• About Us
  • Welcome to the Blog!

s/v Bright Water

~ Build a boat, sail a boat.

s/v Bright Water

Monthly Archives: January 2017

Book Report: Fritjof Capra

29 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by svbrightwater in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Books, Fritjof, Science

“Uncommon Wisdom,” by Fritjof Capra, is a meta-book. It’s a book about the process of writing a book. Capra had previously written “The Tao of Physics,” a groundbreaking conflation of physical and metaphysical study and belief.

Capra’s great insight, as explained by Capra, is that science is too hard. In science, you need to develop theories and models (which is fine), but then science requires you to test your ideas, and discard those which prove false or fail to allow prediction of future events. He appropriates something called the “Bootstrap Model” of physics, created by Geoffrey Chew in response to the insurmountable complexity of quantum theory. In Capra’s Bootstrap World, all you need to do is tell stories. If your stories seem true, and they don’t contradict other true-ish stories, then eventually we’ll have enough stories surrounding the truth that the truth will be unable to hide and will reveal itself.

“Uncommon Wisdom” is a collection of discussions and dialogs Capra had with great thinkers to collect their stories, winnow away the parts that disagree with Capra’s (evolving) great story, and then collect the great story into a new book (called “The Turning Point”). “Great Thinkers” are almost exclusively people who agree with Capra.

The book was published in the late 1980s, but most of the discussions happened in the early to mid 1970s. Many of the discussions occurred while drunk, high on pot, or high on LSD. It’s very apparent that the discussions have been reconstructed from … who knows what, and that their content is highly paraphrased and/or completely fabricated. There is also a strong smell of plagiarism, but it may very well be plagiarism with permission (appropriation, I suppose). A final dialog, reproduced from actual tape recordings made at the end of the process, reveals that many, if not most, of the “Great Thinkers” involved are uncomfortable with Capra’s overall thesis.

I am unable to adequately summarize Capra’s thesis, myself. It has to do with the one-ness of entirety. The indescribable complexity of the gestalt. The necessity to consider all possibilities before attempting to understand any process. Most importantly, Capra requires the suspension of belief. Evaluation of a concept is inappropriate unless you consider all interactions, and since there are infinite interactions, you must never evaluate concepts. Except as stories, except as metaphors, except as compared to Capra’s evolving narrative. It’s infuriating.

False and broken syllogisms fill the book:

  • Bad things were done, mostly by men, so men are bad.

  • Most of the bad things that have been done weren’t done by women, so women are good.

  • A concept is not universal, so the concept is untrue.

  • Sick people sometimes exploit their sickness to obtain sympathy (or money, or attention, or distraction), so sick people are sick because they want to be sick.

  • Businesses profit and survive by filling a need, so businesses (by definition) exploit the needy.

  • You think of new and weird stuff when you’re on LSD, so LSD is a good source of new ideas, even if the new ideas only make sense when you’re on LSD (write drunk, edit sober comes to mind, but Capra fails to make that point) (not Hemmingway, definitely not Hemmingway).

  • Old cultures had shamans instead of doctors and scientists, and old cultures didn’t have modern problems, so shamans must be better than doctors and scientists.

  • (The big one). If two stories don’t agree, then at least one of them is false, but if two stories agree, both are probably mostly true (Head explodes).

Capra is/was a great storyteller (edit: Capra is apparently still spouting from Berkeley, Cali. Shocker.). He’s glib. The stories have been well curated. The book is entertaining to read and contains hundreds of original ideas (for instance: Social Activism is often a form of self-treatment for an emotional disorder, and once the disorder has been worked through, the activism often stops. In other works, people act out when they feel ineffective and stop acting out once they learn more effective methods. Imagine where this leads) and probably mostly true insight into the thought process Capra and his minions follow to arrive at their dubious conclusions. But when I apply Capra’s own filter and analyze the book as a whole, Capra is evil. Science is viewed as false, dishonest, and/or (gasp) political, not as a search for testable truths through the ruthless search for and application of facts. Narrative is more important than results. Glibness is better than competence.

I’m a big, big fan of quackery – the application of theory (even wild or bird-brained theory) in the the absence of a scientifically-chosen plan of action. If you have a non-curable cancer, by all means eat handfuls of carrot seeds and spend four hours a day balancing on your head. But don’t pursue quackery to the exclusion of science. Capra doesn’t just advocate quackery, he seeks to discredit the scientific process. He promotes his viewpoint as a flawless method to search for truth, but that’s only because he rejects instead of solicits criticism. Being wrong is fundamentally disallowed from the start, in his approach, and he actively and openly rejects dissenting viewpoints, without taking the opportunity to use the dissent as a tool to find truth.

