Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Death of the World.
The spiritual utopia as dreamed of by the mystics is at the furthest point from present reality. Sacred Scripture teaches that because of the Fall from Grace the lot of mankind is to toil and suffer in this life so as to be rewarded in the next. However, with the rise of the brave new world and the elimination of religion this has been replaced by a hedonistic imperative in which all references to past human suffering have been eliminated. Sacred Scripture and the history of mankind reveal man's inner pathos and suffering. Christ himself was to suffer and die upon the Cross. But this is deemed politically incorrect and thus must be purged from all recorded history in the brave new world era. Thus, what is left is a cold dead world of superficiality and meaningless made obsolete by the technological explosion. This world is most anathema to the survival of man's immortal soul, as explained in all religious accounts of humankind.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Religion and Tradition.
An essential understanding of religion is that it arose from a primordial tradition that has been passed down through the generations since the beginning of the world. The Roman Catholic traditionalists maintained such a notion and argued that both faith and tradition played substantial roles in the formation of Christianity.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The World's Highest IQs.
One possible way to measure genius is in terms of raw intelligence. This raw intelligence can be measured by an IQ test. The following is a list of the world's highest IQs. You will note that some of the highest IQs had few accomplishments while others included some of the greatest geniuses ever known to man.
infinite Jesus Christ
infinite Jesus Christ
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Several Notes and Trends.
First, the masses are coming. 1 billion people have used the internet now and the masses are taking over at an unprecedented rate. The internet is no longer safe and a new form of social Darwinism has taken over. Atheism is also spreading and your thoughts are now crimes.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Three Possible Universes.
There are three possible universes. The first is the Christian (or theist) universe which was spoken into existence at t =0 through a Big Bang explosion and has since been expanding outward. Such a universe will become self aware when human life is created within it. And such a universe will expand outwards until it reaches a situation of maximum e ntropy and die in a heat death apocalypse. The second possibility is that there is no deity and that the universe is eternal. The third possibility is a diabolical universe created by a Demiurge at t = 0. Such a Demiurge would not be the Christian deity but a blind creator as maintained by the gnostic heretics.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Is Our World a Simulation.
One of the recurrent trends of the past few decades has been the attempt to derive the science of physics from the science of information. Whereas at one time, the atomic theory prevailed in physics and its various derivatives systematized ultimately in the form of quantum mechanics, a new understanding sees the universe as ultimately composed of informational bits. With this understanding comes a novel idea, likely advanced because of the rise of modern computers and the internet, that our world is in fact a simulation. This notion has been advanced and it has been suggested that a sufficiently advanced future computer program could effectively simulate our world. This raises further questions as to what is the nature of reality and whether it would ever be possible to recognize that we are in fact in a simulation. An heroic stance would maintain that perhaps someday we could come to know this, though the possibility of ever achieving this remains difficult to understand. If there exist glitches in the simulation then how would we ever be able to come to locate them and know what they are. Perhaps our physical death is the ultimate "glitch", and our present reality is different from the reality that we currently understand ourselves to have.
The Blackening of the Future.
In the late nineteenth century two separate viewpoints prevailed. On one side were those who maintained that Europe had reached an age of degeneration and that technological progress would bring about the ultimate decline and destruction of humanity. On the alternative side were those who saw a new era of progress about to be unleashed. Many predicted the rise of airplanes and even of space travel, as well as genetic engineering, and radical life extension. However, these optimists foresaw various things which never materialized such as the furtherance of the human race on other worlds. With the modern decline of science we may be witnessing a new era in which the early beliefs become manifest and a gradual decline in human accomplishment and Western civilization.
Culture and Metaphysics.
In his book, von Inwagen considers the difficulty encountered by philosophers in formulating metaphysical problems and their solutions. The lack of results achieved by philosophy remains a fundamental problem. One possibillity is that certain cultures lend themselves better to formulating and achieving results in metaphysics. Obviously the culture of the ancient Greeks was unique in this respect. Von Inwagen notes that European culture from the middle ages on has been unique in allowing for the development of science and technology on an unprecedented level. He then poses the question as to whether there could exist a certain culture in which the solution of metaphysical questions is made possible. Such a culture could be a unique possibility for the future. However, there is some reason for pessimism. Perhaps the human mind is not developed in a manner so as to enable answers to metaphysical problems. Arguments to this effect frequently rely on an appeal to Godel's Incompleteness Theorem.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Human Suffering.
For the most part and largely the world of the past involved much more suffering than the present world. Farmers were once strong and hardy individuals forced to live off of their own physical strength and abilities. For much of history since the end of the Stone Age, man lived such an existence. Disease was widespread and man had to endure far more pain on a daily basis without the benefit of modern medicine or the designer pharmaceuticals of today.
In the world of today, only literature from previous eras reflect this level of suffering. For example, the biblical account of Christ's Passion reveals the suffering of the God-man on the Cross. In today's world most of classical literature is not read, but when it is read it is frequently censored and banned altogether. Political correctness sees any mention of brutality in the past as barbaric and thus attempts to negate all such mention of suffering as such. This is a large part of the movement behind censoring the past. In Huxley's _Brave New World_ all literature which dealt with human suffering was banned altogether. Superficiality and mindless hedonism has taken its place. This is further revelation of the fact that we are living in a world which is increasingly becoming exactly like the world that Huxley described.
