Some Americans Don’t Think Too Clearly
Televangelist Pat Robertson makes a somewhat controversial statement here, doesn’t he?
This is the level of thinking going on here in the good ol’ USA.
Tagged with: Some Americans Don't Think Too Clearly
The Problem Facing Environmentalists
Re: the meme here, that’s part of the problem, to be sure.
But imagine that climate change, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, and other breakdowns in our environment were happening, say, three times faster than they now are, and middle-aged people almost definitely would live to experience unprecedented levels of human suffering due to our greed and mismanagement.
Would we have a qualitatively different response? Perhaps, but I doubt it.
Predictions Are Hard To Make–Especially About the Future
Here’s a reminder that predicting the future is impossible. That huge mainframe computer was the state of the art in IT just 70 years ago. What the fellow is saying turns out to be perfectly true, but the point here is how completely impossible it would have been for him to make that comment at the time.
Think of this next time you read an article that lays out where we’ll be in terms of transportation, nutrition, AI, environmental responsibility, space travel, world politics, jobs and careers, or literally anything else in 70 years. The only thing you need to know is that it’s almost certain to be laughably incorrect.
Life in 21st Century Politics Sure Is Complicated
Given all the political entities in the Middle East associated with Syria: The al-Assad government, the rebels, the Russians, the Kurds, the Shia, the Sunnis, Iran, al-Qaeda, and the Turks, it’s a virtual certainty that if you pick an enemy to fight, there will be some significant way in which you’re actually, at the same time, fighting against an ally. (more…)
What Makes People Kind?
I found the meme here interesting, but I disagree. Speaking for myself, I think most people who know me would say that I’m a kind person, but it’s not because I’ve been wronged; in fact, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in 65+ years that I’ve been wronged in any significant way.
I believe that most kind people simply have a healthy awareness of and regard for the well-being of others. Perhaps we’re simply wired that way. (more…)
We Are All Connected
Not surprisingly, Santa Barbara is home to a group called Friends of Carl Jung. Famous for his theories of the collective unconscious, myth, and the archetypes they contain, Jung is among the most important supporters of the idea that we are all connected in ways that transcend our ability to perceive directly. (more…)
Cognitive Biases and a General Failure To Think
A friend sent me an anti-vaxxer piece today, marvelling at how “well-researched” it was. Yes, it comprised 20 pages of “facts” surrounding big pharma, falsified test results, how vaccines have resulted in disease and death, etc.
But where does all this data come from? (more…)
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We Make Our Tomorrows
It’s easy for us to forget that we are all participants in a society that is constantly morphing, for better or for worse. As individuals, we create the civilization in which we and our desendants will live.
Take a long look at the photo here and ask yourself: is this the world we want to create?
Tagged with: gun control
There Is Value in Traditional Education, But Not Everyone Sees It That Way
It’s interesting how many of the world’s great minds regard traditional education as “mental programming” or “forced conformity.”
Could you or I have come to the knowledge we now have by teaching ourselves to read, and then going through books on math, science, history, art, music and so forth? It’s not inconceivable, but it sounds like a long slog, and one that would take a ton of determination. (more…)
Tagged with: Traditional Education
Jefferson on Aristocracy
Happy 278th birthday to Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
As part of his role as a Founding Father, Jefferson noted: “There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents… The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy.”
I’m sorry, good sir, but such provisions were never made, and now we have a congress that is essentially owned by the super-rich.
There is talk of a wealth tax, which, of course, would need to be approved by these employees of the super-rich. Doesn’t look promising.
