The Sea Gypsy Philosopher: The Machine is not Your Friend

[JohnyCanuck]

The self-described "itinerant philosopher" and sailor Ray Jason has a revelation while taking shelter from an approaching tropical gale in the lee of a small island.

The Machine is not Your Friend


Tribal peoples understood that we are intimately linked to those realms and they paid homage to them in their rituals and in their daily existence. For example, the Plains Indians didn’t just see the buffalo as a protein source; they revered it as an important strand in the web of life. And they used the entire animal to aid in their survival – the meat, hide and bones.

But modern civilized peoples have lost their reverence for the natural and the wild. They have let themselves evolve into creatures that are artificial and tame. They are no longer Children of the Earth – they are Servants of the Machine. Their partners in the dance of life are smart phones, talking automobiles and computers.

They can’t grow their food, mend a garment, build a shelter or read the weather from the signals in the sky. But they will justify this impotence by claiming that modern technology frees them up to pursue more meaningful activities. Like what? Mounting a camera to your hat and filming the sad emptiness that is urban living? Now there is an evolutionary leap forward.

The creators of these myriad devices, which dominate the human-built world, will claim that they are designed to save you time and money and exertion. But their real purpose is to turn you into a product addict - and to reap obscene profits while doing so. How else does one explain lines of people camping out to buy a slightly better phone than the one they bought a year earlier? At least they can now video each other with their GoPros as they shiver in their sidewalk lunacy.

More: http://theseagypsyphilosopher.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-machine-is-not-your-friend.html

[randome]

1. So only Ray Jason can see the Matrix. The rest of us are just stupid.

There is something to be said for an appreciation of the natural. But there is a reason the species as a whole has progressed to other concerns.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[zeemike]

18. Not stupid, just hypnotized.

It is after a shiny things that twirls in front of our face all the time.
When we spend most of our day watching a picture on a screen as a substitute for the real world what else would you expect?

[randome]

19. And I would agree with that.

He seems to be taking things too far and, coincidentally, in the direction where he is already situated, thereby self-proving his own thesis. Everyone should be more like me is how it comes across.

Now if he had stated things the way you did, I wouldn't be so dismissive.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[zeemike]

22. But I don't think that is what he was saying.

That we should be more like him.

I think what he was doing is pointing out what we have lost...our humanity and the recognition of the natural world...replaced with shiny things, that if and when they fail will leave us helpless.

[Octafish]

2. ''Servants of the Machine''

People who serve it, don't even know it. The few who who gain from it, will never mention it.

"What is man without the beasts? For if all the beast were gone, man would die of a great loneliness of the spirit." -- Chief Seattle

And that is where we are arrived.

Thank you, JohnyCanuck, for a most important read and OP.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. As posted on blogspot!

[leveymg]

4. If you don't have a machine (boat, plane, 4WD) how do you get to that place of wild contentment?

[bemildred]

6. To get to the place of wild contentment you have to walk. nt

[leveymg]

7. I don't walk on water.

While I'm a strong swimmer, I don't think I'll make it to Africa.

[bemildred]

24. That works too. nt

[bemildred]

5. Sometimes less is more.

And that definitely applies to technology, 90% or more of which is overpriced and over-marketed crap.

[leveymg]

8. I agree that simpler is better.

And, there is pleasure and oneness with the universe in building and fixing it yourself. Read, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

A set of tools and the ability to use them is necessary, useful, and good.

[bemildred]

9. I've read it many times. It is one of a handfull I keep going back to.

I spent 20+ years as a software engineer, reading and fixing other peoples shiny code, and I know that most of it is crap.

[Logical]

11. As a 30 year programmer ('software engineer' is just to make people feel better IMO) I bet.....

many coders think your code is crap also.

[bemildred]

13. And they would be right too.

It takes a long time and a lot of effort and skilz to make it not crap. Most of the time you don't get that, it's all about getting it out the door before someone else does.

[leveymg]

14. Technology is a means to an end. As someone who worked a summer in one of the first computer plants

in America -- they called them minis at the time, but they were the size of wall bookcases, and didn't store any more data -- I know what they can and can't do for us. Personally, I used my earnings and bought my first car, which I could and did rebuild, myself.

