What are you currently reading?

[Todd]

Healthcare costs either way. Only some use the services, but I think the argument is that many benefit and that it should be within reach of many.

True, but it should never be labelled free, because it is not free.  I don't know why people are so afraid to call socialized healthcare by its real name.  In the US, if far right fools start a-blatherin', one can point out that even Austrian economists though it was a good idea.  And I think it's not too late for business, through Republicans, to strike a grand bargain: repeal some onerous and wasteful regulation (eg, some SOX, some Dodd Frank) in exchange for offloading benefit administration and the imposition of efficient taxation to funds the system.  One can daydream.

[milk]

US higher education, taken as a whole, is probably the best in the world qualitatively, though obviously there are many fine universities elsewhere.  That written, a lot of US universities focus too much energy on non-academic pursuits (ie, sports), and many have developed organizational bloat, and to fund such bloat rely on cries for public support and higher tuition for out of state residents, with out of country students especially welcome since they always pay cash and always on time. 

I'm getting to see the effects of some of the bloat right now.  My son is entering university this fall, and he is attending the same university I did (and my father before me, at that).  Student enrollment is marginally larger than it was when I attended (less than 10% or so higher), yet tuition has tripled - which is well ahead of the CPI during the same time - but the college has added at least four new buildings and has at least five additional senior administrative positions, all of which have support staff.  Perhaps these people and these buildings add a lot to the educational experience, and will render my son's education significantly superior to mine - and I hope that is the case - but I have my doubts.  I know my experience is anecdotal, but I also know similar things are happening at many universities. 

A college education is certainly a fine thing if it helps an individual to learn to think critically, and so on, but even more public funding needs more tangible benefits, ones that can be measured, and ones that benefit society as whole.  Just giving educational institutions more money because education is a good thing is not enough.

Makes sense. 

[Ken B]

Florestan the quotation is from Thomas DeQuincey.

[mahler10th]

How's it going with the independence, John? 

Up betimes, and went forth by carriage unto GMG, where Sir Florestan gave me a message from Sir Florestan to me.  I did look at it, and wonder about the question, it being the first ever I saw made to me.  Thence to my office, where I set upon answering his question, which did vex me, but by and by I did announce in a letter to him that the Scotts are growing dissatisfied with Westminster, being governed by publik schoolboys and men of great wealth which the Scotts care more and more to dispense with, the only danger being they get called fanatiques in such a duty, I among them.  And so to supper and to bed myself, my wife being divorced abroad all these many years.   0:)

[Ken B]

Up betimes, and went forth by carriage unto GMG, where Sir Florestan gave me a message from Sir Florestan to me.  I did look at it, and wonder about the question, it being the first ever I saw made to me.  Thence to my office, where I set upon answering his question, which did vex me, but by and by I did announce in a letter to him that the Scotts are growing dissatisfied with Westminster, being governed by publik schoolboys and men of great wealth which the Scotts care more and more to dispense with, the only danger being they get called fanatiques in such a duty, I among them.  And so to supper and to bed myself, my wife being divorced abroad all these many years.   0:)

We went to the Pepys collection in Cambridge the day we were there, but it is only open a few hours a month!

[Florestan]

Florestan the quotation is from Thomas DeQuincey.

Thanks. It's very funny.

[Florestan]

Up betimes, and went forth by carriage unto GMG, where Sir Florestan gave me a message from Sir Florestan to me.  I did look at it, and wonder about the question, it being the first ever I saw made to me.  Thence to my office, where I set upon answering his question, which did vex me, but by and by I did announce in a letter to him that the Scotts are growing dissatisfied with Westminster, being governed by publik schoolboys and men of great wealth which the Scotts care more and more to dispense with, the only danger being they get called fanatiques in such a duty, I among them.  And so to supper and to bed myself, my wife being divorced abroad all these many years.   0:)

I see. Well, good luck with it then.

[Florestan]

Yes. I see this exactly where I live: socialization to remove ones ability to be creative, to express individual emotions and desires, and to develop empathy. No education at all would be better than that!

Ellul would say that it is no mere coincidence that this happens in a society obsessed with robotics and technological gadgets. When automated efficiency becomes the highest value and aim, eventually men themselves will be trained (trained, not educated, mind you) into automata. 

Pernicious to the core! Still, if we could only throw out the bathwater of nationalism and keep the baby of individual freedoms and rights. Maybe another nobel prize for the EU will do the trick.

EU is not the solution, it's part of the problem itself. 

