--- In [email protected], "John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Interesting article. But in MMY's view of things, the > author lacked something-- enlightenment.
MMY said Douglas Adams wasn't enlightened? I'm surprised he had any idea who Adams was. However, the man appeared to be respected > among his peers. > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > A gently mind-bending address to Digital Biota 2, > > the Second Annual Conference on Cyberbiology, in > > 1998 by the late Douglas Adams: > > > > http://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/ > > > > Excerpts: > > > > ...Money is a completely fictitious entity, but it's very powerful > in > > our world; we each have wallets, which have got notes in them, but > > what can those notes do? You can't breed them, you can't stir fry > > them, you can't live in them, there's absolutely nothing you can do > > with them that's any use, other than exchange them with each other - > > > and as soon as we exchange them with each other all sots of > powerful > > things happen, because it's a fiction that we've all subscribed > > to....If we were all to vanish, money would simply vanish too. > Money > > has no meaning outside ourselves, it is something that we have > > created that has a powerful shaping effect on the world, because > it's > > something we all subscribe to.... > > > > ...The society of Bali is...all defined by the church; they have > very > > peculiar calendars and a very peculiar set of customs and rituals, > > which are precisely defined and, oddly enough, they are > fantastically > > good at being very, very productive with their rice harvest. In the > > 70s, people came in and noticed that the rice harvest was > determined > > by the temple calendar. It seemed to be totally nonsensical, so > they > > said, 'Get rid of all this, we can help you make your rice harvest > > much, much more productive than even you're, very successfully, > doing > > at the moment. Use these pesticides, use this calendar, do this, > that > > and the other'. So they started and for two or three years the rice > > production went up enormously, but the whole predator/prey/pest > > balance went completely out of kilter. Very shortly, the rice > harvest > > plummeted again and the Balinese said, 'Screw it, we're going back > to > > the temple calendar!' and they reinstated what was there before and > > it all worked again absolutely perfectly.... > > > > ...As we become more and more scientifically literate, it's worth > > remembering that the fictions with which we previously populated > our > > world may have some function that it's worth trying to understand > and > > preserve the essential components of, rather than throwing out the > > baby with the bath water; because even though we may not accept the > > reasons given for them being here in the first place, it may well > be > > that there are good practical reasons for them, or something like > > them, to be there.... > > >
