MadPole
Strikes Back
For your delectation,
below part two of my correspondence
with the insane philosopher, who is the only
mortal who actually knows the truth.
Typical MadPole
quote:
"Virtual reality started
a long time ago and was invented by accountants."
MadPole:
Keep your eyes open for respectable monkhoods
on offer! When I was a child I was joking that
when I am 40 I will give everything up and go
to India to become a monk and....my life does
seem to be going towards this direction.....monkhood
does not have to involve religion - not "on
the surface of things" anyway.
I stayed first night in my new house - it looks
like luckily I managed to pick the right area
- in fact it was so quiet there at 22:30 that
it was almost frightening: no TV or radio noises,
no people on the street, just total silence
(and my bedroom overlooks the road).... it was
almost disturbing so I was quite pleased when
I heard a car passing by after 10 minutes of
this exhausting silence! How am I supposed to
have parties there? I hope my neighbours are
more adventurous during weekends! But I live
2 minutes away from "END OF SPEED LIMIT" sign
and 5 minutes away from REAL farms! Plenty of
forests as well.... Need to get a bicycle now
I am afraid!
eadon:
Hang on, you don't like quiet and yet you want
to be a monk? Eh? Being a monk sounds like a
waste of time to me. Why not just commit suicide.
I suppose its an easy life, or is it? You probably
don't eat pizza and have you wash your own scraggy
rags. Not a computer in sight. Malaria. Toothache.
Not for me old mucker. Give me the 21ST : century,
not the 13th
MadPole:
Who says that monks don't use PCs ! And I don't
eat pizza anyway! And yes - I want easy life!
Without washing, cleaning, worrying about finances
and all other bureau-cracy ! But there isn't
much - the situation I am in is so crazy it
is abstract to me.... I can't explain it properly
but it is something along the lines that everything
I fought against, everything I don't agree with
came back together....and here I am.... I always
say that one has to accept things one can not
accept before one can forget about them in order
to move forward.....and that is exactly what
is happening to me.....I wanted to break out,
wanted to escape, wanted to have what I believe
I deserve but instead ... oh dear, dear!
The brilliant thing is that my new company encourages
me in every possible way to treat work as a
source of income - and nothing else! This is
obviously difficult for me but I am sure I will
manage! With all lovely country side around
and perhaps a Linux as a companion that should
not be too much of a problem.... Anyway - I
keep rattling and rattling and talking about
myself and more about myself and feeling sorry
for myself and all this rubbish! There will
be other news soon! I am shell-shocked at the
moment.
MadPole:
Every PROFESSIONAL company seems to be implementing
time saving methods and procedures which nobody
follows because of lack of time!
eadon:
One can always set off right away but if you
set off right away you will make great progress
early on. But in the end you will get lost and
be eaten by crocs/bears/lions/cannibals, drown,
freeze or starve
MadPole:
Sudden realisation struck me - Internet, computers
- virtual reality....but virtual reality started
a long time ago and was invented by accountants!
(that's why nobody took any notice). Money is
an excellent evolution from real, physical things
to some concepts buried in some figures on a
piece of paper. And frighteningly enough that's
what today's business is based on - no matter
what business. The levels of indirections just
keep evolving - gold was replaced by goods,
goods by paper money, paper money by balances
and electronic transfers, then came futures
etc. etc.... The whole point is that gold was
physical, stable, solid measure. Now, with so
many levels of indirection and ever increasing
momentum of change it is very difficult to evaluate
anything. It is nearly impossible to make the
right decision In the world where making losses
can be a very profitable business. The world
is changing so fast that managers find a very
easy way out - they let circumstances drive
their business decisions. Very spiritual attitude
indeed. "Go with the flow". Why try to predict
the future? Why not just make sure that we are
in the main stream, wherever it takes us? So
instead of thinking ahead our job is to push
our competitors aside so we occupy the biggest
share in the main stream. Very evolutionary
attitude indeed. "The fight for survival". A
company has to survive and have a BIG presence.
That's the only goals company has. Forget about
the future. The future will come - no point
in wasting money on it today. Just make sure
that nobody pushes you aside today. And that
your presence is BIG because if it is then your
presence in the future will be BIG. If you survive
every day being BIG then of course you will
be BIG in the future... And on and on and on....
eadon:
I think goods came first and were replaced by
gold as the first form of cash a level of abstraction.