In the world of today, only literature from previous eras reflect this level of suffering. For example, the biblical account of Christ's Passion reveals the suffering of the God-man on the Cross. In today's world most of classical literature is not read, but when it is read it is frequently censored and banned altogether. Political correctness sees any mention of brutality in the past as barbaric and thus attempts to negate all such mention of suffering as such. This is a large part of the movement behind censoring the past. In Huxley's _Brave New World_ all literature which dealt with human suffering was banned altogether. Superficiality and mindless hedonism has taken its place. This is further revelation of the fact that we are living in a world which is increasingly becoming exactly like the world that Huxley described.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Archaic Versus Modern - The Language Issue.
One of the reasons why our cognitive processes have altered in time is a result of the language we have used to describe these processes. This transition in language from "archaic" to "modern" has resulted in a transition in our consciousness which leads to a more materialistic and nihilistic worldview. In order for us to truly understand who we are, however, it would be necessary to re-establish the archaic understanding of man and uproot the modern understanding. And to begin to do so would be to examine the language we use to refer to cognition. Only then once we have made the language transition can we begin to understand how the cognition of pre-modern man differs from our own, but also why our own is far more superficial (and our own today far more superficial than it was even 10 years ago).
One important distinction occurs in the transition from the notion of soul to that of mind. This occured when Descartes divided the man (note the word "man" here as opposed to the modern "human") into a mind/body dualism whereas before man had been understood as a material being which possessed a soul. However, while the Platonic and Gnostic understanding maintained that the soul was distinct from the body and composed of etherial stuff, the Christian understanding maintained that the soul was indissolubly linked up with the body and further that the resurrection would be a bodily resurrection.
An important distinction has also occurred in the development of psychology. In ancient terms, psychology was understood in terms of sin which was supposedly the result of the temptations of Satan or demons. In the middle ages, this was codified into the notion of Seven Deadly Sins. In modern times, these notions became therapeutized into psychological neuroses and psychoses, which further developed from the late nineteenth century notions into modern psychological notions of mental illness.
Other distinctions exist in the fact that mental processes were once referred to in terms of subservience and submission which now are explained in terms of anxieties and drives.
These alterations in our language are an indication of the alteration that has taken place in our consciousness and to reclaim the consciousness of pre-modern or indeed even of archaic man it would be necessary to restore his langugage to use.
One important distinction occurs in the transition from the notion of soul to that of mind. This occured when Descartes divided the man (note the word "man" here as opposed to the modern "human") into a mind/body dualism whereas before man had been understood as a material being which possessed a soul. However, while the Platonic and Gnostic understanding maintained that the soul was distinct from the body and composed of etherial stuff, the Christian understanding maintained that the soul was indissolubly linked up with the body and further that the resurrection would be a bodily resurrection.
An important distinction has also occurred in the development of psychology. In ancient terms, psychology was understood in terms of sin which was supposedly the result of the temptations of Satan or demons. In the middle ages, this was codified into the notion of Seven Deadly Sins. In modern times, these notions became therapeutized into psychological neuroses and psychoses, which further developed from the late nineteenth century notions into modern psychological notions of mental illness.
Other distinctions exist in the fact that mental processes were once referred to in terms of subservience and submission which now are explained in terms of anxieties and drives.
These alterations in our language are an indication of the alteration that has taken place in our consciousness and to reclaim the consciousness of pre-modern or indeed even of archaic man it would be necessary to restore his langugage to use.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Is Science Proving False?
van Inwagen makes an interesting point about the nature of science in his book, referencing the role of cosmology and in particular the Big Bang theory of the origins of the universe. Inwagen notes that scientists often claim to be able to explain why there is something rather than nothing. But he states that overbold claims by scientists are problematic, in that as scientists continue to make these claims it could lead to a situation where eventually science is held up to ridicule. Classically scientists were conservative, but in recent times scientists have become celebrities such as Hawking. This is problematic for science and also as scientists continue to make overbold prophecies and claims (especially about the nature of the universe of the existence of God), they continually degrade the nature of science. We have seen a spate of books recently written by famous scientists attacking religion and many of them also arguing for atheism or a version thereof. These books represent a credibility problem for science, in that it could lead to a situation where science is refuted. Rather than focusing on discovery, science now engages in metaphysics, but superficially, and therefore it is spelling its own undoing. This could severely damage science itself and is quite disturbing.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Metaphysics.
In his book _Metaphysics_ (2009), Peter van Inwagen presents several interesting points. First, he contrasts the medieval understanding of the nature of the world and reality (which amounted to the world revealed by God) with the nineteenth century understanding of the nature of the world and reality (which was a hard materialism seeing the world as composed of nothing but matter and empty space). The twentieth century seems to have uprooted this nineteenth century understanding and to have made possible a modern synthesis. One interesting case presented by the author is that the claim is made for example that all educated people deny the existence of immortal souls. The author shows how this may be false in the sense that at one time all educated people adhered to the theories of Freud or Marx which have since been proven to be fallacious. Thus, the appeal to authority here need not reflect the reality. The author maintains that the medieval perspective is essentially correct and contrasts this to monism and dualism. In the case of monism, the author maintains that one of the claims made by monists is that they have actually experienced a state of consciousness in which it is revealed to them that everything is One. This claim is made by monists instead of an argument frequently and provides an interesting study in the nature of revelation and consciousness.
