The power of Humility.

I am sure most Christians hear over and over "Those who humble themselves shall be exulted and those who exult themselves shall be humbled.", While this seems to be a major theme in christianity it seems to be one of the most ignored. No mater what your political/religius standing, I like to look at this statement as more of a philosophical one.

I think the reason why American culture tends to avoid the humility is primarily because we are confused on humility and confuse it with undervaluing your talents. Which isn't true, also idea you loose your humility once you admit that you are humble. Well I will start with the latter being humble is not a destination state but a direction one should go. It is like going West. Just like if I say "I am located West." makes no sense saying "I am humble" Makes no sense. One can be more or less Humble then someone else but one really can't be humble, because there is always a way to go more humble, just as you can always go more West. Secondly being humble is not about undervaluing yourself or your talents, it is about understanding your talents while may great there is always room to improve and never assume that you are always correct.

An example of the opposites. A great violinist is playing in a musical competition, she sees other playing well but she figures that she is so much better then them and failed to listen to their playing. While she played quite well she ended up tying with an other violinist who is 3 years younger then her. She is heart broken she knew to herself that she was the best and now she will need to share the spotlight with someone else who is just as good as her but years younger. In her mind she lost, So she lost in her mind, so by exulting herself she was humbled down a notch. Now the younger player may have been more humble and expected to do well but didn't even dream of getting close to first place so when she did Tie for first she feels extremely honored and felt like she really one. So entering the contest with a humble attitude help her in the end make her feel better.

But there other things by being trying to go humble you end up letting your mind be open to others ideas and not forcing yourself to stick to your own ideas to the point of ruin. Even though american culture doesn't always follow this example and will focus on more esoteric ideas then humility, I myself feel that it is important one to strive for.

My thoughs on Microsofts Ultra-Mobile PCs

After all they hype about the Origami Project and all the secrecy behind it, to a degree that Apple like to do. With Apples recent faux pas of keeping a relatively small update super secret and giving the press a lot of time to speculate. Now with the press behind the Origami project I think we were expecting something a little more ground breaking. But after seeing it I just gave it an Bla look to it.
I will give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and say it seems well engineered and could have potential. But I see it as the Microsoft version of the Apple Newton. Where it is probably a fine product but it is entering a market where the technology is just not quite there, and a market that doesn't know quite what to do with it. And combined with Microsoft habit of combining two good technologies and find a way to enhance the disadvantages of both. It is just a Bla product, Something fun for the Upper Exec who want to show the cool toy, but to expensive for the average professional, who will be more willing to save up and get a higher performance laptop, or pay half as much for a good PDA. I don't see students using it to take notes in class. It is to big and fat to be Hip and Trendy like the iPod, and it is to big to carrie around discretely.
With Cell phones getting cheaper and more powerful Microsofts Ultra-Mobile PCs just doesn't seem to fill the void. I may be wrong, I myself was surprised that the iPod was such a large success as it is. But this just doesn't seem to ring to be a success like most other products.

Nature vs. Nurture vs. Trekkie

On Slashdot links to MS-NBC article about Tekkies dating online.

In the article there is question "Is this good for the gene pool? I mean, is it good for us to be facilitating meetings between these people? Or should we fling open the genetic windows and let some fresh air in?"

I don't know about other people but statements like that really scare me. This is not about the persons views on Evolution if it is real or not or in the middle of both. It is about our attempt to guide our genetic fait with still minimum knowledge of us and our gene and what gets passed on and what doesn't.

I don't think there is a Gene for Trekkie, Computer Geek, Movie Buff,... and these are based on environment and if they are Genetic Tendencies towards making Person A more likely to be some sort of stereotypical group, it would only be minor influence. Say for a Trekkie fan may have a Gene that makes them more prone to think toward the future and may have an other gene that makes them more connected to abstract ideas. Now if they were these Genes that did this, they are not necessarily bad and they should be passed to the next generation. It is the environment that will make a person put on pointed ears, (From Star Trek conventions and having out with other Star Trek fans, and Star Trek support groups.) because I don't think there is a Gene that makes us want to put on plastic pointed years.

So we still don't have a clear understanding of Nature vs. Nurture so I find comments like Polluting the Gene pool very scary comments, and if let to continue could begin the same thinking as during Nazi Germany during World War 2 with the "Master Race" Right now it isn't back to that level but it could get there again with people trying to guide our evaluation like how we bread dogs (With many bread of dogs being prone to genetic defects). Plus we use our currents society standards to determine what is good and bad, and if we continue to think that we should go that direction will be changing and after we change we will loose more and more genetic traits. We as human being would be very genetically similar that will prevent our bodies to adapt to a changing environment. An example is the Gene that makes people have slow metabolism which could make them fat. If we work on guiding the gene pool and say Fat People can't reproduce, because they are considered "Ugly". In the future their could be a massive famine which could kill off the people with a faster metabolism who needs to eat more to survive.

So if you catch yourself thinking that You or an other person isn't fit for the Gene pool, I would suggest that you let nature take its course, and not worry about it because if or Evolution is just based on survival of the fittest then the fittest for evolution will survive, and if our "Evolution" is based on the faith of a (G/g)od(s) then we could put our faith in God will direct us in his path.

So it begins.

Well it seems that everyone is posing a Blog so I figure why not me. My blog will not be that much different then from anyones else. Just my views on things that are happening around the world. Probably with emphasis on business and technology.
I should probably say a little about me.

Sex:	Male
Age Range:	25-30
Nationality:	American (French Canadian decent)
Location:	Capital District NY
Political Alignment:	Centrist
Profession:	Computer Consultant