"Much of what goes on in humanities departments now involves showing how claims to large-scale truth like Plato's are nothing but deceptions." (recent article)

[gggg...@gmail.com]

http://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2015/10/if-everything-so-amazing-whys-nobody-happy

[Ed Cryer]

gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> http://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2015/10/if-everything-so-amazing-whys-nobody-happy
>

There's a degree of manliness in Plato that's only for the few. It's not
just intellect; it's a kind of sterner emotional fibre. The Greeks
called it "arete"; the Romans "virtus".
Plato himself fully recognised how few of his contemporaries were
capable of that ideal. Not many could make philosopher kings; most had
to be conned off with the "noble lie".
It strikes me that our gadgets today perform a similar function, a sort
of distraction from greater insight.

Ed

[gggg...@gmail.com]

According to the following recent article:

- Studies on students have proven that as technology advances, our attention span diminishes.

http://dakotastudent.com/6897/opinion/technology-distracting-us-from-our-work/#sthash.dh5TU7cl.dpuf

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 2:01:13 AM UTC-10, Ed Cryer wrote:

According to the following recent article:

- ...The incessant demands of cellphones and social media, not to mention email and other forms of distraction, are...endangering our ability to think about anything other than the next jolt of stimulation from the devices we have all around us, which he compares to the constant stimulus of a slot machine at a casino.

https://gigaom.com/2012/06/23/is-modern-technology-creating-a-culture-of-distraction/

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 2:01:13 AM UTC-10, Ed Cryer wrote:

According to this recent article:

- A great deal of energy is spent on distracting us from contemplating life too deeply.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/ask-andrew-wk-am-i-losing-my-mind-7316315

[Ed Cryer]

This is the last from a list of alpha male qualities. I think it
encapsulates something that Plato had; and that Friedrich Nietzsche
wished he'd had.

25. The alpha male doesn’t try to be an alpha male. That’s where so many
fail. He is interested in life, in living. He’s fascinated by the world
around him, in becoming the best man he can possibly become. He
genuinely cares about people. He passionately works hard. He’s excited
by life, by the opportunity that each day presents. He’s genuine in
every facet of who he is. Each of the characteristics are possessed by
him naturally, or will be as he grows as a man. Bred from curiosity, a
genuine kindness, and a warrior’s heart, he is who he is, and all others
follow him wherever he will lead them.
(http://chadhowsefitness.com/2012/11/25-characteristics-of-an-alpha-male)

Ed

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Isn't modern society hostile to such a kind of person or at best marginalizes him?:

- Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair.

George Burns

[Ed Cryer]

I take that Burns quote to mean that cabbies and barbers are more
loquacious and opinionated than most.

People in groupings have always marginalized the different ones. It
happens irrespective of the political set-up. Look at kids, those
angelic little bundles of love; they can be incredibly bullying and
cruel. You can't cure that with a change of government; it requires a
change of society.

Ed

[gggg...@gmail.com]

As far as I am concerned, if a good system brings out the best in people, and a bad one the worst, isn't the present one getting rid of what's left of the best?

[Ed Cryer]

It's about time you laid out your recommendations.
I hope it's not some warrior cult like Teutonic knights or Homeric
heroes; nor some medieval theocracy that keeps women down and punishes
with an eye-for-an-eye morality.
I feel that our western democracies have shed far too much blood, sweat
and tears to achieve the enlightened outlook we have, to slip back into
barbarism and class warfare.

Ed

[gggg...@gmail.com]

But hasn't the democratic/capitalistic system created a world where those who are satisfied with less now find themselves more and more at the mercy of those who will never be satisfied with more?

[Ed Cryer]

Who was satisfied with less? Julius Caesar or a legionary soldier?
Who was satisfied with less? Napoleon Bonaparte or a soldier in his
Grande Armée?

Ed

[gggg...@gmail.com]

- In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.

Ivan Illich

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Isn't the illustrated by the use of eminent domain by developers?:

https://reason.com/archives/2015/10/14/donald-trump-loves-land-grabs

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 2:01:13 AM UTC-10, Ed Cryer wrote:

The following comment concerns a book written over 20 years ago:

- "Data glut" obscures basic questions of justice and purpose...

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520085848

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 2:01:13 AM UTC-10, Ed Cryer wrote:

According to this recent article:

- Thanks to technology, our lives have less in common with those of our parents than was true of any previous generation.

https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2015/october/1443621600/anna-goldsworthy/lost-art-listening

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 2:01:13 AM UTC-10, Ed Cryer wrote:

According to this article:

- "I fear," Wolf writes, "that many of our children are in danger of becoming just what Socrates warned us against--a society of decoders of information, whose false sense of knowing distracts them from a deeper development of their intellectual potential."

http://phys.org/news/2014-04-reddit-msu-faculty-students-grapple.html#jCp

[gggg...@gmail.com]

According to Jonathan Franzen:

- The actual substance of our daily lives is total electronic distraction.

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/31/this_is_why_jonathan_franzen_infuriates_breaking_down_the_suspicious_intellectual_loner_the_mainstream_writer_the_despised_cultural_magnet/

[Ed Cryer]

The actual substance of my daily life is trying to avoid people walking
around with a phone pressed to their ear.
This keeps me fit and alert.
(-:

Ed

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 2:01:13 AM UTC-10, Ed Cryer wrote:

This recent article concludes:

- ...The meaning of human experience becomes elusive to the point that the worship of Big Data displaces the quest for Big Ideas.

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/12/17/information-overload-or-a-search-for-meaning/

[gggg...@gmail.com]

[gggg...@gmail.com]

If you have ever read LORD OF THE FLIES, could the character of Ralph be considered an alpha male?