Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Cultural Logic of Computation
To a large degree my concern is the "the recent left-liberal adoption of computational evangelism fails to offset the profoundly authoritarian bent of computationalism, so that radical democratization only appears likely if one avoids looking at the computational boon to centralized power."
-David Golumbia, media studies professor at the University of Virginia, The Cultural Logic of Computation, 2009
computationalism, per Golumbia, is the phenomenon of using computers’ binary processing as the template for rational thought in general
For a short review and analysis of Golumbia's book, see:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/94465-the-cultural-logic-of-computation-by-david-golumbia
-David Golumbia, media studies professor at the University of Virginia, The Cultural Logic of Computation, 2009
computationalism, per Golumbia, is the phenomenon of using computers’ binary processing as the template for rational thought in general
For a short review and analysis of Golumbia's book, see:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/94465-the-cultural-logic-of-computation-by-david-golumbia
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Imperial Ambitions - Noam Chomsky 2005
On the Media
"One of the rules of journalism is that when you mention George Bush's name in an article, the headline has to speak of his "visions" and the article has to talk about his "dreams." Maybe there will be a photograph of him peering into the distance, right next to the article. It's become a journalistic convention. A lead story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday had the words vision and dream about ten times." (2003)
On Overcoming Propaganda
"You have to be able to develop an attitude of critical examination toward whatever is presented to you."
On Peace Activists and Others Who Want Change
"They should be realistic. Consider abolitionism. How long did the struggle go on before the abolitionist movement made any progress? If you give up every time you don't achieve the immediate gain you want, you're just guaranteeing that the worst is going to happen. These are hard, long struggles. And, in fact, what has happened in the last couple of months [regarding marches against the invasion of Iraq] should be seen quite positively. The basis was created for expansion and development of a peace and justice movement that can go on to much harder tasks. And that's the way these things are. You can't expect an easy victory after one protest march."
"If you want to do something, you have to be dedicated and committed to it day after day. Educational programs, organizing, activism. That's the way things change."
"Dedicated, committed effort can bring about significant changes of consciousness and understanding."
"One of the rules of journalism is that when you mention George Bush's name in an article, the headline has to speak of his "visions" and the article has to talk about his "dreams." Maybe there will be a photograph of him peering into the distance, right next to the article. It's become a journalistic convention. A lead story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday had the words vision and dream about ten times." (2003)
On Overcoming Propaganda
"You have to be able to develop an attitude of critical examination toward whatever is presented to you."
On Peace Activists and Others Who Want Change
"They should be realistic. Consider abolitionism. How long did the struggle go on before the abolitionist movement made any progress? If you give up every time you don't achieve the immediate gain you want, you're just guaranteeing that the worst is going to happen. These are hard, long struggles. And, in fact, what has happened in the last couple of months [regarding marches against the invasion of Iraq] should be seen quite positively. The basis was created for expansion and development of a peace and justice movement that can go on to much harder tasks. And that's the way these things are. You can't expect an easy victory after one protest march."
"If you want to do something, you have to be dedicated and committed to it day after day. Educational programs, organizing, activism. That's the way things change."
"Dedicated, committed effort can bring about significant changes of consciousness and understanding."
Does Anybody Have a Problem With That? - Bill Maher, 1996
"Someone once defined work as whatever you'd rather not do."
"A civilization is a civilization because it's civil."
"America has fallen in love with Forrest, Forrest Gump, a charming moron whose misguided message is that it's easy to get ahead in life if you're a brain-dead simpleton, and that's bad advice, even if it did work for Ronald Reagan."
