Justice among thieves?

The whole Zuma/Malema debacle reminds me of Plato’s argument for justice among thieves.

Only when the thieves have learnt that it is better to co-operate will they achieve more together. This is what I admire with the “banksters”, they have learnt this lesson well. Our thieving ANC has yet to learn this lesson.

Zuma betrays Malema by having him kicked out of the ANCYL, who in turn betrays him with “Zumaville”. Excellent drama to watch!

As Plato mentions, the only way to defeat united banksters/thieves is for the subjugated population to revolt as in Europe at the moment. But this leads to more trouble as democracy turns to despotism/tyranny, for example the french revolution.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Republic_(Plato)#The_dialectical_forms_of_government

When will we “civilised” learn, that leaders must be selected by merit, not popularity.

See below for the discussion about thieves from Plato’s Republic.

“Then I will repeat the question which I asked before, in order that our examination of the relative nature of justice and injustice may be carried on regularly. A statement was made that injustice is stronger and more powerful than justice, but now justice, having been identified with wisdom and virtue, is easily shown to be stronger than injustice, if injustice is ignorance; this can no longer be questioned by any one. But I want to view the matter, Thrasymachus, in a different way: You would not deny that a state may be unjust and may be unjustly attempting to enslave other states, or may have already enslaved them, and may be holding many of them in subjection?

True, he replied; and I will add the best and perfectly unjust state will be most likely to do so.

I know, I said, that such was your position; but what I would further consider is, whether this power which is possessed by the superior state can exist or be exercised without justice.

If you are right in you view, and justice is wisdom, then only with justice; but if I am right, then without justice.

I am delighted, Thrasymachus, to see you not only nodding assent and dissent, but making answers which are quite excellent.

That is out of civility to you, he replied.

You are very kind, I said; and would you have the goodness also to inform me, whether you think that a state, or an army, or a band of robbers and thieves, or any other gang of evil-doers could act at all if they injured one another?

No indeed, he said, they could not.

But if they abstained from injuring one another, then they might act together better?

Yes.”

From: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Republic/Book_I

Reason is the opiate of the logical

I mentioned this to a drinking buddy, called “One Love”, at my local pub “De Akker” , last Saturday night.

Reason is the foundation of the “scientific method”, from it we deduce facts logically.

Where then, is the space for an “open mind” or “open scientific inquiry”?

Has our love affair with reason and logic, killed the divine spirit in us?

 

The latest evidence for our existence inside a “matrix”

I was thinking the other day how convenient it would be to distil all the latest evidence for a “matrix” type existence in one place.

Browsing YouTube a couple of days ago allowed me to find the evidence. Coincidence?

View the following and judge for yourself:

And then:

Food for thought huh?

“Max Planck said “All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter” in 1944, indicating that he believed in some kind of God.[23]

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck

About consciousness: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-primacy-of-consciousness

About physical laws: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/richard-feynman-the-character-of-physical-law

Update: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uov-qcr100212.php

Update: http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/10/13/1434223/physicists-devise-test-for-whether-the-universe-is-a-simulation

Joke – How the Internet Began

Quote

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, “Why dos’t thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou cans’t trade without ever leaving thy tent?”

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, “How, dear?”

And Dot replied, “I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah’s Pony Stable (UPS).”

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success.

Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was known as Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures – Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

And the young men did take to Dot Com’s trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or  NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates’ drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, “Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others.”

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said, “We need a name that reflects what we are.”

And Dot replied, “Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators.” “YAHOO,” said Abraham. And because it was Dot’s idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham’s cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot’s drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God’s Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).

And that’s how the Internet began.

The art of life

With this aging avatar, my life progresses, in ways that I could not have imagined, in my wildest dreams, in my youth.

But surveying in hindsight, I realise that I have been fortunate enough to experience undreamed-of defining moments.

For them… I do not regret a single thing.

The good and the bad, they have shaped a divine soul from the gaping void.

This is the art of my life.