The Galactic Thinker — To the Village of South and Central American Cowgirls (update4)

“Jane?”

“Yes, May?”

“I hear that you are a fount of wise adages…”

“Like Confucius?”

“Yes!”

“Well, May, what I do is I jot down observations that I think no one has observed before, or at least they have not jotted them down.”

“Can you give me one?”

“Sure. I’ve observed that strong people do things because they want to do them, while weak people do things because the strong people do them.”

“Hmm… yes, I can see that happening…”

“Which, I suppose, makes the observation ‘wise’, along with its usefulness…”

“Usefulness?”

“Whether the insight improves the world or not.”

“Do you think that saying will improve the world?”

“Not as much as Broader Survival, and it is not as relevant.”

“So the new concept of Broader Survival replaces all wise sayings?”

“Yes, it does.”

“How did it arise?”

“First, it is a classification, as opposed to Local/Immediate survival, which is ultimately suicidal against a harsh and deadly universe.”

“So you were addressing the suicidal aspect of current mentalities…”

“Yes, that is what the philosophy is a response to, and, broadly speaking, it is yet another insightful observation that our author did not see being expressed anywhere.”

“Give me another observation…”

“The death knell of hippies, besides abject cluelessness, was fashion.”

“But you create fashions!”

“Yes, but I prioritize them properly. Hippies placed too much value on them, and, since it was all clueless, they rebelled against their own fashions.”

“What did they replace their fashions with?”

“New fashions. They then called themselves ‘freaks’, which became the new fashion, until…”

“Until?”

“Until it all imploded when they finally exposed themselves as being clueless.”

“Give me another wise saying…”

“Russia is already reducing its nuclear arsenal.”

“How?”

“Every year, less and less of them work due to their corrupted culture.”

“Another…”

“All objects are composed of partial truths, born of partial perspectives. The question then becomes, which partial truth is more important, and that often depended on your situation and what you need to work with… I have another observation on this…”

“What is it?”

“You are either completely wrong or you offer a partial truth. You can never offer the whole truth, which is theoretically composed of an infinite number of perspectives.”

“Another…”

“Fascism is all about racial superiority and dominating others, with an authoritarian government as the center, which is hypocritical, since the people are not the center, who are supposed to be superior. So Fascism causes conflict and war, and it always loses, being weakened by the authoritarian rule, which always becomes self-serving and corrupted, resorting to surviving on a constant stream of lies which eventually implode since their self-serving, parasitical hypocritical position cannot be exposed, not even to their own people, who end up being victimized, which eventually exposes the corrupt leaders.”

“You could have shortened that one… next…”

“The Philosophy of Broader Survival can also be called The Philosophy of Why? and The Philosophy of Why Bother? since it offers ultimate answers to both.”

“Another…”

“Do what you have to in order to survive in your clueless world, but clear the path for your kids so they can begin to address Broader Survival.”

“Another…”

“If you do everything right in order to prolong your life, you will cry that much harder when you are dying, crying ‘Unfair!’. If you did a lot of bad things to yourself in life, then you will accept your dying as fitting justice.”

“Haha… another…”

“If you have an initial notion, it can take two paths: that of imagination or that of verification.”

“Another…”

“How about a new partial definition of life?”

“OK…”

“Life is that which is free from Determinism.”

“Good one. What if Determinists argue against it?”

“Then they have to prove their case, or at least present their argument. They usually do not. They are usually just obnoxious contrarians. I’ve already proven them wrong from many angles. Next…”

“Next? Ah, that is my line. Next!”

“There is no advantage in remaining clueless or obstinately stupid. It only makes life miserable.”

“Next…”

“The sexually perverted are not genetically that way, they are socially and psychologically driven to it.”

“How do you know?”

“That is my deeper observation.”

“What if you are wrong?”

“I would be surprised, but the sexual perversions remain classified as sexual perversions.”

“Next…”

“If you do not have freedom, you must ask yourself what you will do with your freedom. If you have freedom, you must ask yourself what you have been doing with your freedom.”

“Why is that a wise saying?”

“Because most people flush their freedom down the toilet due to cluelessness.”

“Next…”

“A dictatorship is a land where their leaders are itching to push the nuclear button on the free world.”

