to those of you that have noticed that linear c has gone quiet again over the last week or so, rest assured, there is good reason for this.
i am currently working on a major development with linear c that will involve a different medium!
i have not produced anything in said medium before so bare with me. i will keep you up to date. hopefully it will launch in the next few weeks!
i don’t want to give to much away right now.
linear c
The events in Catalonia over the last few weeks have very much been on my radar. I am currently living in Spain and as you’d naturally expect Catalonia is very much a daily topic of conversation. I am also a proud Welshman, who would like to see Wales become an independent nation. The framing of the events in Catalonia by some news outlets has been misleading and lazy; subtly implicating the situation there with fascist/ racist/ xenophobic forms of ‘nationalism’. (As a side not, I always find the term ‘nationalism’ unhelpful and vague).
The independence movement in Catalonia is clearly one that is based on civic nationalism. There has been virtually zero mention of ethnicity etc. The movement has been incredibly peaceful and creative in their efforts to gain independence. This has stood in stark contrast to the actions of the Spanish central government in Madrid.
As a Welshman who speaks Welsh, I know all too well of cultural repression. The Welsh language similar to Catalan was repressed for centuries. To wish to keep one’s mother tongue and culture alive is an incredibly reasonable and natural thing to want.
One would naturally love their family and have more loyalty toward them than a random family that they have had no contact with. One would naturally feel more at home and have more of an affinity with their hometown than a city that they have never visited on the other side of the world. Once this extends to the idea of a ‘nation’ this becomes problematic to many. Of course I would be more concerned about my own family than another, this however does not mean that I would be unconcerned about that other family, that I would not attempt to empathise with them as best I can, that I would not be kind to them and respect them. There is no reason that this should not be the case also with nations/ countries. Because I am a proud Welshman that should not automatically lead me to begin acting in a negative or aggressive manner to those that aren’t.
I am very interested in cultures around the world, and would never consciously treat anybody differently because of their ethnicity. I do however, feel a deep connection to Wales and it’s land and culture. This is the case for many people in Wales, especially those that speak Welsh and who live in areas where Welsh language culture is stronger. I also know from first-hand experience, that the vast majority of these people wanting Welsh independence aren’t in the slightest way racist or xenophobic etc.
Based on electoral results, most of them are on the left politically and also voted to remain in the EU. I know the situation to be similar in Scotland and in many other parts of Europe that seek independence. I have many friends from England who have no understanding of my Welshness, that as soon as they hear any mention of being proud of their country, they automatically react as though this will inevitably lead to fascism and racism. In general it seems that, the independence movements regions within states in Europe are much different animals to the nationalistic movements seen at a more state-wide level.
With the UK, both the Welsh and Scottish independence seeking parties are internationalist and on the left. It is the UK wide ‘nationalistic’ party, UKIP, that is racist, xenophobic and on the far right. The situation is similar in France, with the UDB of Brittany in France on the left and then the nationwide French party, the Front National again being xenophobic and racist. I am currently living in Galicia, and the BNG, the Galician independence movement, is again very much internationalist and on the left. To try and conflate and compare these movements which seek a seat at the international table with some of the nastiest and most repugnant forms of nationalism in Europe base on ethnicity etc is incredibly unfair and innacurate.
Again I am still warming into posting after as long hiatus. I hope this post doesn’t read as too rant-like.
linear c
On Friday Elon Musk gave us an updated version of his plan to colonise Mars. Whilst this plan is extremely interesting and revolutionary (to put it mildly), I am going to use this post to examine another element of Musk’s address that I find, in some ways, more exciting. That is the use of a new SpaceX spacecraft/ rocket, the BFG (Big Fucking Rocket), for the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System.
There have been two main reasons for the massive delay in my posting of late. One was illness, the other I feel is connected to this post, in some sense. I have recently moved to Spain where I will be working for around a year. What struck me about the whole venture was the massive irregularities and anomolies that are apparent when it comes to travelling. Elon Musk, perhaps more than anyone, is attempting to tackle this issue.
It took me around 2 hours to fly from the UK to Spain, a distance of 2228 km. This is pretty good, and in all fairness the whole system seemed efficient. Once I arrived however it took me around the same amount of time to travel a mere 150 km.
Short/ medium distance travel has not changed all that much for around a hundred years. This should be a ridiculous situation in 2017, but evidently it is still very much the case, and is accepted as the norm. From a UK/ European perspective at least, most short/ mid distance travel is normally conducted domestically, or within the Schengen Area (an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders). To cooperate on transport projects in theses areas should therefore be relatively straightforward.