In Praise of Drugs
(first aired 10/10/1993)
In the last ten years in America, drugs have gotten a bad name. That's mostly because the headlines go to the people who screw up with them, and then the whole class has to stay after. The truth is, anything you overdo or do wrong will make you sick. Food can kill you if you do too much of it. If you weigh a thousand pounds, maybe a little cocaine is just what you need. Not that I'm advocating cocaine - but I am advocating the belief that everyone in America is a different individual, and different in no place more incontrovertibly than their own physical chemistry, and that what may be a dangerous drug to you may not be a dangerous drug to me, and vice versa. Because it's not like the government forbids citizens from doing drugs - they have their list, and I don't know why their list is better than my list. Why is Halcion - which is banned in most countries and which caused one of our presidents to throw up on a Japanese prime minister - why is that drug and Valium and liquor legal, but not marijuana or mushrooms? Why did God make so many different kinds of mushrooms, and then one kind that's really different? I mean, when one species of mushroom is perfect for a cream sauce, and another for an omelette, and then there's one that makes you laugh for eight straight hours - that doesn't seem random to me. I believe God wanted us to laugh for eight straight hours sometimes, because God knows life sucks. In the Bible, Job says to God, "God, why is there suffering? Can't you take away misery?" And God says, "No. Of course not, don't be silly. If I took away misery, no one would talk to me. But here's what I'll do: I'll give you drugs." This, of course, is a paraphrasing of God's sentiments - which I read in The New Yorker. Nevertheless, God did make a rather perfect world, and it seems positively sacrilegious to question His hand in the creation of any form of life, including herbs that induce giddiness as well as insight and creativity. Drug abuse is a horrible problem, but drug use - well, let's just say it didn't hurt my record collection. Doing stupid drugs or doing any drug stupidly is an abuse of your body. But a case could also be made for a type of mind abuse that ignores natural means put on earth to expand mental vistas. If it's true that the most interesting place you can travel is inside your own head, then some people just never leave home.
"A civilization is a civilization because it's civil."
"America has fallen in love with Forrest, Forrest Gump, a charming moron whose misguided message is that it's easy to get ahead in life if you're a brain-dead simpleton, and that's bad advice, even if it did work for Ronald Reagan."
In Praise of Drugs
(first aired 10/10/1993)
In the last ten years in America, drugs have gotten a bad name. That's mostly because the headlines go to the people who screw up with them, and then the whole class has to stay after. The truth is, anything you overdo or do wrong will make you sick. Food can kill you if you do too much of it. If you weigh a thousand pounds, maybe a little cocaine is just what you need. Not that I'm advocating cocaine - but I am advocating the belief that everyone in America is a different individual, and different in no place more incontrovertibly than their own physical chemistry, and that what may be a dangerous drug to you may not be a dangerous drug to me, and vice versa. Because it's not like the government forbids citizens from doing drugs - they have their list, and I don't know why their list is better than my list. Why is Halcion - which is banned in most countries and which caused one of our presidents to throw up on a Japanese prime minister - why is that drug and Valium and liquor legal, but not marijuana or mushrooms? Why did God make so many different kinds of mushrooms, and then one kind that's really different? I mean, when one species of mushroom is perfect for a cream sauce, and another for an omelette, and then there's one that makes you laugh for eight straight hours - that doesn't seem random to me. I believe God wanted us to laugh for eight straight hours sometimes, because God knows life sucks. In the Bible, Job says to God, "God, why is there suffering? Can't you take away misery?" And God says, "No. Of course not, don't be silly. If I took away misery, no one would talk to me. But here's what I'll do: I'll give you drugs." This, of course, is a paraphrasing of God's sentiments - which I read in The New Yorker. Nevertheless, God did make a rather perfect world, and it seems positively sacrilegious to question His hand in the creation of any form of life, including herbs that induce giddiness as well as insight and creativity. Drug abuse is a horrible problem, but drug use - well, let's just say it didn't hurt my record collection. Doing stupid drugs or doing any drug stupidly is an abuse of your body. But a case could also be made for a type of mind abuse that ignores natural means put on earth to expand mental vistas. If it's true that the most interesting place you can travel is inside your own head, then some people just never leave home.
