Last Update: March 18th, 2002
||Musings||Archive||
the amount of human stupidity I am being asked to accept is rather extreme.
Uhh... the "immortality would be boring" cliche.
Deathist Humanism is So "Retro"!
How do you do, I
See you've met my
Faithful handyman.
He's just a little brought down
Because when you knocked
He thought you were the candyman.
Don't get strung out
by the way I look.
Don't judge a book be its cover.
I'm not much of a man by the light of day
But by night I'm one hell of a lover.
I'm a just a sweet transvestite
From Transsexual, Transylvania.
Let me show you around
Maybe play you a sound.
You look like you're both pretty groovy.
Or if you want something visual
That's not too abysmal,
We could take in an old Steve Reeves Movie
Brad: I'm glad we caught you at home,
Could we use your phone?
We're both in a bit of a hurry.
Janet: Right.
Brad: We'll just say where we are,
Then go back to the car.
We don't want to be any worry
Well you got caught with a flat, well,
Well, babies, don't you panic.
By the light of the night it'll all seem all right.
I'll get you a satanic mechanic.
I'm just a sweet transvestite
From Transsexual, Transylvania.
Why don't you stay for the night?
Or maybe a bite?
- Rocky Horror Picture Show
Top 20 Movies of All Time, Ver II.
1. Fight Club
2. Vanilla SKy
3. Monty Python & the Holy Grail
4. Matrix
5. American Beauty
6. Gladiator
7. Ghost in the Shell
8. Fifth Element
9. Bladerunner
10. Flash Gordon
11. Dune
12. Count of Monte Cristo (Gerard de Pardieu)
13. Neon Genesis Evangelion
14. Return of the Jedi
15. Princess Bride
16. Il Postino
17. Fist of Legend
18. 2001
19. The Empire Strikes Back
20. Black Mask
"Anything can be made to work if you fiddle with it long enough."
Wyszkowski's Second Law
"The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not
understand." --Frank Herbert
"Wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Science does not know its debt to imagination."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Knowledge is wonderful but imagination is even better"
-- Albert Einstein
"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."
--Voltaire
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
--Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science. 1949
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered
as a means of communication. The device is inherently
of no value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876.
somewhere, something incredible, and beyond all belief, is waiting to be known.
The sleeper must awaken.
I refuse to prove that I exist" says God, "for proof denies
faith, and without faith, I am nothing."
"Oh," says man, "but the Babel Fish is a dead give-away, isn't
it? It proves You exist, and so therefore You don't. Q.E.D."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that." says God, who promptly vanishes
in a puff of logic.
["Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"]
"The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority
is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of
the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven
days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from
the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the
Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one
1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that ...
The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat
lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e.,
Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the
Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E)
temperature of the earth (-300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact
temperature of Hell cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says
"But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means
that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We
have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C."
[From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972]
"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in
thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth,
which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in
self-delusion and ignorance which does harm."
[Marcus Aurelius]
"Living is easy with eyes-closed" - The Beatles
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
- Orson Wells, "1984"
And now, in time for the Holiday Season...
A short dialectic on the existence of Santa Claus
***
"He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good,
so be good for goodness sake!"
***
Child #1 (C1): Don't you know that Santa Claus doesn't exist?
Child #2 (C2): Yes he does!
C1: My dad says he doesn't...
C2: Have you ever heard of the ontological argument?
C1: Huh?
C2: Santa Claus is defined as a perfect personification of the christmas spirit. Yes?
C1: Right.
C2: Imagine that Santa does not exist. Obviously Santa Claus exists in the
understanding; as we both have a conception of him. To exist in reality is greater than to
exist in understanding.
C1: So?
C2: Seeing that Santa might have existed in reality (i.e.
he is not impossible), and we stated that Santa exists in the understanding only,
Santa might be greater than he is. As non-belief in Santa plainly contradicts
itself, Santa Claus must exist!
C1: Doesn't the belief in Santa Claus also contradict itself?
