entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

1: Given that you don't have a purely US-centric point of view, and given the sometimes "eccentric" kinds of things that happened in your home country of Ecuador (your brother once told me an uncle of yours is a politician, and was shot in the behind while in a house of congress), how do you view the continuing faux-religiousizing and right wing swinging of the United States? Furthermore, what do you really think anybody can do about it?

Damn, i don't remember hearing that story.  I do know that one of my mom's cousins was, until last year's purge, a member of the Supreme Court.

I view the current attempt to turn the US into Jesusland as just that — an attempt.  I find a lot of the complaints i've read a tad hysterical.  However, there is no doubt that the attitude is utterly wrongheaded, misguided, and won't work, even if they nominally succeed in what they're trying to do.

What can anybody do about it?  What anyone does when faced with unpleasant political activity: initiate opposing political activity.  Vote, volunteer, write, start a campaign, run for office.

2: What was your most embarrasing moment while naked?

I honestly can't think of any embarrassing moments while naked, but that might be because i'm not embarrassed easily.  Kim's kids often just walked into my room early in the relationship because they were used to it and encountered me in the nude, but they seemed to be more embarrassed by that than i was.  "Rooonnnnn!!" "Hey, don't like it?  KNOCK NEXT TIME."

3: Certain science fiction pundits posit the concept of "The Singularity" — a moment where technology and culture will advance beyond the capacity of today's humanity to conceive of, let alone grasp. Given your somewhat advanced technical qualifications, how far ahead do you see such a moment being?

Perhaps it's because i haven't really read any Singularity books, but i regard the notion of the Singularity as hooey.  Machines are still effectively as stupid as they were 20 years ago.  It's great to speculate what'll happen when we have giant AIs... but the way these guys are trying to predict stuff based on past events makes me wonder how many of them are problem gamblers.  One caveat: this probably will change once we map the human brain.  But i'd say that's a very long way away.

4: Follow-up question to #1: What kinds of effects do the rampant adventurism and imperial leanings of US foreign policy have in seemingly peripheral countries like Ecuador?

I honestly can't answer such a complex question.  I know Ecuador has announced it's not interested in renewing the lease that allows the US to have a naval base in Manta, which it claims to use in the War on Drugs.  Beyond that, it seems to me that American policy has barely touched Ecuador.  Whether that's an accurate assessment is up to someone with a greater understanding of economics (which is, by far, my weakest subject).

5: When I last saw you, you were (in your own words) "pretty messed up." You seem to have come a long way and gotten your life back on track. To what do you attribute this transition, and what steps do you take to insure that things don't go off the rails again?

I grew up.  When i flunked out of college, i was still in denial about it.  After that, i went to Seattle, had a relationship fall apart, lost my job, and went broke.  When i returned to Miami, where my mom welcomed the chance to bail me out, i almost magically seemed to have grown a clue about my priorities.  I don't expect to go off the rails again any more than i could forget how to drive.

... articulated my core philosophical attitude years ago. Bloody typical.

"Not knowing is much more interesting than believing an answer which might be wrong."
       - Richard Feynman

"Please act towards others with goodwill and with courtesy;
Otherwise, be polite."
                - Guitar Craft House Rules

The older i get, the easier it is for me to remember to follow this.  It is important; it is urgent.  I sneer and use sarcasm because i've done it so often that it becomes rote, a reflex, an automatic defense against a world and a humanity that, frankly, too often pisses me off and disappoints me.  But i do not blame the world and the people around me for my behavior.

Thanks go to extempore for giving me a label i can sew onto my ontological hat.

... in holding back something cool and original i've written so that i may post it to my journal on Monday in order to maximize the number of people who read it, because i am operating under the assumption that some people don't check their friends page during the weekend, and when Monday arrives, they aren't interested enough to scroll far back enough to catch up on the weekend stuff.

Shit, who am i writing this for, anyway?  Me, or you?

It sounds completely idiotic, but it's what's coming out of my mind: it feels good to know that i can still, for no discernible reason, become depressed. And i'm trying to get angry about it, and i can't.

I often tend bar at the altar of ha ha only serious. When i pour a good serving, the two-fisted perfection of honesty and irony sit neatly, one atop the other, like a black-and-tan; not only does it look great, but it goes down easy and the flavors mingle in your mouth, yet remain distinct. When i don't... well, like that great American patriot Philip J. Fry will say someday in the future, "Ugh, it's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's throwing up." Sometimes, some of the things i say are so muddled, i don't know whether i'm serious or kidding or a little of both. It bothers me and it makes me a little sad, and i wonder if i should give it up. But i won't, because i've found that it's the most effective way to tell people the truth, because they laugh, and then they think. It sticks with them when it happens that way.

There's that old Ben Franklin chestnut that floats around, the one about those who trade freedom for safety deserve neither. And it's cute `n' all... but we trade freedom for safety every hour of every day. And we're all free do quit our jobs, to leave our families, to break the law. That's why i say that freedom (and free will) is a fiction — because there isn't an alternative. You can't not be free.

The one thing you can't be free from is consequences. Quitting your job, leaving your family, breaking the law, they have consequences. So do keeping your job, staying with your family, obeying the law. You have the choice; you make your decision and thereby bring on the consequences.

Life is a balance of freedom and safety, because freedom is another word for risk. You can trade in your freedom for some safety, but you don't have enough freedom to buy you complete safety. If you think otherwise... well, maybe that's what Ben meant.

But i'm certain that somewhere between "If you hate America so much, why don't you leave?" and "America had this coming because of its arrogant behavior" lies the truth. And i think the truth was fittingly spoken by a fool named Rodney King: "Why can't we all just get along?"

We, as a race, don't seem to be concerned with politeness and looking at the big picture and at the long run. But we pretend to, and that's good enough to satisfy us. And our luck and leeway slowly runs out. I don't know how long it'll be until things reach a breaking point; it's unlikely it'll happen in my lifetime. But i wouldn't bet against it happening three generations from now.

And you know what? It's probably not going to be a big deal in the really long run. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people will die. But not too many. So we'll recover. And with a little luck, we'll be smarter about it this time around.

Via rjray: Corporate Mofo Reloads The Matrix.