Category Archives: Culture

New things

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This is very personal information about your body. Your body has 800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 cells. If the reader doesn’t know how to say 26 zeroes, it is eight hundred million billion billion. Interestingly, the vast majority of these cells are self directed and do not need independent information from outside the cell.

This post is about changes in the world of science. It also is because mariner doesn’t watch television much except for science documentaries and has more time to spend searching the internet to find answers to useless questions like ‘how many cells are in the human body?’

All the fields of science are changing procedures to leverage AI except mathematics itself which already is procedural except for the old theoretical issues. For example, the Rieman theory about prime numbers which was first asked in the middle 1800s.

Astrophysicists have become troubled about basic theories of the universe. For example, the gravitational role of black matter doesn’t seem to be correct given new AI technology.

In economics, the moneyed class is all agog about cryptocurrency as an investment because it is identical to dollar bills which are owned by the Federal Government, thereby reducing the risk of investment. In principal, cryptocurrency is an electronic paper dollar. At this point, although they are popular, corporate organizations like Bitcoin are not proven for safety. A bit of interesting information from a February 2020 post: … “the citizens of Kenya in 2007 became the first country to launch ‘mobile money’ transfer service through a cell phone provider that plays the role of a money exchange. Swapped phone to phone, no bank is necessary.”

Mariner already has commented on the use of minions to counsel small children and the return of in-home doctor visits (not really, the doctor is a Meta deepfake connected to a Google database).

In a lengthy diatribe he has predicted the end of democracy because AI is all about singular authority over broad expanses of human life from economics to interpersonal skills.

In the field of chemistry mariner watched a PBS documentary about how scientists already have mastered methods to manufacture RNA (RiboNucleic Acid) for any specific purpose – picking a future child’s hair color, height and nose type for example. Farmers already use an especially made RNA that duplicates the sexual perfume of a female butterfly. It is sprayed over an entire field of corn so that the male butterfly cannot determine the proximity of a female butterfly. If the reader ever eats an ear of corn and feels the urge to have sex with a butterfly, this is why.

The smartphone is the RNA of AI. Its functions are creeping into everything from automobiles to watches to whom one should marry, what to wear today and which cookie to buy – all of which are based on which sponsor is supporting the website. The other side of this behavior is what the reader doesn’t hear about, like other brands of cookies and dating partners who have been screened out because they don’t match the types of partners the database thinks the reader should like.

Donald who? Mariner has other things to think about: how long will it be before humans are warmblooded minions?

Is Harris’ first name really Pamela?

Ancient Mariner

 

Social Security

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Mariner hasn’t commented on the Trump tornado, choosing to stay with Nosey Mole in his underground abode. But Social Security is an issue that must be openly talked about  by everyone. Time is short, perhaps so short that the current Trump-infested government must resolve the collapse of Social Security during his tenure. A recent post metaphor suggested that if change isn’t done on time, it will be more difficult to change. This is the case with Social Security. The Federal Government (and likely the electorate) have the attitude, “SS funds may come up short in 2033? Oh, well we have some time to deal with it later.” In fact, if Congress were capable of thought, they would have taken note of the population shifts that have been common knowledge for decades. Because the US is so late in managing Social Security, it is made more difficult as the economy enters the AI age where many professions are at risk (any white collared staff job) and many functions will become automated (truck driving for one).

THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT NEEDS THE ENERGY OF EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT IT FULL TIME AT WORK, IN PUBS, AT CHURCH, ON TELEVISION AND REQUIRES EACH OF US TO WRITE A LETTER TO ALL OUR REPRESENTATIVES AT COUNTY, CITY, STATE AND FEDERAL LEVELS.

67 million citizens receive Social Security. If 67 million citizens wrote these letters, Trump’s opinion would only mean something to himself.

If the reader doesn’t know how Social Security works, there is a good article on the process published by Motley Crew (financial magazine) at:

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/03/22/president-trumps-biggest-social-security-proposal/

WRITE YOUR LETTERS AND TALK ABOUT IT – A LOT.

Ancient Mariner

Are food prices really going up?

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There was an informative chart from NPR. The chart pointed out that a frequent pattern was the reduction in package size as a means of not raising prices. Mariner’s local supermarket also reduced options among items by taking more expensive brands off the shelf. Interestingly, the manufacturing sector distributed their goods to fewer but larger retailers. For example, mariner can no longer find Lipton decaffeinated instant tea in his county but it is still available online at Walmart.

