h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

interesting.

i would really like to see all those index cards. Perhaps the trick would be to lay them out on a map, colour code and timeline them, and or plot them on a chess board.

Obviously its not a game, but by laying out all the data that way you would be able to see some patterns, form some links.

You could also attempt to post the whole thing online - with hyperlinks, cross referencing etc. I think that you have to 'vagueify' everything in order to be able to see the big picture.

I think I know the direction in which your head is going, but its a mammoth task. Perhaps it ought to be a collaborative one. If we can get a clearish view of history and context we will be better prepared as a species to pick out what is good and should be continued, and what is crap and should stop.

Ideally, one should be able to distill the whole thing into a few catchy sentances, gain some sort of consensus and agree on what to do next. The future depends on us.

love

jenny

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Hi, Zmrzlina and Jenny. Yep, this was a thought-provoking entry. How do we get ordinary people to care? That is the challenge. But Jenny made a pretty good case for it in a previous posting to your "Reality" entry. Jen, I really think you nailed it there, and in a few clear, short sentences. I think, if people are aware of what's going on, they WILL care, like they care about their own homes, their friends and families. It's natural to care. We must make them aware.

In terms of international relations, it should be obvious to anybody who listens to the news that the actions of countries have a world-wide impact, and that this world-wide impact is affecting all of us. I happen to be very interested in animals and plants, and what happens in some Central American country can lead to the extinction of a species that I care very much about, which would cause me deep emotional pain. The same goes if the animal or plant species lives in an Asian country, or an European or South or North American or African one, or Australia. So unless there is world-wide peace and stability and prosperity both in the human and natural world, I suffer from incessant grievous injuries.

And as for humans, I care for everybody. I have done a lot of reading, stories written by people from all over the world and from many different periods of history, and from that I have learnt that people everywhere are basically the same: human, they can feel pleasure or pain, they have aspirations and fears, and even more than that, they all carry a divine spark inside them. Because every person is equally human to me, it does not matter to me if someone is in Russia, or in China, or in Colombia, or in Rwanda - if that person suffers, I suffer too, because I realise that that person is just like me, has feelings just like mine. It might just as well have been me undergoing that torment and injustice. So it is natural for me to want to end all such torment and injustice, wherever it is.

And I think this attitude is not particularly uncommon. I think many people DO care, automatically. We can make even more people care, and you have pointed out with the story of your mother and the Canadian water, particular people will have particular causes that they find easier to understand and identify with. In this sense it will be valuable to talk about all the issues in a great many different ways, on different forums, from different angles, so that they will have more chances to grab the attention of people who are on different wavelengths.

In a way we will have to be pessimistic, negative, alarmists; shatter people's sense of comfort, make them feel personally threatened by what is happening, just to get them up off their duffs. Because we ARE all threatened it, our comfort is an illusion. But this alarmism has to be balanced by optimism, positivity, because otherwise people will become despondent and incapable of taking action. We must stress: 1) there ARE problems that will not go away on their own; 2) these problems ARE solveable if we act in the right way. This is a difficult balance to achieve, but it is important that we achieve it.

Once people realise that they have to DO something, they need detailed information so that they will know WHAT to do. International relations must be made understandable. Now, you know that the details are incredibly complex and confusing. There's a myriad of different interactions between countries, different agreements, different power relations. But there must be some way to see those details from a far enough perspective that they blend into a recognisable shape. Once you see the big picture, you can then "zoom in" on the details. Consider human history: a lot of what is happening now has already happened many times in the past; we are repeating the mistakes made by our ancestors. A good background in history can help to give people a bigger picture. It can help us to detect meaningful patterns amidst the confusion of details. So I think a movement for peace in our times should stress a detailed awareness of the restless road we have travelled so far.

Consider that you are seeing patterns emerging when you compare the way the Russians respond to Muslims to the way the USA treats Muslims. It should not be hard to point out such things to people. Similarly, in my country right now the same mistakes that were made by the old regime are being repeated by the new regime, and by the way, the "old" regime was repeating the mistakes made by the regime before it. Maybe we need a new approach to history: a judgemental one, where we don't only learn what they did in the old days, but also aim to see what was WRONG with what they did. So that we can stop doing it.

See, I'm actually merely repeating what Jenny said!

We still have to find a name for "us", that is people who want peace in the world and an end to petty power politics and global injustice, exploitation and destruction. "We" must do a lot of writing, to make other people aware; "we" must do a lot of research and tell people about history and about the things going wrong. "We" can state everything in a short and powerful message, and then also explain everything elaborately in detail. "We" must be willing to put in the effort, try hard to make ourselves heard and understandable, work at communication, at persuasion, at encouragement and motivation.