Let's take a break for a moment from the ideological claptrap of rights and freedoms and look at the matter without the prejudices of our time. We are very proud that we have liberated themselves from the servitude of our ancestor and that we are freer and happier than they ever were. But is it really so? Have we not simply replaced their forms of servitude with ours? Why, yes we have --- even the language reflects that. People are referred to these days not as "people", not even as "John and Jane Doe" but as citizens, taxpayers and consumers, thus reflecting our threefold servitude: political, economical and social.

1. As citizens, one "owe", and is often forced to pledge, allegiance to states one never has been asked whether they want to live in or not, to states whose actions are often contrary to, or damaging of, the interests of the very citizens they are supposed to serve and protect, to states that engage in all kind of destructive actions, going from economic sanctions to full-fledged war, against other states who treat their citizens just the same. These states are run by a caste of professional politicians and bureaucrats, organized in gangs known as "parties", whose sole interest is to get into power and stay there as long as possible, in the process securing themselves all kinds of privileges and advantages the common man in the street can only dream of, and who in order to get elected lie, cheat, swindle, blackmail, do anything just to get into power. In the making of their policies the common man has no saying whatsoever if he is not the member, the client or the sympathizer of a party or of a lobby --- and most of them aren't. If this is not servitude, then what is it?

2. As taxpayers, they are forced by the same states to renounce a part (arbitrarily established) of their earnings for "the common good". This is actually the very same old servitude people hated so much always and everywhere.

3. As consumers, they are made believe that, (1) in order for them to be happy and for the economy (ie, the state) to be prosperous, they need all kind of things big and small, and not only do they need them, but they also need replacing them every 2 years (or even less), and (2) in order to procure themselves those indispensable things they need to work more and borrow more and after buying them they need to work even more to repay the debts. As David Ramsay put it, "We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like". If this is not servitude, then what is it?

Not to speak of other types of servitude, perhaps even more pressing. How about the servitude to the clock? We're always in a hurry, always on rush, not to miss some deadline, or business opportunity, ora job interview, or something else which always makes us look at the watch impatiently, because "time is money", isn't it?. Or how about the servitude to technology? Our whole life is so utterly dependent on technology that I dread to think what effects a 1-hour power outage will have on the life of the inhabitants of New York, Tokyo or London. Or how about a servitude that specifically, but not exclusively, affects younger people: the servitude to internet and computer games? They spent hours and hours long sitting in front of a monitor, completely isolated from the outside world; their whole knowledge and information about the selfsame world comes from the internet; their communication with others, their socializing, actually their whole life is centered around internet and computer games ("hey, buddy, it's snowing!" "cool! send me the link!"). Turn their computers off for only a quarter of an hour: they are at a loss about what to do and crave the moment they can return to surfing or gaming.

So, bottom line: yes, we are better fed, better clothed, better housed, better taken for medically, better protected against the loss of life, liberty and property than ever before. But who can say with the same certainty that we are happier and freer than ever before?

[milk]

Ellul would say that it is no mere coincidence that this happens in a society obsessed with robotics and technological gadgets. When automated efficiency becomes the highest value and aim, eventually men themselves will be trained (trained, not educated, mind you) into automata. 

EU is not the solution, it's part of the problem itself. 

Let's take a break for a moment from the ideological claptrap of rights and freedoms and look at the matter without the prejudices of our time. We are very proud that we have liberated themselves from the servitude of our ancestor and that we are freer and happier than they ever were. But is it really so? Have we not simply replaced their forms of servitude with ours? Why, yes we have --- even the language reflects that. People are referred to these days not as "people", not even as "John and Jane Doe" but as citizens, taxpayers and consumers, thus reflecting our threefold servitude: political, economical and social.

1. As citizens, one "owe", and is often forced to pledge, allegiance to states one never has been asked whether they want to live in or not, to states whose actions are often contrary to, or damaging of, the interests of the very citizens they are supposed to serve and protect, to states that engage in all kind of destructive actions, going from economic sanctions to full-fledged war, against other states who treat their citizens just the same. These states are run by a caste of professional politicians and bureaucrats, organized in gangs known as "parties", whose sole interest is to get into power and stay there as long as possible, in the process securing themselves all kinds of privileges and advantages the common man in the street can only dream of, and who in order to get elected lie, cheat, swindle, blackmail, do anything just to get into power. In the making of their policies the common man has no saying whatsoever if he is not the member, the client or the sympathizer of a party or of a lobby --- and most of them aren't. If this is not servitude, then what is it?

2. As taxpayers, they are forced by the same states to renounce a part (arbitrarily established) of their earnings for "the common good". This is actually the very same old servitude people hated so much always and everywhere.