Now he can no longer find Planters Honey Roasted mixed nuts. Mariner often has expressed concern about the future of storefront economy. He described in his home town the disappearance of a dozen stores, some were large corporations,  – thereby reducing town domestic product to virtually nothing. Grocery stores are gone, pharmacies are gone, 5&10 store is gone, numerous restaurants are gone, hardware store is gone, car dealerships are gone. One is lucky to have a job less than 20 miles away.

Converts will say, “Poo!” It’s easier to call Walmart or Amazon with our smartphone. Thinking of smartphones, how many old timers realized the precedent that was set when a simple telephone allowed a person to speak to an artificial human being instead of having an interpersonal experience that sustained community society? “Well, it’s easier than harnessing the horse!” Today, that “human voice” can’t be guaranteed to be real – even if you see them on a screen.

Tribes, extended families, individual skills, community-based cultures soon will no longer exist unless they match Google’s data bank of common values – which is an oxymoron.

Perhaps mariner is old fashioned.

Armageddon progresses.

Ancient Mariner

And yet another side

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In a recent post mariner was baring his life experiences to demonstrate how one’s daily environment, whether work, community or family, sets the rules for one’s personal understanding of how human life works. One can read great books of knowledge and fiction, or watch the fancy visual gizmos of our age and feel as if they understand the complex life of the human primate. Perhaps, but a thin, simplified understanding.

He was watching a documentary on the TV gizmo the subject of which was the importance of dining as a political tool to assist in negotiations. It made the point that eating was a neutral experience, as were the trappings and wine. In this collegial surrounding, more delicate debate points could rise rather than be smashed down as in a typical debate environment. The show reminded mariner that Homo has demonstrated this amenity of survival across the ages.

He selected four examples, one from the early Pleistocene (approximately 1 million years ago), Pre-dynastic Chinese cultures that existed in southern Asia 4500 years ago, the Native American Plains Indian and a contemporary one begun in the European Age of Enlightenment. All four had the benefit of not having to deal with congressmen or corporate economics.

֎ Recent discoveries from several scientific sources have discovered small villages with mud and straw homes in different geographical parts of Africa. These little villages were independent communities; they had no roads to anywhere and became excellent hunters because of the oft-mentioned advantages of sweat and two-legged motion – much more efficient than hunting on four legs (try it). The economics of each of these villages was tightly associated with an organized team of hunters and gatherers. Given the constraints of living off the land, the primary social event was eating today’s kill. (Mariner believes primitive forms of square dancing occurred during this time}.

֎ Along the Yellow River in southern China, the village of Banpo existed 4500 years ago. Villages were closer to one another than they were in Africa so conflicts occurred between towns. What emerged were inter-village conferences to end conflict or avoid it. The economics of the villages included simple trading of important foods; this is the Iron Age so weaponry had to be manufactured as well. The terrain of southern China wasn’t too abundant so access to hunting grounds was a common issue. These talks needed to be fed which very shortly led to the first dynasty in China – the Xia Dynasty. Still, each village was pretty much isolated and recently attained food – AKA dinner – was important.

֎The next example is the Native American Plains Indian culture that lasted 10,000 years until white people visited. The Indian culture remained nomadic until its untimely demise because the tribes moved with the American Bison and certain indigenous plants. Again, procuring food was an ‘all hands on deck’ enterprise and tribal feasts were a relaxed celebration. (Mariner also suspects that some elements of square dancing emerged here as well.)

֎This last example may be familiar with most readers. It is a number of religious sects that practiced Christianity but did not accept capitalism or baptism: those groups followed a social belief that does not believe in infant baptism rather they required personal commitment. Familiar sects today are Amish, Hutterites and Mennonites. These groups broke away from the Christian Reformation over the issue of infant baptism, which the Anabaptists didn’t believe in. Fascinating is the retreat from a booming economic era to live on self-sustaining farms and integrated services like reins, horse drawn plows, etc. In the remaining parishes that still abide by the anti-capitalism position, did you know no member of the parish receives a salary? The GDP is shared among every member – including many common dinner celebrations.

So, while in the recent post mariner delineated US economic differences in classes, the Anabaptists are at the other end where, within the congregation, there is no economic class discrimination.

However, in today’s national parish of 300 million, self-sufficiency is out of the question. Not every member gets the choice to celebrate dinner.

It is notable, however, that square dancing has survived everywhere.

