benign0's blog

The human brain is a wondrous instrument. It starts out as a blank data processing device that is wired to five data collection channels -- our senses. From the minute we are born, our senses kick into operation, collecting information about our environment and feeding it to the brain. One can't really imagine what it is like receiving such a deluge of data with no starting point to work with. Most likely the first image to be captured by the eyes of a newborn baby would be its mother's face. But then how does its brain make sense of a face when it does not have any prior concept of an eye, a nose, a mouth, much less the entire package these elements comprise -- said face?

I have often asserted that Filipinos are a people who are primarily driven by hiya (shame). Unmoved by any calls to higher purpose or noble pursuit, Filipinos continue to do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. As such I remain convinced that any political solution pitched as a "cure" to the malaise that grips the Philippines at the very threads that weave the very fabric of its society (whether it be the latest "messiah" running for office or the current top-down change initiative in vogue) delivers incremental improvements at best.

In her bestselling book The Art of Choosing , author Sheena Iyengar implies an interesting proposition -- that some cultures habitually frame their world around pre-set paths also known as "destinies" in contrast with Western societies where the key guiding principle is choice .

No one government or president can be associated to economic performance (good or bad) within a given period. I argued this a while back : there is no evidence of a causal relationship between who is president (or the character of the president) and economic prosperity, perhaps not even a strong correlation.

Somewhere in the book The Age of Absurdity , author Michael Foley writes about the "Crank" principle. The principle basically describes how anyone who steps back from conforming to popular, but flawed , sentiment to present a contrarian idea is almost always dismissed as a crank. But if one persistently gives a consistent and logical presentation of said idea over a prolonged timeframe, such people eventually prevail. Blind conformity to the popular represents an abdication of personal responsibility . It is only when one tempers the instinct to conform by applying a critical mind to evaluating options that one becomes truly free .