always violent during the game, since that is part of the game.
I put a bit more focus on the adult baby aspect for a special reason, I have a medical need that requires the use of something the adult baby types enjoy. But the standard versions fail to work so often. So I found a website that catered to the "adult baby," originally price shopping, and discovered their custom made products, designed for those who want more authenticity in their role playing, are actually superior to the standards of other companies. So, I now use those exclusively, even though it costs me a lot more than the others would since I cannot use insurance to pay for them.
So this double standard hurts me, a lot, and thus I see a reason to begin attacking all double standards like this. It's time we discard such childish things, and I'm not talking about the adult babies, and start advancing our species beyond the need to wrongly classify things as "normal" or "acceptable," just live, and let live.
Let's look at one behavior, often thought of as "abnormal" or even a "perversion," the "adult baby." There are so many myths on this matter, so many false preconceptions that a psychologist could write an entire library to simply dispel the common myths. The most prevalent being that it's a sexual fetish. Yes, it is common for many to entwine sexual fetishes into the role playing, however that is not inherent in the term.
An "adult baby" is really just someone who acts, and enjoys doing so, like a infant or toddler, even to the extent of dressing as one and adopting a parental figure to help with the role playing. That's all it is, nothing more, no inherent adult themes or even any psychological traits. Many people enjoy role playing, there are two primary role playing industries that dominate every culture, the role playing games (RPG) and what is commonly mistaken for cosplay.
The role playing of sexual fantasies as a fetish is a subculture in the cosplay style role playing, though not, in any way, the larger portion of the industry. The SCA is the most dominant subculture in the cosplay style role playing, and yes, adult babies fit into the same type of culture as the SCA, the only difference are the types of roles played.
Suddenly this "adult baby" thing doesn't seem so strange, does it? Or perhaps the SCA culture seems stranger? There's the double standard I want to focus on. The SCA focuses on re-enacting the 17th century European life, though with so many inaccuracies it's almost laughable. The adult babies focus on re-enacting their childhood, with control over the way in which it develops. If you ask me, the adult babies are better than the SCA in that they admit they are taking artistic license with their role playing.
Other cultures also have this kind of double standard, the transgendered are another that is often forced into many double standards. First, many homosexuals will often treat transgendered as if they are somehow wrong, a double standard I have observed personally many times. Another is that even many transgendered think it's all about sex, even when some transgendered will be asexual, statistically expected, actually.
The other are video game fans, by those who claim video games make people violent yet go to a sports game where they bash in each other's heads for points. Video games cause complacency if they have any effect, this is something that was actually tested and verified through almost scientific methods. Turns out, when people are playing video games they can even ignore pain during surgery, their brain is too focused on the actual game. Quite the reverse of the common claim, yet we know that football has caused people to be violent on many occasions, the players are always violent during the game, since that is part of the game.
I put a bit more focus on the adult baby aspect for a special reason, I have a medical need that requires the use of something the adult baby types enjoy. But the standard versions fail to work so often. So I found a website that catered to the "adult baby," originally price shopping, and discovered their custom made products, designed for those who want more authenticity in their role playing, are actually superior to the standards of other companies. So, I now use those exclusively, even though it costs me a lot more than the others would since I cannot use insurance to pay for them.
So this double standard hurts me, a lot, and thus I see a reason to begin attacking all double standards like this. It's time we discard such childish things, and I'm not talking about the adult babies, and start advancing our species beyond the need to wrongly classify things as "normal" or "acceptable," just live, and let live.
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