Beyond Good and Evil / The Fallacy of Technology

Beyond Good and Evil / The Fallacy of Technology  (unfinished)

Q: So tell me how you feel about technology.

A: Well, it’s complicated.  On one hand, technology can be useful to me.  It allows me to type this entry, for example.  Yet, I can see the dangers and follies of these inventions. 

Q: What do you mean you see the dangers and follies of technology?

A: To me, technology is a modifier.  It is either good or evil but it can be used for either purposes to strengthen their resolve.  Let me show you a diagram of what I mean:

Diagram of the morality-technology continuum

A: As you can see, good and evil is vertical while technology, and some say faith, is horizontal.  The further out the graph, the influence the entity has.  Thus, my placement of technology as a modifier makes sense.  Technology can be used for good or evil and its usage modifies the influence that entity makes. 

Q: Can you provide an example of how technology and morality interacts?

A: Of course.  An obvious example can be war.  Let’s look at low-tech items such as swords and higher-tech weapons such as guns.  Swords, in the hands of an evil person can be used to do evil and the evil that person does will be greater than say, using their fists.  However, fast-forward to the 20^th and 21^st century and we have guns.  That same evil person who uses guns can have a much greater influence than if that person was in the medieval age.  It can be used for good, too.  If a nation is defending itself from a foreign power, giving that nation guns will help defend that kingdom better.  Thus, in the hands of good people, it will be used for good, in the hands of bad, it will be used for evil.

Q: What about friendly technology such as the health sciences?

A: That too, can be applied to the continuum.  For medical technology, it can be used to heal good or evil people.  If it heals a good person, that person will live to do good.  If it heals an evil person, then  that person will continue to live to do evil.  Thus, the influence of technology in the manifestation of good or evil is critical. 

Modified continuum to include faith

Q: What about the other side of the spectrum, that of faith?

A: First, to clarify, by saying faith, I do not imply religion, but religion can certainly be a part of faith.  Hence, faith is also a modifier, since it can go both ways, and the deeper one goes in his or her faith, the stronger is that person’s resolve, thus, influence. 

Q: I thought faith is mostly a good thing, since most religions teach people to be morally upright.

A: While most religions do seem to teach moral values, not all religions are completely good.  There’s Satanism or wicca, for example.  Many of the things that are taught there could be considered evil by societal standards.  And Islam violent means of punishing and evangelism.  Even Christianity, in the Old Testament, supports slavery and concubines. 

Q: If religion determines good or evil, and you state that not all religion is purely good or evil, then what determines good or evil?

A:  Excellent question, and for eons, philosophers have struggled to answer this question.  The problem with divine command, i.e., god-based religions, are is God good because he is good or is God good because he says so.  There are more to this and once I have more knowledge in this matter (forgot a lot of what I learned in my ethics class), I can answer this question more intelligibly.  My approach to philosophy and good and evil is that of the utilitarian approach.  An action is good if it is more good and evil.  I know that one person’s good can be another’s evil.  And I do believe the end justify the means.  I will elaborate more on this when I have more time.

Q: So nothing is purely good or evil?

A: In the real world, probably yes.  Even what is good to most people will be detrimental to some.  There are only different shades of grey.

Add: I remember that I wrote a blog about some of the topics discussed here.  To recap, I do believe natural law favors evil more than good.  It is easier to destroy than to build or kill than to heal.  Thus, with this in mind, any modifier is a negative thing as it favors evil more than good.

8/20/2014

8/20/2014

S: 12:42am
E: 1:52am

There’s of course plenty of topics that I can write, however, I’m only going to write about a few of them.

I feel I screwed up.  I messed up.  I don’t think it’s really fair.  I didn’t do anything that deserves this predicament.  I mean all I do is play games, that’s it, and a little side of questionable activities.  That’s it. 

Now I realize how important networking and connections are.  I mean I already know it is important, but it’s hard to be in the groove, should I say.  They don’t just come to you and even if I look for it, I still don’t get it.

Ok, reality check.  So far, I can only think of one person who can give me a recommendation or fill out those tedious recommendation letters.  I mean I do have a few, if I think about it, but they owe me nothing.  It stinks that after a few years, or a few months, connections with people fades.  The person who can give me a recommendation two years ago probably will have a harder time due to the passage of time.  I have three graduate schools I’m planning to apply.  My strategy is to have one graduate school for safety, that is, a school that I can have a safe bet that I’ll be accepted, and two others that I think are challenging.  Each of these three schools requires 3 recommendations.  So, 3 times 3 is 9.  I need nine recommendations!  I don’t want to bother 3 people 3 times for each recommendation.  Sigh, so stressful. 

