Anger as a resource

January 26, 2026 //
0

“Hey! sweet ghapama
Whoever eats it is satiated
Hey! dear, sweet ghapama
Whoever doesn’t eat it, understands nothing!!”
Harout Pamboukjian

Theory has it that if you know your goal and remain focused you’ll get there.
‘Meritocracy’. That’s the name of the pretense…

Practice demonstrates that in order to ‘get there’, one needs ‘opportunity’.

The reality of the matter is simple.
Deceivingly simple and harsh as hail. Or hell… take your pick!
If you stay focused on a sensibly chosen goal you will cover a considerable distance. BUT ONLY AS LONG AS the opportunity field you are toiling will not change much. Too much for you to cope with.

There are three sides involved in this. Or dimensions…
Choosing the goal. Staying focused. Conservation of the playing field.

Staying focused is an individual thing. Something to be learned, for sure, but having more to do with the personal innards of each individual than with the community to which they belong.
Choosing the goal is, say, 50%-50%. Each individual is torn between their personal preferences and the various fads piled on them by families/society.
Conserving the playing field is the responsibility of the society. It’s the consequence of each individual doing their thing but the ultimate responsibility rests on the society as a whole.

What happened?
Simple.
Too many of us have stayed focused. On our individual goals. Set according to the prevailing fads circulating while we were young.
We’ve been so focused on our goals, on our respective individuals goals, that we didn’t notice the change. The fact that we’ve been changing the world. The narrowness of our focus prevented us from seeing anything else…
From understating that our goals were out of touch to start with. Not as important as they seemed at the beginning. And that pursuing them was detrimental. For us, for the society at large and for the environment.
Understandably, we’ve become frustrated. Angry…
In denial!

Some enterprising people have noticed the whole thing.
And have figured out that anger can be weaponized.
Used to herd us. To convince us to stop thinking about our fate. And to chase their goals instead…

One doesn’t need much to drive a herd.
A lure to entice, a red rag works perfectly, and a scare to hurry the reluctant.
Presently, globalization is the red rag of choice and the immigrant is the most efficient scare.

I’m of mixed extraction. Armenian and Romanian.
During the last 25 years, some 4 million Romanians have left the country. Most of them are still citizens and some of them continue to vote. To cast votes when the Romanian state organizes elections. Lastly, a majority of the Romanian emigrants currently living in the Western Europe have voted for anti-globalist and anti-immigrant parties. AUR (gold, in Romanian) and SOS.
And there are more Armenians living abroad – some 8 million, than the 3 million inhabiting Armenia proper.

Before wrapping up, I need to add that, as far as I know, the Armenian people have evolved in situ. Various foreign powers have sometimes controlled the territories inhabited by Armenian people but there were no known significant population influxes into the area. Until the Turkish speaking tribes up-rooted and overwhelmed the Armenians living in the flatter zones but that is another subject.
So.
We have an ancient people living in its original areal.
And one of the most cherished dishes of that people is Ghapama. Roasted pumpkin stuffed with rice and spiced with cinnamon.

Pumpkin is currently cultivated in Armenia. But it was brought there from America…
Rice and cinnamon don’t grow in Armenia! Never did…

Why are we so afraid of globalization?
Why have we allowed the scaremongering social-entrepreneurs to lure us?!?

Only because we are frustrated?
Angry enough to forget about ourselves?!?

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Categories 1989, alternative ways of acquring knowledge, awareness, Bounded rationality, effective communication, In English, manipulation, Psychology, skin in the game

All in favor of “gun control”…

January 25, 2026 //
2

Political prisoners and Death Camps can’t exist without “Gun Control”.
Some Americans still feel “Gun Control” is a good ideea.
To prevent a Schindler’s List in America, we must destroy “Gun Control”!!

“Say the words “gun registration” to many Americans—especially pro-gun Americans, including the 3.5 million plus members of the National Rifle Association—and you are likely to hear about Adolf Hitler, Nazi gun laws, gun confiscation, and the Holocaust. More specifically, you are likely to hear that one of the first things that Hitler did when he seized power was to impose strict gun registration requirements that enabled him to identify gun owners and then to confiscate all guns, effectively disarming his opponents and paving the way for the genocide of the Jewish population.“German firearm laws and hysteria created against Jewish firearm owners played a major role in laying the groundwork for the eradication of German Jewry in the Holocaust,” writes Stephen Halbrook, a pro-gun lawyer. “If the Nazi experience teaches anything,” Halbrook declares, “it teaches that totalitarian governments will attempt to disarm their subjects so as to extinguish any ability to resist crimes against humanity.””

