Oggy's Disposable Theory Of The Day

Ignore me at your own peril but my latest theory is that the Steve Jobs...Henry Fords...of the world were not endowed with something special...but actually were deficient in a particular human trait that allowed them to pursue their goals under a delusional belief they were benefiting everyone when actually they were merely materializing their own selfish utopia. But they aren't all to blame because it takes the Messianic lap dog attitude of numb consumers to follow and worship these inventors although it complicates their life and brings to fruition technology for the sake of technology with a gigantic propaganda campaign designed to obscure the actual ramifications. I think everyone has flashes of inspiration about some invention or process and then their conscience kicks in and they think, "Oh, wait, that would fuck everything up for Mr. X living in Y country. I'd better not." Well, Steve Jobs wasn't afflicted by that voice of caution. He seemed to think people in China were simply waiting around to spend 14 hours a day snapping together iphone cases.

Of course, I sound like the Unabomber now so can be dismissed easily but I have been percolating all the trends of modern life and this is my latest conclusion: we are allowing ourselves to be led by autistic people. I'm no expert on autism so I use that word to describe someone who has a critical imbalance in social and philosophical and mechanical computations. That imbalance can lead to an abundance of sympathy like in the case of Temple Grandin or a deficiency like in Steve Jobs. Was Steve Jobs autistic? I think he was because he lacked a quality that makes someone consider the consequences of his actions. Modern technology development is irresponsibly destructive and criminally imbalanced toward developed nations. All the waste, impact, slavery, ecological damage is suffered by those who can not afford a publicity campaign on their behalf. They can't defend themselves. All the benefit is enjoyed by those too selfish to care, those who repeatedly bash the skulls in of the poor but believe ignorance is denial and denial is bliss. If you don't know the consequences of high tech devices then consider yourself one of the content billions of manipulated consumers who fell victim to Apple's brilliant propaganda campaign. The autistic people I've been around have a similar quality...they can not feel or express sympathy, let alone empathy. This is not to disparage autistic people. Temple Grandin's autism seems to filter out the ridiculous human/animal misconceptions that were traditional before she came along. It's a spectrum disorder with various unpredictable manifestations. Go check out Derek Paravacini for one result. Grandin's not necessarily smarter than other animal scientists but she is not immediately hampered by traditions that don't work...which in itself makes her work original. She's abundantly sympathetic to animals. Her goals cater to the conditions of livestock while humans are here only to bring those goals to life. Jobs saw people as irrelevant instruments slowly evolving into a computer chip. Maybe he's right and I'm a total asshole.


Kind of like Enron convinced others that they could invest money in the potential rise and fall of energy prices in California...and then manipulate the need for energy in order to guarantee a demand...Kenneth Lay, Jeff Skilling, The Loathsome Lou Pai, they were not "gifted" in my mind; they were deficient...but also devious and clever enough to manufacture financial profit from thin air. They didn't feel remorse at using the savings of utility workers to sculpt ice statues pissing champagne. No. Nor did they feel any hate for the utility workers. No. The source of their wealth was irrelevant, a commodity, inhuman, devoid of any need to feel anything for. They aren't hateful people...they simply lack any universality or conscience. Ayn Rand would call them the perfect pathological, self-interested capitalist. On the flip side I think I've got autistic tendencies that incapacitate me in modern situations because of the future consequences of my actions. If it were up to me the whole western expansion of The United States would've been halted because the sovereignty of a few Navajo babies was too important to impinge on. What an asshole I am. I don't know if it's an abundance of sympathy but it's more like an aggrieved hyper-sensitivity to ripples I set in motion, a gross imbalance of priorities. It's inescapable, I know, but whiskey and guitar help me cope.

Steve Jobs and other hardware giants saw opportunity to exploit international resources for profit...as long as no one paid any attention to the long term affects of the manufacturing and disposal process of technology. I don't think Steve Jobs thought about that at all because, as I say, he was deficient in that quality of forward reflection, one might call it "ethical restraint". He was unable to relate to the problems his product would cause. The ethical decision would be, "Computers built this way are not worth the decimation of the environment. Keep your abacus until we can figure out a better way to do it."
The unethical decision was: "We have to beat IBM!"

