Further ramblings

Told you I was on catch-up - heres some more of the back-log: Some of this has had an outing before and is not "new"


This is stunning:

Is this the end of the world? If so, it's a bit more boring than I imagined: an invisible apocalypse
Great.

I go on holiday, turn my back for a few weeks, come back and what has happened? The banks are on fire and we're at war with Iceland. As I type these words (on a Friday morning, fact fans), Sky News is zooming in on a screen full of red flashing numbers, apparently willing them to fall yet lower. The problem is a lack of confidence, they keep saying, cutting away every so often to show a big plunging downward arrow or a shot of a City trader holding his head in despair.
I'm a bit sick of that whole holding-his-head-in-despair schtick, to be honest. It's about time they tried something more spectacular. Surely it's time for a revival of that great cliche of the 1930s, the ruined City whizzkid hurling himself out of the window? The credit crunch high dive. Extra points if you manage to pull a backflip on the way down, or crack your jaw on a window cleaner's cradle somewhere around floor 35. The ultimate high score goes to the first one who manages to successfully update his Facebook status using an iPhone seconds before slamming into the pavement. "Danny is plummeting to his doom." Click here to tag him in a photo.
Is this the end of the world? If so, it's a bit more boring than I'd imagined. So far, it's been an invisible apocalypse. Poke your head out the window and there's little evidence of charred debris. Perhaps that's yet to come. Like I say, I'm writing this on Friday morning. By the time you read it, it'll be Monday. Maybe we're already bartering with coloured pebbles or fighting over water or something.
Still, there's no point in worrying. If we're going to be plunged into some kind of barbaric medieval dark age, I might as well be philosophical about it, because there's no way I'll survive more than a month. I'd be hopeless at fighting over basic resources and don't have any essential manual skills, such as the ability to hunt and skin rats. Perhaps I can learn the lute and become a minstrel, or perform bawdy jigs in exchange for pennies. Assuming there are any pennies. Hey, maybe just before all currency is finally declared worthless we'll get to experience the whole wheelbarrows-full-of-worthless-banknotes thing, like they did in Germany just before the war. That'd be a blast.
It all seems particularly bizarre, because just over a week ago I was in Las Vegas, as part of a US road trip I'm writing up for the Travel section. The casino put me up in an outrageous suite the size of a millionaire's bachelor pad. It had a pool table, a butler, and a shower in the lounge with a lapdancing pole in the middle of it. The windows looked out over the Las Vegas strip; specifically over the multimillion-dollar fountain show at the front of Bellagio. I visited a nightclub full of pricks who danced around tossing banknotes in the air, then returned to the suite, which alongside a pool table and a butler, also came equipped with about six gigantic, wall-mounted HD plasma TVs, every single one of which was screaming bad news about the economy. I felt like I was trapped inside a terrifying satirical sci-fi flick.
And it had to happen, obviously. For years, money was just appearing from nowhere, or so we were told. People bought houses and bragged about how the value kept zooming up, and up, and up. In fact they didn't seem to be houses at all, but magic coin-shitting machines. It was all a dream, a dream in which you bought a box and lived in it, and all the time it generated money like a cow generates farts. Great big stinking clouds of money. And none of it was real. And now it's gone. Your house is worth less than your shoes, and your shoes are now, in turn, worth less than your mouth and your arse. Yes, your most valuable possessions are now your mouth and your arse, and you're going to have to use both of them in all manner of previously unthinkable ways to make ends meet, to pay for that box, the box you live in, the one you mistook for an enchanted, unstoppable cash engine. I hope you've got a nice kitchen. Maybe that'll take your mind off things. And sell that Alessi smoothie maker while you're about it. You can't afford fruit any more. It's tap water at best from now on. It's good for you! Really, it is.
All of it was a dream. All that crap we bought, all the bottled water and Blu-Ray players and designer shoes and iPod Shuffles and patio heaters; all the jobs we had; all the catchphrases we memorised and the stupid things we thought. Everything we did for the past 10 years - none of it really felt real, did it? Time to snap out of it. Time to grow our own vegetables and learn hand-to-hand combat with staves. And time, perhaps, to really start living.


2/11/08

Went to see Quantum of Solace last night – the plot rattles along in a typical Bond style with multiple locations covered. It is good quality hokum and action and very enjoyable for that. I did feel that there were a number of editorial “jumps” and that the film was about 15mins too short. Does this indicate an anticipated reduction in attention span? The film could have been fleshed out a bit and would have been better for it.

Then enjoyed the excellent fayre that is tea at Zeffs. This is always a treat and I particularly enjoyed the cheesy tortellini with tarragon butter and baby veg.

