ignorant amos' comment on a post on RDFRS... long, but fun:
snip
"the god of the ΟΤ is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
unpleasant un·pleas·ant/ˌənˈplezənt/ adjective 1. causing discomfort, unhappiness, or revulsion; disagreeable.
2 chronicles 15:13 whosoever would not seek the lord god of israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
/snip
read on and on...
|
|
|---|
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
a field guide to bullshit
an interview with stephen law in new scientist:
believing bullshit: how not to get sucked into an intellectual black hole
snip
you identify some strategies people use to defend black hole beliefs. tell me about one of them - "playing the mystery card"?
this involves appealing to mystery to get out of intellectual hot water when someone is, say, propounding paranormal beliefs. they might say something like: "ah, but this is beyond the ability of science and reason to decide. you, mr clever dick scientist, are guilty of scientism, of assuming science can answer every question." this is often followed by that quote from shakespeare's hamlet: "there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy". when you hear that, alarm bells should go off.
/snip
also...
snip
in your book you also talk about the "going nuclear" tactic. what is this?
when someone is cornered in an argument, they may decide to get sceptical about reason. they might say: "ah, but reason is just another faith position." i call this "going nuclear" because it lays waste to every position. it brings every belief - that milk can make you fly or that george bush was elvis presley in disguise - down to the same level so they all appear equally "reasonable" or "unreasonable". of course, you can be sure that the moment this person has left the room, they will continue to use reason to support their case if they can, and will even trust their life to reason: trusting that the brakes on their car will work or that a particular drug is going to cure them.
/snip
read the full interview...
via RDFRS
believing bullshit: how not to get sucked into an intellectual black hole
snip
you identify some strategies people use to defend black hole beliefs. tell me about one of them - "playing the mystery card"?
this involves appealing to mystery to get out of intellectual hot water when someone is, say, propounding paranormal beliefs. they might say something like: "ah, but this is beyond the ability of science and reason to decide. you, mr clever dick scientist, are guilty of scientism, of assuming science can answer every question." this is often followed by that quote from shakespeare's hamlet: "there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy". when you hear that, alarm bells should go off.
/snip
also...
snip
in your book you also talk about the "going nuclear" tactic. what is this?
when someone is cornered in an argument, they may decide to get sceptical about reason. they might say: "ah, but reason is just another faith position." i call this "going nuclear" because it lays waste to every position. it brings every belief - that milk can make you fly or that george bush was elvis presley in disguise - down to the same level so they all appear equally "reasonable" or "unreasonable". of course, you can be sure that the moment this person has left the room, they will continue to use reason to support their case if they can, and will even trust their life to reason: trusting that the brakes on their car will work or that a particular drug is going to cure them.
/snip
read the full interview...
via RDFRS
ch6 - hallucinations
today marks five years of blogging for me.
this is my notebook and my outlet. it's the place where i collect things to think about. i post stuff i want to see, read and discuss, stuff i want to laugh, wonder and rant over.
if others want to have a peek, they're welcome. feedback has been overwhelmingly positive -- i can count the negative on one hand... that is, if i can even remember it.
still, this isn't an important blog, or a widely read one. it's just my personal speck on the internet. last year i thought i was about to quit... but it's become a habit, it seems. i just might go for yet another year.
here's another installment of my tradition to quote a bit of each chapter from carl sagan's the demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark... this is from chapter 6:
'we would surely be missing something important about our own nature if we refused to face up to the fact that hallucinations are part of being human. however, none of this makes hallucinations part of an external rather than an internal reality.'
- carl sagan
♫♫♪♫happy blogversary to me.♫♪♫♪♪♫♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♫♪♪♪♪♫
this is my notebook and my outlet. it's the place where i collect things to think about. i post stuff i want to see, read and discuss, stuff i want to laugh, wonder and rant over.
if others want to have a peek, they're welcome. feedback has been overwhelmingly positive -- i can count the negative on one hand... that is, if i can even remember it.
still, this isn't an important blog, or a widely read one. it's just my personal speck on the internet. last year i thought i was about to quit... but it's become a habit, it seems. i just might go for yet another year.
here's another installment of my tradition to quote a bit of each chapter from carl sagan's the demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark... this is from chapter 6:
'we would surely be missing something important about our own nature if we refused to face up to the fact that hallucinations are part of being human. however, none of this makes hallucinations part of an external rather than an internal reality.'
