the Optimist's Wager
This is a draft of a cover for a book I've been working on.
NOTE: Tribe doesn't let me upload a new version of the image, so this graphic is old, and it includes the original title for the book. I've recently changed the title to the Optimist's Wager to make it more apparent to the casual observer what the book is really about. For the new cover and a preview of the first chapter, visit my deviant art galler at smolderingremains.deviantart.com/a...34
The spirituality Ezine Reality Sandwich has expressed a definite interest in publishing an article about this book. www.realitysandwich.com They did however say they want to wait until the book is released before they publish the article. I'm inclined to agree with them that it makes more sense.
Current draft of the jacket blurb (updated 6/21/2007 - 8:30PM CST)
THE HUBBUB OVER HUMBUG…
There’s been some quarrel recently about growing popularity of New Age beliefs, Synchronicity and just plain positive thinking. As with any case of competing beliefs many are firmly planted the realist camp of “we don’t buy that nonsense” or the spiritualist camp of “you’re just close-minded”. Perhaps the skeptic and the mystic can benefit from a combined viewpoint as an alternative to “us versus them” thinking. The goal of skeptics and mystics alike is happy, healthy living, which is achieved through good habits. Our beliefs influence our habits. Thus a belief that fire burns is more help than a belief that fire tastes good. On the other hand a belief that fire tastes bad also prevents people from burning their mouths. While it’s important that we acknowledge an inconvenient truth, perhaps there can also be a useful illusion.
NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST
In 1981 Robert Axelrod shocked the scientific community by suggesting in his paper the Evolution of Cooperation that animals (including humans) might have evolved to be helpful and nice. This is shocking because it’s popular in recent decades to believe that people are basically selfish and that “nice guys finish last”; a good way to discourage cooperation. Reality is often not what we think, from the flat earth to quantum physics. How many of us are unaware that peace breaking out along the front posed a significant challenge for generals during the first two years of WWI? It seems by denying our helpful nature we may be shooting ourselves in the foot.
AN EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION
The tension between skeptics and mystics can be summed up in the philosophies of consciousness and determinism. The philosophy of consciousness states that your will creates physical reality. The philosophy of determinism states that consciousness is an illusion created by the chemicals in your brain. These views can’t both be entirely accurate. While you’re likely to have a strong opinion, it may not be necessary for us to know which is true. There is an element of truth in every myth. With a focus on traditional non-quantum research in medicine, economics, evolution, behavior and psychology and a liberal dose of humor, Ike’s Wager makes a strong case in plain language that several non-determinist beliefs may be our best bet for health and prosperity even if determinism is true.
NOTE: Tribe doesn't let me upload a new version of the image, so this graphic is old, and it includes the original title for the book. I've recently changed the title to the Optimist's Wager to make it more apparent to the casual observer what the book is really about. For the new cover and a preview of the first chapter, visit my deviant art galler at smolderingremains.deviantart.com/a...34
The spirituality Ezine Reality Sandwich has expressed a definite interest in publishing an article about this book. www.realitysandwich.com They did however say they want to wait until the book is released before they publish the article. I'm inclined to agree with them that it makes more sense.
Current draft of the jacket blurb (updated 6/21/2007 - 8:30PM CST)
THE HUBBUB OVER HUMBUG…
There’s been some quarrel recently about growing popularity of New Age beliefs, Synchronicity and just plain positive thinking. As with any case of competing beliefs many are firmly planted the realist camp of “we don’t buy that nonsense” or the spiritualist camp of “you’re just close-minded”. Perhaps the skeptic and the mystic can benefit from a combined viewpoint as an alternative to “us versus them” thinking. The goal of skeptics and mystics alike is happy, healthy living, which is achieved through good habits. Our beliefs influence our habits. Thus a belief that fire burns is more help than a belief that fire tastes good. On the other hand a belief that fire tastes bad also prevents people from burning their mouths. While it’s important that we acknowledge an inconvenient truth, perhaps there can also be a useful illusion.
NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST
In 1981 Robert Axelrod shocked the scientific community by suggesting in his paper the Evolution of Cooperation that animals (including humans) might have evolved to be helpful and nice. This is shocking because it’s popular in recent decades to believe that people are basically selfish and that “nice guys finish last”; a good way to discourage cooperation. Reality is often not what we think, from the flat earth to quantum physics. How many of us are unaware that peace breaking out along the front posed a significant challenge for generals during the first two years of WWI? It seems by denying our helpful nature we may be shooting ourselves in the foot.
AN EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION
The tension between skeptics and mystics can be summed up in the philosophies of consciousness and determinism. The philosophy of consciousness states that your will creates physical reality. The philosophy of determinism states that consciousness is an illusion created by the chemicals in your brain. These views can’t both be entirely accurate. While you’re likely to have a strong opinion, it may not be necessary for us to know which is true. There is an element of truth in every myth. With a focus on traditional non-quantum research in medicine, economics, evolution, behavior and psychology and a liberal dose of humor, Ike’s Wager makes a strong case in plain language that several non-determinist beliefs may be our best bet for health and prosperity even if determinism is true.
more photos by ike
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15 Comments
1 ) It’s Good To Be The Fool
Chapter begins to make the case that humans aren't terribly objective because there hasn't been an evolutionary advantage to our being objective. Part of this involves the notion from neurobiology that the brain is a "pattern matching" tool but that it has a poor filter for distinguishing between coincidental patterns and cause-effect patterns because in an evolutionary sense for example a person seeing a pattern in the grass that might be a tiger is probably more likely to survive if they assume it is than if they go investigate to be sure. Introduces “Orr’s Law”. Introduces the archetypal concept of the "wise fool" and explains why there is an emphasis on humor in the book. Also introduces the concept of cognitive dissonance. This chapter sets up the basic premise, the 7 specific beliefs I'm advocating.
2 ) The Meaning of Life: Live Free or Die vs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
End-runs around the question of "what is the meaning of life" by saying we should simply choose what we want the meaning of life to be because people have been asking that question since the beginning of recorded history and there's no consensus. Explains Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, introduces the philosophy of immortalism, points out that higher needs (esteem, moral choices, etc) often override the need for biological survival and declares for the purpose of the book that the "meaning of life" will be improving the quality of life for everyone and that all evidence in the remainder of the book will be judged for its ability to improve the quality of life for the reader and the people around them.
3 ) Empowerment vs. Blaming the Victim: Medicine, Pokémon and the Placebo
Introduces the concept of the placebo effect. Provides additional information about the health benefits of rest, relaxation and meditation, which are all generally promoted by "new age" mystics. Points out that while it seems logical if you've chosen to believe that there might be some truth to thought influencing the physical world to think that someone else's thoughts could harm you (i.e. curses, the "evil eye", etc) that it's a much better bet to believe that your experience of the physical world is sovereign / autonomous. (I realize this seems silly to a lot of people. This is designed to empower those for whom this does not seem silly.) Discusses the difference between believing that people "create their own reality" and "blaming the victim".
4 ) Fortune Favors the Bold: Confidence, Fiat Currency and the Nature of Inflation
Explains the difference between Fiat Currency and the Gold Standard. Explains the fallacy of the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- why it doesn't really have anything to do with economic health. Discusses the advantages of positive thinking with regard to work and finances, working with positive and empowering bosses and coworkers, etc. Explains that it is your “best bet” to disbelieve in a conspiracy of the wealthy (a popular belief amongst the determinist poor). Introduces the expected 80% failure rate in Research and Development teams. Discusses the notion of meritocracy and why recent emphasis on college degrees in some jobs may be shortsighted. Discusses overcompensation of "super-CEOs" on the notion that their "winning personality" makes them worthy of 400x or so average employee salary. References the book Pay Without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation. Also references a book titled the Luck Factor by an English scientist who decided to study luck for 8 years and said in the end that "luck is believing you're lucky" (encourages you to take more chances and not be discouraged by failure, etc) and advocates essentially all the same things that self-help books have advocated for many years.
