Exercise 5
Instructions
Choose one topic or big idea that came up in discussion during the last class. Write questions about that topic or big idea. Allow yourself to be genuinely curious, and then write down whatever questions come to mind when you are in a place of genuine curiosity. You might find that one question leads to another question, or you might find that your mind bounces around to lots of different (seemingly unrelated) questions. Everything is okay. Simply record the questions that arise in your mind. Importantly, do not answer the questions. This exercise is not about answers. It is about questions. The possible answers to the questions do not matter. Only the questions matter. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and then start this exercise. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and then start this exercise. If you discover that you want to keep writing after the 10 minutes, keep going. The important thing is to write for at least 10 minutes.
ideal society. what is your ideal society? what does it look like? this is something we wrote about briefly in class. I wrote down a couple of notes containing some questions and answers about what there would be in an ideal society. I feel it's worth saying: I'm not an anthropologist. These are just my unqualified opinions on what a society could be like.
I think that people are biologically and psychologically attracted to traits beneficial to society most of the time, so there isn't really a need to restrict sexual freedoms with eugenics. With regards to a society's space allocation, I think that modern, globalized, large cities are detrimental to the quality of life of its citizens.
Boston is a little bit too big, or at least mismanaged in some places. This comes down to priorities, production, inequalities, and other factors in the real world. I think that some places, namely the netherlands, have gotten urban life right. Their cities are pedestrian oriented, they promote community engagement with parks and shopping areas, people interact more. In US cities, we often see buildings that are strictly business or strictly living. Sometimes strip malls too. This kind of living promotes commuter culture and I hate it. It's so normal for people to drive an hour to and from work, all to create more inequalities and social frictions.
On another note: crimes. Why do we have laws? Why are they broken? This seems pretty simple; things that are overall harmful to society are outlawed. People who are in cooperation with bettering society and still break laws must think that their judgment is better than that of the lawmakers or that the law does not apply to their situation. You might notice yourself doing a bit over the speed limit when it's not busy! I don't think this is wrong. Importantly, I haven't said anything about law enforcement or the justice system. That's much too complex and real for me to think up in good quality. In an ideal society, law breaking is limited to those goodwiled instances of ignorance where people don't believe anything wrong is actually being done.
Another thing from class that I thought was interesting was outlawing anything "bad" for you. Watching disturbing or harmful media has a "bad" effect on you, right? Maybe. If you're surrounded by negativity and suffering all the time, I think it's very easy to fall into being a pessimistic, mistrusting cynic. It's accurate; it's defensive living for the life you live. In many cases though, there are good reasons to feel bad. Suppose you are a surgeon or a nurse! Seeing people suffer is a mandatory part of the profession. Sympathy, Empathy, and Grief are good emotions. Acting like bad things don't happen in order to better your own mindset seems a bit selfish and unproductive.
At the end of class, I recall being told to "only consume beautiful things" for a few days to see how it changes your mindset. In this time, I was more particular about what kinds of music I listened to. I didn't go to one of my classes because I don't like it. I didn't talk to people that annoy me. I avoided my responsibilities. Sometimes, work is ugly. Life is ugly. Art is ugly. Eventually, with effort, it becomes beautiful. Not to mention personal interpretation, but that's its own thing. During that time, did I enjoy my life? Yeah. It was nice I guess, barring my foresight and the impending stress of assignments and work. I had a good few days.
