If the UN calls a world philosophy day and doesn’t tell anyone… 20 Nov 2008 … has it still happened? Anyway, the BBC, bless ’em, has had philosopher David Bain pose four philosophical questions to mark the epistemologically problematic day: 1. Should we kill healthy people for their organs? 2. Are you the same person who started reading this article? 3. Is that really a computer screen in front of you? 4. Did you really choose to read this article? Or in more traditional terms: Utilitarian ethics, personal identity, perception and illusion, and free will and determinism. Sneaky. Get ’em in with a condundrum and then pervert the minds of those who stay to consider. Classic Socratic corruption of the youth. Well played, that man. Humor
Creationism and Intelligent Design New work on lateral transfer shows that Darwin was wrong 31 Mar 200918 Sep 2017 A new study into the transfer of genetic material laterally, or across taxonomic divisions, has shown that evolution does not proceed as Darwin thought, and that in fact the present theory of evolution is entirely false. Instead, it transpires that lateral genetic transfer makes new species much more like Empedocles‘… Read More
General Science More roundup 14 Oct 2008 … those weeds won’t ever go away. The inimitable Siris notes the problem with the myth that the US Electoral College is a restraint upon democracy (when it makes presidential elections possible where previously they weren’t, so how can it be a restraint?). The article in the New Yorker he… Read More
Evolution The World According to Genesis: Moral Knowledge 6 Jun 200724 Nov 2022 Like any middle eastern deity, YHWHW Elohim is a fairly petty individual. He doesn’t want competition from his creations, so he blocks access to the “Tree of Life”, which is a magical tree whose fruit can make you live forever. We have two magical trees, a corporeal deity of limited knowledge and good will, a snake that talks and has intentions like any trickster god to thwart the designs of the deity, and a justification for wearing clothes, which is not a matter just of shame, but of intended purpose. Read More
Did a little round-up of a news article and some links – but then, Queenslanders are usually on the ball regarding Philosophy in Schools. 🙂 http://podblack.com/?p=1062
Did a little round-up of a news article and some links – but then, Queenslanders are usually on the ball regarding Philosophy in Schools. 🙂 http://podblack.com/?p=1062
Hmm… 1. No 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. Yes And BTW, the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin is 28. I counted.
Hmm… 1. No 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. Yes And BTW, the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin is 28. I counted.
1. It is an illusion to think that one can kill anybody 2. Do people really exist? 3. What’s real? 4. See 3! It is an illusion to believe that pins have heads!
1. It is an illusion to think that one can kill anybody 2. Do people really exist? 3. What’s real? 4. See 3! It is an illusion to believe that pins have heads!
What most people don’t realize is that the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin depends not on the angels but the style of dance the are doing. If they are doing dances that allow a large number to crowd into a small space like ballroom or line-dancing then you can get upwards of 40 on the head of a pin. On the other hand, there are dances that need a lot more space so you might only get 10 jitterbugging or breakdancing angels on the same pinhead. The wings get in the way, too.
1. No, not for organs but yes for a Fender Stratocaster. 2. Define person 3. Is this a monitor which I see before me, The mouse toward my hand? Come, let me click thee. I link thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal Vista, sensible To keyboard as to mouse? or art thou but A Window of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the pride-oppressed Gates? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I Corel draw. 4. No, I just pretended.
1. No, not for organs but yes for a Fender Stratocaster. 2. Define person 3. Is this a monitor which I see before me, The mouse toward my hand? Come, let me click thee. I link thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal Vista, sensible To keyboard as to mouse? or art thou but A Window of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the pride-oppressed Gates? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I Corel draw. 4. No, I just pretended.