5 ) Being Cheated vs. Feeling Cheated: Scams, Cargo Cults and Popular Opinion
Discusses what I see as the chief argument of some skeptics against believing in the Law of Attraction -- the notion that all of its advocates are con artists getting rich off of ignorant people. Makes the case that people can't tell the difference between being cheated and feeling cheated through a discussion of such phenomena as cargo cults, Jackson Pollock paintings, workplace embitterment (one of my long-time problems), entertainment, etc. Introduces research on the subject of “disgust” – that people will make irrational purchasing decisions when shopping on the basis of proximity between an unopened box of cookies and an unopened package of toilet paper – and moreover will be completely unaware that the toilet paper influenced their decision. This chapter further refutes the notion that poor people keep themselves dependant on the welfare system by purchasing the services of fortunetellers and the like through a discussion of the "curse of the lottery" in which it points out that an individual's financial success (or lack thereof) is a product of habit, which is why poor people don't hold on to windfalls and rich people can get back to the top after losing everything. Makes the suggestion that the plight of the poor might be helped by a grass roots effort to get them (and social workers) reading books like the Luck Factor and Rich Dad Poor Dad.
6 ) Love Actually: Stockholm Syndrome and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Refutes an alternative claim that a belief in "Law of Attraction" might make a person more prone to being a victim of domestic abuse through a layman's discussion of Stockholm Syndrome and similar phenomena which I believe are related to cognitive dissonance. Points out that the folks who write "new age" books about these subjects speak in very empowering ways about all people deserving to be treated well, etc. and how it's unlikely that such self-affirming dialogue to contribute to domestic abuse either on the part of the victim or on the part of the abuser and that most of them tell people not to focus their thoughts / energies on staying with a specific person, but only to focus on having the kinds of relationships you want and view the end of a painful relationship as a positive change making room in your life for something new. Also mentions the effect of language on attitudes and on subsequent generations. Mentions the popularity of the belief that people are basically nasty (original sin, "good fences make good neighbors", etc.) Introduces Robert Axelrod's paper/book the Evolution of Cooperation as evidence that human nature is good and helpful.
7 ) Peace In Our Time: the Milgram Experiment, Public Policy and Passive Resistance
This chapter was coincidental actually... I happened into a discussion of war/peace without trying find research material and one of the people in the discussion who had studied peace at UC Berkley described how a focus on consciousness instead of determinism could be instrumental in creating peace. Introduces the Milgram Experiment and how believing that you are personally in control of your experience allows us to place compassionate limits on the power of authority figures. Introduces the bystander effect and how an emphasis on consciousness and “oneness” encourage bystanders to take personal responsibility to help others in distress. Discusses in depth the 7th principle of the book, that regardless of our own personal convictions about the relative truth of religious characters (Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, etc) that the only way to live responsibly in society is as though these individuals are fictional characters whose purpose is to inspire us through their parables. This encourages tolerance and places the same compassionate limit on religious aggression that we place on authority figures by allowing us to accept fallibility.
8 ) Life vs. Entropy: Prometheus, Innovation, Future Shock and the Generation Gap
Discussion of the reason why I'm focusing on inclusive language in this book, why I'm working toward "compatibility of interest". Discusses the historical relationship between heresy and ideological change, even perhaps especially in the form of ontological and epistemological discovery. Flat earth, sun-centered astronomy, Socrates, all the way up to relativity and quantum mechanics. Mentions the "freedom of speech" in the US Constitution as a means of ending martyrs to new ideas like Socrates. Explains how "freedom of speech" is not enough to encourage tolerance. Points out one of the chief mistakes of the hippies being "don't trust anyone over 30". Also points out how the hippies have inspired important changes like the ecological movement and makes the analogy to their being a socially accidental "research and development" team. Discusses the acceleration of technological change and how it inevitably causes social changes that we can't really predict. Promotes an interest in incremental social changes toward tolerance, meritocracy and the exploration of new ideas.
but I love that you use the premise of immortalism for a POV beyond the expedience of short term reactivisms... :)
in da vicni's drawing i like the chnges some use lately - to put a woman inside... a bit thought provoking and goes with the book...
