I see therefore I think therefore I am

A while back, I commented on Niall Ferguson’s article on “Vibe shifts” – an almost embarrassing attempt by the historian, esteemed by some, to appear “trendy” .

“Vibe” in case you weren’t alive back then, appeared in the sixties as a cool word for “instinctive feeling”. It was a music thing, a fashion thing. It fell out of favor with similar slang (remember “groovy”?) but came back in the 90s with Vibe Magazine. Anyway…

This time it was tattoos and a certain sullenness.

Ferguson was born in 1964. I think he has MOM tattooed on his ass.

OK, I don’t really know — but I do know intellectual mid-life crisis when I see it In his case it started 30 years ago, defending the British Empire.

I admit I have always regarded Ferguson, regarding him as a second-rate mind and understood why he moved to Harvard to with Stephen Pinker and those of his ilk, although Pinker is more like third-ratem being to scholarship what porn is to sex.

Harvard is as you know a Shelter for aging hipsters.

Pinker. Who IS his hair stylist?

Anyway, the article was sent to me by a coffebuyer in New Zealand. He misspelled “vibe shift” as “vide shift”. We talked about it and I realized he was onto something.

Now, “vibe shift” implies 20^th Century disco, everyone dancing synchronistically, drunk or high hand, hoping to get laid. Of course, sometimes, “vibes” matter — as below.

“Vide” comes from Latin (videre) and it is about “seeing”. Veni, vidi, vici. We use it in academic situations:

Vide: see; consult (used as an instruction in a text to refer the reader to a specified passage, book, author, etc., for further information):

When I was in graduate school, there was no internet, so looking up references took time, and library privileges (which fortunately I had). Now, if you do online search – and if you are used to it, you can get a lot of information quickly. No time in the stacks distracted by stacked librarians.

This new informational capability expands the meaning of “vide” – meaning we can “see” the world referentially in different ways, more completely—multidimensionally.

We don’t have to accept what we are told by “authorities” – whether in the media, academe (Ferguson, Pinker et al), the scientific establishment, governments, and those mis-named “think tanks” (better named “stink tanks”), or even Alt-Media talking heads.

So, in this age, “vide shift” makes sense. “Vibe” shift is sooooo 20^th Century. “Vide shift” means anyone can be an expert, if they do the work. It is a shift towards autonomous insight and makes people like Ferguson (and Pinker) redundant anachronisms,

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you. Matthew 7: 7

The first thing an analyst must do is to ask the right questions, then seek, and look for doors.

That is why I find it strange at who so many of our pundits – of all persuasions— continue to rely on “certified” media and academic sources rather than doing their own investigations.

Then again intellectual authorities are not teenagers

“The child is the father of the man”, as Wordsworth said..

I am ollllllllllldddd — but in hopefully in my second childhood, so………

It used to be:

“I think therefore I am”. (Descartes)

The vide shit changes that….

I see— therefore I think therefore I am. (Chappy)

Perception comes first, within a perceptual field, as the philosopher Merleau Ponty wrote.

This is a multidimensional world, so you need to look— and not just go with a popular beat.

To give you an example of someone who has this kind of quantum consciousness – look here.

Of course, Pepe is confirming what I wrote recently. But it not what he says, or whether he agrees with me or not-- it is how he thinks.

He “sees” first– then thinks. Others “think” – derivatively-- then see. But what they “see” is constructed , virtual rather than real.

That’s why he’s the best!

Ichi and Chappy

Ichi continues to tutor Chappy in Best Practices for A Japanese Cat. Steady progress! A couple more months and I might be able to cut his nails— which are razor sharp!

However, he is very thin, And I know I have to find a vet to treat him for the Mansoni Worm. I suspect he was given lower doses of the Mansoni drug, which is why it didn’t take. Unfortunately that means waiting a while before starting a full-does treatment— so his body can recover from the last series or treatments.

Special Article

The first half of the series of Special Articles on Leadership is being proofed and revised. Below is an image. What is it? Quantum Entanglement. Oddly enough, that is relevant to leadership in the quantum age.

In this century, everything is connected — if you like “entangled”. As I proof and rewrite this article, I am continuing my research on Putin and Xi.

Please buy Chappy, Ichi and me coffee to help us entangle and disentangle.. Click HERE (or on the graphic)!