Friday, February 19, 2010
On the State of the War by advisory board to Rumsfeld's Pentagon 2004
Defense Science Board, advisory board to Donald Rumsfeld And Paul Wolfowitz's Pentagon, delivered to Wolfowitz in September 2004, but withheld from the public until after the 2004 Presidential election and only released the day before Thanksgiving (traditionally a news holiday):
The larger goals of U.S. strategy depend on separating the vast majority of nonviolent Muslims from the radical-militant Islamists-Jihadists. But American efforts have not only failed in this respect: they may have achieved the opposite of what they intended.
* Muslims do not "hate our freedom," but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the longstanding, even increasing support for what Muslims see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf states. Thus when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.
* Furthermore, in the eyes of Muslims, American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering. U.S. actions appear in contrast to be motivated by ulterior motives, and deliberately controlled in order to best serve American national interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination.
* Therefore, the dramatic narrative since 9/11 has essentially borne out the entire radical Islamist bill of particulars. American actions and the flow of events have elevated the authority of the Jihadi insurgents and tended to ratify their legitimacy among Muslims.
* Finally, Muslims see Americans as strangely narcissistic - namely, that the war is all about us. As the Muslims see it, everything about the war is - for Americans - really no more than an extension of American domestic politics and its great game. This perception is of course necessarily heightened by election-year atmospherics, but nonetheless sustains their impression that when Americans talk to Muslims they are really just talking to themselves.
The larger goals of U.S. strategy depend on separating the vast majority of nonviolent Muslims from the radical-militant Islamists-Jihadists. But American efforts have not only failed in this respect: they may have achieved the opposite of what they intended.
* Muslims do not "hate our freedom," but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the longstanding, even increasing support for what Muslims see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf states. Thus when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.
* Furthermore, in the eyes of Muslims, American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering. U.S. actions appear in contrast to be motivated by ulterior motives, and deliberately controlled in order to best serve American national interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination.
* Therefore, the dramatic narrative since 9/11 has essentially borne out the entire radical Islamist bill of particulars. American actions and the flow of events have elevated the authority of the Jihadi insurgents and tended to ratify their legitimacy among Muslims.
* Finally, Muslims see Americans as strangely narcissistic - namely, that the war is all about us. As the Muslims see it, everything about the war is - for Americans - really no more than an extension of American domestic politics and its great game. This perception is of course necessarily heightened by election-year atmospherics, but nonetheless sustains their impression that when Americans talk to Muslims they are really just talking to themselves.
On the Current Media
You know, we've put a million stories in our wastebaskets over the years, because they don't...check...out. [emphasis by author]
Today, we publish, or we broadcast, the mere fact of the accusation, regardless of whether it's filled with helium.
That's what changed in our business. We served as transmission belts for this stuff without ever inquiring into its accuracy.
Because that's the way the news business runs now.
- Tom Oliphant, Boston Globe Columnist, 2003
Today, we publish, or we broadcast, the mere fact of the accusation, regardless of whether it's filled with helium.
That's what changed in our business. We served as transmission belts for this stuff without ever inquiring into its accuracy.
Because that's the way the news business runs now.
- Tom Oliphant, Boston Globe Columnist, 2003
Social Security Solvency
Mark Weisbrot, economist for the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, has written:
- reprinted from The Truth (with Jokes) by Al Franken 2005
Social Security is currently more financially sound than it has been throughout most of its entire history. To cover any short-falls that may occur over the next 75 years would require less than we came up with in each of the decades of the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s.
- reprinted from The Truth (with Jokes) by Al Franken 2005
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic Convention Speech (excerpt)
Alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the South Side of Chicago who can't read, that matter to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief - I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper - that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.
Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the Unites States of America.
Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the Unites States of America.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them - Al Franken 2003
On the Conservative Media:
"In a surprising moment of candor, the Weekly Standard's Matt Labash told an interviewer:
On Black Republicans:
"Reeves went on to describe some of his experiences as a black Republican. 'As a Bush delegate at the 2000 convention in Philadelphia, I proudly wore my delegate's badge and Republican National Committee lapel pin as I worked the convention. Regardless of the fact that I was obviously a delegate prominently displaying my credentials, no less than six times did white delegates dismissively tell me to fetch them a taxi or carry their luggage.'"
