There are two new tracks up on the Billions and Billions website!!!
Credits for "The Li(f)e"
Loren Gunning - drums, bass, backup vocals
Taylor Smith - bass
Justin Watson - main vocals
Nick Cole - electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Credits for "Globular Clusterpluck"
Justin Watson - bass, backup vocals
Nick Cole - electric guitar, mandolin, cello, viola, violin, backup vocals
Loren Gunning - drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, main vocals
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Local Artwork
If something is flat and stationary in Puerto Rico, it is covered in graffiti. Here is some of what I encountered on my walk to the beach.
This one section of wall went for about a mile. I could remember which exit was mine because of its markings.
This alley looks much more dangerous at night.
I rather liked it during the day.
This was the street on which I was staying. It was a relatively clean residential area.
Everything. They cover everything.
Centaur? Mutant llama?
WTF?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Statism; YES WE CAN achieve utopia with violence
I apologize for the negativity that I am sure will be conveyed by this post. I had finished with my photoblogging for the day and intended to leave it at that, but I've got a few things I want to get out while the thoughts are fresh.
I stayed up late reading this evening and I just finished Ayn Rand's fictional novel We the Living, which is about life in early Soviet Russia. The short of it was that is was gruesome. Soul-crushing. Tragic. If you've read any of the excerpts from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, then you know what to expect. It's a real-life horror story that we're still living to this day, right now, as we speak. It's about those of us who continue to believe that all problems can be solved with violence, and the horrors we subject ourselves to in the name of the unachievable ideals of tyrants.
Let me break it down.
I've said it before but it will eternally bear repeating. The only power possessed by any government--anywhere, ever--is its ability to initiate violence with impunity.
YES. There are warnings. There are citations. There are tickets and fines. There are friendly-sounding letters. There are court dates. There are pleasant-looking social workers. There are social and cultural pressures.
But these are just polite suggestions that conceal the threat of violence.
Refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the above?
Go to jail.
Refuse to go to jail willingly? Do you consider your court-ordered arrest to be nothing more than kidnapping? What will you do?
Submit to arrest or else.
Or else what?
We will forcibly arrest you.
What if I exercise my natural right to defend my person and property against aggression?
We will shoot you. Dead.
Every political ideal and issue is built upon this simple, sadistic premise: "Do it or we'll kill you."
Every ballot you cast in the name of democracy is a sanction for the majority of people to inflict this violent ultimatum upon a minority of people. Every time you say "there oughta be a law...", you're proposing a new situation in which this violent ultimatum must be used. Every day, you're threatened with this ultimatum by people you've never met for murky reasons you've never understood.
Your "OMG I'm feeling anxious" self-defense mechanisms spout as if from rote memorization, 'yes, but we need those violent ultimatums to protect of us from murderers and thieves.' But do you abstain from murder and theft simply because you're afraid of this ultimatum? Honestly, no. But logic dispels your comfortable fiction.
Have a look at how some of the treasured gems of Statism look when the cloud of illusion evaporates.
PARKING IN A NON-PARKING ZONE:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
BEING GAY IN A NON-GAY ZONE:
Don't get married or we'll kill you.
BEING MORMON IN A NON-MORMON ZONE:
Don't get married more than once or we'll kill you.
CONSCRIPTION:
"Join the Army" or we'll kill you.
("Join the Army"= kill or be killed far, far away from home)
RECREATIONAL DRUG USE:
Don't endanger your own body or we'll kill you.
LICENSING:
Do as we say and pay your dues or we'll kill you.
PASSPORTS:
Stay put and ask permission or we'll kill you.
MINIMUM WAGE:
Do not work for less than "X" amount or we'll kill you.
Do not pay less than "X" amount or we'll kill you.
("X"= a value determined by pseudoscience and "because.")
PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
"Educate" your child or we'll kill you.
("Educate"= in most places at most times, means "indoctrinate")
INCOME TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
SALES TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
CAPITAL-GAINS TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
INHERITANCE TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
ANY TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
It doesn't matter whether or not these evils accomplish some good when it comes to morality. Even if utopia were achievable by these means (which it cannot be, by definition), I would reject it if even one innocent were subjected to this ultimatum.
It's absolutely absurd that everytime something goes awry that our doe-eyed news anchors and the American population look toward Papa Washington to solve the problem. Everytime you hear about political action, listen closely and you'll hear the sound of a gun being loaded. Or, if it is too late, the sound of a gun's report.
How does this relate to the book I was reading?
The main character was shot while trying to escape from Soviet Russia. She died of blood loss, so she continued attempting escape until her last breath.
I stayed up late reading this evening and I just finished Ayn Rand's fictional novel We the Living, which is about life in early Soviet Russia. The short of it was that is was gruesome. Soul-crushing. Tragic. If you've read any of the excerpts from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, then you know what to expect. It's a real-life horror story that we're still living to this day, right now, as we speak. It's about those of us who continue to believe that all problems can be solved with violence, and the horrors we subject ourselves to in the name of the unachievable ideals of tyrants.
Let me break it down.
I've said it before but it will eternally bear repeating. The only power possessed by any government--anywhere, ever--is its ability to initiate violence with impunity.
YES. There are warnings. There are citations. There are tickets and fines. There are friendly-sounding letters. There are court dates. There are pleasant-looking social workers. There are social and cultural pressures.
But these are just polite suggestions that conceal the threat of violence.
Refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the above?
Go to jail.
Refuse to go to jail willingly? Do you consider your court-ordered arrest to be nothing more than kidnapping? What will you do?
Submit to arrest or else.
Or else what?
We will forcibly arrest you.
What if I exercise my natural right to defend my person and property against aggression?
We will shoot you. Dead.
Every political ideal and issue is built upon this simple, sadistic premise: "Do it or we'll kill you."
Every ballot you cast in the name of democracy is a sanction for the majority of people to inflict this violent ultimatum upon a minority of people. Every time you say "there oughta be a law...", you're proposing a new situation in which this violent ultimatum must be used. Every day, you're threatened with this ultimatum by people you've never met for murky reasons you've never understood.
Your "OMG I'm feeling anxious" self-defense mechanisms spout as if from rote memorization, 'yes, but we need those violent ultimatums to protect of us from murderers and thieves.' But do you abstain from murder and theft simply because you're afraid of this ultimatum? Honestly, no. But logic dispels your comfortable fiction.
Have a look at how some of the treasured gems of Statism look when the cloud of illusion evaporates.
PARKING IN A NON-PARKING ZONE:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
BEING GAY IN A NON-GAY ZONE:
Don't get married or we'll kill you.
BEING MORMON IN A NON-MORMON ZONE:
Don't get married more than once or we'll kill you.
CONSCRIPTION:
"Join the Army" or we'll kill you.
("Join the Army"= kill or be killed far, far away from home)
RECREATIONAL DRUG USE:
Don't endanger your own body or we'll kill you.
LICENSING:
Do as we say and pay your dues or we'll kill you.
PASSPORTS:
Stay put and ask permission or we'll kill you.
MINIMUM WAGE:
Do not work for less than "X" amount or we'll kill you.
Do not pay less than "X" amount or we'll kill you.
("X"= a value determined by pseudoscience and "because.")
PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
"Educate" your child or we'll kill you.
("Educate"= in most places at most times, means "indoctrinate")
INCOME TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
SALES TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
CAPITAL-GAINS TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
INHERITANCE TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
ANY TAX:
Give us your money or we'll kill you.
It doesn't matter whether or not these evils accomplish some good when it comes to morality. Even if utopia were achievable by these means (which it cannot be, by definition), I would reject it if even one innocent were subjected to this ultimatum.
It's absolutely absurd that everytime something goes awry that our doe-eyed news anchors and the American population look toward Papa Washington to solve the problem. Everytime you hear about political action, listen closely and you'll hear the sound of a gun being loaded. Or, if it is too late, the sound of a gun's report.
How does this relate to the book I was reading?
The main character was shot while trying to escape from Soviet Russia. She died of blood loss, so she continued attempting escape until her last breath.
She smiled. She knew she was dying. But it did not matter any longer. She had known something which no human words could ever tell and she knew it now. She had been awaiting it and she felt it, as if it had been, as if she had lived it. Life had been, if only because she had known it could be, and she felt it now as a hymn without sound, deep under the little hole that dripped red drops into the snow, deeper than that from which the red drops came. A moment or an eternity--did it matter? Life, undefeated, existed and could exist.There is so much possible because of the free human spirit. There is so much that will have to wait until our lives have passed. So far to go before there are individuals who are truly allowed to ask and explore all of the "why?"s they want with impunity and encouragement. I fight because I know what we are missing. I fear too many people fight me because they are afraid to know.
She smiled, her last smile, to so much that had been possible.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Hiking in El Yunque National Forest
I had a great time hiking in the rain forest this afternoon. I think I can improve the subject and image quality in my future pictures, but for now see if you can find some enjoyment from these amateur shots.
There were pools of some type of liquid everywhere on the rain forest floor. Probably blood.
Ce n'est pas un mur des racines. It's a picture of a wall of roots. Pretend it isn't so blurry.
There were pools of some type of liquid everywhere on the rain forest floor. Probably blood. 
The canopy was incredibly dense. In several patches along the trial the light was dim enough that it might as well have been night.
Although the picture makes it hard to see, I was trying to capture the tree damage found in the wake of a flood.
This waterfall was incredibly loud and got louder as I approached it. On the hike towards it, I was thinking about Rachel's Sound as Touch entry. My mind was asploding as the decibels of water's violent submission to gravity increased. I am still surprised how astonishingly little I actually know about sound.
Whoa, check out the roots on this tree.
No really, check them out. I was surprised to see how many tree roots were exposed in the more eroded areas of the hiking trial.
Ce n'est pas un mur des racines. It's a picture of a wall of roots. Pretend it isn't so blurry.
I went someplace warm!
So, I suppose I could come back to the historical photoblogging. Right now I think I owe you something that was promised. I went someplace warm and I've been taking plenty of photographs.
Where did I go? Puerto Rico. This exact location, to be more precise. It looks much less grimy from space, but I can step out right on to the beach, so I can't complain. Plus it was free for me!
Why Puerto Rico? Because my father was going, I was planning on going somewhere warm, and he offered to pay for my fare. Happy Thanksgiving indeed.
What about philosophy? I just just sold out for the money.
...
No, I'm just kidding! Philosophy is alive and well in me or else I've rationalized myself into a moral rut.
I've been meaning to post for a while about one of the most humbling and redeeming things that anybody has ever said to me. "I don't understand what you're doing, but I want to. Help me understand. Why are you living in a tent?" My dad said that to me verbatim (at least as I recall). And he listened. Stay tuned for more on that, maybe when I get back.
