That's Just Dumb

I had a former work colleague who favored today's title as a go to expression. The range of human behavior means it applies an awful lot.

This is the latest example of the absurdity of humans to believe the most improbable things. The happy waving man is Kim Il Sung. He is the founding leader of North Korea and is worshipped as a God. My favorite part of this period photograph is that the gold leaf was eventually removed. The masters in the PRC were visibly irritated to see where their support was going. People can believe what they want but this is dumb.

In the Wake of a Supernova

My last post was fun to write. I am glad I saw the movie “Oppenheimer”. Even though the post wasn’t about Julius Oppenheimer, it did provide a hint of inspiration.

I am left with the thought that maybe I’ll think where other movies like Barbie lead my mind to go. One of my favorite comments was from a newish reader who wondered aloud whether I might explore the ins and outs of black holes. Now that sounds like a fun challenge to make them easy to understand. Thanks to all of you who were kind enough to leave a public comment. They are fuel to creativity, improvement, and ultimately enjoyment.

The Premise

What do I mean by “That’s Just Dumb”? I believe humans are the most amazing of creatures. We are FUNDAMENTALLY different than other creatures. The complexity of our thought has led us to unknown heights. Long ago, I wrote a post that explored the most wonderful but strange of dichotomies. What we learn. What we believe. What we believe because of evidence. What we believe despite evidence to the contrary. All of these complex aspects of consciousness allow us to keep it all balanced in our heads. While not exactly required for today’s post, “Truth” was a fun exploration. I graciously propose the linked post is worthwhile. I wrote it so early in my Substack journey. I intentionally wrote in the beginning and avoided subscribers. I wanted to explore a writing habit.

Embrace the Absurd

There will always be a fine line between the absurd, the next big thing, and creative destruction. Each of the following profiles COULD BE any of the three or a mix. I am shading toward the absurd but am open to your telling me why I’m wrong in the comments. The marketplace generally rewards new ways of doing things although we default to being set in our ways. Generally, change for change's sake is an inconsistent strategy. All of this may be true but I admit I am entertained by the range of human behavior and belief. My instinct is the entertainment value of what people say is rooted in the unwillingness of most people to say I don’t know as often as they might. Finally, my overarching point of today’s post is to let each person decide what is right for them. In a free society, I’m not sure of the benefit when we feel the need to decide the actions and opinions of others. I consider those who impose their beliefs on others to be the worst of us. Managing our matters is often more work than we can handle anyhow.

Aquamation

For this story today to work you will need to play along. Before continuing, ponder in your mind what you think Aquamation is. Take as long as you need.

A while back I wrote a blast of a post “Keep Calm and Carrion”. I still have not followed up and bought the T-shirt but think it would be fun.

Keep Calm & Carrion

Part of the prior story was about the cultural preferences of Zoroastrians regarding the disposition of bodies after death. That story (and this one) means no disrespect for prevailing traditions. I think the greater point is humanity is constantly NOT INTERACTING with nature but rather IMPOSING itself on nature. The linked story explains that well.

In another recent post titled “A Bridge to Biomimicry” one of the key points is everything nature makes is recyclable.

A Bridge to Biomimicry

What do we do in response? When we croak, we excavate and refine a bunch of ores, transform them into a steel case, and adorn it with fabric made from more crude oil. Finally, we bury dead folks in such boxes to much fanfare and then hire a caretaker to cut the grass for the next fifty years or so. “Keep Calm and Carrion” and the practices of the Zoroastrians, while at first blush might seem primitive is the most sensible recyclable way to treat the dead I have heard yet! I think we have deviated from our essence so much in the last 250+ years. We have embraced traditions and foolishness that make no sense.

What is the response of our worship of the marketplace to make money off of every conceivable service even after the inevitable cycle of decay begins? Drum roll please and learn all about Aquamation.

Watch the video. It is about two minutes long. My immediate take is the great lengths the bad guys went to invent elaborate ways of killing James Bond. There is also just enough marketing along for the ride to tag this as the up-and-coming way to do things. Is this creative destruction? Not sure — I just think it is absurd. The vultures from the previous story are starting to make good sense.

Pick a Number — How Does 38 Sound?

Welcome to the modern world. The curious mystery that is North Korea is strange. Wikipedia has become a storehouse of information at our fingertips. I queried and found the answer to my question. What major cities are near the 38th parallel in the Northern Hemisphere? Sicily and Athens — Greece sounds pretty nice. In the US it means Stockton, CA, and Lexington KY, and, of course, Charlottesville, VA (good people on both sides). In Asia, it means Niigata City, JP. I am partial as we hosted a wonderful exchange student from Niigata many years ago. Most importantly for today’s discussion, it is a bit to the north of one of the world’s great cities, Seoul, South Korea. The Seoul metro area is home to more than 26 million people. NYC is unlike any other city in the United States. It remains at the center of American society. Seoul in the core city has 2M more residents than New York and is nearly twice as densely populated.

Why is 38 so important? At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union decided what was best and chose the 38th parallel to be as good as any demarcation to separate the North and the South of the former Korea. There was no natural boundary like a river or mountains. It was simply the arbitrary and capricious decision of raw power. The great powers did this only because they could.

The luck of the draw has not been kind to North Korea. There is inconceivable poverty, lack of food, paranoia, and a generalized imposed sadness amongst the citizenry. As of 2021, the South Korean GDP is about 57X the North Korean GDP. While they now possess nuclear weapons — largely technology transfer from the PRC (Red China), North Korea is a basket case. Sometimes a visual message can powerfully explain an opinion.

There are shortages of every conceivable component of modern life in the North. Regardless of the squalor, humans behave like humans. Those in power enforce a dogmatic set of principles for all involved. The people are assured things are bad in the South and we are in Paradise. The Leader is a God. How do you pull off such a trick? Things will be better — just stay the course. North Korea cannot feed itself. It is in a constant state of rationing and looming starvation. People eat leaves and tree bark extract as soup. The tragedy and squalor know no bounds. Crop yields are poor with little or no access to fertilizers of any sort. How bad can it get? The black market for human waste to use as fertilizer is a hot item. Since the local citizenry is not producing high-quality “products” due to their diet, the black market extends into Northern China. As North Korea’s only trading partner, they are even happy to fulfill this need. People all around the world believe and are willing to die for the most unlikely of ideas. When I imagine many are trying to grow a bit more cabbage by utilizing human waster as fertilizer while the upper echelons are adapting Chinese ballistic missiles and spraypainting on a new flag, I can only shake my head. If this is not absurd, I am not sure what is.

The Poll & Music

Today’s song is a bit of a stretch but I have quite a streak of music going. My sense is one of the best ways to avoid being dumb is to choose honesty and sensibility.

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Tip Line

If you have something that seems a bit beyond silly and closer to absurd (or just plain dumb), please feel free to share. If you want to keep it private, just respond to the email. I am always looking for inspiration and plan to try to fulfill all requests. I plan to explore writing “Black Holes for Dummies” — that’s me.