3. As consumers, they are made believe that, (1) in order for them to be happy and for the economy (ie, the state) to be prosperous, they need all kind of things big and small, and not only do they need them, but they also need replacing them every 2 years (or even less), and (2) in order to procure themselves those indispensable things they need to work more and borrow more and after buying them they need to work even more to repay the debts. As David Ramsay put it, "We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like". If this is not servitude, then what is it?

Not to speak of other types of servitude, perhaps even more pressing. How about the servitude to the clock? We're always in a hurry, always on rush, not to miss some deadline, or business opportunity, ora job interview, or something else which always makes us look at the watch impatiently, because "time is money", isn't it?. Or how about the servitude to technology? Our whole life is so utterly dependent on technology that I dread to think what effects a 1-hour power outage will have on the life of the inhabitants of New York, Tokyo or London. Or how about a servitude that specifically, but not exclusively, affects younger people: the servitude to internet and computer games? They spent hours and hours long sitting in front of a monitor, completely isolated from the outside world; their whole knowledge and information about the selfsame world comes from the internet; their communication with others, their socializing, actually their whole life is centered around internet and computer games ("hey, buddy, it's snowing!" "cool! send me the link!"). Turn their computers off for only a quarter of an hour: they are at a loss about what to do and crave the moment they can return to surfing or gaming.

So, bottom line: yes, we are better fed, better clothed, better housed, better taken for medically, better protected against the loss of life, liberty and property than ever before. But who can say with the same certainty that we are happier and freer than ever before?

I agree with much of what you're saying here. It reminds me a bit of George Carlin's late comedic diatribes. It is easy to read Japan as an example of Ellul.  Believe me, I know without the lecture because I live here. So I already minded it. The rest of the world may be there or getting there as well but there is no pretense or irony around it here. You're right that it is no coincidence that artificiality is one of, if not the, main characteristic of Japanese society. Again, I put two and two together even before reading your thoughtfully articulated posts because it's the job I go to and the life I lead every day. I think you put these ideas very well.     

[milk]

EU is not the solution, it's part of the problem itself. 

I'm sure it's problematic in many ways, as you say, but I'm a fan of its anti-nationalistic tendencies. To me, that's one good point at least. 

[Florestan]

I agree with much of what you're saying here. It reminds me a bit of George Carlin's late comedic diatribes. It is easy to read Japan as an example of Ellul.  Believe me, I know without the lecture because I live here. So I already minded it. The rest of the world may be there or getting there as well but there is no pretense or irony around it here. You're right that it is no coincidence that artificiality is one of, if not the, main characteristic of Japanese society. Again, I put two and two together even before reading your thoughtfully articulated posts because it's the job I go to and the life I lead every day. I think you put these ideas very well.     

A question, if I may: if you don't like Japanese society, why are you still there? Is it because of the servitude to a job? 

[Florestan]

I'm sure it's problematic in many ways, as you say, but I'm a fan of its anti-nationalistic tendencies. To me, that's one good point at least.

Just wait till May, 25 (European parliamentary elections). Looks like nationalist parties will be on the rise.

Besides, as long as you'll have nations you'll also have nationalism. 

[milk]

A question, if I may: if you don't like Japanese society, why are you still there? Is it because of the servitude to a job? 

I like many things about my life here. Perhaps I'd be just as critical of the States in the States. Perhaps. Yes, I am here because of work. I'm not sure how many of us can live exactly where we'd like. What did Steve Martin say, "I'm a Ramblin Man"?   

[milk]

Besides, as long as you'll have nations you'll also have nationalism. 

Sadly true!

[Florestan]

Thanks for asking.

I'm not sure how many of us can live exactly where we'd like.

Only those who like to live exactly where they can. 

[milk]

Thanks for asking.

Only those who like to live exactly where they can. 

Thanks for all the interesting posts. I think it was you who linked me to an article. I've got it bookmarked.

[Florestan]

Thanks for asking.

I can be such a fool sometimes... I actually wanted to write "thanks for answering". 

Thanks for all the interesting posts. I think it was you who linked me to an article. I've got it bookmarked.

You're welcome. Here, I have yet another one for you. 

http://webshells.com/spantrans/resaba.htm

[milk]

I can be such a fool sometimes... I actually wanted to write "thanks for answering". 

You're welcome. Here, I have yet another one for you. 

http://webshells.com/spantrans/resaba.htm

I like the title!

[Florestan]

Henrik Pontoppidan - Lucky Per

As an engineer not particularly in love with engineering, this book touches me quite deeply.

[Ken B]

If Left Florestan will look away for a moment I will recommend to the Centre and Right Florestani Roger Scrutton on the nation state.