I know, enough introspective jabberjawing. Let's see them purty pictures.
Where did I go? Puerto Rico. This exact location, to be more precise. It looks much less grimy from space, but I can step out right on to the beach, so I can't complain. Plus it was free for me!
Why Puerto Rico? Because my father was going, I was planning on going somewhere warm, and he offered to pay for my fare. Happy Thanksgiving indeed.
What about philosophy? I just just sold out for the money.
...
No, I'm just kidding! Philosophy is alive and well in me or else I've rationalized myself into a moral rut.
I've been meaning to post for a while about one of the most humbling and redeeming things that anybody has ever said to me. "I don't understand what you're doing, but I want to. Help me understand. Why are you living in a tent?" My dad said that to me verbatim (at least as I recall). And he listened. Stay tuned for more on that, maybe when I get back.
I know, enough introspective jabberjawing. Let's see them purty pictures.
Here is me (left) and my portly father (not left) atop the tallest tower on the highest mountain in El Yunque National Forest, the only rainforest in the US National Forest system.
Here is the tower upon which that first photograph was taken. I had a meme stuck in my head that was just dying to get out here, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work logically. Here's the quote, make your own joke:
"From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought him, the Balrog of Morgoth. Until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth. But it was not the end. I felt light in me again. I've been sent back until my task is done." ~ Gandalf, LOTR
You could say it was epic. Or that I'm a nerd. Or both.
In photo, from closest to farthest: the rain forest, the ridge, the foothills, the rural countryside, the city of Fajardo, the Bay of Fajardo, the Atlantic Ocean, the edge of the world, here be dragons
Here is another like the one above, but note the fast-moving stratocumulus-looking clouds. I thought their shadows looked pretty neat. The camera seems to do a poor job capturing the visual scale of what I was looking at.
By turning east and slightly south, I could see what I believe to be the towns of Luis M. Citron (left) and Ceiba (right). I may be incorrect about this.
The mountain peaks here are part of what makes the rain forest possible. They have an altitude such that clouds passing over the island slow down and accumulate at their peaks, which results in frequent precipitation. I believe the little gray fellow in the top-left did eventually spring a leak later in the day.
Stay tuned for more! :-)
Red Button Sound
As you may know, I used to be the proud owner of my own small business. It was a mobile recording studio. I'd haul my gear halfway across the state to do live albums for bands I'd never heard of, or spend half of my weekend working with a hip-hopper trying to get the "what, c'mon" tracks and "unh, yeah" tracks to bounce just right. I had a lot of fun doing it, and even more fun when I actually got paid for it. I still do plenty of recording these days, but it's for pleasure, not business.
I've got a lot of pictures of all the musicians I worked with, but here were the few that were on the camera I've been using.
I've got a lot of pictures of all the musicians I worked with, but here were the few that were on the camera I've been using.
This is Eugene Willis, local hip-hop hero of Athens and lead singer of the sensational funk-rock band The Marvelous Rejections. Eugene helped give me my start and was my most regular customer. His first album actually featured my voice on a couple of tracks. I'll see what I can do about finding those mp3 files.
Here is an action shot of Adam (sorry, I forget the last name). This man was an extremely talented musician who did original alt-country/folk/rock type songs in the vein of Bob Dylan. Note to the right the large UGA logo blanket. It's actually covering the underside my overturned bed. And at the top, you'll see part of a black picture frame containing an etching of a panda bear done by my sister.
Here is an old one featuring some very talented guys. On drums you'll find a slightly fitter and longer-haired version of today's Loren Gunning, the second-most dedicated member of the WTF-rock outfit known as Billions & Billions. That blurry thing playing bass is a slightly buffer and also longer-haired version of today's Justin Watson, a regular contributing member of the Billions & Billions recording project. These photos were taken while recording their old band, Rival Among Friends, at Nuci's Space.
Here is a rare shot indeed. Someone else must have been using my camera, as you can actually see me performing my craft at the mixing board. Justin is in the background molesting the wall.
Natural Improvisation
Camping at Vogel State Park in North Georgia.
We had a nice campsite by the stream pictured here. Also a 12-pack of beer, but no cooler. It was a warm spring day but the stream still felt ice cold, so...
Nope, that isn't litter, Mr. Park Ranger. Yet.
Nature's bounty.
Religulous anagramming
It is my intention to do some photoblogging of my current experiences, but before I get to that, I would like to submit a few pieces of existential evidence to the digital record.
The camera I have been using happened to have some relatively old photos on it, taken mainly during college.
This first photoset captures myself and my aformentioned friend Dr. Roberds as we perform a late-night anagram.
You may think that this church's sign bears a striking resemblence to the church sign on Research Drive. I have no idea what you're talking about.
I have no idea what the sign originally said at this point. No ewoks were harmed (except psychologically).
The camera I have been using happened to have some relatively old photos on it, taken mainly during college.
This first photoset captures myself and my aformentioned friend Dr. Roberds as we perform a late-night anagram.
You may think that this church's sign bears a striking resemblence to the church sign on Research Drive. I have no idea what you're talking about.
I have no idea what the sign originally said at this point. No ewoks were harmed (except psychologically).
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Well, That's Just Your Opinion...
Here is a paraphrasing of a very recent conversation. I should have know what I was getting myself into...
I posted this as an example of how philosophy can help you break out of the most maximum-security prison ever conceived. It is the most powerful tool you will ever wield.
Mother: Why don't you come help me do this.And another...
Me: Why don't you ask me.
Mother: I just did, didn't I?
Me: Let me rephrase myself. Would you please ask me to help you?
Mother: Oh. Ha Ha Ha. Would you please get your ass up and come help me?
Mother: If you get tired of being unproductive, I've got some stuff you could help me do.And finally...
Me: Oh, ok. Thanks, but I'm okay for now.
Mother: Oh, that's fine. You don't have to help me. You know where I'll be when you get tired of being lazy.
Me: I'm doing what I would like to be doing. Is there anything wrong with that?
Mother: I guess not, but do you think I like cleaning? I've got other stuff I need to be doing and it would just be nice to have your help.
Me: So that's why you seem to be trying to manipulate me with emotional strings?
Mother: I don't think I like your attitude. And I really don't think we need to be talking about this right now.
Me: Why not? We're already talking about it. I feel it's pretty important since I feel like you've been manipulating me this same way my whole life.
Mother: I feel like you're being an ungrateful ass.
Me: How can you say I'm being an ass? ... Well ok, I can see your point there. But how am I being ungrateful? You're attempting to compel my actions while I'm content to let you do whatever you want to do. You've done this ever since I was little.
Mother: Well, I am your mother. I just wanted you to help me clean. You're the one bringing up all of this silly business about your childhood. But while we're on it, you were made to help because everyone has to do their part to get things done. There are things I don't want to do, but I do them.
Me: But aren't you the one who thinks they need to be done? What if I don't agree. I never thought what you had me doing was necessary. I would have been much happier doing whatever else I wanted to do, or at least being asked politely to do things.
Mother: Well, excuse me for not asking for your help within your accepted framework of rules. But you have to do what your parents say.
Me: I've never seen a law of nature saying that children must dutifully obey their parents. It just so happens that this is what everyone expects. I do not feel compelled to comply.
Mother: Well, that's just your opinion...
Me: Yes, it is... And isn't that your opinion?... So what makes your opinion more correct? Why must I comply with your opinion?
Mother: I don't know, but you're being ungrateful and I'm done with this conversation. [storms off]
Mother: Look, I'm done talking about this! I've got things to do and you're here trying to make me feel guilty!My mother will no longer make eye contact with me despite the fact that I do not avert my eyes from her from the second that she enters the same room until she leaves. She will not speak a word to me. She has told me once and for all everything that I need to know about her character. I've said that once before, but in the interest of sadistic science, I wanted to be absolutely sure that I was right. Is she a bad person? I don't know. I'd like to think not. Is she a person that is worth one more minute of the finite time I've left on this planet? Absolutely not.
Me: No I'm not. You shouldn't feel guilty about the facts of reality. Things are what they are and I'd like to discuss them honestly. If you're feeling guilty, maybe there's a reason. If I ask you a question, will you reply honestly?
Mother: Nick, I am always honest with you!
Me: Then why are you yelling at me? Isn't yelling abusive? Is one supposed to yell at the people that they love?
Mother: Well maybe it is... But I don't like the person you are right now!
Me: Who am I right now?
Mother: You're attacking me when I don't want to even be talking about this! You're the one being abusive!
Me: How am I being abusive?
Mother: Because you're stressing me out when I don't want to be stressing out!!!
Me: So "Stressing someone out" when they "don't want to be stressing out" is considered abusive?
Mother: ... I don't know... MAYBE!
Me: Well... I see. I'm not sorry for what I've said but I'm sorry for how I've said it. [end]
I posted this as an example of how philosophy can help you break out of the most maximum-security prison ever conceived. It is the most powerful tool you will ever wield.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
I once had a friend in college who was probably the single biggest influence on who I am today. We lived together during one of the most intellectually formative years of my life. What I remember most about him is that he was always challenging my beliefs. For him, nothing was more sacred than truth. And perhaps his own hedonistic pleasure. He was a genius beyond all question, but was particularly adept when it came to biology and chemistry. He tirelessly demonstrated how small amounts of different chemicals could alter one's perception of the world. You could name a drug and he would give you the chemical structure, formula, and how it would effect your body.
As you might have guessed, he idolized the mind of Timothy Leary. He once showed me a photograph of a young Timothy Leary and told me that the light photons captured by the film had once touched Timothy Leary, but that his words transcended light and sound and continue to travel at the speed of thought. He explained to me that Timothy Leary once said that LSD is just a powder... that the real power to change your thoughts is achievable without drugs, but that LSD has the power to take your prejudices and preconceptions and jumble them up. It gives you a new opportunity to look at reality without a filter. I was inspired and looked more into Mr. Leary's philosophy.
You may be familiar with the phrase "Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out". Although most people are dismissive of these words as hippy jibberish, they actually contain quite a bit of profundity. Mr. Leary was no fan of the cultish hippies, nor was he a fan of authority. He was a proponent of freedom for the individual mind. His philosophy for obtaining individual freedom was encapsulated in this phrase. In his own words:
In his later years, Timothy Leary submitted a new phrase, "Turn On, Boot Up, Jack In," that spoke with optimism about the capacity of computers to liberate human thought. Before his death in 1996 he only saw the very beginnings of what the Internet would make possible for humanity, but he predicted the great awakening of human thought and potential that we are seeing across the world today. Perhaps I am biased in the sources I select, but it seems that the most intelligent human beings to have ever written on the subject of individual freedom have always looked toward technology as the lifeblood of free thought.
