Category: Random

The Omissions

There’s much to be said about what we have not done. Isn’t it that we repent every day and need grace to repent again. Day after day we realize how much we have not done. Aren’t we just hypocrites who must see more clearly our iniquities before we attain heaven?

Guilt is a heavy burden. Only what we do not see can help us with what we do not remember. We need to realize the farthest is East from West. Self is a killer.

The enemy reminds us only of what we have done and only what we were. That is all he has.

Reflection of Heaven in Revelation

Luke 11:20 “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”

It’s already here with us. Of all the books in the New Testament, Revelation is dense and metaphorical. As a kid, I knew Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth. It was on my grandparents’ shelf.

Reinterpreting the scripture is every generation’s, but the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven (and if I will conflate the two, the Kingdom of God) is a steady constant. We are destined for perfection in a perfect place of splendor and love.

Each preacher, pastor, evangelist may interpret–and spin–differently. Their individual ideas can provoke thought of differing types and degrees. We must keep our eyes on the prize.

This is not to say that every relater of the Revelation should be listened to. We must test the spirits.

But we should not fear. That is my struggle.

The pleasant streets we will walk on.
The pains of ours are gone.
The light will shine on and in.
The farthest from us is sin.
Here and there as one,
We are walking in the Son.

Family in the West

Why on Earth is the family reviled by those on the Left? Most of us did have a mother or father or both. And isn’t having both parents the ideal?

It’s a peculiar self-hatred. I am not consciously repeating what any pundit has said, just natural questions. I would like to have a present father. I adore my mother. So divorcing the self from nature seems to be un-human.

Working…

Substrate

Digital imagination. An oxymoronic relationship.
Our foundational 1s and 0s are substrate for analog.
I’ve found this an intriguing fact.
Digital machines can only give pseudo-random numbers.
The digital is machine, the analog is human.
We rely on the machine to support our imagination.

Working…

Human future, machine’s backward march

I’ve been wondering how transexual can lead to transhuman. It would seem that a person must lose connection with his sense of self. There is some evidence that the first happens as a social contagion, but transhuman is the complete dissociation from self.

With this, does the scripture “they know not what they do” apply to dissociation?

As the self dissolves further into mechanism, the human dissolves. At what point does life become extinguished? When does soul disappear and sin not imparted? Does the human still live?

Transhumanism is not a hopeful sign of man’s progress, despite its adherents and champions. The questions and unknowable answers are greater than genuine progress.

More infectious enthusiasm from Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Tyson says we are part of this universe, we are one with it, but that more important than either of those two statements is his belief that the universe is in us.

I won’t say this is New Age, but it is interesting that a lauded scientist makes an almost spiritual statement about a material universe. He does say that though he doesn’t like labels, he would be most close to an agnostic.

In his two short books “Letters from an Astrophysicist” and “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” he contends that we have a duty to our fellow man. As good as that sounds, I don’t know from where he draws that idea. But it sounds religious to me.

Tyson is a darling of secularists and in some ways, rightly so. He’s bright, seems personable, and brings a lightheartedness to a dense topic. I’d love to have a couple of beers with him and learn.

Captain Fantastic

What to make of the millennial want of the Winnebago lifestyle.

I see the sprinters here on the island sometimes. They’re parked along Ocean Drive. I will say that there are fewer messes when compared to the fast food wrapper-spewing lowriders. (What a mess.) At my prior employer, one of the young guys brought us outside to look at his tricked-out camper van.

It gives an honorable sense of not wanting to waste and decreasing your footprint. It’s actually kind of admirable, I think.

It’s difficult for me to comment on family matters as I don’t have any children. But I think there are a few things to say. One does not grow up as quickly as with kids. A friend often lectures me on “growing up.” There could be some anger toward him, but maybe he’s right? I do like the single life, but how would I change?

But with all due respect, I am not immature, .

I have thought about doing the Reese Witherspoon thing and hike for life. Sun-bleached mind tan (TM).

Does one need any responsibility without children? Am I serving society well? What is the debt to society?

I know, no man an island. Fine. But when you read of proud parents and proud friends, you do have a certain sadness/defiance.

