People are actually good and actually dumb on the similar time.
In historical days, they construct nice temples that we nonetheless marvel at at this time:
The folks then have been good in that they expressed their beliefs and their morality in refined structure and compelling fantasy, however they have been dumb in that they principally used these locations to set animals on fireplace for Zeus.
Ultimately, paganism went out of trend, and it appeared primitive and idiotic when in comparison with monotheism, which is the single-ring drivetrain of religions. (Although some folks, just like the Jews, have been using single-ring drivetrains lengthy earlier than they have been cool–and naturally some folks nonetheless recognize the fantastic thing about paganism, identical to loads of retrogrouches nonetheless love their triples.) So the folks constructed new temples for that, they usually have been additionally marvelous:
The folks then have been good in that they expressed their beliefs and their morality in refined structure and compelling fantasy, however they have been dumb in that they thought their fantasy was inherently superior to the outdated myths. See, the silly ancients thought there have been tons and plenty of gods that birthed infants out of their heads, whereas the single-ring devotees believed there was just one God and he was all the time in search of a great excuse to smite you, which is obvioiusly much more wise.
Now it’s the twenty first century, and we’re nonetheless actually good and actually dumb. We don’t speak about “god” in any respect anymore; as an alternative, we speak about “science,” and so we spend numerous cash constructing temples to that:
It’s simple to make enjoyable of faith, nevertheless it’s vital to keep in mind that it’s not meant to be taken actually:
Whereas there’s definitely lots of bloatware within the varied holy books, the very best stuff is gorgeous and insightful and frames the world and our existence in a method that also underpins our tradition and affords us limitless perception even at this time. The issue with faith is that it’s administered by folks, and individuals are imperfect and insecure. Take Jesus, for instance. Whether or not or not he truly ever existed (does it actually matter?), he’s greater than all proper with me; he’s completely unbelievable! Individuals nonetheless stay their lives in keeping with his academics, and with good purpose. However his advertising group was insecure, and they also needed to tack on all these things about him getting back from the useless (to not point out all of the political stuff concerning the Jews and the Romans), when as an alternative they need to have merely had confidence within the materials, as a result of the Sermon on the Mount is nice stuff. Positive, perhaps a part of the explanation the Beatitudes caught is that they killed him off in the long run, however did they actually need to carry him again on prime of it? It’s a bit a lot is all I’m saying.
Fashionable faith pushes it in the identical method. Take “local weather,” a phrase that has misplaced all that means. If you happen to take away the phrase “local weather” from any passage, not solely do you lose nothing by way of that means, however the passage is definitely stronger for it:
See?
“The Innovation Hub will likely be a signature NYCEDC initiative to advance fast expertise adoption in NYC,” the web site states.
The Brooklyn Military Terminal already serves as an area for corporations to check and trial new expertise.
In line with the EDC, corporations collaborating within the Innovation Pilot Program have entry to a “stay atmosphere” with roadways, water and electrical methods and extra by which to check and develop their expertise and merchandise.
The primary one feels like a boondoggle, however the second makes me go, “Take my cash!”
In biking, the phrase “gravel” works the identical method. Helmets at the moment are “gravel helmets:”
Socks at the moment are “gravel socks:”
Pumps at the moment are “gravel pumps:”
And so forth.
Hey, you could snigger, however go forward and attempt to use a non-gravel pump on gravel, you’ll drive it proper into the bottom like a stake:
Additionally, you may’t snigger at “gravel” every part and never snigger at “local weather” every part. Like gravel, “local weather” has turn into a advertising time period, nothing extra, and just like the phrase gravel I now cringe each time I hear it. While you flip a phrase right into a prefix you slap onto every part willy-nilly you cheapen it by way of overuse and it undermines itself:
In fact we needs to be stewards of the land and never pollute and all the time search extra environment friendly fuels and all that different stuff we’ve identified for 1000’s of years. However not solely are these folks pissing in your head and telling you it’s raining, however they’re additionally telling you their piss it’s extra rain than has ever fallen within the historical past of humanity, and that in the event you don’t change your evil methods the world goes to finish–and it really works, as a result of folks suppose worrying on a regular basis makes them good, which is why publications just like the Guardian exist, and why policymakers can justify all kinds of wacky stuff on the idea of “local weather.” Not that we shouldn’t spend money on expertise, however how the hell is that this factor going to carry the town 5 million jobs?
