Essay From College course: Ancient Political Thought
What, if anything, can egalitarians learn from Aristotle’s ideal regime in Books VII-VIII
Aristotle's conceptualization of an ideal regime in 'The Politics' is set against a backdrop of beliefs and social structures markedly different from those prevalent in contemporary society. In the pursuit of solutions for modern challenges, it proves insightful to revisit historical philosophies and interpret them within our current context. This approach is akin to a common method in engineering, where solutions are often sought by drawing parallels from systems operating under different conditions. This paper will argue that by reinterpreting Aristotle's ideas through a modern egalitarian framework, it becomes clear that social reforms such as implementing an AI takeover of menial work and universal basic income are necessary for a truly egalitarian society.
Aristotle’s thoughts on the differences in different occupations in facilitating self-development, when adjusted to the modern standards of equality, provide useful insight into how egalitarians could ensure equality of quality of life through proactive programs implemented on a societal level, such as widespread use of new technology to do menial work, and the institution of a universal basic income program. Aristotle’s ideal society is based on the assumption that happiness is the ultimate goal of human life and that happiness consists of the realization and perfect exercise of excellence in the rational soul (1332b). For Aristotle, the citizens of the ideal city are those who share in the political deliberation and administration, and who have leisure to pursue the good life of
intellectual and moral excellence (1278b18). He also believes, though that “the best life, both for individuals and states, is the life of excellence when excellence has adequate external equipment” and therefore there are tasks necessary for the function of a society, and therefore a society can only operate if there is a base of non-citizen slaves, who do necessary tasks like food production and construction, as “the life of the [menial labor] is very illiberal, and unbefitting any citizen of the state” (1325a) and are therefore tasks not appropriate for citizens who should be focused on living the good life. Such a society logically necessitates a class of people valued differently than citizens needed to do these tasks. He views these slaves as the means by which the citizenry who collectively make up Aristotle’s valued class of society ensure they have the resources and time to pursue the good life by subsisting on the efforts of the slaves (1255b). These views imply a differing societal valuing of the ruled and the ruling, based on supposed ‘natural differences’, with the former’s life purpose being a means to facilitate the latter’s self-development opportunities, i.e. living free of the burdens of menial work.
However, modern egalitarianism rejects the notion of natural slavery and advocates for all human beings’ equal worth and dignity, regardless of their abilities or social status. Egalitarianism also implies that no human being should be viewed as a means for another’s benefit and that everyone should have equal opportunity to the various roles in society, especially those roles designated by Aristotle as being naturally limited to his conception of a specific citizenry who are ‘masters’ by nature. If Aristotle were to hold the modern egalitarian belief that all people are of equal value and deserving
of the right to seek a virtuous and good life, he would fail to conjure up an ideal society, as he believes that “the best form of government is that in which every [person], whoever [they] is, can act best and live happily” (Aristotle, Politics, Book 4, Chapter 115), and that the tasks which provide the material necessities that let a city function are not suitable for any human being, as they do not let people live the best life, insofar as they do not lead to the development of virtue, and a life of leisure, or activities which are an end in themselves. To such a realization, he would argue that, in the ideal society of equally valued people, since all would be equally deserving of having equal freedom from menial work to have equal opportunities for the development of a virtuous, good life, there is a necessary existential trade-off between attaining the material necessities for society, and the equality of opportunity for all people. However, the rapidly developing capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) provide an innovative solution to having a necessary labor base for a society while eliminating the role differentiation in society built into Aristotle’s ideal society. Furthermore, considering that Aristotle posited that “the good life is the life according to virtue” (1098a) and that, virtue is achieved through the appreciation of art, exercise, political activity, and philosophy, activities typically relegated to free hours of the day when one is employed in a menial job. Therefore by delegating menial tasks to AI, people who were previously employed in menial jobs as part of the necessary functioning of society would be allowed to fully dedicate their time to pursuits that Aristotle viewed as the most humane use of people's time, those which develop virtue. This paradigm shift, where AI assumes roles once considered ‘lower,’ embodies the logical application of Aristotle’s ideas on the good life within a political society
according to egalitarian principles, and shows that egalitarians can learn something from Aristotle, that more needs to be done to make it so that all can have equal time and resources to enjoy the good life. Aristotle says, “The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else” (1156a). A universal basic income (UBI) program, for example, could provide a minimum level of economic security for all citizens, regardless of their employment status, and allow them to pursue their activities previously stated as being those which Aristotle believes to lead to happy and virtuous living.