It's kind of like the old saying: All college professors teach like their students are all college professors. If you want to be a college professor then college is the best place for you. Otherwise, you are merely swimming with the herd who have manipulated homogenized education practices. I should know; the western approach to music education emphasizes the production of more western music educators. If you transcend the moment in a western musical setting it was only by sheer willpower over the commercial/analytical aspects you have been taught from day one. Another nation, like Ethiopia, would see our lifeless musical traditions as something practiced by cyborgs.

Speaking of cyborgs, am I the only person who watches Mark Zuckerberg speak and am totally baffled how this hollow personality, this socially inept, godless shell, lacking basic human interaction/cooperation skills has defined "Social" networks? He seems manufactured. His face has less expression than most Downs Syndrome kids. Is he AI? Is it not obvious that Facebook is about as anti-social as you can get? Maybe anti-social is the wrong word...It's quasi-social...a social substitute that is more about interacting with yourself, like dancing in a mirror. It's the kind of social network that would appeal to autistic people who actually can't stand being touched. Does that mean anyone who uses facebook has autistic tendencies? No, it means that you are an easily manipulated fuckwad who doesn't think for yourself. But don't feel bad because you've got millions for quasi-company in your virtual playground. This relates to my theory on the benefits of mass hysteria that I can't expand on right now.

Lastly, I'd like to compare Donald Trump and my hero Sir Wilfred Grenfell. This is the litmus test of morality because either one or the other can be defined as a "good" person. You can not embrace Trump's ridiculous disregard for social equity and also appreciate Grenfell's ceaseless efforts to unite and uplift the people of New Foundland. Trump and Grenfell are moral opposites. Basically, Grenfell said he acted as God's votary of peace...but realistically he merely acted as he would expect others to act and in a way that would lead to a civilization that he would want to live in, a community based on respect and cooperation and fairness. His gifts were very rare: a loving pursuit of an equitable economic system. This is not complicated philosophy, folks. It's fundamental to humanity. Grenfell was no Karl Marx. His books are mostly about medical anecdotes (He was a doctor first and a social engineer second). Trump, on the other hand, is a complete bully, Capitalism gone to seed, a total failure to uplift mankind, a casino whore with one eye always on the bartender to make sure the whiskey isn't stolen. "I don't know if I'll run for President," once said a smirking Trump. "My TV show is getting really good ratings!" When I heard that I felt like someone had shit in my lap.

When someone tells me, "America and Capitalism are the best we've got and the best so far." I think, "No, Grenfell's Labrador Coast was the best so far; America and Capitalism are abominations. Because you grew up in America your brain is warped."

In my typical absolutist way I think: If one is good, then the other is evil. I could bring Gandhi's legacy into this but I want to spread Grenfell's name as far and wide as possible.* Of course you probably haven't heard of him because you have been manipulated since birth by American propaganda that is incompatible with Grenfell. It wasn't an accidental omission in your upbringing...Grenfell's name was simply blacklisted from any but the most subversive education institutions. Trump is lauded as a hero while Grenfell is totally subverted. The result is a social paradigm catapulting humanity into chaos.

Maybe these are two different theories and I have overwhelmed your brain with too much radical thought. Don't worry, Fox news will soothe you back to somnia. My instinct is that someone either becomes destructive by design or by birth. Skilling, Zuckerberg, Jobs, Trump...I think they were born deficient and it was up to the community to protect themselves from their influence, to direct their talents toward constructive ends ....a task we have failed miserably at. Thoreau, Chief Seattle, King, Gandhi, Tolstoy, Salk, Woody Guthrie, Grenfell...these were the ones we had to honor and applaud and mimic.

*Actually, I currently feel that only adults should research Grenfell because the chances are slim they will actually take anything he did to heart. It's my conclusion that a child should not be introduced to Grenfell because it will permanently handicap him in his efforts to adjust to a fucked up world. We have tipped the scales to the point where total social collapse is inevitable and only the fiercest and most selfish people will survive in the coming Trump Dynasty. The ability to cooperate will lose to the ability to dominate. Kids should study Chinese and HTML and Trump if they want to succeed in today's philosophical wasteland. Basically, you need to raise a kid whose ethics would ordinarily disgust you, a person who burns Dr. Seuss books as fuel to distill vodka. These are the consequences of our poor choices on what trends to obey.