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Jan 05

Book Review: Small is Beautiful by E.F.Schumacher

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Foolishness, Free Enterprise, Human Condition
It remains painfully obvious that this book is written by a crank. Only a crank would tell us that we need to rethink our consumption patterns, how we manage our economy, and our relationship with our environment. Going against conventional thinking is pretty fashionable today, but to do so in 1973 and still be so relevant is testimony of a crank who knew what he was talking about. E.F. Schumacher wrote this book in response to what he saw as the quickening and centralizing nature of modern society. He saw governments and businesses getting bigger and losing their essential and natural sense of scale, which is human friendly or simply “small”. Thus prompting the title of the book. It was through this book that Schumacher is credited with influencing green economic thinking from the 70s and afterward. He articulated the fundamental question about growth: “How much further growth will be possible, since infinite growth in a fine environment is an obvious impossibility”. Such thinking was radical, yet not socialist. Instead his thinking was the basis of humanistic, or human-centred economics. This book helped shift the tired and largely irrelevant debate of Left wing vs Right wing economic politics or big […]

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Dec 23

Ideology: Scourge of the Modern World

by Chris Billows in Political Ponderings 0 comments tags: Foolishness, Human Condition, Human History
The Economist posted an article, Why Wars Happen, explaining that the cause of most conflicts in the world during 2008 is due to ideological differences. This reinforces my conviction and past blog posts, Ideology vs Philosophy and Confessions of a Recovering Ideologue. that ideology in all of its forms is the scourge of the modern world. The research about world conflict was conducted by the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, and has some pretty amazing information there. Does my criticism of ideology mean I am anti-thinking? No, I would instead argue that ideological thinking is an oxymoron. Ideology is a mental disorder that afflicts politics, religion, culture (political correctness), and business. To be ideological means to not think and to abdicate one’s rational powers. To truly be a thinking person one must be philosophical and open to new information.

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Dec 09

Psychology Cagematch – Maslow vs Frankl

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 1 comments tags: Comprehensive Analysis, Human Condition
I was talking with a colleague who is a trained psychologist about different views concerning the human condition. The two views we contrasted were Abaraham Maslow and Victor Frankl, both Jewish, both European, and both having similar philosophies about human purpose, yet really having fundamentally different conclusions about what drives that purpose. Abaraham Maslow believed that humans are only ready to act upon their growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met. Once met, the person then moves onto the next stage of need to be met. The theory has eight stages where we progressively move from physical, bodily needs to more metaphysical and spiritual needs. There were 8 stages: 1 ) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.; 2 ) Safety/security: out of danger; 3 ) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and 4 ) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition. 5 ) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and exlore; 6 ) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty; 7 ) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one’s potential; and 8 ) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential. Courtesy of https://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html The […]

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Nov 27

A Continuum of Human Nature

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 0 comments tags: Comprehensive Analysis, Defining Life, Human Condition, Religion, Self Determination
I have been musing the importance about Jerry Pournelle’s political matrix and believe that his one index concerning the ability to improve on human nature is probably one of the most critical questions that divides people. Think about it. Everything we do or stand for is related to one’s understanding of what makes ourselves and others human. How we define what a human being is is how we define our morals, ethics, economics, and politics. I think there is a simple continuum that can be teased out from Pournelle’s political matrix. It would be: 1) Human Nature is corrupt. Everyone else is out to make a buck, is dishonest, etc. The person who believes this will also believe they need to act the same to keep up. Some religious and social conservatives would subscribe that there are lots of people who are corrupt and will never change. Scott Adams humors us with his view that all people are idiots in his Dilbert books. 2) Human Nature is corrupt but is improvable. Most religions would be based on this philosophy. It would be the view that we have Original Sin and need to find salvation to correct it. 3) Human Nature […]

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Nov 22

Blame the Romans & Catholics for our Calendar

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 0 comments tags: Human Condition, Human Mystery
Concerning my last blog, a friend of mine commented via email that he thinks there would be a societal benefit if we followed a lunar calendar. Men would be able to better track women’s menstrual cycles and the resulting PMS which would prompt the men to lay low and thus promote domestic harmony. Makes sense to me! 🙂 Still, this blog would not be complete without an educational component. Wikipedia to the rescue! The basis of the western calendar comes from the Romans. The calendar was then modified by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE. And that calendar was further modified by Pope Gregory in 1582 CE. Neither the Romans and Catholics can be considered to be historically sensitive to women which would explain why the calendar reflects a non-lunar, non-feminine cycle. Ironically, ignoring the women in the west has led to men being ritually pearl-harbored every month by the women in their lives. Curse you Julius & Gregory! (shakes virtual fist).

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Nov 19

The Missing Thirteenth Month

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 0 comments tags: Human Condition, Human Mystery
Have you ever noticed how our 12 month calendar has no symmetry or pattern? The 31 day month does not even alternate with non-31 day months to follow a pattern. It really is a mess and should be fixed. If every month was shortened to 28 days, or basically a lunar cycle of four 7-day weeks, we would have room for a 13th month.   Days Month Days More that 28 Days 31 Jan 3 more days than 28 28 Feb 0 more days than 28 31 Mar 3 more days than 28 30 Apr 2 more days than 28 31 May 3 more days than 28 30 Jun 2 more days than 28 31 Jul 3 more days than 28 31 Aug 3 more days than 28 30 Sep 2 more days than 28 31 Oct 3 more days than 28 30 Nov 2 more days than 28 31 Dec 3 more days than 28 365 29 days left over if each month was 28 days With 29 days left over, we could create a 13th month of 28 days and then have an extra day that would not belong to any month. Call it nil-day or something. What’s […]
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