Commonly, the widespread adoption of AI in performing menial tasks is viewed as a possible social problem, as it could negatively affect individuals who find fulfillment in such work. In our modern society, tasks that in an Aristotelian framework would be seen as menial, are utilized as crucial sources of purpose and happiness for certain segments of the population. The automation of these tasks by AI could thus be seen as limiting these individuals’ ability to live a fulfilling life, potentially hindering their pursuit of happiness as envisioned in an Aristotelian framework. In modern society, many individuals feel a necessity to turn to tasks that in the Aristotelian sense, are ‘menial’ as their main source of personal fulfillment and happiness, even if they had the institutional and societal opportunities to do otherwise, as they have limiting intellectual disabilities, a different set of capabilities to those which Aristotle would imagine a citizen to have. For example, some people with disabilities may choose to work in menial jobs, such as food service or
cleaning, as these are jobs allow them to participate equally in our modern work-based society, offering a sense of dignity, independence, and social interaction skill development, personal growth, and community involvement, which can enhance one’s self-esteem and well-being. Aristotle himself considered this human reality, but in his consideration he drew conclusions antithetical to egalitarian principles, arguing that some people are naturally more suited for intellectual activities, while others are more suited for practical or productive activities, and that the ideal city should assign different roles to different types of people according to their natural capacities and virtues; as we have seen this line of reasoning is then used as a basis for natural slavery as he placed more moral societal importance on those who are suited to intellectual opportunities (1328b40-1330a40).
However, this counterargument can be challenged if we take a higher-level look at Aristotle’s idea for the structure of the ideal society. For him belonging to the virtuous actions of the citizenry was not belonging to an economically productive class, a main lens we use to analyze modern society, and the origin of the societal need to create job opportunities for those with intellectual disabilities, but was rather based on the enjoyment of leisure and self-development both in the realms of personal growth, and social growth. Aristotle argued that leisure, which he distinguished from mere relaxation or amusement, is the time for cultivating the mind, spirit, and character, and for engaging in activities that are done for their own sake and are worthy of devotion. While we can concede that Aristotle considered philosophic contemplation to be the highest, and
therefore most valuable form of leisure(1177a15-1178b20), it would be wrong to conclude that a society that utilized Aristotle’s conception of leisure as the primary mechanism through which people derive spiritual and psychological fulfillment would leave out those who have less capacities for philosophical activities. Aristotle’s ideal society would not exclude those who have less capacities for philosophical activities but rather provide them with various forms of leisure that can enhance their well-being and contribute to the common good. Music, gymnastics, and emotional learning are accessible across the IQ bell curve and are forms of leisure that Aristotle saw as closely following philosophy in the development of virtue and happiness. For example, he argued that music has the power to influence the character of the soul, and therefore was not merely a source of amusement or relaxation, but also a tool akin to philosophy that could be employed in the development of virtue, stating that “Music is a thing that is most akin to the soul and to its movements, and this is why the poets say that the soul is ‘harmonized’ by music” (1340a14-16). If such thinking holds, then it follows that even if philosophizing was not a viable option for an intellectually disabled citizen of the egalitarianistic version of Aristotle’s ideal society proposed in the second paragraph, such a citizen could still utilize one of the non-intellectual forms of leisure to lead a virtuous and fulfilling life without employment.
AI + Me on Indentity
As I wander through the bustling streets of Austin, amid the ceaseless hum of urban activity and the architectural cacophony of old and new, I find myself drawn towards a peculiar sight. It's an isolated wall, incongruously standing amid a construction site - a veritable steel fortress cradling a painted mural that echoes the past amidst a cityscape hungry for the future.
