Age of Idiocy

[Steve Sherrick]

Hrvoje, pretty damn good summary of the problems. In fact, I think you've created an outline for a compelling film. The big question is how to solve those problems? It's hard to get the genie back in the bottle. I think there are lots of bandaids that can be employed but to really solve some of the things on your list requires undoing a lot of years of bad behavior. My theory is, short of hitting the reset button, we have to start in our own back yards, make the changes on the localized level and hope those changes start to have an influence on the state, national, and eventually world level. I'm also not a believer that everything has changed for the worse. I think there have been some amazing advances and continue to be people who are doing great work to improve lives of all kinds of people. But in the current atmosphere, I'm sure a lot of those things get lost in the noise. But a lot of the things on your list are real dilemmas and are certainly contributing to an unsettling world.

In order for us to have longevity as a species, we will most certainly need to change course and be a positive inhabitant of a planet that we shouldn't take for granted.

 

[Elsie N]

Hrvoje,

I've never "met" anyone who sees the glass as .01% full until now. You should turn off the news. '-)

 

[Stacey Spears]

Hrvoje, what about discrimination / equality.

I closed my Twitter and Instagram two years ago. I de-activated FB in February to take a break. I am not really sure the purpose of LinkedIn, but I have lots of connections. I don't watch any cable news show. I watch the local news in the morning to see what is happening around town that week. I guess my point is I don't really value any source of news be it on TV or social media. About the only thing I do on my iPad anymore is view Reduser. I even stopped carrying my phone with me, unless I am traveling. Its nice to go out to dinner where no one is checking their email or FB status.

Lately a friend has been organizing seeing the latest movie each week in HDR. He buys the tickets and we reimburse him on site. This way we all sit together since it is reserved seating. We now have two Dolby Cinema (HDR) theaters in the Seattle area. There are probably 10-20 of us. We don't discuss politics, we simply discuss the movie and complain about the ambient lights that are illuminating the HDR screen, ruining the experience. Its nice to just get together and have a good time.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

The left vs right is almost as bad as these Red vs Alexa debates. :wink5:

I disagree. All RED fans like the Alexa's image quality. However, some of us do not believe that it has a place in the film maker's toolbox today, any more than the DVX 100 does. But if it's not my money you're spending, you can do what you want.

Ben, those quotes are quite illuminating. As Wayne pointed out, some of them might be scoffed at, but they are partly true. Back in the '90s, the fashion among some conservatives was that video games caused immoral behaviour. Now, the fashion among some feminists and progressives is that video games promote sexism. Both are wrong.

Our planet is doing fine. There are problems but they have nothing at all to do with 'carbon emissions'. That's an invented disease, just like ADD or HIV/AIDS. Many people are waking up to the failure of modern medicine. But many people are insecure, and so have an abusive relationship with the mainstream media and their local doctor. Middle class suburban people are not as skeptical as rural or working class people in some areas. In fact, that's the same kind of relationship that some women have with abusive boyfriends; or some homeless people have with their cities.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

Thanks for reading Karim. It's the type of game more promotes immorality and sexism, but now too much sloth when played excessively (like social networking) etc. There are valid points, but proving the quote as either right or wrong then or whenever, is the point, not so much scoffing. When we do that we have a point either way.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

But the point is that local is important, but not just the 0.1% local 'us' to the exclusion of all else. I'm a philosopher, and I can tell you it breaks down something like this, Humanism, nationalism, starring, localism, tribalism, groupism, clanism, family, mates, your self. At each level we can get more selfish a day recalcitrant, not willing to give it care for other side enough outside the group.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Hrvoje, pretty damn good summary of the problems. In fact, I think you've created an outline for a compelling film. The big question is how to solve those problems?

Banners and protests by passing armoured black tinted vehicles and expressing dissatisfaction on social networks = exercising cattle's ability to moo. Cow cannot comprehend the meat grinder, rational animals just choose not to.
Voting for pre-chosen and served puppets = perpetuating the illusion of choice.
Expecting significant changes within 4 years and done by someone else = yet another illusion served to the masses while the puppeteers design society decades ahead. Global conflicts as well.
Expecting things to improve by themselves while the head is stuck in la-la land and offspring raised by cattle management system = living in denial.

Mess in the external world is a reflection of the mess of the internal world.

The only way to change the world is not attempting to cut the heads of a hydra, but working on the roots.
Not from the outside but from within. Not someone or something else but the available basis which will define the whole chain of events.

If one stars now at own doorstep, in about 20 years this can change something on a global scale.

That is the age in which new generation grows up and reaches the potential of affecting society at all levels.
Known for a long time and in the Age of Idiocy abused daily.

Hrvoje,

I've never "met" anyone who sees the glass as .01% full until now. You should turn off the news. '-)

Alarm with a pleasant melody has little effect.

If we are talking about the same glass, I see energy formed into three states of matter inside one visible object containing one visible matter, with a human tendency to see and reason either/or and add a positive or negative prefix depending on a chosen perspective.

Don't worry about me and the "news".

 

[David Battistella]

Hrvoje, what about discrimination / equality.