- carl sagan
♫♫♪♫happy blogversary to me.♫♪♫♪♪♫♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♫♪♪♪♪♫
i want this house.
please fill it with books on science, science fiction and photography, at least:
click to source for more images
shelf-pod
site : osaka prefecture, japan
design : kazuya morita architecture studio / kazuya morita ,issei kawashima
structure engineer : mitsuda structural consultant
via bOINGbOING
click to source for more images
shelf-pod
site : osaka prefecture, japan
design : kazuya morita architecture studio / kazuya morita ,issei kawashima
structure engineer : mitsuda structural consultant
via bOINGbOING
the believing brain
on skepticblog, michael shermer presents an excerpt of his book, the believing brain: from ghosts, gods, and aliens to conspiracies, economics, and politics—how the brain constructs beliefs and reinforces them as truths [what a title!] :
snip
according to a 2009 harris poll of 2,303 adult americans, when people are asked to “please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or not,” the following results were revealing:
82% believe in god
76% believe in miracles
75% believe in heaven
73% believe in jesus is god or the son of god
72% believe in angels
71% believe in survival of the soul after death
70% believe in the resurrection of jesus christ
61% believe in hell
61% believe in the virgin birth (of jesus)
60% believe in the devil
45% believe in darwin’s theory of evolution
42% believe in ghosts
40% believe in creationism
32% believe in ufos
26% believe in astrology
23% believe in witches
20% believe in reincarnation
/snip
i'm thinking of carrying around this checklist and conducting a private poll...
parakeet
like it? click it!
view in the dark
i love shooting portraits! if anyone local is interested in being an experimental
bytheway, after finishing this image, i started reading through a friend's copy of scott kelby's professional portrait retouching techniques for photographers using photoshop (voices that matter) and it's on my list for my next amazon order. i love it.. not only for the tips for portraits, but for his techniques which can be applied to other types of photos as well.
©2011 helen sotiriadis
sam harris on accommodationism
i like this so much... i'm copy/pasting the quote from sam harris' the moral landscape as it appears on RDFRS:
"
‘many of our secular critics worry that if we oblige people to choose between reason and faith, they will choose faith and cease to support scientific research; if, on the other hand, we ceaselessly reiterate that there is no conflict between religion and science, we might cajole great multitudes into accepting the truth of evolution (as though this were an end in itself). here is a version of this charge that, i fear, most people would accept, taken from journalist chris mooney and marine biologist sheril kirshenbaum’s book unscientific america:
while it is invariably advertised as an expression of “respect” for people of faith, the accommodationism that mooney and kirshenbaum recommend is nothing more than naked condescension, motivated by fear. they assure us that people will choose religion over science, no matter how good a case is made against religion. in certain contexts, this fear is probably warranted. i wouldn’t be eager to spell out the irrationality of islam while standing in the great mosque in mecca. but let’s be honest about how mooney and kirshenbaum view public discourse in the united states: watch what you say, or the christian mob will burn down the library of alexandria all over again by comparison, the “combativeness” of the “new atheists” seems quite collegial. we are merely guilty of assuming that our fellow homo sapiens possess the requisite intelligence and emotional maturity to respond to rational argument, satire, and ridicule on the subject of religion—just as they respond to these discursive pressures on all other subjects. of course, we could be wrong. but let’s admit which side in this debate currently views our neighbors as dangerous children and which views them as adults who might prefer not to be completely mistaken about the nature of reality.