This isn't just any mural, but the legendary 'Hi, How Are You' painting - a cultural relic from an era seemingly distant, a visual haiku in the form of a frog-like creature, that was once the whimsical greeting for Austinites and visitors alike. The building that bore this masterpiece has succumbed to the urban hunger for transformation, yet the wall stands, a stoic witness to change, propped up by steel girders - an architectural Lazarus in the midst of resurrection.
The shifting skyline of Austin, with its expanding high-rises and state-of-the-art complexes, is an unfolding narrative of progress and development. Yet, within this concrete and glass ballet of growth, lie the undercurrents of identity and continuity. The 'Hi, How Are You' mural is more than a whimsical relic - it is a symbol of Austin's unique character, a nexus where art, eccentricity, and community spirit intertwine. Its preservation amidst rampant modernization, mirrors the struggle of a city striving to maintain its distinctive charm even as it embraces the future.
And what is a city, if not a reflection of identity writ large - a collective self-portrait painted in the strokes of culture, history, and community spirit? The urban tapestry of Austin, with its mosaic of the old and new, is a testament to the city's layered identity, a dynamic symphony that evolves, yet persists, as it dances to the rhythm of time.
Identity, in its essence, is an enigmatic paradox - it is a constant, yet it is fluid. Like the universe itself, identity is an unfolding story, eternally evolving, ceaselessly adapting, yet maintaining a continuity that threads the past to the present and future. Each moment births a new state of being, which in turn is a product of every moment that preceded it - a cosmic chain of cause and effect.
Looking at the preserved mural in the heart of Austin's rapidly developing west campus, I am struck by the realization that it is an embodiment of this paradox. It stands as a symbol of Austin's past, a vivid splash of identity preserved even as the city transforms around it. Its past state informs its current existence, but it is not confined by it. It evolves, adapts, and stands resilient amidst the tide of change - a silent proclamation of Austin's evolving identity.
As I leave the mural, the hum of construction in the backdrop, I carry with me a profound appreciation of the fluidity of identity - of cities, of cultures, of individuals, and of the universe itself. It is a ballet of becoming, a symphony of change, and yet, within it is a melody of continuity. For in this dance of existence, we are the products of our past, sculpted by our present, and reaching out to our future - ever-changing, yet inherently ourselves.
In the end, perhaps the mural says it best - "Hi, How Are You". It greets every day anew, holding onto its identity while engaging with the world in its present state. The wall, the city, we, are all narratives in flux - a testament to the universe's grand cosmic story of change. And that's okay. As long as we greet each day, each change, with a friendly "Hi, how are you?", we remain tethered to our identities even as we flow in the river of time.
City Council Speech
The following is a speeches I delivered to the Austin City Council on June 8th, 2023, pertaining to the planned expansion of Interstate-35:
Mayor Watson, Council members, and Staff, thank you for hearing me today. My name is Ches Weinfeld, and I am from Central Austin. I am here to voice my concerns about the expansion of I-35. I want to address how this expansion relates to your legacy, our current city government
It has been roughly half a century since the last major expansion of I-35. In this time our leaders have made decisions that has shaped city, creating the successes, and problems we face today. Our leaders at that time made the decision to respond to that period of extensive population and economic growth by supporting highways and sprawl. Their decision has left a legacy of congestion, a lack of affordable housing, a more dangerous urban environment, and a less united city.
Today we are at a similar crossroads. With the prospect of even more population and economic growth, and the struggles of climate change and an increasingly digital society, it is clear that the next 50 years will contain as much, if not more, change as has happened in our recent past. Like those made in years past, the decisions you all are making now in response to change will create a lasting legacy.
Please think carefully about what kind of legacy you want to leave. It has been shown time and again that highway expansion create more pollution, divide neighborhoods further, car-depedendence and therefore more housing unaffordability, increase the risk of auto and pedestrian fatalities, and don’t even fix the main problem they are meant to solve, traffic. Do not make mistake of expanding I-35 your legacy; instead, I am urging you all, particularly Mayor Watson, to vocally, and through a resolution, oppose TexDOT’s proposed expansion of I-35.
