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Humanity is trippin’ on junk intelligence
Why is it that very sophisticated societies have been as susceptible as stone age tribes to mass delusion and the rise of destructive ideologies?” Subscribe to Be at https://grev.eu Subscribe to Big Think at https://bigthink.com
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The Mental State of the World
The fourth annual Mental State of the World Report that provides a perspective on the Internet-enabled global population.
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Requiem for the American Dream
REQUIEM FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM is the definitive discourse with Noam Chomsky, widely regarded as the most important intellectual alive, on the defining characteristic of our time – the deliberate concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few.
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Learning from Japanese education practices
Character is the foundation of learning. Up to 10 years old there are no examinations but character and discipline is encouraged through example and teamwork.
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On Being Podcast
The people who gather around On Being are part of the generative narrative of our time. In all kinds of lives, in all kinds of places, they are healers and social creatives. At human pace, they are enlivening the world that they can see and touch. In generational time, they are stitching relationship across rupture.…
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Just Thinking …
Empathy over conflict, it’s all a matter of perspective Social Perspective – there are only two ways of responding to any challenging social circumstance or situation, positively or negatively, these are basic responses in individuals within the wider community, especially when feeling vulnerable or under threat. Human nature being what it is, usually tends towards the negative, as in…
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Broken Promises 2024
The Price of Certainty By Daniele Anastasion · Video published by NYT Nov. 1, 2016 on Vimeo As we bear witness, in 2024, to the continued and almost unbelievable polarisation of politics in the United States, the gulf grows wider. As promises are broken, too many people desperate for certainty are led to believe that…
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Navigating the Nonsense
Lesson 1 Ways to find the truth through evidence and Finding the truth amidst a sea of misinformation can be challenging, but here are some strategies to help you navigate through it:
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Languages of being
The language of being humanA short talk by Poet Ali Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. You speak far more languages than you realize, says Poet Ali. In a profound talk, he reveals how the idea of “language” goes far beyond a lexicon of…
Society as concept and reality
society
noun (plural societies) 1 [mass noun] the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community: drugs, crime, and other dangers to society. • the community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations: the ethnic diversity of British society | [count noun] : modern industrial societies. • [with adjective] a specified section of society: no one in polite society uttered the word. • (also high society) the aggregate of people who are fashionable, wealthy, and influential, regarded as forming a distinct group in a community: [as modifier] : a society wedding. • [count noun] a plant or animal community: the analogy between insect society and human urban society is not new.
[mass noun] the situation of being in the company of other people: she shunned the society of others.
sociology
noun [mass noun]
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life.[1][2][3] Regarded as a part of both the social sciences and humanities, sociology uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis[4]: 3–5 to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change.[4]: 32–40 Sociological subject matter ranges from micro-level analyses of individual interaction and agency to macro-level analyses of social systems and social structure. Applied sociological research may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, whereas theoreticalapproaches may focus on the understanding of social processes and phenomenological method.[5]
Identity as a reason for being
Identity:
noun (plural identities)
1 the fact of being who or what a person or thing is: he knows the identity of the bombers : she believes she is the victim of mistaken identity.
• the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is: he wanted to develop a more distinctive Scottish identity.
• [as modifier] (of an object) serving to establish who the holder, owner, or wearer is by bearing their name and often other details such as a signature or photograph: an identity card.
2 a close similarity or affinity: an identity between the company’s own interests and those of the local community.
Other adopted meanings: individuality, self, selfhood, ego, personality, character, originality, distinctiveness, distinction, singularity, peculiarity, uniqueness, differentness.
To secure an identity of interests: identicalness, sameness, selfsameness, oneness, congruity, congruence, indistinguishability, interchangeability; likeness, alikeness, uniformity, similarity, closeness, accordance, alignment, parallelism, symmetry.
__________
Identity determined by place and circumstance
Whether the place of origin be birthplace, environment, climate, topography, emergence, society, culture, migration or passage.
How you identify within society?
Identity as a human concept for defining oneself, or even as a word, has been through the social evolutionary wringer.
So we need to reconsider the original meaning of the very popular word ‘identity’, before applying it to any modern day context, position in society, or personal social status.
This is Lucia Anna Joyce, 1907 – 1982. She was a professional dancer and the daughter of Irish writer James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. She was treated by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, Lucia was diagnosed as schizophrenic in the mid-1930s and institutionalised at the Burghölzli psychiatric clinic in Zurich. In 1951, she was transferred to St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton, where she remained until her death in 1982. Ever heard of her?
So ‘identity’ is pretty much confined to your name, the names of your parents, your current address, mobile number, passport, library card, or any document that identifies you within the social structure and functional social systems you are a member of at any given time.
What is ‘identity’?
We each create our own identities, in terms of how we see ourselves and how we behave in the world, there is nobody else to blame for making us who we are. But to truly ‘know’ who, what, and why, we must detach from the indoctrinated and convenient ‘identity’ we depend on.
One’s idea of identity is how we define our own story – our memories and experiences, achievements and failures, and how those happenings are recalled when our ‘identity’ is challenged or questioned. But there is nothing real, certain or permanent in our remembered stories of past events, and that doesn’t stop us from abusing, or enhancing, those stories to instil a narcissistic, toxic or self-destructive personality, or a kind-hearted, generous, empathic personality. Our personal stories over time have great value – positive, mindful and meaningful recall can provide emotional relief, the ability to recognise opportunity, promote open-mindedness and wider awareness of our immediate circumstances, this is why and what we live for after all.
Life IS a roller-coaster, the only motivating and active force is what happens from one moment to the next, one step at a time – nobody knows what happens around the corner, we just ‘trust’ that what we expect to happen, will happen. But we also know how this illusion is constructed from the ‘data set’ that is our identity story. This illusion, like everything else we encounter, will have a positive and negative aspect working together, this can confuse our perception of the outcome and cause us to ‘manifest’ whatever is imagined as the outcome, hence the old adage, ‘Be careful what you wish for’.
The author visiting with friends on the terrace of their hill house beside Los Bunkers del Carmel, anti-aircraft Spanish Civil War fortifications built in 1938, now a popular graffiti covered tourist attraction considered one of the best views over Barcelona.
Identity defines us all
The stories we tell about ourselves are the stories we believe in, that we tell ourselves, they define and identify our social position and status, even though that changes all the while, we carry on as if the stories are our true state of being. A very narrow perspective which would lead us into a gullible and vulnerable state, becoming susceptible to the power of suggestion, which can put the fear of ‘God’ into our ‘identity’.
Exploiting people’s ‘identity’ is already on rapid fire, frenzied feeding on personañl preferences, promises of instant gratification, social marketing, and custom ads on every screen, page, or device – all interacting with user behaviour, perceived and random interest searches to create profiles.