The author also considers the question as to "why is there a world at all" or "why is there something rather than nothing". In answer to this question, the author wonders why this question has occured only to philosophers. The author maintains that it is only under the influence of philosophical speculation that religion has offered answers to this question at all, in the form of "creation myths" and then gives several examples of "creation myths" including the biblical account in Genesis.
The author also considers the question as to "why is there a world at all" or "why is there something rather than nothing". In answer to this question, the author wonders why this question has occured only to philosophers. The author maintains that it is only under the influence of philosophical speculation that religion has offered answers to this question at all, in the form of "creation myths" and then gives several examples of "creation myths" including the biblical account in Genesis.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
A World Without Christianity?
I am fairly convinced that our elite envision a world without Christianity. Western Christianity has become severely weakened. While the dominant form of religion throughout most of the history of the West and well into the nineteenth century, a new form of society has taken its place. This society however is not based on the scientism as envisioned at one time by positivists and other prophets of decline, but rather a society of immoral hedonism and nihilism. Even avid promoters of modern atheism rarely offer anything more substantive than a superficial attempt to promote their hedonism and the nihilism that has taken over Western society. Nevertheless, despite these serious losses for the spiritual basis underpinning society at one time not too long ago, Christian churches continue to exist and hold steadfast in certain areas (and are even growing in South America and China under severe persecution). The West appears to be lost to us, as predicted from Spengler's decline theories long ago. What has taken its place is a nihilistic hyper consumerist hell.
The elite, not content with their current rule, have decided to continue to go back into the past and hunt down the few remaining vestiges of true Christianity within their society. They falsely blame religion and mostly Christianity in particular for past atrocities, rehashing past events and even events in the far distant past such as the Crusades and the Spanish Inqusition (both exagerated and exploited). What would a world without Christianity be like? We are largely witnessing its effects and it is a horrible thing to see take place.
The elite, not content with their current rule, have decided to continue to go back into the past and hunt down the few remaining vestiges of true Christianity within their society. They falsely blame religion and mostly Christianity in particular for past atrocities, rehashing past events and even events in the far distant past such as the Crusades and the Spanish Inqusition (both exagerated and exploited). What would a world without Christianity be like? We are largely witnessing its effects and it is a horrible thing to see take place.
Why We Have Become an Idiocracy.
The internet was created as a site for physicists and researchers to post academic papers on. It has come a long way since then. Part of the difficulty lies in the existence of user generated content as well as discussion forums. What it has led to is an idiocracy forming, a long way from the earlier days of strict academic research. Further, the mass media now promotes stupidity on an unprecendented scale. Also traditional institutions of learning no longer maintain standards of exactness but have lowered their standards as well. Traditional teaching forms including such things as film, are now used to spread vile propaganda, violence, hate, drug use, and pornography. On the internet the biggest mouth wins not the smartes. So I would say that America in particular but also the world has indeed become an idiocracy on an unprecedented level in history.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Pandorra's Box.
In many ways the internet is a Pandorra's box. It has let all the evil out into the world. The internet is not a learning tool. It is a tool for people to pursue politics.
H. G. Wells in his essay _Global Brain_ predicted that a device would exist to store all human memory. This device was apparently realized in the internet. However, instead of being used to store all human memory and knowledge, the internet is also used to unleash predators upon society.
H. G. Wells in his essay _Global Brain_ predicted that a device would exist to store all human memory. This device was apparently realized in the internet. However, instead of being used to store all human memory and knowledge, the internet is also used to unleash predators upon society.
The Role of Technology.
While the second law of thermodynamics maintains that the universe is approaching an ever further increase in entropy, life appears to be increasing in complexity. With life and the creation of humanity came the rise of technology from its primitive state in the stone age to its modern totalistic influence. This increase of complexity in technological advancement has been called "extropy" to contrast it with the increasing entropy theory of the universe. Today technology operates at every level of our lives, and with the advent of computers and especially the internet its influence has proven even more total. Throughout history many have maintained that technology had a negative influence that went along with its positive advantages. Spengler for example considered technology to ultimately be a Faustian pact with the devil. Certain sects also struggled with technology including for example the Old Order Amish, who opposed technological advancement beyond the 19th century. The late 19th century brought further technological advancement which was decried by various intellectuals who despised the cities and praised the peasant life. Television was also decried by intellectuals as a mind numbing tool when it first became available. And the internet has also been objected to for spreading false rumors and gossip. While it is true that technology has increasingly raised our standard of living, it is also true that technology has a dark side which will ultimately be our undoing.
Friday, May 27, 2011
The Gnostic Heresy.
The resurrection of the Gnostic heresy in twentieth century political religions can be understood as a result of the incorporation of medieval and anti-Christian heresy into ideology. Gnosticism frequently maintains that the Creator Deity is in fact a blind Demiurge. Thus, the Creator is associated with a principle of evil. The entropic decline of the universe can also be understood in a gnostic manner.
The Rise of Eugenics.
In the nineteenth century with the discovery of the Darwin theory eugenics was constituted (as first considered by Francis Galton) as a means to control the population. The weak and the "feeble-minded" were especially singled out by eugenicists. Positive eugenics advocated a system of selective breeding to build a superior race, while negative eugenics advocated euthanasia and extermination of the "unfit". Eugenics ended with the defeat of totalitarianism following the Second World War. In recent times however, with the rise of genetic engineering,eugenics has been reconsidered and with an increasing population, eugenic measures may come to take effect.