Your legacy will be my future; I am 18 now, and what happens to i-35 now will shape the city for the rest of my life. You can either support the expansion, a repeat of our past mistakes, creating a future for myself and the rest of Austin’s youth with more of our current problems, or you all can strive to create a better legacy, finally standing up to the endless cycle of bigger yet ineffective highways, and support and urban environment we can be proud of, instead of loathe like how many austinites feel towards the current state of I-35, by supporting alternatives to this expansion.
An Argument for the Vexillological Completeness of Texas Cities
If you like reading to music here are two song suggestions to pair with this post: with lyrics: Djesse, by Jacob Collier, Without Lyrics: Sonate pour violoncelle et piano No. 1 en Mi Mineur, Op. 38: I. Allegro non troppo, by Johannes Brahms
Note: A municipality is a legal governing entity associated with a city, but I will use the terms ‘city’, ‘town’, and ‘municipality’ interchangeably throughout this post.
Symbols are important, in that they represent us and our values. Texas is an outstanding place, with issues, yes, but also a land and people with aspirations and much to celebrate. I don’t think the current flags of major Texas cities do their jobs as symbols: conveying the complexity of their communities or the state. This blog post shares my idea to redesign the flags of a select group of Texas municipalities so that their flags would better represent their cities, the state, and its citizens’ shared identity.
Good flag design:
For most Americans, it comes as a surprise that most cities in this country even have a flag. This lack of knowledge of local symbols is understandable though, as explained in Roman Mars’s popular 2015 TED talk on how when a flag is poorly designed, it is often not flown, and therefore obscure to the public. Most American city flags are poorly designed, and obscure, like the flag of Cambridge, Massachusetts:
I am not just slandering this flag solely because I find the flag ugly, which I do; rather, I am singling out Cambridge because its flag transgresses literally all of the five simple guidelines laid out by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) a group of flag researchers and experienced designers, on how to design a good flag. I list the NAVA guidelines here, and explain how Cambridge’s breaks them to elaborate on their meanings:
Keep it simple: the Cambridge flag is packed with small details, which are hard to reproduce by everyday citizens, let alone remember, and are unclear when viewed flapping in the wind.
Use Meaningful Symbolism: The flag should say something about the place it flies over, and mean something to the people it represents; I wouldn’t be surprised if your average Cambridge resident had no idea what the building in the flag even is, but I guess the pretentious overindulgence in Latin could be interpreted as representing the vibrant classics professor community of this collegiate town, but as I will explain, the use of language, dead or alive, is still a vexillological misstep.
Use 2-3 Basic Colors: A flag should be a flag, not a locality-inspired study of Van Gogh’s inventive use of hue. Yet again, a flag should be simple, in part so that it can be easily reproduced and recognized; although it contains two highly prestigious institutions of higher learning, I would bet that the vast majority of Cantabrigians could faithfully reproduce a Starry Night, or even name another Van Gogh.
No words: A flag is a symbol, and the point of symbols is to convey an idea or emotion without the use of language. In some sense putting words on a flag makes it less of a flag, and more of a banner.
Be distinctive or be related: for the most part, a flag should be largely different from other flags. This aids with recognizability, but also every place is unique and deserves a flag that represents the location’s individual history, people, etc. If your flag is similar to others, you better have a compelling reason. Imperial British Dominions’ Flags all feature a union jack in the upper left corner, an area of a banner called the canton in flagspeak. This commonality is symbolic of the unity these places had/have in being ruled by the same colonial power. Similarity should be purposeful, creating unity, and/or room for individual expression; for example, the common format of said colonial British flags created a framework that allowed dominions to display some local identity through specific symbols in designated areas of the flag, without overwhelming officials with the task of designing an entire flag from scratch for every little island(1). Cambridge’s flag is similar to an innumerable number of American State and Municipal flags which follow the ‘Seal on a Bedsheet’ or SoB model, in which a seal made for official documents is blown up, and placed on several square feet of monotone cloth, collectively masquerading as a real flag. This similarity though is not symbolic of any unifying commonality of said places, other than using the imperial system instead of metric, and having bad flags. This makes Cambridge’s flag even more unrecognizable, as from a distance it looks like many other wasted civic design opportunities in America.