"
"
‘many of our secular critics worry that if we oblige people to choose between reason and faith, they will choose faith and cease to support scientific research; if, on the other hand, we ceaselessly reiterate that there is no conflict between religion and science, we might cajole great multitudes into accepting the truth of evolution (as though this were an end in itself). here is a version of this charge that, i fear, most people would accept, taken from journalist chris mooney and marine biologist sheril kirshenbaum’s book unscientific america:
if the goal is to create an america more friendly toward science and reason, the combativeness of the new atheists is strongly counterproductive. if anything, they work in ironic combination with their dire enemies, the anti-science conservative christians who populate the creation science and intelligent design movements, to ensure we’ll continue to be polarized over subjects like the teaching of evolution when we don’t have to be. america is a very religious nation, and if forced to choose between faith and science, vast numbers of americans will select the former. the new atheists err in insisting that such a choice needs to be made. atheism is not the logically inevitable outcome of scientific reasoning, any more than intelligent design is a necessary corollary of religious faith. a great many scientists believe in god with no sense of internal contradiction, just as many religious believers accept evolution as the correct theory to explain the development, diversity, and inter-relatedness of life on earth. the new atheists, like the fundamentalists they so despise, are setting up a false dichotomy that can only damage the cause of scientific literacy for generations to come. it threatens to leave science itself caught in the middle between extremes, unable to find cover in a destructive, seemingly unending, culture war.the first thing to observe is that mooney and kirshenbaum are confused about the nature of the problem. the goal is not to get more americans to merely accept the truth of evolution (or any other scientific theory); the goal is to get them to value the principles of reasoning and educated discourse that now make a belief in evolution obligatory. doubt about evolution is merely a symptom of an underlying condition; the condition is faith itself—conviction without sufficient reason, hope mistaken for knowledge, bad ideas protected from good ones, good ideas obscured by bad ones, wishful thinking elevated to a principle of salvation, etc. mooney and kirshenbaum seem to imagine that we can get people to value intellectual honesty by lying to them.
while it is invariably advertised as an expression of “respect” for people of faith, the accommodationism that mooney and kirshenbaum recommend is nothing more than naked condescension, motivated by fear. they assure us that people will choose religion over science, no matter how good a case is made against religion. in certain contexts, this fear is probably warranted. i wouldn’t be eager to spell out the irrationality of islam while standing in the great mosque in mecca. but let’s be honest about how mooney and kirshenbaum view public discourse in the united states: watch what you say, or the christian mob will burn down the library of alexandria all over again by comparison, the “combativeness” of the “new atheists” seems quite collegial. we are merely guilty of assuming that our fellow homo sapiens possess the requisite intelligence and emotional maturity to respond to rational argument, satire, and ridicule on the subject of religion—just as they respond to these discursive pressures on all other subjects. of course, we could be wrong. but let’s admit which side in this debate currently views our neighbors as dangerous children and which views them as adults who might prefer not to be completely mistaken about the nature of reality.
"
resisting the tyranny of the discontinuous mind
love-love-love this!
click to enlarge
what a lovely way to resist the tyranny of the discontinuous mind.
image via the friendly atheist.
click to enlarge
what a lovely way to resist the tyranny of the discontinuous mind.
image via the friendly atheist.
collapse
on national geographic, based on the book by jared diamond.
i'm listening to the audiobook now: collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive
i'm listening to the audiobook now: collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive
hitch hitch hitch hitch
view in the dark
my books by christopher hitchens (although i tend to prefer audiobooks at this age).
friends have been telling me to try lightroom, so i did. i edited this RAW file exclusively in LR3.3: i changed white balance, added contrast, some sharpening, a subtle vignette and watermark... and used its publishing service to send it straight to flickr. pretty nifty.
pictured:
the portable atheist
letters to a young contrarian
god is not great
hitch 22
sam harris: a new year's resolution for the rich
sam harris is consistently re-emerging as a hero for me.
in 2006, when i started this blog, i heard people refer to him as the world's most prominent atheist. as i read the end of faith, i came to realize how important and urgent it is for people to turn to reason-based action and to free themselves from the chains of superstition.
letter to a christian nation was a succinct encore.
last month, the moral landscape helped me to better understand questions of ethical and moral existence.
i'm repeatedly impressed by harris' ability to concisely focus and shine stark light on the most complex issues we face today.
in his latest essay, harris again faces taboo issues head-on by proposing actions by the wealthiest among us to alleviate the tragic inequality our societies face. i could quote all of it... but
snip
we now live in a country in which the bottom 40 percent (120 million people) owns just 0.3 percent of the wealth. data of this kind make one feel that one is participating in a vast psychological experiment: just how much inequality can free people endure?
