Johnny Williams's Blog
July 31, 2020
Children and technology
There’s an old saying, “May you live in interesting times.” Well, we are definitely living in one of the most interesting times in known history. Is it the best time? That is a matter of opinion, and perspective. Technology has always been the product of civilization. Generally speaking, humans are technological creatures and everything we do is somehow influenced by our desire to reinvent the wheel. What is different about our times, as opposed to the past, is the speed of refinement. Before our modern age, it might take decades for new ideas to take hold. Today, change happens at the push of a button. By the time a new model takes hold it is already being replaced by another. Is this a good thing? I’m not always happy about it, but I believe so.
Oftentimes, we confuse refinement with change. Have airplanes fundamentally changed since, the Wright brothers? Absolutely not, but wow, have they ever been refined. Wilbur and Orville could scarcely imagine what their invention would look like 100 years after Kittyhawk, even though the fundamentals of flight are essentially the same. It is no different with computers, cell phones, televisions. Refinement is superficial change. Comparatively, true change still takes a great deal of time. We may love a particular model of car, or maybe, you are impatiently waiting for the latest electric vehicle to emerge, but electric cars are just as old as gas powered cars. Refinements move along at breakneck speeds: they always have and they always will, but a truly new idea is still a rare thing. Children, and adults too, need to understand the difference.
Oftentimes, we confuse refinement with change. Have airplanes fundamentally changed since, the Wright brothers? Absolutely not, but wow, have they ever been refined. Wilbur and Orville could scarcely imagine what their invention would look like 100 years after Kittyhawk, even though the fundamentals of flight are essentially the same. It is no different with computers, cell phones, televisions. Refinement is superficial change. Comparatively, true change still takes a great deal of time. We may love a particular model of car, or maybe, you are impatiently waiting for the latest electric vehicle to emerge, but electric cars are just as old as gas powered cars. Refinements move along at breakneck speeds: they always have and they always will, but a truly new idea is still a rare thing. Children, and adults too, need to understand the difference.
What are important things which parents must teach their kids.
Wow, Okay, I have raised three children and they are all reasonably happy and healthy, and we are all still friends. Here is what I know. Love and respect go hand in hand. I’m pretty sure you cannot have one without the other. Forgiveness too, is extremely important. Everyone makes mistakes, no one is immune, also, there is a difference between a mistake and pathological behavior. A mistake is forgivable, a long pattern of bad behavior may not be.
People who believe in God(s) all worship a different Being. No one worships the same God. They might think they do because they call their God by the same name, or describe their God in similar terms, but their God is not my God is not her God is not his God. God is as individual to people as their fingerprint, and so too, the relationship you, or I, believe we have with him/her. Either way, unless that God is destructive to them or those around them, you should respect their right to worship the God they envision and not demean them for it.
The responsibility that comes with power. Children learn this from popular culture: with great power comes great responsibility. What does that mean, exactly. Parents have great power over their children, what does it mean for them, discipline, obedience, authority? We want obedient children, but not by beating or berating them into submission, not if you are responsible with your power. Adults are a child’s authority figure, but does that mean you have the right to dominate every aspect of their life? Not if you want a relationship built on mutual respect. Learn to use your adult powers wisely and children will usually follow your good example.
Listen to your kids, at all ages, no matter how silly it seems, engage with them. One day soon they may know more than you can ever imagine and enrich your life beyond measure unless you’re too arrogant to lend them an ear. If that is asking too much, then one day, when you are sitting alone in your old chair, don’t be surprised that your kids never come to call.
People who believe in God(s) all worship a different Being. No one worships the same God. They might think they do because they call their God by the same name, or describe their God in similar terms, but their God is not my God is not her God is not his God. God is as individual to people as their fingerprint, and so too, the relationship you, or I, believe we have with him/her. Either way, unless that God is destructive to them or those around them, you should respect their right to worship the God they envision and not demean them for it.
The responsibility that comes with power. Children learn this from popular culture: with great power comes great responsibility. What does that mean, exactly. Parents have great power over their children, what does it mean for them, discipline, obedience, authority? We want obedient children, but not by beating or berating them into submission, not if you are responsible with your power. Adults are a child’s authority figure, but does that mean you have the right to dominate every aspect of their life? Not if you want a relationship built on mutual respect. Learn to use your adult powers wisely and children will usually follow your good example.
Listen to your kids, at all ages, no matter how silly it seems, engage with them. One day soon they may know more than you can ever imagine and enrich your life beyond measure unless you’re too arrogant to lend them an ear. If that is asking too much, then one day, when you are sitting alone in your old chair, don’t be surprised that your kids never come to call.
July 11, 2020
Message to children who will read my book I'm Mobius
Moby Dick, by author, Herman Melville, first published in 1851, is considered one of the great masterworks of American literature. I agree with that, but for many, it is difficult book to read. Captain Ahab is not a nice fellow, even for the men of his day. Killing whales for lamp oil was not a good thing, either and it is a difficult subject to endure. Mr. Melville wrote a story about a very selfish man who believed that the Earth, and the creatures in it, were his to control. He measured his own worth by how well he was able to dominate the world around him. A whaling captain who finally encounters an unusual creature who battles back, defeats him, and costs him his leg in return. His rage and his crippling need for vengeance become the story, Moby Dick.
We have learned a great deal about whales since, Melville’s time. In his story the great whale is an enigma. I wanted to change that. I want you to see the mighty Sperm Whale as more than a literary device for Captain Ahab’s obsession. Whales are mammals, like us, and much like us they form families that love one another and protect each other. Sperm Whales are incredible animals that can hold their breath and dive into the deepest ocean hunting for their favorite food, the Giant Squid.
