Re: Electronics - how to ruin a good hobby. A story with no morals...

Roger Lascelles wrote:

"Scott Stephens" <scottxs@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Wr-dnZPVWa75QZPeRVn-3A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just had a look at your website, Scott. I would enjoy it if you could put
down some of your thoughts on a webpage.

Specifically what thoughts? I want to add some more of my amature-science fooling around with lasers & microwaves. I have a lot going on, hopefully soon.

At least you have a photo, though I can't work out exactly how old you are. 

40

When I am in the flow, uninterrupted, not tired and I have designed the
project properly, coding is exhilarating.  Today I was rewarming some
substandard low level stuff - small, lean, detailed junk and I followed the
debugger's lead from one mess to the next.  I came back after tea and it
sprang to life !


That's why I believe engineering is a kind of artistic expression.

My hope is to get more cunning - because the IQ goes down, not up, so I
can't use that raw mental grunt I had in my twenties !

Younger people are faster and sharper, but us old folks have the advantage of having (hopefully) polished and refined our concepts, practiced and hammered down true concepts and methods of reasoning. Along with acquiring much more information (hopefully of high-quality) to work with.

That is why good art, literature and technical information is so important. Garbage in, garbage out.

I don't believe life is a solvable problem.  It may not
be a problem at all.

What is the nature of living? What do living things do? Sense, identify, decide, and act, according to primal drives, values and beliefs. Life is a "problem" requiring information, consideration and action.

Dignity. Thats all the poor man has.

And what is it that forces the poor man to choose between dignity and money? "The Great Gatsby" is the closest literature I can think of now that identifies the evil of degrading dilemmas forced on people that just want to get by.

If I could write novels, I would blend Gatsby with Rand's account of the communist culture of "We the Living" or, at the 20th Century Motor Company in "Atlas Shrugged", to illustrate how the culture and characters of medieval serfdom is alive and well.

In adult-hood, we are playing political "games", corrupt schemes one
gang uses to vote themselves the work of another gang.



You sound sad.  I suppose it is sad.  Beautiful also.  They call it the
"human condition".

Sadness is appropriate. Most people, aside from fundamentalists, don't blame themselves when a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster ruins them. But when people choose to ruin things in stupidity, envy and spite it is indeed tragic.

I am 51 years old.  I have been "crunching" since
childhood. I haven't even begun to figure it out.  My kids and wife have
taught me a lot.  Also work.  I expect to die slightly bewildered.

I understand the human condition. I don't know why the universe has its physical constants. At the bottom level, physics is a mystery. But I generally understand the organizing principles of the human condition.

If I could get a grant, I would write a cellular automata computer simulation that would model individual, group, national and world behavior. Things happen for reasons at every level of scale. Organizing principles can be derived from them.

Many people don't want to understand because on various levels they are dishonest, and subconsciously have come to believe that they can attain values by cheating, yet still be moral by refusing to recognize they're cheating.

Starts on the schoolyard; bully calls you a pig, you're obviously not a pig, you call him a rat. You know he's not a rat, but you choose to believe it so you can be sincere. Pretend the insults didn't hurt. Then comes the practice of lying. People find its effective, and sooner or later begin lying to themselves.

Its only lately I've really come to see the power of double-speak, redefining language for ulterior motives. While I still don't believe that words *are* concepts, words certainly have the power to prevent people from making beneficial value judgments when the concepts behind them are obscured or emotionally loaded. But I'm rambling.

well Scott, this thread is very long, but it can stretch further. Or put up
some of your thoughts, or some links on your site and send me an email.

Writing requires focus and demands concepts be distinctly states, rather than vaguely considered. What kind of thoughts? What links?

best wishes 

Thanks, and to you to

Scott

--
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DIY Piezo-Gyro, PCB Drill Bot & More Soon!
http://home.comcast.net/~scottxs/

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. - Ambrose Bierce

Don't ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it - Ayn Rand

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