Elon Musk’s proposed Hyperloop is the most exciting development for this type of travel. Hyerloop one’s proposed route between Toronto and Montreal would cut the time of travel from 4+ hours by train to 39 minutes. Being from the UK, the thought of travelling form Liverpool to Glasgow in 13 minutes via Hyperloop is mind-blowing. It could take around 3 hours and 45 minutes to travel the same distance by car. The potential benefits of such speeded-up travelling times is immense. It would massively improve the quality of living of those benefitting from the Hyperloop.
This brings me on to the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System. Of course, the Hyperloop would be revolutionary, but I believe a means of transport like that to be well-overdue. A means of transport that should already be with us. The SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System however does strike me as a futuristic and incredibly bold proposal. To my mind travelling at the speeds that a Hyperloop would facilitate should already be a reality. The distance/ speed of travel that the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System would allow for however seems immense. Travelling from New York to Shanghai, a distance of 11,897 km in only 39 minutes is insane! (the max speed of travel reached would be 27,000km/ h. London to New York in 29 minutes would be truly revolutionary. Try getting from one side of a small city to another in that amount go time. This could lead me on to discuss the Boring Company, but this is my first post in a good few weeks so with this post I’m still treading water, so I’ll keep things brief. I wouldn’t want to Bore you all.
Sorry about the delay in posting.
linear c
It has been a long while since I have last posted. I would like to apologise for this. The reason for my lack of posting has been down to illness. I am now on the mend, and therefore linear c should be back up and running as usual soon.
Thank you all!
linear c
Synaesthesia, simply put, is the triggering of the experience of one sense by the stimulation of another sense. Grapheme-color synaesthesia, for example, is the experience of perceiving numbers as being inherently coloured. Ten could be navy blue. 256 could be cinnamon satin. 978 could be a light green etc.
There are numerous types of synaesthesia, this post however will focus on Chromesthesia. Chromesthesia is the experience of colour being evoked by sound. American musician Kanye West has spoken on many an occasion about how he experiences this type of syneaesthesia.
“I give you paintings, sonic painting. You know I have synaesthesia, like, I can see sound in front of me.”
– Kanye West
West works like an artist, mixing and combining various hues of sounds in the creation of one of his ‘sonic paintings’.
It is perhaps West’s experience of synaesthesia that is responsible for his apparent preternatural ability to effortlessly weave together seemingly disparate and clashing elements. This is most notable on his masterpiece ‘Yeezus’. On ‘Yeezus’, West mashes-up, juxtaposes, and stitches-together various different and contrasting audial elements with ease to create cohesive songs.
“‘Blood on the Leaves’ is a crazy-ass song, bro. That’s the Kanye West genius right there. Only he would think that ‘Strange Fruit’ was missing a HudMo beat, and that the HudMo beat was missing ‘Strange Fruit’.”
– Travis Scott
One of the things that West is perhaps most famous for is his sampling of other artist’s songs. West is one of the artists responsible for elevating the status of sampling to that of art.
West’s samples include everything from the soundtrack to a 1972 Hindi language comedy, to samples of Bon Iver’s song ‘Woods’, to samples of ‘Gyöngyhajú lány’ by Hungarian rock band Omega, to a sample of ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ by French duo Daft Punk. His choice of samples is certainly diverse and often esoteric.
On his track ‘Blood on the Leaves’, West manages to meld both a solemn Nina Simone song about the lynching of black men in the South, with a thudding and heavy electronic beat. In the hands of a lesser artist (if they would have had the idea in the first place), this song could so easily have been an incoherent mess. West however fuses these seemingly disparate elements to beautiful and heartbreaking affect. Critical praise has been heaped upon ‘Blood on the Leaves’, with creative geniuses such as film director David Lynch and musician Lou Reed expressing their love for the song.
“‘Blood on the Leaves’ is one of my favourite songs.”
– David Lynch
It is this collage of sounds that helps make West’s music as startling, hard-hitting and beautiful as it often is. West perhaps owes this preternatural ability to make a coherent song of such disparate audial elements to his synaesthesia.
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A majority of the world’s population adheres to a monotheistic religion, with two of the most popular, Christianity and Islam, having the most adherents of any religion.
