Automation, a curse or a blessing?

Dr. D.B.B. Rijsenbrij

Notes previous articlenext article

1) Theses with my dissertation A cluster description of a perfect crystal (1975)

Thesis 3:
Because of the overdose of information humanity is getting nowadays, it is advisable to devote attention to the processing of this information as early as during secondary education.

Thesis 6:
The abolition of the ‘exchange package dump’ that used to be printed by the computer installed at S.A.R.A. in case of an ‘abnormal job termination without a user call’, is not only practical in a paper saving sense, it is also of psychological importance.

In stead of this undesired dump, which, and that was frustrating enough, was unreadable for the majority of the users, an uplifting maxim should therefore be printed. The computer might ‘randomly’ select this maxim from a certain collection.

Thesis 7:
It is desirable to make the monitors of the terminals at S.A.R.A. less reflecting, so that when an error message occurs, one does not face ones own disappointed reflection.

2) In the mind of a novice there are many possibilities, in the experienced mind there is only one; Suzuki[20]

3) The ‘meaning’ in sound has nowadays been replaced by the ‘explanation’ in the dictionary.

4) Creation consists of three worlds: the physical world, the subtle or mental world and the causal world.

5) The trichotomy: ‘awareness’, ‘understanding’, and ‘knowing’ is consistent with the structure of Creation (also see notes 4 and 14): ‘physical’, ‘mental’ and ‘causal’.

6) The invention of the script has led to a tradition in recording. Recording of facts and recording of processes through procedures, the accuracy of which we can have checked by accountants. Subsequently we have stored the procedures in machines.

7) We must not forget: words are dead, descriptions are dead. They are merely projections on the wall of Plato’s cave[26].

8) Speaking can take place at all three levels in Creation: physical or external, mental or internal and even causal. Mental speech is often called ‘formulating’.

9) By ‘Self’ we mean the state of consciousness in which there is no connection with the processes of Creation[28].
The Self is That which is present behind this Creation. That which was before we were born, which is while we are alive and which will still be after our so-called death. In the Christian Tradition this can be called Pure Conscience.

10) Heaven here means a state of consciousness in the here-and-now; every reference to the future is a trick of the devil to lure us away from the here-and-now.

11) Finding implies something was potentially there to be found (in the causal world / the world of ideas).

12) Accidental in the sense of ‘for no apparent reason’.

13) By the way, prejudice has the same restrictive effect as a database view on a data collection.

14) Beauty on a physical level is expressed in objects that can be heard, felt, seen, tasted or smelled, after which it can be decided whether these physical objects are in fact beautiful or not. A well-known example of beauty on a mental (non-sensory) level is the Justinian Code. For centuries, it constituted the solid foundation of a great empire, and it was based on three beautiful principles: live honestly, do not harm anyone and give everyone his due. If we direct our minds at the essential beauty behind these mental systems, in which the laws of nature are also expressed, we finally end up at the causal aspect of beauty.
Beauty is not ruled by the laws of Creation, not by laws of birth, growth, decline and death. Summarising, physical or sensory beauty has its foundation in the empire of the mind. The mind thanks its beauty to the beauty of reason. Reason itself finds its being and its beauty in the will of the Creator, who shapes and holds all the levels of beauty. In the end, beauty is the playful projection of the Self.

15) The ignorant live only on a physical level, leading them to miss what they really need. This leads to immoderate use of Creation and to a mechanically functioning being which becomes more and more ‘unscrupulous’.

16) Adornments like the gothic art of the buildings surrounding the Grand Place in Brussels, seeming more like neurotic art to me.

17) The four cardinal virtues Plato wishes for the state[31], [32] are: wisdom, courage, moderation and justice. Nineteen centuries later, neo-Platonist Ficino[33] again stresses the importance of restraining the excessive demands of the soul through quality of civilisation.

18) The concept of ‘fun’ is one of the seven ‘basic values’ of the IT firm Cap Gemini Sogeti: honesty, solidarity, freedom, daring, confidence, simplicity, fun.
'Fun, of course, does not necessarily mean rolling in the aisles with bleary-eyed hysteria', according to Cap Gemini Sogeti’s Policies and guidelines manual (1989). 'Fun can be realised through a sense of pride. To be proud of our organisation, of each other, and especially of ourselves, is a form of fun. It feels good, especially when linked to quality.'

19) In the amusing book ‘TAO van POEH’[34] these questions are individualised to:

what am I?
what are my achievements?
how do I handle them?

20) This is in fact a question of ethics.

21) Especially with some of the large data collections of the Government, it would be good to cast a few doubts as to their necessity. In our present-day society a clear conscience, freely functioning reason and common sense seem to be replaced by a dense web of rules and regulations, of dos and don’ts. This yoke of strict rules and regulations can also be seen with some large companies, which because of their size show the same characteristics as the central Government.

22) Giga is short for gigantic; to people with an exact disposition it means ten to the power of nine.

23) Privacy regulations imply that there is something to hide. Hide from what? From whom? Computer networks distribute data about people to people. Is that a bad thing? What is privacy?

24) The Czech word ‘robotit’ means ‘to slave’, ‘to toil’, ‘to work oneself to death’.

25) A distinction must be made between direct and indirect users. In this speech, direct users are meant.

26) Isha-upanishad[37]. In this upanishad, which Shankara considers to be the most important one, we are summoned to give sufficient attention to the world as well as to the eternal. Plato, too, states that man inhabits two different worlds.

27) Creation needs attention to develop, attention is what keeps Creation going. Machines, including computers and robots, do not give attention, they ‘devour’ attention. That is why the care for Creation may not be left to machines, whether or not intelligent.

previous articlenext article
website: Daan Rijsenbrij