A true Zen saying: "Nothing is what I want.
The Achilles Heel of the Americas was the lack of cultural confidence typical of new settlers.
Part of our western outlook stems from the scientific attitude and its method of isolating the parts of a phenomenon in order to analyze them.
The details are the very source of expression in architecture. But we are caught in a vice between art and the bottom line.
We have today a fairly thorough knowledge of the early Greco-Roman period because our motivations are the same.
We find Japan a little more difficult to understand because it has proven its 20th century prowess though the ancient traditions still persist.
We are yet to have a conscience at all about the exploitation of human cultures.
We don't let a car company just throw out a car and start driving it around without checking that the wheels are fastened on. We know that would result in death; but for some reason we have no hesitation at throwing out some algorithms untested and unmonitored even when they're making very important life-and-death decisions.
When you lose your simplicity, you lose your drama.
In a big picture sense, it's more national prestige that we're risking. You know, we are proud of our space program, but as we were talking earlier, the average American doesn't think that much about it right now. So, it may seem like something we could just give up and not really worry about it, but I think it starts creeping into the national psyche. If American astronauts have to hitch rides with the Russians or other nations in the future.
When I think of my background, if I was privileged on any level, it was in terms of the kind of exposure to experience and bohe-mian cultural influence that my parents and my uncles and my grandfather gave me. On both sides I come from an extremely eccentric, artsy, intellectually intense, activist family.