Bernard E. Harcourt, On Gun Registration, the NRA, Adolf Hitler… 2001 The University of Chicago

“As the videos begin, Pretti can be seen filming as a federal agent pushes away one woman and shoves another woman to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the women, then raises his left arm to shield himself as the agent pepper sprays him.
Several agents then take hold of Pretti – who struggles with them – and force him onto his hands and knees. As the agents pin down Pretti, someone shouts what sounds like a warning about the presence of a gun. Video footage then appears to show one of the agents removing a gun from Pretti and stepping away from the group with it.
Moments later, an officer with a handgun pointed at Pretti’s back fires four shots at him in quick succession, footage shows. Several more shots can then be heard as another agent appears to fire at Pretti.”

“”How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference.
Trump accused local elected officials of stirring up opposition.
“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric,” the Republican president wrote on social media.”

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”

And you call this ‘a complex reality’…

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Categories 1989, alternative ways of acquring knowledge, authoritarianism, awareness, Bounded rationality, Choices we make, collective identity, effective communication, In English, skin in the game

Mala Suerte

January 19, 2026 //
0

Make
America
Lonely
Again

What happened next?
The Roaring 20s, Prohibition – and the advent of the Mob, the Great Depression, WWII.
In the rest of the world?
The Great Depression, Fascism, WWII.

Could America have made a difference? As an ‘insider’ rather than as a peeping Tom?

“The United States never joined the League. Most historians hold that the League operated much less effectively without U.S. participation than it would have otherwise. However, even while rejecting membership, the Republican Presidents of the period, and their foreign policy architects, agreed with many of its goals. To the extent that Congress allowed, the Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover administrations associated the United States with League efforts on several issues. Constant suspicion in Congress, however, that steady U.S. cooperation with the League would lead to de facto membership prevented a close relationship between Washington and Geneva. Additionally, growing disillusionment with the Treaty of Versailles diminished support for the League in the United States and the international community. Wilson’s insistence that the Covenant be linked to the Treaty was a blunder; over time, the Treaty was discredited as unenforceable, short-sighted, or too extreme in its provisions, and the League’s failure either to enforce or revise it only reinforced U.S. congressional opposition to working with the League under any circumstances. However, the coming of World War II once again demonstrated the need for an effective international organization to mediate disputes, and the United States public and the Roosevelt administration supported and became founding members of the new United Nations.”

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/league

Was the World a better place after WWII? Was America happier? Inside rather than outside?

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Categories 1989, alternative ways of acquring knowledge, awareness, Bounded rationality, Choices we make, effective communication, evolution, In English, skin in the game

Evolution

January 14, 2026 //
0

‘Adapt to survive’.

‘Intelligent design’ didn’t make much sense. For me. Until now!

Trying to make sense of what’s going on, I’ve suddenly understood how useful it is. The concept!
How many things can be explained using the ‘intelligent design’ paradigm…

January 14, 2026.
NASA is cutting short, for medical reasons, a scientific mission. And brings back 4 astronauts from the International Space Station.
Meaning that NASA, a human ‘agency’, is able to fly people up and down into the sky. At will. And that it cares, for whatever reason, about the well being of those involved.
Meanwhile, in both Bucharest and Kyiv people have to make do without enough heat. In the middle of winter.
Why?

Can any of this be explained without making use of ‘intelligent design’?

But wait! It gets even better…
OK, NASA was well designed in the first place. Operates in a civilized country and is manned by some of the most capable inhabitants of that country.
People in Kyiv are suffering the consequences of a ‘well designed’ conflict.
People in Bucharest experiment the consequences of their own short-sightedness. For 35 years the centralized heating system has been neglected. Underfunded and ineptly maintained. A patent lack of ‘intelligent design’, right?

All these three examples, as well as many others, fit perfectly.
Things too complicated to happen without outside intervention.
Things so different from what is considered to be ‘normal’ that a ‘deus in machina’ is needed as the only possible explanation.

Yet, as I already promised, things go even ‘deeper’.
As you might already know, there are some people who dislike the European Union. And who claim that nothing good comes from ‘Brussels’. That the Europeans would be far happier ‘on their own’, without the ‘obtrusive interventions’ coming from the ‘Commission’.
In this context, it is worth mentioning the fact that, for example, “80% of the apartments situated in Sectorul 3 (one of the 6 boroughs of Bucharest) have been thermally rehabilitated, most of the funds being grants from the EU”

Intelligent design, eh… Convincing people they will fare better outside the EU, when the EU had paid to make their lives more bearable….

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Categories 1989, alternative ways of acquring knowledge, awareness, Bounded rationality, Choices we make, collective identity, effective communication, In English, skin in the game

An Inside Job

January 11, 2026 //
0

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us,
to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand,
and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from whence he was taken.

“They’re extremely simple and accessible objects, which is not always the case with math research,” Schwartz said. “It’s the kind of thing that you could explain … to an eight-year-old.”

This doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Driving ‘man’ “forth from the garden of Eden”, that is… The Mobius band, as stated above, is a simple thing!

After all, knowing good and evil is a natural thing. For humans… ‘Man’ doesn’t need to ‘raise a hand and eat some fruit’… Living among like-minded peers is enough. As long as they talk to each other, of course.
As for ‘living for ever’… that’s impossible. Not only for ‘men’ but also for gods. So many of them are nothing more than memories… like ‘ordinary’ deceased people, right?

So.
Somebody mentioned it in one of the most interesting books known to ‘man’. Not only interesting but also extremely consequential.
Then it must mean something. Despite not making much sense, on the face of it…

What if we look at the whole thing as a metaphor?
As the story of how ‘man’ has become a conscious human being? Instead of a mere historical rendition…

‘But I was under the impression that all cosmogonies were exactly that. Stories meant to impart sense to the Universe. To make it acceptable to the conscious ‘man’…’

Indeed. That’s exactly what cosmogonies do. Did…
Only calling them cosmogonies shreds the magic. To use another metaphor, using the wrong name transforms a swan into a lame duck.

OK, the Bible is a cosmogony. One of many.
But there are many ways to read it.
From the inside, as a ‘bible’. And from the outside. As a cosmogony…

Which brings us to the point.
Science – cold, rational observation performed by conscious agents – can be made only from the ‘outside’. Any personal involvement of the observing agent, any feelings towards the observed subject, will only add layers of bias on top of the ‘desired’ knowledge.

Ouch?!?

How can a ‘rational conscious agent’ observe the world they live in as if they were on the outside?!?
Not only ‘banished outside’ but also made ‘to till the ground from whence he was taken’? …

No hard feelings allowed!
No feelings at all, actually…

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Categories alternative ways of acquring knowledge, awareness, Bounded rationality, effective communication, evolution, In English, skin in the game

Words.

January 9, 2026 //
0

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT GOOD PEOPLE IN AN EVIL PLACE?
DOES HUMANITY WIN OVER EVIL, OR DOES EVIL TRIUMPH?
THESE ARE SOME OF THE QUESTIONS WE POSED IN THIS DRAMATIC SIMULATION
OF PRISON LIFE CONDUCTED IN 1971 AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY.
“How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. Please read the story of what happened and what it tells us about the nature of human nature.”
–Professor Philip G. Zimbardo

1971

A group of California students was divided in two. Half were told to act as prison guards and the other half to obey the first. The experiment was meant to last for two weeks but was cut short after six days.
“I ended the study prematurely for two reasons. First, we had learned through videotapes that the guards were escalating their abuse of prisoners in the middle of the night when they thought no researchers were watching and the experiment was “off.” Their boredom had driven them to ever more pornographic and degrading abuse of the prisoners.” Professor Philip G. Zimbardo.

2025-2026

People living in the US have been told that some of them don’t belong there. That if and when those who do not will have been removed, the rest will resume their previously ‘great’ lives.


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Categories 1989, alternative ways of acquring knowledge, authoritarianism, awareness, Bounded rationality, effective communication, In English, man as a measure for all things, skin in the game, Trust

Driving

January 7, 2026 //
1

Rob Peter to Pay Paul

Riding and driving.
Similar and, yet, so different.

Riding used to be about transporting yourself. On the back of a horse, mostly. Now using a bike, but the principle is the same.
Driving used to be about transporting cargo. Or other people…

The key words here being “used to”.
Nowadays most driving and riding is about transporting single persons. Usually for ‘work related goals’. That despite the fact that almost all merchandise ‘spends time’ inside ‘wheeled transportation devices’.

On the other hand, both driving and riding are about balancing goal, means and sheer luck.

Goals may not be always chosen by the drivers. Yet getting there is determined by the ability of the drivers to ‘do their thing’.
Furthermore, during the voyage, the drivers have also to keep an eye open for the ‘well being’ of their ride. You know… make sure the horses get enough to drink, fill the tank from time to time, checking the lube oil… things like that.
Finally, but not least importantly, the drivers must cope with everything life throws at them.

Which brings us to the point of the day.
Most people don’t get to decide much. Not as autonomously as they do it ‘behind the wheel’. A vast majority of the jobs open for the ‘average guys’ are highly ‘procedured’. Most people have to follow strict sets of instructions, after they reach their working places. Then make ends meet in rather ‘meager economic conditions’ after they get back home. Driving back and forth between those two places define the freest periods of their days.

The way things are going now, global warming and self-driving cars, we must find fresh ways to let our autonomy roam free.

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Categories awareness, Choices we make, effective communication, evolution, In English, skin in the game

Which One?

January 7, 2026 //
0

Some forty odd years ago, a co-worker asked me: ‘What do you think about the UFO-s?’.