On the "Death Tax" (taxes on inherited income):
"It is arguably more moral to tax an incredibly rich person who is dead than a middle- or working-class person who is still alive. The living person might use the money for medical care, food, travel, or other things that dead rich people don't have to think about."
On Evangelical Christians:
"Evangelical Christians fervently support the survival of Israel in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Second Coming, which, of course, will lead to the fiery death of all Jews."
- k 1/2010 (bold and initialized segments were added by me to highlight the author's words)
"In a surprising moment of candor, the Weekly Standard's Matt Labash told an interviewer:
The conservative media likes to rap the liberal media on the knuckles for not being objective. We've created this cottage industry in which it pays to be unobjective. It pays to be subjective as much as possible. It's a great way to have your cake and eat it, too. Criticize other people for not being objective. Be as subjective as you want. It's a great little racket. I'm glad we found it, actually."
On Black Republicans:
"Reeves went on to describe some of his experiences as a black Republican. 'As a Bush delegate at the 2000 convention in Philadelphia, I proudly wore my delegate's badge and Republican National Committee lapel pin as I worked the convention. Regardless of the fact that I was obviously a delegate prominently displaying my credentials, no less than six times did white delegates dismissively tell me to fetch them a taxi or carry their luggage.'"
On the "Death Tax" (taxes on inherited income):
"It is arguably more moral to tax an incredibly rich person who is dead than a middle- or working-class person who is still alive. The living person might use the money for medical care, food, travel, or other things that dead rich people don't have to think about."
On Evangelical Christians:
"Evangelical Christians fervently support the survival of Israel in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Second Coming, which, of course, will lead to the fiery death of all Jews."
- k 1/2010 (bold and initialized segments were added by me to highlight the author's words)
Monday, February 1, 2010
America on Purpose - Craig Ferguson 2009
"My son and I are Americans, we prepare for glory by failing until we don't. I wish I'd known all this earlier. It would have saved me a lot of trouble."
"We [Americans] must never mistake disagreement between Americans on political or moral issues to be an indication of their level of patriotism. If you don't like what I say or don't agree with where I stand on certain issues, then good. I'm glad we're in America and don't have to oppress each other over it. We're not just a nation. We're not an ethnicity. We are a dream of justice that people have had for thousands of years."
"America gave me everything I have today. It gave me a second chance at life. A life I had previously mishandled so catastrophically. Americans taught me failure was only something you went through on the way to success, not just in the sense of career or wealth but as a person. I learned that failure is only failure, and that it can be useful, spun into a story that will make people laugh, and maybe every once in a while give a message of hope to others who might need some. For me, becoming an American was not a geographical or even political decision. It was a philosophical and emotional one, based on a belief in reason and fairness of opportunity... Scottish by birth, but American on purpose."
"We [Americans] must never mistake disagreement between Americans on political or moral issues to be an indication of their level of patriotism. If you don't like what I say or don't agree with where I stand on certain issues, then good. I'm glad we're in America and don't have to oppress each other over it. We're not just a nation. We're not an ethnicity. We are a dream of justice that people have had for thousands of years."
"America gave me everything I have today. It gave me a second chance at life. A life I had previously mishandled so catastrophically. Americans taught me failure was only something you went through on the way to success, not just in the sense of career or wealth but as a person. I learned that failure is only failure, and that it can be useful, spun into a story that will make people laugh, and maybe every once in a while give a message of hope to others who might need some. For me, becoming an American was not a geographical or even political decision. It was a philosophical and emotional one, based on a belief in reason and fairness of opportunity... Scottish by birth, but American on purpose."
Future Evolution - An Illuminated History of Life to Come - Peter Ward 2001
"Be fertile and multiply, fill the Earth and instill fear and terror into all the animals of the Earth and birds of the sky."
- God, in a conversation with Noah
"The presence of humanity began a radical revision of the diversity of life on Earth - both in the number of species present and in their abundance relative to one another."