I still get more pleasure from the car. Virtually identical to this one ('67 Mustang Fastback GT) but with a lot of Shelby parts and go-faster mods. Primative cheap thrills:

[bemildred]

15. I'm not against technology, like Pirsig I'm against bad technology.

"Quality", right? You cannot maximize both profit and quality, and we all know which one we choose here these days.

[leveymg]

16. Bad technology can be improved. That's the redeeming joy of hot rods, and

wooden boat rebuilding. I also worked on and sailed some of these (dangerously, and lived to talk about it):



I guess I'm just a survivor of my youth. Physics had consequences.

[bemildred]

17. Yes, I spent a lot of time doing exactly that, and I wish they'd let me do it more.

Never had to worry about getting fired or layed off either. Most programmers can read and understand their own code, if it's not been too long, but guys who can read and repair other peoples code are a different matter, especially memory management errors and that kind of thing, or IP issues, sockets and asynch processing. I'm running on Ubuntu 14.04 right now and one of the things that annoys me about it is they fucked with the user interface again (they love to play with user interfaces because it's easy to get effects people can see) and screwed up the asynch processing, so it stalls.

They kept trying to kick me upstairs or make me a manager and that was the one thing that caused me to find a different job.

And I like to fix cars and build my own computers and repair the flame hood over my stove too.

I went all the way through math and computer science and came out the other side, and I loved Pirsig all the way. "The high country of the mind".

I see you are a boat person, I am not but I approve.

[leveymg]

25. Having a sense of purpose is key to making things work, macro or micro. The rest is

formula, rote, intuition and the ability to connect ideas into a cohesive plan. This applies to carrying out any complex operation from systems architecture, to writing a legal brief, to navigating a boat (or a plane) from point A to point B using instruments or the stars.

Reliance upon machines without understanding how they work, and losing the ability to do things without automation, makes people less human. It's like dogs who rely on humans versus wolves in the wild. They're more manageable, but become less competent as intelligent beings. I'm afraid we're losing that ability in many areas of our lives.

[bemildred]

32. Yes.

"The hands-on imperative".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_ethic#Hands-On_Imperative

We have been domesticated a long time and it worries me too. "Domesticated animals are lazy thinkers".

[Octafish]

35. Quality

“The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called yourself.”

[Logical]

10. Well, this is weird to me. Advancement in technology is a great thing. nt

[cantbeserious]

37. Technology Is An Illusion Designed To Ensnare Belief In A Future That Will Never Unfold

Read The ArchDruidReport for much discussion on the limitations of technology and the religious belief that it can save the human race.

[Logical]

38. Yes, I miss the days when infections and the plague killed millions. nt

[cantbeserious]

39. Sarcastic Answer Misses The Point - Modern Industrial Society Runs On Oil - No Technology

Will replace the energy source that makes modern life possible.

[Logical]

44. So you think solar or wind will never be able to replace oil? nt

[cantbeserious]

45. All Reliable Estimates Indicate That To Be The Case

eom

[Logical]

47. Do you realize how future technology predictions have been totally incorrect? nt

[cantbeserious]

48. No Amount Of Solar And Wind Can Replace The The Energy Stored And Used From Oli

In other words, modern industrial society, as we know it today, is not possible on a diet of wind and solar alone.

Such would be the impact of the loss of oil to our western standard of living.

[Logical]

49. LOL.......

After their 1901 test season Wilbur says: “Not within a thousand years will man ever fly"

People like you have underestimated technology,

If you need hundreds and hundreds more quotes like that let me know,

[cantbeserious]

50. Obviously, One Has Not Done Their Own Reserach And Is Depending On Media Anecdotes

Of a cornucopia future with never ending bounty and riches.

[Logical]

51. ok, keep up your make believe! I bet on technology! Nt

[cantbeserious]

52. No Make Believe - Hard Science - Let Us Know How Denial Works For One In 20 Years

eom

[Logical]

53. Here's another for you......

In the early 1940s, IBM's president, Thomas J Watson, reputedly said: "I think there is a world market for about five computers."

You would of agreed with him! LOL, maybe still do???

[cantbeserious]

54. Misses The Point Entirely - Our Industrial Society Is On A Collision Course

With a future that has much less Oil available to make and run all those gadgets one is obviously fond of.

Good luck with ones continued denial.

[Logical]

55. OK someone Sent me a DU mail and told me you're just fucking with us....

I guess I fell for it and seem pretty gullible now.

