Machiavelli & the Cloud

If there's one thing I'm learning from reading The Story of Civilization, it's this:

"Wise men say, not without reason, that whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who have been, and ever will be, animated by the same passions; and thus they must necessarily have the same results."

Niccolo Machiavelli

Now that I've gotten through The Age of Faith and most of The Renaissance, I've come to that conclusion myself and my continuing education involves understanding how The System works -- the human social system, I think is what I mean -- and maybe (?) my place in it.

So, I'm knitting along (delightfully following a pre-industrial artisan's occupation) when my husband gives me a new piece of technology for Christmas that draws my attention back to the wonders of the Cloud. I've discovered more free digitized books than I'll ever be able to read! Since my new e-reader is not a Kindle with ReadToMe, I also started browsing YouTube/edu for lectures to listen to while I knit. I found an ongoing seminar at UC Berkeley about Global Society and, during a lag between postings, I got into a 2-year-old CUNY series on reading Marx's Das Kapital. All this on top of years of living with a news junky and getting caught up in global soap opera!

Das Kapital is about how humans have become cogs in the Capitalist Machine that restricts our opportunities to develop into Whole Persons. I can relate to Marx's reasoning on several levels. As a computer specialist in the Capitalist Machine for many years, it now seems imperative to me to find and integrate my lost pieces. Otherwise I'm just an Autistic Automaton -- a cyborg -- and where is my sense of beauty, joy and love?

So here I am with too much to want and not discipline enough to choose. I'm fully retired now with at least 20 good years left and a strong desire to make up for lost time. But I sometimes wonder what the goal is. For selfish me the Journey is the Reward.