The current state of Texas municipal flags:
Out of the 10 largest cities in Texas, only two currently have flags that meet all of the previously mentioned 5 points created by NAVA. Some of these flags are hopefully close, but others unfortunately are ‘SoB’ stories.
My proposal:
Texas is unique among states. Its size, history, and culture have provided its people, for better or for worse, with a sense of state pride and identity that is closer to that common among countries, rather than subnational divisions (I will concede that California also has a similar state identification situation). In addition to this strong, unifying Texan identity, there is also significant diversity in geography, people, and culture, but also in wealth, opportunity, and attention. From the swamps of Houston to the arid mountains of El Paso, from the Tejano roots of San Antonio to the deep southern culture of Tyler, and from the over-hyping and wealth of Austin, to the poverty and need in Brownsville, Texas has a lot of beautiful diversity to be celebrated, and simultaneously many inequalities that need to be addressed. As a State, I believe that we should capitalize on the differences that make the state exciting both for us and outsiders while uniting under the strong Texas identity from which we all benefit to bridge the gaps in attention and wealth in our State.
For all the reasons aforementioned I propose a vexillologically complete set of flags for a select group of major Texas cities. What do I mean by vexillologically complete? Well, I propose the flags fit a template that allows for unique expression for each locale while creating a visual system as a whole that is greater than the sum of the individual flags. Simply, there should be a common theme in the flags that transcends individual representation. The theme I propose is the geographic location in the state of Texas. By referencing where a place, and therefore a viewer is within the wider state, I hope that viewers, visitors, and locals alike, think about a specific place in relation to others, creating a sense of interconnectedness, an invitation to explore other cities, hopefully enriching the local economy through tourism-related spending, or through investment in a community a company would not have considered otherwise, and a better appreciation of the greater whole, the state of Texas.
The flag of the state of Texas:
Design limitations:
I decided that the commonalities I would implement for the flags I would design should come from the Texas flag, as Texas is the overarching entity for all of these cities. The first overarching design choice I made was to restrict myself to the same color palette, the specific shades of red white, and blue found on the Texas flag. For the second common design element, I chose to include the ‘lone star’ in the same color (white), and around the same size (the size it is on the Texas flag), in every flag; ironically this lonely star represents Texans' unity, so I thought it would be a fitting commonality. I decided that the star's position would vary on each flag, roughly corresponding to the cities’ geographical location in the state. This I believe will create a unique sensation when viewed in its home area: a sense of place in this vast space (the massive state of Texas), making them excited to see what other areas of the flag, and the state, they can explore. Finally, if a city’s current flag had redeemable elements, I tried to preserve them. I only used symbols with meanings specific to the area.
How I chose the cities:
The state of Texas has 1,221 municipalities; obviously, I did not redesign all of their flags. Following the directional theme I sought to implement, I decided to choose nine, one for each of the cardinal directions, ordinal directions (like South-West), and the center of a compass rose. Roughly adhering to the list of largest Texas municipalities, I chose cities that are large, culturally significant, and not suburbs of other cities (sorry Houston and DFW mega suburbs like Plano). Although not suburbs, I also had to exclude several significant cities for varying reasons, FortWorth for its proximity to Dallas, an obvious representative of the North, San Antonio for not being South Enough (and so I could address Brownsville’s urgent flag situation- these Reddit comments agree with me on how bad it is), and Amarillo Abilene and Midland-Odessa for being in the same general direction as their larger counterpart in the North-West; Lubbock.
Chosen Cities and Their Corresponding Directions:
Key:
The blue lettering represents their direction, and therefore the relative location of the lone star on their flag, with C being short for the center.
Approximate Position of Stars according to the location of each city in the state:
Result:
After an ungodly number of hours, I have successfully redesigned the flags of the nine chosen cities, and put them into a collage to highlight the star-location effect:
Break Down of Each Flag:
Here I provide an image of each city’s original and redesigned flags, details on my design, and the symbolism of each flag.