(It is of interest to note that eugenic measures were predicted in the nineteenth century by science fiction writers such as H. G. Wells or Benson, a Catholic who predicted an apocalypse in which euthanasia was seen as a "merciful end" to the weak and unfit.)
(It is of interest to note that eugenic measures were predicted in the nineteenth century by science fiction writers such as H. G. Wells or Benson, a Catholic who predicted an apocalypse in which euthanasia was seen as a "merciful end" to the weak and unfit.)
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Problem With Modern Math.
Anthony Chaikin says that the problem with modern math is that so few mathematicians are believers in God. This has led to a view of math that denies free will and sees math as nothing more than the manipulation of symbols. Chaikin notes that prominent mathematicians of the past such as Descartes, Pascal, Newton, and Leibniz were believers, as well as recent mathematicians such as Cantor and Godel. If modern mathematicians refuse to recognize God this goes along with the decline of mathematics.
The Death of the Old World and the Birth of Defeat.
Cyberspace represents the last frontier for humanity and it has largely been conquered. Space exploration has been shut down and science is coming to an end. The old world is dying and the new world is an ugly relic of the world that once was. When the world was young there were still opportunities for the young, especially young men that have been stifled in the new world. The rot has taken over. And today's generation is the weakest yet.
The Raping of the Past.
One of my principle objects to amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, and the internet in general is that it allows for the systematic raping of the past. By allowing anyone to post a review for any material, certain books which contain profound thoughts or which dealt with past events are being plundered. I view much of this activity and the top reviewers as similar to Spanish conquistadores who raped and plundered much of the New World that they found here. In addition, past attocities such as the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Nazi tyranny are not laid to rest by systematically plundered again by a young and ruthless generation. This raping of the past must be allowed to stop before we destroy our entire heritage. Further, there are many old souls whose remains are being plundered anew by the cyber archeologists and thugs and who need be allowed to rest in peace.
Science and the Theologians.
For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends in a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peaks; as he pulls himself over the last rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.
-Robert Jastrow, _God and the Astronomers_.
-Robert Jastrow, _God and the Astronomers_.
The Mob.
The mob has intervened throughout history through violent means. During the Middle Ages various millenarian sects provoked the mob to engage in violent actions against dissidents. Perhaps the earliest moment of mob intervention in modern history was the French revolution (constituting the rise of the first period of decline), in which an angry mob provoked by Illuminists under the Duc d'Orleans killed the king. The Russian revolution resulted in the death of the tsar and the rise of mass communism. Democracy too constitutes a case of mob rule, in which a levelling process has taken place. In the recent era, a new form of mob violence exists, both in the form of violent protests and in the rise of cyber-mob violence and a surveillance society.
Comments on Stephen Hawking.
Hawking's new bitter comments on the nature of God, the role of religion, life after death, and his belief that the brain is just a computer raise questions that have long been answered. For example, the idea that the mind is a computer was addressed by Kurt Godel long ago (along with several other philosophers who built on his work). Godel maintained that his theorem showed that the mind could not be a computer because with in any formal system (large enough to contain Peano arithmetic), there existed statements which could not be proven within that system showing that the system could not be both complete and consistent.
Healthy Versus Ill Cultures.
We know health and vigor when we see it and today's society is very ill and full of spiritually diseased people. Even the youth lack the zest for life that could be found in all previous generations. It is rare to see genuine signs of health today in anything. Political correctness controls the very thoughts in our heads. How can this possible be living?
Everything They Warned Us About Has Come to Pass.
In examining the world of today, we can see that nearly everything they warned us about has come to pass. Conservatives early on warned us of the dangers of postmodernism and relativism. There was always the fear that the academic gobbledygook that passed for critical intelligence would eventually take over all the rest of society. Conservatives warned against relativists who maintained that there was no truth and ironists who did likewise. With today's internet there is no longer a truth in that all views are now seen as equal. Libertarians always warned that eventually psychiatry would take over. While this always seemed an absurd fear long ago when psychiatry was solely used to treat severe cases of schizophrenia, today's psychiatry is light years beyond this original intention. Luddites warned us of the dangers of computers and technology. Today's computers are so advanced and with the internet an entirely new mob mind is made possible.
Why the Internet is Evil.
One of the reasons that the internet is evil is because it is playing God. In the past when one sought for answers or inspiriation, one would meditate or pray on the matter. Today one merely uses the internet to locate information and thus avoids dealing directly with God. The internet is a modern day Tower of Babel and it is mostly being used to further evil in the world. In addition, most of the information offered by the internet is useless and pointless. Very little good information exists online in a situation where bad information over-rules good and entropy takes over society. Much of the internet is pointless gossip, and rumor (often vile rumor) takes the place of fact and truth. In addition, the internet is a gross violation of our privacy and the sanctity of our thoughts.
The Open Society and the Closed Society.
Multibillionaire George Soros has recently advocated the "open society" as his vision for the future of the West. This is an idea originally expounded by the philosopher of science Karl Popper who maintained that unlimited free inquiry was best for the development of science. Popper chiefly used this to argue against others such as Plato and Hegel who he claimed were totalitarian advocates of a closed society. The founders of the internet also advocate this idea and when Jeff Bezos the founder of amazon.com recently said that the goal of his company was to "let the truth out" this idea may be seen expressed. Essentially this is the idea for the Enlightenment notion of free speech which was allowed for as a means to criticize a totalitarian government. However, let us take a look at what this notion of unlimited free speech entails.
