Leaving Las Vegas

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Leaving Las Vegas is a powerful, yet tasteful portrayal of alcoholism and love. Nicholas Cage plays a businessman who, through the overuse of alcohol, loses his family and his job. As a self-confessing drunk, he becomes brash and obnoxious. With no friends he heads off to hurl himself into the grandest human-made pit in the world—Las Vegas.

Amide the splendour of bright lights and a soundtrack of music including Sting and including My One and Only Love, we travel with Ben as he discovers a world where he can let go and fall into the pit of gambling, prostitution, drugs and, of course, alcohol. He takes a room in a seedy hotel and wanders his way into a stupor.

Elizabeth Shue plays a prostitute who befriends Ben and she eventually takes him in. Sera and Ben have an unexplainable bond and an unlikely non-sexual relationship. She is beautiful, yet showing wear from her life in prostitution; he is middle-aged with thinning wiry hair and gaining a growing gaunt look from not caring for himself and too much alcohol. Drawn closer by love, Sera spends her nights working the streets while Ben travels down his road of destruction. During the day they enjoy short bursts of being together.

While Ben is entirely out of control throughout the movie, Sera is also trapped by her life of prostitution. They accept each other, yet seem to long for each to find their own way out. Ben had instructed Sera, “You can never, ever, ask me to stop drinking.” She replies in agreement “I know.” Yet later she says, “I want you to see a doctor.” “No, no doctor,” replies Ben.

It is difficult to identify what takes a person down particular destructive roads. Ben can’t understand why Sera can care for him and calls her his angel. Someone tells him that drinking is a way of killing himself, to which he with a smile replies to the man, “Killing myself is a way of drinking.”

I found the movie to be tasteful in showing the deep extensive darkness of a world where most of our society thankfully never venture. In a scene, where Sera is tragically beaten and raped by some young college men out for a thrill in Vegas, we see only enough to understand the painfulness of such an experience. Yet it is not enough pain for Sera to get away from her slavery to that world.

In depicting alcoholism, there are no stops. Cage plays the battle with stark and shocking realism. I awoke in the morning realizing that, as we came to believe and understand, ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’

We all live trapped lives to some extent and the deeper pits are always waiting just around the corner for us to fall into. It happens to so many in our society and world. On the merry-go-round and downward spiral, it is difficult to get off. We may reach the point where we think, ‘Stop the world, I want to get off.’

Speaking of pits, my favourite jazz musician is cornet player Bix Beiderbecke who lived in the 1920s amide the early days of jazz and bathtub gin. His life was one of spiralling into the pit of alcoholism from which he never returned. His music is always clear, inspired, full of energy and life. It stands in striking contrast to his life, never hinting to the true pain he lived with.

Yesterday, I played my cornet in church with the choir. I had never done this before and never played that type of music. It was a challenge and exhausting both physically, mentally and musically. It was exhausting musically because of the key signatures and the variety of sheet music, or lack of for some songs, ranging from choral arrangements to lyrics and chords, from the seventeenth century to the present.

I think it was physically and mentally challenging because I have not really played much since I was young as a kid. I was a record collector of vintage jazz and swing from the 20s, 30s and 40s. I spent a lot of my time buying records and hanging around jazz.

While living in the US going to college, I met many musicians; some in the pits of human existence. I once took in a fellow who I found in a jazz joint; he had been kicked out of his house and with no place to go. As a child prodigy trumpet player, he had ended up playing in Las Vegas. Because of dentures, he had switched to flugelhorn. As a regular sitting-in with the band he then became a bartender there. When I would walk in, a drink would immediately land in my hand. Sadly he died before his time.

I bought my cornet from a fellow whom I was listening to regularly. He was leaving town for a new opportunity and sold it to me for $100, including a new hard case. It was the top professional cornet from the manufacturer. Thankfully he is still alive and playing today. He informed me that the other owners I also knew well. Two of them have passed before their time.

The history of human existence is littered with the stories of those who fell into a pit and were unable to crawl out. They struggle, become numb, lose traction in life and succumb. They become lost; there is only one way out for them. I fell into that pit. Over thirty years ago, I was lifted out. I know with all surety that the pit is just one step away. The movie Leaving Las Vegas is a realistic and shocking reminder.

 

Special Note:

After writing this, I did some reading about the movie. Some remarks from reviewers indicated the movie had far more explicit content than what I had seen on TV. Perhaps I was so taken by Cage’s incredible performance that I simply missed it. However, my wife would have insisted it be turned off. One remark stated that the DVD version had scenes not in the theatre cut of the film. Someone confirmed this by obtaining a copy from the library.