This image exemplifies the blend of art and science during the Renaissance and provides the perfect example of Leonardo's keen interest in proportion. In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to relate man to nature. Encyclopaedia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe." It is also believed by some that Leonardo symbolised the material existence by the square and spiritual existence by the circle. Thus he attempted to depict the correlation between these two aspects of human existence.[3]
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So in addition to my tao and gears, the vitruvian man itself is also a symbol of the central theme of integration.
Did you try out other colours besides the pink and blue for the yin yang? I'm afraid I find the intense colours of the dice not quite fitting in. If I were the graphic artist I might also try an alternate design with smaller gears around the edges rather than covering the man. Just playing around with it in my mind since you solicited feedback. Awesome start.
1 - didn't see the tao symbol until you mentioned it - is it *too* muted?
2 - personal attitude here - the synopsis was kind of jumping-all-over. - that is... By using this anecdotal approach, you imply that this is all you will focus on in the book - after the first two paragraphs I didn't have an idea of what it was about - and just about gave up on reading anymore... *they* say if you don't grab the reader in the first paragraph... you never will.
3 - Also... again, maybe it's just me... but by telling me in the blurb that there will be seven beliefs - kinda ruins the surprise.
4 - I'm a pretty smart cat... kinda savvy with at least a finger on the pulse of *alternative thought* and I don't know what the concept of *determinism* is. So... although I may be intensely interested in the subject matter of this book - I probably wouldn't buy it... because:
A - I'm not sure if determinism is jargony psycho-philo-talk.
B - it seems you (as the blurb is written and again... my interpretation) have written "Ike's Wager" in *reaction* or *in response to* or *against* (or to clarify(?)) determinism...
this is my honest and open response to your request.
thank you for this opportunity.
Tom
This is the most critical statement: "With a focus on traditional non-quantum research in medicine, economics, evolution, behavior and psychology and a liberal dose of humor, Ike’s Wager makes a strong case in plain language that several non-determinist beliefs may be our best bet for health and prosperity even if determinism is true."
That sells me on the book right there.
Also agree with Constance on the gear thing; more gears intertwining would lend a more mechanistic feel, though you'd have to be careful not to let the image overpower the rest, as the dice do now. The link to the updated cover didn't work, at least for me. :(
Have you been able to tone them down into a wash? I've managed that before with an image that was to be used as background for a proposal at work and it worked beautifully (though I can't recall, offhand, which software I used).
Tao image could definitely be brought forward a bit, and maybe the font played with a bit as well.
Have you considered a subtitle? Might give readers a better idea of what the book is about as they view the cover. If I saw this book in the bookstore, I might assume it's novel about some guy named Ike who made a wager having to do with science or something, or if the book was located in the philosophy section I might think it was about that other guy's wager (his name slips my mind at the moment, dangit!) and miss the point of the book entirely.
I assume perhaps your title is a nod in that direction? Or is it a scientific wager...or both?
As Timbo pointed out, the intended audience is crucial---if the book is slanted towards those familiar with philosophy and its concepts, a more intricate approach is justified. If, however, it's geared (no pun intended) towards an audience who has seen Bleep, Secret, etc., then many would be put off: "What the heck is 'determinism'? Do I want to know? Do I care? Will I even understand what this guy is saying? He claims to speak in 'plain language,' but I can't even understand the back of the book! Ugh, might be good but I can't wade through all that techie-speak...."
In my days as a tech writer for IBM, we were told to write user manuals on a 5th-grade level. That's something I keep in mind, as a barometer against which I weigh everything I write. :)
(meaning that sometimes simplicity is key, while other times it's not)