All entries for Thursday 16 March 2006

My philosophy teacher

My philosophy teacher looks like an old witch with a sincere, cheesy smile. She’s got all the features of a valid witch: bad teeth, heavy eyelids, greasy hair, double chin, big nose, thin lips, big ears, dirty fingernails, ugly manly watch, large gray suit that hangs off her shoulders rather than wraps her, clumsy worn boots and one disturbing, loud, cacophonic laughter. I wonder if it’s the extensive thinking that’s made her a monstrous creature; and if every intelligent woman looks like they have been drinking heavily. Is it really that hard to sustain a more or less human look, or is it the philosophy that’s freed their minds and consequently their bodies too? I wish to be at least half as intelligent as she is, but I wish not to look even half as ugly as she does. Should I stop thinking now?

Lu Yang : 16 Mar 2006 19:11 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My crack in destroying capitalism

Follow-up to Jobs and Values from Reverie

I propose that we introduce Constructive Contribution Coefficient (CCC) and reconsider wages according to the CCC of every occupation. Seeing as we are petty little worms unable to shake the earth, the CCC should not have big values, just so people don’t overestimate themselves. Using the analogy of the Gini Coefficient, I propose that the CCC be rated from 0 to 1, where 1 will be the absolute constructive contribution (and stand for the works of geniuses like Einstein, Chekhov, Darwin); and 0 will stand for no contribution made to the society, which will be assigned to the unemployed folks. However, even in suggesting this I can see how flawed the CCC may be. Here’s a list of why:

• I have to highlight that the CCC is an evaluation of jobs and not people; the CCC runs the risk of being misinterpreted;
• The cogs in the machine of capitalism engage in counter-productive jobs (like exploiting the nature, destroying forests, producing poisonous and cancer causing chemicals and etc), so there should be negative coefficient for their jobs;
• There is a considerable mismatch in CCC and the coefficient of difficulty and labour put in, so even the hard-working miners may get a negative CCC, because they are essentially exploiting the Earth. But then again, if their wage will be reconsidered according to the CCC and subsequently reduced to the minimum, it may help eliminate uncontrolled exploitation for good;
• It is hard to evaluate the work of the artists and abstract scientists (like painters, playwrights, sociologists and etc);
• The most unsettling thing is: history is being rewritten repeatedly. If we are happy at this very moment, we are likely to thank everything that’s ever happened to us (be it Hitler or Stalin) that has essentially led us to where we are now. But if we are very unhappy bunnies, even Einstein will appear to be an evil chap. Hence the contribution rate of each occupation may change with time and our view of history. So the CCC will then be a relative figure, rather than an absolute one, the way I designed for it to be.

If I can get all of the above problems solved I think my CCC suggestion could serve as a rather practical step in cracking capitalism. After watching Capitalism and other kids’ stuff, The Corporation and reading other articles on the evil of capitalism the only feeling I experienced was helplessness. If we could use the CCC to re-evaluate our jobs then maybe we could really start cracking the machine of capitalism and finally start taking initiative and changing things around.

Lu Yang : 16 Mar 2006 13:01 |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Revelation

We consume forms of life whatever we eat! :O Even if we consume dead forms of life we are not far from necrophiliacs…

Lu Yang : 16 Mar 2006 12:12 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem