Watched the democratic convention. How many times did you hear someone say ‘existential’? Did they mean:
Meaningful? Emotional? Positive? Real? Empirical? Spiritual? achievement?
Let’s face it. ‘Existential’ is a thesaurus word – just like ‘gay’ was.
Ancient Mariner
Isn’t it great that we have a new hobby – the meaning of existential? Marc’s observations are a true experience; when we hear folks use the word, we tend to feel they really don’t have a substantive argument. Marc is wise beyond his years (He has many).
Mariner promises this is the last post about existential.
Just to warm up the reader’s egotistical, self-centered brain, what you have warmed up has nothing to do with existentialism. To use another awkward analogy, existentialism in its correct, philosophical perspective, is not who you think you are.- that is not what’s important. Who you think you are is a result of interacting with reality.
Many years ago an individual, unnamed at the time, described his philosophy of life as an effort to experience as many different sensations, emotions, circumstances and social engagements as he possibly could because, he said, “I am what I experience”. He believed in the philosophy of existentialism.
Given Schroeder’s cat in a box, the cat is not real until you otherwise experience it. What makes it real is a context provided by reality, not one’s egotistical, self-promoting ego – the reader didn’t know until reality presented it to them. A valid existential moment. One has the realization that until reality interacted with you, you could not add the experience.
Philosophically, those who believe the existential experience is what gives meaning and purpose to one’s life, believe reality is what defines us and shapes us. Our own definitions of ourselves are a way of interpreting that existential moment.
So, now that this wonderful, abstract word is not just part of your vocabulary but also an existential experience – and a hobby, mariner leaves the reader to enjoy a newly defined sense of self.
Ancient Mariner
Mariner expected the common response to be “Doesn’t this guy have anything else to do?” The feedback from friends and readers was varied. Two responses to the post are examples.He admits his detailed meandering may have caused confusion. This time he will be breviloquent.
On the second line of the post, classic Latin suggests it is an essence or a state of continuous ‘being’.
Graphically, in the sequence 4,5,6 5 is the existential relationship.
The moment of behavior combined with the impact of present reality is the existential moment. That moment provides meaning to the behavior and to the definition of reality.
He said it was a hobby.
Ancient Mariner
When is something existential? Defining this word can be a hobby. Its origins, going back to classic Latin, suggest it is an essence or a state of continuous ‘being’. Today, it has many applications as a moral circumstance, an historical value, an empirical experience or a moment of reality.
Mariner’s interest in this word goes back to his college days when he had a philosophy class. The word has many faces. A common use today is as a form of empiricism, where all knowledge comes from experience. Social activists often use the word as a transition point where an idea becomes reality. (a quote from a political aide who said, “If we don’t do something about this, it will become existential.”). Philosophers use the word as a way to describe an entity – like how a rabbit interacts with reality is what makes it a rabbit. (Remember, this is a hobby).
What makes using the word ‘existential’ difficult is that it is two-faced, that is, it is one moment with multiple conditions. For example, someone could say “My experiences are who I am, meaning that they exist because they experience it”. Another individual could say, “My existence is how i react to reality”. A subtle difference for sure but the context of one begins with the person and the other begins with reality.
The classic definition of existential means ‘relating to reality’. That’s it. It is a condition, not an act; it is an interaction, not a conclusion; it is a noun, not an adverb.
He hopes the reader has enjoyed this existential moment.
Ancient Mariner
Mariner recently read an account of the next phase in AI: Merging corporate data with personal data taken from one’s own computer or smartphone. It is an attempt to “read the interests of the user” in order to provide an instant integration between user interest and what’s related in the cloud. Today’s search engines won’t be needed. The intent is that the cloud and the user are one unified operation. Microsoft will keep its own copy of all files, websites, everything executed on a person’s private computer.
It is fascinating to read arguments from both sides of this objective. AI folks see this progress as a great service to the user; privacy advocates see this progress as not only an invasion of privacy but more broadly see a future where society is managed to the extent that an individual’s ability to reason unique personal solutions for a ‘real’ world doesn’t exist.
When humans aren’t allowed to see genuine reality, their control of reality disappears. Historically, this is the complaint about dictatorships because the dictator determines what matters. Mariner’s oft-cited movies, 1984 and Matrix, are about the loss of individuality because AI dictators say what is real.
