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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| "We each have within ourselves the ability to shape our own destinies. That much we
understand. But, more important, each of us has an equal ability to shape the destiny of the
universe. Ah, that you find more difficult to believe. But I tell you it is so. You do not have to
be the leader of the Council. You do not have to be king or monarch or the head of a clan to have a
significant impact on the world around you. In the vastness of the ocean, is any drop of water
greater than another? No, you answer, and neither has a single drop the ability to cause a tidal
wave. But, I argue, if a single drop falls into the ocean, it creates ripples. And these ripples
spread. And perhaps - who knows - these ripples may grow and swell and eventually break foaming
upon the shore. Like a drop in the vast ocean, each of us causes ripples as we move through our
lives. The effects of whatever we do - insignificant as it may seem - spread out beyond us. We may
never know what far-reaching impact even the simplest action might have on our fellow mortals. Thus
we need to be conscious, all of the time, of our place in the ocean, of our place in the world, of
our place among our fellow creatures. For if enough of us join forces, we can swell the tide of
events - for good or for evil."
"You must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not
follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a
disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to
oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision
to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path
closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and
yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old man asks. My benefactor
told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now
I do understand it. I will tell you what it is: Does this path have heart? All paths are the same:
they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could
say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning
now. Does this path have heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both
paths lead nowhere; but one has heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long
as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you
strong; the other weakens you."
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| People write unbelievably banal and trite profiles which call for stern rebuke.
Profiles come in several varieties:
1. Song lyrics / Poem - You do realize reading the lyrics isn't the same as listening to the song? For one thing, I can't hear it!
2. SubProfile, Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, .etc link - Since you've proven that you're totally inept at writing a decent profile, what makes you think I would venture to explore further into the abyss?
3. Address, cell number, .etc -- then you have the nerve to complain about stalkers? Don't you think your friends would know that information already? Or do you really hope someone will stalk you?
4. Ostentatious display of university, fraternity, or some other club to which the individual
belongs -- okay we get it, you belong, and you're exclusive...but can't you keep that to
yourself, or was the only purpose of being part of the club the snob value?
5. Supposedly powerful/inspirational quote, which turns out to be a cliche -- These are the worst; can't you think for yourself dunderhead? Quit recycling quotes your unimaginative friends had put in their profiles. Not only does that mean you don't have anything witty or wise to say, but you're also a thief in more ways than one.
6. Cultural meme - Chuck Norris did this or that, or 'Put this in your profile if you're a sheep...' -- These were cool....for about five-seconds. I hope you get AIDs and die a horrible death.
7. A foreign tongue which no one reading the profile will understand, much less the quoter herself. -- Who did you have in mind when you put this your profile?
A general criticism about profiles comes from the fact that they lack color coordination, symmetry, or are too bloated and disorganized.
Away messages come in these flavors:
1. Out -- If you're out, why don't you sign off?
2. Call the cell
3. Night
4. Away
5. A specific laundry list of what that person is doing (and we all care)
6. Something completely random; an attempt at wit with 5 seconds of forethought.
If your profile or away messages fit any of these descriptions, then congratulations! You represent 80% of the people on AIM. If it doesn't, then you have mastered the AIM
profile; kudos.
The profiles/away messages I have below are real. If you see your own profile in here,
I'm sorry. If you don't, I'm sorry. In fact, there was no real selection whatsoever. I just
assembled a random assortment of profiles. The only disclaimer I have is that these people are not representative of the masses; some are actually way ahead in the bell curve. So I guess all a bad profile indicates is bad taste, but nothing else. A good profile can indicate much much more. You decide.
Update: I've decided to take the image down. Oh well.
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| I awoke from a troubled sleep, with the last dream being about genetic similarity. I remember watching a PBS Special one time which claimed that the genetic similarity between individuals within a homogenous population is no more alike than someone half-way across the world; in fact, people from different geographic locales supposedly are more similar than people within the same population.
At the time, this revelation was startling to me. It contradicted common sense and what I inherently believed. However, it was kind of good news, because it meant that we (humans) are not that much different from each other, and so we can get along. This news fit the liberal-agenda well, maybe too well.
Later on, I had a discussion about if we're all the same species. I questioned our common humanity because in taxonomy many organisms which have a common name, like butterflies, snakes, spiders, .etc have dozens to hundreds of species within each group. They are classified differently for several reasons: morphology, phylogeny, and reproductive isolation. Speciation is a complex topic with several components.
I reasoned we used less strict definitions for ourselves for politically correct reasons. The Homo genus persuaded me a little bit that such factors were considered. However, it didn't convince me that that's the final story.
Fast forward to this morning, I woke up with a revelation to answer the earlier claim from the PBS Special. My intuitive theory, which is unsupported and untested, is that genetic similarity may not be more similar within a specific population because the genes for similarity in physical features are outnumbered by less visible aspects like personality. In this light, people of the same personality from different geographic locations may be more similar genetically by numbers alone.
