It’s a cat’s life.

A cat on the street or in the wilderness is pretty busy. It spends it’s days looking for food, looking for other cats, looking out for danger. It cleans itself and it protects its territory, along with the natural processes of a cat. In between all that it sleeps.

Take the cat indoors.  Give it food and shelter along with some other friendly cats. Over time, likely you’ll notice the cat sleeps… a lot.

Of course you’ve given it, arguably, what it needs. The cat learns this.  So it gets to sleep a lot.  It’s just doing what’s natural. Is the cat any happier? Certainly the case can be made that it is more comfortable. If you put it back out, most cats will start to work harder again.

Now look at some of the people you know…..

 

Better than MMA

How about that presidential debate? Better than an MMA match, huh? When did they turn into spectacles with people cheering? Did you find yourself yelling at the TV?

Have you noticed how nasty people have gotten while driving? When did that happen? I notice someone going slow in front of me in the passing lane. They’re not moving over or going faster. I think there’s basically three  types of people doing this. The first are those who don’t know you’re there. I give them a break, especially if they’re old. Second, there are those who don’t care that you are there. And third, there are those who know you’re there and want to keep you there.

I’m one of those people
who speeds up or moves over. You’re welcome.

Where, oh where, did quality go?

I’m sorry. Where did quality go? When did we replace quality with functionality and making money?

We see this everywhere. Products and services, record keeping, technology. Why can’t we keep up with the myriad of computer viruses that hit every day? Why do we have so many problems in education and infrastructure? A storm hits and sewage systems and water systems are overwhelmed to the point of having to dump waste into our waterways.  Countries all over the world struggle with security, health and feeding their populations, while corrupt political systems and corporations prosper.  Product recalls and bad ratings are accepted as the norm.

There are multiple examples of new functionality creating quality and benefit. Alternative energy, better medicines, higher education (for those that can afford it) are just a few. But do we really need all those products in the middle of the grocery store? And why do we have to spend exponentially more in the HOPE of getting quality? But I digress into a rant.

A nations productivity is defined by GDP, the sum total of all goods and services sold. Regardless of the marketing and methods used to sell. Is this what makes us happier?

We know this intrinsically: Quality of life does not depend on more functionality. It does not depend on getting more disposable plastic products cheaper. The answer is clear. We must change the definition of productivity to measure  the standard of living.

The other spheres…..

Humans have a problem. We have this awesome brain yet we are still animal.  Most of us still run so much on instinct. Instinct we don’t understand. Instinct that is amazing, yet very dangerous. To keep from destroying ourselves and everything around us, we’re going to have to come to grips with this combination of instinct and massive brain.

That’s what this site is about.