Year upon year, time after time. What to leave the world other than children. So what if your name ends? Shakespeare’s lineage was gone in a generation. Posterity gets ideas and creativity.

So we of lesser insight should try something different.

Physical abundance v information abundance

Remembering the old work by Negroponte, bits versus atoms. In the digital economy we learn, organize, and tell stories that are ephemeral.

Electrons versus photons is a close thing to atoms versus bits. It seems that the abundance economy is not physical, but light you’re looking at right here. A simple handshake can move mountains, e.g. a digital transaction with physical tether.

Every object contains its corresponding bits, like an atom with its ghost.

Concealment

The world of concealment, dark figures, breathing deep. One dimensional creatures slip out into two dimensions briefly, ever so briefly. Into three dimensions. Eternal destiny is three to two to one dimensions, out of sight. They still hide in shade.
Imagination can make the creatures slip into three.
We are no mere mortals, but “gods.”

Every argument is eternal. We don’t think what each means. Words take flight and move mountains.

(working…)

Extant

On my trip to Rome, I encountered ruins that offer escape. Back to the emanations of strength and high culture deteriorating. Marble remembrances, rocks you never thought could die. How did things so majestic become dust?

How did centuries pass so quickly, yet rock rot?

The great Colosseum, its floors and walls dead.

There is no memory of its builders. Those men who designed it are not even in history.

The things we hold great become dust. The positions we value, the accomplishments, beneficent action. Laurels are made of fragile leaves.

Illusion and Ignorance

Can’t remember exactly what I was thinking when I wrote this one down:

From illusion to understanding. From ignorance to knowledge.

These are obviously about progression.

We can live under illusion or progress to understanding. Touching a real life. From thinking we know to actually knowing is progressing as well, but knowledge is not the end; Wisdom is, the application of knowledge.

December and last month I read Proverbs, asking God to show me the wisdom everyone says Proverbs has. It is a lot of warnings about an adulterous woman. But I underlined the parts about it where man was being warned about his inclinations.

Now, I am on to the 12.

AI asking questions

Is it true that thought and consciousness will inevitably arise from the network? It seems inevitable that someone would ask this, and someone dishonest could report or make it appear that AI were thinking. Of course, the company evangelists and marketers are out there misleading.

In my opinion, the nature of AI thought does not come close to organic thought. They are completely different types of things.

But does this beg the question, can humans create an AI like organic thought, or must it be something only electrical because we cannot create a true AI modeled after humans? Our mind is a black box, we are born not knowing ourselves. Can we create something like us?

The most recent Boston Dynamics robots are scary impressive. But doesn’t this just evince that we can create something advanced, but not conscious?

Amateur thoughts, but just thinking.

Will Someone Please Stop the Oversaturated Vendor Problem in Balboa Park?

UPDATE: Well, according to sources at the Balboa Park visitor’s center, someone put in a new rule that vendors there have to be 100 feet apart. Doesn’t mean a lot imho; street vendors have been a problem for business owners throughout the city, who have some of the same products, just without the overhead. But now the city council said they will vote on March 1 to rule on placing restrictions on vendors and prohibit them in certain parks, beaches, and places like Old Town: “The ordinance requires vendors to obtain a business license and vendor permit. It would define specific distance parameters around statues, art displays and other vendors.”

Though the park website says “The City of San Diego must issue a permit for any commercial filming for exterior areas in Balboa Park,” vendors, with hygiene requirements, don’t need a permit? I don’t see why this took so long to address.

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Ah, to get back to normal life. At Balboa Park, the museums are starting to open, the Spanish Village artists are back at work, and the rose garden is in full bloom.

But now someone needs to do something about the high number of what appears to be unapproved vendors who are in Balboa Park. They seem to have little food safety and basic hygiene, and poor trash management. The U-T interviewed Alexis Villanueva, senior program manager of economic development with City Heights CDC, who maintains that “micro-enterprise” vendors contribute to the economy. Yes, but they can also contribute other, unwanted things. There has to be a balance here between rules, regulations and freedoms.

 

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