The movie was very compelling to me and when I discovered that there is some very explicit content absent from the version I saw, I was somewhat creeped-out and felt cheated and betrayed. I had said here that the movie was tasteful, yet it seems to have an explicit twin that is so much more like the trashy sex obsessed material that Hollywood puts out minus the happy ending. I had thought that Hollywood had finally been able to deal with some very disturbing subject matter, take it to the edge and yet not cross the line into having to show the filth.

The movie was disturbing enough in the way it portrayed alcoholism and the death wish driven addiction that goes to the heart of humanity. I want to point out and state to Hollywood that a movie can be amazingly compelling without going over the edge. I feel it is a far greater accomplishment to get the message across, be entirely artful, without crossing the line. Please Hollywood, think about this. The human mind is powerful and can get the message without being bombed.

 

See Leaving Las Vegas (too)

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The Jazz Lifestyle

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african, african-american, america, analog, anxious, authenticity, automobile, baptist, blues, bondages, chicago, chord, chords, classical, communications, compose, creative, dehumanizing, democratic, despair, digital, diverse, emotion, emotional, empathetic, enslaving, european, flappers, gangsters, god, gospel, happiness, harmony, humanity, identity, improvisation, innovative, inspirational, interpretation, intuitive, invent, jazz, jazz age, jazzers, jungle, liberty, lifestyle, maachines, magazines, marching, misery, mississippi, modern, movies, music, musician, new orleans, new york, oppression, peace, phonograph, piano, polymetric, polyrhythmic, prohibition, radio, ragtime, records, rhythm, riverboats, sacred, saxophone, self-expression, shake, slave, slaves, speakeasies, spiritual, spirituals, spontaneous, stress, stressful, survival, swing, syncopation, technobeast, technojungle, technology, telephone, tribal, trumpet, vibrato, victorian, weapon, west indies

What we can learn from the music

Are we following technology more than our humanity? In this age of unceasing change, we can easily fall into a trap of technological routines and over-programming of our lives. We become stressed and anxious about living in this dehumanizing jungle of technology. Can jazz music teach us anything about living; about survival in a technology dominated world where machines may one day out think humans?

A jazz approach to life could be a powerful weapon and solution in the technojungle because of its deep humanizing potential. The technobeasts can’t do jazz because jazz is analog, not readable by digital technology. It is a continuum of infinities that no digital technology can comprehend. The human spirit can.

Jazz is democratic, inclusive, creative, innovative, spontaneous, intuitive, inspirational, emotional, empathetic, diverse, spiritual. Among these, technology can’t flourish, however, humanity can.

Jazz meanings include, vigour, energy, effervescence of spirit, joy, pep, magnetism, verve, virility, encouragement and happiness. To jazz things up can mean to enliven, liven up, brighten up, make more interesting and exciting, add some colour to, ginger up, spice up, perk up and pep up. It can be enthusiastic or lively talk.

Originally, jazz music came from African and West Indies music containing tribal beats that became slave songs. These blended with some European styles and the musical styles of ragtime, black sacred music, marching-band music, rural blues, spirituals and gospel music mostly from the African-American baptist churches during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Jazz music is polyrhythmic and polymetric. It has some structure, yet allows for improvised cross rhythms combined with a syncopation that anticipates the beat. To many enthusiasts, jazz must be able to swing.

To play jazz one needs four components shared by many other styles of music. These components are: rhythm, melody, harmony and chords. The order doesn’t really matter. One might choose the melody first which usually comes with chords. Harmony is derived from the chords, however, many styles of jazz use versions of chords that provide a more jazz-like feel. The flavour of the music can be changed by the rhythm. To live a jazz lifestyle one must seek the important components in life and find the right rhythm to follow.

One of the key elements of Jazz is improvisation allowing for free expression and interpretation of the music. When playing jazz, musicians must listen carefully to each other and respect the feel and interpretation each player brings to the performance. The music can change at any time and what one player does can be of great influence to others. It is a very democratic process of life that includes equally all those involved.

Because jazz music is free expression and full of inspiration and emotion, notes may be changed slightly. Certain notes can be added to give a blue texture. Such notes are called blue notes. Some notes may have their tone bent thus creating a different kind of blue note.

There are a variety of ways to make special jazz sounds and some are unique to particular instruments. A piano, for example, can’t really do a vibrato or shake. A saxophone or trumpet can do the vibrato and shake, but can’t play more than one note at a time, so a chord can only be played one note at a time. This is how a melody can be re-composed on the spot following the chord structure of the music. We can each find our own instrument of life to play along with other people and re-compose our world.

While no two performances of any music are exactly the same, jazz performances can differ greatly. Solos are usually never played the same way more than once and all jazz musicians have their own style and sound. There have been many attempts to write down jazz music. Jazz that is written can capture some of the feeling and provide larger groups a structure so they can play together. A jazz band may use an arrangement. However, the arrangement usually allows for individual free self-expression through improvisation, inspiration—even touching the emotions and intuition of the players and the listeners. Many people think jazz music should never, or can’t be written. For them it is all about taking the barest of structure, perhaps only melody and chords, thus allowing the music to come from their spirit.

