Archive for the ‘ Sociology ’ Category

Hate All, Kill All

For me, the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place; the puzzle being an understanding of how the world works. The picture they are forming may not make much sense to anyone else; and may even seem insane. One major piece of the puzzle is Hatred, which is sometimes so strong in my life [ READ MORE ]

Prototyping

Computer Human Interaction video (select lecture 1.2) This is a software development concept that has much wider applicability. Any new social endeavor (such as software) should be tried out first, and experimented with (or prototyped), before any serious implementations are attempted. I wish I could tell you that software developers have used this process successfully. But [ READ MORE ]

We Have Put Too Much of Ourselves Into Our Machines

As result, there is little of us left. This is something thinkers of all kinds have overlooked. Perhaps because they thought of technology and people as two different things – when they are only one. Perhaps because technical change was so slow for so long. But about 500 years ago a technological and social speedup resulted [ READ MORE ]

The Negative State of Being

This is another posting no one is going to understand. I can just barely understand it myself. The theory is simple enough: there are positive and negative states of being. Most people probably have a feel for what those are. Unfortunately, this feeling is misleading because it is too superficial. First of all, being for [ READ MORE ]

How Can Computers Help People be People?

I have given a lot of thought to this question. First all, when I mean computers I mean the combination of the computers with their software, networked on the Internet, and also in the wireless. The question in broader terms, is: how can technology help us be human? But this question immediately turns into How do [ READ MORE ]

The Long, Slow, Painful Death of the Federalists

This is not something you want to know about, believe me. I continue to listen to Empire of Liberty (out of sheer stubbornness) but it is giving me a headache. The overall situation can be summarized fairly easily: in the 18th Century the new nation of America had two role models to follow – the French or the [ READ MORE ]

Wealth Has Its Responsibilities

And any wealthy society that denies this is evil. An experience of mine back in Silicon Valley illustrated this. I was working for a successful company that had been founded by an immigrant that arrived with twenty dollars in his pockets. When I started working for the company, he retired a wealthy man and accepted [ READ MORE ]

Intelligence That Only Seems Intelligent

Technology Review – Social Intelligence Siri may not be the smartest AI in the world, but it’s the most socially adept. I am pleased to see that Technology Review has its articles online. It’s very nice to have articles online so you can link to them after reading them on paper. You can easily read this [ READ MORE ]

Anything Dazzling Must Be Alive

This is a followup to my posting Computers Are Not Alive. From some comments to that posting, I realized that people do not know what life is. They have never given it any thought (as usual), and just assumed any computer device suitably dazzling is alive! And nothing can get them to change their minds. I have [ READ MORE ]

The Problem of Being

The biggest challenge any person has is to be - to be themselves. I first noticed this when my ex was going crazy – a very difficult time for both of us. She was eventually diagnosed with Schizophrenia, a diagnosis that did not impress me, since that only meant she was crazy – which anyone could see easily enough. [ READ MORE ]

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