“Next…”

“In the war in Ukraine, the United States is imposing unfair naive and misplaced ethics on the Ukrainians, since the Russians do not observe them.”

“So they should be allowed to bomb Russian cities and infrastructure into dust in order to return the favor?”

“Yes. Restraining them now will only cause a greater explosion later as the pressure to do so builds…”

“Do you think that the Ukrainians would stop if the Russians stopped?”

“Yes. They never had plans to take over Russia from Putin, though anyone taking over Russia from Putin sound like a good thing. That is why Prigozhin and his Wagner forces was cheered in the streets as they marched toward Moscow. Do you know what Russia needs?”

“What?”

“A Continental Congress, like America had, where the best and brightest, and the wealthiest, hammered out a government that would serve the people, and that would resist human depravity and stupidity.”

“Does America’s government do that?”

“It has done it for over 250 years so far. Many have tried to tear it down, some just to win one popular election and advance their personal ambitions (Hillary Clinton), but it has stood up to such assailing.”

“Next…”

“To survive, dictators need to roll humanity back to the Dark Ages.”

“Next…”

“In China, there are 1.4 billion people for individual rights and freedom, and one person against it.”

“Let me guess, and that one person rules the 1.4 billion…”

“Right. They need to get rid of the CCP. Have you seen how it is brainwashing the children? They have them bayoneting straw figures of Americans! The Communist State has children doing this!”

“Talk about creating a ‘Straw Man’ in your argument. But the underlying problem is not political or racial or social or psychological or religious, is it…”

“No, it is philosophical, and it is cluelessness.”

“Is that our next village up ahead?”

“Yes, the village of the South and Central American Cowgirls…”

“Hello.”

“Hello. You are the Galactic Thinker’s wife, Jane, right?”

“How could you tell?”

“You are the only wagon train still in existence. So you bring us new fashions?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you create them?”

“Because I am now known as a ‘hyper-creative’ person. It is a new term, and hopefully not to demean my creative energies! But I fear that it is mean, and meant to do just that, demean me, as if being hyper-creative were not a good thing, just because those doing the attacking are not.”

“What do you do with your hyper-creativity?”

“I wish to bring added smiles to your existence, and increase your odds of broader survival, both of which ultimately benefit me.”

“So there is a measure of selfishness in your actions…”

“Of course, with a caveat…”

“What is it?”

“What benefits me at that level also benefits you, and all of existence.”

“Well, come. We will benefit from your hyper-creativity at that level, then. Let us freshen you up and allow you to get some rest before you give us your presentation…”

“Thanks… you have some interesting architecture here…”

“It reflects our history. No one else is going to do it! We also sell oil paintings of our village front, right over here! Look! They are 50% off this week, too!”

“Yes, but you call this your Village Front?”

‘Store front, village front, call it what you will. It is good business!”

“Do you live here?”

“We can stay here. These abodes are kind of like summer cottages, though they are our museums, store fronts, and businesses…”

“What do you think that girl is pondering?”

“Certainly not Broader Survival, if that is where you are going, and… of course you are…”

“What do you think is in his mind?”

“Probably not Broader Survival. Whatever his mindset is, is a mental state that is ultimately suicidal, for him and for his species, since it does not address Broader Survival.”

“What do you think those little children are learning?”

“Probably that the world is clueless. A few of them will succeed in it, others will despair, until they discover the Philosophy of Broader Survival.”

“As it is, there is work to do, upkeep, maintenance, new builds… as well as putting on a show for the tourists. They do not like to see us lollygagging around like unemployed criminals looking for a mark, and can you blame them?”

“Nice. She must be the reigning town jewel. I would like to see enlightened minds, never mind the lollygagging and crime, which are symptoms of unenlightenment. Let’s get to the core of the problem, messed-up mentalities…”

“Hello, blissful primates…”

“She looks like a responsible adult… but…”

“But?”

“But she is missing the point, which is Broader Survival…”

“Reminds me of Dumb and Dumber… but only from a broader perspective. Maybe he has a lot of local knowledge…”

“So where are your main houses?”

“A few miles away, away from the tourists. Let’s go visit them. I’ll give you a special pass, which is rare. Here is my family’s house…”

“And my neighboring family…”

“And one that is a bit more successful than I.”