Ancient Mariner

The other side

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Mariner has had 38 distinct jobs in his life. Everything from delivering newspapers to a contract in Taiwan building a computer system for the nation’s first fighter aircraft. He can avow that jobs shape one’s ethic and one’s place in the culture. He has had luxury dinners with CEOs and generals; he has seen a dead dog in the basement of a row house with an unused kitchen and a destitute family. He could go on about a 90-year-old woman offering sex for 75⊄, confrontations with guard dogs, a bull and an armed woman – to say nothing about belligerent executives.

But this post isn’t about bar stool stories. Of the 38 distinct jobs in his life, four have had a profound impact on his ethic, philosophy of life and his role in society. In chronological sequence they are gas & electric meter reader, Methodist preacher, parole officer and coding supervisor for an insurance company.

During 4½ years as a meter reader, he visited the homes of the very, very poor, the laborer, the white collar worker, the wealthy and many homes that were converted to small businesses and one-nite motels. These visits provided a belief that the separation of economic classes is severe, unfair and ignored by society. Each culture has its own style of community interaction, behavioral mores and even its own dress code.

As a Methodist preacher, he learned that religion is a specialized form of politics. The Christian theology is not a mainstay; the vast majority of church goers accept a parochial set of beliefs born out of tradition rather than faith. The socializing effect of belonging to a community is a positive trait but the church building is more important. Few attendees abide by the Second Great Commandment.

Mariner was a parole officer for three years. The job exposed him to the more complex side of human experience. Life is made up of many stresses that present emotional injury, loneliness, passive/aggressive behavior, debt, health and stressed relationships due to mental disorder and abuse. He learned that the personal side of life has its own mores, taboos and rituals. As with economic classes, home life is given little importance by community or by society in general.

This last job is cited because of its similarity to today’s Trumpian world of work. Mariner worked as a supervisor in the data processing department of a large insurance company. Like every other business of its time, the computer language was COBOL. Suddenly, thanks to IBM and Microsoft and Apple, COBOL was dropped in favor of new technologies and coding methods. In the blink of an eye, mariner was laid off. All the other large companies had simultaneous layoffs for the same reason. Locally, he was left without a career. It took a long time to rebuild a career in another field. His learned ethic is that corporations are politically independent and feel no need to incorporate themselves into the worlds of workers. Just profit, profit, profit.

Humans are intelligent and very much a caring species. It seems to mariner that humans, like 3-year-olds, have no sense of decorum and make life difficult just because they can. Given overpopulation, environmental abuse and provoking Mother Nature, perhaps humans should clean out the pantry and start over again.

Ancient Mariner

 

Change

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Change can be good when it is needed. Changing underwear for example or cleaning the attic or buying another car. Every once in a while governments need to change, too. The issues are who (who changes one’s underwear), how (who decides which antiquities in the attic are kept or not kept) and why (when one already has three cars).

Change seems to be an authentic phenomenon. Often, change comes later than it should. Then change becomes difficult, even disastrous. Suppose one didn’t change their underwear until they were on the bus riding to work. Mariner decided to visit Guru to talk about the validity of change. He took a trip to Guru’s remote mountain retreat.

Mariner began their conversation by citing the broad dissatisfaction that exists in the world today, the turmoil of war and authoritarianism, and the fading confidence toward economics.

“Change”, Guru replied, “is an absolute part of existence. There is not one ion in the universe that exists without being the product of change in the  state of its energy. Where there is energy, there is change. Otherwise there would be no universe.”

“But must change be so disruptive?”, mariner asked.

“At the level of living creatures here on Earth, change is always disruptive but in smaller scales of change, it sometimes can pass without being obvious. When a newborn has a different shade of hair, it is noticed but doesn’t seem disruptive. However, the level of DNA involved in that change that forced a modification in a sequence of otherwise ‘happy’ cells was significant.”

“But humans are so proud of their mastery of so many of Earth’s processes. Why can’t they manage change better?” mariner replied. He submitted a Wiley calendar subject to make his point:

“Your cartoon reflects the difficulty and disruption caused by change”, Guru replied. “Nothing, not an ion, a sea nettle, a crow or a human makes changes until they are forced upon them. Some changes are incremental and even greatly beneficial but these are not large changes. Change becomes disruptive when entire concepts and procedures must undergo total change in a short amount of time – that is, not as slow as evolution.”

Guru continued, “The cartoon also demonstrates that change must relate to genuine pressures that are hurting life’s processes. Making changes for ulterior or irrelevant reasons only adds to the cacophony.”

Mariner thanked Guru for his insights and headed home. Mariner’s assumption is that humans aren’t as smart as they should be about managing themselves. AI can’t do it, either – because AI is a human invention.

