The Basis of Civilization

In the origin of humanity, technology served to advance humanities control over their own situation. Some were to advance labor, others to advance protection and some to enhance leisure.

The earliest technologies were the spear and plow which were simple bits of wood, one used to force the food that grew wildly in the fields to yield to the hand of humanity to grow in a controlled area which is easier to gather in and the other to bring low the wild beasts on the field to protect or feed the village. These simple inventions ended humanities need to wander in search of food. These people could settle in one area which lends itself to the need of domestication of animals. Ultimately the animals are attached to a larger plow and humanity is saved labor which lends itself to greater creative endeavors or to growing more food which can support a larger population. Ultimately civilization deviates away from the simple agrarian society of farmer into early industry which builds upon the lessons of the early agrarian of labor and protection.

The early industry advances make plows better, makes herding easier and makes war more brutal. These early industries quickly eat up the materials available on the surface and ultimately the people need to dig for materials. As far as production is concerned this is just as important as farming, raw materials to keep the machine moving just as food keeps humanity moving.

Now we have formed the base for the entire civilization, miners to support industry to support farmers to support everyone. Is humanity any better at this point then it was before? In some ways yes, others no; humanity lives longer and eats better than before but the weapons used to kill the beast have been turned against humanity and the beginnings of the future oppressive society are forming.

The State

What is the State? When I was young it seemed like an unchanging tradition that was set in stone with no opportunity to change. The State was unchangeable, the State was forever, and the State was everything. As I aged I became more keenly aware of other States which ended the idea of the State being everything. I aged further and became aware that the State had been founded by revolution, thus the State was no longer forever. Ultimately the State changed from how it was to how it would be through small steps; the State was no longer unchangeable. Despite the fact that the State no longer seemed to be this omnipotent power well before my teenage years I had not yet questioned what the State was until much later in my life, beyond my teenage years.

The State is an idea. It is not just the idea of one man or woman, the State is a collective idea. The State changes slightly from person to person and sometimes it changes radically from person to person. No one has precisely the same idea for what the State is outside of being an idea.

Some might argue that the State is made of land, population and government. This argument relies heavily on land; without land the State would not have population, without population the State would not have government. The State has land because the population that owns the land agrees that the State also has some kind of ownership or that, at least, no one disputes the States claim. If a majority rejects the States claim of ownership the State has lost its land and population and so would not function as a government. Also, ownership itself is an idea. If a person collects a rock, it is theirs so long as they carry it because it is in their immediate possession. That same person sets the rock down and a different person takes it whose rock is it? The person that carries it now did not carry it before and that which carried it before does not carry it now.  That is the basis of ownership, immediate possession. The larger idea of ownership is that which is agreed to belong to someone. If the second collector gives the rock back to the first because that who had it first simply had it first then the second agrees that somehow makes the rock the property of the first but if the second keeps the rock then they dispute that ownership through immediate possession. This is a disagreement of ownership. It is through these that the State is also demonstrated to be an idea.

The State is an idea.

The Kinect

The Kinect came out of nowhere and blew away the competition leading the way in sales over the holidays and since.

Zombie Fungus

I have a zombie survival plan, I’ve invested many hours into it and it’s rarely far from mind. The reason why I do this is simple, I don’t actually believe that a zombie apocalypse will happen; it merely forces me to account for everything in the plan. This makes the plan less a “zombie survival plan” and more a “multiple worst case scenario plan.” Like, “a bunker is nice, what happens when you run out of food?” or “that tower has few access points which makes it easy to secure, what about if there is a tornado, earthquake, etc?” The principle behind the zombie survival plan is “if you want to survive you need to be ready for things to get way worse,” which accounts for multiple disasters. Also you need to start considering things like how gas won’t be making it to you inside the disaster zone so you learn how to make diesel using cooking oil (http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/makebiodiesel.htm) and things to that effect. At no point did I think to myself, “I’m actually going to have to worry about zombies.”

Then this happened: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/zombie-creating-fungi-cordyceps_n_830558.html