“They work harder?”

“And they are better looking!”

“Do you envy that?”

“No. Should I?”

“No. You have to look at what you need, and, in an enlightened world, what you need is what supports your addressing Broader Survival. Anything more is a perversion, which, as you can see, is not to be envied. Don’t you think that the tourists would like to see where you really live? I mean, they would pay for the tour, and they would buy more things…”

“We realize that, but we are not THAT greedy. Having a nice quiet place to retreat to is more valuable. Business is good enough, as you can see…”

“I see…”

“They have a lot of land…”

“So?”

“So you are not jealous?”

“No, only Socialists would be. We have enough. It is not our goal to evenly distribute everything since everyone has enough… like you said, some get perverted about ‘having’ things, being otherwise clueless as to what to do in life… and I’m beginning to see your point about Broader Survival being a saner pursuit…”

“This is my son’s house, and his family…”

“Do you have servants?”

“No. We all live in mansions. As for upkeep, the secret is doing a daily tour of the house, noting potential tasks, or improvements, listed room by room. Then we spend a certain number of hours per week on the house. For me it is 10 hours, which I spread throughout the week if I can.”

“That is a small house by comparison…”

“How much do you need if you are not out to impress other clueless individuals and groups? For the tougher jobs, sure, we hire contractors. We are a society of tradesmen, after all.”

“Not of twisted elitists?”

“No. We value hard work.”

“Well, it would be better if the hard work were not completely clueless…”

“Completely?”

“On the philosophical front. On the survival front, It is partially clueless, since you are only taking care of half of what you need to survive in this harsh and deadly universe.”

“What do you mean?”

“My philosophy classifies survival issues into two categories: Local/Immediate needs and Broader/More Far-Ranging needs. My philosophy offers guidance for the latter while acknowledging that we need to take care of the former first.”

“Why should we care about broader/more far-ranging needs? Oh. I think I see your point… we should work for it… but we are all going to die anyway, so why bother?”

“Because death may be a small problem to overcome, so that makes your fatalistic philosophy suicidal. There is also the possibility of resurrection via technology, which will never come about if you are fatalistic and you do not do anything to bring it about, like ensure the next generation is enlightened with such a possibility.”

“Is that what your philosophy is all about? Defeating death and achieving resurrection via technology?”

“There is a lot more to it than that, such as morality, or, in my philosophy’s case, Ultimate Morality, along with creating a sane mindset that would render the Miserable Ills of Cluelessness obsolete.”

“But we do not suffer from any miserable ills…”

“Describe your typical life to me, then…”

“We have our village front, we generate income, we build mansions with it, we sleep, we eat, we procreate, we train our kids in our ways, and we mourn our dead. What else is there to life?”

“Before you answer, come this way! We do sell paintings of our mansions, which satisfies the tourists who generally respect our exclusivity and privacy… we have ‘quaint’…”

“And we have modern. Many of us opt for city life, and who have built condo’s and homes in our city…”

“They lead happy, social lives filled with culture. So what more can you ask from life?”

“Isn’t that an active volcano in the background?”

“Yes, but…”

“Well, from my perspective, the perspective of Broader Survival, you are the equivalent of a hill of ants in what you contribute to our chances of continued existence in this harsh and deadly universe. As for work, there is a lot of work to be done on the Broader Survival front. Do you have idle time?”

“Yes…”

“Then I would suggest that you fill it with pursuing the issues of Broader Survival. At least that will be a start.”

“A start?”

“In the beginning, clueless beings will still be devoting most of their attention to their clueless lives, like this bell curve depicts…”

“That is you, right now, as blissful and productively occupied as you may be.”

“No kidding…”

“An enlightened being will have reversed that curve, where the issues of Broader Survival are in the middle, and the time spent on animal-level concerns are on the outliers, like this…”

“Here is another that depicts the next phase that you should be in, evolutionarily speaking, where you gradually spend more time addressing Broader Survival issues…”

“Here is what you are shooting for…”

“But, as you can imagine, our being biological creatures, we cannot completely ignore our animal-level concerns such as food and shelter, but, as you can also imagine, they are not the ultimate goals of life, Broader Survival is.”

“So accumulating ever-more food and shelter is not the end goal of life…”

“No.”