"It is an unambiguous fact that very early on, our species learned to manipulate the forces of evolution to suit its own purposes, creating varieties of animals and plants that would never have appeared on Earth in the absence of our will. Large-scale bioengineering was underway well before the invention of written language. We call this process domestication, but it was nothing less than efficient and ruthless bioengineering of food stocks - and the elimination of species posing a threat to those food stocks." (Man has, since first appearing, purposely manipulated the Earth to its own benefit. This is not a recent problem and the author proposes that current human actions have limited impact compared to the massive change humans created as they developed).
"Mass extinctions are both instigators of and obstacles to evolution and innovation."
"The Ice Age mass extinction resulted in a major reorganization of terrestrial ecosystems on every continent save Africa. But today Africa is making up for lost time, losing its megamammals as the large herds of game become restricted to game parks and reserves, where they easily become prey to poaching within their newly restricted habitats." (Example of conservationists acting without thinking of the consequences of the consequences.)
"In reality, we have only the haziest idea of how many species currently exist on Earth." (Therefor making it impossible to determine extinction rates and evolution rates). But "The Earth currently has more species than at any time during previous geologic epochs."
"Global diversification remains a simple equation:
"In the present-day Age of Humanity, it appears that the large-scale environmental changes causing the observed rise in extinction are abiotic - climate change and changes in landscape and vegetation - yet their ultimate cause is biotic - the actions of humans. These circumstances have no precedent on Earth."
- k 1/2010 (bold and initialized segments were added by me to highlight the author's words)
- God, in a conversation with Noah
"The presence of humanity began a radical revision of the diversity of life on Earth - both in the number of species present and in their abundance relative to one another."
"It is an unambiguous fact that very early on, our species learned to manipulate the forces of evolution to suit its own purposes, creating varieties of animals and plants that would never have appeared on Earth in the absence of our will. Large-scale bioengineering was underway well before the invention of written language. We call this process domestication, but it was nothing less than efficient and ruthless bioengineering of food stocks - and the elimination of species posing a threat to those food stocks." (Man has, since first appearing, purposely manipulated the Earth to its own benefit. This is not a recent problem and the author proposes that current human actions have limited impact compared to the massive change humans created as they developed).
"Mass extinctions are both instigators of and obstacles to evolution and innovation."
"The Ice Age mass extinction resulted in a major reorganization of terrestrial ecosystems on every continent save Africa. But today Africa is making up for lost time, losing its megamammals as the large herds of game become restricted to game parks and reserves, where they easily become prey to poaching within their newly restricted habitats." (Example of conservationists acting without thinking of the consequences of the consequences.)
"In reality, we have only the haziest idea of how many species currently exist on Earth." (Therefor making it impossible to determine extinction rates and evolution rates). But "The Earth currently has more species than at any time during previous geologic epochs."
"Global diversification remains a simple equation:
origination minus extinction = diversificationThe highest net rates of diversification seem to occur in animals with small body sizes, short generation times, wide distributions, and high abundances. Although two of these traits - wide distribution and high abundance - seem to negate new speciation, they retard extinction even more. The net result is higher diversification than extinction."
"In the present-day Age of Humanity, it appears that the large-scale environmental changes causing the observed rise in extinction are abiotic - climate change and changes in landscape and vegetation - yet their ultimate cause is biotic - the actions of humans. These circumstances have no precedent on Earth."
- k 1/2010 (bold and initialized segments were added by me to highlight the author's words)
Book of Longing - Leonard Cohen 2006
"I was struck on the head by an atheist. I never recovered my sense of confidence."
- The Luckiest Man in the World
"We are moving into a period of bewilderment, a curious moment in which people find light in the midst of despair, and vertigo at the summit of their hopes. It is a religious moment also, and here is the danger. People will want to obey the voice of Authority, and many strange constructs of just what Authority is will arise in every mind."
- Moving into a Period
I look through His eyes
as the helpless are shit on again
and the tender blooming nipple of mankind
is caught in the pincers
of power and muscle and money -
why should I seek enlightenment?
