Posts by Mindchild

35

I predict bold new changes in JW preaching work..want to bet me? :-)

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

ive decided to post something i have been thinking about for quite some time now.

to keep things short and sweet: i predict revolutionary changes in jw policy regarding door-to-door activity and the means of spreading their memeplex (belief system.

here is a list of the changes i feel most confident about:

Mindchild

Heathen said:

That doesn't sound like anything I would expect to see . I think they have already demonized the web to a point of no return

Ah, yes but when you look at the JW track record, they have done reversals right and left...new light you know.

Nosferatu said:

It doesn't go along with the bible - sitting on your ass preaching through modern technology. JWs eliminated the idea of using modern technology (megaphones on cars, phonographs, radio broadcasts) a long time ago and just resorted to door-to-door preaching.

You of course are aware that they have been singing a new song in this direction as well. For example, look at the topic of computers at Bethel. Back in the late 70's I was already hot with computers and was taking programming classes and I wanted to go to Bethel. I wrote to them and asked them if they had any need for computers. They told me pretty much the same thing as you said above, but look at where they are now. There are lots of computers at Bethel.

Little Witch said:

Keeping in mind the society is in the business of making money with printed material being it's product, the internet would seem a very unlikely tool.

Jschwehm said:

The biggest reason why JWs will not do the internet thing is because of money. The organization gets money from JWs for the literature. It is hard to do that over the net. Basically, they have a pyramid scheme in a sense with all of the money for literature going to the Society. People sitting around chatting on the internet are probably not going to be placing literature all the often.

Well we all know how important money is to them! I contend however that they will make more money by using the Internet and software than they do currently with printed publications. Why is that? When you look at my introductory post, you see subscriber based services and game software. Just check out the profits to game software companies to get a look see at what the potential market is. With a million members or so in the USA to give things a jump start, the JWW will suck in outside interest for good or bad. I would expect the Soceity to dump some millions of dollars into design and development of hot products. If they are successful, it will be very profitable.

More comments later...

Skipper

35

I predict bold new changes in JW preaching work..want to bet me? :-)

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

ive decided to post something i have been thinking about for quite some time now.

to keep things short and sweet: i predict revolutionary changes in jw policy regarding door-to-door activity and the means of spreading their memeplex (belief system.

here is a list of the changes i feel most confident about:

Mindchild

I match that two cents worth jgnat and raise you four cents…

When you talk to dub old-timers or read through the old yearbooks it is not difficult to see a Darwinian process at work to weed out what is effective and not effective in terms of inseminating Watchtower dogma and ideology. Do any of you remember the times when dubs used to wear large signs and parade up and down streets? Do you recall why the record players and other neo-preaching technologies went down the tubes? It was simply because they found something that worked more effectively.

The door-to-door preaching activity became the methodology of choice for three reasons (as far as I can tell.) First, the training to do door-to-door ministry was a propaganda machine in itself to further inculcate JW memes. The Service Meeting and Theocratic Ministry School came about as a result of this. The second reason door-to-door became popular was that the personal and face-to-face conversion was effective in reaching people. The third reason was that it provided a means by which to sell Watchtower literature.

The popularity of this same type of ministry today is way down; we all know that for a fact. Not only is it not popular with the public, it is even more distasteful for the average dub. Internet Witnessing on the other hand, will make the Witnessing activity much more palatable for both the public and dubs. It requires less emotional “investment” on the part of a dub to sit behind a screen and keyboard than it does to talk face to face with someone potentially hostile. With Internet Witnessing, there will always be JW “supervisors” there to step in and rescue your symbolic ass when the heat is on in discussion or to filter out anything nasty.

Have any of you looked at the incredible popularity of the online interactive gaming world and how addictive it is? You already know how addictive chat rooms can be, but you haven’t seen anything yet, as new technology coming soon will make the online experience much cooler.

The world is becoming much more digital and doesn’t lend itself to analog preaching as readily. The Society knows which side of the bread the butter is on. Their new products for “sale” will be software based, allowing for a much higher profit margin than printed publications. They will still have books, but will likely be print on demand at the local Kingdom Hall.

All said, the increasing popularity of the online world, the infusion of new technology, the clear emotional and psychological benefits for dubs to work through the Internet, and the generational changes in the Society all add up to: huge change.