All the metropolis inhabitants is eight and a half million folks. From what I can inform from two seconds of analysis, about 25% of that’s folks below 16. That leaves a bit of greater than six million individuals who can truly work. Are we to consider that 5 million of them are going to work in inexperienced jobs? There aren’t even that many roles in the entire metropolis;
Okay, perhaps that doesn’t embody municipal jobs, and perhaps as soon as each trade within the metropolis turns into sufficiently “inexperienced” then each job will technically be a inexperienced job–like in case your native Chipotle meets some form of “internet zero” goal and also you wrap burritos there then TA-DAAH! you’re now working a inexperienced job. I dunno.
And once more, I get investing in expertise and being on the reducing fringe of no matter, however I believed we have been already constructing a “local weather middle” on Governor’s Island?
All I’m saying is that this looks like a suspiciously giant variety of local weather facilities. Governor’s Island, the entire Brooklyn waterfront… Additionally, this imaginative and prescient of the long run appears fully divorced from what’s occurring on the market proper now. The town’s not in an important place. The opposite day I boarded a rush-hour subway. On my line a typical practice consists of, I consider, ten vehicles. Of these, six have been occupied by what in Newspeak are at the moment known as “unhoused people,” and have been in any other case devoid of passengers as usually the occupants had clearly been utilizing them to alleviate themselves, because it naturally follows that the unhoused are additionally un-bathroomed. So principally 60% of a rush-hour subway practice was a rolling flophouse. Most platforms exterior of what urbanists name the “CBD” have been additionally inhabited by varied numbers of the undomiciled, and arriving at my vacation spot station I held my breath because it was crammed with the cloying stench of the unhoused, de-toileted, un-showered and non-deodorized one who was at the moment occupying it.
This isn’t me making enjoyable of the homeless and even proposing or criticizing any options; I’m merely making the purpose that we now have a nasty behavior of cloaking disagreeable truths in new language, and that now could be a great time to get up and scent the human shit. Provided that you actually stroll round along with your eyes closed and pinching your nostril (or I assume you get pushed round in a city-owned SUV like many officers are) would you suppose that futuristic Gattica-like services on tiny islands needs to be a precedence now–until the concept is that when all that is accomplished there will likely be 5 million inexperienced jobs and all of the folks pissing and shitting on subway trains will discover themselves gainfully employed in fixing the world’s power issues and averting the horrible specter of local weather change ceaselessly:
In fact, the subway isn’t all dangerous, and due to the migrant disaster it’s by no means been simple to purchase sweet from a toddler throughout your commute, so there’s that:
I assume the local weather middle will at the very least distract folks from the migrant camp at Floyd Bennett Area.
And sure, all these things–“local weather,” homelessness, migrants–is politically charged, however let’s take a look at it agnostically. This metropolis is a roiling, seething, dynamic, thrilling, infuriating, ugly, and exquisite pit of commerce. There are all the time folks desirous to declare it useless, me included, however everybody from the current school graduate from a snug suburban house to households who trek 1000’s of miles by way of rainforests comes right here for the alternatives it sill offers. In that sense I assume it form of doesn’t matter what the town spends its cash on, as a result of there are all the time greater than sufficient folks to take to take that cash, and never solely will they construct no matter ridiculous extravagance the town has give you this week (like a shiny “local weather middle” on an island, or one other shiny one on the waterfront), however they’ll additionally construct one thing for themselves with the cash they earn. I doubt something helpful will come out of a local weather middle itself, however I additionally perceive that you simply don’t see the stupidity of burning an ox for Zeus once you take a look at historical ruins; as an alternative you marvel on the ingenuity of the ancients, and the way by which these constructions embody the fantastic thing about human aspiration. Equally, perhaps somebody will marvel at these local weather facilities, even when their solely actual sensible objective is in transferring cash round, and even when the most important “development sector” in inexperienced jobs is delivering meals to folks on e-bikes.
I do suppose there’s a hazard in not calling issues what they’re, whether or not it’s making sleeping in your personal filth sound like a way of life selection, or of all the time attributing climate and incompetence to a “local weather emergency.” I particularly suppose after we say we have to get folks out of vehicles or construct a motorbike lane for “the local weather” as an alternative of for all of the precise causes to get folks out of vehicles or construct bike lanes, we do bikes and the individuals who journey them a disservice.
However largely I’m joyful it’s the weekend and that I can go for a journey.
I like you,
–Tan Tenovo
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Your posts always provide me with a new perspective and encourage me to look at things differently Thank you for broadening my horizons