- The Collapse of Zen
Put away your courage
Haven't you noticed
how the thugs
and the blood-drinkers
are drawn to your courage
It is a provocation
in their sight
Give it back to the rocks
to the mud
to that which supports the mud
End this ugly experiment
with the human heart
- Unbecoming
Stand there
in the vanity
of your solitude
Summon the short-lived tears
the shallow laughter
the comforts
that obey your suffering
that embrace your defeat
- Unbecoming
I was not meant
to be renown
in the present
market town,
but in the future
some may find
What might be used
to change a mind
from slaughter
in the name of peace
to honouring
complexities,
and thus influence
politics
with deeper balance
deeper checks.
- All My News
even though he
was built to see
the world this
way, he was also
built to
disregard, to be
free of the way
he was built
to see the world
- A Private Gaze
- The Luckiest Man in the World
"We are moving into a period of bewilderment, a curious moment in which people find light in the midst of despair, and vertigo at the summit of their hopes. It is a religious moment also, and here is the danger. People will want to obey the voice of Authority, and many strange constructs of just what Authority is will arise in every mind."
- Moving into a Period
I look through His eyes
as the helpless are shit on again
and the tender blooming nipple of mankind
is caught in the pincers
of power and muscle and money -
why should I seek enlightenment?
- The Collapse of Zen
Put away your courage
Haven't you noticed
how the thugs
and the blood-drinkers
are drawn to your courage
It is a provocation
in their sight
Give it back to the rocks
to the mud
to that which supports the mud
End this ugly experiment
with the human heart
- Unbecoming
Stand there
in the vanity
of your solitude
Summon the short-lived tears
the shallow laughter
the comforts
that obey your suffering
that embrace your defeat
- Unbecoming
I was not meant
to be renown
in the present
market town,
but in the future
some may find
What might be used
to change a mind
from slaughter
in the name of peace
to honouring
complexities,
and thus influence
politics
with deeper balance
deeper checks.
- All My News
even though he
was built to see
the world this
way, he was also
built to
disregard, to be
free of the way
he was built
to see the world
- A Private Gaze
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friends & Religion Mixed Up
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Why should we care about the Earth when our duty is to the poor and the sick amongst us. God will take care of the Earth."
- Mother Theresa, 1988
"There are four prophets who are worshiped and venerated throughout the world. The Christians worship Jesus Christ; the Saracens worship Mohammed; the Jews, Moses; and the idolaters, Sakyamuni Burkham [Buddha]. I honor and respect all four and through them I honor Almighty God who is in heaven and to whom I pray for help."
- Kublai Khan, from The Travels of Marco Polo (approximately 1270 to 1300)
"What's at the root of all religions?
"Death! Or, more precisely, the fear of death."
- Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith 2008
"Religion is based on dissatisfaction with the real world."
- Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith 2008
"Why do we need religion at all? Wouldn't life work just as well if we kept ourselves higher than kites on an assortment of drugs, so we could maintain the moronically blissful grin one sees on so many born-again Christians?"
- Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith 2008
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Why should we care about the Earth when our duty is to the poor and the sick amongst us. God will take care of the Earth."
- Mother Theresa, 1988
"There are four prophets who are worshiped and venerated throughout the world. The Christians worship Jesus Christ; the Saracens worship Mohammed; the Jews, Moses; and the idolaters, Sakyamuni Burkham [Buddha]. I honor and respect all four and through them I honor Almighty God who is in heaven and to whom I pray for help."
- Kublai Khan, from The Travels of Marco Polo (approximately 1270 to 1300)
"What's at the root of all religions?
"Death! Or, more precisely, the fear of death."
- Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith 2008
"Religion is based on dissatisfaction with the real world."
- Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith 2008
"Why do we need religion at all? Wouldn't life work just as well if we kept ourselves higher than kites on an assortment of drugs, so we could maintain the moronically blissful grin one sees on so many born-again Christians?"
- Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith 2008
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis & the Fate of Humanity by James Lovelock, 2006
"We are dangerously ignorant of our own ignorance, and rarely try to see things as a whole."
