Becoming a Flamingo.....

Weird birds.

I am becoming a truly weird individual as I develop my version of minimal-you [see photo]. I am weird because I do not fit neatly into any type of collective. In addition I am weird because I have no incentive, desire, or reason to abide by the rules of collectivism. Sure I do obey laws that have been enacted to control the collective but I mostly disagree with the underlying premise of such controls. Indeed... I believe that collectivism is in essence a mechanism to limit risk taking on the part of the individual. Thus we all are witness to the modern notion, theory, ideology, or simple group think that to be an individual is to be a threat to our specie. I reject all these notions of societal control as delusional. Furthermore I believe that these collectives, via their rules, have effectively put a brake on social evolution for humans. I expect that this is not a passing fad and that it might continue until humans are saved from their own stupidity by a benevolent form of Super AI or the unexpected outputs from many many more individuals modelled on Elon Musk.

I am reminded each day that individualism is the opposite of collectivism. For instance a collective is clearly evident when Flamingos flock together in what is called a flamboyance. As a collective they feed, procreate, and protect each other from a vast array of predators. So the collective is a safety mechanism. When an individual bird has his or her head buried in the mud while foraging for food the predators like vultures, hawks, kites, etc buzz around overhead. When the tide is low the big cats and other land based predators roam around the edges of the flock looking for an easy kill. This is nature and we accept it as part of the eco-system of life on our planet. Indeed the way that these weird looking birds live is a great testimony to when, how, and why collectivism works.

I applaud the flamboyance of Flamingos for the way they manage to survive in some of the most hostile environments on Earth. But I do not ever want to become a Flamingo.

Richard.