I am very in debt to my old friend for having tuned me in and turned me on to the value of the individual mind. I am always indebted of anyone who gives me the tools to think.
Sadly, my friend committed suicide nearly one year ago. I don't know why. It makes no sense to me. Perhaps he felt that the world he wanted to live in was an impossible dream. He often wished people would not lie as much as they do. I very much wish the same. I intend to do my part, however small it may be, to make the world a happier place for those who wish to live honestly.
RIP Dr. Roberds.
As you might have guessed, he idolized the mind of Timothy Leary. He once showed me a photograph of a young Timothy Leary and told me that the light photons captured by the film had once touched Timothy Leary, but that his words transcended light and sound and continue to travel at the speed of thought. He explained to me that Timothy Leary once said that LSD is just a powder... that the real power to change your thoughts is achievable without drugs, but that LSD has the power to take your prejudices and preconceptions and jumble them up. It gives you a new opportunity to look at reality without a filter. I was inspired and looked more into Mr. Leary's philosophy.
You may be familiar with the phrase "Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out". Although most people are dismissive of these words as hippy jibberish, they actually contain quite a bit of profundity. Mr. Leary was no fan of the cultish hippies, nor was he a fan of authority. He was a proponent of freedom for the individual mind. His philosophy for obtaining individual freedom was encapsulated in this phrase. In his own words:
'Turn on' meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end.If you know me, you can probably see how I apply these principles to my life. Of course, I've the further benefit of many decades of scientific research and philosophical inquiry upon which to build my own intellectual freedom, but there is nothing I have found to contradict the value of Mr. Leary's wisdom.
'Tune in' meant interact harmoniously with the world around you - externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives.
'Drop Out' suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. 'Drop out' meant self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change.
Unhappily my explanations of this sequence of personal development were often misinterpreted to mean 'Get stoned and abandon all constructive activity'.
In his later years, Timothy Leary submitted a new phrase, "Turn On, Boot Up, Jack In," that spoke with optimism about the capacity of computers to liberate human thought. Before his death in 1996 he only saw the very beginnings of what the Internet would make possible for humanity, but he predicted the great awakening of human thought and potential that we are seeing across the world today. Perhaps I am biased in the sources I select, but it seems that the most intelligent human beings to have ever written on the subject of individual freedom have always looked toward technology as the lifeblood of free thought.
I am very in debt to my old friend for having tuned me in and turned me on to the value of the individual mind. I am always indebted of anyone who gives me the tools to think.
Sadly, my friend committed suicide nearly one year ago. I don't know why. It makes no sense to me. Perhaps he felt that the world he wanted to live in was an impossible dream. He often wished people would not lie as much as they do. I very much wish the same. I intend to do my part, however small it may be, to make the world a happier place for those who wish to live honestly.
RIP Dr. Roberds.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Why Capitalism? Part Two: Defining Terms
When people talk about the inherent failures of capitalism and the free market, what are they talking about? To understand, we need to agree upon a definition of what capitalism is and is not.
Capitalism is a political theory. By politics, I mean the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the framework of how individuals interact with one another. So what are the premises upon which "capitalism" is built?
"The absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action."
The authority of all government of any form--anywhere, ever--lies in its ability to compel compliance and obedience through coercion, which ultimately takes the form of violence. Stones, sticks, clubs, bows, and guns have been the tools used to engineer almost all political systems, past and present. It is interesting to note that political systems built on the use of violent coercion cannot claim to promote freedom, as the very definition of freedom makes this impossible. To claim otherwise is a logical absurdity.
Freedom in a Statist system is thus a logical absurdity, but there will be more to say about that later, I am sure.
I am positing that capitalism, or to be more accurate, anarcho-capitalism, is the only political theory that has ever been compatible with individual freedom.
For a superior definition of capitalism, I submit to you the immortal words of Ayn Rand:
So does the system that you call capitalism resemble this definition in any way?
No. I can't imagine that it truly does. When people say capitalism today, they are not referring to an economic system free of control. "Laissez-faire" means with no regulation. Regulation is force. Regulating the voluntary economic relationships among supposedly free men is not a "banishment of physical force from human relationships."
When people use the word "capitalism" to desrcibe the political foundation of the United States government, they are referring to one of two political-economic ideologies.
So if you've read this far, you'll understand if I stop defending capitalism. The word capitalism is synonymous with exploitation for good reason.
So let me now introduce you to Anarcho-Capitalism.
Capitalism is a political theory. By politics, I mean the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the framework of how individuals interact with one another. So what are the premises upon which "capitalism" is built?
- Freedom
Main Entry: free·domRead that definition carefully. When you are talking about freedom in the context of your current political environment, how well does it match up with this definition? If you can answer that freedom and the current American political system can coexist, you've missed something. You've missed the first and therefore most common meaning of the word upon which all of your Statist illusions supposedly rest.
Pronunciation: \ˈfrē-dəm\
Function: noun
Date: before 12th century
1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerousd : ease, facility e : the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken f : improper familiarity g : boldness of conception or execution h : unrestricted use
2 a : a political right b : franchise, privilege
"The absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action."
The authority of all government of any form--anywhere, ever--lies in its ability to compel compliance and obedience through coercion, which ultimately takes the form of violence. Stones, sticks, clubs, bows, and guns have been the tools used to engineer almost all political systems, past and present. It is interesting to note that political systems built on the use of violent coercion cannot claim to promote freedom, as the very definition of freedom makes this impossible. To claim otherwise is a logical absurdity.
Freedom in a Statist system is thus a logical absurdity, but there will be more to say about that later, I am sure.
I am positing that capitalism, or to be more accurate, anarcho-capitalism, is the only political theory that has ever been compatible with individual freedom.
For a superior definition of capitalism, I submit to you the immortal words of Ayn Rand:
Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.
The recognition of individual rights entails the banishment of physical force from human relationships: basically, rights can be violated only by means of force. In a capitalist society, no man or group may initiate the use of physical force against others.
______________________________________________
In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions, and interests dictate. They can deal with one another only in terms of and by means of reason, i.e., by means of discussion, persuasion, and contractual agreement, by voluntary choice to mutual benefit. The right to agree with others is not a problem in any society; it is the right to disagree that is crucial. It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree—and thus keeps the road open to man’s most valuable attribute (valuable personally, socially, and objectively): the creative mind.
So does the system that you call capitalism resemble this definition in any way?
No. I can't imagine that it truly does. When people say capitalism today, they are not referring to an economic system free of control. "Laissez-faire" means with no regulation. Regulation is force. Regulating the voluntary economic relationships among supposedly free men is not a "banishment of physical force from human relationships."
When people use the word "capitalism" to desrcibe the political foundation of the United States government, they are referring to one of two political-economic ideologies.
- CORPORATISM: A system of economic, political, and social organization where corporate groups such as business, ethnic, farmer, labour, pharmaceutical, military, insurance, patronage, or religious groups are joined together into a single governing body in which the different groups are mandated to negotiate with each other to establish policies in the interest of multiple groups within the body. [Italics mine]
- MERCANTILISM: An economic system developing during the decay of feudalism to unify and increase the power and especially the monetary wealth of a nation by a strict government regulation of the entire national economy usually through policies designed to secure an accumulation of bullion, a favorable balance of trade, the developmental of agriculture and manufactures, and the establishment of foreign trading monopolies.[Italics mine]
So if you've read this far, you'll understand if I stop defending capitalism. The word capitalism is synonymous with exploitation for good reason.
So let me now introduce you to Anarcho-Capitalism.
Anarcho-capitalism is an individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market. In an anarcho-capitalist society, law enforcement, courts, and all other security services are provided by voluntarily-funded competitors such a private defense agencies rather than through compulsory taxation, and money is privately produced in an open market. Because personal and economic activities are regulated by the natural laws of the market through private law rather than through politics, vicitimless crimes, and crimes against the state are rendered moot.
Anarcho-capitalists argue for a society based in voluntary trade of private property (including money, consumer goods, land, and capital goods) and services in order to maximize individual liberty and prosperity, but also recognize charity and communal arrangements as part of the same voluntary ethic. Though anarcho-capitalists are known for asserting a right to private (individualized or joint non-public) property, some propose that non-state public/community property can also exist in an anarcho-capitalist society. For them, what is important is that it is acquired and transfered without help or hinderance from the compulsory state. Anarcho-capitalist libertarians believe that the only just, and/or most economically-beneficial, way to acquire property is through voluntary trade, gift, or labor-based original appropriation, rather than through aggression or fraud. [Emphasis my own]
Why Capitalism? Part One: The Line in the Sand
Rachel, I'm not talking specifically to you here, but you can sing along. Just follow the bouncing train of thought.
I recently read on a certain Transhumanist forum the following comment:
There is so much wrong with this quote that I don't know where to begin, but I don't think that I will accomplish anything by picking it apart piece by piece. There are millions of people in the world that believe fallacies like this for any number of reasons. They fundamentally and unequivocally do not understand what they are talking about. Perhaps I don't either, but I am more well-read on the subjects of economics, philosophy, and history than most. I am open to doubting my knowledge, but I also know its truth value. Can you say the same?
I intend to, over the course of several blogs, build a philosophical case for this "necessary evil" that is capitalism. I will do my best to stay focused, but I can't imagine this will be an easy task. My writing will not be perfect and my logic will not be flawless.
If you catch me perpetuating falsehood, challenge me or correct me.
If you find that something I said makes absolutely no sense, ask me.
If you don't care to know how you're destroying your future, walk away.
If you attack me with anything but reason and evidence, you are both a violent thug and my enemy.
My goal is to give the reader of my humble blog the philosophical tools that will allow them to think. Hopefully you will be able to pick apart specious arguments like the above quote. At the very least, I hope you will think more carefully about what opinions you spout.
This was mostly an introduction, but I will end this post by describing a line in the sand. If you read my later blogs, you will hopefully understand the picture I am about to paint.
On the default side, you have the millenia of human history to give you familiar comfort, reference, and guidance. You have safety in numbers. You have an excuse for everything and everyone in their place. You have submission of your mind and body to the tyrannical whims of others. You look at other men with fear and deal with them through force. This is the catch-all side for every brand of Statism. You respect the fiat authority of gods and governments.
By crossing the line in the sand, you will have but a scant century that was barely a glimmer of what should have been, yet is still responsible for all of the blinding technological brilliance of the world you live in. You will be derided and scorned by many, and self-righteously demonized by those who rob you. You will be claiming responsibility for your own life and submitting your mind and body to the dictates of your own conscience. You will look other men in the eye and deal with them as equals. This is the side of capitalism. You repsect the final authority of reality.
Have you chosen a side?
