2018.05.09 - Day 56

Storm: Love the etymology and I think our ancestors had a truer view of life with that tapestry idea.

Tart comes up with an interesting analogy. He claims that modern airliners are capable of fully automatic flight i.e. taxiing to runway, taking off and landing etc., all without human intervention. But we humans don’t like that idea and insist there be a human pilot present to take over if necessary. But what if the human pilot is drunk or incompetent, he asks? He likens this to how we live our lives on automatic control but when we notice it isn’t working, emotional needs often drive us to turn to gurus or teachers who only keep us in a state of arrested development as acolytes to some system.

‘The Fourth Way that Gurdjieff taught is a matter of first learning how the airliner works, how your psychological machinery operates, and then becoming/creating your own pilot, a genuinely awake and knowledgeable part of your mind, that will fly your plane well and take you to destinations of your own choice.’

Seems plausible.

I'll be on the go today, and traveling tonight, so probably won't have much chance to check in. Will carry the feeling and images shared yesterday, into the time. <3

Zen - autopilots and autoland are in everyday use on all flights nowadays. They do routine stuff better than people. Tart's analogy seems a bit of a stretch to me, but his statement on gurus and teachers keeping people in a state of arrested development seems harsh but sadly too often accurate. And the quote regarding Gurdjieff's Fourth Way and airliners however seems spot-on. But what destinations will you choose? :)

Eliza - your post on Day 55 got me thinking. I think we now know that FB will survive because, despite the temporary outrage, most people will stay. Those same people will not be minded to swap to another platform. Therefore to stay in contact with them you have to check in now and again. I never had an account, but my wife does, and through that I see news from my distant children.

But for contacting other people who don't persist on FB, or who were never there, or for making new contacts, one or two of the other social media platforms seem attractive. I joined diaspora* and Mastodon recently. The Mastodon instance I joined seems very welcoming. There are a few apps you use to access Mastodon. Or you can use a browser. Diaspora* is currently browser only. We can chat elsewhere if you wish to know more.

Aside: When I post on Mastodon, it's called a "toot" (like a tweet on Twitter). That seems somehow fitting for one of these mighty ancient proboscideans. I can easily imagine a politician tooting instead of tweeting, making them appear even more bombastic. >:) Fortunately I've not seen a politician on any social media other than FB and Twitter. But I digress...

Homo Ludens: I tooted on scholar.social this morning that I was reading this. It was just a typical "this is what I'm doing" microblog kind of thing. I quickly got reply from a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland who specializes in philosophy, game studies and digital culture. He commented they'd recently read it as a group. Not surprising as it is, after all, a classic in game studies. But he also said some minor details in the book have become important after being repeated by later scholars. Naturally I'm curious what he means and I've replied asking for details and references. Meanwhile in the book itself I read about ceremonial slanging matches! And I'm about to start a chapter entitled "Play and Law" - two things that seem very far apart, but we shall see. edited 01:13, 10 May 2018

Storm, those are the balances, yes. I know a few people who are their family's FB User, for the reasons you describe, and then there are those who also do business or keep light connections/contacts that way. There was a younger me that needed to be integrated/validated, and connecting with figures from the past benefited, for a time. More than 1/3 of my FB (those on FB that I actively converse with) is PlayasBeing now. :)

I signed up for Ello at some point, which did not prove to be worthy of jumping ship. I had hopes for Ello's model to bring back longer writing, and for making connections under a less predatory umbrella, but, at least not so far. I do like Twitter, but feel I can use it better. Would like to hear about Mastadon too though. edited 16:28, 11 May 2018