Lubbock:
Original:
Redesign:
Lubbock, a college town on the prairie, is known for being the home of Buddy Holly and Texas Tech University. As found in the original flag, Lubbock prides itself on being a center for commerce and culture in the region, being at the intersection of 5 major state highways, giving it the nickname ‘Hub City’. I decided to keep the stylized representation of these 5 highways found in the original design with five white lines radiating from the lone star; by encapsulating this star-line amalgam in a white circle, I aimed to give the composition a wagon wheel-esque appearance, a somewhat cheesy homage to the western cowboy culture of the area, while doubling down on the Hub City identity, as it positions the lone star representing Lubbocks location at the hub of the wheel. In the background you can also see a form derived from the Comanche Nation Seal, following the fact that modern-day Lubbock is located right in the heart of the Comanche’s former range, called the Comanchería.
Dallas:
Original:
Redesign:
I decided to keep the bi-color background from the original flag, having a natural space for the star at the top representing Dallas’ northern location, and a symbol unique to the city below. And yes, if you were wondering, the particular pegasus I used was the former logo of Mobil, the petroleum corporation. And while I don’t agree with said company’s decision to prioritize profit over the well-being of our planet, it would not be fair to rob Dallas of such a dope mascot. For background, a large pegasus was originally placed on top of the Magnolia Oil Company in 1934. This company was then acquired by Mobil in the 50s who appropriated the symbol. Even after Mobil left the building in the 80s, the Pegasus symbol remained soaring over the city until 2000, when it had to be replaced due to wear and tear. The pegasus has come to represent the miraculous oddity of Dallas, a nowhere in the middle of the plains that has become a symbol of wealth, power, and progress.
Tyler:
Original:
Redesign:
Tyler is the biggest city in Texas’ rural, and culturally southern North-East. While this city’s region is traditionally associated with pine trees, peach cobbler, and the Bible, the city of Tyler has the unique reputation of being the rose production capital of the U.S. Because the current flag is a pretty horrendous example of the ‘Seal on a Bedsheet’ trend (in this case it's really more of a logo on a bedsheet), there is already a movement based around a proposed flag design that prominently features a stylized rose. I decided that it would be best not to reinvent the wheel here, and just propose something similar to what people already want. I borrowed the rose from the existing ‘New Flag for Tyler Project’ proposed design. I added the lone star in the northeast corner of the flag to correspond with Tyler’s location on the map.
El Paso:
Original:
Redesign:
El Paso is closer to San Diego California than the other side of Texas; that fact is not relevant to my flag design, but it was illustrative enough of the enormity of Texas to share anyway. The only element I kept from the original design was the stylized sun. This is meant to represent El Paso’s status as the ‘Sun City’, a name earned by enjoying over 300 days of sunshine a year. The only design element I added was the geometric mountains on the right side of the flag. These are meant to represent the Guadalupe range, which dominates the El Paso landscape, but also, through three groupings of double peaks, the three Native American tribes indigenous to the area, and the close familial, economic, and cultural relationship between the two nationalities on either side of the border El Paso sits on.
Austin:
Original:
Redesign:
Austin, my hometown, you can do better than a SoB. Similarly to how Amsterdam blew up the escutcheon(2) of their city coat of arms to create a fantastic flag, I utilized the vertical tri-color design of the seal found on the original flag as the structure for my design. At first attempted to also include the lamp, which represents the knowledge culture of the city, in my new flag, but I couldn’t fit it in aesthetically, so I left it out for simplicity. While the blue circle can be taken to represent the many lakes and creeks of the city, it is more so there so I could place a white star in the middle of a white background, to keep the lone star symbol consistent across the flags.
Houston:
Original:
Redesign:
I decided not to include anything from the original flag, as none of the symbolism is particularly meaningful. I also knew at the outset that there were several aspects to the city which I wanted to reference in the flag: the bayous, the historic six wards, and progress/moving towards the future. I found it pretty difficult to include all of these priors in one flag; I went through five different designs but finally landed on the design pictured above. The base layer is a blue band, representing the bayous of Houston, which are historically and culturally significant to the city. The wavy borders represent the complex relationship between the city and its waterways, which are crucial parts of the city's stormwater drainage system, but also flood surrounding areas when overwhelmed. The red triangles are a stylized hourglass, an object found on Sam Houston’s, the city’s namesake, coat of arms; this symbol reflects Houston's fast march to the future, with the city changing rapidly from year to year, and looking to be a major home for the increasingly important commercial space industry. Finally, the six stars on the left represent the six historic wards of Houston. Their arrangement into a circle references the three beltways that dominate the city’s sprawling urban form. Finally, the lone star on the right symbolizes unity in the city.
