by Ben Atlas on Feb 7, 2010 - 17:39
Jaron Lanier, Photo by Aaron Salcido
This is perhaps the most significant lecture in a decade (as is the book, reading it now). Jaron Lanier reflects on the cultural and economic crossroads through the defining prism of the internet culture. Some of his observations like the one about ten years required to overcome a sinisterly held idea is an enlightened epiphany, how true. Jaron Lanier spoke at Zócalo Public Square in Culver City, CA on January 28th, 2010. The full lecture is about 50 minutes plus 20 minutes for questions – Staying Human in a Tech-Driven World (video). “The worst examples of human behavior, Lanier said, occur when humans act as mob members rather than as individuals, which democracies tend to cultivate. The desire to join a mob is within everyone, Lanier said, citing the pack mentality of “people in the comments section of a blog.”
by Ben Atlas on Feb 7, 2010 - 10:46
There is this peculiar impression that till the enraged voters in Massachusetts sent a Republican to the Senate, no one, except the unemployed, remembered about the devastating structural changes in the economy. I am not talking about the Jews here specifically; perhaps this is a metaphor for any group. But I always wondered how the Holocaust or the Gulag happened in plain view of humanity but more importantly in plain view of the indifferent world Jewry.
First the layoffs, the crushing cleansing, when many firms cut people they would never dare to, if not for the fact that “everyone was doing it”. This is the middle class depression, more than a half of all jobs lost disappeared permanently. Jews are predominantly middles class and it’s natural that the community is hit particularly hard. Add to this the reality that many of the “working orthodox” feed off the economic margins that are now cut to the bone. For many families this is an unimaginable disaster and speaking of Holocaust, virtually no one is talking about this with the required urgency.
My friend tells me that perhaps the economic realm is not longer within the expertise of the communal organizations. But if this true than what is the rationale for a community that doesn’t have a charter for the mutual support? The communal institutions in service of the oligarchy unelected and permanently detached from the rank and file, accountable only to super rich. Occasionally easing their conscience by fundraising drives for the faraway lands from Haiti to Haifa, the further from home, the better.
Anecdotally many of my friends, who find themselves in the financial distress, tell me that if they try to share their misfortune with others there is a quick comeback and cutoff: “everyone is unemployed, everyone is losing a home, etc.” To be sure, not “everyone”, but there is callousness to this response as if no compassion, never mind a real help, is required, as if you are supposed to die in a plague.
Most people I know are traumatized more by the apathy than by the actual economic downfall. We expect and accept the financial risks and stumbles but the complete indifference by the people who claim a kinship is a life long trauma. And just like with the Great Depression there will be a new generation that doesn’t care and doesn’t remember. The life goes on but our connections to the fellow human beings will never be the same.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 6, 2010 - 14:49
Arkady Duchin describes how the song was born during a Kabbalah seminar with Michael Laitman (הסיפור מאחורי השיר שער הדמעות). He writes the song is part of his a larger Kabbalah project. And Shuly Rand is Shuly Rand - ארקדי דוכין ושולי רנד – שער הדמעו ►►►read more
by Ben Atlas on Feb 5, 2010 - 16:01
An article in the New Scientist claims microbial species exchange genes horizontally, from one organism to another, and this not the vertical “survival of the fittest” was the most important factor in the early stages of evolution and formation of the genetic code. The evolution of evolution:
“This is all very different from evolution as described by Darwin. Evolution will always be about change as a result of some organisms being more successful at surviving than others. In the Darwinian model, evolutionary change occurs because individuals with genes associated with successful traits are more likely to pass these on to the next generation. In horizontal gene transfer, by contrast, change is not a function of the individual or of changes from generation to generation, but of all the microbes able to share genetic material. Evolution takes place within a complex, dynamic system of many interacting parts, say Woese and Goldenfeld, and understanding it demands a detailed exploration of the self-organising potential of such a system. On the basis of their studies, they argue that horizontal gene transfer had to be a dominant factor in the original form of evolution.”