Jazz is an analog form of communication. Being analog, which unlike digital, is infinite, moving from one note to another can include every pitch in between those notes. Being analog makes music and jazz best suited to the human body and human spirit.

Jazz music has managed to find it’s way into nearly every corner of the human experience. Along the way, it gathered for itself a myriad of stories and perceptions. Many, like tarnished silverware, are dark and depressing. Yet as the definition above shows, jazz is quite the opposite. It is time to de-tarnish jazz and learn what it really is and to make it our life. It can deepen our humanity and free us from the technojungle that surrounds us.

Flappers doing the Charleston dance.

While jazz music emerged in the late 1800s, the jazz lifestyle was born during the 1920s Jazz Age. It was a post war era that ushered in great technological innovation and cultural change to a world of industry and wealth. Until this era, most children would have a lifestyle similar to that of their parents. New innovations, such as the telephone, phonograph and records, movies, radio, popular magazines and the automobile allowed for a new culture to spread across the country. Young women adopted a rather crude lifestyle and called themselves Flappers. Toward the end of the 1920s though, women were becoming more poised, with correct speech and smarter attire, in other words more respectable.

Respectable flappers.

Jazz music followed the Mississippi on riverboats from New Orleans up north to Chicago and then East to New York. It was adopted by young people from the African-American slaves of the South. The jazz movement captured the youth who were eager to break away from the stiff Victorian lives that seemed to have trapped their parents. It was a time full of excitement and spontaneity.

Early New Orleans jazz bands used guitar and string bass instead of louder banjo and tuba used for marching and recording.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, a white band from New Orleans that made the first jazz recording. They were issued on the Victor label.

“Fine and Mellow” with Billie “Lady Day” Holiday, considered one of the greatest female jazz singers with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Gerry Mulligan and others from a 1957 CBS TV show “The Sound of Jazz.”

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, considered the greatest jazz musician of all time.

Jazz living got into trouble sometimes, leading its followers into drinking and riotous living during a time when the evils of drinking were being curtailed by prohibition. Jazzers were left to follow the music into private and secret night clubs, called speakeasies, run by gangsters.

Like a person of youth, the jazz lifestyle, inspired by the music, needed to do some growing up—to mature. Since jazz music has eventually gained world-wide respect as a unique art form, it is time to take a look at what the style of music can teach us about living in a world of anxiety and unrest where humanity can be buried by the demands of technology.

Jazz is a journey of intimate shared experiences, describing the world and telling stories from the perspective of, developing the authenticity and identity of, each participant. It strives to leave behind the world of stress and anxiety by transforming the moment with peace and harmony. Jazz is an adventure of impulsive spontaneity and self-expression with surprises at every turn. Jazzers compose, recompose and instantly invent and reinvent their life by changing their actions. As an inclusive approach to life, the jazz lifestyle can be lived anywhere by anyone.

Jazz music is about freedom and liberty from oppression allowing self-expression, usually lively, that can swing and lift the human spirit. Yet it adheres to certain structures and is true to its history and legacy. The music has gained respect and is considered the classical music of America. As a lifestyle, jazz living should be compatible with most belief systems and world views since it is a way of living and acting that has the goal of allowing people to be more human.

Jazz music insists that all participants listen and pay attention to each other and to the music, and the music brings life. It draws together in harmony the human body, mind and spirit to function as they were created. One will find that the influences on their life that dehumanize and bring stress and anxiety will become less important. A jazz life should help people to break away from the bondages of modern life and focus on the human experience and the things that God has given them.

Jazz music was born in the depths of human misery and despair. It was given to slave people with nothing and is here now to help us living in an enslaving world of technology. With a jazz lifestyle, we can protect ourselves from becoming absorbed by our machines; to keep technology from replacing humanity.

This exploration and discussion about a jazz influenced style of living needs to continue. I am not finished, this article is not complete and I welcome the input from readers.

Quotes

“I sincerely believe that jazz is the folk music of the machine age.” — Paul Whiteman, popular 1920s orchestra leader dubbed ‘The King of Jazz’ due to his orchestra having so many famous jazz musicians playing orchestrated jazz.

“There was every reason why this music sprang into being about 1915. The acceleration of the pace of living in this country, the accumulation of social forces under pressure (and long before the war, too), mechanical inventions, methods of rapid communication, all had increased tremendously in the past 100 years— notably in the past quarter century. In this country especially the rhythm of machinery, the overrapid expansion of a great country endowed with tremendous natural energies and wealth have brought about a pace and scale of living unparalleled in history. Is it any wonder that the popular music of this land should reflect these modes of living? Every other art reflects them.” — Paul Whiteman

Wynton Marsalis, considered to be one of the leading jazz performers and experts.

