As such, I wanted to present some ideas on the subject. The great thing about having a blog that no one reads is that I can post as many pages of self-indulgent crap as I want. So there.

I talk a lot about the future here. It is a subject of great interest to me. But often, it is largely theoretical. Today I’d like to talk about something a little closer to home. To sum up, in a completely dishonest oversimplification, the author of Shop Class as Soulcraft discusses the value of manual labor, of traditional trades, such as plumbing, carpentry, auto repair, etc. The problem, as presented, is that our society has been training a generation of “information workers” without actual tangible skills. In theory, the economists and pedagogues say, the future of work takes place in virtual and theoretical spaces.

They weren’t wrong to think so, but they were dumbasses for not realizing that those jobs would migrate overseas as soon as someone realized the same function could performed by an Indian cog-drone in a sweat office in Mumbai for half as much. And yes, while everything physical that we need can be created and shipped in from China, such things cannot be maintained by overseas workers, no matter how much we would love that to be the case. If your car breaks down, you can’t just ship it to China. Though that would be cool.

The point that the author is trying to make, is that there is real tangible value in many “blue-collar” jobs, and not the luddite, reductionist, “simpler time” bullshit that so many people are fond of. A person who can see the products of their labor is more likely to be satisfied with and even happy with their job. What the fuck does a creative consultant do, and do they even feel like they’ve earned their wage?

There’s no need to rehash the argument. It’s smart, interesting, and flies in the face of common wisdom. I would like to address a different point, something that sprang from these discussions and others. While there are many things that can be pointed to as the problem with modern society, I would like to point to one in particular:

Specialization. The hallmark of an advanced society is specialization. As food gathering becomes less imperative, man hours are able to be directed toward increasingly specialized tasks. This phenomenon becomes more pointed with automation, industrialization and computation. There is no secret that our society is radically compartmentalized. A biochemist shares practically no experience with a motorcycle mechanic.

I believe this is a problem. Part of this is because the cutting edge of science – which bears heavily on the functioning of our society – is so far removed from the average person as to be magical in nature. It is difficult for a democratic society to function when so much of human experience is inaccesible to the majority. This also creates schisms between not only classes, but areas of study. With specialization, we form insular communities that work inward, rather than outward. Scientists lack the humanizing touch of poets and artists, and artists lack the technical prowess of the scientific community. This schismatic rift exists in dozens of pairing across society.

I don’t propose any particular solution, but I do believe that we have lost sight of one of the things that makes us as humans so great: diversification. Some of our finest scientists and artists were polymaths, renaissance men who were artists, natural philosphers and athletes: Da Vinci, Newton, Jefferson, etc. It is possible that specialization drives society forward more powerfully, but at the cost of the individual, and at the risk of myopic devastation.

Liberal arts colleges attempt (in theory) to remedy this, by teaching cross-disciplinary classes and encouraging diverse pursuits, but even in these institutions that most resemble a renaissance university, insularity and separation still persist. What we wish as a culture we must cultivate in ourselves, and if we wish to be a full, healthy and well-developed culture, we must be full, healthy and well-developed people. Artists taking chemistry, writers fixing motorcycles, scientists writing poetry. Interdisciplinary pursuits do not weaken a person’s intellect and drive – they strengthen it.

Or that’s how it seems to me, wasted off my ass at eleven o’clock on a wednesday.

In addition to being a pretty neat set of standing stones, this particular monolith has a fantastic history behind it. Apparently, in the late 1970s, a man approached a granite company about building a monument in Elbert County, Georgia, the granite capital of the world. The man used only a psuedonym, and refused to reveal who it was that he represented. The monument that he wanted built would be one of the largest constructed in the modern era and far larger than anything the granite quarries of Elbert County had ever handled. He paid the exorbitant fee for the stones to be built and left detailed astrological and linguistic instructions for their construction. Surrounded by mystery and controversy, these stones have stood as a monument to some bizarre new age philosophy since the date of the completion. Located deep in the Bible Belt, the guidestones have been criticized as the devil’s handbook and as objects of occult fascination. Even though the man who encouraged their construction has long disappeared, they still manage to stir emotions around the country.

As to their purpose, it is unclear, but the mostly likely suggestion is that these guidestones are designed to provide rules and encouragement for a post-apocalyptic humanity trying to rebuild. The stones are inscribed with instructions in eight languages, and the capstone is adorned with a sort of mission statement written in four dead languages (Ancient Greek, Egyptian Heiroglyphics, Sanskrit and Babylonian Cuneiform). This mission statement is fairly innocous, reading: “let these be guidestones to an age of reason”. The rest of the instructions are somewhat more controversial. They offer vaguely eugenic  tips such as “guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity”. There are also calls to reason that irk the faith based local communities, such as “rule passion—faith—tradition—and all things with tempered reason” The true purpose of these stones remains unclear, and their creator isn’t talking – he appears to have vanished around the time of 9/11. Suggestions range from a new age mystery cult to a Rosicrucian secret society to a New World Order plot.

Here is a link to a full article on the subject. Absolutely worth reading. Link.

U 240

Pretty cool looking, right? Those nifty runes must say something important., right?

Translation:

“Danr and Húskarl and Sveinn and Holmfríðr, the mother and (her) sons, had this stone erected in memory of Halfdan, the father of Danr and his brothers; and Holmfríðr in memory of her husbandman.”

Nope,  just a headstone.

Edit: There have been some questions about what exactly these weekly monoliths have to do with the blog. Let me put those to rest.

It’s called Angry Monolith, and they’re cool. Deal with it.

This monolith comes furnished with its own house!

In addition to being the UK’s tallest standing stone, this monolith has a unique feature: fossilized dinosaur footprints!

Stone Temple's Pilot?

These guys put CNN’s talking heads to shame.

Ha ha ha ha…

Sorry. I need help.

I’ll tell you why…