The best kisser wins… (via kottke.org)
by Ben Atlas on Feb 5, 2010 - 09:35
On the subject of reinventing the wheel. The Differential Gear in automobiles solves the fundamental problem of two adjacent wheels traveling at a different speed. Alas there is no device that would allow two parallel individuals or two parallel nations move smoothly together. Inevitably there is a mechanical, or worse, the emotional friction. Take a look at the 1930s video explaining the principles of the gear. ►►►read more
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 20:01
Sir George Clausen, 'Night', ca. 1904
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The image licensed courtesy of Picture Library of the Royal Academy of Arts
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 19:26
Masha Gessen wrote a book about Grisha Perelman - Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century. I feel certain affinity with the the author and the subject. And I am saddened to read that after Grisha Perelman solved the Poincare conjecture and then rejected the million dollar prize, he became a perfect recluse. Too bad for him, Bobby Fisher, JD Salinger, etc. they all would have been worshiped as holy men just a century ago. But indeed Grisha’s discovery is a breakthrough of an unimaginable genius.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 18:15
Unhappy Hipsters is am amusing blog that comments on the modernist building to illustrate human alienation. To be sure geometric structures are not the case of loneliness. But the way buildings are photographed often lends to the feeling. People who pose in the photographs for the humans scale are often staged awkwardly, they are amatures and don’t know how to relax naturally during a photo shoot. Often perfect strangers or worse are called upon to impersonate a family, the result is sad, comical and profound.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 16:09
David Assaf quoted a lot from Avrom Ber Gotlober, I was looking for his books, till someone pointed to this link. For the reading convenience I converted the html into (PDF) זכרונות ומסעות – אברהם בר גוטלובר This has to be funniest quote in a long time:
ואין סתירה לזה במה שהחסידים מקללים ומגנים את כת שבתי צבי, שהרי כן גם הקראים מגנים את הצדוקים הקדמונים, אף-על-פי שאין ספק, שמהם יצא חוטרם, ונצרם משורשם פרה והרבה קיבלו מהם (כאשר דיברתי מזה באריכות בספרי ‘ביקורת לתולדות הקראים’). בעבור הדברים האלה היו נקראים בפי בעלי התלמוד הכשרים שומרי אמונים בשם חשודים, רוצה לומר חשודים לכת ש”צ. הרבנים בעלי התלמוד, תופשי התורה, שהתקוממו נגדם בראשית היוסדם, היו לרוב במדינת ליטה (כמו שיתבאר עוד לפנינו). בארץ ההיא לא יבדילו היהודים (כבני אפרים לפנים) בין ש ימנית לש שמאלית, ואת שתיהן יבטאו כהברת הס’, ובפרט ההמון הרב בכפרים ובערים הקטנות. וכשנתרבה המחלוקת היה כל העם מדבר מזה ונשמע על שפתם על הרוב השם חשודים אבל בהברה מוטעית חשודים או חסודים, וכשהגיעו הדברים למחוז והלין, פודוליה, גאליציה ופולין בכלל, אשר שם מבטאים היהודים הברת אוּ (שורק וקובוץ) דומה להברת אי (חירק) נעשה מן חסוּדים (ר”ל חשוּדים) חסידים. וחסידים ברנה יגילו, כי מן העז יצא מתוק ומתנגדיהם נתנו להם שם עולם לשבח, וקיימו וקיבלו השם הזה עליהם ועל זרעם
Still remember Musia/Mushka? I will be writing more about this book, it is easily the most important Jewish historical document in the last 200-300 years.
by Ben Atlas on Feb 3, 2010 - 15:12
But of course I am paraphrasing Solveichik. I met the Rov and I spoke to people who knew him much better, even his early students. The man had the worst social skills that one would expect from an odd genius in the midst of a grand cross cultural mix up. Some of his students still nurse the hurtful ridicule, the mean disdain of his teaching style reminiscent of the notorious European melamdim (this is basically a quote). So back to the loneliness, the social handicapped naturally not to be confused with the universal existential feeling of “the last man on earth”. It’s shared by every person of a minimal depth. But side from that Solveichik was surrounded by the like-minded community, even if they were not his match, they cared and honored him and even rewarded him financially. More importantly the Rov could lean on the centuries of like-minded thinkers.
Enter the Jews on the fringe. Not only there is a disdain from the community, often the lack of family support, but there there is no “institutional memory”. To be sure there been thousands of people who broke with the doctrinal Judaism before but the culture did its best to eradicate their memory, their books and their thoughts. I am amazed by the fact that the rejects have to blaze their own lonely path over and over again, where the trail have been already walked by the thousands. Some of the new blogs that pop up today are oblivious even to the work that was done on the forums less than ten years ago! The glorious literally legacy of maskillim, etc, erased from the cultural history. In short Soloveichik got nothing on that true loneliness.
A Virtual Community is an Oxymoron
by Ben Atlas on Feb 5, 2010 - 10:30
Every single thriving online forum is an outlet of a community or an interest that already exists off-line. People who like a certain team, etc. naturally extend the actual interest, a hobby into a virtual community. So the online forums are the reflections of the ideological, religious or national tribes. Online forums complement a niche but they never create a niche (some idiots who claim there are no communities online, they are blind to the fact that online communities only mirror real social and ideological groups).
The cutting edge ideas or the proverbial out of the box thinking gets little traction on the internet. People seek distraction and confirmation not an intellectual disturbance (I wrote about this in The Tension and Pretension of Blogging). This is by the way why I turned off the comments. I reflect about the eclectic mix that has no real life base and is not narrow enough to generate an uber abstract, pointless chatter. But the bottom line is that the people who imagine that they can reverse engineer a community from online into real life, they are delusional liers.