One thing that is still necessary is to convince the average person that he/she HAS THE ABILITY to make a difference. People tend to feel powerless, since the big companies and big governments have this immense power and are messing things up, while ordinary people don't have the power to fight them. So one part of the battle is empowering the common individual, and making him/her aware of that power, and helping him/her to employ that power effectively.

Whew! How do you rate that attempt?

Anyway, Zmrzlina, you can probably guess that I also have aspirations to write something that gets published one day. But personally I want to say everything that I have to say in such a way that people can hear it. If I put something up here, if it is any good at all, people will end up discussing it, and that discussion will raise new points, introduce new angles, give me new perspectives, an end up changing my ideas for the better. So afterwards I can write something different and better than would have been the case had I kept it private. So in that sense I don't worry about copyright issues, since what I will end up writing will be new and original. That's just my own opinion. Your situation is very different from mine, of course. If you have ideas that you are not sure of and would like to hang onto until you can develop them more clearly, then keeping them in a private journal would be best.

Best Wishes and Blessings,
Willem

Hi, Zmrzlina and Jenny. Yep, this was a thought-provoking entry. How do we get ordinary people to care? That is the challenge. But Jenny made a pretty good case for it in a previous posting to your "Reality" entry. Jen, I really think you nailed it there, and in a few clear, short sentences. I think, if people are aware of what's going on, they WILL care, like they care about their own homes, their friends and families. It's natural to care. We must make them aware.

In terms of international relations, it should be obvious to anybody who listens to the news that the actions of countries have a world-wide impact, and that this world-wide impact is affecting all of us. I happen to be very interested in animals and plants, and what happens in some Central American country can lead to the extinction of a species that I care very much about, which would cause me deep emotional pain. The same goes if the animal or plant species lives in an Asian country, or an European or South or North American or African one, or Australia. So unless there is world-wide peace and stability and prosperity both in the human and natural world, I suffer from incessant grievous injuries.

And as for humans, I care for everybody. I have done a lot of reading, stories written by people from all over the world and from many different periods of history, and from that I have learnt that people everywhere are basically the same: human, they can feel pleasure or pain, they have aspirations and fears, and even more than that, they all carry a divine spark inside them. Because every person is equally human to me, it does not matter to me if someone is in Russia, or in China, or in Colombia, or in Rwanda - if that person suffers, I suffer too, because I realise that that person is just like me, has feelings just like mine. It might just as well have been me undergoing that torment and injustice. So it is natural for me to want to end all such torment and injustice, wherever it is.

And I think this attitude is not particularly uncommon. I think many people DO care, automatically. We can make even more people care, and you have pointed out with the story of your mother and the Canadian water, particular people will have particular causes that they find easier to understand and identify with. In this sense it will be valuable to talk about all the issues in a great many different ways, on different forums, from different angles, so that they will have more chances to grab the attention of people who are on different wavelengths.

In a way we will have to be pessimistic, negative, alarmists; shatter people's sense of comfort, make them feel personally threatened by what is happening, just to get them up off their duffs. Because we ARE all threatened it, our comfort is an illusion. But this alarmism has to be balanced by optimism, positivity, because otherwise people will become despondent and incapable of taking action. We must stress: 1) there ARE problems that will not go away on their own; 2) these problems ARE solveable if we act in the right way. This is a difficult balance to achieve, but it is important that we achieve it.

Once people realise that they have to DO something, they need detailed information so that they will know WHAT to do. International relations must be made understandable. Now, you know that the details are incredibly complex and confusing. There's a myriad of different interactions between countries, different agreements, different power relations. But there must be some way to see those details from a far enough perspective that they blend into a recognisable shape. Once you see the big picture, you can then "zoom in" on the details. Consider human history: a lot of what is happening now has already happened many times in the past; we are repeating the mistakes made by our ancestors. A good background in history can help to give people a bigger picture. It can help us to detect meaningful patterns amidst the confusion of details. So I think a movement for peace in our times should stress a detailed awareness of the restless road we have travelled so far.

Consider that you are seeing patterns emerging when you compare the way the Russians respond to Muslims to the way the USA treats Muslims. It should not be hard to point out such things to people. Similarly, in my country right now the same mistakes that were made by the old regime are being repeated by the new regime, and by the way, the "old" regime was repeating the mistakes made by the regime before it. Maybe we need a new approach to history: a judgemental one, where we don't only learn what they did in the old days, but also aim to see what was WRONG with what they did. So that we can stop doing it.

See, I'm actually merely repeating what Jenny said!