I recently read on a certain Transhumanist forum the following comment:
We just have to realize that capitalism is a fatally flawed system. It has failed and the United States is collapsing. There are still libertarians whining that capitalism was never really implemented so it hasn't failed. After the Soviet Union collapsed there were still old guards claiming that Communism was never really implemented so it hadn't failed. Both need to be buried.The person who posted this grab-bag of bromides was a self-proclaimed Socialist, but one doesn't have to be the embodiment of modern Statism to have been duped into selling themselves into slavery.
There is so much wrong with this quote that I don't know where to begin, but I don't think that I will accomplish anything by picking it apart piece by piece. There are millions of people in the world that believe fallacies like this for any number of reasons. They fundamentally and unequivocally do not understand what they are talking about. Perhaps I don't either, but I am more well-read on the subjects of economics, philosophy, and history than most. I am open to doubting my knowledge, but I also know its truth value. Can you say the same?
I intend to, over the course of several blogs, build a philosophical case for this "necessary evil" that is capitalism. I will do my best to stay focused, but I can't imagine this will be an easy task. My writing will not be perfect and my logic will not be flawless.
If you catch me perpetuating falsehood, challenge me or correct me.
If you find that something I said makes absolutely no sense, ask me.
If you don't care to know how you're destroying your future, walk away.
If you attack me with anything but reason and evidence, you are both a violent thug and my enemy.
My goal is to give the reader of my humble blog the philosophical tools that will allow them to think. Hopefully you will be able to pick apart specious arguments like the above quote. At the very least, I hope you will think more carefully about what opinions you spout.
This was mostly an introduction, but I will end this post by describing a line in the sand. If you read my later blogs, you will hopefully understand the picture I am about to paint.
On the default side, you have the millenia of human history to give you familiar comfort, reference, and guidance. You have safety in numbers. You have an excuse for everything and everyone in their place. You have submission of your mind and body to the tyrannical whims of others. You look at other men with fear and deal with them through force. This is the catch-all side for every brand of Statism. You respect the fiat authority of gods and governments.
By crossing the line in the sand, you will have but a scant century that was barely a glimmer of what should have been, yet is still responsible for all of the blinding technological brilliance of the world you live in. You will be derided and scorned by many, and self-righteously demonized by those who rob you. You will be claiming responsibility for your own life and submitting your mind and body to the dictates of your own conscience. You will look other men in the eye and deal with them as equals. This is the side of capitalism. You repsect the final authority of reality.
Have you chosen a side?
"Yeats and Lady Gregory corresponded. And James Joyce wrote streams of consciousness books." ~ Van Morrison
That goat movie was interesting. WTF was the plot about? I don't really know, but I found it funny. I read at lunch that it was reminiscent of Catch 22. Hahaha. That book was absurd. I should read it again. Yossarian was the finest soldier that never existed. The Assyrian? I didn't get that joke the first time. I should really look up words I don't know when I encounter them. Yossarian the Assyrian. It's not a very funny joke. That reminds of that meerkat named Yossarian on that television show. What was the name? Meerkat Manor, I'm pretty sure. Why do I know that? I don't even know when I would have seen it. I think I was sick or something. One two three four five six six sick. I wonder if the meerkat people read the book before naming that thing Yossarian? I'd imagine. More people should read Catch 22. Should? I need to stop tossing that word about. Would? Could? Wood?... Cood? Bah. English is intentionally nonsensical anyway. Pictograms that I can somehow read. Fossilized fecal matter would make a funny writing tool for apes. I bet it happened somewhere somewhen. What was I...? Oh yeah, "should." Shouldn't use should. Can't get an "ought" from an "is". "I" before "E" except after Microsoft no longer bundles Internet Explorer with Windows because the European Union got their collectivist knickers in a bunch. Knickers. Hahaha. Haha, dangly parts. That's a bit vulgar, eh? Can't even clean it up for live streaming babble. It's a good thing I don't broadcast thoughts like radio. Well, that I know of. All I know is I know nothing? Piffle. Poppycock. Melarchy. Any type of -archy is melarchy. My larchy? Melarchy because I own it, that's why. Minarchy? Yeah, melarchy. Autarchy? No, my tarchy. Oligarchy? No thanks, I threw my body into the machine and all I got was this lousy t-shirt... "'I can't belive it's not butter' I'll sing as I'm flogged, Yeah that's what I would do if I were God." I think I used to hate religion more than I do. Death smells like flowers. I don't want anybody else to die. I don't want to die. I just want to ride my motor-cy...cle. Gotta love the Internet. I think I'll end there. This one's for you SkyNet. And Rachel. Google bless us, everyone.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
We are pockets of consciousness bubbling up from the same source
So as you know by now, our thoughts are fireworks. If you can accept that we are all the evolution of atoms created by the Big Bang, then you also accept that at one point, we were all one. A singularity of sorts. Physicists suppose that the Universe came from a point of origin that was immeasurably small. It gets all sorts of mind-boggling when we get more into depth here, so I can't and won't.
My point is that everything is connected. The carbon atoms in my body are no different than the carbon atoms in your body. Or in a plant. Or in a clump of sediment. The difference between me and rocks on an atomic level is fundamentally one of composition and arrangement. I have a different ratio of different atoms arranged in a different order, but the atomic/molecular pieces of absolutely everything are recycled over and over again to give new things their form. Even the atoms in our bodies are impermanent, as we are constantly creating new cells and shedding old ones.
Here is an interesting thought to ponder. You may right now be using an oxygen atom exhaled during Adolf Hiter's last living breath in order to read this sentence. It's highly improbable, but certainly possible.
Here is another interesting thought. Suppose we actually are the eyes/ears of the Universe. Suppose that human beings are pockets of consciousness occassionally bubbling up from the cosmos for a short warm moment and then popping. When we look at the planets and suns during our spans of life, we can say that we are looking at our benefactors of creation. But how wrong would it be to imagine that we are looking at ourselves? Certainly impractical for living our daily lives, but would it be untrue? We are a tiny fraction of that infinitesimally small singularity of origin, but still part of that whole.
If we can stretch our minds far enough to accept the above, then where do "you" and "I" begin if we are all one? "I" am a pocket of consciousness that feels the pleasure and pain of this body and will be alone inside this mind until this unique pattern expires. "You" are the same. But we are both, as far as we know, of a species whose pattern is unique in nature in that it can allow matter to contemplate its own existence. The Beatles said it best with,
So here it gets a bit funny, but still worth pondering. When we talk to each other, we are really talking to ourselves. We are the Universe with a billion-fold case of schizophrenia.
My point is that everything is connected. The carbon atoms in my body are no different than the carbon atoms in your body. Or in a plant. Or in a clump of sediment. The difference between me and rocks on an atomic level is fundamentally one of composition and arrangement. I have a different ratio of different atoms arranged in a different order, but the atomic/molecular pieces of absolutely everything are recycled over and over again to give new things their form. Even the atoms in our bodies are impermanent, as we are constantly creating new cells and shedding old ones.
Here is an interesting thought to ponder. You may right now be using an oxygen atom exhaled during Adolf Hiter's last living breath in order to read this sentence. It's highly improbable, but certainly possible.
Here is another interesting thought. Suppose we actually are the eyes/ears of the Universe. Suppose that human beings are pockets of consciousness occassionally bubbling up from the cosmos for a short warm moment and then popping. When we look at the planets and suns during our spans of life, we can say that we are looking at our benefactors of creation. But how wrong would it be to imagine that we are looking at ourselves? Certainly impractical for living our daily lives, but would it be untrue? We are a tiny fraction of that infinitesimally small singularity of origin, but still part of that whole.
If we can stretch our minds far enough to accept the above, then where do "you" and "I" begin if we are all one? "I" am a pocket of consciousness that feels the pleasure and pain of this body and will be alone inside this mind until this unique pattern expires. "You" are the same. But we are both, as far as we know, of a species whose pattern is unique in nature in that it can allow matter to contemplate its own existence. The Beatles said it best with,
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together
So here it gets a bit funny, but still worth pondering. When we talk to each other, we are really talking to ourselves. We are the Universe with a billion-fold case of schizophrenia.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ripple in still water...
Here are the lyrics to "Ripple", one of my favorite songs by the Grateful Dead. For many reasons, I find myself singing this song as I go about my day. Beyond the music I create, it would make a good theme song for my life. Give it a listen here
As Rachel's post has reminded me, there are still ineffable mysteries to the Universe. I think this song encapsulates my feelings on the subject perfectly, so I'll let it do most of my work here.
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come thru the music,
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps they're better left unsung.
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.
Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again,
Let it be known there is a fountain,
That was not made by the hands of men.
There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone.
Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
But if you fall you fall alone,
If you should stand then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home.
As Rachel's post has reminded me, there are still ineffable mysteries to the Universe. I think this song encapsulates my feelings on the subject perfectly, so I'll let it do most of my work here.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
This is what the stop-motion bullet dodging in the Matrix must feel like
So thanks to a nifty little Internet feature called social networking sites, I've discovered that my ex-girlfriend is engaged to be married.
I thought for a moment and tried to understand what I was feeling. I was feeling... relief. And then surprise, because I realized how much I've changed.
Even a year ago, this kind of news would have made me sad. Perhaps even regretful. But why? Probably because I had never fully applied philosophy to my life.
Now I look at the unexamined emotional quagmire that this marriage will inevitably become and feel relieved that I haven't sold myself into such a bondage. Perhaps they will be happy for the most part, but I've no doubt their psychological scars will be inflicted on their children. If I'd stayed with this woman it would certainly be my children inheriting my psychological scars. Unsettling, eh?
I propose a toast to Socrates, who said "the unexamined life is not worth living." Had the power of truth not pulled me out of the abyss that was my own unexamined life, then my existence would have been miserable. I would have been wrapped in a web of mythology and manipulation, forever avoiding conflict. Forever obeying the whims of a sexual tyrant until death came as a welcome release.
Is that an exaggeration? I'd like to think so, but I've yet to find more than a handful of human beings that can blissfully coexist. I think this pattern of life is all to common.
There is so much worth living for. Why punish ourselves with a living death? Biology be damned. I own this body and I will not submit.
YOU CAN BE HAPPY!
Years ago, there was a bullet being loaded into a chamber that would determine the rest of my life. It would be driven deep and become more painful to remove everyday. It is the metaphor for the damage that would have been caused by my psychological inertia, or my unwillingness to take self-ownership.
Not only have I managed to dodge a bullet, I can take a step back and observe its trajectory. And here's the really twisted part where the metaphor gets so convoluted that it becomes literal. The gunman was me.
I know. WTF. My poetic license should be revoked.
I thought for a moment and tried to understand what I was feeling. I was feeling... relief. And then surprise, because I realized how much I've changed.