C2: What do you mean?
C1: Well, surely one man cannot carry enough presents on a single sleigh to give even one
present to every child in the world, let alone to make their deliveries.
C2: But he has a magic sack!
C1: And what of the delivery?
C2: Well surely his sleigh must travel at a speed fast enough to make the deliveries.
C1: According to my calculations, that would break the speed of light. That's physically
impossible! Hah!
C2: Not for Santa Claus.
C1: What?!
C2: Santa Claus is a christmas spirit, nothing is impossible for him.
C1: So is this the same way you account for the fact that he has never been seen in flight?
C2: You mean why you have never seen him in flight.
C1: What?
C2: Well surely you can't claim to have knowledge of the experiences of the rest of the children
in the world.
C1: So what?
C2: As a matter of fact, I've seen him myself.
C1: Oh? This should be good.
C2: Yes, as a matter of fact he made an appearance at Macy's on the 5th of december.
C1: Ockham's Razor states that one should not postulate the existence of anything more than
what's needed for explanation.
C2: And?
C1: It is a better explaination to think that the mall just hired someone to dress up as Santa!
C2: Believe what you want.
C1: That seems like a rather shallow argument don't you think?
C2: No the belief is good for me.
C1: What?
C2: It is pragmatic to beleive in Santa Claus.
C1: Why?
C2: Because you get presents.
C1: Oh.
|
Are people stupid?
- One recent poll by the National Science Foundation suggest so!
The following 10 elementary questions were asked in the survey:
| 1. True or False: The oxygen we breathe comes from plants.
| Men: 90% | Women: 81% |
| 2. True or False: The Earth's center is very hot. |
M: 87% | W: 75% |
| 3. True or False: Lasers work by focusing sound waves. |
M: 64% | W: 30% |
| 4. True or False: Electrons are smaller than atoms. | M: 59% | w: 41% |
| 5. True or False: The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. |
M: 55% | W: 54% |
| 6. True or False: Antibiotics kill bacteria just as well as viruses. |
M: 47% |
W: 53% |
| 7. Which travels faster, light or sound? |
M: 90% |
W: 67% |
| 8. Does the Earth go around the sun or does the sun travel around the Earth? |
M: 84% |
W: 68% |
| 9. True or False: Cigarrette smoking causes lung cancer. |
M: 94% |
W: 94% |
| 10. True or False: The continents... have been moving for millions of years and will continue to move in the future. |
M: 86% |
W: 78% |
Ah... the statistics? Women averaged 6.7 correct answers, while men averaged 7.4
Pathetic? Astoundingly so.
(35% of women and 25% of men say astrology is "sort of" a science.)
This study can be found in the January 2002 issue of Scientific American.
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
I oscillate often between romanticism and nihilism.
"Here's what happens when you die--you sit in a box and get eaten
by worms. I guarantee you that nothing cool happens when you die."
[Howard Stern, on E! network show, 4/12/95]
"There's no more proof for the existence of God than there is for the
existence of the Easter Bunny. That's right. The Easter Fucking Bunny."
[Stryder, on alt.atheism]
"Father says bow your head,
Like the Good Book says.
I think the Good Book is
missing some pages..."
[Tori Amos]
"Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to
be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition."
[Isaac Asimov]
"Miracles happen to those who believe in them. Otherwise
why does not the Virgin Mary appear to Lamaists, Mohammedans,
or Hindus who have never heard of her."
[Bernard Berenson (1865-1959)]
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
The ghost is trapped in the shell.
prayer is the disease of will, just as dogma is the disease of reason. - emerson
Afghanistan's freedom fighters -- the resistance or mujahidin -- represent an
indigenous movement that swept through their mountainous land to challenge a
foreign military power threatening their religion and their very way of life.
With little in the way of arms or organization, the vast majority of the Afghan
people have demonstrated that they will not be dominated and that they are
prepared to give their lives for independence and freedom. The price they
have so willingly paid is incalculable.