"What makes it [this book on global warming] different is that I speak as a planetary physician whose patient, the living Earth, complains of fever."
"We have grown in number to the point where our presence is perceptibly disabling the planet like a disease. As in human diseases there are four possible outcomes: destruction of the invading disease organisms; chronic infection; destruction of the host; or symbiosis - a lasting relationship of mutual benefit to the host and the invader."
"Smoke and dust pollution of the northern hemisphere reduces global warming by reflecting sunlight back to space. This 'global dimming' is transient and could disappear in a few days if there were an economic downturn or a reduction of fossil fuel burning."
"We are still tribal carnivores. We are programmed by our inheritance to see other living things as mainly something to eat, and we care more about our national tribe than anything else. We will even give our lives for it and are quite ready to kill other humans in the cruelest of ways for the good of our tribe."
In-depth discussion of these rather strange quotes can be found at:
http://katheswritings.blogspot.com
"What makes it [this book on global warming] different is that I speak as a planetary physician whose patient, the living Earth, complains of fever."
"We have grown in number to the point where our presence is perceptibly disabling the planet like a disease. As in human diseases there are four possible outcomes: destruction of the invading disease organisms; chronic infection; destruction of the host; or symbiosis - a lasting relationship of mutual benefit to the host and the invader."
"Smoke and dust pollution of the northern hemisphere reduces global warming by reflecting sunlight back to space. This 'global dimming' is transient and could disappear in a few days if there were an economic downturn or a reduction of fossil fuel burning."
"We are still tribal carnivores. We are programmed by our inheritance to see other living things as mainly something to eat, and we care more about our national tribe than anything else. We will even give our lives for it and are quite ready to kill other humans in the cruelest of ways for the good of our tribe."
In-depth discussion of these rather strange quotes can be found at:
http://katheswritings.blogspot.com
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Economics of Life by Gary S Becker & Guity Nashat Becker
Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life (publ 1999)
"We do not identify with any political party in the United States since none takes a consistent position on whether individuals respond to incentives and know their own interests better than politicians and bureaucrats do," Gary S. Becker, Nobel Prize in Economics 1992
"Some intellectuals even expect politicians, voters, and readers to quickly accept cogent analysis that is stated clearly and forcefully. In our judgment, this claim is a very mistaken view of the impact of ideas on policies and beliefs. Political decisions are not mainly determined by a dispassionate evaluation of ideas and analysis, but by a pragmatic balancing of power among competing special and general purpose pressure groups. Ideas are often impotent when arrayed against powerful interests."
"The economic way of thinking, with its recognition that choices are sensitive to the costs and benefits of different actions, offers many insights into economic, social & political behavior. These insights are overlooked by persons who look at behavior from purely political, social, or psychological perspectives."
On: Do rich countries inherently have lower economic growth rates than developing countries?
"Rich countries that do not perform well should blame policies and behavior - not age and wealth. Their rate of growth will not slow if they avoid complacency and the perennial temptation to overregulate and control economic life."
"It is far easier to create bad public programs than to eliminate them once they have been around for a while. This old but frequently ignored law of political science has been called "the tyranny of the status quo," and it helps explain why even downright perverse government policies stubbornly survive and sometimes even expand."
k's notes:
(1) Highlights in bold and/or italic were added by me to capture and remember the essence.
(2) Author Gary Becker has not published another book since this one appeared in 1999. Unfortunately, it has major drawbacks:
- It is a collection of essays written for Business Week and, therefore, are too short to include actual data. References to others' research is documented and we are told why it is wrong. But the author's own research is not and so cannot be compared.
- The author likes to predict things like "the immense cost to business" of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Predictions are ridiculous when there is no follow-up work to refine the model based on actual data.
- Heavy slant toward companies, as expected in Business Week. While the authors rightfully claim no pressure to slant articles by Business Week, the authors were specifically chosen to write a Business Week column due to their slant toward business. Interestingly, the authors ignore this fact - that analyses are biased in both directions.
