Well, to start, I should say, the phrase "you're so superficial" comes to my mind often. By that phrase, I mean it in a most derogatory way. (It's kind of Chinese I suppose) But sometimes, after some decades of this kind of thinking (and failing), I finally decided to write out what it means to be superficial... When I curse in my head and think of some one as such superficial pieces of shit, what is it exactly that I mean? And am I missing something?
Well, it should be easy. Superficiality often has physical meaning: inside, but near the outside; where inside, outside, and distance are defined. On a person, being superficial often means to make gross and short term observations and to decide or infer based on them. Though, as a description of a person, it is more often used as a judgement of ethics and moral: being superficial is to be superficial in a wrong and immoral way.
I went to wikipedia and tried to read up on morality and ethics and found that if they were formatted into wikibook, the pdf would be some where in the 1.1 kilopages.
Okay, let's do something simpler instead. Superficiality is a pattern of action and thoughts as defined by superficiality of physical or inferential way. If such a pattern of action and thoughts have negative utility, then these actions are considered Superficial and the actor a Superficial Actor.
But this definition actually immediately clears up our problem: being Superficial (in above defined capitalized Superficial sense) that generates positive utility is the right thing to do. If we do not do the superficial things that has positive utility, then we are actually being Superficial in the very negative sense--i.e. if we don't generate utility by acting on simple and obvious (aka superficial), then we are Superficial and generate negative utility, which is just truly Superficial.
Also, to not take advantage of the superficial, we become stupid.
Example: Person in front of you is holding a knife. Superficially, I observe a knife and make inference that she is dangerous. If I do not follow this superficial observation (seeing an object resembling a knife, for a brief, albeit recent, moment) and run away, then I am stupid.
But a thought does occur to me just now. It's a good thing I didn't read into Ethics, because there appears to be some serious conflict here. Let's say racial profiling at the airport.
Certainly skin color and racial appearance is a superficial aspect of each traveller that superficial TSA agents might use. But this surely does not make then Superficial.
Our law of the land require that government and public corporations operate in ways that reduce superficiality. I believe this reduces Superficiality as well. But in the case of TSA, as much as I hate being inspected returning from foreign land because my people some times will smuggle seeds (no, not weed seed, unless you consider bamboo a weed, but the two weeds are illegal for different reasons.) and fishes..., and seriously, sometimes I will sneak seeds in with me for my parents, friends or relatives. So, I, as a traveler, personally dislike the superficiality of racial profiling, but also appreciate it.
To be honest. If it was the case that
\forall{x\in X}{{x\not\in{plane}} \bigwedge {I\neq x}} \rightarrow safe
I will accept that X is superficial.
I support the constitution and believe that that is Superficial, but I am sadly Superficial that way, and I believe most voting Americans are too. Am I right?
Basically, my original thing to write down is that I need to learn to be superficial without being Superficial because I am stupid and Superficial by not taken advantage of many superficialities... My writing it out helps me to accept this and to change what I can about it in myself.
Basically, my original thing to write down is that I need to learn to be superficial without being Superficial because I am stupid and Superficial by not taken advantage of many superficialities... My writing it out helps me to accept this and to change what I can about it in myself.
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