Even a year ago, this kind of news would have made me sad. Perhaps even regretful. But why? Probably because I had never fully applied philosophy to my life.
Now I look at the unexamined emotional quagmire that this marriage will inevitably become and feel relieved that I haven't sold myself into such a bondage. Perhaps they will be happy for the most part, but I've no doubt their psychological scars will be inflicted on their children. If I'd stayed with this woman it would certainly be my children inheriting my psychological scars. Unsettling, eh?
I propose a toast to Socrates, who said "the unexamined life is not worth living." Had the power of truth not pulled me out of the abyss that was my own unexamined life, then my existence would have been miserable. I would have been wrapped in a web of mythology and manipulation, forever avoiding conflict. Forever obeying the whims of a sexual tyrant until death came as a welcome release.
Is that an exaggeration? I'd like to think so, but I've yet to find more than a handful of human beings that can blissfully coexist. I think this pattern of life is all to common.
There is so much worth living for. Why punish ourselves with a living death? Biology be damned. I own this body and I will not submit.
YOU CAN BE HAPPY!
Years ago, there was a bullet being loaded into a chamber that would determine the rest of my life. It would be driven deep and become more painful to remove everyday. It is the metaphor for the damage that would have been caused by my psychological inertia, or my unwillingness to take self-ownership.
Not only have I managed to dodge a bullet, I can take a step back and observe its trajectory. And here's the really twisted part where the metaphor gets so convoluted that it becomes literal. The gunman was me.
I know. WTF. My poetic license should be revoked.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Our thoughts are fireworks
It gets cold and dark at night, but I never feel lonely. I enjoy having the time to mull over what it means to be alive. Tonight I was considering the origin of life.
So far, evidence has led the greatest thinkers among men to conclude that this starlit infinity is the result of one really grand explosion. Cosmic in proportions even. The largest observable stars in the depths of space are just sparklers compared to the beginning. I think it is a rather eloquent chain of cosmic events that has led me to this point in time, listening to the wilderness in a chilly tent on an insignificant plot of dirt. However grim life can seem on the surface, there is such much to hold one's mind in joyful awe.
In the beginning, the fundamental particles (electrons, protons, neutrons) were brought together by the strong and weak nuclear forces of physics to form the simplest of elements: hyrdogen. Incidentally, hydrogen is still the most abundant element in the know Universe.
Clouds of hydrogen gas coalesced into what would become the first stellar nurseries. As more hydrogen atoms compacted themselves due to the gravitational forces of physics, pressure created heat. The fires of heaven ignited and There Was Light. The first stellar ovens created enough heat and pressure to forge the heavier elements from the simpler ones. Every part of us, from the iron in our blood to the oxygen we breath, was created somewhere in the depths of space by a star.
These elements were scattered by the stellar explosions of supernovae and eventually compacted themselves to form planets and other stellar debris. Life is the result of combinations of these elements stumbling upon a means of replicating themselves. Thanks to the near infinite variety of cosmic laboratories, some of these replications took hold and were able to grow in complexity. The reactions of chemistry thoughtlessly and blindly competed for the means to continue the chemical reaction until the environment forced them to stop.
Chemical compounds that could codify advantageous chemical reactions arose. In the case of the cosmic laboratory later to be called earth, it was those that could stimulate the production of amino acids and the folding of proteins. This freak chemical strand is DNA. At first, it was a protein building free for all, but soon certain combinations and arrangements of proteins allowed more and more of a particular DNA to replicate itself. Evolution, though already at work, finally begins to take its familiar biological form at this point. Life is an inevitable accident with no direction other than to increase efficiency and order, all in the name of replicating chemical equations.
Our minds arose from these random protein foldings. They are ostensibly advantageous because they allow DNA to interpret external stimuli by proxy, and much more quickly than it can adapt through natural selection. Our minds are greater than DNA, because they allow us, the children of stars, the very eyes and ears of the Universe itself, to comprehend its/our/my fundamental nature. Our minds allow the Universe an avenue to shape its own destiny consciously, whatever that may mean. But we're only a stepping stone to a consciousness more unfathomable than the Judeo-Christian God.
Our thoughts are the afterglow of the Big Bang, the fireworks of stellar explosions. We are part of something huge. How can it ever seem so mundane!?
And yet, we are conscious, whatever that may mean. We have a choice to use our minds and understand truth or forfeit our minds and embrace falsehood. Inquiry into the true nature of reality is the only way to achieve progress. Scientific truth. Objective truth. Philosophical truth. Above all else, honesty is the prime directive. The honesty to admit ignorance and be curious. To ask WHY?
Embracing falsehood is our choice and there is nothing to prevent us from making that choice. We can choose religion and relive a Dark Age in willful ignorance. We can choose Statism and strangle the best among us with the seductive nature of power and the whims of the tyrants who wield it. We can lie to our children and perpetuate these barbaric institutions. We can utter that terrible phrase that will always be on the lips of every frightened and feeble mind: because.
I hope the best among us continue to choose wisely. History shows that there is always a battle to snuff the light of truth. The good guys are too few but the bad guys are fewer. It is the great majority of men who, wishing to be good people, forever enslave us with their misguided attempts at virtue. It is those who commit evil and think it good.
Our thoughts are fireworks, damn it! Let's not let them fizzle out by watering them down with lies. Let's give the Universe/ourselves a grand finale worthy of our heritage! Philosophy makes our lives brighter than a Billion Billion suns! If we love virtue, we will radiate the light of truth. I think you know what I mean.
So far, evidence has led the greatest thinkers among men to conclude that this starlit infinity is the result of one really grand explosion. Cosmic in proportions even. The largest observable stars in the depths of space are just sparklers compared to the beginning. I think it is a rather eloquent chain of cosmic events that has led me to this point in time, listening to the wilderness in a chilly tent on an insignificant plot of dirt. However grim life can seem on the surface, there is such much to hold one's mind in joyful awe.
In the beginning, the fundamental particles (electrons, protons, neutrons) were brought together by the strong and weak nuclear forces of physics to form the simplest of elements: hyrdogen. Incidentally, hydrogen is still the most abundant element in the know Universe.
Clouds of hydrogen gas coalesced into what would become the first stellar nurseries. As more hydrogen atoms compacted themselves due to the gravitational forces of physics, pressure created heat. The fires of heaven ignited and There Was Light. The first stellar ovens created enough heat and pressure to forge the heavier elements from the simpler ones. Every part of us, from the iron in our blood to the oxygen we breath, was created somewhere in the depths of space by a star.
These elements were scattered by the stellar explosions of supernovae and eventually compacted themselves to form planets and other stellar debris. Life is the result of combinations of these elements stumbling upon a means of replicating themselves. Thanks to the near infinite variety of cosmic laboratories, some of these replications took hold and were able to grow in complexity. The reactions of chemistry thoughtlessly and blindly competed for the means to continue the chemical reaction until the environment forced them to stop.
Chemical compounds that could codify advantageous chemical reactions arose. In the case of the cosmic laboratory later to be called earth, it was those that could stimulate the production of amino acids and the folding of proteins. This freak chemical strand is DNA. At first, it was a protein building free for all, but soon certain combinations and arrangements of proteins allowed more and more of a particular DNA to replicate itself. Evolution, though already at work, finally begins to take its familiar biological form at this point. Life is an inevitable accident with no direction other than to increase efficiency and order, all in the name of replicating chemical equations.
Our minds arose from these random protein foldings. They are ostensibly advantageous because they allow DNA to interpret external stimuli by proxy, and much more quickly than it can adapt through natural selection. Our minds are greater than DNA, because they allow us, the children of stars, the very eyes and ears of the Universe itself, to comprehend its/our/my fundamental nature. Our minds allow the Universe an avenue to shape its own destiny consciously, whatever that may mean. But we're only a stepping stone to a consciousness more unfathomable than the Judeo-Christian God.
Our thoughts are the afterglow of the Big Bang, the fireworks of stellar explosions. We are part of something huge. How can it ever seem so mundane!?
And yet, we are conscious, whatever that may mean. We have a choice to use our minds and understand truth or forfeit our minds and embrace falsehood. Inquiry into the true nature of reality is the only way to achieve progress. Scientific truth. Objective truth. Philosophical truth. Above all else, honesty is the prime directive. The honesty to admit ignorance and be curious. To ask WHY?
Embracing falsehood is our choice and there is nothing to prevent us from making that choice. We can choose religion and relive a Dark Age in willful ignorance. We can choose Statism and strangle the best among us with the seductive nature of power and the whims of the tyrants who wield it. We can lie to our children and perpetuate these barbaric institutions. We can utter that terrible phrase that will always be on the lips of every frightened and feeble mind: because.
I hope the best among us continue to choose wisely. History shows that there is always a battle to snuff the light of truth. The good guys are too few but the bad guys are fewer. It is the great majority of men who, wishing to be good people, forever enslave us with their misguided attempts at virtue. It is those who commit evil and think it good.
Our thoughts are fireworks, damn it! Let's not let them fizzle out by watering them down with lies. Let's give the Universe/ourselves a grand finale worthy of our heritage! Philosophy makes our lives brighter than a Billion Billion suns! If we love virtue, we will radiate the light of truth. I think you know what I mean.
I love science
Physorg.com
If you've never, you must.
Story of interest: space hotel booking for 2012. Welcome to Age of Singularity.
If you've never, you must.
Story of interest: space hotel booking for 2012. Welcome to Age of Singularity.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
"Real-Time Relationships: The Logic of Love" by Stefan Molyneux... some ideas worth pondering
This definition of "love" seems accurate and precise.
We cannot love bad people. If we claim to love bad people, we cannot claim to love virtue. If do not love virtue, we must ourselves be bad people.
I think this is a profound truth that is too often overlooked in our most intimate relationships with friends and family. When I consider the few people whom I truly love, I can see that I love them because they are genuinely good people. I do not have to will myself to love them. I simply love them.
I also found the idea of "Quality Control" applied to interpersonal relationships to be absolutely fascinating. If you value someone close to you then invariably you will want them to be happy, because that will ensure your happiness. Happiness in interpersonal relationships can be achieved by understanding and acting upon the preferences of another person. To understand their preferences (and to help them understand), you simply ask them, "How is your experience of me as a friend? Is there anything I can do to make this relationship more positive for you? Have you any new feeling or preferences that you would like to discuss?"
So it may sound a bit cheesy and business-like, but then I wonder how the hell people are communicating with each other if they don't ask these questions. It seems like getting feedback is the only way to ensure that a relationship does not end. Now that I have read this, I see how it is applicable to countless relationships I've had in my life. When my friendships slowly fade away, it is because we stop asking about each other. When we talk after many months, we fundamentally don't understand what makes the other tick, nor do we ask any substantial questions. After a few of these types of empty conversations, we rarely talk again. It's sad and so entirely preventable by doing maintenance of this sort.