Monotheistic religions state that there is only one all-powerful god that governs and intervenes in the world. When you begin looking at monotheistic religions however, they turn out to be more complex and nuanced.
It is generally accepted that animism is the oldest known type of belief system. Animism is the belief that all things are animated and alive, be it rocks, rivers, plants, animals etc.
Animist beliefs eventually made way for polytheistic religions. Polytheists believe in multiple deities, which comprise a pantheon of gods and goddesses. These gods and goddesses usually represent an element or force of nature. They are an abstracted step removed from the spirits of animism that are literally present in the natural world.
Animism wasn’t completely replaced by polytheism, however. Spirtis, holy springs etc. remain very much a part of polytheistic belief, despite losing their position atop the hierarchy of importance. The spirits of the older animistic beliefs are still called upon for the more mundane needs of day-to-day life. Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from animism, as the polytheistic gods are often part of a larger continuum that includes spirits, ancestors etc.
What essentially occurred with the change from animism to polytheism was a change in the way that humans interacted with the world. Humans went from seeing themselves as an equal-player and integral part of the natural world, no different than any other animal, to a worldview in which they saw the world as a reflection of the interaction between them and the gods. Human sins, prayers and sacrifces to the gods would determine their environment. With the advent of polytheism came the idea of humans as having ownership over nature.
Just as animism continued to exist within polytheism, polytheism too continued within monotheistic religions. As a result, monotheistic religions are like a matryoshka doll of belief, containing within them both animist and polytheistic beliefs.
Let’s take Christianity as an example:
At the very top of the hiartchy of belief is:
God
Having a single god is what differentiates monotheism. However, Christianity does contain its own version of the polytheistic pantheon, though these figures have been relegated from the status of gods:
Christian Saints (more specifically patron saints)
When God was seen as being too distant for the mundane needs of everyday life, Christians would call upon the assistance of saints. If you had the plague, you would pray to Saint Adrian of Nicomedia, if you suffered rheumatism then you could seek the assistance of St James The Great, if you were affected by flooding then you could pray to St Florian. Whatever the illness, affliction or issue, there is a saint to whom you can pray for help. This is no different than say the Ancient Greek Polytheistic Religion. If you were a sailor in ancient Greece, you would make certain not to anger the sea god Poseidon.
Often the older polytheistic gods were completely reappropriated as saints within Christianity. Saint Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland is most likely a christianised version of Brigid, an old Celtic goddess of the dawn, who was associated with the spring, fertility and healing.
Christianity also contains remnants of animist belief, most clearly in the idea of the Holy Spirit/ Holy Ghost.
Monotheistic religions have evolved from polytheistic religions which themselves evolved from animist beliefs. What we see with monotheistic religions therefore is a matryoshka doll of belief, that retain within themselves remnants of these older belief systems.
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*This is just a quick, off-the-cuff post, and therefore a short and pretty high-level look at the subject matter.
I am a massive advocate of Universal Basic Income. One of the most common arguments I hear against UBI is that people should not get something for nothing. That people do not deserve money without having worked for it, without having earned it. This implies that there is a correlation between work and income, which there is. This correlation however is fairly weak.
If there were a strong correlation, then you could assume the following scenario to be true….That a child working in a sweatshop for 16 hours a day would earn a lot of money. That their significant toil would be reflected in a sigificant salary. We know this not to be true.
Of course the economy isn’t a straightforward as that. There are many jobs/ professions that are objectivley undemanding in terms of both physical and mental toil, yet that still produce a significant salary.
I also object to this argument on another level… That toil and hard work is inherently a good thing, and that those that do not engage in laborious and straining work are lazy or are ‘cheating’ in some way. This is obviously a mentality born of centuries of having to do hard labour. Don’t get me wrong, the pleasure often is in the doing, and working hard can be rewarding. Most labour however is tedious, repetative and unfullfilling. It is rarely a choice. If such professions/ jobs could be done by AI, leaving people free to explore their creative passions and desires, then why not?
This argument often excuses and ignores those of high incomes that do little in the way of work, arguing that they have somehow earned their status from years of hard work and toil. It is true that many people in high-paying, undemanding professions have earned, and are deserving of their positions. There a however many in high-paying jobs that owe their position to inheretance and to other ‘unearned’ reasons.
There are many reasons why I am in favour of UBI and perhaps this will be the topic of a future post. I just wanted to take a few minutes however to discredit this one particular argument against it that I often hear.
ultra-short reads for when you have a few minutes to kill 