As long as there is democracy, there will be people wanting to play jazz because nothing else will ever so perfectly capture the democratic process in sound. Jazz means working things out musically with other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don’t agree with what they’re playing. It teaches you the very opposite of racism and anti-Semitism. It teaches you that the world is big enough to accommodate us all. — Wynton Marsalis

The never to be left out of jazz…

A bit of silence

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Perhaps you have noticed that there has been a bit of silence around here. No, I have not given up on my blogs. In fact, I will have more to come as teasers for the book I am working on that is turning out to be a lot of work. I am also working toward determining if I have enough stunning photography to do some sort of exhibit. As I paw through them, I shall certainly have some to post on my photography blogs.

What is the book you ask? It has been mentioned over on the left in the sidebar for months now, however, here is a more detailed explanation:

My first book, tentatively, The technology dilemmas—how we can strengthen our humanity and live in the technojungle. I am looking at technological change and dehumanization as a boomer who grew up hearing about all the promises that technology would bring us in the future. The dilemma, the future never arrives. At least not as promised. We don’t have leisure time created by machines doing our work. Quite the opposite. The more I delve into this, the more concerned I have become. The horse is running wild, we truly do need to take ahold of the reins, or we shall be thrown.

My views, as I have discovered after grabbing a few books from the library, are not the lonely shouts of an alarmist, others have been ringing the bell for years. Some have written some nearly shocking ideas that seem to make sense according to my observations.

My goal is to have an easy to read book that will appeal to a broad audience, although boomers are my target, and provide some general observations that will give the book some shelf-life. Through short chapters, I clearly define the foundations of what I mean by ideas like, what does it mean to be human, and what is technology. Then I look at major technological trends from my observations, provide a few insights, and then turn toward beginning the journey of looking for some solutions to the dilemmas and how we can maintain our humanity. I ask my readers to join me in the journey, as I tell a few personal stories along the way, and learn to critically think through the technology dilemmas we all face and to discover ways to strengthen our humanity so we can all live in (what I call) the Technojungle.

Note: I have changed the name of the book to ‘The future never arrive: at least not as expected and it brings baggage.’ I am also thinking of splitting the content into more than one book. Stay tuned for more changes and this project evolves. — Fall 2014

Yes, I am still grinding flour in our Vitamix and making bread, pizza, etc. I am trying to find time to get a few pots of edibles growing for the summer.

Yup, I’m busy, but the blogs are not lost. Stay tuned.

What does it mean to be human?

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2001 a space odyssey, abstractly, activity, adapt, advertising, aliens, android, animals, ape, Apes, automaton, automotive industry, behaviours, belief, body, boomer, brain, change, characteristics, cigarettes, climate, climates, clothes, clothing, communicate, conscious, creatively, cultural, dangers, death, defend, dehumanizing, destructive, diametrically, dichotomy, die, dna, dolphins, economic, economically, electric, emotion, emotional, environment, evolutionists, exercising, faith, family, fashion, fingers, fossil, friend, fuels, gas, generation, god, habit, heal, human, humanity, humanoid, identity, illogical, individual, information, internal combustion engine, irrational, jewelry, kill, knowledge, lifespan, lives, longevity, love, lyrics, machine, manufacturing, memory, military, monolith, music, naked, oil, paradox, petroleum, police, politically, pollution, post traumatic stress disorder, psychological, ptsd, risk, robotics, robots, salt, scholars, science, science fiction, scientists, self-aware, self-defense, sexual, smokers, smoking, socializing, sociologists, soldiers, species, spiritual, sugar, survival, technology, teens, temperature, thoughts, thumb, tool, trauma, TV, unhealthy, uniform, war, whales, world

In a world of information and knowledge such as never seen before in the history of humans, we still struggle to answer the question “What does it mean to be human?” Some scientists say it comes down to our DNA. Other people point out that it is the way that we can walk upright and use our fingers and hands. Perhaps our humanity comes from the fact that we have been able to adapt so well to any condition. Others say it is the way we think about what we think; That we are self-aware. Others wonder if our humanity is contained in our way of socializing.

And finally, some have concluded that it is our science and technology that makes us human. Anyone who has seen the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey will remember the scene where the ape, after touching the monolith, picks up a bone and uses it as a club, the first tool. It is our use of science and technology that allows us to change the world.

Many people, when asked this question, will focus on what emerges from the use of our brain. We are conscious, communicate in complex ways, think creatively and abstractly. Is it possible to verify that we are the only species with these characteristics? What about whales and dolphins? There are certainly other species that seem to exhibit some complex thought and communication abilities.