Ancient Mariner

 

More about happy

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Recent posts were about finding a happy place to live. There is no question that the US is, generally, an unhappy place to live. The economic pressures putt on the citizenry are unheard of and the President already is making financial stability a disappearing phenomenon for everyone. Still, Donald doesn’t (yet) own small happy places or one’s personal memories.

Seriously, everyone must survive each day with at least a little satisfaction that life is worth living. Often, we must force ourselves to insert satisfaction into our daily life. His daughter has a supper routine where everyone around the table must identify a rose, then identify a thorn. A rose expresses the high point of the day, a fun moment, an accomplishment, or an interpersonal action. The thorn represents the opposite: a low point in the day, a frustration or failure. Even their 4-year-old must participate. Besides the benefit of sharing with one another, the exercise makes one focus on what good events feel like as well as preventing bad memories from being the only memories.

It is possible to deliberately set up a discharge of bad feelings by performing a deliberate action for that purpose. For example, play with children – the more active, the better; get outside with them and romp meaninglessly while the good vibes rise to the surface. The same can be applied with loved pets; take a walk, go to the ice cream parlor for a shared treat or toss a stuffed toy or ball. Cats like to cuddle and play hunting games with a toy or treat. Or use Zen practices designed for the same purpose – go deep and let go. Go somewhere where you have good vibes.

The challenge is to get outside the negativity that has been forced on you. The old saw about two sides make up one coin is true. If negative feelings are dominating, turn the coin over – there’s a whole new fun world there. The ability to turn the coin over at will is made difficult today by industrial distractions. One will not achieve happiness scrolling a smart phone or a television set. If one is truthful, these devices are a sedative – a lot like oxycodone and not a cure.

Discovering positivity requires physical action, change of routine and a focus free of typical responsibilities. A smart phone is not the same as walking in the woods – well maybe it can be pretended as such but that’s the difficulty in taking happiness advice from a circuit board. Go personal! Use that body of yours for fun!

Ancient Mariner

 

Turtles like to dance

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This post owes its topics to the March 2025 issue of Scientific American magazine.

First, did the reader know turtles like to dance? A scientific study of the sea turtle discovered that when it arrives at a feeding source, it does a little circle dance. [Mariner could only imagine Ethel Merman dancing the boogie.] It turns out turtles have a worldwide GPS in their brain complete with saved addresses and routes. Will Homos ever try to replace it with AI?

Another article stated that the human brain doesn’t use words to reason or gain insight. Mariner and his fellow hearing impaired are pleased about this finding. Externally, those with hearing difficulties are treated nicely but with tolerance, that their thinking is affected by their frequent misunderstandings. Scientific American says ‘no way’. When the brain is rationalizing an issue, it is off in another part of the brain and does not need the skill set that uses the five senses – including hearing. The author offers a few examples to show that words or speech-based articulating don’t have a place in reasoning:

Mariner assumes his readers are of a high quality intelligence that will solve these puzzles easily. If one escapes the reader’s insight, solutions follow tomorrow.

Just like the turtle, and most other creatures as well, the brain is a big place where the senses are just a small part more interested in immediate survival than in pondering the unknown, storing memory and managing a complex living creature.

Ancient Mariner

 

Best measure of national content

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Generally speaking, the way a nation measures its economic health is by measuring its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP is an economic phrase that means ‘how much profit ls generated’. Since the Second World War, the US economic strategy has been ‘big is better’ leading to large, monopolistic corporations, international trade control and sustaining controlled inflation/deflation. Donald reminds us of how profit is manipulated through tariffs. As things stand today, the United States is the wealthiest nation in the world.

But something doesn’t seem right. Would it then be true that small is worse? Does this delineation lead to hoarding the better and ignoring the worse? Afraid so, that’s how capitalism works. Charity is okay as long as it is voluntary. Mandated charity (Is that like a penalty for being wealthy?) is verboten.

GDP is just one item in a long table of contributing issues as to what makes a nation happy – not just wealthy. In population polls of all the nations, the US is ranked 16th to 23rd in most polls and one source reports the US at 63rd) as a ‘happy’ nation. It is interesting but clearly demonstrative that certain elements of society play a larger role than ‘bigger is better’. Eleven of the top twelve happiest nations are dominated by a similar social structure. They are:   Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

This conclusion is based on Gallup polling data collected over the past three years from 143 countries, with researchers evaluating six critical factors: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption both internally and externally.