Unfortunately, Capra’s approach is all to common in our “modern” society. Wanting something to be true is enough. Expressing dissent, or even making declarative statements implying that there is truth, is considered rude.

I really hate this book and what it stands for, and I recommend you read it. It explains a lot, I fear.

Advertisements

SuzyQ. 2003-2017.

28 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by svbrightwater in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Assistance Dog., Breeding, Dog, Pets

When Lena was younger, she raised a puppy to be an assistance dog. Abby was a very hard worker but was willful and bossy, and almost didn’t pass her final training. She did pass, though, and the agency found a high school athlete with a severe injury that needed help to attend college, so Abby found a home and a job.

mvc-020s

When we got back from our Mermaid trip, Lena decided to get a dog and supply puppies to assistance dog groups. We checked breeding and bloodlines and temperament and blah, blah, blah, and bought SuzyQ.

suzy-card

We didn’t breed her on her first heat, just to let her grow up, then we missed her second (silent) heat, and her third heat didn’t work out, either. So we gave up on the breeding program, had her fixed, and she became the world’s most expensive pet. She was worth every penny. She eventually had three CCL knee surgeries (a TPLO that failed and two fishing-line knee repairs), and her back legs were essentially useless in her later years, but whatadog she was!

dsc06948
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
suzy-and-whale-042709
p1080607
p1080561
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
p1010024
nancy-suzyq-sturgeon
lena-suzy-fishing
dsc01931
dsc00925
dsc00911
dsc00856
dsc00683

Thank you, SuzyQ! Sleep well. You’ve done your job.

We’ll miss you very much.

Good dog.

Book Report – Baja

07 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by svbrightwater in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Books, flowers, pictures

In Baja, if you see something remotely unusual in the stores that you might want or need, you buy it and take it with you. Chances are it won’t be there when you decide you need it. For instance, I can’t buy a kite this year in Baja. I’ve even learned two Spanish words: Cometa es correcto pero Papalote es mas … common. Neither is available.

Anyway, same thing with delightful people. Everyone is moving and everyone is on a different schedule, so when you meet compatible people you become friends much more quickly than in real life.

We met one such couple just north of La Paz and had a great afternoon and evening getting acquainted and learning about each other (as usual, I’ll let them decide if they want their names on the internet). When we next met back in town (where they keep their boat and we had returned for internet access and parts) they solidified our friendship by giving me a perfect book and leads to other perfect books.

A boating couple in the marina had suddenly stopped boating because of inevitability, and their boat was being prepared for sale. The ship’s library was removed and spread in the cruising clubhouse. Boaters sifted through the pile. The collection of books was impressive, both in quantity and quality. Many of the titles were familiar (often by reputation) touchstones of cultural and spiritual growth.

p1060302

My new best friend harvested a particularly rare and great book for me. Almost an Island, by Bruce Berger, is a collection of essays surrounding the opening and development of the Baja California peninsula – sometimes historical and sometimes first-person accounts of events and behaviors that shaped the area. His writing and his behavior is unabashed voyeurism. He stays above the fray, even when discussing his own actions and motivations. The effect is delightful.

p1060305

The essays inform, expand and correct my own understandings. For instance, the original “landowners” in Baja were the soldiers sent by Spanish kings to guard the Missions. Poetic and vague property descriptions were degraded by overlapping rounds of landgrabs, mineral grants and claims, sundry administrative agencies, protogovernmental programs, and mis-deeds. Property ownership seems to be a vague concept here anyway, and the property wars and skirmishes are evident everywhere. I would be very interested to see another book contrasting the way that Arizona, NM, and California have or have not cleared up the same ownership issues. Mexico’s official limbo is obviously not a good solution.

Almost an Island also does a good job highlighting, without explaining or detailing, the paradox that is Baja. Baja’s primary function is it’s dysfunction, to us Norteamericanos (Gringos). It’s heartbreakingly common to hear beach campers and boaters alike slander property owner’s plans to develop the uplands on particularly beautiful beaches (that they visit for free in their unimaginably well-equipped spaceships), then, after a quick sip of a cold cocktail, discuss plans to return to the States and their Muy Rico livelihood. They (we) live where you can, do, have, and will profit from private ownership of property, but they see no irony in complaining that some Mexican wants to do the same with land they’re pretty sure but can’t prove they own.

Almost an Island is a fantastic account of change. Baja has flipped almost completely since the mid-1990’s when Nancy and I first went to Cabo San Pit of Dispair (and the book mostly skips that particular cesspool, except to note that it diverts the woo-crowd away from the civilized remainder of the peninsula). La Paz now has a Walmart and a Home Depot, as well as Mexican department stores with shelves full of stuff. You can almost count on being able to find an appropriate bolt or computer part in town. That was certainly not true ten years ago. Mexico still has lots of opportunities to grow. For instance, a functioning postal system would be cool. FedEx, UPS, and Amazon are working to give them something. We’ll see.

