Right and Wrong at the same time

Thank you Yuval Noah Harari again for your inspiring thoughts....

"21 Lessons for the 21st Century" -

What I liked-
I like the perspective introduced in 'Homo Sapiens' that the world, and humanity in particular, spans possibly millions of years.  This gives focus to the vulnerability of our human stories.  We now think of 2000 year being a long time ago.  Harari say no, it's a small instance in time. Just yesterday.

I like his challenge to humanity that a belief in 'stories' whether they be national stories, political stories or, religious stories needs to be examined and understood within the context of fantasy.  He points out the paradox that for these stories to hold any power, they must be unquestioningly believed.  If they are questioned, they loose their power.  All these stories also can't be correct, especially when they contradict each other.  Hariri points out that stories are strengthen through repetition and rituals.  The paths people travel becomes compacted and permanent'.  It become a 'rite of way.' (My observation.)

I support this idea of being aware of how fact and fiction weave themselves together.

Harari notes that Polytheism is gentler than Monotheism, which tend to absolute.  "I am right and your God is not included here." rather than "I have room in my world for your God."  I think he is particularly thinking of 'God created in the image of Man' though.

I am interested by his critic of Education.  He notes the important of  Education is moving away from the 3 R's, to the 4 C.

Curiosity, Creativity, Communication, Questioning.

It is interesting to note that some subjects are likely to radically change with the development of technology.  Examples are languages, when computers offer us simultaneous translation of all language.  This has already been developed in Japan.  But I'm not satisfied with this idea.  The human touch is lost.  For me that is like saying the telephone will replace the need to see each other.  Another is history, where facts can be plucked from google as we walk down the road.  Again I think the place of memory is not likely to be threatened, and his image of the human/cyborg is most unappealing.  I am reassured that this is not likely to happen soon as I can't get my smartphone to reassure me it knows my diary accurately and fret that I am about to miss an important appointment.

Harari believes in unrelenting force of technology and biotech to change how we live completely, for better and for worse.  He foresees major moral issue of the future  as a digression in humanity between the haves, with technology and have-nots, as subhuman slaves. 

He notes that children born today are likely to see the 22nd Century.

My Critic...
I incline to Harari's argument.  He has a refreshing, human and farsighted approach.   There is just one problem.  When I left my daughter at her university accommodation on Saturday, I had a strong feeling of God's presence with her, and me.  I knew that she will be alright.  I was not looking for this.  In fact I was feeling very different at the time.  The experience as 'relational' and confirms my belief that I have a personal relationship with my Creator, just as I have a relationship with others in my life, such as my wife, Mother and daughters.  So I have to start my perspective on the world from the stand point.  A bit like the man that asks the way to Dublin, only to be told "if you are going to Dublin I wouldn't be starting form here."   I experience and unshakable belief that I have a relationship with a Creator, also known as a Supreme Being, or God.  Being told that this is in my mind would be like someone telling me that my relationship with family members is fake.  Given my position believing in God, I then see the world Harari presents, and can see him as right, and wrong, and the same time.

I am reminded of the argument made by a Hindu about why he believes in the fantastical stories of the Gita's.  He replies,  "It happened a long time ago.  Who is to say whether it is true or not.  Does it matter?  What matters is what it does for us today."

Harari writes scathingly about the hypocrisy of 'sacrifice'.  I quite agree with him.  There is hypocrisy, but there is the opposite too.  There is forgiveness, and sacrifice.  And these things are part of what make life worth living.

How to run a Cycling Sportive

Six years and I am still learning.

1) Signs should be a single straight arrow which can be orientated- left, right and straight on.  Four holes are drilled in each sign so that one cable tie can be used to pin the sign to a post.

2)  Signs for traffic have an initial sign to warn of the approaching turn, then a turn sign at the junction.  For cyclists the warning time about a 1/4 of the distance used for cars.  Put up one warning sign, and another next to the turn.  Every junction needs a sign, even if it is straight-on.  This reassures the riders that they are on the right track.

3) Warning cyclists abut what to look out for is futile.  They will forget, will be too tired and many will have the eyesight of 50 year olds (because they will be 50+).  If the route splits into shorter and longer routes, put two arrows up with shorter and longer signs.  Then when the road separates, put up another sign to re-enforce which route they have chosen.. The same applied if the route does a figure of eight.  Put up a sign saying First time round only,  and then second time round only.

4)  Lots of people say they want A4 size signs.  A5 are much easier to collect by bike afterwards.  Also they are less intrusive on the environment.  Local councils are concerned that signs might distract motorists and cause accidents.  Stick with A5.

5)  It is hard to predict when turns are going to be missed.  This is often when the road is busy, such as going through lights, or moving from a road to a cycle path.  The challenge here is how to warn cyclists without confusing them.  It's a tricky business.

Who is Melissa Marr?

She is a modern America fantasy novelist, quoted in Saturday's Independent as saying "Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter."

Very Interesting Mr Simon Jenkins

Listening to Simon Jenkins' A Short History of Europe, I ponder...

The relationship between John Wycliffe and John O Gaunt.  Vicar of Lutterworth in Leciestershire, and John O Gaunt, Earl of Leicester, now featuring as a small village north of Leicester. On one day a year you can visit the John O Gaunt cellar at Leicester Castle, reputed to have been a prison during the Napoleonic wars.

John Wycliffe

John O Gaunt

John O Gaunt Viaduct

I learn about how the Napoleonic troops broke into the Sistine chapel and graffitied the walls.
The chapel was created by Pope Sixtus IV (hence Sistine), in 1477. Michelangelo started painting in 1508 and took four years. Sixtus did not see the creation as he died in 1484.

My Polish barber told me how the Polish army sacrificed itself for the sake of Europe, preventing 'us' being over run by the Ottoman Empire.  And all the thanks they got was for Catherine the Great to carve up the nation with Prussia.  Jenkins reports that it was the Poles and the Austrians in this battle. The Austrians went on to rule much of Europe, so clearly very unfair. Perhaps one reason Roman is in the U.K. And I am not in Poland.

Was it the crippling of Germany through the 30 years war, and onwards, and its sense of being landlocked, that led to the apparent need to flex military muscle? In 1913 Willheim III of Germany opened the memorial to defeat of Napoleon in Leipzig in its centenary. He declared that it was the monument to the end of war.

That strip of land first called Lothairingia.  Has caused much turmoil in Europe.  The land was created after the death of Lothair I as Charlemagne's ancient empire was carved up between his three sons.  The middle bit has been caught up in tussles between France and Germany ever since.

The Purple bit

During the famous year with no summer, 1816, when the volcano Krakatoa, on Java irrupted and sent ash into the stratosphere, Mary Shelley, Byron and their set wrote books instead of going on walks by Lake Geneva.  Jenkins states that when Napoleon was told that he was being sent to St Helena in 1815, he declared that he was the modern Prometheus, chained to a rock and made to see his liver being eaten everyday for eternity. Shelley went on to call her creation 'Frankenstein', the modern Prometheus.

And we end "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."  

Emmanuel Kant.