Interconnectivity

Regarding contagion, interconnectivity is a weakness.

10 Years

Ciphers

Regarding Ciphers:

In the parlance of communications intelligence, a cipher is a secret message deliberately encoded to mislead unintended recipients.

[...]

Ciphers are often used to disguise messages encoded to mislead virtually everyone, whether they be citizens, consumers, stockholders, employees, voters, viewers, readers, Internet junkies, students, patients, or parishioners. They are a sophisticated form of lying and deceit—one of the most important instruments of mass manipulation and social control in our culture. A person, such as a political leader, who transmits misleading messages is also a cipher.

[...]

To some ciphers are world-class bloodsuckers who exploit our vulnerability and our inability to cope with the human condition. Ciphers tell us what to believe, how to live, how to raise our kids, how to work, how to play, how to make love, and how to die. From them we also learn what to buy, how much to pay for it, and when to replace it, as well as where we will work, how much we will be paid, and what working conditions will be like. We call this “freedom.

Cipher is also a synonym for zero, indicating a value of naught, symbolizing nothingness and a hint of nihilism. It can refer to a person or a thing of no importance, a nonentity. Ciphers stand for nothing. Thus a person, a place, a thing, an idea, or a message may be a cipher. But in our culture, some of the most important ciphers are politicians, TV advertisers, the Internet, text messages and money.

True freedom is not believing zero.  How many of us are really free?

Majority

Q: Why do so many believe their cause represents a majority?

A: Their cause is delusional.

Anticipation

Anticipation is a negative.

Bogus Aphorisms

I agree with On Bogus Aphorisms.  If a so-called aphorism makes you feel good, then either you have something very wrong with you, or (most likely) it's not an aphorism.  Clichés are not aphorisms.

See Also.

Education

One cannot educate the unwilling.

Chains

The chains that bind are made of bits and bytes of meaningless data.

Link.

Taboos

Taboos are broken by the bored.

Slime

Until the false populist dries, its slime is always slippery.

Past It

Q: When something edible is "past it," it is rightfully discarded.  Why is this not true of systems?

A: Vested interests want you to eat shit.

Elite Support

1. Excepting Maoists*, contingent on their preservation, revolutions cannot succeed without elite** support.

2. After the celebration settles, fundamentally very little has changed. (As if.)

3. Thus the purge follows.***

4. The old way actually looks better.

5. Repeat.

* And who wants that?  (Peasants.)
** But not necessarily the same elite.
*** And who wants that? (Fanatics.)
**** And who wants that? (non-Fanatics.)

Stating the Obvious

Stating the obvious is often a destabilizing force greater than any actual event.

Hard Landings

Hard landings usually occur when someone is not paying attention and/or doing their job.  Sound familiar?

Knock Down

If you are going to knock something down, be sure to get out of the way.