Originally to Enlightenment philosophers and to the authors of the U.S. Constitution the notion of free speech was meant to allow a free press to criticize the government and advocate for any sort of other government. However, free speech came to take on different meanings when the Supreme Court allowed pornographers the "free speech right" to publish their filth. Unlimited "free speech" has proven another thing entirely and we are seeing the disastrous consequences of it. People no longer maintain a private self (the ultimate fulfillment of the open society advocated by the evil billionaire Soros). Private comportment now becomes public comportment and gross violations of privacy are not only maintained but encouraged thanks to the internet which intrudes upon privacy and violates the sanctity of the individual in all respects. Further, genuine knowledge is replaced by useless "information" which has a high entropy content. This marks the true decline of civilized society and the decay of humanity. We can see why an evil madman like Soros would revel in such a thing and I find it interesting to note that he is an atheist meaning that he thinks it all is meaningless anyway.
Originally to Enlightenment philosophers and to the authors of the U.S. Constitution the notion of free speech was meant to allow a free press to criticize the government and advocate for any sort of other government. However, free speech came to take on different meanings when the Supreme Court allowed pornographers the "free speech right" to publish their filth. Unlimited "free speech" has proven another thing entirely and we are seeing the disastrous consequences of it. People no longer maintain a private self (the ultimate fulfillment of the open society advocated by the evil billionaire Soros). Private comportment now becomes public comportment and gross violations of privacy are not only maintained but encouraged thanks to the internet which intrudes upon privacy and violates the sanctity of the individual in all respects. Further, genuine knowledge is replaced by useless "information" which has a high entropy content. This marks the true decline of civilized society and the decay of humanity. We can see why an evil madman like Soros would revel in such a thing and I find it interesting to note that he is an atheist meaning that he thinks it all is meaningless anyway.
Several Comments.
In his writings, Ted Kaczynski makes note of the fact that in the revolt against the System several indications are quashed. One of these is the role of the old dissenters and hold outs from a previous era. Kaczynski sites a source from a modern author claiming that the parents of a transsexual had her exorcised to be rid of demons. The author claims that this is the common American response to such things. Kaczynski rightly notes that this is not the common American response to such things but is one of tolerance. Rather it was the parents of the child who were holdouts from a previous era and thus in opposition to the System. This is why their actions had to be opposed by the System in the very name of opposing the System.
Kaczynski notes the superficiality of the radical left and political correctness. Further he considers the role of the pampered university intellectuals and their political obsessions noting the fact that their radicalism is entirely phony and in fact promotes the interests of the System exactly.
Kaczynski notes the superficiality of the radical left and political correctness. Further he considers the role of the pampered university intellectuals and their political obsessions noting the fact that their radicalism is entirely phony and in fact promotes the interests of the System exactly.
The dead.
Looking back on history we can see one thing that stands out, the inevitable decay, decline, and vengeance of death. We see the extinction of earlier species, such as the dinosaurs, the decline of lost civilizations, and the loss of our ancestors. Since the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution that it spawned, we have witnessed the raping of nature and the hunting of indigenous peoples. In modern times, the world wars brought the dead on the battlefield. We see today the decline of all true spiriuality and the decay of civilization. The internet has made possible a further raping of the past, and the atomic bomb leaving many dead in its trail promises to wipe out humanity. The possibility of space travel constitutes a further raping of other worlds. The Russian philosoper Fedorov had a special reverence for the dead and the ghosts of civilization maintaining that all the dead and our ancestors still lived. We can see this reverence in the Japanese cult of Shinto, other ancient forms of belief, and the Christian and Catholic cult of the saints. Even ancient man at the level of the Neanderthals incorporated spiritual reverence for the dead and honor of those who had gone before. Our modern era under the vapidity of atheism and materialism refuses to honor the dead and the aged and those who have gone before. But their spirits live on, all the dead of the earth even into this period of decadence and decline.
"To hell with you, and to hell with the internet."
Ray Bradbury was recently asked to allow his book to appear on yahoo, his answer was "to hell with you, and to hell with the internet". Bradbury described the internet as a "scam of the computer industry" and "meaningless" and "absurd". Perhaps the 90 year old Bradbury is right given the deteriorating intellectual content of much of the internet and political blog (i.e. user generated content).
A Review of Ted Kaczynski's _Technological Slavery_.
_Technological Slavery: The collected writings of Theodore J. Kaczynski, a. k. a. “The Unabomber”_ (2010, Feral House Press) consists of the collected writings of Ted Kaczynski (the convicted Unabomber) regarding the nature of technological and industrial society and his efforts to combat it through revolutionary terrorism. This book includes the manifesto released by Kaczynski (as “FC”) as well as various writings and letters of Kaczynski concerning technological progress and the role of “wild nature”. The book is introduced an edited by the philosopher David Skrbina who comments on the theories of Kaczynki concerning the decline of technological and industrial society. Kaczynski was a mathematics professor who left his career to pursue a solitary existence in Montana. Kaczynski was to develop a theory of technological society and his love for nature led him to engage in acts of terrorism. For this he was arrested and is now in prison.