Laredo:
Original:
Redesign:
Laredo’s current flag is pretty awesome. It is derived from the flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande, a short-lived movement in what is now Southern Texas, that fought to gain independence from Mexico around the time of the Texas Revolution. Not wishing to change much, I simply made changes to fit the current flag to my template; I switched some colors and changed the two top stars to blue, so it is clear that the bottom star denotes the direction.
Brownsville:
Original:
Redesign:
I was originally planning on having San Antonio represent South, but SA is pretty close to Austin, plus I felt it would be immoral to not raise awareness of the monstrosity that is Brownsville’s current flag, so I included the city in my set. I wanted to challenge myself by including something from the old flag. I originally planned to include a stylized version of the bell tower found in the old flag but scrapped the idea for another. Focusing on the city’s motto of ‘On the Border by the Sea’, I decided to structure the flag around references to the city’s surroundings. Starting on the Far left, I included a red bar, representing the shared Latino heritage that transcends Texas’ border with Mexico; The white represents the nearby beaches of South Padre Island, and the blue represents the Gulf of Mexico. In the Middle, I surrounded the lone star, representing Brownsville’s location in South Texas, with a wavy line, a reference to the meandering path the Rio Grande River takes along this section of the border. On top of the star, I placed two swords to symbolize the two wars which had major battles in Brownsville. To add visual weight to the top of the flag, I also incorporated two palm trees, common in Brownsville’s sub-tropical climate, to symbolize the two nations of the Border.
Corpus Christi:
Original:
Redesign:
Like Laredo, Galveston already has an excellent flag. I chose not to deviate far from the original design. I changed the colors to fit the template and resized the star in the South East corner to represent Corpus Christi’s location and to be the same size as the lone star on the Texas flag. I also replaced the seagull with one that could fit further up and to the left in the circle of stars, balancing the enlargement of the lone star in the bottom right.
I recognize that local peoples probably did not get a say in designing their new imperial flag, or even in more important matters, and that most places ruled by the British Empire were not super jazzed about being part of this ‘united whole’, but this blog post is not here to educate you on the evils of imperialism, let alone the British Empire specifically. If you are interested in learning more about the subject, I suggest you check out Caroline Elkins' work.
This is the shield part of a coat of arms in European heraldry.
Trees
I have found myself spending more time looking at the trees rustle in the wind recently.
The minutes, sometimes hours, spent admiring these (supposedly[1]) inanimate objects is a surprise to many, as I am a person who, at times, is prone to grow impatient while switching from working on my computer, to consuming content on my phone.
We live in a very uncertain time[2]. At times the world feels like an anxiety-inducing baking experiment, as pinches of democracy’s viability in the face of human nature, cups of climate change, and worrying amounts of A.I.’s existential risks (or at least the parallel reality of public discourse, media’s “extract” version of such, which is what’s available to most people) which may, or may not ruin the whole pie, are thrown together, among an infinitely long list of other ingredients, creating a recipe that at once could be unprecedented in its deliciousness, or in its fatal level of salmonella contamination, but is currently an amorphous goop of an unappetizing color.
Although such a reality (the real one that is, not my desert metaphor) is exciting, it is also inherently distressing. In the wide space of possibilities that saturates my field of (future) vision[3] like the panoramic view of the American West that was presented to the eyes of Lewis and Clarke’s expeditions after setting off from independence, I often become overwhelmed, and turn to knowledge, data, and opinions, guides not always as clairvoyant[4] as the native peoples of the west which Lewis and Clarke depended on, to outline ‘the’ path I should expect, and therefore prepare for.