So I know I've a limited audience right now, but if anybody happens across this through a rather brilliant stroke of Internet luck, consider applying this to the relationships that are important to you. But for now, here is a free demo. This is me applying the idea, hoping my limited audience will answer.
I would be very sad if we drifted apart and rarely talked, so I'll probably be doing this fairly often.
How is your experience of me as a friend?
Is there anything I can do to make this relationship more positive for you?
Is there anything you'd like to talk about?
Love is our involuntary response to virtue.
"Love" like "virtue", is derived from actions, not defined by words.
We cannot love bad people. If we claim to love bad people, we cannot claim to love virtue. If do not love virtue, we must ourselves be bad people.
I think this is a profound truth that is too often overlooked in our most intimate relationships with friends and family. When I consider the few people whom I truly love, I can see that I love them because they are genuinely good people. I do not have to will myself to love them. I simply love them.
I also found the idea of "Quality Control" applied to interpersonal relationships to be absolutely fascinating. If you value someone close to you then invariably you will want them to be happy, because that will ensure your happiness. Happiness in interpersonal relationships can be achieved by understanding and acting upon the preferences of another person. To understand their preferences (and to help them understand), you simply ask them, "How is your experience of me as a friend? Is there anything I can do to make this relationship more positive for you? Have you any new feeling or preferences that you would like to discuss?"
So it may sound a bit cheesy and business-like, but then I wonder how the hell people are communicating with each other if they don't ask these questions. It seems like getting feedback is the only way to ensure that a relationship does not end. Now that I have read this, I see how it is applicable to countless relationships I've had in my life. When my friendships slowly fade away, it is because we stop asking about each other. When we talk after many months, we fundamentally don't understand what makes the other tick, nor do we ask any substantial questions. After a few of these types of empty conversations, we rarely talk again. It's sad and so entirely preventable by doing maintenance of this sort.
So I know I've a limited audience right now, but if anybody happens across this through a rather brilliant stroke of Internet luck, consider applying this to the relationships that are important to you. But for now, here is a free demo. This is me applying the idea, hoping my limited audience will answer.
I would be very sad if we drifted apart and rarely talked, so I'll probably be doing this fairly often.
How is your experience of me as a friend?
Is there anything I can do to make this relationship more positive for you?
Is there anything you'd like to talk about?
The Truth Within...
What follows is an excerpt from a most excellent book entitled "Real-Time Relationships: The Logic of Love", by Stefan Molyneux. It is a philosophy book about psychology, which are two of the most relevant disciplines when it comes to daily life. I found this passage particularly poignant because it talks about the necessity of being honest with ourselves. To live with integrity, we must fully accept our feelings rather than invent fictions that will make them go away.
We so commonly will say "I feel _____ because _______"
We would do far better for ourselves and those we love by admitting our vulnerability. We should say simply, "I feel _______." By not inventing a mythology for our feelings, the possibility for curiousity remains. Perhaps then we can actually learn why we feel the way we do.
We so commonly will say "I feel _____ because _______"
We would do far better for ourselves and those we love by admitting our vulnerability. We should say simply, "I feel _______." By not inventing a mythology for our feelings, the possibility for curiousity remains. Perhaps then we can actually learn why we feel the way we do.
Deep within our bodies, from the moment of our conception, lie all of the amazing biochemical functionality and potentiality of growth, puberty and maturity.
In the same way, within our unconscious minds, lies all the wisdom we could ever consume in a single lifetime.
We do not defend ourselves against our emotions; we do not defend ourselves against the pain of the past; we do not even defend ourselves against the discomfort of the present.
We always and only ever defend ourselves against the actions of the future
If we have been hurt by a dentist and we fear returning, we do not fear the past, since that pain has come and gone.
We fear the pain of the future
Psychological defences do not exist to prevent us from feeling pain in the past; they exist to prevent us from acting with integrity in the future.
Psychological defences do not prevent us from being exploited in the past - since that has already happened. Psychological defences ensure that we shall be exploited in the future - and that we shall exploit others, which is even worse.
An addict does not take his drug in order to feel bliss in the past, but in order to feel bliss in the present - and, as the addiction develops, in order to avoid the agony of withdrawal in the future.
In the same way, we avoid our feelings in the present because we wish to avoid ugly confrontations in the future.
We ignore our "sinking feeling" when our mother calls because we wish to avoid the confrontation that will inevitably occur if we accept our feelings...
...Do you see why we avoid our feelings?
Do you see why thinking that our avoidance has anything to do with the past is so fundamentally couterproductive and erroneous?
Do you see how terrifying our true feelings are for those who exploit us?
Do you see how impossible it would be to exploit us if we truly felt our own emotions?
Do you see why I say that we must be salves in order to facilitate slavery?
Do you understand why I say that we must first reject ourselves before we can be controlled by others?
We can do nothing about our enslavement in the past. We were children, we were forced to go to school and church, we were surrounded by people that we never chose to have in our lives - our parents, siblings, our extended family, our teachers...
The slavery of the past is unalterable.
The slavery of the future can be changed.
We cannot be free in the past, or from the past.
We can be free in the future.
And our souls are constantly whispering in our ears the combination to the lock that will set us free.
Feel, communicate, understand, act!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Cello Sweet in G Major
New song up on the Billions & Billions website!!!
The song is called "Hold On" and features our new cello as the centerpiece, so give it a listen already.
Credits
Loren Gunning - drums, violin, backup vocals
Justin Watson - upright bass, lead vocals
Nick Cole - cello, guitar, mandolin, backup vocals
The song is called "Hold On" and features our new cello as the centerpiece, so give it a listen already.
Credits
Loren Gunning - drums, violin, backup vocals
Justin Watson - upright bass, lead vocals
Nick Cole - cello, guitar, mandolin, backup vocals
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sharia RULES!
Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme ruler. America is a form of government that playfully calls the rest of the world "easy pickins". Now, imagine a vengeful, cruel, jealous, bloodthirsty God (e.g. a God encapsulating the worst of the human spirit, i.e. the Christian God of the Old Testament). In the American Theocracy, this particular God will have (maybe already has) nuclear weapons and patriotic fools. A recipe for disaster eh? Especially since men are the only mouthpieces of God, and men are inherently selfish and cruel (that's why we will never have a "brotherhood of man" right?).
Okay, so let me spell it out clearly. Religion must be intellectually destroyed. There is no longer any middle ground.
The last time the church was sleeping with the government, there was this terrible awful tragic loss of human life called the Crusades (we killed brown people). Also the Inquisition (we killed Jews). Also the Salem witch trials (we killed Christian neighbors who we just didn't agree with). You name a travesty, religion has been there, done that, and has the t-shirt to prove it.
The cup of tea was the Black Plague that followed the Crusades. It wiped out 1/3 of the European population. Sure, that has nothing to do with American theocracy, but it goes to show what a loving God we really have.
Please stop believing the greatest bullshit ever told. If we keep electing cynical con-men like Bush and other so called "born-again Christian" despots, a theocracy is what we will get. And then we will get exactly what we deserve; what American Christians crave so badly... the end of times, Armageddon, and death for everyone. FUN!
Okay, so let me spell it out clearly. Religion must be intellectually destroyed. There is no longer any middle ground.
The last time the church was sleeping with the government, there was this terrible awful tragic loss of human life called the Crusades (we killed brown people). Also the Inquisition (we killed Jews). Also the Salem witch trials (we killed Christian neighbors who we just didn't agree with). You name a travesty, religion has been there, done that, and has the t-shirt to prove it.
The cup of tea was the Black Plague that followed the Crusades. It wiped out 1/3 of the European population. Sure, that has nothing to do with American theocracy, but it goes to show what a loving God we really have.
Please stop believing the greatest bullshit ever told. If we keep electing cynical con-men like Bush and other so called "born-again Christian" despots, a theocracy is what we will get. And then we will get exactly what we deserve; what American Christians crave so badly... the end of times, Armageddon, and death for everyone. FUN!
THE ART OF POLITICS, Lesson Two: Lying about your imaginary friends enobles your crimes against humanity
If you hear voices in your head, you are considered mentally ill and sent to the psychiatric ward. If those voices ask you to kill someone, you are considered criminally insane.
If you hear God's voice in your head, you get elected President of the United States. If that voice asks you to kill brown people, you get a second term.
Think religion is not a mental illness?
Think of the Republican voting bloc.
Think religion is not a tool for cynical manipulators?
Think of George W. Bush.
If you hear God's voice in your head, you get elected President of the United States. If that voice asks you to kill brown people, you get a second term.
Think religion is not a mental illness?
Think of the Republican voting bloc.
Think religion is not a tool for cynical manipulators?
Think of George W. Bush.
Why I hate religion, addendum
The Cobb County school stickers on evolution were thankfully ruled to be unconstitutional after the ACLU sued the ignorant and bass-ackwards school board.
"In ruling that the stickers violate the constitutionally mandated separation between church and state, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ruled that labeling evolution a 'theory' played on the popular definition of the word as a 'hunch' and could confuse students... Due to the manner in which the sticker refers to evolution as a theory, the sticker also has the effect of undermining evolution education to the benefit of those Cobb County citizens who would prefer that students maintain their religious beliefs regarding the origin of life,' Cooper wrote in his ruling."
We have already suffered through the Dark Ages, which essentially stopped any scientific studies and inquiry. American Christians are trying to send us BACK to the Dark Age.
Why do you think that first few years after Christianity AD were called the Dark Age? I think it is because the Church was more powerful than government, that peasants feared the Church, and anyone who questioned the truth of the Church were ostracized or even killed.
Does the sun revolve around the earth? Galileo had a "theory" that it didn't, and the Church had him jailed for that blasphemy. Here is the real funny part: the Pope did not concede that he was correct or issue a formal apology until 1992. The CATHOLIC CHURCH DID NOT CONCEDE THAT THE EARTH REVOLVED AROUND THE SUN UNTIL 1992!!!!!! We put a MAN ON THE MOON in 1969!!!!!!!
Thank God I am an atheist. Otherwise I would be very upset at God about the people he picks to represent him on earth.
The Renaissance means "rebirth" in French. It followed the Dark and Medieval Ages. It really was a rebirth, because free inquiry into science and the arts was protected from religious persecution, thanks to some very rich and influential noblemen. Funny how humanity had to be reborn after monotheistic religion had ravaged the planet with ignorance.
The Age of Enlightenment followed the Renaissance, and the founding fathers of our country were Enlightenment thinkers. Many claimed atheism in their writings. They had faith in science and democracy (whoopsie!) and humanity. They separated the church and the state intentionally, because history had taught them what evils the church could perform if given the power to rule. And yet they loved freedom so much that they did not try to destroy the church. Freedom of religion, of speech, of press, of assembly. Freedom! In freedom we trust, not God (although our funny-money dollars would like us to believe otherwise).
