Limits of Analysis & The State-Society I
Nitroadict . 0 comments . permalink
May 19, 2009 at
12:57 PM
Truly, it is a case of pseudo-ADD; the same type of ADD that almost everyone causally admits to having in today's society, from the newbie to computer technology that is your grandparents, to the crackberry addled wall streeter who quotes Gordon Gekko @ cocktail parties.
Despite aspiration & occasionally acknowledged "potential" w/ writing, such pseudo-ADD partially explains why the only thing I consistently write are responses in debates, forums, etc, which, despite sometimes being rather wide-ranging, have incentive enough due to another person in the debate, to remain more or less on point.
Still in an "information hungry" mode as a reaction towards previous forays into the misnomer that is labelled "higher education" (college), this results a majority of time spent on consuming information (via Internet, books, etc.), & not as much (not yet) producing.
No doubt, some of our greatest philosophers would probably find themselves bitten by the information bug, although perhaps Diogenes would distract them long enough by chucking rocks at their monitors to prevent such an anachronistic occurrence.
Perhaps the "beta" tag should be worn still?
Ironically, this entry could be seen as a meta-commentary on information overload & my attempt to overcome it, so perhaps it wasn't entirely a waste of time.
From personal experience, having literally grown up on The Internet (renting circa- 1999; ownership began in late 2000 with the purchase of my first computer), the implications are not far off & can be rather disturbing, especially with the known effects of multi-tasking (an activity any internet citizen is more than aware of) has on the brain & how the brain learns less effectively versus mono-tasking (one task at a time).
The prospect of more & more people multi-tasking, becoming constantly busy, forever having their attention monopolized by the increasingly statist monopoly over the "maintenance of life" doesn't bode well for things that do require attention & time: thinking, questioning, argumentation, study, intelligence, etc.
At times, both the "limits of human knowledge" & "opportunity costs" seem to give credence to the reformists attitude of utilizing the "system" to reform it, as everyone of us, no matter how radically we adhere to our ethics & morality, have to learn to subsist in state-society to maintain our own existence.
Be it from the direct evil of working within the government, or from the morally better option of working in the markets that are constantly being marginalized & controlled by the government itself, to achieve this.
However, there is also the observation that learning to "deal with" state society is a waste of resources in of itself, since utilizing any portion of it necessitates some sort of reliance upon state-society, unless one were to abdicate oneself to nature completely (& somehow managing to find a portion of land where no state or individual of state-society can interfere with you).
This entry has given me an idea regarding analysis paralysis itself, & it's importance in the ever solidifying information economy, & the effects on individuals it might have, including the genesis of new "mental disorders" or psychological problems.
Existential depression, internet addiction disorder (IAD), & pathological indecisiveness are a few candidates that come to mind, although the current specifications (let along the wikipedia entry) for IAD are frankly laughable, imo.
I now end this post with the danger that the above written was absolutely nothing new (not surprising), but the hope that utilizing the information regardless, eventually leads towards new avenues of argument & thought for myself, & if I'm lucky to be so influential, others as well.
2 much information, 2 little time (using '2' is more efficient than 'too', no?).
フィン
Despite aspiration & occasionally acknowledged "potential" w/ writing, such pseudo-ADD partially explains why the only thing I consistently write are responses in debates, forums, etc, which, despite sometimes being rather wide-ranging, have incentive enough due to another person in the debate, to remain more or less on point.
Still in an "information hungry" mode as a reaction towards previous forays into the misnomer that is labelled "higher education" (college), this results a majority of time spent on consuming information (via Internet, books, etc.), & not as much (not yet) producing.
No doubt, some of our greatest philosophers would probably find themselves bitten by the information bug, although perhaps Diogenes would distract them long enough by chucking rocks at their monitors to prevent such an anachronistic occurrence.
Perhaps the "beta" tag should be worn still?
Ironically, this entry could be seen as a meta-commentary on information overload & my attempt to overcome it, so perhaps it wasn't entirely a waste of time.
From personal experience, having literally grown up on The Internet (renting circa- 1999; ownership began in late 2000 with the purchase of my first computer), the implications are not far off & can be rather disturbing, especially with the known effects of multi-tasking (an activity any internet citizen is more than aware of) has on the brain & how the brain learns less effectively versus mono-tasking (one task at a time).
The prospect of more & more people multi-tasking, becoming constantly busy, forever having their attention monopolized by the increasingly statist monopoly over the "maintenance of life" doesn't bode well for things that do require attention & time: thinking, questioning, argumentation, study, intelligence, etc.
At times, both the "limits of human knowledge" & "opportunity costs" seem to give credence to the reformists attitude of utilizing the "system" to reform it, as everyone of us, no matter how radically we adhere to our ethics & morality, have to learn to subsist in state-society to maintain our own existence.
Be it from the direct evil of working within the government, or from the morally better option of working in the markets that are constantly being marginalized & controlled by the government itself, to achieve this.
However, there is also the observation that learning to "deal with" state society is a waste of resources in of itself, since utilizing any portion of it necessitates some sort of reliance upon state-society, unless one were to abdicate oneself to nature completely (& somehow managing to find a portion of land where no state or individual of state-society can interfere with you).
This entry has given me an idea regarding analysis paralysis itself, & it's importance in the ever solidifying information economy, & the effects on individuals it might have, including the genesis of new "mental disorders" or psychological problems.
Existential depression, internet addiction disorder (IAD), & pathological indecisiveness are a few candidates that come to mind, although the current specifications (let along the wikipedia entry) for IAD are frankly laughable, imo.
I now end this post with the danger that the above written was absolutely nothing new (not surprising), but the hope that utilizing the information regardless, eventually leads towards new avenues of argument & thought for myself, & if I'm lucky to be so influential, others as well.
2 much information, 2 little time (using '2' is more efficient than 'too', no?).
フィン