Skipper

35

I predict bold new changes in JW preaching work..want to bet me? :-)

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

ive decided to post something i have been thinking about for quite some time now.

to keep things short and sweet: i predict revolutionary changes in jw policy regarding door-to-door activity and the means of spreading their memeplex (belief system.

here is a list of the changes i feel most confident about:

Mindchild

I think both dubs and ex-dubs have a chronic failure to grasp the seasonality of Watchtower history and I believe this explains why we seldom have any kind of consensus forecasts about the direction of the Society, and why past predictions of what they would do, so often turn out wrong.

Consider the problem of predicting the future in general. Everyone living back in the late 1950’s that forecasters predicted that America’s future would be like Disney’s Tommorowland. The psychological experts at the time thought that youth would be well mannered and living in a wholesome culture, that there would be an end of racism and poverty, and steady economic progress for all. All these predictions were of course way off base. Not only did the experts miss the technological predictions, they missed the mood entirely of the coming era.

But why were they wrong? When the forecasters assumed the future would extrapolate the recent past, they expected that the next set of people in each phase of life would behave just like the current occupants. Futurists know now that roughly every two decades, there is a generational change introduced into society that effects the national mood up and down the age ladder. This top to bottom modification of the American lifecycle gives us a lot of information about why and how America shifted from a mood of consensus, complacency, and optimism to one that has a lot of argument, passion and turbulence. So, if we know what to look for, we can see the generational lineup making its effects felt in the Watchtower Society.

The topic and explanation of these generational types goes pretty deep, and I’m not sure how many people here are interested in reading up on the sociological dynamics but here is an excellent link that will allow you to explore the subject at length: http://www.fourthturning.com/html/generations___archetypes.html

When I understood the effects of generational types on our culture in general, I interpolated the generational information as applied to the management of the Society. I immediately began to notice the cycles of behavior in the Society, and located where they are now in the pattern.

The Watchtower Society, as culture in general in the USA, has been going through a great unraveling cycle, soon to be followed by a great crisis cycle, which in turn leads to dynamic changes to fix the crisis. or something worse happens…

I therefore stand behind my earlier predictions of the changes in the preaching work.

Skipper

35

I predict bold new changes in JW preaching work..want to bet me? :-)

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

ive decided to post something i have been thinking about for quite some time now.

to keep things short and sweet: i predict revolutionary changes in jw policy regarding door-to-door activity and the means of spreading their memeplex (belief system.

here is a list of the changes i feel most confident about:

Mindchild

I’ve decided to post something I have been thinking about for quite some time now. To keep things short and sweet: I predict revolutionary changes in JW policy regarding door-to-door activity and the means of spreading their memeplex (belief system.)

Here is a list of the changes I feel most confident about:

Each Kingdom Hall in the developed world, including Mexico and some parts of South and Central America will have high speed Internet access.

One half of each Thursday evening Service meeting will be geared towards teaching Witnesses to use new online interactive Witnessing techniques.

Online Witnessing will be divided into three different methodologies, perhaps a few more in the experimental stage.

The first type of online Witnessing will be essentially CHAT “infiltration.” Here JW’s will be taught to join “mild” and “receptive” online chat sites. They will develop friendships (on the surface anyway) with different posters. The “incidental” Witnessing will take place on an individual basis. This method will be one of the earliest forms of online Witnessing endorsed by the Society.

The second type of online Witnessing will come from a custom-made software version of an online JW World. This may look a little similar to the current version of SIMS, with graphical avatars in a fun setting. The Watchtower Society will contract out the servers and will heavily moderate content. This method of Witnessing will also serve to keep personal JW bonds stronger (via online friendships) and will be an addictive way to keep JW’s from wandering around on the net to apostate sites. The public will be invited and encouraged to join JWW with free memberships. There will also be online MEETINGS, for all to attend to, so that “sickness” or poor health, etc. is no longer an issue for missing meetings. This online meeting presence may someday reduce the number of face-to-face meetings most Witnesses have.

The third type of online Witnessing will be modeled off the fantastically popular multi-user online game worlds. The software package to the graphic and adventure game (perhaps something along the lines of surviving through Armageddon, or the building of an Earthly Paradise) will be offered on a contribution basis or trail basis. Witnesses will go to their local Kingdom Hall to log on to play with the “outsiders.” The game itself will teach Watchtower dogma and ideology by example.

