Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Why write at all?




First, foremost and forever, I write for my own benefit. No, I don’t hope to create a best seller; I’m not talking money here. Rather, I want, as I’ve mentioned, to clarify my musings and cobble together a super-philosophy, one that attacks and conquers every nitty-gritty gripe concerning existence. This for me is more important than any revenue-earning exercise that I might fritter away my time at (trading hours for a handful of dimes). My goal is a comprehensive and coherent new world overview. Think Mein Kampf, but a benign and friendly version. 

If you want to learn something, do so by teaching it. That’s my master plan: to write in order to hone the inner monologue. Do it to yourself, and for yourself (I tell myself). Explain the stuff that I’ve discovered in my mind to my own mind. 




Besides, I might one day end up with Alzheimer’s. I might need to re-educate myself—a Flowers for Algernon situation—about the person I once was. I might need to reacquaint myself with what I achieved (or at least aspired to). And for that, this magnum opus would serve.

Alternatively, this could be a legacy for my descendants—surely a kinder mob. Or, if I run afoul of the Law and slide down a black hole of criminality—or insanity—these pages could serve as breadcrumbs in the dark. They may enable the men in blue coats or white to track me down, perhaps to analyze and prescribe the appropriate medication or set a just sentence. 


Or do I throw caution to the wind and address myself to friendly aliens, empathetic time-travelers from the future, or to the ‘singularity’, the super A.I. par excellence that is expected to spontaneously emerge from its world-wide-web?
 



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