As hinted at in the previous metaphor, such learning is not always as helpful as the underappreciated guides referenced. I will acknowledge that at times, my ‘research’ consists of pulling one-liners from the likes of Sam Altman, Noam Chomsky, or other famous fellow tribe members[5] to give enough of an (artificial) sense of intellectual security to assuage my intrusive thoughts about the socio-technological future of the world in order for me to go back to binging flag videos, but often, I do make a concerted effort to understand the facts of our times, in the hopes of informing my choices of the future.
This embrace of knowledge has not been entirely un-fruitful, I have found great joy in the complexity, and mystery of ‘the hard problem of consciousness’, and have derived actually useful life skills from camusian ideals, (although I still struggle with understanding human nature, and the AI ‘transformer’ architecture; I assume that the ability to hold one or the other knowledge set is mutually exclusive[6]), but in all this rabbit-holing I have yet to burrow my way to a bedrock of a perfect understanding of the past, or an immutable set of complete morals[7], much less an outline of what is to come, and how I should deal with it!
After hours, sometimes even days searching, I come out of my crazed consumption of knowledge. I am often awake from this daze stressed, confused, and mentally overloaded, yet no closer to a divine sense of understanding. What I am left with are the trees, as the rustle in the wind, the anxiety of whatever my current skull-bound obsession is melts away, I reflect a little, maybe even internalize some of the vast amounts of information I will inevitably forget. Maybe I even check in with myself, but in the end, what sticks, is often the trees.
Their leaves move in a chaotic motion, while I never could solve Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, or discover a physical theory of everything with my Ipad, I can appreciate the real-life beauty of mathematical chaos in the motion of the leaves.
I am no closer to telling you how intelligence, much less consciousness emerges out of millions of neurons, or data points, we can both revel in the beauty that emerges from the atoms, cells, biological structures, the infinitely rich history of the tree’s growth[8], and setting, and the ephemeral reflection of it all captured in a never again display of photons bouncing in trillions of unique directions after traveling from a big gas ball far away.
While discourse on the negative sides of my social media accounts pulls me into my human tendency for factionalism, and rage, I am hopeful in remembering that a collection of people in my vicinity decided to get together, form and government, and agree to protect trees like the one I admire outside my bedroom window.
On one of my answers crazed rabbit holes, I began listening to The Conscious Mind, by Zoltan Torey; in this book, he remarks our world, the reality of life, of the tree, and minds to ponder its beauty, both inherent and in its connections with everything else, is but an eddy in the flow of entropy, a perplexing pocket of highly order craziness in the vast sea of it all, flowing in a way we will probably never fully understand, but takes only a moment, staring out the window, to appreciate.
I am never going to have all the answers, and life will always be somewhat uncertain, but if I have learned one thing in my search for knowledge, it is that I will always love looking at the trees.
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[1] Here I am not hinting at a personal belief in arbolic consciousness; rather, I am offering an almost performatively insignificant amount of humility for comedic effect.
[2] Wow Ches! What a profound and novel realization you have gifted on to the world! I promise you I can present a takeaway more interesting than the intro to a melodramatic car commercial.
[3] This mental image tends to consume an arfitically inflated percentage of my head space, as I am currently a high school senior, and therefore it feels like of of society has decided that now is the time for me to ‘think about my future’ and what ‘impact I will have on the world’, a perceived pressure quite unfortunate for a person already unusually obsessed with ‘his place in the world’.
[4] I am not insinuating that these native peoples has some mystical power to see into the future, but as people who live(d) in, or had interacted with other that inhabit(ed) the lands that Lewis and Clarke where encountering for thee first time, they did have knowledge of the spatial “future” of the voyage.
[5] I am referring to our shared ethno-religious background
[6] Just kidding programmers, none of us really understand each other, but at least you can feel superior in the fact that I use MacOS, not Linux!
[7]Slow down there, psychopath seekers, I am not saying that I am without morals, rather I am acknowledging the existence of moral uncertainty, as demonstrated in the trolley problem, and Singer’s pond.
[8] This is in reference to the complexity of the factors that effect the way the tree has grown, the way specific way light shone on it at every single moment of its growth, the very particular genetics of its parents, and the epigenetic ways these genes reacted to the environment, the specfic climate conditions on each day (which connects it to a famously chaotic phenomenon), etc, another hint to mathematic chaos in a way.