֎ GDP per capita. ‘Per capita’ means per person rather than the typical use to measure a nation’s situation. This measurement is the average income of all citizens individually. It includes not only well-to-do citizens but citizens from all income levels – including those with no income.

֎ Social Support. This category includes government programs that support the citizenry, e.g., Medicare, Social Services, child care, social security, food stamps, minimum wage, etc.

֎ Healthy Life Expectancy. This category focuses on price controls for various costs related not only to health and prescriptions but also to assisted living and living conditions generally.

֎ Freedom to make life choices. Distracting issues like racism, class discrimination, sexual constraints like birth control, abortion and homosexuality, education policy, restrictions caused by disruption from zoning, home owner associations, tax and insurance policies, and corporate intrusion all impose on an individual’s desire to make independent decisions about life choices.

֎ Generosity. There are two types: government and citizenry. It is a matter of behavioral attitude for both. Governments can be oppressive and finite about social policy or they can adopt some awareness of social need and exception. A US example is the battle over minimum wage, which is far behind the effects of inflation. Food stamps and rental policies which avoid competitive pricing are other examples.

On the citizenry side, Housing Associations are notorious for constraining individual desires. Another is the atmosphere of unanimity in communities. [In a recent post, mariner alluded to the influence of a common industry and multi-generational families contributing to a unified society.] Large corporations can choose to support employee needs outside the workplace by ‘joining the community’ or simply impose their presence in a way that can, in the extreme, wipe out a whole neighborhood.

֎ Perceptions of corruption both internally and externally. This category is likely to be the real reason the US is ranked as the 23rd happiest nation. Corruption is de rigueur in the US. Since the Reagan administration in the 1980s, unions have been busted, the tax code is dangerously imbalanced, elected officials see their own security and lifestyle as more important, rental prices are not competitive, Corporate America is completely self-managed and owes no support for American society. Lest we go on . . . .

Many times mariner has heard the comment, “If Trump buys Canada, where else can I move?” Try Finland, perpetually the happiest nation in the world.

Ancient Mariner

 

 

Where is everyone?

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Mariner has written many posts about how social relationships are affected by economics, industrialism and technology. Most often, the relationship turns out to be a visible impact on specific generations. Because of the age break in generations, typically twenty years, and because the average active lifespan of humans has been around three generations, he has proposed that every sixty years a community will have significant social and economic changes.

For example, small to medium rural towns have followed the ‘sixty’ rule for three successions. The first significant change occurred around the turn of the century (1900) when automobiles and tractors changed farm practices and opened direct marketing of farm products to a much larger territory. Suddenly, in just a few years, farms had to be much larger to accommodate supply and demand. Access to a railroad line was a big advantage.

This shift in economics took an entire generation’s time to buy and sell farms, switch from horses to machinery, and to modify farm production. The population did not shift notably because these changes required lots of rural support from family farms to family banks to farm industries.

Forty years later World War II intervened. Farm families experienced the first significant migration away from rural population to factories in cities and joining the military which offered generous college benefits to GIs.

Rounding out the first 60-year loop, a large industrial influence was an active era of building US highways, interstates, train, bus and air services. This made it easier for an entire generation to leave local areas to seek better income and education. Many GIs took advantage of college benefits to leave farming for other careers.

This was during the 1960s. In 1964 Mariner moved from a big eastern city to this small town. The social structure still was dominated by large, multi-generational families. But something was missing. In the sixties, almost an entire population of high school graduates left for college and commercial opportunities elsewhere. Mariner was able to enjoy a still-functioning farm culture, a unique experience for him. But by the 1970s and especially into the 1980s, ‘family’ farms no longer existed; not only did high school students leave but many families sold smaller farms because of economic pressures.

The third 60-yearloop, until today, has seen a further drop in population which caused most small businesses to disappear, churches began to suffer from dropping attendance and the active farm culture was not the social influence it once was. The town, slowly through to today, has become a residential neighborhood where jobs are found elsewhere.

Mariner and his wife, now seasoned members of the town, have noticed the final phase of the third 60-cycle: Friends are dying; family members are dying; most of the town is populated by newcomers. No one knows everyone anymore. It is becoming a town which has no connection to its past.

When he moved back to town, mariner memorized all the street names in the town as an aid to finding his way around. Still, old folks, when he asks where someone lives, most often will say, “You know, over behind Carl’s old house.” Mariner lives in a section of town where until many decades ago a farm was across the road; older residents still cite that farm.

Mariner and his wife are losing friends and relatives rather frequently. Where is everyone?

Ancient Mariner