Alan Watts' Story of the Chinese Farmer

History Channel Facts and Logic

Reproof

I was watching this show about Ancient Aliens which reached into the not so ancient history of Leonardo da Vinci, (whose omnipotence always bugged me a bit, to be honest, but that is not relevant.) Apparently da Vinci disappears in history for about 2 years and comes back with incredible knowledge. Obviously, aliens.

"Nonfiction" television is filled with this type of nonsensical logic. Ok, it IS possible there are aliens that instructed Leonardo in the finer points of such things as helicopters that would not really work but look like something that might work if we squint. Luckily Leon was just mysterious enough to use mirror writing to record his journals. Therefore... aliens. Apparently he didn't need very high levels of encryption to hide his work from the average prying eye. That makes logical sense in a world where writing itself was not common.

Everything is all pretty logical when you look into it. There did not have to be some gigantic event or personage to explain things.  For instance, hints and codes are part of the game of writing on the Internet because of worry of what may be attributed to oneself later when sitting at a job interview. Therefore the manner of da Vinci's writings should guard from the more obvious dangers of the Inquisition (oh, which was, by the way featured in another episode highlighting the cover-ups of alien activity, such as, like. such as, the Inquisition. such as.)

My personal idea of what happened to Leonardo during his lost two years is that he did find a lot of knowledge elsewhere. Again, I believe him to be no deity and a bit overrated. There are a lot of similar ideas in his time period. Some of da Vinci's appear to be the ideas of others. I personally have notebooks to take notes of others. We are all amalgamators of ideas. Any well-researched book has, well, research. It's not that I believe there is nothing newly discovered, it is just that I believe we all work from a general pool of knowledge that our ancestors and contemporaries have carefully dug in our backyard. Leonardo da Vinci, while a great genius in fields like anatomy and painting, is just not as much of a deity as some give him credit for. He is hyped a bit to conclude that science battled religion and the laws won. Oh, yes he was a genius but... I remain bothered by the rhetoric.

I think looking at history through organizational lens of emphasizing only "accomplished" people is generally unsatisfactory as we find one individual over-lauded as others go equally unrecognized. Daily life becomes unrecognized. I do not understand genius but it seems to me that everyone is a product of their time and influences.

These are normal arguments against personality based history but then I am faced with a television network like the History Channel giving credence to the idea that not only was Leonardo da Vinci extremely special but he assimilated this special knowledge from 2 years with aliens. And the mirror writing, well, that just backs up the idea. Eventually, it all sort of falls apart into nonsenstjhgfsetj, 

I could almost accept this kind of thing on the Science Channel. Perhaps aliens exist. It would be something I wouldn't want to focus too heavily upon but, there might be a mention Leonardo da Vinci somewhere in the story of aliens. (Ouch.. my poor back.) The History Channel's focus, on the other hand, should no doubt be upon things that actually HAVE happened, or at least we think HAVE happened. To explain something in history with a "supernatural" explanation should push the envelope of any educated viewer's common sense. It is very much like saying that God did something which caused Leonardo to have a vision. 

Yet, I exist in this world where all around me traditional educational venues are going to pot, yet I do not think the History Channel's visions had anything to do with the actual legalization of pot. Although drug use would seem a fair explanation when considering the way in which conjecture is presented as always very possible. It is not just wild conjecture but carefully cultivated conjecture as well. Perhaps Mr. da Vinci stumbled across some mind expanding drug. I mistrust history but I completely mistrust history refined for ratings content.

And there it is, my first notion of pure insolence after a nice vacation.

The thing that brought me back here from a happy world of animated mice was this concept of lower educational standards. I believe sincerely that the United States is likely no longer educated enough to govern itself. Citizen government demands an extremely involved and educated populace. It is a belief I have that is based on an educated guess coming out of my own lower standard education. 

Although, I must be.. an... elitist. My mind runneth over.

More Insolence Coming

I have been away on vacation enjoying myself, and the problem with this is that when I got back I decided to continue enjoying myself. On our cruise I read one headline on a muted TV showing "Sky News" about more war to clean up the problems of the previous unjustified war. A close friend asked me if I had seen the "war" headline. [My wife and my friends were at a "Whiskey Tasting." I tasted a sip or two of each of my wife's glasses but honestly, only the most expensive whiskey (aged, very expensive, scotch) was satisfying enough for me to enjoy straight.]

After this friend asked if I had seen some kind of war headline, I started to explain and he stopped me. Forget it. War was thereafter left out of our conversations. And honestly, I needed a rest from thinking so damned much about unreasonable things like war.

My insolence has been buried a bit since getting back. I only say this in explanation of the almost month long gap here.

I plan to begin again soon and the first topics will be other aspects of evolution for a few entries, namely eugenics in addition to the application of evolution to economics and our moral values.

I'm not sure when exactly to come back from the enjoyment of not thinking insolently but... soon.

[October 7 update: Ok. I'm ready. That certainly took less time than I imagined. Welcome back to crapworld Michael :)]