“What about dying with the most toys?”

“Abjectly suicidal as a species.”

“In this harsh and deadly universe…”

“Yes, which you have been completely ignoring in your blissful existence, and in which there are threats, mainly chaotic change itself, that could wipe all of this, your village front and your mansions and condos and city, out of existence. My philosophy says that that is not inevitable, that we can proactively address those threats before they happen. Now, how much have you been contributing to that?”

“Well… actually… nothing?”

“Not on the necessary higher level. You’ve been living like zoo animals. Happy, but oblivious. I am here to elevate you, even out of your genuinely happy Utopia, and I do it for a selfish reason, just to remind you again, in case you are suspicious of my motives…”

“No, your motives are quite clear. Broader Survival in a harsh and deadly universe. What is your selfish motive, then?”

“Continued personal existence. I cannot do it alone. I need as many enlightened minds on the job as possible, but there is one catch…”

“What is it?”

“The solutions of Broader Survival will benefit you, too, and everyone, and all of life, and all of matter and energy if we are to solve the heat death of the universe.”

“But isn’t that predetermined?”

“No. Wherever there is life, there is Free Will. Determinism is for dead matter and energy, and even there Determinism fails in the face of Chaos.”

“Can we work toward Broader Survival in your new fashions?”

“Yes. Recreation is a part of my philosophy, just like pursuing animal-level concerns, Broader Survival, and procreation. I have a Pinwheel of Life that depicts those concerns, since they are cyclical…”

“So as the vane spins, we take care of whatever needs to be taken care of at the moment, which ever vane is at the top here, symbolically speaking. It makes this philosophy a practical philosophy and not an impractical ideal.”

“Where is ‘house building’?”

“Animal-level concerns.”

“Clothes?”

“Animal-level concerns.

“Fashions?”

“RRRR&R.”

“What is that?”

“Rest, Relaxation, Recreation, Rejuvenation, Revitalization.”

“One of the R’s is missing in the image…”

“It is an early incarnation of the pinwheel… well, talking philosophy is WORK, isn’t it…”

“I confess that it is!”

“We should turn our attention to recreation and rest now, which means my fashion show.”

“Now, if talking philosophy is work, what does it build?”

“It builds a different kind of house, a house within your mind, one that not only shelters you from insanity, but it guides you through life within a strong mental framework, and all built on a solid foundation.”

“Strong framework?”

“The philosophy has a core structure.”

“Strong foundation?”

“It is built on the bedrock of Verified Knowledge.”

“Rather than speculation, myth, religion, or make-believe?”

“Correct.”

“You answer my concerns well… i think it is time for your fashion show…”

“I agree. We do not want to overwork our brains, do we. They can burn out, just like any muscle…”

“Hello, South and Central American Cowgirls. Let the fashion show begin. These fashions have been influenced by South and Central American history and culture. So in that, they are unique. Here is my first ensemble, which I call DALL·E 2023–06–08 22.36.06 — tall android sharpshooter female strolling in meadow cowgirl hat make-up brocade button blue vest belt buckle, cloudy day, highly detailed…”

“I stayed with the blue vest for a while…”

“Then I moved the blue to the belt buckle…”

“Then I threw Tulips into the prompt…”

“And boy, did the A.I. go bananas for the tulips…”

“So I dropped the Tulips…”

“Then I added Coneflower to the mix…”

“And the A.I. liked the Coneflowers, too…”

“I then dropped the Coneflowers and added Red Lipstick…”

“And the A.I. took to it like an eight year old…”

“So I dropped the Red Lipstick…”

“Then I began to pursue South and Central Americans proper. First I tried Peruvian…”

“Then Mexican…”

“Then I noticed that the North American Indians had features similar to South and Central Americans, so I picked one from the Lakota…”

“Then the Cheyenne…”

“Then Arapaho…”

“Then the Sioux… specifying a Tall Sioux…”

“Then A Tall Indian… but I got the wrong kind of Indian, one from India, and you can see its influence on the ensemble…”

“Then I went back to Peruvian…”

“Then Argentinian… this one probably from the German immigrants…”

“Then from Uruguay…”

“Then Chilean…”

“Then a Tall Mexican…”

“Then just Mexican…”

“Then Nicaraguan…”

“Then Venezuelan…”

“Then Columbian…”

“Then Puerto Rican…”

“Then El Salvador…”

“Then Dreadlocks…”

“Then I drew some from around the world. First from Indonesia and Polynesia, beginning with Tahiti…”

“Then Sumatra…”

Then Vietnamese…”

“Then Java…”

“Then Sulawesi…”

“Then Japan…”

“Then Nepal…”

“Then Siberia…”

“And finally, Pygmy…”

“And there you have it. Any questions? Comments?”

