Wednesday, June 24, 2009

TO HEGEL AND BACK

Which part of LIFE do you find more disturbing..
that random acts of suffering can strike you at any time, the tragic finite certainty that we will die, or that e-gadfly Perez Hilton is still on the radar?


I've been rediscovering my appreciation for the Philosophers..those who boldly stuck out their necks on the chopping block betwixt Science and Religion searching for Reality and Truth..if either really exist?



Have any of you seen Ape Genius on PBS? One question that intrigues me is why Chimpanzees, our nearest lifeform (98% of our DNA) never made the next step to what we term creative thought. Chimps can organise information and solve problems but their "brains never left the launch pad".



Humans are learning animals..we thrive on acquiring and exchanging information. The problem is that now we are concentrating on INFORMATION instead of KNOWLEDGE.


The Internet offers us an unimaginable opportunity to share knowledge but we opt for viewing Perez Hilton whinging about being popped by the manager of the Black Eyed Peas.


To my way of thinking this is the nadir of Modern Culture..a no talent hack who weasled his way into celebrity by being a bitchy little gossip. I think that his Warholian installment of Fame is way past the 15 minute mark and about to be cancelled. It's about f*cking time! Read it HERE


Last night on Frontline there was a doc on how e-garbage (old computers) are being dumped illegally in Africa, India, Vietnam and China. There in primitive garbage strewn ghettos criminals gather personal/financial information on discarded hard drives...credit card numbers, wedding photos..you name it. Information can live forever :)


So here we are at the start of the 21st Century. On one hand the internet is working by informing the world about the cultural revolution in Iran. Like the Dark Ages in Europe, the Middle East has been ruled by theocracies for generations but many of those countries, like Egypt and Iran, have huge populations of young people under the age of 30.


This gives me hope because if they can avoid getting caught up in the frivolous addiction to Entertainment those young people can lead a neo-renaissance and end the Dark Ages.

Which is ironic because during the European Dark Ages the Muslim world flourished under the influence of the rediscovered Philosophers of Antiquity...which of course the Popes had banned. When Spain was reclaimed from the Moors the Westerners re-discovered the forbidden Libraries of the Philosophers and this kick started the Renaissance.



Hegel's immortal line the "History teaches us that people have never learnt anything from history" may not be entirely true.
It certainly is mostly true but somehow Humans have managed to evolve and build on the advances of the previous generation. Then they make the same mistakes (War) and the next generation moves forward. Chimpanzees have never been able to do that. As frustrating as our progress is there is the knowledge that some people will live in a better world than their parents did.



16 comments:

  1. I don't know about generation to generation Donn, I make the same mistakes week in week out. I can't to evolve

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  2. I can't wait to evolve, maybe I'l learn to write properly when that day comes..

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  3. Hominidae = Great Apes:

    Orangutan
    Gorilla
    Chimpanzee
    Bonobo
    Human

    Many more similarities than differences...

    ReplyDelete
  4. and some people live in a worse world than their parents did. Average upward progress - NIL.

    How depressing, still on the upside I have no idea who Perez is and have no interest in finding out. However, he looks like he deserved a thump.

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  5. First off, I think you need to define what "better world" is. Yes, they might earn alot more money than their parents did, but aside from some material comforts, they are still subject to the whims of resession, climate change, war, revolt, increases in iPhone data plan fees, and the Windows blue screen of death.

    I don't think ANYBODY, regardless of race, creed, color, or economic status, is being left a better world. They are simply going to perhaps be able to survive it longer than the rest of us out here on the flood plains without a fortress and mercenary security force to call our own.

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  6. Chimps are better at mathematics than I am.

    I do not wish to discuss the matter further.

    Cut and paste this if the link doesn’t work…

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7124156.stm

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  7. Seal the deal, that's what we've got to do. Or at least that's what the UN says. Seal the deal on governments reducing carbon emissions.

    Phew, that was serious.

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  8. Humans are overrated. We are all twits.
    Sx

    ReplyDelete
  9. For a minute there, I thought that pic of Perez was an orangutan in a suit--no offense to the orangutans intended. Please reserve the poop flinging for Perez.

    So long as people have ideas and ways to express/share those ideas (speech, writing, art, music), humanity continues to evolve, hopefully for the better. At the very least, having access to different ideas and experiences can make a person more self aware and wiser.

    Censorship never succeeds in eliminating ideas; they just make ideas more precious and drive people even harder to seek them out and spread them.

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  10. Just a quick "thanks for the grins Donn". I now return to the chaos that is my life right now.

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  11. Anonymous12:27 am

    The development is not progressive as a line, its more like some scribble.
    It's a model to visualize "progress". In fact nothing follows a stright line or a rect-angel - it's just the model Descartes built. And sadly many humans take it for the original.

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  12. There are some things that human will never learn, no matter how many times they make the mistake (war). As for the rest... the huge establishment machinery can't be dismantled so easily. We're all swallowed in.

    Evolution follows strange ways, certainly.

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  13. Who gives a flying fuck anyway?

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  14. blast. . .

    . . .now you have me thinking

    (-%

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  15. Perez Hilton. Who he?

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  16. The whole world is getting lazy!

    ReplyDelete

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