Good one!!!!

[cantbeserious]

56. Very Serious - Good Luck With Your Denial

eom

[bemildred]

46. You cannot run a modern military machine on renewable power.

It takes one heck of a lot of portable energy/fuel to run a war, that's the problem. It's not like just pumping it out in the quantity desired. And power generation will be a problem too, not that there is not enough power, but that it is dispersed and must be collected if you want a lot of it. So the end of cheap fossil fuel will force return to a lower energy state, not necessarily nothing, but a need to be more frugal with it, and much more trouble to get enough to fly an aircraft or other big machines. We won't be able to waste it. It will become precious.

Many wars have been fought over oil, and that is why, for the modern military it is existential.

[eShirl]

40. dude your on teh internets

[cantbeserious]

41. Dude - What's Your Point

eom

[eShirl]

42. your irony, eom

[cantbeserious]

43. No Irony Here - Faith In Technology Is A Fool's Errand

eom

[Brickbat]

12. He wrote, on his computer.

[The2ndWheel]

20. That's the same sentiment about Al Gore flying on planes to talk about climate change too

Or how poor Americans, who in relation to other poor people around the world do have more stuff, shouldn't be complaining so much.

As with everything in life, if you agree with it, you can justify it. If you don't agree with it, you can find a way to not justify it.

[Brickbat]

30. I think your assertion is kind of a reach.

But I will grant you that my throwaway line in response to his dripping contempt for others wasn't necessarily productive.

[LiberalElite]

26. Have you ever tried to find a quill pen? nt

[Marr]

29. That requires ink. Real enlightened people make marks in the dirt with their finger. /nt

[Brickbat]

31. If you can't find one, MAKE ONE.

[aikoaiko]

21. A lot of "children of the earth" never made it into adulthood

For all the problems we have today life was more brutish, nastier, and shorter in his imagined pre-technological age.

[CBGLuthier]

23. self-important jackass

[MineralMan]

27. What I Do Is Important. What You Do Is Meaningless.

That seems to be what is expressed in this excerpt. Technology began with humans flaking chips off stones to make tools. Technology began with planting seeds in holes made with a pointed stick.

Technology, of one sort or another, is the story of human history. The assumptions of that writer that users of technology cannot go back to an earlier technology is specious. I can do all of the tasks that person describes, and have done them. All of them require technology of one sort. To grow you own food, you need tools, whether a pointed stick or a tractor. To mend a garment, you first need a garment, which was created from materials created on a loom or cut from an animal's hide with tools, and then you need a needle. To build a shelter of any value, you need tools, including for a simple lean-to in the woods. The only skill this person mentioned that requires no technology is reading the weather by looking at the sky.

Technology has value to humans. Technology is needed by humans. It is not the exact technology that matters. It is how the technology is used by humans that makes the difference. That writer is not getting it, as he or she types on a keyboard to create the essay. Not getting it at all. He or she is saying: "What I Do Is Important. What You Do Is Meaningless."

Silliness.

[Marr]

28. I'm about to blow your mind.

http://hinterlandgames.com/the-long-dark/

Man sits in cave.

Man invents computer.

Man makes game about sitting in a cave.

[cantbeserious]

33. See Also The ArchDruidReport For Related Musings About The Western Descent To Simpler Sustainable Life

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/

[Mojorabbit]

36. +1000 nt

[cantbeserious]

34. See Also "Of Two Minds" Blog About How The System Ensnares And Enslaves

Liberation Is Unprofitable

12 examples of how liberation is not profitable and therefore it must be marginalized, outlawed, proscribed or ridiculed.

If we had to summarize the sickness of our economy and society, we could start by noting that liberation is unprofitable, and whatever is not profitable to vested interests is marginalized, outlawed, proscribed or ridiculed. Examples of this abound.

Liberation from digital communication servitude is not profitable. Don't have a smart phone on 18 hours a day, every day? Loser! Luddite! Liberation from digital communication servitude is not profitable, therefore it is ridiculed.

Liberation from debt is not profitable. Only the wealthy can afford to buy a vehicle without debt, a home without debt or a university education without debt. For everyone else, liberation from debt is not an option, because debt is highly profitable to our financial Overlords and the politicos they buy/own.

Snip ...

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2015/06/liberation-is-unprofitable.html

[snagglepuss]

57. .