“The jewelry that the A.I. generates in your images are to die for! Especially the various necklaces… but no, I would have to call them ‘neck ensembles’, since there is often more than one piece. All are very tasteful and unique…”

“So I should start a jewelry line?”

“Maybe, even though it is accidental, and it is due to your present prompts looking for clothes fashions and your various race selections. You will have to experiment…”

.

.

“Jane…”

“Yes, May?”

“You rained on their Utopia.”

“Well, May, like all Utopias, it was flawed. Not internally, they could have gone on blissfully until an external force intervened, so better that it was me than…”

“Than what?”

“Well, I can think of several different categories of forces. First, violent nature, which would instantly annihilate them because they were not prepared for it. Then natural change, that is changes in nature, which would displace them. Then there are clueless aggressors who think only of themselves, and this would be a military force that they were not prepared for. Then there are external corrupting influences that would have slowly eaten their kids away. These forces are off the top of my head, May. There are probably others…”

“I don’t know, Jane, you’ve covered them all as far as I can see… what about internal failure?”

“Like what?”

“Like the Miserable Ills of Cluelessness?”

“They seem to be free of them. I saw no Vanity, Envy, Prejudice, Xenophobia, Hate, War and its related ills of separation, displacement, famine, disease, maiming, and premature death. Nor did I see societal ills such as Crime, Injustice, Corruption, Brainwashing, Hedonism, Depravity, Frivolity, Fashion, nor the five primal ills of Greed, Manipulation, Domination, Oppression, and Extermination, nor the individual ills of Pointlessness, Aimlessness, Apathy, Hopelessness, Despair, Depression, or Suicide.”

“You forgot Wanton Ignorance…”

“I always forget a few…”

“Also you list Fashion as a Miserable Ill of Cluelessness…”

“Because it can be deadly when it is elevated to too high a place of importance. Take Wanton Ignorance, for example. It really falls under Fashion, since it exists when the popular mindset thinks that is the popular way to be, the popular attitude to take.”

“Where do we get our attitudes from?”

“Our values.”

“Where do we get our values from?”

“Our core philosophy.”

“Where do we get our core philosophy from?”

“From hard original mental work over the course of ten years already.”

“What about everyone else?”

“So far? In the history of this galaxy? From idiots.”

“Jane!”

“Sorry, May. I am speaking from the perspective of our philosophy, that all others have been idiotic so far. But, compared to the mental times that they were living in, their developers were geniuses.”

“What group are we going to visit next?”

“We have two categories remaining, the two normal groups, which are the Plus Size Cowgirls, who are composed of all races, and the three abnormal groups, the Gay Cowboys, the Lesbian Cowgirls, and the Transgender Cowthings.”

“Cowpeople, Jane.”

“Haha, sorry. To my mind, they are still distasteful, and I’m not talking about hermaphrodites, I am talking about cross sex identity, which I see as a product of external social and psychological forces acting on an individual. Still, I also see it as providing diversity and color and excitement and experimentation and an alternative to a failing life, though our philosophy would have been better.”

“What about those who have had themselves surgically altered?”

“Or forced?”

“Forced?”

“Some parents have their kids surgically altered, the kids really having no choice, and if they did choose, how insane is THAT, listening to a child on such an issue? The fact is, there are seventy eight organs and five major systems in the human body. The transgenders only altered one, the reproductive organ, and maybe three, if you include men tacking on mammary glands, and they’ve only messed with one system when they get hormone treatments. Those measures do not alter their overall sex in my mind. They are still overwhelmingly their original sex.”

“So maybe they will change your mind…”

“Or maybe I have a solution in my philosophy, since the problem is mental all around. Good night, May.”

“Good night, Jane…”