This morning had a trip to Church as per usual. I am thinking that I do not spend enough time on the “Gone Fishing” and I need to make it easier to contact everyone who is interested and this will free up the notices at the beginning of the service. This week I will make it my job to take this forward and bring this work back on track. I was also musing on the nature of belief. This came out of Debi’s question last night – “Is there ever a “Just War””. If we take this back to the bottom this would start with the question:

“Does everyone have a belief system?”
This can then be followed with a number of questions including:
“Does our gift of consciousness leave us with no choice but to have a belief system?”
“Is belief inextricably linked with consciousness?”
“Does consciousness mean that a belief system will automatically happen?”
I am struggling with the question in this case as you can see.
“If a machine were to become conscious would it develop a belief system?”
Our current methods of software development would naturally lead us to “lead” a machine to develop a belief system based upon our human experience and not upon its own experience.
“How would a machine act if its belief system ran counter to our own?”
“How would a greater intelligence act if it had this chance?”
“Would a machine tolerate our existence?”
“Should we even try to create an artificial intelligence if it were to threaten our very existence in this way?”
“Would we even stand a chance if this machine became “aware”?”
“Would we even spot this “awareness” before it is too late?”
Moving on from this we can then look at how our beliefs affect how we act
“Does our belief system merely act as a way for us to personally rationalise the world in which we live?”
“Are other people’s belief systems equally valid?”
“Should we respect other people’s belief systems?”
“Is it right for us to attempt to impose our beliefs upon others?”
“can this be used as a justification for war?”

This runs right to the heart of who we are and what our position is within this world. We can merely see ourselves as “animals” here as briefly as others with life upon this planet or we can see ourselves as a group who have been given a supreme chance to adapt to our environment and affect the future of everything else on this planet. This responsibility is important and our beliefs will colour this.


Feb 22nd 2009

This laptop is having serious problems – not quite sure why but I guess it is telling me that it is time it was replaced – I don’t want to spend money so I am going to complain about it until I finally capitulate.

Went to a “meeting” last night – not quite sure what it achieved but it was interesting nonetheless. For my own part, I gained a small insight into how other people think. I am still unable to understand quite why, when asked to be honest, people hold back and fail to explain what they really think. This then leaves you looking a bit like the “odd one out” when you say what more than one person is thinking. Committees and meetings are all very well but they don’t actually get the business of work done, merely talk about the possibility of work.

I have been challenged in the last 10 days or so and the “Gone fishing” has been rearranged for March so that is quite positive. I also think that I could take this one step further and look at a deeper level of Mens ministry. Not an easy task I hear you say. This would mean that I have to advance my scriptural knowledge somewhat but this is no bad thing and nothing I have not needed to do anyway.

Having Phil Dixon to lunch helped to crystallise these views – he spent time at a church in Seattle “Mars Hill” which has a significant male bias. Phil gave me a wonderful statement to work on “Men in the West are quite immature (in respect of their interpersonal relationships)”. This led me to thinking how we can move on from that.

Had a wonderful discussion on the relevance of the Church in todays society. This is a very live issue and runs to the heart of a lot of the problems we have. Bishop Sentamu had this to say recently:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4681357/Archbishop-of-York-Dr-John-Sentamu-Christians-are-regarded-as-mad-by-society.html

This neatly encapsulates a lot of what I think and also draws a framework for some of the issues which are causing me to think. We risk losing the ground to the atheists or even the Islamic world by just being too darn soft for our own good. However we should also seek to distance ourselves from the particular form of nasty bigotry laid before us by the “Westboro Baptist church”. These people are truly horrible and it is hard to reconcile the gracious words of the New Testament with their homespun brand of hate and spite. In fact you cant do it so don’t try. I think the ultimate position would be this: to be described as “normal” by someone who didn’t know you were a Christian. This begs a question or two:
1. what did they think was normal?
2. what criteria do they think fit the bill for most Christians?
3. who is setting the criteria by which the majority of the public are judging the behaviour of Christians?
4. why are Christians allowing these people to set the criteria and why are they not setting the criteria themselves?

It is very interesting that we feel the need to tread lightly in the affairs of muslims and “respect” their views and ideals but can treat Christianity with contempt. There are places where even-handedness can be found but it is often in the hands of liberalist-humanist-atheists who, although they wont admit it, have their own set of beliefs.


Actuall thats about it!!! For now

23rd Feb
Back at work after having 2 1/2 weeks off after breaking arm - a long story and I haven't documented it here because I have been neglecting this form of communication. I have also got a new car but again the whole story has been in existence elsewhere..

Read an excellent document - it can be found: http://relit.org/porn_again_christian/ Read it if you dare!