And now the Christians in our own neighborhoods, all across the Bible Belt, who have never cracked open a book except the Bible (and it is doubtful that they have ever actually read that) want to undermine the scientific teaching of evolution. They want to send us back to the Dark Ages.
I was lied to in high school by these assholes. Thank GOD that my biology still taught us the theory of evolution. And the FACTS that support it.
But what about those children that can never know the difference? I will not stand for this! Religion is a poison, and I will do everything in my power to educate people about the damage it has done and will continue to do to humanity if left unchecked.
"In ruling that the stickers violate the constitutionally mandated separation between church and state, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ruled that labeling evolution a 'theory' played on the popular definition of the word as a 'hunch' and could confuse students... Due to the manner in which the sticker refers to evolution as a theory, the sticker also has the effect of undermining evolution education to the benefit of those Cobb County citizens who would prefer that students maintain their religious beliefs regarding the origin of life,' Cooper wrote in his ruling."
We have already suffered through the Dark Ages, which essentially stopped any scientific studies and inquiry. American Christians are trying to send us BACK to the Dark Age.
Why do you think that first few years after Christianity AD were called the Dark Age? I think it is because the Church was more powerful than government, that peasants feared the Church, and anyone who questioned the truth of the Church were ostracized or even killed.
Does the sun revolve around the earth? Galileo had a "theory" that it didn't, and the Church had him jailed for that blasphemy. Here is the real funny part: the Pope did not concede that he was correct or issue a formal apology until 1992. The CATHOLIC CHURCH DID NOT CONCEDE THAT THE EARTH REVOLVED AROUND THE SUN UNTIL 1992!!!!!! We put a MAN ON THE MOON in 1969!!!!!!!
Thank God I am an atheist. Otherwise I would be very upset at God about the people he picks to represent him on earth.
The Renaissance means "rebirth" in French. It followed the Dark and Medieval Ages. It really was a rebirth, because free inquiry into science and the arts was protected from religious persecution, thanks to some very rich and influential noblemen. Funny how humanity had to be reborn after monotheistic religion had ravaged the planet with ignorance.
The Age of Enlightenment followed the Renaissance, and the founding fathers of our country were Enlightenment thinkers. Many claimed atheism in their writings. They had faith in science and democracy (whoopsie!) and humanity. They separated the church and the state intentionally, because history had taught them what evils the church could perform if given the power to rule. And yet they loved freedom so much that they did not try to destroy the church. Freedom of religion, of speech, of press, of assembly. Freedom! In freedom we trust, not God (although our funny-money dollars would like us to believe otherwise).
And now the Christians in our own neighborhoods, all across the Bible Belt, who have never cracked open a book except the Bible (and it is doubtful that they have ever actually read that) want to undermine the scientific teaching of evolution. They want to send us back to the Dark Ages.
I was lied to in high school by these assholes. Thank GOD that my biology still taught us the theory of evolution. And the FACTS that support it.
But what about those children that can never know the difference? I will not stand for this! Religion is a poison, and I will do everything in my power to educate people about the damage it has done and will continue to do to humanity if left unchecked.
Why I hate religion
My high school IB biology teacher was forced to put a sticker on every textbook he issued us. The sticker read:
"This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
The ignorant people who lobbied for this sticker were Christian creationists. There I was, supposedly in an advanced biology class, and I was being told by the Cobb County school district that the theory of evolution was on par with the batshit crazy idea of intelligent design. What a mockery of education!
Yes, evolution is a theory. Theories are supported by facts, not facts themselves.
Special relativity is a theory, but in FACT it helped build an atomic bomb that FACTUALLY killed thousands of Japanese civilians. Gravity is a theory, but in FACT I am held to the earth by it while the moon FACTUALLY controls our tides because of it.
Evolution has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen. If that blows God out of the water, he should have worked a lot harder to prove that it does not exist. Sending his delusional flock to assault logic and reason just won't cut it, especially since you can't exactly burn people who disagree with religion on the stake this day in age.
I am ashamed of Cobb County. I am ashamed of intelligent people who can still go to church after this. I am furious that religion wants to snuff out the flame of science. I want to understand the answers to the questions we all have about the nature of the universe. All religion wants is to give absolute answers that can never be questioned.
Why don't you question religion? Because religion tells you not to. Intelligently posed questions don't really help religion's case, so it is better if it just gives absolute answers and denies your right to question it.
Please open your eyes. Please tell people about science. It has saved more lives than God ever has, and has provided more answers than can be written in any Bible.
"This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
The ignorant people who lobbied for this sticker were Christian creationists. There I was, supposedly in an advanced biology class, and I was being told by the Cobb County school district that the theory of evolution was on par with the batshit crazy idea of intelligent design. What a mockery of education!
Yes, evolution is a theory. Theories are supported by facts, not facts themselves.
Special relativity is a theory, but in FACT it helped build an atomic bomb that FACTUALLY killed thousands of Japanese civilians. Gravity is a theory, but in FACT I am held to the earth by it while the moon FACTUALLY controls our tides because of it.
Evolution has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen. If that blows God out of the water, he should have worked a lot harder to prove that it does not exist. Sending his delusional flock to assault logic and reason just won't cut it, especially since you can't exactly burn people who disagree with religion on the stake this day in age.
I am ashamed of Cobb County. I am ashamed of intelligent people who can still go to church after this. I am furious that religion wants to snuff out the flame of science. I want to understand the answers to the questions we all have about the nature of the universe. All religion wants is to give absolute answers that can never be questioned.
Why don't you question religion? Because religion tells you not to. Intelligently posed questions don't really help religion's case, so it is better if it just gives absolute answers and denies your right to question it.
Please open your eyes. Please tell people about science. It has saved more lives than God ever has, and has provided more answers than can be written in any Bible.
Four out of five doctors are burning in Hell
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me."
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
"I swear by APOLLO, ASCLEPIUS, HYGIEIA, and PANACEA, and I take to witness ALL THE GODS, ALL THE GODESSES, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath.
To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.
I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.
To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death.
Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion.
But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.
I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.
In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.
All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.
If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot."
It is a crying shame that all healers and practitioners of modern medicine in the world must be condemned to hell for swearing to false gods. I guess I will see them there.
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me."
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
"I swear by APOLLO, ASCLEPIUS, HYGIEIA, and PANACEA, and I take to witness ALL THE GODS, ALL THE GODESSES, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath.
To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.
I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.
To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death.
Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion.
But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.
I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.
In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.
All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.
If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot."
It is a crying shame that all healers and practitioners of modern medicine in the world must be condemned to hell for swearing to false gods. I guess I will see them there.
Good morning, class! Please rise...
Ah, recalling the days of public school indoctrination makes me cringe more and more every day. People getting robbed of their wealth at gunpoint in order that an armed gang calling itself the height of moral virtue can kidnap children for 7 hours a day and lull their critical thinking skills into the shape of warm play-doh.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands,
One nation, under God, indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all."
~ U.S.S.Amerikan pledge of obedience
Praying to a flag just as bad as praying to God, except more dangerous. Call it praying to the God-erment.
What real meaning can a mind attach to such deranged concepts as flags, nations, and Gods? What cynical social engineer thought to emotionally associate these fictions by lumping them together with necessities like liberty and justice? How vacuous this daily incantation must feel (and felt).
To uphold liberty, we would have to accept that children should not be forced to respect a flag. We would not be able to threaten children with punishment for not obeying teacher.
To uphold justice, children should have the same authority to exercise their preferences and whims on their teachers. If it considered right for one person to exercise arbitrary power and not right for another, then this is simple tyranny. Justice would be the abolition of enforceable whims and adherence only to moral absolutes. Respect for teachers could never again be demanded. As in all voluntary relationships, it would have to be earned. Earned
Why show respect to something you do not actually respect?
"Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
~ U.S.S.Amerikan national anthem
The song is about war. It is glorifying America's part in killing other human beings. Our legal system is built around the idea that harming another consciousness in any way (physically, monetarily, by damaging property, etc.) is punishable by law. Yet we obediently revere an anthem (which, by the way, was not our national anthem until 1931) that has everything to do with a practice wholly devoted to causing great suffering to other conscious beings.
Why can't our national anthem be about peace and love and the beautiful shared experience that is being human? Would it be so strange if our national anthem were once again changed to something more enlightened? There are people still alive today that predate our national anthem. They can imagine it I am sure, but Americans today view everything as so static. During the Bush admininistration, they feared that challenging anything patriotic goes against our great War on Terror. I argue the War on Terror goes against every freedom that was ever worth fighting for, to a far greater capacity than terrorists ever could have achieved. During the current Obama administration, the once pansy-pushing liberals are too fucktarded to admit their Messiah is escalating the slaughter of brown people the world over.
Chaaaaaaange...
"I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands,
One nation, under God, indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all."
~ U.S.S.Amerikan pledge of obedience
Praying to a flag just as bad as praying to God, except more dangerous. Call it praying to the God-erment.
What real meaning can a mind attach to such deranged concepts as flags, nations, and Gods? What cynical social engineer thought to emotionally associate these fictions by lumping them together with necessities like liberty and justice? How vacuous this daily incantation must feel (and felt).
To uphold liberty, we would have to accept that children should not be forced to respect a flag. We would not be able to threaten children with punishment for not obeying teacher.
To uphold justice, children should have the same authority to exercise their preferences and whims on their teachers. If it considered right for one person to exercise arbitrary power and not right for another, then this is simple tyranny. Justice would be the abolition of enforceable whims and adherence only to moral absolutes. Respect for teachers could never again be demanded. As in all voluntary relationships, it would have to be earned. Earned
Why show respect to something you do not actually respect?
"Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
~ U.S.S.Amerikan national anthem
The song is about war. It is glorifying America's part in killing other human beings. Our legal system is built around the idea that harming another consciousness in any way (physically, monetarily, by damaging property, etc.) is punishable by law. Yet we obediently revere an anthem (which, by the way, was not our national anthem until 1931) that has everything to do with a practice wholly devoted to causing great suffering to other conscious beings.
Why can't our national anthem be about peace and love and the beautiful shared experience that is being human? Would it be so strange if our national anthem were once again changed to something more enlightened? There are people still alive today that predate our national anthem. They can imagine it I am sure, but Americans today view everything as so static. During the Bush admininistration, they feared that challenging anything patriotic goes against our great War on Terror. I argue the War on Terror goes against every freedom that was ever worth fighting for, to a far greater capacity than terrorists ever could have achieved. During the current Obama administration, the once pansy-pushing liberals are too fucktarded to admit their Messiah is escalating the slaughter of brown people the world over.