Take a look at my case.  I spend most of my time alone.  I don’t work.  I used to volunteer.  I mainly just focus on my studies.  I am in my social work club but I haven’t met any professionals there.  The few times I attend my Christian club I haven’t met professionals.  Just students.  I used to go to church but I stopped going partially because they discriminate against me.  I can feel it, Asian-sense.  So I really don’t have much people I can ask.  My dad tells me I am the kindest and smartest person in the world but family doesn’t count.  So what is someone like me supposed to do?  Time passes, people don’t remember me anymore.

I feel this recommendation bullshit is also biased towards those in poverty.  They have fewer connections and have less time to build “professional” connections.  They probably spend most of the time working. 

Oh and my dad told me what about the military?  Military doesn’t work either.  The change-over is too great.  If I were to go to Fort Bliss right now, I will not recognize 99% of the soldiers there, let alone my old supervisors.  I tried it.  We are talking about a 50% retention rate per year.

Tbh, I feel people think I’m just a piece of shit.  Some person they are forced to take care of.  Like trash.  Just because I’m still single doesn’t mean I am shit.  I feel the notion of family (traditional family) is shit too.  It is an archaic glorification of the frontier age.  The frontier is gone.  There is no more space for the human population to grow.  More people creates more competition.  Competition for resources, land, jobs.  Nations are fighting each other to sustain their demand.  Completion brings out the ugly side of human nature.  The end is coming.

Space used to be the “final frontier” but the funny thing is the United States doesn’t even have a single working shuttle.  And as science catches up to the truth, colonization in space is more difficult than it seemed. 

But then again, why should mankind spread more evil in the universe?  The greater the human population, the greater the atrocities. As C.S. Lewis said, “Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.” 

I have many things I can write, with the exceptional logic God has given me.  It doesn’t require any degrees or PhD’s. 

 Technology is useless.  No, it is negative.  Why is it negative?  Well, technology is not good or bad in itself because it is simply a modifier.  Like the tractor is more productive than the plow.  However, human beings can be good or evil.  Evil to destroy the world.  Good to improve the world.  However, the natural law states that it is easier to destroy than to build.  Evil will have more influence.  Now we have nukes.  Evil people can destroy our world.  More on this on another blog later.  I already started it.

One of the earthy wisdom is correct.  That a good beginning usually means a good end.  If someone has a good start, that person is likely to also finish well.  However, if someone messes up or made mistakes, it’s doubly hard for that person to catch up.  You dig yourself in a hole, you have the fill the hole up first before you can start on your mountain.  If someone gets bad grades in high school, that person will have a difficult time to even get into college.  His or her career will be affected, and so forth.  Bad beginnings carry more weight than anywhere else.  It also leads to depression, which just spirals a person down even more. 

I’m starting to think my experiences in the Army is just a placebo effect.  Put anyone in a difficult situation and he or she will start seeking the supernatural.  Even atheists may start praying if they are about to die.  I seek God and, somehow, I was able to survive.  That somehow is because my spirit grew stronger to overcome deficiencies in my body and soul.  I was stupid and weak in the Army.  That spirit-soul-body notion makes sense. 

Right now, I’m seeing religion as simply a conduit to the Creator.  Different religions have different conduits to the Creator, some more accurate and some less.  Christianity is a conduit, as is Islam.  Religion is man’s way of seeking God.  I feel I’m more of a theist now.  The universe had a beginning but I feel, so far, there is no one true religion.  Yet, new religions, sects, branches, denominations, etc, evolve in an attempt to seek the Creator more perfectly.  Like when Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worse form of government except that all other forms have already been tried.  There is no pure answer yet, and there probably never will be, but each new development in religion may lead to a closer answer.