Already a person’s budget, housing and other accessories are limited to what is seen on a screen ad page. Could there be other options? Even the banking industry is offering to manage your cash for you – don’t need checkbook records anymore; it is possible to be in debt and not know it.
Mariner knows he is peeing in the ocean. There is no government, no culture, no enterprise that can avoid the move toward replacing one’s individuality with the pseudo compassion of Amazon as to what’s the best deal. In fact, medical science has already made artificial brain parts. Be wary if someone suggests installing a receptacle in your neck; your brain will know only what’s on your smartphone.
Armageddon progresses.
Ancient Mariner
It is 94 degrees with humidity at maximum levels thanks to Iowa corn which sweats as much as humans do. Dare not go outside. What to do … what to do … Alright, mariner will write a post.
It is too bad that the planet is in such disarray in these times. Smoke rises from rampant fires around the world, 20 violent wars ongoing and the political smoke of a human race facing unknown confrontations. Mariner will offer another source for smoke – language.
Language used to be quite parochial. No doubt Neanderthals had little to discuss when, 50,000 years ago, they met one another roaming across Europe and the West Siberian Plain. Slowly over the centuries, humans around the world discovered stuff they had to name like family, weapons, food groups, territories and fellow animals. (If anyone knows the word for ‘donkey’ in Itsekiri, let mariner know.)
Then the age of economics emerged. Language needed to remember abstract stuff. Words were needed for nuance and situation. And so it went until there were so many words in a given language (typically nation-based) that dictionaries were needed to keep track of them all.
So these tomes have done until a new flood of words is emerging on the Internet. Social Media users are not bound by region, generation or linguistic discipline. The traditional dictionaries must be holding their probosces as they add multi-lingual words like RIZZ, PADAWAN, CROMULENT, SMISHING and an endless expansion of acronyms. e.g., LOL. The French are notorious for garbled words; new ones are être en PLS, bader and gayolle. Don’t forget the new linguist – Regenerative AI, capable of generating new content in response to a submitted query by using a large reference database of examples – many contributed by social media or invented by AI as a logarithmic average.
Language is smoking.
Ancient Mariner
The animal kingdom always has looked down on the plant kingdom. Plants are around for animals to use for food, housing, entertainment, protection, etc. Plants do not respond to treatment by animals; they don’t whimper, try to escape, take defensive action – plants are around for the purpose of supporting animal life – it’s that simple.
In recent decades, definition of the term ‘agency’ has been shifting in philosophy, psychology, botany, chemistry and even nuclear physics. Generally, the word agency means the ability to take reasoned action based on whatever unique circumstance presents itself. Without agency, a human could not play tennis, eat a peanut or remove a finger from the fire. Biologically, humans still can make decisions, have emotional responses and fabricate circumstances even if suffering from intense paranoia, absolute narcissism, extreme prejudice, advanced dementia or any other interpretive disorder. What is not present is the act of agency – decisions responding to real, external situations.
A simple dementia example is when someone suffering from dementia tries to call a friend who has passed on. Memory is present, emotions and a response to personal need are present – but no agency. Agency is a reasoned reaction to external reality.
Do not confuse anthropomorphism with agency. Just because one can imagine that a creature, or anything for that matter, has human sensitivities doesn’t mean it has agency. Mariner often has cursed the table fork as an evil, demented character because it decides to throw food on the front of his shirt. Many readers surely have tried to have a conversation with a cute sparrow, preying mantis, or a llama. All living things have a finely tuned agency that has no relationship with the human imagination.
The idea that all living things have some degree of agency is the new element in the definition.
He was in the garden the other day when he discovered a new little oak tree among the flowers. Mariner is fond of oak trees. But he had to advise the oak tree that he was going to dig it up because it was in the garden. So the oak tree said “You’re blocking the Sunlight, you idiot.”
Ancient Mariner
Yes, mariner had signed off. There is no new insight into Armageddon; it is moving along as expected. But mariner suffers from empty time as a very hot weather pattern hangs around making gardening and any activity outside the front door verboten. So, to soak up a bit of empty time, mariner writes a post.
A new direction in science has entered the science magazines: extinction and consciousness, Do the scientists know something we don’t know? It is claimed that extinction is a good thing and is part of the evolutionary process – which could not exist without it. In other words, there comes a time when Earth doesn’t need dinosaurs anymore, or humans, either. Planet Earth simply can’t afford to maintain a status quo because of requirements arising from the Solar System and the limits of static consumption.