Let all of us who live in lands of freedom, along with those who dream of doing
so, take inspiration from the spirit and courage of the Afghan patriots. Let us
resolve that their quest for freedom will prevail, and that Afghanistan will become,
once again, an independent member of the family of nations.
-- Ronald Reagan, during his office
"To assume that the highy-unlikely is true, while dismissing the near-certain,
solely on the basis of its inconsistency with your initial assumption (and of course
via a line of sophistry whose sole purpose is to support the initial assumption), is folly."
-Davdoodles on Quoteland.com
Pascal's Other Wager: Had Transhumanism existed in the 17th century.
Being a transhumanist is rational, given that there is a non-zero
probability that extropian and amortalist technologies (such as
cryonics) are viable.
Non-Transhumanist Transhumanist
If not viable: If not viable:
Status Quo Status Quo
If viable: If viable:
-Infinity +Infinity
The viability of transhumanism is given directly by the validity of the
principle of sufficient reason (that all things are understandable)
Ah... Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.
A Shopping Cart Romance
I was in the cereal aisle, one summer day,
And was debating about brands, in the usual way.
I gasped with delight at what my eyes chanced to see-
A woman who's beauty surpassed even me!
I looked, and I stared, at the sight that I found,
With my head in the heavens, but my feet on the ground...
"A woman this perfect could not be ignored!"
I declared to myself as my heart swooned and soared.
I watched this fine woman, this thief of my heart...
As I followed her around with a push of my cart.
On and on led this girl of my dreams...
She strolled past the veggies, frozen foods, creams-
My watching her grew to only increase her distrust,
Her cart now gained speed, as I followed with lust!
"F--- off!" she said, in a passionate voice,
"I love you!" I cried, "and I've made my choice,"
"You're the one for me" I said, as I advanced towards my prize.
A look of pure pleasure now arose in her eyes,
"You bastard! You creep! Get the hell away!
Or I'll call on the cops, and they'll keep you at bay."
"Ah, my true love, don't be so shy-
I confess that im yours!- Now I'll tell you why!
Listen my dear to my loving decree,
My truest true love! You must marry ME!"
"Why! You arrogant beast- now you listen here!"
"I'm not your true love, and don't call me dear!"
And so she ran off, with quick graceful sways,
Leaving me standing with my heart all ablaze
She was completely elated about being wed,
I deduced for my self from the speed that she fled.
I was about to give chase and follow her out,
All the odds seemed in favor, there wasnt a doubt,
But chance had in mind something else on that day,
A new Goddess appeared! and without much delay,
I sighed, "Oh my goddess! My true love! My heart!"
And I followed her steps with a push of my cart...
-- by euphorion & radha
As Mahatma Gandhi
famously remarked when asked his opinion of western
civilization, it would be a good idea.
Somehow i suspect that this "war on terrorism" will turn into another *war on drugs*.
Expensive, violent, and utterly ineffective.
"The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us are getting out of here."
-- Apocryphal Transhuman Axiom
"Chance favors the prepared mind." -- Louis Pasteur
"We choose to go to the moon ...
and do the other things,
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard"
-- JFK
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
-- TS Elliot
Why is it that I am the *only one* not in the lynch mob?
I feel left out.
(Stupid Jingoists)
"One Country! One People! One Leader!"
"God bless America! Hail America! Hail Bush! Zig... er"
You know that when you hear this kind of stuff, that the shit is about to hit the fan.
The great mass of people . . . will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German dictator. Mein Kampf, vol. 1, ch. 10 (1925).
lorengraves: trying to convince someone of atheism...
lorengraves: is like trying to tell a child there are no monsters in his closet
lorengraves: you see it is human nature to create the "magical" in the dark
lorengraves: what that "magical" manifests as is a reflection of psychology - the unconscious
(Agnosticism of course is telling the child that "there might be monsters in
the closet", but that its really impossible to know for sure)
Sacred cows make the best hamburger. - Mark Twain
|