So hard that economists simply do not know any
more how much money there is and how fast it
is recycling. Business is an ecosystem. Like
any ecosystem, the best animals do not necessarily
survive.
MadPole:
The best, the fittest....those are just human
terms, words, concepts. Usual rubbish I keep
saying most of the times. I love animals and
nature because I keep learning from them all
the time. It is very difficult for human brain
to escape the relativity and virtuality it created.
Watching the nature helps. We are all staggering
in this world in a dream like, confused state,
bumping into each other and wandering why we
are actually here and what the purpose is. Of
course - business world is going to be the same.
Business world is us. Governments, organisations,
corporations are just words. Eco-ingeeeeeenering....
"Eco" term is an absolute killer thanks to You
Sir! I was wondering about it even this very
morning! Ecology and Economy! There are very
few things left in this world which don't have
value associated with it.
Human race seems to be absolutely obsessed by
numbers. We know how much it costs to grow a
tree. We know how much it costs to buy a tree.
We know how much we would get if we cut a tree
in planks and sell them like that. We know how
much we would get if we made furniture from
it. Or matches. Or paper. We know how much it
costs to cut the tree illegally. We know....
One poor tree and so many, many and many numbers
associated with it. What sins has it committed
to be called so many different names? I might
be totally wrong (ha! it's this time of the
year again!) but it seems to me that ecology
of many countries depends on economy. Economy
is sweeping the world like a bush fire.
Micro$oft (and Madonna of course) are the first
people (surely not "people"?) who jumped on
this fast train (which was still a bit slow
at the time). What Micro$oft did then was to
put the economy on the full speed. The whole
world had to spend few years to develop a train
that would catch with Happy O'Billy Wagon. But
it's all right now. It is nearly over. Quite
few people managed to jump over. And vice versa.
Everything started to mix up again. Balance
is being restored. And what do we have left
from this crazy ride? Speed. At the end of the
day it is just people interacting with other
people. People living their lives. I like the
concept of business being ecosystem! Because
it has very nice logical "turn it up-side-down"
implications...which end up with nature becoming
more and more Economical System based on value
of money rather than business becoming more
and more ecological and natural.
eadon:
The speed of economy and Business is happening
despite of Micro$oft, certainly not because
of it. In fact m$ is the reverse gear. Ecosystems
do not favour the best animals, just the ones
with their foot firmly wedged in the door.
MadPole:
Evolution is really simple: 2 things mixed together
form a new thing. That's all. Same as with religion:
there is no such thing as good and bad, paradise
and hell.
eadon:
I propose that there is such thing as good and
bad. A good intention is always good. It might
not produce good, but it is good in its self.
So says Kant. Also there is such thing as happy
and sad independent of stimulus. For example
sad music is sad to all people at all times.
Absolute sadness. Amazing eh?
MadPole:
Ha! My jolly good fellow pal is alive after
all! It is this time of the year when I have
to agree! I agree! There is such a thing as
good and bad otherwise we wouldn't be talking
about them.
eadon:
Just to change my mind and agree with your previous
email, I'm not so sure about the existence of
good and bad. They are really human inventions.
Nature does not observe good and bad. And it
is not in physics equations. But then again
Time is in physics equations and does exist
but do one can truly define it. The closer you
look at things the more the meaning becomes
elusive.
MadPole:
Grey squirrel (which ones are native squirrels
- grey or red?) nearly killed me today! I was
walking through the woods and suddenly heard
this somehow familiar noise of a tree branch
breaking itself free from the tree and starting
its accelerated journey downwards. My head did
not wait with a welcome party.
eadon:
Grey squirrel is import and displacing nicer
reds. We should have had a tighter import policy.
Glad you avoided squirrel caused death.
MadPole:
It's too hot. Global warming or something. Bloody
sheep. And cows. And goats. And horses. They
keep destroying our grass. Grass which produces
oxygen. Greedy b*stards keep stuffing themselves
all day and then fart all night. No wonder there
is so much pollution and not enough oxygen.
Same goes to Nissan Micra - great value for
money but it's got this nasty tendency of desperately
trying to leave the road on every corner and
roundabout. At least it is environmentally friendly
- it doesn't eat grass. I am not sure about
pigs though - are they environmentally friendly
? They do a lot of recycling after all.....
I even know how to steer the cart with 2 horses
attached! No more car - phew! That's one tree
I saved today already! I got used to bloody
thing and public transport seems a distant and
abstract concept to me....
1999
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