Beyond a certain minimum, wealth doesn't bring happiness. That people are driven by an irrational belief that it will, and persist in spite of all contrary evidence, is a form of madness. The definition of happiness is sometimes transposed to equal domination, power, or success. (for example Dick Cheney got a new tin heart in the belief that he would eventually find contentment) The same can be said for knowledge: it's just not possible to read all scientific papers that are produced in even one day. In Newton's time that was possible, but now, w/ hundreds per week, software does that job and also sorts for relevancy, draws conclusions, forms hypotheses, and publishes results. Eventually puny humans will become obsolete and waste away from irrelevancy.

A common denominator of these 2 disciplines (acquisition of wealth and acquisition of knowledge) is OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). The belief that contentment or safety or a desired outcome will be produced w/ enough repetition. Human brains are good at organizing repetitive tasks to produce complex results, like assembly line production. Two somewhat comparable biological corollaries are the Limbic nervous system(controls fight or flight,) vs Autonomic nervous system (breathing and heart functions) which are repetitive tasks. With luck, our new robot overlords will not confuse the 2 systems.

Anyone who reads this blog hoping for a conclusive thought should be aware that the writer gets substantial kicks from simple plausibilities, (they give almost the same hormonal sense of gratification w/ a lot less work). As an avid conspiracy theorist, I'm often satisfied w/ implications as much as proven conclusions. So I offer this warning to others: this is not a survival trait, and one must constantly guard against becoming a slave to Republicans and religious cannibals because they prey upon this common weakness to gain our confidence before they eat our babies.

Confirmation Bias

in other news:
UK government acts to prevent arrest of Pope, petitions ensue.

Joe's flash for the day: Greater or lesser versions of Obsessive compulsive disorder as a survival trait are selected for by reward for community group efforts. Obsessive people as leaders are only valuable in politics where some kind of program or process has to be driven by popular mandate. Otherwise they're given jobs that are repetitive and boring, requiring detailed attention and conscientious responsibility. When robots rule the world, these people will either be their proponents or they will become obsolete. As a general rule, people don't value the trait in mates, it's something employers might look for though.

I can see a scenario where society crumbles with out them because of poor interface w/ the machines, another possibility is OCD will become the only game in town as a necessity for dealing w/ the machines. I more expect the latter because without OCD, there would be no machines and they would probably program their keepers to look out for their own.