Post: #11

It's not a dichotomy at all. It's not either or. That was just an example to show that just because she is plugged in, it doesn't make her a cyborg, get it? I don't think anybody has escaped the effects of technology, I just don't know that I agree that they are ALL noxious.

Post: #12

(11-19-2011 4:29 PM)halo0073 Wrote:  It's not a dichotomy at all. It's not either or. That was just an example to show that just because she is plugged in, it doesn't make her a cyborg, get it? I don't think anybody has escaped the effects of technology, I just don't know that I agree that they are ALL noxious.

We are on the internet, discussing pheromones and related topics! Nobody here can seriously really maintain the effects of technology are entirely noxious.

Post: #13

(11-19-2011 4:44 PM)Pheroquirk Wrote:  We are on the internet, discussing pheromones and related topics! Nobody here can seriously really maintain the effects of technology are entirely noxious.

Oh good. I was hoping you would weigh that into the equation ;)

Post: #14

Hi PQ! Very cool to see you posting here.

I love the topic. I am blessed to be living in the arctic among the Inuit. I live in a town that has been around since the late 1950s. Walk thirty minutes out of town and there is an ancient camping place that has stone tent rings that can be accurately dated back 1000 years. There is quite a bit of evidence that this site could be much older and date to the time of Solomon, 3000 years ago.

Think of this for a minute. Families who live in this town have been living in a "western" or "technological" manner for 60 years. They lived in a more primitive way in this same place before the renaissance, before the printing press, and before the Magna Carta. They or someone like them may have lived here before anything that can remotely be called Western Civilization existed.

It's amazing to see how much communication here is via body language. Telephone conversations seem curt almost to the point of rudeness. Hold the same conversation in person and it seems alive and personable. The emotional content of conversation is almost entirely transmitted via posture, hand and arm motions and facial expression.

It's also possible to see that the real effect of materialism is the trade off of time spent accumulating material wealth vs the time spent preserving cultural wealth. The territorial government is trying very hard to balance Inuit and western knowledge in the school system. The problem is balancing the value of a pair of handmade caribou and sealskin kamiks against the value of a relatively inexpensive but durable and well insulated boots from the global marketplace.

Did Steve Jobs create the trade off? In all fairness I think he's made it easier to create a balance.

Post: #15

(11-20-2011 2:41 AM)renny Wrote:  Hi PQ! Very cool to see you posting here.

I love the topic. I am blessed to be living in the arctic among the Inuit. I live in a town that has been around since the late 1950s. Walk thirty minutes out of town and there is an ancient camping place that has stone tent rings that can be accurately dated back 1000 years. There is quite a bit of evidence that this site could be much older and date to the time of Solomon, 3000 years ago.

Think of this for a minute. Families who live in this town have been living in a "western" or "technological" manner for 60 years. They lived in a more primitive way in this same place before the renaissance, before the printing press, and before the Magna Carta. They or someone like them may have lived here before anything that can remotely be called Western Civilization existed.

It's amazing to see how much communication here is via body language. Telephone conversations seem curt almost to the point of rudeness. Hold the same conversation in person and it seems alive and personable. The emotional content of conversation is almost entirely transmitted via posture, hand and arm motions and facial expression.

It's also possible to see that the real effect of materialism is the trade off of time spent accumulating material wealth vs the time spent preserving cultural wealth. The territorial government is trying very hard to balance Inuit and western knowledge in the school system. The problem is balancing the value of a pair of handmade caribou and sealskin kamiks against the value of a relatively inexpensive but durable and well insulated boots from the global marketplace.

Did Steve Jobs create the trade off? In all fairness I think he's made it easier to create a balance.

Your Fucking Lucky Renny,

I would love to live that close to some amazing cultures such as the Inuit. I live in South Florida culture & class are 4 letter words here.

Great post! I tried to rep you but I have been kind of a rep whore lately so I'm grounded for now.

Post: #16

That's right as33156, keep it up and we'll take away your avatar next.

Post: #17

as33156, yes I am lucky to live here, but there are folks who live here and consider it to be a cultural waste land. They see the far north only in the light of the money that comes from the mining boom.

I was also lucky to live in another culturally rich place. It was full of art, complex cuisine, music, traditional celebrations, and literature...FLORIDA! Life is what you make of it. The global marketplace may be making it easy for all of us to wear sturdy inexpensive boots but you can choose to wear kamiks. Be someone who supports your local culture and economy. Don't let the glare of advertising blind you to what is around you.

Post: #18

It is easier to have selfish wants when there is nothing to dream and aspire towards. When we have something bigger then us to focus on, we use what is available in this world as tools to get somewhere.
The problem occurs when we only have our short term needs to focus on, it is easy to get distracted with the tools to fill the gaps of time.

Post: #19

(11-20-2011 2:41 AM)renny Wrote:  Hi PQ! Very cool to see you posting here.

Thanks, Renny! Very good to see your name again.

Fascinating to hear about your town. Did it take you a long time to adapt when you first moved there?

Post: #20

(11-20-2011 3:05 PM)sunny10 Wrote:  It is easier to have selfish wants when there is nothing to dream and aspire towards. When we have something bigger then us to focus on, we use what is available in this world as tools to get somewhere.
The problem occurs when we only have our short term needs to focus on, it is easy to get distracted with the tools to fill the gaps of time.

Yes - this is spot on. I think men more than women have a greater need for a transcendental framework of life; and some cultures more than others (perhaps Indo-Europeans especially, although I have not developed a firm view on this). Which is why in times where the majority group religion has broken down, one often tends to see a different set of people coming to the fore than than those who reigned previously.

One sees in a previous era the horror of the British regarding Asiatic fatalism in other cultures abroad - a sense of predestination stifling any efforts at accomplishment. Well I think today the West suffers from its own, custom-made, sickness that has a similar effect.

If nothing else, one needs to have a reason to focus on the longer-term (maybe extending beyond the end of one's life) in order to take tough decisions that cause one short term pain but make things better in the long run. And yet, almost paradoxically, focusing on things that transcend one's own personal existence actually leads to greater happiness even in the short term. Isn't life funny...