The basic arguments presented in this book concern the role of technological and industrial society and the harm it has caused to both mankind and “wild nature”. Kaczynski sees technological society as a “System” designed to oppress the individual. Kaczynski considers some of the harmful psychological effects of technological society as well as the role of “over-civilized” people and the superficiality of modern leftism and political correctness. Kaczynski examines the theories of anarcho-primitivists concerning the role of primitive humans but finds their theories to be marred by modern day political correctness. Kaczynski considers the role of revolution and examines the history of democracy as well as the role of the Russian Bolsheviks and the triumph of Western democracy in the two world wars. Kaczynski examines the harmful effects of modern day advertising and the role of surrogate activities in combating the “power process”. Kaczynski regards modern technological society to be unfulfilling and thus sees the need for individuals to rebel against it.
The book includes the manifesto “Industrial Society and Its Future” as well as several of the writings of Kaczynski and his letters to David Skribina and others. Kaczynski comments on the anarcho-primitivist movement explaining how modern anthropologists falsely believe that primitive societies were politically correct (in terms of gender equality, more time for leisure, and environmental soundness). Kaczynski offers several goals for revolution and explains why he left his career in math to go live in the wilderness. One thing I could not understand is why he resorted to terrorism as he did. His bombs sent to computer programmers and others were largely ineffective for his goals, resulted in unnecessary killing, and ended him up in prison. It makes little sense why someone of his intelligence would resort to such horrific and pointless measures.
The basic arguments presented in this book concern the role of technological and industrial society and the harm it has caused to both mankind and “wild nature”. Kaczynski sees technological society as a “System” designed to oppress the individual. Kaczynski considers some of the harmful psychological effects of technological society as well as the role of “over-civilized” people and the superficiality of modern leftism and political correctness. Kaczynski examines the theories of anarcho-primitivists concerning the role of primitive humans but finds their theories to be marred by modern day political correctness. Kaczynski considers the role of revolution and examines the history of democracy as well as the role of the Russian Bolsheviks and the triumph of Western democracy in the two world wars. Kaczynski examines the harmful effects of modern day advertising and the role of surrogate activities in combating the “power process”. Kaczynski regards modern technological society to be unfulfilling and thus sees the need for individuals to rebel against it.
The book includes the manifesto “Industrial Society and Its Future” as well as several of the writings of Kaczynski and his letters to David Skribina and others. Kaczynski comments on the anarcho-primitivist movement explaining how modern anthropologists falsely believe that primitive societies were politically correct (in terms of gender equality, more time for leisure, and environmental soundness). Kaczynski offers several goals for revolution and explains why he left his career in math to go live in the wilderness. One thing I could not understand is why he resorted to terrorism as he did. His bombs sent to computer programmers and others were largely ineffective for his goals, resulted in unnecessary killing, and ended him up in prison. It makes little sense why someone of his intelligence would resort to such horrific and pointless measures.
Predictions for the Future.
In the nineteenth century various degenerationist theories began to circulate that maintained that civilization or Western culture had entered a period of decline or even that mankind had entered a biological decline. These theories were often prompted by the discovery of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the earth was seen as winding down. However, these theories were really a secularized and scientized version of traditional religious notions of a decline from a previous Edenic golden age.
In the twentieth century, these theories were played out in the reactions of socialism, fascism, and communism to the Industrial revolution forecast in the nineteenth century. And in the twenty-first century various environmenal predictions were made concerning the future of human history.
Among the predictions of the past which have proven correct were those of Huxley concerning the rise of a vast pharmaceutical industry to alleviate all human complaints and even depression and those of Wells concerning the creation of a global government and global memory device as seen with the advent of the internet.
In the twentieth century, these theories were played out in the reactions of socialism, fascism, and communism to the Industrial revolution forecast in the nineteenth century. And in the twenty-first century various environmenal predictions were made concerning the future of human history.
Among the predictions of the past which have proven correct were those of Huxley concerning the rise of a vast pharmaceutical industry to alleviate all human complaints and even depression and those of Wells concerning the creation of a global government and global memory device as seen with the advent of the internet.
The Real Loser in Today's Society - Social Conservativism.
In today's political battles there are two seperate sides which seem to have taken prominence referring to themselves as the left and the right. However, what this battle seems to be mostly about is economics. While it is certainly possible and indeed highly likely that the right or a politically correct form of economic libertarianism might win the battle against economic socialism, what remains lost for certain is the old form of social conservativism. In fact, to even bring up ideas that were only mildly or moderately considered socially conservative a few years ago is to have oneself branded a bigot or a malcontent. Such ideas simply no longer have any place in polite discourse. In terms of economics it may actually make more sense to support the losing economic left which opposes the corporations than the social Darwinist economic right. To bring up one example, not that long ago in America even something such as divorce was illegal, but to even maintain such an idea today would get one labelled a bigot and throw out of society. The old social values of the World War II generation appear to have been lost by this rotten greedy generation. So essentially there are two politically correct parties that differ only on the value of economics.
The Great Decline.
According to the laws of thermodynamics entropy is being maximized in our universe as we approach a heat death of maximum disorder. It remains problematic to note that while the universe is a clock winding down, life remains a clock winding up. As life increases in complexity, along with it comes a new development seen only in the sentient creatures produced by the unfolding of life and that is technological developent. Technology also increases in complexity. With technology has arisen a third development, an "information revolution" in which information has taken over and "eaten up" all previous knowledge. However, information by itself is not true knowledge and is fundamentally related to entropy. The more information available the less likely rational decisions become possible and the greater the disorder. Thus, information remains a third component increasing in complexity but at the same time creating more disorder.