/snip
harris refers to the u.s. economy, but, in my mind, it can be expanded to encompass the globe.
the entire piece, a new year's resolution for the rich, is on the huffington post.
in 2006, when i started this blog, i heard people refer to him as the world's most prominent atheist. as i read the end of faith, i came to realize how important and urgent it is for people to turn to reason-based action and to free themselves from the chains of superstition.
letter to a christian nation was a succinct encore.
last month, the moral landscape helped me to better understand questions of ethical and moral existence.
i'm repeatedly impressed by harris' ability to concisely focus and shine stark light on the most complex issues we face today.
in his latest essay, harris again faces taboo issues head-on by proposing actions by the wealthiest among us to alleviate the tragic inequality our societies face. i could quote all of it... but
snip
we now live in a country in which the bottom 40 percent (120 million people) owns just 0.3 percent of the wealth. data of this kind make one feel that one is participating in a vast psychological experiment: just how much inequality can free people endure?
/snip
harris refers to the u.s. economy, but, in my mind, it can be expanded to encompass the globe.
the entire piece, a new year's resolution for the rich, is on the huffington post.
more to give
like it? click it!
embiggen
at erato used bookstore in monastiraki, athens, greece.
i uploaded a bunch of images to redbubble! have a favorite image? get a print!
©2010 helen sotiriadis
exchanges at the frontier: episode 3
a.c. grayling discusses string theory with physicist brian greene.
i've been listening to the grand design by stephen hawking and leonard mlodinow and even though it's a bit of a struggle, it's fascinating... and this discussion, on the same theme, is helping me to understand the concepts a bit more.
via RDFRS
i've been listening to the grand design by stephen hawking and leonard mlodinow and even though it's a bit of a struggle, it's fascinating... and this discussion, on the same theme, is helping me to understand the concepts a bit more.
via RDFRS
the black cat
like it? click it!
embiggen.
... and other stories by edgar allan poe.
relaxing at a bookstore in athens.
speaking of books, have you checked out mine?
©2010 helen sotiriadis
:: fifty bits to make you wonder ::
hold on here... what's this?
click!
embiggen in the dark
i made a book!
:: fifty bits to make you wonder :: is a 110-page 25×20 cm [10×8 in] book with fifty images and the briefest of commentaries. anyone who follows my blog knows i like to share what i see and this is yet another medium for just that. you can preview this on the widget below or here -- and, if you have a large enough monitor, you can hit full screen and even read it!
blurb is a print-on-demand self-publishing service: you can order as many -- or as few -- as you like. my copy is hardcover imagewrap with premium paper, and it looks and feels very nice. if you want to order one, it's available here!
i'm toying with the idea of doing more. if you disregard the effort for the images themselves, it wasn't hard to do, and it was really a lot of fun!
©2010 helen sotiriadis
click!
embiggen in the dark
i made a book!
:: fifty bits to make you wonder :: is a 110-page 25×20 cm [10×8 in] book with fifty images and the briefest of commentaries. anyone who follows my blog knows i like to share what i see and this is yet another medium for just that. you can preview this on the widget below or here -- and, if you have a large enough monitor, you can hit full screen and even read it!
blurb is a print-on-demand self-publishing service: you can order as many -- or as few -- as you like. my copy is hardcover imagewrap with premium paper, and it looks and feels very nice. if you want to order one, it's available here!
i'm toying with the idea of doing more. if you disregard the effort for the images themselves, it wasn't hard to do, and it was really a lot of fun!
©2010 helen sotiriadis
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