“I’m Mobius”, is a declaration of identity, he is not Captain Ahab’s, “Moby Dick” but a lifeform that deserves to be identified as more than a resource. I hope you can appreciate the difference and take on a new perspective for our Earth’s largest living predator and another of her intelligent, gentle giants.
We have learned a great deal about whales since, Melville’s time. In his story the great whale is an enigma. I wanted to change that. I want you to see the mighty Sperm Whale as more than a literary device for Captain Ahab’s obsession. Whales are mammals, like us, and much like us they form families that love one another and protect each other. Sperm Whales are incredible animals that can hold their breath and dive into the deepest ocean hunting for their favorite food, the Giant Squid.
“I’m Mobius”, is a declaration of identity, he is not Captain Ahab’s, “Moby Dick” but a lifeform that deserves to be identified as more than a resource. I hope you can appreciate the difference and take on a new perspective for our Earth’s largest living predator and another of her intelligent, gentle giants.
How the world will benefit from my book I'm Mobius
We live in an age where billions of human beings call planet Earth home and our numbers keep growing.
Our civilizations keep expanding, pushing many wild species to the brink of extinction. Now, I freely admit that I find some creatures disgusting. Fleas and ticks, for instance, they could go, and of course, bed bugs. No one wants bed bugs around! But, I happen to like snakes and spiders, while many find them repulsive. Sharks and crocodiles give some folks nightmares, others find them fascinating. Today, we are the dominate species living on a planet made tiny by our enormous numbers. Intelligent enough to create cell phones capable of communicating with satellites, but then, ignorant enough to think that burying millions of tons of garbage will make it magically disappear.
Attitude: how we think or feel about something, is all that stands between the world we have and the world we wish was. I never knew, Walt Disney, except that he was the man who created, Mickey Mouse and a host of other silly characters, but growing up with those characters changed my attitude toward the different life forms around me. Animals are not simply ‘dumb beasts’ put here for our pleasure. We share common traits with every creature on Earth. All life is important in its own way and only the very ignorant are incapable of seeing the beautiful tapestry that makes our planet, and our lives, unique among the quadrillions of other planets circling the trillions of stars in an extremely vast universe that we inhabit for only a brief moment in time.
I hope that by reading, I’m Mobius, I change your attitude about one of the most amazing animals to ever exist in our wonderous oceans. Perhaps, one day, your new attitude will be enough to save them from the brink of extinction.
http://www.johnnyloveswhales.com/book/
Our civilizations keep expanding, pushing many wild species to the brink of extinction. Now, I freely admit that I find some creatures disgusting. Fleas and ticks, for instance, they could go, and of course, bed bugs. No one wants bed bugs around! But, I happen to like snakes and spiders, while many find them repulsive. Sharks and crocodiles give some folks nightmares, others find them fascinating. Today, we are the dominate species living on a planet made tiny by our enormous numbers. Intelligent enough to create cell phones capable of communicating with satellites, but then, ignorant enough to think that burying millions of tons of garbage will make it magically disappear.
Attitude: how we think or feel about something, is all that stands between the world we have and the world we wish was. I never knew, Walt Disney, except that he was the man who created, Mickey Mouse and a host of other silly characters, but growing up with those characters changed my attitude toward the different life forms around me. Animals are not simply ‘dumb beasts’ put here for our pleasure. We share common traits with every creature on Earth. All life is important in its own way and only the very ignorant are incapable of seeing the beautiful tapestry that makes our planet, and our lives, unique among the quadrillions of other planets circling the trillions of stars in an extremely vast universe that we inhabit for only a brief moment in time.
I hope that by reading, I’m Mobius, I change your attitude about one of the most amazing animals to ever exist in our wonderous oceans. Perhaps, one day, your new attitude will be enough to save them from the brink of extinction.
http://www.johnnyloveswhales.com/book/
May 26, 2020
How can the education system be improved
My father was a career Navy man. For me, as a child, this meant a career as, “The new kid.” I attended 2 grade schools, 2 junior high schools and 3 high schools. My favorite, by far, was, Memorial High School, in what is now the Silicon Valley, in the state of California. Memorial H.S., was created as an experimental school. No formal classroom seating, just one great open structure where we could gather around a teacher, or not. No formal teaching style was demanded, whatever the teacher was comfortable with, that was the rule. Did I memorize lots of knowledge there? The answer is, “No.” Did I learn to think there?
“Absolutely.”
Many of the parents, teachers, even some students, became unsatisfied with the Memorial model. I hear that walls were soon created, and the openness was killed by the lack of satisfying test scores and a desire for more discipline by those discipline loving people. Perhaps, the model should have started at grade school. By the time we washed up on its shores, we had become institutionalized by our normal school experiences.
Today, many years later, I still cherish my time there. Soon after, we again moved, and I was put back inside of a box sitting in the last row half asleep, bored to tears by another bored teacher and the rigors of rote learning. Often telling my new school mates about this amazing place I had attended in California. A place where good teachers were made great and bad teachers went away because they could not compel you to want to sit down and learn (our failings, not theirs). Is it any wonder that this is now the heart of Silicon Valley? I often wonder, too.
“Absolutely.”
Many of the parents, teachers, even some students, became unsatisfied with the Memorial model. I hear that walls were soon created, and the openness was killed by the lack of satisfying test scores and a desire for more discipline by those discipline loving people. Perhaps, the model should have started at grade school. By the time we washed up on its shores, we had become institutionalized by our normal school experiences.
Today, many years later, I still cherish my time there. Soon after, we again moved, and I was put back inside of a box sitting in the last row half asleep, bored to tears by another bored teacher and the rigors of rote learning. Often telling my new school mates about this amazing place I had attended in California. A place where good teachers were made great and bad teachers went away because they could not compel you to want to sit down and learn (our failings, not theirs). Is it any wonder that this is now the heart of Silicon Valley? I often wonder, too.
