Transmeme XIII

As individual, you only deserve attention if you are sexually attractive, wealth productive or suspicios of crime.

Odious Comparisons V – Unopinionated

Sometimes that existing need among us to rule on everything and everybody irritates me. It seems that, if you have no opinion on an issue that arises in a conversation, you are breaching a well-established social convention. And this convention makes us all able to enter any discussion and being a great amateur.

Do not misunderstand me, is good and very necessary for people to have their own opinions, and their own discretion, and to have dialogue and exchange of ideas that enrich us all. That's where the problem lies, in the ownership of ideas, I mean. How difficult it is to cultivate truly own opinions! There is so much information, so much data, and so many events that overwhelm us daily, how does one go about analyzing in detail, balancing between the two sides of the scale and value enough points of view?

Transmeme XII

If you are afraid of doubt, just become a fanatic.

Answered Questions V - Bullfighting

   

Should we abolish bullfighting? Should we protect the great national holiday? Mm, it's not a simple question, but I would like to say a few things about it:

Let me begin stating that I do not consider myself an activist in defense of animal rights, I do not want to cause them any harm either. Let me also state I do not like bullfighting. That is true. I remember when I was a kid and television was black and white, those endless afternoons in the arenas that were so boring. That being said, it is also clear that I am not indifferent to animals suffering, nor do I object to the activities or events that are simply not going with me. You may think that these claims disallow me to express my views on the subject. I think that discussions need to hear as many voices as possible, not just the defenders of each of the thesis, in constant dialectical struggle with the other.

Transmeme XI

I guess you're all trying to figure out whether life is a competition...

Answered questions IV - Escape Fortune

Have you ever heard of the escape velocity? It is a term that in physics and astronomy is used to indicate a speed point at which, if a body is thrown into the sky, it would no longer fall to the ground but it would escape the gravity field and end up disappearing into the empty infinities of space.

What is the reason for this comment? The reason is that this is a phenomenon related to the question: «Why the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer? » Well, that phenomenon is not the cause, that would be too pretentious, but it sheds some light on an invisible border that separates the two worlds (wealthy and poorer). It's what I call the “Escape Fortune”.

I do not intend to get into heavy scientific speculation, just notice that the gravitational field of a body (like the earth) exerts a force of attraction and this force decreases as we move away from it. So a stone that is thrown from the earth will lose speed due to gravity until it stops and falls back. But the force which pulls back the stone gets smaller as long as it moves away from the ground, and it could reach a point where, without having lost all its initial velocity (a velocity greater than escape velocity), the land would no longer attract it and the stone would go wandering through space, forever free from the gravitational field.

Transmeme X

We are the best explanation of what surrounds us.

The World Theatre III - Glances

I like to watch. I like to look at the people. I look with eagerness and without embarrassment at those around me, those I come across on the street, those that sit at the table next to me in the restaurant, I look at those who share a waiting room, or a wagon with me. I guess that makes a Voyeur out of me. But thanks to watching and observing, I made some small discoveries about glances:

Image: Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Transmeme IX

Life and death standed for adaptation to environment by means of mutation, therefore nowadays they serve no purpose.

Answered Questions III - Left or right-wing

Are you left or right-winger? No, do not answer yet. Besides the already questionable need to position ourselves above all and before all, the question itself is tricky if we want to be precise.

'Left' or 'right' is just a colloquial term, which gathers preferences and trends we have on the political, economic, social, religious and even philosophical views of the world in which we live. Then we put them altogether, mix and make two piles crossed by a line: on one side, the left and the other, right.

I know many will say that they are in the middle of the line, or even beyond that line, but that this is not a question of a single dimension. (Do not get upset with me those who know the subject in much greater depth than I).

Transmeme VIII

Thought may not be faster than light, but it is definitely cheaper.

Odious comparisons IV - Pirates and rankings

A few months ago several news came up referring to the outcry being raised in the audiovisual industry and copyright in general, due to the high level of piracy in the country. Various studies quantify the impact of these practices in several ways, showing how Spain is ahead of EU countries in this regard.

Comparisons are odious aren’t they? Especially when from the data, readings and interpretations are made. Such as those leading to say that in Spain there is very little respect for the law, or for intellectual property rights, or there are some congenital and abundant evil rascals, higher than in neighboring countries. Therein lies the problem, in the multiple interpretations, often based on biased evidence.

Usually, the data are agnostic; it is people that read those who must put their brains to make something useful out of them. I will be biased myself now. I played around with the numbers presented above. If I show you this other comparative related to the topic, isn’t the reading different?

Well, you can not yet know because I do not state the variables, but I can anticipate that they also relate to trends in digital piracy. Spain is no longer the "worst" case.

Transmeme VII

3 main forces drive me. The first 2, I don't remember, the 3rd one is sex.