Another Friday has rolled around and that means, Rory, aka A Guy Called Bloke, has another Friday Four.
The Friday Four
1] Does modern life give us more freedom or less freedom than in the past?
Modern life gives us more freedom than in the past, but that doesn’t mean we are free. Or maybe there is as much freedom, but time has shifted where the burdens (non-freedoms) are at now. Ways we are freer now are having running water indoors; indoor plumbing; heating sources other than chopping wood; food sources are a trip to the grocery store; our motorized vehicles can take us across across the country in a matter of days, or hours in a plane; we have portable phones that fit in the palm of our hands; instant communication to anywhere in the world electronically. To me, part of freedom is one’s mobility, and all of the above give us mobility. Of course I’m not speaking for every human on the planet, only the humans within my scope of knowledge and experience.
Where we are less free is in the way laws, regulations, enforcement, etc. has steadily increased. Not only that, the overlords have increasingly sophisticated methods of monitoring each and every one of us. If you don’t believe that, watch one or both of the movies on Edward Snow (one a documentary with Snow himself and one a fictionalized movie with Joseph Gordon Leavitt). We fight wars with drones now, which can be considered more freedom, but this brings up the question, freedom to do what?
2] How do we know that our life as we live it, is actually our own life and that we are not trapped in an imaginary world of our own making?
Pinch yourself and see if it hurts. I’m being facetious, but the physicality of our lives is what confirms they are real. There are schools of thought that believe a virtual world is real enough. I see Word Press as a virtual world in many ways. A virtual world can be very intellectually satisfying, and sometimes satisfying — vs some other thing not so good — is enough.
3] How do you think we should measure the successes of our life? Is it the things we do day in day out? Is it purely a number crunching exercise as to how long we actually live on the planet? Or is it something else?
Rory, this is a tough one. Success is such a vast term and it would be presumptuous to try to say how others should measure it. For me, being successful is being able to function in the world in a way that makes it possible for me to count on having food, clothing, and shelter. Success is being able to keep my questioning and creative spirits alive in myself and not only alive but to actively nourish these things within myself. Building connecting threads of genuine human connection with others is success to me, and that isn’t always easy, as it means consciously shutting my ego down at times, as egos can be overpowering to the more gentle among us.
4] We hear and read people who make claim to living an ordinary life. What is exactly that anyway? I mean if we request for others to define ‘normal’, then surely we should also ask others to define an ordinary life?
Sorry, unanswerable, Rory. I know what an ordinary life is for me (see #3), but ordinary is an individual thing, not a group thing. We may end up sharing many/most attributes with some/many others, but don’t assume that those common attributes are always positive ones.
Tao Talk 
That first question has got me thinking. My first reaction was the same as yours- but it also seems today with all the technology- Big Brother has a lot more eyes on us. It feels sometimes like he knows our every move. Not a good thing.
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believe me, i’m with you on the surveillance. when i say something in an email, then the next time i log on, there is an advertisement connected to it in the sidebar or in my spam box…. supposedly “smart” tvs can look out with a camera as well :(
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I forget the number but I remember hearing how often we are on camera every day on average as we go about our business. The number was a big one.
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Big Brother, Peeping Tom Extraordinaire!
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Excellent and honest answers Li. Thought provoking too. I also tend to become astonished at how quickly my cdomputer thinks for me. I have three screens on my desktop. One is a television for late night viewing when l cannot sleep. I have a tendency if l am watching a film on Netflix to wish to Google information about it, and because all my screens are connected, when l go to do a search in Google and the TV is on, l might only type one letter and the Google search already produces the film l am watching and you are like OMG!!!
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Thanks Rory, your questions in these Friday Fours are excellent and give opportunity for good responses. Between you and The Naked Skiier I won’t have any guts left to spill. One trend I’ve noticed is “Google Knows All”.
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Ha ha Li – it truly is becoming quite a frightening prospect – glad you are enjoying the questions, l am having to dig deep into the mind to retrieve them :)
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Reblogged this on A Guy Called Bloke and K9 Doodlepip! and commented:
Li, tackles the Friday Four and provides some depth and thought provocative answers.
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I have to think about your phone answer. For me, the phone has restricted my freedom. I’m tied to it and can’t go anywhere without it.
Transportation is true… But that being said my answer is not fair…not everyone has to be tied to work on a phone. The rest of it yes I agree, especially transportation.
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Glad you thought about it. I am not all that in favor of cell phones, especially in the hands of young people — but try to stop them!
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I have seen Bailey’s friends text each other…in the same house…. Of course I start making fun of them.
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cell phones are many parents’ nightmares once their kids get them. thank goodness my kids were grown before the days of cell phones
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Loved reading your answers.
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Thanks, Sadje, glad you liked them.
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You’re welcome 😉
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