I recently began writing a book. I was having another one of those I’m-going-to-be-awake-until-I-solve-this-problem nights where I was about to reach an idea (about a particular issue) I’d post here, when I came to a new idea that had implications larger than a blog post or two’s worth of material.
In the past I’ve been at least a little unhappy with a lot of my positions (though, clearly not unhappy enough to refrain from posting/explaining/backing up) but this one, so far, is something I’ve been much happier with in general. Although this has a few potential flaws and the details are still coming together, I’m very eager to get the book written. What I think most people will like about it is that it actually takes the best of socialistic, capitalistic, and democratic ideas into consideration, and as far as I can tell, it can’t be accurately plotted on a political spectrum unless it becomes three-dimensional.
Because of this project of mine, I might have to dedicate most of my writing capabilities to the book, but I have some stuff that I never got around to posting ready for such an event. I may also post excerpts from the book, because I’m terrible with keeping my own work a secret.
No, I’m not even talking about the “Pass this on and your wish will come true! (Really!)” things. Sometimes people will have these nuggets of vague advice they need to share with the world, and today’s technology enables them. Why anyone would pay for a fancy phone to read these things is beyond me (I’m hoping the facebook app isn’t used to check feeds).
A Slide Show of my State of Mind
This blog is a slide show of my state of mind. All personal thought blogs are, really. I see too many blogs that follow an idea path and don’t ever budge. This is accompanied by a lot of comments by other people that also won’t budge (note that seeing this type of comments doesn’t mean the blog writer is unreasonable). I wasn’t liking what I saw, and I was able to take advantage of my personal observation by not being like that. I also observed that myself and everyone I’ve met for an extended period of time has had a history of being wrong, at least from time to time.
But, with this presents a problem. If I know this, and I am able to actually come to grips with that, why do I take a stance on anything at all, given it may be wrong?
It gives you, the reader, an opportunity to inform me of what I’m missing. The ability to look things up on the Internet is an amazing thing that gives today’s people a learning advantage no generation before has ever had (though some libraries I imagine were pretty fantastic). However, it’s not perfect; I’ve made many searches for information that have been disappointing. Some people know more about certain things than I do, and in order to get their point across as well as possible, the user will post or link to the best example of the idea they wish to convey that they know about. Instead of having to skim through a bunch of sub-par versions and spammy sites, I get top-quality from a reader’s perspective.
What about the four-dimensional factor, Steve? Won’t you look back on posts and say “Man, I was dumb!”?
Perhaps I will, but unlike posting drunk on Facebook, I can look back and know I was actually thinking.
There has already been an occasion where I was intellectually ousted. A reply to a post I made about racism blew away pretty much every point I had. One part in particular: “The power of racism is that it affects one’s thinking, drawing a person from objectivity and clear thinking. Racism overwrites the very reason Steve is counting on to counteract it.” – I previously had failed to identify racism as a mind virus (Man, I was dumb!). I came to realize that I’ve been banking on a social idea that counted on there being very few people with mind viruses. Racism isn’t the only one, and much of humanity is currently infected. My previous social ideas were, put simply, people unburdened by social obligations are most able and motivated to do good, productive things. Unless I can overcome the mind virus problem (and potentially others), I have to accept that based on my current information, Yvette‘s approach is better.
Is it better? I’ll have to do some research to attempt to find out if it is or isn’t. If I find enough good counter-points, I’ll be sure to bring them up. Thanks for participating in and watching my slide show.