Chaaaaaaange...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
THE ART OF POLITICS, Lesson One: Pulling things out of your ass while still pooping with your mouth
"On Monday, I cast a blue-collar vote for the American people, shook the foundations of Wall Street, demanding more accountability, but today I'm going to cast a red-white-and-blue-collar vote, with my hand over my heart for this country because things are really bad, and we don't have any choice."
~ Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.)
A finer example of political pandering has never been put to use. God bless the banker bailout.
~ Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.)
A finer example of political pandering has never been put to use. God bless the banker bailout.
Don't Enslave Me, Bro
The Helen of Theadectus says: "Who would presume to call me servant, who am on both sides sprung from the stem of the Gods?"
~Aristotle, 384-322 BC
Religion has always been an element of man. In the case of the Greeks, it was used to justify slavery. This was centuries prior to Jesus (BC), about whom, apparently, all history must be centered. BC and AD are landmarks for him, and yet he is used as just another tool of religion.
~Aristotle, 384-322 BC
Religion has always been an element of man. In the case of the Greeks, it was used to justify slavery. This was centuries prior to Jesus (BC), about whom, apparently, all history must be centered. BC and AD are landmarks for him, and yet he is used as just another tool of religion.
Jesus! Worship this Sunday Sunday Sunday at the Georgia Dome!
Right now I am listening to the standard American version of the Bible as I type. I must say, Jesus had a profound philosophy. I admire his thinking very much. It makes me wonder, assuming that he did exist, whether or not his message was perverted or lost when communicated by the parasitical clergy. His references to Heaven could quite easily be representative of our own inner peace. He was preaching the gospel of love, not fear and damnation.
To quote the Dali Llama, "There can never be world peace until we have achieved inner peace."
I have a theory that Jesus was an atheist, or at least a believer in the divinity of all things. E.g. we are all of God, because we are all of the Earth. Heaven can be found in each of our hearts if we look at his teachings. He taught people how to live a more peaceful existence, and yet the message that most Christians take away from the Bible is that there is a real Heaven and a real Hell, and they are rewards and punishments for not behaving correctly. I guess the whole critical thinking and self-reflective song and dance is a bit too subtle for most believers. It certainly doesn't make as good of a story as fire and brimstone and the like. And it certainly doesn't necessitate the need for clergy and organized religion as much as sin.
My point?
Philosophy is more profound than divinity. This I know because the Bible tells me so.
To quote the Dali Llama, "There can never be world peace until we have achieved inner peace."
I have a theory that Jesus was an atheist, or at least a believer in the divinity of all things. E.g. we are all of God, because we are all of the Earth. Heaven can be found in each of our hearts if we look at his teachings. He taught people how to live a more peaceful existence, and yet the message that most Christians take away from the Bible is that there is a real Heaven and a real Hell, and they are rewards and punishments for not behaving correctly. I guess the whole critical thinking and self-reflective song and dance is a bit too subtle for most believers. It certainly doesn't make as good of a story as fire and brimstone and the like. And it certainly doesn't necessitate the need for clergy and organized religion as much as sin.
My point?
Philosophy is more profound than divinity. This I know because the Bible tells me so.
Nick's Comedic Email Classics, Vol. 1
Subject: Re: Nano Tech...No, I don't mean my penis
To: XXXXXX XXXXXXX
Bad news everyone,
The central bank is a pit of vipers. I am sorry.
Subject: Re: WTF are you talking about dude?
To: XXXXXX XXXXXXX
Deer Reader,
Do not attempt to cross roads at night or during rush hour. Do not approach anything displaying the color orange and smelling of whiskey.
Subject: Re: Thank You For Applying to QT!
To: XXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXX
Dear QT (Quik Trip),
Thank you for the 89 cent fountain drinks. You are a beacon of hope in a world gone mad with inflation. Your 2 for $3 deals on tacquitos, both chicken and beef, are to die for; I mean that quite literally, because they surely do a number on me. In case you are wondering, that would be number 2. But that is never a problem at the QT, because your bathrooms are always so sanitary and wonderfully scented that I make special stops just to be pampered by your porcelain. I could go on gushing about your fine establishments, but I realize that you have other fan letters to read and respond to. In summation, thank you for being there for us weary travelling customers.
Take Me I'm Yours,
Cleatus
P.S. Lemme get some of them scratch off bingo tickets and a pack of Newports.
To: XXXXXX XXXXXXX
Bad news everyone,
The central bank is a pit of vipers. I am sorry.
Subject: Re: WTF are you talking about dude?
To: XXXXXX XXXXXXX
Deer Reader,
Do not attempt to cross roads at night or during rush hour. Do not approach anything displaying the color orange and smelling of whiskey.
Subject: Re: Thank You For Applying to QT!
To: XXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXX
Dear QT (Quik Trip),
Thank you for the 89 cent fountain drinks. You are a beacon of hope in a world gone mad with inflation. Your 2 for $3 deals on tacquitos, both chicken and beef, are to die for; I mean that quite literally, because they surely do a number on me. In case you are wondering, that would be number 2. But that is never a problem at the QT, because your bathrooms are always so sanitary and wonderfully scented that I make special stops just to be pampered by your porcelain. I could go on gushing about your fine establishments, but I realize that you have other fan letters to read and respond to. In summation, thank you for being there for us weary travelling customers.
Take Me I'm Yours,
Cleatus
P.S. Lemme get some of them scratch off bingo tickets and a pack of Newports.
Why Are Females Generally More Irrational Than Males?
I had an epiphany today about why so many American females are delusional. The Darwinian advantage of religion dawned on me whilst I was pondering shit. In short, here is my idea:
- Religion is about hierarchical control
- Children are always at the bottom of the hierarchy
- Parents use religion to control their children
- Parents use religion to prevent sexual intercourse
- Said prevention means less promiscuity and early pregnancy
- Mates are carefully screened by family and "GOD"
- Best mates have more affluence and can support more kids
- Worst case scenario, delusional female remains abstinent or marries a more mature and secure male later on, decreasing the likelihood of mixing with what is considered "bad blood"
- Ergo, delusional females have a better chance of landing a well-to-do male as their mate
- A reliable provider is the evolutionary jackpot as far as baby factories are concerned, and the consciousnesses attached to said baby factories seem to prefer it as well
- Negative consequences are that these delusional females might have a predisposed personality trait that leans toward respect for ALL "authority"/power
- An all-encompassing trait like "general respect for authority" would require less genetic chance to evolve than a specific "respect for religion" trait.
Considering what I have known females to do and say, I would venture that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support such a genetic trait's existence.
~ Nicholas Dawkins, PhD. in Silent Philosophy, MA in Verbal Bullshit
- Religion is about hierarchical control
- Children are always at the bottom of the hierarchy
- Parents use religion to control their children
- Parents use religion to prevent sexual intercourse
- Said prevention means less promiscuity and early pregnancy
- Mates are carefully screened by family and "GOD"
- Best mates have more affluence and can support more kids
- Worst case scenario, delusional female remains abstinent or marries a more mature and secure male later on, decreasing the likelihood of mixing with what is considered "bad blood"
- Ergo, delusional females have a better chance of landing a well-to-do male as their mate
- A reliable provider is the evolutionary jackpot as far as baby factories are concerned, and the consciousnesses attached to said baby factories seem to prefer it as well
- Negative consequences are that these delusional females might have a predisposed personality trait that leans toward respect for ALL "authority"/power
- An all-encompassing trait like "general respect for authority" would require less genetic chance to evolve than a specific "respect for religion" trait.
Considering what I have known females to do and say, I would venture that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support such a genetic trait's existence.
~ Nicholas Dawkins, PhD. in Silent Philosophy, MA in Verbal Bullshit
Economic Rant, or, How I Learned to Stop Asking Questions and Love the Fed
When a political liberal college publishes a study questioning the efficacy of our most communist president to date, you know there is trouble brewing.
Roosevelt, the hero president, was no better a leader than any of the mealy-mouthed morons who feed like parasites on our prosperity today. He just did it with dignity, I suppose.
FYI, the Austrian School of economics and the late Murray Rothbard have been fighting against mainstream ignorance for decades, attempting tell the truth about the Great Depression. It was caused by misguided and inept government policies, and to a more cynical extent by the intentional manipulation of money and markets by the Federal Reserve.
In the onset of the Great Depression, circa 1929-1945, easy credit and free markets run amok were blamed for the collapsing economy. The government stepped in heroically to save the world from total economic collapse. Our selfless public servants courageously fought for the little man against greedy capitalists.
In the onset of the Second Great Depression, circa 2008-????, easy credit and free markets run amok are being blamed for the collapsing economy. The government is stepping in heroically to save the world from total economic collapse. Our selfless public servants are courageously fighting for the little man against greedy capitalists.
This is a modern day history lesson, brought to life in 3D and, for the first time, in all the colors of the rainbow!
"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of industry and commerce. And when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."
~ James Garfield, 20th US president
"Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are US government institutions. They are not... they are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the US for the benefit of themselves and their foreign and domestic swindlers, and rich and predatory money lenders. The sack of the United States by the Fed is the greatest crime in history. Every effort has been made by the Fed to conceal its powers, but the truth is the Fed has usurped the government. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will."
~ Louis McFadden, (R) Pennsylvania, House of Representatives
Roosevelt, the hero president, was no better a leader than any of the mealy-mouthed morons who feed like parasites on our prosperity today. He just did it with dignity, I suppose.
FYI, the Austrian School of economics and the late Murray Rothbard have been fighting against mainstream ignorance for decades, attempting tell the truth about the Great Depression. It was caused by misguided and inept government policies, and to a more cynical extent by the intentional manipulation of money and markets by the Federal Reserve.
In the onset of the Great Depression, circa 1929-1945, easy credit and free markets run amok were blamed for the collapsing economy. The government stepped in heroically to save the world from total economic collapse. Our selfless public servants courageously fought for the little man against greedy capitalists.
In the onset of the Second Great Depression, circa 2008-????, easy credit and free markets run amok are being blamed for the collapsing economy. The government is stepping in heroically to save the world from total economic collapse. Our selfless public servants are courageously fighting for the little man against greedy capitalists.
This is a modern day history lesson, brought to life in 3D and, for the first time, in all the colors of the rainbow!
"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of industry and commerce. And when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."
~ James Garfield, 20th US president
"Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are US government institutions. They are not... they are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the US for the benefit of themselves and their foreign and domestic swindlers, and rich and predatory money lenders. The sack of the United States by the Fed is the greatest crime in history. Every effort has been made by the Fed to conceal its powers, but the truth is the Fed has usurped the government. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will."
~ Louis McFadden, (R) Pennsylvania, House of Representatives
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