What would many species eat when all the Maryland crabs are gone? Crabs aside, 20,000 species have become extinct during the industrial era of humans. From another perspective, migrating creatures already are modifying their alternative environments if they can. Whales have a tough row to hoe right now. It wouldn’t be hard to argue, “Alright, we’ve had the humans too long – the biosphere is shifting.” If resources are disappearing, it’s time for extinction of the cause: Homo sapiens.
But would Homo disappear? Perhaps not. Many, many species have changed dramatically as climate and topography have shifted. Consider the aforementioned whales – they used to live on land and needed legs. If a species can change to survive, it will. What will humans become given their large sense of consciousness and creativity? Ever seen a minion? Ever seen a sex doll? Ever seen a chromosome grow on an AI circuit?
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Consciousness is included because the new insight into consciousness is that it is not a separate phenomenon from physical existence, that is, it is not some will o’ the wisp decision tree that is not bound by physiological behavior. A leading suggestion is that even gnats have consciousness, and frogs and earthworms. One wonders whether earthworms have fantasies. We shall find out. On the human level, it questions whether religious or other alternative realities actually exist or are the result of physiological need.
Ancient Mariner
This is another of those days when the mind is blank. It’s one of the side effects of living in Chicken Little’s henhouse where TV news broadcasts and political documentaries are not allowed.
One is forced to deal with unrelated, unnecessary thoughts that have no real world value. For example, has the reader ever been on a farm, perhaps playing softball or having a picnic – and a cow across the fence stands still, watching you intently, not even twitching an ear? What is that cow thinking? The cow’s thoughts certainly aren’t rationalizing what actually is happening in context; what could possibly hold the cow’s interest in what the humans are doing?
Humans often are not aware of the extent to which other animals have unique mental faculties. For example, did the reader know that robins have amazing eyesight that can identify very small objects as much as 40 or 50 feet away? A few days ago, mariner was sitting on the porch when he saw a robin land on the electric service line to the house; the line was about 30 feet in the air. The bird sat there several minutes until suddenly, like an arrow, it flew to the ground in a straight trajectory to the end of the yard where it snatched an earthworm! There aren’t many humans that have such accurate vision – let alone fly.
Some birds have remarkable sympathy, maybe even enough to qualify as a democrat. There is a documentary showing two crows in separate but adjoining cages. There was a small slot in the common side. When only one crow was fed, it shared its food with the other crow by passing it through the slot. When the roles were reversed, the same sharing occurred.
In another experiment, a rat was put in a cage that required a procedure of several steps before it could open the door to its food. It tried fruitlessly to open the door. Then the rat was shown a video of another rat who knew the steps. After watching it once, the rat went straight to the door and opened it.
Maybe humans depend on the frontal lobes too much.
Ancient Mariner
Everyone has moments of bliss, of complete satisfaction, perhaps even grace. One cannot select these moments, they happen unannounced, but they are rewarding. Sometimes, it’s just a moment with a loved one or a deep appreciation of a child. Sometimes it’s when one is alone, sitting in the midst of nature’s wilderness. Sometimes, it is the joy of making another life better. Sometimes, it’s just a realization of fulfillment in a familiar surrounding.
Mariner and his wife had a similar experience sitting in their backyard, a garden respite from garages, concrete parking pads and streets. Sunlight was fading, sparrows, robins, doves, blackbirds and squirrels went about their individual lives. Having these moments is like a soothing salve on one’s soul.
But those moments are brief. ‘Real’ life calls us back. In that moment of recall, what does one feel? Is it anxiety? Duty? Contentment? Desire? Motivation? Does one retreat to depression or leap to ambition? Generally, all these sensations are in a bag labeled ‘accountability’. One is conscious of these feelings because a moment ago they were suppressed by a moment of bliss.
What accountability does one feel toward self, family, community, the nation and the sacred world of spirituality? It is important to note which accountability emerges first. This obligation is important and requires action of some nature. Based on one’s motivations, it may be to load the dishwasher, call one’s senator or see to the well being of a family member.
The moment of bliss should provide great healing power to the self, a comfort in family, a friendship with the community, a responsibility to the nation, and an allegiance to one’s source of spirituality.
It may be helpful to search for places where on can let go of the real world for a moment and restore a unified sense of one’s life experience.
Ancient Mariner