Dear Diary: I have come to believe that the positions that people take on public policy issues has very little to do with public policy outcomes or ideology. It seems to me that people are reacting as social animals, not critical or objective thinkers. There is nothing rational about this. Its all emotional and instinctive.Continue reading “Not Public Policy, Not Ideology”
Author Archives: Randal B. Adcock
Complexity: The Invisible Threat
When you live in a small community for a while and then travel to a full scale city, you are likely to get a sense of being overwhelmed. The streets are full of cars. The commuter roadways have many lanes of speeding lane-shifting traffic. The business districts are built upward towards the sky, while theContinue reading “Complexity: The Invisible Threat”
Bait and Switch Politics is Nothing New
Of course, people who want power and influence tell you what you want to hear. Its called seduction. They don’t want to create a new enemy. They already have an enemy in mid for you, you know who it is, and they’re going to protect you from that enemy. Its mutually advantageous for both leftContinue reading “Bait and Switch Politics is Nothing New”
Still
Dear Diary:All systems break down from too much noise, information that can’t be meaningfully interpreted and managed.When change is too frequent for reaction.When there are too many moving parts to track.When the linkages and consequences are too long and diverse to monitor.When learning curves are endless and not recyclable, and skills and knowledge are thenContinue reading “Still”
Being and Knowing
God, by any other name, would smell as sweet. What is, is. The map is not the terrain. Ours is to explore and discover, with progressive approximation while being as one with all. It is all self-knowledge. — Meanderings of a mad man.
Castle of My Dreams
I was drawn from my tent into the long shadowing woods by the seductive melody of the Evening Thrush. The trees, tall and strong, form a quiet canopy over the old dirt road. The still and echoing forest is greater than the sum of its trees to resonate the verb. The dirt road propelled myContinue reading “Castle of My Dreams”
Now and Forever
It was night forever. It seemed to never end. And it was completely dark too. And cold. Very cold. I remember that. There was lots of time to think about things. But there was little to contemplate. Infinity. Eternity. Coldness. And then infinite eternal cold. Suddenly and magically, it finally was dawn. The light wasContinue reading “Now and Forever”
Universal Information Architecture
I think our imaginations are being stretched to the point where we can begin to believe anything is possible. The web connecting billions of people you don’t know is a fire-hose of information that overwhelms our cognitive capacities and sends us into shock, further reducing our capacity to manage information. Is there a way out?ThisContinue reading “Universal Information Architecture”
Practise! There is still more…
Dear Diary:Practice makes perfect.As I explore the universe I realize that meanings run out to infinity, as force fields dissipate into oblivion. Is there a sharp line between the concrete and the abstract?No. It is a continuum from perception to perfection, with an asymptote at either end progressing toward the ultimate reality-in-itself, but never reachingContinue reading “Practise! There is still more…”
June 2076
Under extreme duress, such as the shock of a global pandemic, or a world war, the individual of homo sapiens sapiens will surrender its personal intelligence to join a collective intelligence, and surrender its will to the collective will. This is a pattern repeated throughout nature and generally serves a species well in the longerContinue reading “June 2076”
Randal Adcock 