Is our humanity defined by our doing all these things so well together? Whales and dolphins are among many complex species that seem to be well suited to their environment. One might even argue that humans actually exhibit a variety of negative behaviours. We alter our environment in negative ways. Where do you draw the line between what is a negative behaviour or what are negative changes to our environment? A large city may seem like an advanced activity, that is if you don’t take into consideration that cities produce pollution, traffic jams and other negative harmful and dehumanizing byproducts.

Many scholars, scientists and sociologists have thought deeply about what it means to be human. Here are my ideas from observation and experience.

We are aware that we are going to die eventually. Our lives are a struggle to stay alive, prolong our lives, heal ourselves with some even looking for ways to increase longevity. At the same time we do things that decrease our lifespan. In many ways this is a paradox. Take smoking cigarettes, for example. We know they kill, yet many people can’t stop and others will even start smoking, knowing the dangers. Smokers will defend their smoking habit. High risk behaviour might be another good example. There may be definite dangers, yet people will continue to do the activity and defend their choice. Why are we so often drawn to the over use of sugar or salt, or other foods that are deemed to be unhealthy.

Even though we are aware of our impending death, we work hard to delay it; we also work hard at decreasing our lifespan. Yet it is within the human behaviour to do that which is dangerous or unhealthy and defend the right to do it. That might be something that is uniquely human.

We often act in irrational and illogical ways. Just as we act to prolong our lives, we also do that which might shorten our life. This doesn’t make sense—it is irrational and illogical. We could consider numerous other activities that are diametrically opposed to one another. How often do you find people who are exercising because they ate too much?

This sort of irrational and illogical behaviour is not done merely on an individual basis; we as a society have many activities that need to be changed. The big one, of course, being our dependence on petroleum, oil—fossil fuels. Burning these fossil fuels creates pollution. These days the contention is that this, along with other activities, contribute to climate change. We don’t actually know if climate change is primarily caused by the activities of humans, or is part of the natural cycle of planet Earth. Likely, it is a combination of both.

In the automotive industry, there have been strides to develop alternatives to the internal combustion engine that uses oil products. Electric cars could have entered the market long before they did. The oil and gas industry is huge and has considerable weight politically and economically. Humans use political and economic issues to steer society away from healthier activities.

Because we human beings walk upright we are able to use our hands, with the unique opposable thumb, to do things that other animals are not able to do. Humans can do fine manipulation of things with their fingers. Evolutionists would say that humans came from an animal that crawled around on all four limbs, like other animals and somehow evolved into walking upright, thus free the hands for special uses. There may not be any actual proof of this in the fossil record, nor do we see any living examples of animals that might be at the in between stage. Apes simply don’t have the dexterity that a human has.

Like many people of the boomer generation (mid 1940s to mid 1960s), I grew up watching science and science fiction shows on TV. I often heard the term humanoid which referred to human-like beings, perhaps aliens, with human appearance and characteristics. As I recall, these were actual living flesh.

We are living in a world we are increasingly having to share with robots; a sophisticated machine that can perform a human function. I believe they were originally called an automaton. They are not necessarily human-like in appearance or behaviour, however, they can function and move things around in a similar manner to a human. That is called robotics.

We tend to have a view of robots being more human-like in appearance and striving to become human-like function and characteristics. A robot might be simply an arm that can perform a human function as part of an assembly or manufacturing process. Scientists are building robots that are visually similar in size and appearance to a human being. One might think that the goal is to make an android, or human machine. The reason is actually that, if a robot is to function in the spaces that a human being lives in, it make sense to have a robot that is similar in size.

To be human is to wear clothes. We don’t walk around naked, at least, not anymore. We may have originally. Clothing hides out nakedness, allowing us to live in colder climates and to adjust our temperature as required. Humans use clothing and jewelry as fashion. Fashion helps to show others part of one’s identity. This is uniquely human.

Clothing is a technology that we use to enhance our lives and to make a statement about ourselves as to who we are as individuals. Some fashions, a uniform for example, identifies a group we belong to, such as military or police. Clothing helps to make us human.

Humans also have a number of emotional and psychological differences from other beings. One reason we have clothing is because we have sexual urges that would otherwise get in the way, although, someone might argue that it is clothing that makes us less comfortable with the human body and unable to control sexual urges. However, clothing is also used to make certain people more sexually appealing. Once again, we have a paradox or dichotomy. We can see advertising aimed convincing teens and pre-teens to dress in an overly sexual manner beyond their age. This is a way of using the technology of clothing to dehumanize.

Humans will argue and fight for a variety of reason other than for survival. They actually experience what we call love. We may not be able to determine if other animals experience love. At least not as humans do. There are three kinds of love. Love for a friend, love for a family member or mate, and a love for God. Love separates us from other beings.