When I was handed Almost an Island, I was just finishing The Baroque Series by Neil Stephenson. Although historical fiction, these thick and wordy books are remarkably similar to Almost an Island – a look into a time of great change. Stephenson’s book covers the Age of Enlightenment in Europe and England. Great Stuff! I can’t recommend it enough. If you want to know why I’m doing what I’m doing with Jimi & Isaac Books, read The Diamond Age by Stephenson. He explains it better than I.

Since Almost an Island, I started The Map That Changed the World, by Simon Winchester. I pulled this book from the huge book pile in the clubhouse. It is, indeed, a great work of non-fiction describing the creation of the science of geology at the start of the industrial age in England. Unfortunately, Winchester hates all the central characters, hates society and humanity in general, and probably hates his parents and himself. It’s an incredibly well-researched, well-written, and dreary book that I don’t know if I can finish. (Edit: Winchester gives it away at page 150: He grew up in English Catholic parochial schools. He still hates the penguins that called him by number instead of name, rapped his knuckles, and make him drink cod liver oil. Perhaps a worthy grudge to hold, but not particularly relevant to the history of the science of geology.)

p1070764

They’re called farolitos here. I learned that in a book.

Alien Species

07 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by svbrightwater in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Aliens, pictures

We found this pod creature on the beach. At first, we decided it was an egg casing of some sort, but we cut it open and found fully-formed guts. Guts and stink.

p1070507
p1070510
p1070511

It’s almost certainly a creature from another dimension.

Pictures of Birds

07 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by svbrightwater in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birds, Model Airplanes, Nature, pictures

There was a guy with the Boeing Employee Airplane Modelers club that had a train wreck of a model that he would take to schools and fly at assemblies. He’d break it, stick it back together, and fly it to show that flight didn’t require perfection.

This turkey vulture agrees with him. Perfection is reserved for God.

p1070228-2
p1070223
p1070222

We call these army ducks. They may be grebes, although they look a little small. They swim down together and, I imagine, do damage to whatever they prey on. It’s fun to watch their perfect surface-dives as they leap completely out of the water. We also saw one duck that worked alone (probably Force Recon or Rangers). He would swim right next to the boat, then dive and work the bottom by himself. Pretty cool to watch..

p1080195
p1080197
p1080203

More birds:

p1060455
p1070342
p1070343
p1070358
p1070377
p1070529
p1110226
p1110270
p1110354
p1110386

Es Mismo, Mas o Menos.

03 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by svbrightwater in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boats, Crew, eos, Yachts

P1070815.JPGa. One of these boats is the best motorsailor in the Gulf of California.
b. One of these boats is the biggest motorsailor in the world.
c. One of these boats has the hottest, most smokin’ crew in the world.

Same ocean, same ports, same same. Es mismo.

Search Bright Water

Blog Stats

  • 57,922 hits

Adventure ais Alignment Alternator anchor anchoring Art Baja Balmar Beach birds Boat Tech bones Book Books Cal 2-46 Caulk chart plotter Charts cleaning culture Dingy dolphin Dorado electronics First Aid Fish Fishing food Frigate Birds garmin geology GPS Gray Whales Guaymas Hurricane Icebox la paz LED Logo M92B Magdalena Bay Mast Mermaids Mexico Nature OpenCPN Perkins-Sabre pictures Pneumothorax Prop Provisioning Puerto Vallarta rice Rocks Sailing Sails San Diego SDYC Sea Lions sewing Shaft snorkeling Solar Panels storage Tach Turtle Turtles Velvet Drive Weather Whale whales wind Windows Wiring

Recent Posts

  • The Reviews are In!
  • COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF RECENT SURFACE FORCE INCIDENTS
  • Not the end, but an end…
  • Shiny and Ready
  • Safe Drinking Water

Archives

  • February 2018
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012

Related Websites

  • Jimi & Isaac Books for Boys
  • Mermaid, Our Family in Paradise (Movie)
  • Mermaid, Our Family in Paradise (Book)
  • What we do.
  • Life Aboard La Cumbre
  • Aspen Power Catamarans
  • Where we are. Type “Bright Water” in “Go to Vessel.” (Spotty Coverage in Mexico)
  • Ocelot Cruising the World
  • Catamaran Sonrisa
  • Galley Wench Tales
  • Schooner Koukla
  • Lumbaz
Advertisements

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy