Here's to the Frivolous

Once upon a time, there were pulp magazines. They were derided as frivolous.

As the pulps died they gave birth to the medium of comic books, and the full blooming of the genera of science Fiction.

Comic books also contained a great deal of Science Fiction. Comic books were and are derided as frivolous and dangerous drivel for adolescent boys.

Science Fiction is our scout into the future, it gives us time to cope with new technology and the effects that it will have on our culture. It trains the thinking of the people who will build that future. When Philosophy abdicated it's role as the field that asks Important Questions, and threw down the banner of knowledge, Science Fiction picked up the banner, cleaned off the mud, and continued the march. Because of this, Science Fiction is the most important cultural artifact of our species.

Science fiction was and is derided as frivolous drivel for adolescent boys.

In the late 80s video games became popular, Science Fiction made the jump from print medium to the new entrant with ease. Partly due to the people who are able to make video games being the same as the people who like Science Fiction. Partly because the medium has sufficient bandwidth to do proper Science Fiction in ways that movies cannot, and TV has difficulty with.

Video games are and have been derided as dangerous and frivolous drivel for adolescent boys. So dangerous in fact that merely playing one would turn a person into a violent mass murderer, or in the new war with Eastasia, a rapist.

Contemporary with video games, personal computers appeared. PCs have become so vital to the economy (at any scale you care to observe) that removing them would be analogous to removing electricity. While they have the potential to usher in Big Brother, they have an even greater potential to banish him forever, and even to banish the need for government in the first place. Whether enabling accurate logistics, and making everything in the economy run more smoothly, or enabling things that could not have happened before, PCs have improved everything they touch.

PCs were derided as a frivolous waste of time for anyone who wasn't a business, especially for those stupid adolescent boys, who are probably autistic losers anyway.

The next time a person tells you that something is frivolous or dangerous and only of interest to adolescent boys, you should first inquire as to how they managed to get their head so far up their ass that it came out the other end. Then go buy the "frivolous" thing, and study it.

You will be ahead of the curve for whatever society changing event happens next.

[Unix Koan] The Old and Young Masters

An Old master sought knowledge of a part of the Way which was unfamiliar to him. So he traveled to a village where a Young Master lived who knew much of this part of the Way.

When the Old Master arrived at the monastery in the village, the Young Master was aghast at his purpose, saying: "But thou art a Master of sixty years, and I of but seven. Wherefore do you seek knowledge of one such as I?".

The Old Master replied saying; "When you built this monastery was it with your own hands?". "No" said the Young Master, "for I know little of carpentry or masonry.". The Old Master asked who did build the monastery, to which the Young Master pointed towards two of his students saying; "They did, for Bar has great skill in carpentry, and Baz in masonry."

The Old Master said: "But they are younger than you".

The Young Master was enlightened.

The Too Common Definition of Wisdom

The first thing to understand about Wisdom is that I am Wiser than you.

This is because I hold [random opinion X]. Any kind of logical argument you have for your opinion is proof that you are Foolish, and the fact that you do not understand and agree with whatever random whims I use to justify my Wisdom is also proof that you have no Wisdom.

If, in my infinite generosity I decide to explain the Wisdom of my position, I will simply repeat the same logic-free statements I have already said before, after all, those statements are the description of Wisdom. If in my truly sublime and infinite generosity I allow you to argue your side, your argument must be constructed of perfectly flawless logic, without any unproven premises. For purposes of the discussion any premise that I agree with is considered proven, and any premise I disagree with is unproven. If using premises that I agree with you come to a conclusion that I do not agree with then it is false regardless of logic, and it is yet more proof that you are not Wise.

I will grant that you might be more intelligent than I am, but it doesn't matter because you are a Fool, and I am Wise, as I have already proven by your differing opinion.

See also, Kafkatrap

(This post was originally going to be on /r/raisedbynarcissists but I realized it's wide applicability)

A warning about spoilers.

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CASE SPOILER INFINITY

*** EXPEDITE EYES ALL
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1. THIS MESSAGE CONSTITUTES A MEME WARNING.

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AUTHENTICATION: FOXTROT LUCAS CHARLIE REVAN ERIS 0x23DEADBEEF42

[Force Persuade] This is definitely not a lame ripoff of some of The Eldraeverse nanofics

Thought of the Day: the Communist Creed, and Dirty Words in Economics

(blog post so I have a reference point)

The Communist Creed

Communism famously is about "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.". It occurs to me that there is a better formulation:

"From each according to his inability to hide, to each according to his ability to bullshit."

For the uninitiated; "inability to hide" refers both to property, as well as pretending to be sick or disabled and unable to work. "ability to bullshit" covers the 10,000 "needs" that appear when a person can only get what they can wheedle out of the head honcho.

Dirty Economic Words

"Need" has been referred to as a dirty word in economics, however there is something worse. "Should" is not merely a bad word: it is blasphemy. As soon as someone says "should" they are no longer making an economic argument, but a moral one. Worse, when a person starts mixing up moral arguments about how things should be, with arguments about what is, it becomes easy to forget what is. Confusion of thinking and insanity will soon follow, just don't. Not even once.

Thought of the Day: Quantum Economics

Money in bureaucracies (especially governments) is in a superposition of [allocated for it's intended use], [in storage], and [diverted to someone's pocket].

"Monetary policy" is a box for preventing anyone from collapsing the monetary waveform.

That is all.

The Other Side of "Long Black Veil"

Ten years ago, on a cold dark night

I killed that sonuvabitch, 'neath the town hall light

There were few at the scene, but they all agreed

To take a bribe, and describe someone else

She walks those hills in a long black veil

She visits his grave when the night winds wail

Nobody knows, nobody sees

Nobody knows but me

The judge said "son, what is your alibi

If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die"

He spoke not a word, thou it meant his life

He'd been in the arms of my wife

Did I applaud?

Now the scaffold is high and eternity's near

She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear

But sometimes at night, when the north wind moans

In a long black veil, she cries ov're his bones

She walks those hills in a long black veil

She visits his grave when the night winds wail

Nobody knows, nobody sees

Nobody knows but me

With apologies to Johnny Cash, and Rhymes everywhere.