Love tends to drive societies in many directions. Listen to popular music and you will notice that the majority of lyrics are about love. Love is arguably the strongest emotion that humans experience.

If a person is deemed to have thoughts, emotions or behaviours that are not normal or are inappropriate, even destructive, they may undergo procedures to alter and improve them such that they meet with society norms. Some emotional and psychological changes are temporary. Perhaps the result of a trauma, such as a death in the family. Soldiers return home and often have short-termed or long-termed post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They may relive traumatic experiences in their head. This too, when untreated, can dehumanize people and those in their families.

This might be another characteristic of humans. They have long-term memory. Memory that they can recall and often relive, often negative experiences.

A few humans may actually kill other humans for other reasons than survival or self-defence. Entire societies will go to war. That leaves somebody in charge of ordering another human to kill somebody they know nothing about and have no quarrel with.

Perhaps, what really makes us most human is that most people have some sort of faith or belief that there is another spiritual side, that there is a God. This seems to exist in all societies. This might be cultural or part of what it means to be human, or both.

What does it mean to be human?

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2001 a space odyssey, abstractly, activity, adapt, advertising, aliens, android, animals, ape, Apes, automaton, automotive industry, behaviours, belief, body, boomer, brain, change, characteristics, cigarettes, climate, climates, clothes, clothing, communicate, conscious, creatively, cultural, dangers, death, defend, dehumanizing, destructive, diametrically, dichotomy, die, dna, dolphins, economic, economically, electric, emotion, emotional, environment, evolutionists, exercising, faith, family, fashion, fingers, fossil, friend, fuels, gas, generation, god, habit, heal, human, humanity, humanoid, identity, illogical, individual, information, internal combustion engine, irrational, jewelry, kill, knowledge, lifespan, lives, longevity, love, lyrics, machine, manufacturing, memory, military, monolith, music, naked, oil, paradox, petroleum, police, politically, pollution, post traumatic stress disorder, psychological, ptsd, risk, robotics, robots, salt, scholars, science, science fiction, scientists, self-aware, self-defense, sexual, smokers, smoking, socializing, sociologists, soldiers, species, spiritual, sugar, survival, technology, teens, temperature, thoughts, thumb, tool, trauma, TV, unhealthy, uniform, war, whales, world

In a world of information and knowledge such as never seen before in the history of humans, we still struggle to answer the question “What does it mean to be human?” Some scientists say it comes down to our DNA. Other people point out that it is the way that we can walk upright and use our fingers and hands. Perhaps our humanity comes from the fact that we have been able to adapt so well to any condition. Others say it is the way we think about what we think; That we are self-aware. Others wonder if our humanity is contained in our way of socializing.

And finally, some have concluded that it is our science and technology that makes us human. Anyone who has seen the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey will remember the scene where the ape, after touching the monolith, picks up a bone and uses it as a club, the first tool. It is our use of science and technology that allows us to change the world.

Many people, when asked this question, will focus on what emerges from the use of our brain. We are conscious, communicate in complex ways, think creatively and abstractly. Is it possible to verify that we are the only species with these characteristics? What about whales and dolphins? There are certainly other species that seem to exhibit some complex thought and communication abilities.

Is our humanity defined by our doing all these things so well together? Whales and dolphins are among many complex species that seem to be well suited to their environment. One might even argue that humans actually exhibit a variety of negative behaviours. We alter our environment in negative ways. Where do you draw the line between what is a negative behaviour or what are negative changes to our environment? A large city may seem like an advanced activity, that is if you don’t take into consideration that cities produce pollution, traffic jams and other negative harmful and dehumanizing byproducts.

Many scholars, scientists and sociologists have thought deeply about what it means to be human. Here are my ideas from observation and experience.

We are aware that we are going to die eventually. Our lives are a struggle to stay alive, prolong our lives, heal ourselves with some even looking for ways to increase longevity. At the same time we do things that decrease our lifespan. In many ways this is a paradox. Take smoking cigarettes, for example. We know they kill, yet many people can’t stop and others will even start smoking, knowing the dangers. Smokers will defend their smoking habit. High risk behaviour might be another good example. There may be definite dangers, yet people will continue to do the activity and defend their choice. Why are we so often drawn to the over use of sugar or salt, or other foods that are deemed to be unhealthy.

Even though we are aware of our impending death, we work hard to delay it; we also work hard at decreasing our lifespan. Yet it is within the human behaviour to do that which is dangerous or unhealthy and defend the right to do it. That might be something that is uniquely human.

We often act in irrational and illogical ways. Just as we act to prolong our lives, we also do that which might shorten our life. This doesn’t make sense—it is irrational and illogical. We could consider numerous other activities that are diametrically opposed to one another. How often do you find people who are exercising because they ate too much?