We can witness these facts as they unfold in human history. In prehistoric times, man lived a primitive hunter-gatherer existence in harmony with the natural world. We may consider such times as the earliest of human ages before the rise of civilization. However, human life during such periods was painful and short. Alternatively, the humans existing during such times were far stronger and more hardy (but also much smaller in stature) than modern man. With the advance of technology two distinct phenomena emerged. The first of these was agriculture and the taming of the wild. The second was the arrival of civilization. Ancient civilizations were a caste based system in which a class of slaves performed the duties of maintaining a class of rulers. Along with this occurred the development of relgion, which emerged from the primitive omnipotent being of the earliest humans to the civilized deity of ancient man. With the arrival of more and newer technological developments, made possible with the discovery of mathematics, industry developed within society. Further we were to witness a society that became ever more materialistic and acquisitive (initially reflected in the mad pursuit of gold by monarchs, the heirs to the ancient castes).
We can witness these facts as they unfold in human history. In prehistoric times, man lived a primitive hunter-gatherer existence in harmony with the natural world. We may consider such times as the earliest of human ages before the rise of civilization. However, human life during such periods was painful and short. Alternatively, the humans existing during such times were far stronger and more hardy (but also much smaller in stature) than modern man. With the advance of technology two distinct phenomena emerged. The first of these was agriculture and the taming of the wild. The second was the arrival of civilization. Ancient civilizations were a caste based system in which a class of slaves performed the duties of maintaining a class of rulers. Along with this occurred the development of relgion, which emerged from the primitive omnipotent being of the earliest humans to the civilized deity of ancient man. With the arrival of more and newer technological developments, made possible with the discovery of mathematics, industry developed within society. Further we were to witness a society that became ever more materialistic and acquisitive (initially reflected in the mad pursuit of gold by monarchs, the heirs to the ancient castes).
The New World Order.
Since its earliest foundations the government has existed by means of rape and plunder. Long, long ago a band of marauders plowed under vast cultural deformations in society to create a system of government. This government rose to prominence throughout the eras and attained greater and greater power for itself through war and conquest. Legitimized war came under the aegis of the government and through war it became capable of controlling vast resources and wealth. The government grew with each added year and with it the power became consolidated in a centralized bureaucracy. The New World Order is the idea that eventually the government will come to take on the aspects of a world government giving itself unlimited reign over the entire peoples of the world. This will spell the death of mankind as a handful of elites administer to the rest of the world.
Why All Attempts to "Turn Back the Clock" Have Failed.
The Enlightenment sought after mankind's unlimited progress into the future. However, the Enlightenment project largely failed as the increasing empowerment of the individual led to a decline in culture and the rise of a useless conformity. Following, this decline various attempts have been made to "turn back the clock" by reactionaries hoping to achieve a return to a simpler or less technologically dependent era. All such attempts have failed and will continue to fail. One of the reasons for this feared by reactionaries of all sorts concerns the role of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This is the idea that eventually the content of a system will dissipate to be thinned out and replaced by a static vacuum. This is referred to as heat death and a maximization of entropy. The Enlightenment may be understood in this respect as an exponential explosion of entropy into the system which has brought only further advances and followed by an information era along with a decline in the standard of living for a vast majority. The information era represents the lowest level of entropic collapse in which good information is driven out by bad and trivial information. The greatest increase in trivial information represents an increase in entropy as society ceases to function properly
Can Survival of the Fittest Be Overcome.
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes described early human life as "nasty, brutish, and short". This belief is incapsulated in the Darwinian theory of the brute struggle to survive. Everywhere in nature we see the brute struggle to survive in that all animals must eat to live. This brute struggle is reflected in a fierce competition between and within species in which the most fit survive and the weak perish. This struggle is referred to as the "survival of the fittest" as first coined by Herbert Spencer. However, in modern human civilized life we see a different story. Human civilization demonstrates a weakening of this brute comptition as reflected in written law and moral code. While the "fit" survive, the unfit and the weak are cared for so that they may survive too. Modern medicine has led further in the direction of promoting the lifespan of the "unfit" and has aided the fit to become even fitter. A codified system of objective moral law and widespread belief in a deity and in particular in the West the Christian religion which teaches compassion have led to a further civilizing influence. While wars are still fought, they have decreased in scope and become more civilized affairs governed by law and conduct. Force is often still applied but has greatly been lessened in scope and applied in a more direct and less haphazard manner. These civilized influences raise an interesting question. Can man and has man overcome the law of the survival of the fittest through civilization and its objective code of morality and prohibitions? If we believe in a God, then we can claim that indeed this is our destiny. Until our eventual redemption, overcoming the brute struggle to survive remains our divine mission and our highest accomplishment.
The Case for an Aristocracy.
I believe that a strong case can be made for the formation of an aristocracy. But we must consider several notions as to what would constitute a proper aristocracy.
1. An nobility of race (this is the belief in racial superiority, an aristocracy of blood, the Aryan race).
2. An nobility of intelligence (this is the belief in technocracy, the rule of the inventor, engineer, and scientist).
3. An nobility of learning (this is the idea presented in Plato's republic of the "philosopher-kings").
4. An nobility of wealth (this is the belief in plutocracy - the least preferable of all forms of aristocracy).
5. An nobility of virtue (a noble sainthood).
6. A nobility of producers (this is the "agrarian aristocracy of farmer-producers").
7. An inverse nobility of the oppressed and poor (this is the idea behind liberation theology and the Marxian worship of the proletariat).