There will be a huge change also in the way Witnessing is done in the developing world. JW’s will realize the need for a drastic change in their strategy to attract and retain new members. They will target countries that have been devastated by AIDS and other hyper disasters, and will provide a new type of mobile care/preaching work in which JW’s from the USA and other countries, take volunteer vacations to these troubled lands to spend time doing collective volunteer work (like building quick build medical centers, schools, etc.) and of course will be Witnessing to local populations. Part of the motivation for doing this expensive work will be to get their share of government and other grants for helping in this work, but much of it will be to give JW’s pride in doing something they should have been doing all along…helping others as the Bible showed.

I calculate these changes will begin in less than 5 years, 10 at tops. Why? It is simple Darwinian selection in the Watchtower Society. This same process has been active since the days of Charles Taze Russell and will continue until there is a win-lose game in which they cannot recover.

Your thoughts?

Skipper

5

Are British and French cats changing behavior of posters here?

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

now this is weird and just came over the news:

"britain's estimated nine million domestic cats are being blamed by scientists for infecting up to half the population with a parasite that can alter peoples personalities.

the figures emerge from studies into toxoplasma gondii, a parasite carried by almost all the uk's feline population and maybe elsewhere in the world.

Mindchild

Now this is weird and just came over the news:

"Britain's estimated nine million domestic cats are being blamed by scientists for infecting up to half the population with a parasite that can alter people’s personalities. The figures emerge from studies into toxoplasma gondii, a parasite carried by almost all the UK's feline population and maybe elsewhere in the world. They show that half of Britain's human population carry the parasite in their brains, and that infected people may undergo slow but crucial changes in their behaviour. Infected men, suggests one new study, tend to become more aggressive, scruffy, antisocial and are less attractive. Women, on the other hand, appear to exhibit the 'sex kitten' effect, becoming less trustworthy, more desirable, fun-loving and possibly more promiscuous."

Links: http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&cat1=3&cat2=34&newsid=70332&RF=DefaultMain

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lklmud08090803sep08xx,0,5867345.column?coll=orl-news-print-asec

Hmm, maybe this is why the Brits and French on this board are acting so strangely? lol ...opps, my bad bad bad kitty

Skipper

39

Ya, OK, so how AMERICAN are you?

by MrMoe in

http://www.megat.co.uk/quizmo/quiz.php?quiz=2508 .

so, how american are you?.

questions 10145-80095

Mindchild

So, how American ARE you?

Questions 101

30

-80

0

95

16

Morning Humor

by arrowstar in

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.

Mindchild

Very funny! But what about the smartass who has to make a new-light joke about the lightbulb? hehehe

Skipper

21

My new magazine...the September 2003 issue

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

would you like to subscribe to my new magazine?.

http://www.strike9.com/file.aspx?path=%2fskipstarbuck%2ffullsize%2fapostate+copy.jpg.

skipper

Mindchild

Well that sounds fair. Who would make a good male cover model? Any buff ex-dubs in here?

Skipper

22

Are you really who you think you are?

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

i recently enjoyed reading another post on an ex-jw board about how our past experiences as witnesses have shaped our lives and made us who we are.

there is obvious truth to the effect that our past experiences do effect how we see our selves now, but i think many people who leave the borg are still enslaved to the idea that they are the same person they were then.

i disagree and think things are a little more complex than that.

Mindchild

Patio: Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines weltanschauung as: a comprehensive conception or appreehension of the world esp. from a specific standpoint. It is a German word which is similar to the idea of a worldview.

I find your reference to some Buddhist teachings interesting. I've looked at some of these myself and find some remarkable similarities between what they say and Western scientific discoveries about the mysteries of conciousness. For example, I've never been able to explain the very real neurological puzzle of how your brain makes a decision to do something BEFORE you become aware of it in your conscious mind. Clearly, the exisiting theories of what the true nature of mind is, are someday going to change.

Skipper

64

movies that make you ROFL

by doodle-v in

what are the funniest movies that make you just die laughing?

feel free to include some quotes!

here are mine (list subject to change) .

Mindchild

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Starring: Michael Caine, Steve Martin, Glenn Headly