small steps (a minor social hack for democracy)

next time you buy a product that doesn't live up to its promises, especially a small one, take it back. something you would normally just live with instead of complaining about, not want to make a fuss--take it back.

not for the five bucks. not for the chance to be mean to some salesclerk (unless it happens to be the little fucker who lied to you to get you to buy the damned cell phone in the first place), but for another reason entirely.

the chance to exercise your democratic power through your purchasing power.

whether you're poor or affluent, you (likely) still have _some_ amount of money flowing through your possession, and by taking the trouble to make your purchases count in exactly the way you want them to can help (especially when combined in aggregate with the millions of other people (some of whom are making informed and conscious decisions as well)) to apply pressure for positive change in the right areas.

and then explain (if you have have the opportunity) exactly why you are taking pains to verify just where your money is going. this way, the offending entity gets the chance to experience a real opinion, and others get exposed to this meme in practice (and possibly start being more conscious of _their_ purchases as well).

the other added benefit of this practice is that it simultaneously helps to improve and increase your willpower and self-discipline.

-cid

0wn yourself

why do we fall?

so that we can learn to pick ourselves up. okay, i'm sorry. i just hadda say it.

anywho, the old cliché about learning more from a failure than a success seems to have a new study to back it up.

researchers found a much more rapid response from the brain when stimuli were shown which had previously led to errors. the brain seems to have a mechanism for flagging things that have caused it trouble in the past.

it's nice when science agrees with folk sayings.

anyway, some food for thought...

--cid

0wn yourself

what i want to see...

0what i want to see....

i want to see more mom and pop shops.

i want to see more flea markets and more swap meets.

i want to see pollution-free, automated power plants.

i want to see automated, generic factories that can make a million exact copies or a million different variations in the same amount of time.

i want to see every piece of menial human labour that still has to get done relegated to the past by reliable, inexpensive or free technology.

i wanna see more clubs meeting up to talk about ideas and communicate.

i want to see pioneers living on the moon and then mars and then a thousand other worlds.

i want to see a vast, interconnected public transportation system.

i want to see people putting forth their energies with the intention to make something better for the world.

i want to see artists painting and sketching in the streets and the parks, and children under trees, reading.

i want to see strangers mingling with each other, both teaching and learning and always sharing the experience of life and how we all perceive it differently.

i want to see real, regular people in politics, instead of politicians.

i want to see multinational corporations evolving into benevolent institutions of education and social sustenance, or fade away into the past, no longer applicable.

i want to see underwater cities and cities in the clouds.

i want to see generational space vehicles, heading off to see what might be out there.

i want to see a technology to nullify the danger of nuclear and biological and chemical weapons, and i want to see education and communication and strong community ties and better thought and discusssion given to the social infrastructure to deal with all of these threats in the mean time.

i want to see stronger local governments.

i want to see a more transparent federal government.

i want to see the general populace break free of the influences of the so-called engines of apathy and distraction and take a look at themselves, each other and this world we're all living in.

i want to see the country around me from the top of a mountain and to see the horizon in every direction from the middle of the ocean.

i want to see the earth from orbit.

i want to see a public transit system that includes destinations around the solar system.

i want to see free education for anybody who desires it.

i want to see people who desire it.

i want to see the world as a good world, as it could be.

i want to see if aliens exist, and if they do, i wanna see what they're like.

i want to see a cure for cancer and aids and bird flu and everything in between.

i want to see god.

i want to see people who do the work they do simply because they want to, rather than because they have to for whatever reasons.

i want to see more cops and doctors who just want to help people and cooks who like to just like cook and to see people enjoy their food and toymakers who make toys and games simply because they like to see children (or anybody, really) enjoying the toys and games that they produced.

i want to see engineers and inventors who build the better mousetrap to catch more mice, not to market and get rich.

i want to see more hackers and tinkerers.

i want to see the open source model applied to more things than software.

i want to see the solution to the problems.

i want to see m-theory succeed as the theory of everything.

i want to see rechargeable batteries that can be recharged indefinitely.

i want to see waterproof and shockproof electronics.

i want to see neural interfaces.

i want to see independent media explode.

i want to see millions of blogs and independent newspapers and short stories and novels and video shows and movies and audio shows and video games and new sorts of media that haven't even been thought of yet all being shared and adding to this wonderful stew of human culture that we have at our disposal.

i want to see society pulling together to spread the resources around in the best ways for the most people, rather than the abnormal and unnatural concentrations of wealth and power that abound today.

i want to see star trek come to life as a model for social behaviour and structure.

i want to see everybody's crazy ideas, pick out the best ones and stick them all together.

i want to see the ubiquitous exemplification of 'the right thing'.

i want to see a new renaissance.