Category Archives: observations generally

Diary, observations generally

Fear is the new religion…

well, not really new. Fear has always been a key element of any religion. But now many abondoned god but put the pure being-afraid-of-the-future in place. Now one might have no hope of being raised again but a great choice of dangers to be afraid of. The climate change, terrorists, my neighbor – everything is worth of spending some sorrows on it.

Some use this fear smart as it enables some to control others. Preach security and protection and one is on the safe side. Promise hope and many will listen.

Of coures: NOBODY can see the future. Not the best experts are able to predict how everything will be. We are not even able to predict what tomorrow will bring. The present is already far to complex to be sure of the next thing, the future is beyond all knowledge. People who pretend that they know the future are not better than the ones who pretend that they have a direct line to god.

It is the present one needs to be afraid of. It is the present one can interact with. It is the present that prepares the future which will become true as it happens.

observations generally, PhD

the borders of I

We could understand the human mind as a processor of information and the human body as a processor of energy. Of course are both parts intertwined and connected and much more complicated than we need for the reasoning here. The important thing is that the mind works with information and the body with energy. External information and external energy.

Both things are not part of any given person. The connection to the world beyond our skin is obvious: we eat, drink, breath, bleed, touch … we listen, watch, smell, feel… over a certain time all these sensations sum up to form a personality that is valid at a given time and within a given context. This restriction of validity is because all the sensations were made in a certain context and are therefore bound to this context. A change of the context might add new signals and alternate the personality.

Nobody can be completely disonnected from a context. Even in an empty room we have the room around us and the feeling in us. To derive somebody of his complete sensual sensations would have a severe impact on his state of health.

Everybody acts within a given framwork of relations and personality is often affiliated with the mind. So we might take the mind in closer consideration.

To approach the topic from a different angle: What makes a personality? We might say: The parents, the education, the culture, the food, the environment… and some more. The parents deliver a certain genepool but also education and training and socialization. Somehow the same but on a different level does the enviroment and the culture. Our behavior is defined by many constraints we have no influence on.

Still… there is a mind behind the skull. This mind processes information and evaluates situations and comes up with decisions. But all this is based on external input. This input might happen just on time, for example during a dialogue, or long-term via education or experience. And some thing do not even need to be learned as they are already part of the basic pattern of behaviour defined by the genes.

So… there is no such thing a individuality or individual responsibility. It is more a vast network of brains and knowledge transferred via the means of communication and evaluation. Objects communicate as soon as a person evaluates a given scenario based on previous experience. This experience again did not grow in the brain but was gained through behaviour within a given context.

The solace of all this is, that we can’t get lost without leaving traces. Our mind is part of a bigger context and while some ideas a preserved via the mind, the idea might preserve some traces of a single persons mind.

Diary, observations generally, on the road...cairo

Emotions and power

The 30th of June was the turning point. Now the brothers are the hunted. And they are hunted with fierce and thoughtless anger. The brothers nevertheless shoot back and are trying to mobilize their people.

Tension rises and emotions grow. The thing which declines rapidly is the will or the ability to think. Every tiny piece of opinion is taken as pure infomation. Logic does not play any role any more. The masses are tumbling and no reason might be able to stop it. Only a few voices try to mediate between the different fractions, only a few people raise their voice to ask questions.

In times of threat, sorrow and anger it appears that there is only black or white, but no grey any more. This effect is well known and books are written about it. But still it is able to enfold its devastating force.

Diary, observations generally

men and monster…

The social environment defines strongly how people act and interact. Also individuals which were known as someone change their behavior according to the social context. Everyone wants to be respected and to be liked and it needs a defined behavior within a defined social context to achieve this.

The death of a system is the organization of power in a pyramidal structure and the error-intolerance. The top of the pyramid does not make mistakes by any chance. Making mistakes is reserved for the people below the top. These people below the top are eager to contribute the errors which happen automatically once people act downwards the pyramid. The alternative is to stop acting.

The top of the pyramid defines a certain climate of possible success. The unwritten rules describe what people have to do to be successful within the system. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy – people invent behavior according to these unwritten rules and try to move forward according to these rules.

There is no such thing called personality. Everything happens within a social context. The difference between men and monster is a broad but invisible border.

Diary, PhD

the self-assigned borders of thinking

Design is a creative business. And as a creative business it demands open thinking in different directions. This is already quite difficult for people without any obvious inner regualtion and rule catalogue. But it becomes even more complicated, if people stick to a certain way of thinking with embedded do’s and do not’s.

As for the fact that his way of thinking was taught to children since the very beginning, it is not possible for the upgrown child, to think outside of these borders. The regulations fulfill themselves only by preventing the thinker to think about them. They are just given and used intuitvely.

An open mind needs the possibility to move everythere and and to connect to everything. This is the idea of creativity and this process normally generates the best outcome. If the thinker has some forbidden areas in the mind, the process turns out to become less intuiutive and more complicated.

Humans are not free. The only thing that gives them a certain freedom is the content of the brain and the ways, how this content is used. The mind content does not grow in the brain but the mind has the ability to connect content.The Freedom human can achieve needs content. This Freedom needs knowledge.