Romania, while Ceausescu was still running the show.
People had time on their hands to consider subjects like that. Unidentified Flying Objects. No TV to watch. Only two hours each day. Most of it repeating what Ceausescu had just said. No vacation to plan. People didn’t have enough money. Nor were allowed to go abroad. No books worth reading. No new books worth to be read, anyway… So people spent their time discussing ‘safe’ subjects.

‘Well, I’m not sure they actually exist. I haven’t seen one myself.
But if they do… that might mean we’re under surveillance.
Not that different from what we do in the jungle. Study the chimpanzee. Without interfering in their evolution!’

?!?

‘Do you feel exploited?’

‘No…’

‘Well… We, humans have been exploiting those who were weaker than us. Remember what happened when the Spaniards had discovered America. Or when the English had managed to conquer India. Control China. When the Americans ‘opened up’ Japan…
Now let’s accept the UFO’s as being real.
They must be controlled by very powerful agents. The kind of people which could, if they so wished, very easily control the entire Earth. Transform it into a colony. Which didn’t happen.
Which means they’re not like us. Like we used to be, anyway.
And let me go further.
If they do exist, and do have a certain technological prowess, they may behave in two ways. Peacefully or aggressively.
We’ve already established that they seem to be peaceful. And probably have been so for quite a while.
Then they’re no longer able to fight. Ready to risk their lives in battle.
Hence they’ll be using their technological prowess to protect themselves. Against ‘fresh’, immature, civilizations. Whose members continue to believe it’s worthwhile to risk their lives if the reward is big enough. Who are still ‘ready to fight’.
According to this scenario, the UFO-s are here to make sure we don’t get out in the space until we learn to behave.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon Liu Cixin’s Trilogy. In which he exposes the ‘Dark Forrest Hypothesis’. A couple of weeks ago, I came across the final book of the trilogy, the Death’s End.
Reading it, I remembered the discussion I had with my co-worker.

So, which will it be?
And, even more importantly, will we learn from our own mistakes?

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Categories 1989, alternative ways of acquring knowledge, authoritarianism, awareness, Bounded rationality, effective communication, evolution, In English, skin in the game

Driven

January 1, 2026 //
0

Civilizations rarely collapse in moments of chaos.
More often, they decay through a sequence of decisions
designed to postpone accountability.
By the time destruction arrives, it feels abrupt
only to those who refused to look directly
at what was already happening.
Genny Harrison

At some point, there were way more driven/ridden horses than wild ones.
Currently, there are substantial numbers of cows, chicken, pigs and so on raised by humans and almost no wild brethren of the above mentioned animals. Same with quite a number of plants.

Are we even aware of the whole situation?

Why?
Because so few of us are still needed when it comes to ‘raising food’?

I’m afraid we’re very soon going to face the consequences.
Directly!

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Categories 1989, awareness, Choices we make, complementary ways of attending knowlege, effective communication, In English, skin in the game, teleology

Drivers

December 28, 2025 //
0

Direction, protection and order.
These are what a leader is supposed to provide.
According to the current lore, that is.

Until the start of the previous century, drivers used to drive horses. Then cars.
Since computers have come of age, drivers enable the OS – operating system – to run the hardware. To drive the printer, for example.
Which makes sense. A driver – a person or a computer script – makes the link between the problem which has to be solved and the means which will be used to accomplish the task.

Furthermore, a driver – regardless of its nature – must act inside a certain ‘perimeter’. Certain things must be balanced in order for the drivers to be able to accomplish their tasks. For instance, horses – or donkeys, oxen or even camels – must be harnessed to the carriage. But not zebras! Despite zebras being very much similar to horses…
Same thing for computers. No matter how well written, no driver will ever be able to cajole a printer to perform the task fulfilled by a mouse.

Comparing human and computer drivers, they share one thing. And are set apart by another.
Human drivers must assume the task, despite the fact that they are never sure – not even after reaching the destination – about the final consequences of what they’re doing. Just as the computer drivers. Only the computer drivers don’t care. ‘Cause they cannot care…

Then how come human drivers … ?!?
Human drivers, like their computer counterparts, have their ‘orders’. The direction of the journey, the rules they have to follow… and they are even shielded from some of the consequences.
How many of you would start a journey into a completely anarchic ‘unknown’, just for the fun of it? Into a real life completely anarchic unknown, not into a computer generated virtual reality experience pretending to give the impression…

For the fun of it, into a place you know nothing about but the fact that there’s no established rule you can count on…. and without any form, whatsoever, of insurance.

I encourage you to click the picture and to read the post. Highly illustrative for the points I was trying to make. Direction, protection and order… making possible the interaction.
My gratitude goes to Jess3152.

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Categories alternative ways of acquring knowledge, awareness, Bounded rationality, effective communication, In English, skin in the game, teleology
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