I closed my Twitter and Instagram two years ago. I de-activated FB in February to take a break. I am not really sure the purpose of LinkedIn, but I have lots of connections. I don't watch any cable news show. I watch the local news in the morning to see what is happening around town that week. I guess my point is I don't really value any source of news be it on TV or social media. About the only thing I do on my iPad anymore is view Reduser. I even stopped carrying my phone with me, unless I am traveling. Its nice to go out to dinner where no one is checking their email or FB status.

Lately a friend has been organizing seeing the latest movie each week in HDR. He buys the tickets and we reimburse him on site. This way we all sit together since it is reserved seating. We now have two Dolby Cinema (HDR) theaters in the Seattle area. There are probably 10-20 of us. We don't discuss politics, we simply discuss the movie and complain about the ambient lights that are illuminating the HDR screen, ruining the experience. Its nice to just get together and have a good time.

You are the first person I am going to call to meet up with the next time I am in Seattle.

David

 

[Saied_M]

In about 20 years this can change something.

But do we have twenty years ? We were sold the iPhone and Facebook world as a mass benefit, with the developing world simply considered emerging markets to go online and buy products in the future. In the meantime such trifles as disease, war and hunger in the global economy was, well, "fuck 'em" since it was never about people. However advances in robotics and AI seem to be heading, for the first time in human history, to a situation where the consumer is now expendable, and those of us who thought we were insulated perhaps by geography or the economy are also just destined for the same heap in this brave new world (cough). I have heard mention of human quotas or robot taxes to protect against what's coming, but.....yeah right.

And I hear Google is looking to cure death. And Bill Gates is into vaccines. Maybe they do care after all. Maybe the future will be a verdant Earth populated by a few Google executives with a workforce of nubile females, all immortal of course. The rest will just be sorted out by robots which can repair themselves. Paradise.

But I am waiting for that Canon full-frame mirrorless. Will they announce at NAB ? That is the real question.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

Banners and protests by passing armoured black tinted vehicles and expressing dissatisfaction on social networks = exercising cattle's ability to moo.
Voting for pre-chosen and served puppets = perpetuating the illusion of choice.
Expecting significant changes within 4 years and done by someone else = yet another illusion served to the masses while the puppeteers design society decades ahead. Global conflicts as well.
Expecting things to improve by themselves while the head is stuck in la-la land and offspring raised by cattle management system = living in denial.

Mess in the external world is a reflection of the mess of the internal world.

The only way to change the world is not attempting to cut the heads of a hydra, but working on the roots.
Not from the outside but from within. Not someone or something else but the available basis which will define the whole chain of events.

If one stars now at own doorstep, in about 20 years this can change something on a global scale.

That is the age in which new generation grows up and reaches the potential of affecting society at all levels.
Known for a long time and in the Age of Idiocy abused daily.



Alarm with a pleasant melody has little effect.

If we are talking about the same glass, I see energy formed into three states of matter inside one visible object containing one visible matter, with a human tendency to see and reason either/or and add a positive or negative prefix depending on a chosen perspective.

Don't worry about me and the "news".

Hrvoje, if only you could speak this clearly in the color correction thread. Even I have to spend time deciphering it.

I agree with your disapproval of many of the things you have issues with.

I have been around many types of people, and most on both sides that protest/activist/half extremist, leave a lot to be desired in retrospect. It is far beyond. Sorry, hard to think what to say, just eating after making my way back from the hospital after they carted my off there when I saw the doctor (bit of a heart scare on Sat night at my birthday dinner). Nope I forget. I usually have a thread structure of points lined up, but can't keep it in my head at moment.

Anyway, another sub topic, my local guy I was supporting had conspiratists around, and he got badly bitten. He got disendorsed after some rather bad national coverage coming out of one if these guys. He wasn't such a bad guy, could have contributed significantly I think. The problem with these people, that basically talk similar to what you said, is that they are not that good. Like not everything that glitters is gold, not everything that someone might think is sh.. is s... but they can't tell the difference all the time.

Anyway, I'm going have to leave it at that, maybe clone back and wonder what the stuff zInc wanted to say.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

So Hydra. I have been wanting to fund good. Start organisations that produce a good mobile platform, good advertising system, good products and standards, good management, good governance, so people can choose them. These sorts of efforts can achieve what you want, and denies the Hydra so it becomes irrelevant. The only way for its members is to adopt the good/better ways. But the lessons practical and being practical, not relying on irrational radicalists.

What country are you in Hrvoje?

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

But do we have twenty years ? We were sold the iPhone and Facebook world as a mass benefit,

Every cattle management tool is sold with additional function and an idea of mass benefit.
"Social surveillance/analysis/prediction/control tool" would have considerably lower market adoption. This way everyone wants one and will gather thousand bucks to get it. Convinced billions are invested into 40x more powerful processing so one would have a more fluid chat experience.

Past approach: we tell you what to do. Or else.

OS lifespan: short (rebellion against the oppression)

Current approach : we make you want to do that believing it was actually your choice.

OS lifespan: longer

And I hear Google is looking to cure death. And Bill Gates is into vaccines.