Looking at human psychology, I can see that many people have a desire for destiny.  They want to achieve something big but if they can’t achieve it in acceptable or good ways, they may do it in negative or evil ways.  As an expert I read once said, “They know it is better to a somebody than a nobody.”  Look at Columbine, Sandy Hook, terrorist bombings, the subway stabbing in Taiwan (when the perpetrator said he wanted to “do something big”), etc.  These people go out with a bang.  Yes, it is evil, but there may be circumstances that lead to it.  Look at Hitler.  Perhaps some people try to be successful, to be accepted, to be a somebody but fail miserably in acceptable ways.  Then, because humans have a desire for greatness, more than their desire to be good, they become a notorious evil person.  Why do people join gangs?  Or do dangerous things?  Many people also have a Samson Option if their lives fall apart. 

Ok, it is 1:38am now.  I really do need to be sleeping.  To me, I feel my life is a tragedy.  To quote JJ Heller, and “it’s driving [me] down to my knees.”  

12/15/2013: Week in Review [Discovery]

12/15/2013: Week in Review

S: 6:14am

E: 8:32am

I want to start by saying I’m a little upset at myself.  My sleeping schedule is all messed up despite my effort to correct myself.  At one point this or last week, I would sleep at 7 and wake up at 7.  Sounds good, right?  Except that I would sleep in am and wake up at pm.  I went to the PX (military store) to buy sleeping and caffeine pills in an attempt to control myself.  I took the sleeping pills but, surprisingly, it had little effect on my body.  I cautioned myself on the use of drugs to control my bodily functions and I use it sparingly, only when I need to sleep because there is class the next day or a final.  The fast few days, thanks to social assignments, I would sleep at 5 or 6pm and wake up at 2am.  It’s better, but still. 

Research shows that people who drink alcohol lightly at a regular basis tends to have better health than non-drinkers.  I think the improvement has to do with the exercise the kidney gets when a person consumes alcoholic beverages.  So, last week, I went to my class six military store and brought a 30-can Budweiser pack.  I think to outsiders, they may think I’m buying it just to de-stress or to get high.  It would be awkward for them to know I’m buying it for health reasons, just like how a glass of wine is good for your body.  This thinking also goes along with contamination.  It is not healthy to live in a perfectly clean environment.  The body needs some contaminants to train itself to fight against hostile organisms.  We inject enemy cells into our bodies (vaccinations) so our bodies can fight pathogens more effectively.  By exposing our bodies, and our lives, to different things, we for the most part, enrich it. 

This brings to my next point: balance.  I am trying now to live a more balanced life.  Before, and I hope my professors don’t read this :( , I would spend an inordinate amount of time on games.  I had no balance, everything in my life was centered on computer games.  I already know it’s very unhealthy and despite my best effort to control it, I fail.  So now, I’m trying again.  I don’t know how to explain it exactly but I feel the more I try something and the more I try frequently, the more success I get.  So, playing game is just one aspect of my life.  When I feel I am spending more than my fair share on games, I would do something else.  I would pray, sing, play my guitar, read my textbooks, read my Bible, spend time with God, try to arrange time with friends, do physical exercise, try new projects, ect.  If I spent too much time on one thing, on games for example, I would tell myself that I’m done for the day, or at least, until the end of the day. 

Another issue I feel strongly about and would like to write is the issue of the existence of God.  I remember the song “有一位神” (There is a God) by讚美之泉 (Stream of Praise).  I do feel, by personal experience, that there is a God.

A few days ago, after I took my social work practicum final, I went to the UTEP Liberal Arts building with a few of my classmates to get some assignments done.  When I’m done with my work and was walking downstairs to my bicycle, I saw something like this:

I went down another flight of stairs and I saw the same poster again.  I couldn’t take it anymore so I took it out and put it in my pocket.  I feel angry at both the person who posted this and at the people who wrote on it.  For the person who posted this, I felt angry because the person lacked wisdom.  Regardless if it’s true or not, the person should not put this because the audience is not ready.  They will be hostile.  At least give them simpler food like “Jesus loves You” or “Happy Birthday Jesus!”  Second, even if the person puts those words, he or she still should refrain from posting it.  My university is not religiously-affiliated.  These religious doctrine, whether I agree or not, don’t belong there.  The person could instead put a new Christian club that is forming with Bible studies on this and this day.  I also have a feeling that the person who pasted this on the bulletin board had evil intentions.  He or she might have made this to provoke the students to attack Christ or to show how stupid Christianity is.  It is these bad examples from people with good or evil intentions that is giving God a bad smell.  Second, I also felt anger and hurt at the people who wrote on the poster.  Those negative comments can hurt people who adhere to that religion.  I believe people should have the freedom to believe what they want to believe, no matter how ridiculous, without persecution.  By persecution, I mean people should be free to believe without being treated negatively.  People are free to voice their opinions, whether good or bad, but they need to own their ideas.  Instead of writing “Your mom” or “God is dead,” they should write “I think it’s your mom, not Jesus” or “I think God is dead.”  By owning their thoughts, they are inferring that their words are their own and is not be believed as truth.  This concept is also used in conflict resolutions.  If the person on opposite sides begin with the words “I feel” or “I think,” they are deescalating the conflict because each of them are only sharing what they feel, not as all-including truth. 

