Persistent Thursday

On Morality

PricklePrickle — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:17:25 +0000

Frequently, I find that atheists and freethinkers will point out the moral flaws in famous religious figures, apparently in much the same way that creationists will claim that Charles Darwin was a terrible person. Frequently, religious people will respond that this is an ad hominem attack on the faithful, or that we’re just poisoning the well. If this were true, those who engage in such “character assassination” would be no better than the creationists who attack evolution by attacking Darwin’s character. Naturally, this is not the case, as the actual argument from the immorality of religious people, or the greater morality of the irreligious is not an indictment of religion in general, but a rebuttal of the common claim that religion is necessary for moral behavior, or that the non-religious are immoral. That part of the argument has a tendency to get forgotten or omitted, either because the author expected the audience to be aware of it, or because the reader missed it amidst the “character assassination.”

Just thought I’d help clear that up a bit

~PMI EF1

I’m still here

PricklePrickle — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:53:38 +0000

Just very quiet. Apparently that’s me in a nutshell. Either I have nothing to say, or I explode with a torrent of useless babble. I wonder if this blog counts as a failed experiment yet, or can I salvage it, like I will with my roommate’s saltwater tank?

Does anyone out there read Russian? I got a comment in Russian the other day, with a link to Tzeentch only knows where. I figure it’s probably spam, but I don’t want to throw it out immediately.

People are funny

PricklePrickle — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:43:19 +0000

Well, they at least make me laugh, which is close enough. Got a hit the other day from the search string “does uncooked pasts expire.” I see what happened there, and it’s the sort of spelling error I make all the time, but it got me thinking. “How does one cook a past?” One can let a memory or thought simmer, is that the same? Would “past” be an acceptable synonym for “memory”? If so, does thinking over a memory qualify as cooking it, and does this in any way affect the shelf life of said memory? I would expect an uncooked past, by this definition to expire much faster than a cooked one, but a cooked past would probably taste a little different than a raw one. I guess that would be the point of cooking one, wouldn’t it?

Just something that got me thinking.

Issues

PricklePrickle — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:13:29 +0000

My mother, despite being a devout Catholic her entire life, has done more to foster a love of learning, and a need to question, than any other person in my life. By actually answering my questions, she encouraged me to ask more, which, eventually, led to my atheism. Ironic, but, thank you, Mom.

I have two issues in mind right now, and both of these were raised while I was in Catholic school. The questions were, 1)”Why did they use the cross for execution?” and “Why did the pharisees oppose Jesus?”

Both of these questions had previously been answered by my mother, and I had forgotten. The first, “It was an easy way to put up a human on display.” The second, “They, like all people, were afraid of change.” What did my teachers, a nun and a priest say? The first, “Well, we use the cross as a symbol because Jesus died on it.” The second, “Well, the pharisees show up a lot in Matthew, and they frequently oppose Jesus.”

That was it. Both questions were completely avoided or totally misinterpreted. I hope it was the latter, but the former seems more likely on the second question. This has bothered me for over eight years. An easy, sensible, likely right, answer was there, but the priest, who should know the answer, avoided the question entirely.

Just wanted to vent.

Thinkies

PricklePrickle — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:11:52 +0000

Chili. Specifically, chili with beans. Chili, clearly, is not the beans. However, the dish is frequently called “chili con carne,” literally “chili with meat,” and can often be made vegetarian. So it’s clearly not the meat. In that case, what is chili? If it has neither beans nor meat, what is left?

Sadly, as interesting and fun as the original thought train was, research led to the conclusion (seen at the Wikipedia article above) that it is, in fact, in the chili is in the chiles, which was the original term. It’s mostly in the mixture of spices, with things like beans and meat being added for substance as much as for flavor. Nonetheless, it can be seen, even in this mundane example, that no individual part can be said to be the essence, and that the essence is an emergent property of the parts when put together.

Hypotheses

PricklePrickle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:23:25 +0000

As a result of being both intensely curious and fabulously nerdy, I tend to think about random things a lot. This results in a fact or question filtering into my mental filing system, and giving birth to a spontaneous hypothesis, built on little more than speculation. I will be storing these in this post, and future posts under th “hypothesis” category.

Hypothesis 1: Dreaming.

Developed during a Psych 101 lecture on Tzeentch knows what, I developed the idea that dreams are based on the functioning of the brain. The brain, I reasoned, works through electrochemical processes, so some charge must get scattered around, left to build up. The process of sleep, then, would be twofold: first, to rest the body, and second, and possibly more importantly, to rest the mind by releasing these charges. The dream state is, usually, the mind releasing leftover charge, which results in thoughts being caused pseudo-randomly. What little memories we would have of these thoughts would be forged into a “coherent” whole by our imperfect memory systems. This would explain why dreams are accompanied, usually, by a distinct and active set of brainwaves, and why they have a tendency to correspond to our day, or whatever we were thinking about immediately before sleep.

Just a thought. No research at all went into that, so I could be (and probably am) very wrong. I will now proceed to attend the U Google and take a few classes in the biology and chemistry of the brain, to see if I can figure out the truth or falsehood behind this hypothesis.

Assumption one: The brain works through electrochemical processes, which can result in excess electropotential force between neurons.

Research:

I actually just got distracted for an hour reading about Schizophrenia on the Wikipedia, (CURSE YOU, INSATIABLE CURIOSITY!!) and the current research on dreams. I currently have 11 tabs open, and only one of them doesn’t relate to this post. I’ll get back to this some other day.

AHA! (PHI 215, lecture 4)

PricklePrickle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:18:14 +0000

Consider this:

Fourteen is twice (2x) seven, but only half (1/2) of twenty-eight.

What’s the difference between seven and twenty-eight? Twenty-one! Noticing a pattern yet?

What’s twenty-one? Three times seven, and three and seven make ten, which is two times FIVE!

Coincidence? I think NOT!

Slide post

PricklePrickle — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:25:03 +0000

I’m sorry about the long silence. I’ve got something planned, but I’ve got a minor illness that’s postponing it. In the meantime, enjoy this.

Following recent discoveries that prescription drugs – including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones – have been found in drinking water across the U.S., it has just been revealed that another team has found homeopathic drugs in American tap water

The title refers to the fact that I’m trying to slide through on this lesser stuff. Or that I’m attempting to slide it in beneath my reader’s notice (no, reader is supposed to be singular there. I’ve no illusions about my popularity)

Too many poets aren’t me

PricklePrickle — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:50:05 +0000

Quoting Patrick:

And that’s the only religious position I feel like defending. If there is a God, He favors atheists. Why? Because they are cruising around in His world, doing the best they can and coming to the only workable conclusion with the tools He gave them. They don’t snivel and whine when things don’t work out, they don’t ask for handouts or guidance, and they don’t go around trying to speak in his name. When God made atheists, dammit if they didn’t hit the ground running!