WE ARE A GADGET NOT A THINKING SOCIETY!

WE ARE A GADGET NOT A THINKING SOCIETY

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© May 29, 2010

“Folly consists in drawing of false conclusions from just principles, by which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions from false principles.”

John Locke (1632 – 1704), English philosopher

* * *


If I were walking in a hailstorm, eventually the idea would surface that I best get out of it.

If I was warned that a hailstorm was in the offing, while the skies appeared to be relatively clear, chances are I would consider the possibility of a hailstorm remote and go about my business as usual.

If I was presented with a clear case of the nature of hailstorms and the source of their damaging effects, along with a strategy of understanding of how to prevent them from proving inconvenient or embarrassing, chances are I would ignore the enlightenment.

* * *

After reading William L. Livingston IV's DESIGN FOR PREVENTION (2010), which was conceived and written long before the oilrig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, my sensitivities have been bombarded by media storms and public gnashing of teeth.

I have watched the pusillanimous Congressional hearings, and wondered how Livingston, whose prescription for prevention is so thorough and consistent with natural law, could be so blatantly ignored.

The answer is obvious. We have an eclectic group of programmed thinkers with hindsight mentalities schooled in institutional infallibility, chain of command authority, and business as usual practices that run everything.

They cannot escape, and therefore neither can we, from their circular logic as they attempt to solve problems with the same thinking that caused them.

We are status quo society forever stuck. Even a reminder of this fact with the contretemps of the oilrig disaster is unlikely to find us getting unstuck. We have left the feudal ages but not the futile ages. David Brooks seems to understand this.

* * *

David Brooks, a New York Times columnist of a reflective temperament, is sometimes able to touch if peripherally ideas Livingston investigates much more thoroughly. Brooks does so in a column I read today in the Sunday edition of the St. Petersburg Times (May 29, 2010). The column is titled, "A DANGEROUS ILLUSION OF SAFETY." I suggest you check it out online. It touches some of the themes in Livingston's book.

* * *

I told BB, "I would send Brooks one of Livingston's books, but I'm sure he wouldn't get it much less read it."

"Why do you say that?"

"I have no faith in the media."

"You're such a cynic, Jim."

"Cynic my dear doesn't touch it. I gave a number of people an opportunity to have a copy of this book, and I heard from three. People who I thought had a couple brain cells working together gave it a pass. What do you call that?"

"I call that reality. Most people don't have the time or inclination to . . ."

"Get beyond playing with their iPads or BlackBerry's?"

"I was going to say to think anymore than they have to. You think too much."

"No, my dear, I don't think enough."

"I suppose you're going to write about this?"

"No, well, yes and no. I'm going to suggest people read David Brooks's column. ."

"And Livingston's book?"

"No. I've given up on that idea. We are not a thinking society. We're a gadget society."

"Said by a true non-gadget person."

"So?"

"So you could at least let your readers know how they could download Bill's book."

"I've done that before."

"Quit being such a baby, list the download."

"Well, all right. Here it is http://designforprevention.com/D4P.pdf "

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"I think I'm breaking into a rash."

"My big baby."

* * *

Be always well,

Jim