This sort of irrational and illogical behaviour is not done merely on an individual basis; we as a society have many activities that need to be changed. The big one, of course, being our dependence on petroleum, oil—fossil fuels. Burning these fossil fuels creates pollution. These days the contention is that this, along with other activities, contribute to climate change. We don’t actually know if climate change is primarily caused by the activities of humans, or is part of the natural cycle of planet Earth. Likely, it is a combination of both.

In the automotive industry, there have been strides to develop alternatives to the internal combustion engine that uses oil products. Electric cars could have entered the market long before they did. The oil and gas industry is huge and has considerable weight politically and economically. Humans use political and economic issues to steer society away from healthier activities.

Because we human beings walk upright we are able to use our hands, with the unique opposable thumb, to do things that other animals are not able to do. Humans can do fine manipulation of things with their fingers. Evolutionists would say that humans came from an animal that crawled around on all four limbs, like other animals and somehow evolved into walking upright, thus free the hands for special uses. There may not be any actual proof of this in the fossil record, nor do we see any living examples of animals that might be at the in between stage. Apes simply don’t have the dexterity that a human has.

Like many people of the boomer generation (mid 1940s to mid 1960s), I grew up watching science and science fiction shows on TV. I often heard the term humanoid which referred to human-like beings, perhaps aliens, with human appearance and characteristics. As I recall, these were actual living flesh.

We are living in a world we are increasingly having to share with robots; a sophisticated machine that can perform a human function. I believe they were originally called an automaton. They are not necessarily human-like in appearance or behaviour, however, they can function and move things around in a similar manner to a human. That is called robotics.

We tend to have a view of robots being more human-like in appearance and striving to become human-like function and characteristics. A robot might be simply an arm that can perform a human function as part of an assembly or manufacturing process. Scientists are building robots that are visually similar in size and appearance to a human being. One might think that the goal is to make an android, or human machine. The reason is actually that, if a robot is to function in the spaces that a human being lives in, it make sense to have a robot that is similar in size.

To be human is to wear clothes. We don’t walk around naked, at least, not anymore. We may have originally. Clothing hides out nakedness, allowing us to live in colder climates and to adjust our temperature as required. Humans use clothing and jewelry as fashion. Fashion helps to show others part of one’s identity. This is uniquely human.

Clothing is a technology that we use to enhance our lives and to make a statement about ourselves as to who we are as individuals. Some fashions, a uniform for example, identifies a group we belong to, such as military or police. Clothing helps to make us human.

Humans also have a number of emotional and psychological differences from other beings. One reason we have clothing is because we have sexual urges that would otherwise get in the way, although, someone might argue that it is clothing that makes us less comfortable with the human body and unable to control sexual urges. However, clothing is also used to make certain people more sexually appealing. Once again, we have a paradox or dichotomy. We can see advertising aimed convincing teens and pre-teens to dress in an overly sexual manner beyond their age. This is a way of using the technology of clothing to dehumanize.

Humans will argue and fight for a variety of reason other than for survival. They actually experience what we call love. We may not be able to determine if other animals experience love. At least not as humans do. There are three kinds of love. Love for a friend, love for a family member or mate, and a love for God. Love separates us from other beings.

Love tends to drive societies in many directions. Listen to popular music and you will notice that the majority of lyrics are about love. Love is arguably the strongest emotion that humans experience.

If a person is deemed to have thoughts, emotions or behaviours that are not normal or are inappropriate, even destructive, they may undergo procedures to alter and improve them such that they meet with society norms. Some emotional and psychological changes are temporary. Perhaps the result of a trauma, such as a death in the family. Soldiers return home and often have short-termed or long-termed post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They may relive traumatic experiences in their head. This too, when untreated, can dehumanize people and those in their families.

This might be another characteristic of humans. They have long-term memory. Memory that they can recall and often relive, often negative experiences.

A few humans may actually kill other humans for other reasons than survival or self-defence. Entire societies will go to war. That leaves somebody in charge of ordering another human to kill somebody they know nothing about and have no quarrel with.

Perhaps, what really makes us most human is that most people have some sort of faith or belief that there is another spiritual side, that there is a God. This seems to exist in all societies. This might be cultural or part of what it means to be human, or both.

Hello 2014

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blog, change, culture, focus, humanity, information, message, networking, noise, online, sodial media, technology, transformative learning, write

With a quick hello 2014, I’ll tell you a bit about what I am up to around here and what I think I am planning for the near future. Plans can change, of course.

During the weeks prior to Christmas, I was working on increasing my social media footprint. I began to work the various facilities for social online networking and found it to be extremely time consuming. I was reading and ‘liking’ and commenting. It is impossible to keep up, so I became a bit choosier about what I read and responded to. Still, it was overwhelming.