The implications in this new light is not that we'll all get along, but it begs the question, why don't we all get along? The answer to this question I believe is the pyschological conditioning which identifies each individual as belonging to a tribe with the same nationality, race, and religion. Furthermore, the genetic differences between populations, such as the morphology, is more important for the group than are the differences within the population due to personality.
This can be summarized by the 'genetic similarity theory' which states:
"Genetic similarity theory, as proposed by J. Philippe Rushton,
is obtensibly a model for understanding a diverse list of behavioral
and social phenomena, including positive assortive mating, friendship, altruism, and ethnocentrism/racism. Rushton believes it to be a simple extension of kin selection to broader groups. Essentially, "if a gene can better ensure its own
survival by acting so as to bring about the reproduction of family
members with whom it shares copies, then it can also do so by
benefiting any organism in which copies of itself are to be found." But
"rather than merely protecting kin at the expense of strangers," he
says, "if organisms could identify genetically similar organisms, they
could exhibit altruism toward these "strangers" as well as toward kin."
(Rushton 2000, pg. 74) It follows, he claims, that "two individuals
within an ethnic group will, on average, be more similar to each other
genetically than two individuals from different ethnic groups.
According to genetic similarity theory, people can be expected to favor
their own group over others."
In any event, if this were true, I think it would shed some light on the atrocities in human history, like the extinction of the Neanderthals, the Spanish Conquistadors, Native American genocide, the Holocaust, black slavery, Western colonialism/imperialism. One of three possible scenarios can explain these events. Either each in-group intuitively knew the out-group was genetically different in the areas that mattered, or their actions were motivated by such thoughts without any bearing to reality, or there was a match between their perceptions/motivations and genetic reality.
Given all this, what can I conclude? I think we are in fact different in key genetic features. I think our actions stem from these differences. This is further exacerbated by psychological propaganda. It may be unwise politically to label ourselves different species, because it may lead to further bloodshed, but if it's the truth, it should not be manipulated. Will there ever be peace, or are we doomed to constant warfare? I think the answer lies in our ability to accept these differences and forego acting on deep genetic impulses to improve our survival while eliminating different competitors. In other words, there's a snowballs chance in hell that 6 billion people will be able to reconcile differences and realize the grander cosmic fate. A large factor in warfare is resource limitation. When we become cyborgs, we may decide to express our individual personality traits in the choice of our body plan, over that of our ancestors, in which case the key genetic differences will disappear thus dissolving the in-group/out-group complex inherent in the human psyche.
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| I have abandonment issues. I am afraid everyone will leave me. It's happened so many times before. Old friends disappear. In an age of online communication, to not keep in touch seems like a deadly sin. I keep telling myself, "Find and hold onto one good friend." I have a lot of mediocore friends, spread out and dispersed in their lives. What bothers me is that a few people who I considered good friends have not tried to contact me, despite the fact that I still think of them and want to get in touch. If I was determined about it, I surely could get in touch, but something keeps me on the edge of indecision.
I'm reminded of that Beatles song "In My Life" which goes:
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
I'm not exactly sure if I should continue multiplying friends, or reducing the number in my inner-circle. It's good to have a lot of professional acquaintances for diverse needs, in law, medicine, .etc.
Friends come in many flavors. I've noticed two trends in the development of character in my friends. On the one hand, almost all of them are becoming formal, seeing as how most of us have to go through the same educational system and use the same social symbols as far as etiquette/elocution goes. This homogeneity has made it so that we all have the same "script" in our head, of cliches, quotes, and bon mots such that it's easy to pick up a conversation with practically any stranger. In contrast to this trend, is the fact that their personalities are becoming more refined and distinctive, so that I can know what to expect in terms of opinions, responses, and behavior from each individual.
I suppose I like the development in my friends. I can expect decorum and thoughtfulness from them, but at the same time, I can get their unique point of view. One thing I've noticed is that once I know someone for a while, I can predict very easily what they will say in any situation. In such cases, I feel noxious re-hashing the same dialogue.
In life, like literature, there are dynamic characters and there are flat characters. I've met both types, and each has it's use. I always wish to be dynamic; being otherwise would render me boring unto myself. Like a complex fractal, I feel the need to rotate, descend, and spread myself out chaotically. Growth and development are very important to me. Despite such lofty ambitions to be "different" I do find myself repeating the same tired perspective and opinions again and again. To stand still is to accept death. Like Dylan Thomas said, "Rage, rage, against the dying of the light."
P.S. This entry was spurred by the lack of communication between me and a certain someone. If you are reading this, what the fuck have you been doing you stupid bitch, get the fuck off your ass and talk to me!
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