On the other hand each thought is already defined by language and brain structure. Humans can never think out of this structure. This is one of the necessary restrictions of thinking. Without any restrictions it is random thought which will lead to nothing but confusion. Lucky are the ones who are able to change the starting ramp of their thoughts and to adjust the perspective.

Diary, PhD

The end of times

These days I often think about the reasons, why sometimes ideas seem to be a reason for violence, no matter which idea it is.

Thoughts that come to my mind elaborating this question are often related to compensation of a lack of something. The history is full of examples of people who were aware that they lack something and tried to compensate this with the exaggeration of the state they would be in, if they would not lack something.

Now mankind lives in a time which provides a lot of knowledge from a scientific point of view. This knowledge might collide with some ideas certain beliefs provide. Even people who are not able to read and who have no direct access to this knowledge, might feel that there is a nameless threat to their perceived reality. As people are normally afraid of changes in their environment they try to protect it.

So it comes, that the subconscious or even conscious experience that things are changing and that some aspects of the scientific reality as well as the lived reality are about to invade a long fostered image of a particular belief.

At all times it was a normal human reaction to defend oneself with violence. And as the defended thing it now the possible core of a reality of a particular person or groups of persons, the defense is fierce and emotional. This defense is necessary, to show to oneself and to the others, that the own reality is still valid and exists, against all threats. The stronger the sign, the stronger is the support for this particular reality. So one can see burning objects and can see burning persons. An idea is protected with the destruction of important real things because it is this destruction, which transfers the idealistic weight of the destroyed objects to the idea.

A law of nature is that no transformation can be done without a loss of substance. To deny an already perceived new reality is always weaker than the positive support of a new idea. Nevertheless the fight of the desperate ones is the fiercest and most determined possible.

Diary, observations generally

about reality

Egypt is waiting for the verdict against its former president, most probable announced tomorrow. The media speak from rising tension and feared confrontations. The army prepared for the worst, tanks and soldiers are employed.

But is this the reality of the real people? Walking through the streets and even on Midan Tharir I only see people who have enough to do to struggle with their daily life and to come along. For them the most imporant thing is stability and the possibility to survive.

I do not expect anything serious tomorrow. And I do not expect anything at all, that would improve the situation of the majority here in Egypt.

PhD

Kickoff

Different topic than usually. From today on, were I transfered my contribution to the student union of the University Wuppertal, I am official PhD-Student in the Industrial Design Department of the University Wuppertal, supervised by Prof. Dr. Brigitte Wolf. And why do I write this here? Because I want my thoughts to be public and discussed from the very beginning on. I want to use the options the web provides.

The topic is “Creativity and Dogma”. Creativity as a tool to detect and to solve problems. Dogma as a set of rules or actions we are used to, that prevents that we can act in a more appropriate way. The definitions have to be sharpend during the process. The question will also be, how much dogma we need to be able to think.

Why PhD? Well, generally I have a deep distrust against experts. Or people who think they are experts. Especially in the field of design, as a designer needs knowledge from different fields and a broad overview about almost everything. The designer needs this to be able to be creative and to be able to act acoording to or against the currents or upcoming trends. But… there is a problem. The new quality criteria after BA and MA is not experience, but the PhD.

So I spent some nights asking myself what I am supposed to do. And I came up with the decision, that I might in a better position to argue against or for the PhD in the field of Design, once I would have the PhD and nobody could say that I am just envious. And the topic is as broad as it can be at the start. But still I am afraid that I will loose myself in the dangerous sea of expertise. It means to take care. And so we go…

Diary, observations generally

is it me or the country?

A wise man once said, that you never come home as the one you were, once you left. And now I am in a state that enables me to confirm this.

The county is changing and one can feel the change. It is visible in dogs, weapons, heavy cars, trouble with fuel and gas, troule with the economy, unsatisfied people of all classes. It is on the news and it is in the streets.

We had a revolution here in Egypt. This could be described as somehow an important event for each individual in this country, especially for the foreigners. And this might lead to the fact, that the people, once again especially the foreigners, look slightly different onto the things now. And they might also perceive in a different way.

Once I was a relaxed guy whom’s mantra was it, that the world won’t stop turning and that all the people have their sorrows, fears and problems, which leads them to act in a certain way. Well, I still believe this, but it does not help me any more.

Maybe it is the age, maybe it was the last year, maybe it is the current time. Whatever it is, it fucking drove me much more serious. And I am not sure, if I will get used to it. But at least the wonderful singing bird is back! Some things did not change!

Diary, observations generally

copy paste

Once again it happend that I stumbled upon a “share” on Facebook. People are told to cough in case of a heart attack. And people who study at an University share this without spending a second thinking about it.

Folks! There is more information in the world than could actually be true. Therefore not every information is an information. Sometimes it helps to use the grey thing between the ears for its original purpose: to think! And once someone used it, it might turn out as a bad idea to share everything to tell the world how much knowledge one has…