1. An nobility of race (this is the belief in racial superiority, an aristocracy of blood, the Aryan race).
2. An nobility of intelligence (this is the belief in technocracy, the rule of the inventor, engineer, and scientist).
3. An nobility of learning (this is the idea presented in Plato's republic of the "philosopher-kings").
4. An nobility of wealth (this is the belief in plutocracy - the least preferable of all forms of aristocracy).
5. An nobility of virtue (a noble sainthood).
6. A nobility of producers (this is the "agrarian aristocracy of farmer-producers").
7. An inverse nobility of the oppressed and poor (this is the idea behind liberation theology and the Marxian worship of the proletariat).
The New Dark Age.
I believe that we are currently living in one of the most dismal of Dark Ages known to man. While technology has largely liberated mankind from many of his past ties to the earth and nature, kin, race, family, and tradition, it continues to besiege him in a spiritual vacuum. Thinking has become impossible, and I would estimate that very few can any longer think. We are continually besieged by power mad individuals, a media that endless spews vacuous content at us, and a society faced with moral decline. I see such a period including the rampant consumerism that accompanies it as the sign of a new Dark Age, far worse than any of the so-called European dark ages. It could last hundreds, possibly thousands of years.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Rotten Generation.
No previous generation has turned so much on truth and decency as "the rotten generation", this current generation. The old generation has been betrayed in many respects, their spiritual values, their fights against totalitarianism, and their struggles with the depression. The rotten generation, raised on computers and the internet, seeks to abolish all these things. Their love of greed and money, their hatred for human decency, their atheism and hate for all true spiritual values. If the older generation still alive could have guessed that their offspring would become rotten to the core, waste their lives pursuing politics, and act like animals in their hatreds and crassness, no doubt they would be truly disappointed.
Bring Back Laws Against Blasphemy.
One of the problems that Christians face in the modern world is a fundamental dissension in their ranks brought about by centuries of schism. Many Christians continue to hate the Catholic church. While the Catholic church has largely made peace with the mainline Protestant sects and the Orthodox Christians, these groups serve as useful vehicles behind the culture war. A militant and strident atheism seeks to supplant God and denies all religion, hates Christianity, and even denies all true spirituality and metaphysics. Blasphemy has taken on a new face in the outrageous claims made against Christians by the atheists. Traditionally before the decline of the power of the church, laws existed against blasphemy and in particular against unbelief. The United States was founded on the notion of free speech and a free press, but this was originally interpreted only to mean a freedom to speak out against war and a tyrannical government. Still this notion is more liberal and secular than the original notion of speech as existed in the American colonies even which included opposition to blasphemy. In modern America, it is “conservatives” who argue for free speech (I.e. the conservative classical liberals) while the modern degenerated form of liberalism now argues for laws against “hate speech”. All too often these laws are simply foils to suppress the truth (hate speech often means simply true speech), to stifle in the past (in which different notions of speech prevailed), and to stifle criticism of certain groups and even and especially Christianity. While such laws may be justified from a conservative perspective in the goal of creating a more just and righteous society, they are used by today’s liberals to control thought through political correctness. On the other hand, conservatives can argue for laws being put in place as in the original colonies against blasphemy and crimes against God (as even existed through much of our history). Conservatives must seek a radical break with the state through a decentralized system of government where they can restore the values that are ingrained in a conservative society.
The Death of Science.
Science emerged as a prominent force in the Middle Ages when monks ressurrected the wisdom of the ancient Greeks as translated through the Arabs. This led to a new coleasance in the scientific method as played out in the debate between the medieval realists and the nominalists. During the Renaissance, ancient wisdom was ressurected and individuals such as Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci made important scientific discoveries and engineering feats. Science further developed under Descartes and Pascal who revived ancient mathematical methods and created the modern calculator. The idea of information technology was discovered at this time with roots in numerology and mysticism. In the late seventeenth century science witnessed a flourishing in the theories of Newton and Leibniz concerning the laws of mechanics and the creation of the calculus. In the late nineteenth century, theories of the heat death of the universe, the Darwin theory, and theories of degeneration came to play a prominent role in the history of science. In the twentieth century, modern science emerged in the philosophy of positivism, mathematics was improved through the Hilbert program, and physics witnessed a revolution in the Einsteinian theory of relativity and the quantum theory. The twentieth century witnessed a great revival in the science of physics with major physicists being instrumental in splitting the atom and in the creation of the atomic bomb. Following the Second World War with the decline of the Nazi state and the rise of the Soviet state and communism, physics became even more important and the space program offered new opportunities in the competition between the West and the Soviets. In the late twentieth century with the decline of communism, information technology became important with the rise of computing (which had been developed since the Second World War) and concepts of physics were replaced by information concepts. As computers became more powerful, information was seen as a greater frontier that promised to replace science. Further, the science of biology was developed and social sciences including psychology came to overtake the traditional science of physics. However, when computers reached their pinnacle even information technologies began to decline (contrary to all true predictions) and science was replaced by politics. Thus, we have witnessed the death of science in all true forms and the final culmination of human endeavor in a pathetic pursuit of politics and the increase of ever more useless information. The internet is the last gasp of science and offers little hope for humanity. Once started by phyicists it has been taken over by the masses who pursue politics on it for little gain.
The Ultimate Fate of Physical Reality.
The ultimate fate of physical reality is to enter an apocalypse in which all matter is thoroughly dissipated throughout the universe.
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