If you read my last article (page back on the calendar below to see it. Last day last month.) you know I am writing Dynamo Software. The last accomplishment was generating the original users manual. An accomplishment that absorbed me for several weeks. It tuckered me out and I needed a break. I'll get back to it. My desire to finish Dynamo is only growing, but a break I need to gather perspective.

Dialectical materialism is a philosophy of change. I have been studying the concept. It relates to 'System Dynamics' which I have blundered into by working on my Dynamo project. I don't think anyone else will point out the connection.

A proper system dynamics model describes actual material conditions, and how they will change. A proper model is correct because it is drawn from reality. Changes a systems dynamics model goes through as the model runs is an accurate representation of future events provided real and relevant considerations are included in the model. System dynamics is mathematically solid.

Uncle Karl, Leibniz, and Newton would all be proud.

If a situation is described correctly, if the mathematical relationships and initial values are correct, results can be trusted.

I want to explore combining human considerations at decision points more before I go back to just cranking out code. My brain will go numb when I do, and the big picture will seem far away. I have a big picture, and I am taking a better look at it now. Dynamo is only a tool. Besides, nobody is waiting for me to finish any of this, so I'll do what I want. Right now I want to focus on the big picture more.

The big picture is that current politics in America is all open loop. Ideology rides with a child in the back seat of a car swerving and straddling the center line. The child is you. The car dangerously out of lane. The child in the back seat is afraid for its life.

We have become a nation where anything can be believed in. But belief in anything amounts to belief in nothing. When anything goes, nothing matters. Slavoj Žižek says ideology is evil. But peace on earth is an ideology. So is community.

Arguing they are. Those adults in the front seat. It is getting loud. Two parties who know what is good for you ride in front. We can name them D and R. They argue, and their concern is not what is good for the child. They are lost in their own world, these self-centered adults. My pacifist ass can't relate to what they say and do. These abusive murderous adults.

Workers of the world unite. Eliminate conflict, promote peace. But in this American election cycle both Democrats and Republicans want to keep the child in the windowless locked room. America runs on exploitation and thefts of various kinds. So many you can't count them all.

Exploitation and thefts which became normalized parts of our social system. Like water to fish. The way it is. Exploitations and thefts to preserve existing social structure and its inequities is not seen. So used are we all to swimming in dirty water. We don't see it as dirty.

Some people believe accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior defines a Christian. That is wrong. That is narcissistic bullshit. Water in which I will not swim. A Christian is defined by how they treat other people. Jesus would not disagree. Accepting the teaching 'thou shall not kill' and 'love they neighbor' is the only measure. How you treat other people will demonstrate your acceptance of the message. I say belief in the hocus-pocus, miracles, life after death and such is irrelevant. These are only beliefs anyway, medieval sales tactics, not actions of any kind. How you treat others shows who you are. Actions and not fables a person may roll around in their brainpan defines what a Christian is. All that matters is what you show. Love thy enemy is an action not a thought.

Thou shall not kill, but Americans seem fine with killing all sorts of people. The nation of a hundred billion crosses ✟ is not a Christian country. Not today. In America people throw people they do not know to lions. This is not love your enemy. And to Christ 'enemy' is a stand-in for 'everybody'. Pretending some people do not exist is not love.

America does not keep just one child in a basement like in Omelas. Americans watch, or choose to not watch, as children in Gaza by the thousands are blown to pieces. In basements, schools and everywhere else. Thou shall not kill is nowhere heard. Global climate change is dispossessing millions. The trouble is only going to get worse, migrants will number in the millions. What does America do? America worries about interest rates, and problems in their face.

Modeling shows where dirty water comes from, what is actually happening in the water in which we swim. Too actually understand what is happening in the world is a revolutionary thing. Violence is identified, secrets are revealed, and the source of hidden bitter tears can be seen. Modeling shows how and where to do change. What change in the model would stop institutionalized murder in America's many proxy wars? What change would you make if you could? At which decision point would you do it?

These are questions that could lead to lasting change if you had the power and a correct model. Choices made then produce a new model from which the effects of new change can be explored. Contradictions can be explored and understood. Morality chooses what changes to make. Are the people served?

Soon enough I'll get back to working on Dynamo, but there is no hurry. Being able to model is not enough. Modeling is interpretation, and it has been said.

Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.

Sadly nobody seems that interested in changing things. Expressing hate seems to be generally more important right now. I hope things change. Modeling the current chaotic clusterfuck is not useful or easy, too much chaos. And we know the basic answers. The century of the self will now lead to a new century of mass death. Our time is the inflection point. Sound the alarm. I do not need a model to tell me this.

The model I want to see optimizes for individual prosperity in a matrix of equality. But a representation of reality would have to be nudged through many changes before the model representing reality becomes nice.

Here is why I think so. Why Equality Is Better For Everyone. A nice model will have feedback preserving both prosperity and equality. Other social measures as well. But models must be accurate renditions of reality to have any value.

I can model idealism, but modeling idealism is useless. Idealism can only entertain or oppress. To be any good models must ape and mimic reality. Only then can a model guide and shape society in a chosen and preferred direction. Considering current conditions it will be a long time before my dream model can represent reality and be of any use.