If you take a close look at the amount of information flowing toward you and filter it down to what really matters to you, I’ll bet you will still find that you are dealing with a lot of noise. What I mean by noise, I plan to write a bit more about in the near future. In short, it is information that is not really very important. It may be time limited by being outdated with newer information. It may not be clear and concise and therefore full of noise. To be blunt, it is disposable—quite simply garbage. What matters, the valuable signal, that is message, is hidden or even lost in a quagmire of info-muck that we can truly become stuck in. Is noise now the message?

What is needed is focus. This is what I hope I have been able to do here with my blog. I try to write, in a clear and, hopefully, concise manner, about important meaningful things that you should think about. I try to write in a way that is easy to read and not too complex or technical. Usually, I write about that which I have given to considerable thought myself. I may make points that come with a bit of an edge. Please take them into consideration and make a comment.

What has emerged in my wiring over the years, is a concern for how technology is changing our lives. Thus, you may have noticed a bit more of a focus lately to the mandate of this blog. Check the top of the sidebar. Oh, I’m sure I will sneak in many other notions along the way.

I have plenty of articles planned. My list is long. It will take some excellent time management to get to as many of my ideas as I can. To do this, I shall have to turn down the volume and increase my noise filter. One can easily be dragged into the vortex of swirling noisy information out there. My hope is that you will find reading this blog to be quiet and thought provoking.

A couple of final bits of news. To add a stronger foundation to my focus of how changing culture and technology touch our lives and our humanity, I am working on writing an academic paper based on transformative learning theory. I have also been encouraged to develop portions of myBobLog into a book. That is probably down the road a bit.

With change, you have some choices that can make a difference in your life

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Change is inevitable, we can’t stop it. I’m sure we can all agree that the rate of change has been increasing over recent history, particularly technological change. The past century, the twentieth century, saw probably more change that impacted our culture and humanity than any other century. One might argue that it began picking up steam in the middle of the previous century. During other periods of history, there were certainly some major changes, however, the speed of travel and communications brought the changes to more people faster than ever before during the twentieth century.

With some change, we have more options than with other sorts. Perhaps, that is not exactly accurate. Suppose you experience a flood. You could see it as the end of everything, or you could see it as opportunity to help other people. What about something like E-mail? Some of the newer technologies start out and seem to be optional, but as they become ubiquitous, it is expected from other people that you are reachable by E-mail. The cell phone is one change that has taken the world by storm. Small business owners will tell you that customers expect to be able to reach you anytime and that it often seems like an invasion into their life.

I would like to suggest three options you have when faced with and in dealing with change. They are pretty simple and you should be able to remember them so you can shape your decisions and actions. Let’s use the example of the daily news. You might be accustomed to getting your news from a combination of newspaper, television and radio. All of a sudden you can get all your news, anytime and immediately from the Internet. What do you do?

First, you may choose to adopt to the change. That means, however the change is attempting to influence your life, you accept it and make the changes to your life accordingly. In our case of the news, you think, you might as well give up on the other sources and get all your news through the Internet. In other words you adopt it completely.

Second, you may find it better to adapt to the change. This might mean that you change what you do somewhat in order to utilize the change. Back to the news, you decide that you will continue with your current sources, but add the Internet services as you have time. You have then chosen to adapt the change into your lifestyle.

Third, you make some critical decisions as to what your actions will be with the goal to appropriate the change into your lifestyle. This takes more time and thought, but can pay off with you being more satisfied. It takes research and testing to critique the change you are considering as to how it might be best suited to you. You want to make an informed decision. You want to ask how your options will impact your life and whether it makes you more or less human. Then you determine how you could best appropriate the change. In a way it is turning the other options from above around. You are not adapting to it, you are adapting it to you. In some way, you might be able to have it adopt your lifestyle. Either way, you are in control and the power remains with you.

It is about learning how your life can be changed and taking charge of what you do. You don’t want other people telling you that you need to do your banking online because that is the way things are going. You want to make your own decision after careful consideration. I have heard people say to someone that they need to be on Facebook. The truth is, no they don’t. You don’t have to do your banking online if you don’t want to. Look at the pros and cons of the possible choices. If you begin to communicate using Facebook, you may decrease the amount of time you spend face-to-face with people.

I will add that time seems to have a way of convincing us that we need the convenience of what the change is offering. You may not have time to catch the news when it is available on a broadcast and you may have an aversion to the recycling a newspaper requires. If you are on the go, as most of us are nowadays, a tablet might seem like a great option. But remember, sitting in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea or coffee is a relaxing time you might be losing. The choice is yours and you should be the one that make a difference in your life.