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Tuesday, Dec 04, 2007 - 01:40 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Der Meaning

It's nothing new, I suppose. Sitting back and asking oneself what the *beep* one is doing. Quite a crazy world we live in, all this shuffling in strange directions to get what one really wants, and often not even coming close to that.

If all people truly desired were gentle fellowship, peace, family and the other simple things in life, it appears that many things that we do are redundant - by application of current technology, a single farmer can feed fifty, and even adding all else that is necessary for the "good life", what we do is far, far in excess of that which is needed.

The trouble is, of course, that that is not all people desire. We are lazy, and we are ambitious. We seek power, we yearn to be superior, to accomplish, to impose our wills. And in the presence of these "positive" motivating factors, the only sensible response would be to claim power for protection, whether we wish it or not.

Oh, we may be the most trustful of beings, in an individual sense; But there is no such abstract hope of reliability when many band together. Presidents and kings smile and speak of their dearest friends, but certainly none will disband their armed forces and shadow men, for all recognize the propensity of people to take what is not theirs, if only so that those bigger than them would then find it harder to do the same to them.


...and woe to the vanquished. (Source)

And so millions of soldiers sit in dimly-lit barracks, and thousands of warheads lie dormant in their ill-borne and concealed crypts, consuming but barely contributing directly to any legitimate want, as a morbid insurance taxed and paid for but prefably never to be called upon. The ancient game of thrones will continue, no doubt, but what is interesting is that strength is so lauded when almost all its utility derives from being pitted against itself. We shout for goodwill and harmony, but we cheer too the conquerors, even when their methods be less than savoury; Vae victis!

But there is no counter, for power when accumulated for beneficial means can seldom be proven to be so. A rifle is just as effective on attack as on defense, and organizations made strong for one purpose can often be subverted to other aims. Even where the precedent of goodwill has been painstakingly accumulated over long decades, such as the various alliances between various petty states throughout our history, unconditional trust is still hard to come by, for we cannot so simply shake off the behaviours inherited from our ancestry, us glorified apes.

So here I sit, and examine myself. What am I doing? As a prospective computer scientist, a designation for now roughly as misleading as if a new bank hire presented himself as a "banker", I might realistically aspire to design some new algorithm, and for it to be both general enough and better enough than current ones to be significant. As a prospective economist, I could... try to make money. It would be quite out of order to expect that there is something that I can do that cannot conceivably be done by some others - more probably many others - but I do think it is not too much to hope for that one's existence does not have no redeeming value.

Then, if I choose to apply myself to programming games, such trifles as to occupy the long hours that pass, should I esteem myself any the lesser? Maybe not, for much of this world is given over to whims and entertainment anyway. Much is manufactured that serves mostly to cajole wearied minds, from the small trinkets of little boys to the car-toys and jet-toys of grown men.

As the will of this world is the will of power, of the beautiful lie of equality trampled by the harsh truth of ability - should I care? In many lands the poor have and continue to clamour against the selfishness of the privileged, but it is an open question as to whether the situation would be any better if their roles were reversed from birth. On balance, I would guess no. There would be the same charity dinners, the same pet projects, the same celebrity golf tournaments, the usual token droplets trickling from an ocean of wealth, with the occasional true philanthropist who wills most of what he has.


Fact One: The Gates Foundation has over US$30 billion to spend on charitable causes. Fact Two: Bill Gates founded Microsoft. Question: Bill Gates: Sinner or Saint? (Source)

Questions that I could never dream of, questions that if considered cannot be answered, questions that if answered cannot be proven, questions if proven cannot be imposed, blight our short and flickering lives.

As for me? For now, to do my duty and scrape my way to a couple of firsts, I suppose, and to have some fun in the process. After that... this world is a big place. Surely it has some place for me.

Was planning to comment on the Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh case at the ICJ, with Singapore and Malaysia duking it out for sovereignty over a rocky outcrop maybe a third the size of a soccer field.


Tiny speck by a little red dot (Source)

Nothing out of the ordinary, with the usual suspects citing the expected legal nitty-gritty, until the Malaysian representatives pulled out photographic evidence from an "independent source" (a.k.a blog) in support of their case, which for a start is quite a U-turn for an administration not exactly hot on blogs.

Quite how a two-month old website by an unknown individual constitutes admissible evidence I do not know. Putting aside also the uncanny coincidence of that particular photograph being posted just several days before the presentation, there still remains the strange fact that the relevant text is plagarized almost word-for-word from Wikipedia. And if all that wasn't enough, the blog owner neglected to change the underlying hyperlink from the original Cape May Lighthouse, even while changing the text link, again very coincidentally, to the Malaysian-supported Pulau Batu Puteh.

Well, without casting any aspersions on our esteemed neighbours, I do have to admit to being flabbergasted, and not a little amused, by this move on their part. And on a completely unrelated note, if any large organizations require an independent web source discreetly set up with the content of their choice, for a flexible fee, please do not hesitate to contact me. And I promise I won't need to bail out by insulting readers and censoring all comments (oh, the irony!) either.

Nearly caught up in the punting challenge with $1499.10/$1500, just ninety cents short of evens. I'll virtually lay the remaining fifty bucks for the week on United to beat Fulham, short as the odds may be. To profit!

$50 on Man Utd to beat Fulham (at 1.10)



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1 comment

mm:) said...
JiA YoU .... good luck for your final paper tmr


December 4, 2007 - 23:02 SGT     

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