In the Age of Idiocy death of a physical body is "thought of" as the end of existence and everything teaching otherwise by the previous civilizations as "primitive beliefs". Hence the fixation on the meat wrapper and obsession to pile up stuff at any cost. Should one find the time to check up on those "primitives", one might find that somehow they predicted this to happen.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

But do we have twenty years ? We were sold the iPhone and Facebook world as a mass benefit, with the developing world simply considered emerging markets to go online and buy products in the future. In the meantime such trifles as disease, war and hunger in the global economy was, well, "fuck 'em" since it was never about people. However advances in robotics and AI seem to be heading, for the first time in human history, to a situation where the consumer is now expendable, and those of us who thought we were insulated perhaps by geography or the economy are also just destined for the same heap in this brave new world (cough). I have heard mention of human quotas or robot taxes to protect against what's coming, but.....yeah right.

And I hear Google is looking to cure death. And Bill Gates is into vaccines. Maybe they do care after all. Maybe the future will be a verdant Earth populated by a few Google executives with a workforce of nubile females, all immortal of course. The rest will just be sorted out by robots which can repair themselves. Paradise.

But I am waiting for that Canon full-frame mirrorless. Will they announce at NAB ? That is the real question.

I hear that investors have been concerned google acts too much like an NGO. So, maybe they have good intentions. But look at how Android started compared to now. Sure using profit for good is good, but it also is about how the profit was generated. There are plenty of good ways to make more money that repair the economy.


Hrvoje, I'm waiting for your answer.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

That Guardian article is hubris and idiocy in one. Who is going to find a way to slow aging people like those who wrote that, or commented favourably to the article, or the people they commented on.

Just straight up I could see what was up. 1000 mice, it is likely they might be trying to do comprehensive science, like I keep wanting trials to do. Though, a million rollers a mouse? A million mice at a $1000 a mouse would be better. If they locate the mice across a multi dimensional data matrix that accommodates genetics nutrition and maybe other environmental, they can tell rather a lot. I've come up with a idea like this for a project. Such large comprehensive analysis is not done enough, but is real science. What they maybe doing with 1000 mice is following individual 'leads' comprehensively to find where they go. Real science.

Now, are they going to achieve it, I don't know. You may "cure" one thing and die of another, but 1000 years would be great. Now, this whole young people have the ideas and oldies need to evacuate with their dull minds. If this works out, it could be on the basis of staying fresh and brilliant much longer.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Hrvoje, what about discrimination / equality.

In which context ?

I closed my Twitter and Instagram two years ago. I de-activated FB in February to take a break. I am not really sure the purpose of LinkedIn, but I have lots of connections. I don't watch any cable news show. I watch the local news in the morning to see what is happening around town that week. I guess my point is I don't really value any source of news be it on TV or social media. About the only thing I do on my iPad anymore is view Reduser. I even stopped carrying my phone with me, unless I am traveling. Its nice to go out to dinner where no one is checking their email or FB status.

Lately a friend has been organizing seeing the latest movie each week in HDR. He buys the tickets and we reimburse him on site. This way we all sit together since it is reserved seating. We now have two Dolby Cinema (HDR) theaters in the Seattle area. There are probably 10-20 of us. We don't discuss politics, we simply discuss the movie and complain about the ambient lights that are illuminating the HDR screen, ruining the experience. Its nice to just get together and have a good time.

Why am I not surprised. Nice to know.
Please don't stare at HDR for too long, world needs color scientists with healthy vision.

Hrvoje, I'm waiting for your answer.

I'm waiting for little grey men or reptilians building megaliths with interstellar spaceship lasers, coming out of flying saucers made in same factory as stealth UAVs. As soon as they make a time machine we can go back in time and save the almanac of Alexandria from Biff senior's hands.

Dunno really, seems to change frequently over millennia, depending on a parasite infestation.
Looks like Euromurica currenlty.

 

[Saied_M]

Thanks Wayne (and Hrvoje). Some of my post was meant a touch on the satirical side which I hope was apparent. Despite everything, I am broadly hopeful for humanity's future but in the meantime we have to navigate this strange Age and make the best of it. Maybe an Age of Idiocy has always been there in one form or another - maybe a Mongol about to be put to death for being taller than the axle of a cart, or a peasant viewing a distant castle on the horizon during the Black Death, was thinking the same thing.

 

[Martin Stevens]

You are the first person I am going to call to meet up with the next time I am in Seattle.

David

Hello David,

When you are in the Boston area let's meet up and I'll give you a tour of Glidecam as well.

 

[David Battistella]

Hello David,

When you are in the Boston area let's meet up and I'll give you a tour of Glidecam as well.

For sure!

David

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Thanks Wayne (and Hrvoje). Some of my post was meant a touch on the satirical side which I hope was apparent.

Sure.

Satire helps to avoid offense and build up of negativity while adressing social issues and if we cannot ridicule the rampant mass spread idiocy and even on our own account we are all screwed.

Despite everything, I am broadly hopeful for humanity's future but in the meantime we have to navigate this strange Age and make the best of it.

Exactly. Hats off Saied.

 

[Corey_O]

How many have heard the term "Brain Hacking"?

LINK