We still have to find a name for "us", that is people who want peace in the world and an end to petty power politics and global injustice, exploitation and destruction. "We" must do a lot of writing, to make other people aware; "we" must do a lot of research and tell people about history and about the things going wrong. "We" can state everything in a short and powerful message, and then also explain everything elaborately in detail. "We" must be willing to put in the effort, try hard to make ourselves heard and understandable, work at communication, at persuasion, at encouragement and motivation.

One thing that is still necessary is to convince the average person that he/she HAS THE ABILITY to make a difference. People tend to feel powerless, since the big companies and big governments have this immense power and are messing things up, while ordinary people don't have the power to fight them. So one part of the battle is empowering the common individual, and making him/her aware of that power, and helping him/her to employ that power effectively.

Whew! How do you rate that attempt?

Anyway, Zmrzlina, you can probably guess that I also have aspirations to write something that gets published one day. But personally I want to say everything that I have to say in such a way that people can hear it. If I put something up here, if it is any good at all, people will end up discussing it, and that discussion will raise new points, introduce new angles, give me new perspectives, an end up changing my ideas for the better. So afterwards I can write something different and better than would have been the case had I kept it private. So in that sense I don't worry about copyright issues, since what I will end up writing will be new and original. That's just my own opinion. Your situation is very different from mine, of course. If you have ideas that you are not sure of and would like to hang onto until you can develop them more clearly, then keeping them in a private journal would be best.

Best Wishes and Blessings,
Willem

I would like to speak more specifically about which actions people can undertake. One such an action would be if voters demanded that political candidates knew more and talked more about international affairs. For instance, recently one of the two American presidential candidates confused Slovakia with Slovenia. And there are indications that Americans in general are only dimly aware of the "outside world". So a mobilisation effort is needed to educate Americans (and everybody else, too) about geography and international politics. That way no political candidate will be able to get away with ignorance.

So we must encourage people to know what is going on in the world, which means WE have to know what's going on in the world. I wouldn't say I know everything, but I can probably tell you at least where 95% of the countries of the world are, and what kind of people live there, what kind of politics they have there, and in addition what kinds of animals and plants are found there and what kinds of environmental problems they have there. Let's see if I can tell the difference between Slovakia and Slovenia, without looking in an atlas: Slovakia was part of the former Czechoslovakia, situated in East Europe, east of Austria, the people are the Slovaks; politically their greatest problem would be adjusting to the Free Market Economy, they probably have high rates of inflation, large levels of unemployment, little social security, there are probably calls to return to communism or strict socialism; environmentally, the country probably has little remaining forests, some acid rain, other forms of industrial pollution; many urban environments are probably dirty and ugly and depressing to look at from the outside, there are many neglected buildings and abandoned industrial sites, but there are also remnants of old pre-communist buildings, castles and palaces and mansions and statues and parks and gardens and so on. And Slovenia, unless I'm much mistaken that was once part of Yugoslavia, it is situated close to the coast of the Adriatic sea (but cut off from it by either Croatia, Bosnia or Serbia, I'm not sure), fairly small, mountainous with forests and high rainfall. Probably some acid rain. Politically their greatest problems would be similar to those of Slovakia, but there would be the added ethnic problems associated with the whole of the erstwhile Yugoslavia, threats from the Serbs, some problems with Muslim minorities. Because it is a small country it will probably tend towards insecurity and instability.

Let me now look at an atlas to see how wrong I was. Okay, geographically I was more or less on the money, except that there is a tiny little bit of Slovenia actually on the Adriatic coast. Politically I was wrong about Slovenia, there are almost no Muslims and it seems the country is fairly stable - at least, according to the atlas, which is about three years old. As for Slovakia, it seems there is more ethnic tension there, between Slovaks and a Hungarian minority (about 9%). And it is quite a popular tourist destination, probably because of the history and the better-looking places.

Anyways I don't think I did too badly, and I'm still trying to improve my general knowledge about the different countries of the world. But I believe this is one aspect of the challenge: being able to form a picture of the world as a whole, politically, historically and environmentally. More people must be able to do this, this is an area where education and knowledge must improve among members of the global public, and we must demand an even better level of education and knowledge in our political leaders.

I'll be talking about more concrete actions later. Meanwhile, do you agree that geographical general knowledge like the kind I talked about here is important? If so, have you any ideas how we can activate people to become better informed about the countries of the world and their interrelations?

Yours Enthusiastically,
Willem

Lots to respond to here so I will try to do it bit by bit. I am overwhelmed a bit by all the posts. But I love it!!!!

Yes...it *should* be obvious to everyone that everything is interconnected, but it isn't. I don't know that it is "natural" to care, because if it were, then there wouldn't be a problem with war or hate or ecological destruction. And I don't believe people are the same because all the things you mentioned...pleasure, pain, fear, aspiration...are different for every person. And I don't know what you mean by "divine spark."

