This is my comment on http://discovermagazine.com/2012/dec/25-beyond-geek-chic
Every month I find something more to like about Discover Magazine. This post sheds light on a hopeful trend in our culture. I went and saw "The Avengers" just to understand it better. It made me think that perhaps we are all becoming more rational and evaluative. But then I saw the latest “Star Trek", where popular culture's most famous and archetypal rational thinker, Leonard Nemoy as Spock, implores us that our final cause is just a "leap of faith" (by our future self from another universe, or something). I like to think that our systems are helping people learn the value of values. But the machines will never be able to convey to us the meaning of our meaning especially if our elders keep repeating "just believe".
Thanks for the insight.
Your mobile site looks great on my GS3!
I believe we have a chance at a new discovery. With all our new understanding of how our values really do matter, and how they make our lives richer and more real, I think we have an opportunity that no previous generation has ever had.
We can see, and show, how our values encompass a range of meaning and purpose. We can see that our values, those things which we pursue, span a vast continuum, from the directions we point our eyes at any given moment (micro-gestures) to the long range plans we make on our project planning systems, to the mission statements we form with our lives. They allow us to convey the richness, realness, and meaning of our lives to each other and to future generations.
But the systems can't figure this out for us. We need people, individuals with vision, who can integrate these components into a unified view of our existence. We need philosophers after all.