In social work, I learned dominant and alternative paradigms.  Knowing this can help me defend against those who attack Christianity, or in general, on religion.  Traditional or dominant theories are theories that have made the most influence in the world.  Those beliefs include the use of science and the scientific method as the supreme source for information and knowledge.  In general, those paradigms are positivistic, objective, and quantitative.  Alternative paradigms, on the other hand, are theories or belief systems that have had currently less influence in the world.  These paradigms reject the notion that scientific, objective, positivistic and quantitative methods are the only or best way to further human knowledge.  They believe that knowledge can also be gained through subjective, intuitive, interpretive, and qualitative means as well (Schriver, J. M.).  I learned that paradigms are social constructs.  Each population in a society has their own unique belief systems. 

I believe that using science and concrete evidence is not the only way to prove that God exists (or not exist).  God can also exist in our hearts.  I believe in God because I experienced Him in my life.  It is subjective, true, because I cannot prove it on paper but I can still feel Him.  There is more that I want to write about this but, to continue, I need to study more.

Yesterday, I went to the morning UTEP graduation commencement!  I went there to experience new things.  I’ve been to a few high school graduations but never a college one.  I didn’t know what it is like.  I want to be prepared when I graduate in 2015, if God wills, and I don’t want to make mistakes in front of the camera.  The experience is typical.  I would clap for the graduates whom no one claps for.  The weather was so cold.  I bicycled there.  I was going to wear more but I also need to take the comfortable warm indoor temperature into consideration, so I wore long pants, a long-sleeved shirt with a T-shirt, and a balaclava.  My army balaclava is very nice.  For a small amount of fabric and space, it keeps my neck and face warm.  During dust storms in Kuwait, it also helps me to breathe and see.

After attending the commencement (I left early), I went to volunteer at the Boy and Girls club of El Paso.  My Student Association of Social Workers had an event there.  The entire event was also a challenge for me.  First, I bicycled there and got lost.  I used Google Maps and it told me to make a left on a street that wasn’t there.  So, I improvised and got there, praise God.  While passing, I passed by a bustling shopping district.  Perhaps one day, I’ll go downtown to shop.  I remember when I lived in Los Angeles, on occasion, my family would go to Chinatown in downtown to shop for unique items. 

Our task at the Boy’s and Girl’s club is to assist customers to select free toys.  The staff would give us a list which includes the number of children the family has.  Each family can select three toys (was two) for each child.  If the family elects a bicycle for that child, then those three toys goes to the bike.  Maximum one bicycle per family.  Each family also gets a pair of sandals and a puzzle.  We would escort the clients to a room filled with toys.  The toys are categorized by age and gender.  I will explain the rules to the member and have him or her select the toys.  We volunteers also carry the items they choose.  I remember one time, a customer selected a tarot board with cards.  The background of the box looks satanic and dark.  Even though I don’t really agree with the customer’s choice, I still included the item in the bag.  Client self-determination. 

One major difficulty I had was my inability to speak Spanish.  My fellow volunteers would brief me on words to say.  “Dos juguetes por niño.”  I took two semester of Spanish at UTEP but I still feel like I know next-to-nothing in the language.  If I have more discipline, I will study up on Spanish.  So here I am trying to explain to many of my clients in broken Spanish.  “Cuatro niños so doce juguetes.  Or you can get a bicicleta pero una bicicleta por la familia.”  I had to ask my other social work students for help.  During the selection, I would point and talk about the perks of various toys.  I feel like a car salesperson.  Overall, it was an exhausting, challenging, but fun event. 

I feel I’m writing a little too much so to balance myself, I will conclude for the day.  I try to write at least once a week but different things come up and that once a week sometimes becomes once a month.  But I will still try.