I do believe every person is equally human. That takes priority to everything. But I think that is not a common view.

I look at what is going on in Israel and what happened in Kosova and what goes on in Northern Ireland and what happens to gay people in parts of this country and how the gypsies are treated in Slovakia and I have to wonder about your assertion that care is automatic.

Yes...finding ways to make people care is the way to go. And I like the idea of talking in many ways, in many places, from many angles. I am usually the optimist, but between you and purplejenny, I almost look like a realist :::shudder::::

Shatter people's comfort. That is one of my working themes...how change can't be painless for those of us living comfortably. I also believe comfort is an illusion. I hope I am able to find a way to balance the shattering.

International relations made understandable. See...this is the crux of the matter...and relates to the book I wrote about in an earlier post, "Development as Freedom." Freedom is the big picture and zeroing in on the ways to allow each human to realize their capabilities will pave the road to freedom (and we can make sure there are lots of trees on that road for you and lots of indigenous plants for purplejenny ).

History is critical. You know the old adage as well as I...those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

And I rate your attempt at astounding. Overwhelming. And humbling.

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Hi again. My comments about humans being basically the same: that comes from my particular view of life, the universe & everything. I am an ultra-holist. It has to do with deep metaphysical speculations, and I guess it is not an easy idea for most people to swallow and digest. But that's not very important. If you recognise people's basic humanity, that is what's most important. Of course there are many ways in which people differ, those differences must just not become a barrier to empathy, understanding and interaction.

I believe the problem with seemingly pointless violent conflict as in Kosovo, Palestine, Ireland or with the gays in the US or gypsies in Slovakia is not because of a lack of care, it is because of an essential misidentification. They identify a certain group of people with a certain problem, and believe if those people are gone the problem will be gone. They fail to see that the problem and the people are not the same thing, and they fail to see that in trying to get rid of the people they will be creating a much bigger problem.

I'd like to know more about the problems of Gypsies in Slovakia, by the way. At the present I do know that Gypsies are and have been one of the most harshly persecuted groups of people anywhere. Also their cause hasn't been granted very wide attention yet. Is there any particularly severe forms of persecution they face in Slovakia?

You have written some entries about Slovakia and other places here on h2g2, haven't you? You've written a lot of stuff and I haven't read everything yet. I must drop by your page again sometime.

Often people see a problem EXTERNALLY, while it actually exists INTERNALLY. So people have a basic insecurity in their minds, and then vent their frustration on some scapegoat they somehow associate with that insecurity. If people are internally secure they will also be more tolerant. But of course sometimes threats DO exist externally; sometimes two groups compete for the same resources and the one definitely does pose a threat to the other. If the threat can be removed or softened, the conflict can be avoided. It makes sense - if you don't feel threatened, you will not react in an extreme way. Part of solving the problems of violent conflicts would involve doing something to make people on both sides feel less threatened, to reasure them or give them some source of security.

I will never blame America for the world's woes. It would be arrogant of America even to think that it is in a position to cause all the world's problems. Sure, there are some things that America did/does wrong, but there aren't any particular Americans one can point the finger of blame at. That would be counterproductive anyways because it puts an unbearable burden on people's consciences, which hampers them in their action. People must be made to feel energetic and capable, not helpless, listless and despondent. I will instead remind Americans of the commitment to freedom and justice of the founders of the country, and on the extreme successes that have come from America on virtually all terrains. In all things the best way is one of balance: the attitude of Americans should be a creative balance between pride and humility, and it must be based on a thorough knowledge of both the successes and the failures of the country's history. But such an attitude will always be a positive one, because it will empower people to face challenges with realistic optimism.

Anyways, America does not have to solve the world's problems. We in Africa will be working very hard at solving our own problems, as will the people in all the world's countries. But America can contribute, and should. Why? Because everything is everybody's problem. America's problems are also the problems of Africa and Europe and Asia, and our problems are also America's. We can all work together, everone doing what he/she can do best. And if we did that, things will go better everywhere, including in America itself.

Regarding maps, living in Africa I am quite familiar with the Peters Projection Map, though this is the first time I hear the name. I don't see the Mercator projection very often; we had one in our history class in high school, and I though to myself: Greenland looks bigger than Africa! What a totally ridiculous map! I mean, even some of the Canadian islands, like Baffin Island, are comparable to Africa and South America and much bigger than Australia. The Mercator projection does preserve the shapes of the land masses, though. I've seen quite a few different attempts at projecting the earth's surface onto a two-dimensional map, and all of them have shortcomings. The best thing is a globe, or Encarta world atlas, where you can turn a virtual globe on the screen!

By the way, is there something about Africa and our politics and problems you would like to know?

Wishes of Peace, Prosperity and Happiness,
Willem