- Some interesting ideas in the book but, if you have read Freakonomics first, don't bother with this 1999 book. Although hailed as the first "freakonomic," Becker's work suffers greatly by the time periods he would select for studies, specific comparisons of regions of his own choosing, and assumptions of how people behave based on his lifetime (basically 1960-1990) experience.
- The only way to truly learn from this book is by doing or finding the follow-up data & research that tells us if his predictions came to pass - especially with the recent massive global trade increase and the current economic crisis. One simple example: Becker is positive that unemployment would go up 1-2% (from 5 to 7%) if the minimum wage was increased. Since his prediction, unemployment went down significantly due to economic growth even in the face of higher minimum wages, but unemployment is currently about 10% - well above anything Becker imagined. Rather obviously, increasing the minimum wage is only one small part of the health of companies. And, it's not worth raving about as a giant issue!
"We do not identify with any political party in the United States since none takes a consistent position on whether individuals respond to incentives and know their own interests better than politicians and bureaucrats do," Gary S. Becker, Nobel Prize in Economics 1992
"Some intellectuals even expect politicians, voters, and readers to quickly accept cogent analysis that is stated clearly and forcefully. In our judgment, this claim is a very mistaken view of the impact of ideas on policies and beliefs. Political decisions are not mainly determined by a dispassionate evaluation of ideas and analysis, but by a pragmatic balancing of power among competing special and general purpose pressure groups. Ideas are often impotent when arrayed against powerful interests."
"The economic way of thinking, with its recognition that choices are sensitive to the costs and benefits of different actions, offers many insights into economic, social & political behavior. These insights are overlooked by persons who look at behavior from purely political, social, or psychological perspectives."
On: Do rich countries inherently have lower economic growth rates than developing countries?
"Rich countries that do not perform well should blame policies and behavior - not age and wealth. Their rate of growth will not slow if they avoid complacency and the perennial temptation to overregulate and control economic life."
"It is far easier to create bad public programs than to eliminate them once they have been around for a while. This old but frequently ignored law of political science has been called "the tyranny of the status quo," and it helps explain why even downright perverse government policies stubbornly survive and sometimes even expand."
k's notes:
(1) Highlights in bold and/or italic were added by me to capture and remember the essence.
(2) Author Gary Becker has not published another book since this one appeared in 1999. Unfortunately, it has major drawbacks:
- It is a collection of essays written for Business Week and, therefore, are too short to include actual data. References to others' research is documented and we are told why it is wrong. But the author's own research is not and so cannot be compared.
- The author likes to predict things like "the immense cost to business" of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Predictions are ridiculous when there is no follow-up work to refine the model based on actual data.
- Heavy slant toward companies, as expected in Business Week. While the authors rightfully claim no pressure to slant articles by Business Week, the authors were specifically chosen to write a Business Week column due to their slant toward business. Interestingly, the authors ignore this fact - that analyses are biased in both directions.
- Some interesting ideas in the book but, if you have read Freakonomics first, don't bother with this 1999 book. Although hailed as the first "freakonomic," Becker's work suffers greatly by the time periods he would select for studies, specific comparisons of regions of his own choosing, and assumptions of how people behave based on his lifetime (basically 1960-1990) experience.
- The only way to truly learn from this book is by doing or finding the follow-up data & research that tells us if his predictions came to pass - especially with the recent massive global trade increase and the current economic crisis. One simple example: Becker is positive that unemployment would go up 1-2% (from 5 to 7%) if the minimum wage was increased. Since his prediction, unemployment went down significantly due to economic growth even in the face of higher minimum wages, but unemployment is currently about 10% - well above anything Becker imagined. Rather obviously, increasing the minimum wage is only one small part of the health of companies. And, it's not worth raving about as a giant issue!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Good Omens 12/27/09
"Ineffability"
- Good Omens (book) by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
"Offer people a new creed with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow."
On Writing &/or other Professional Expertise
"Terry [Pratchett] has been writing professionally for a very long time, honing his craft, getting quietly better and better. The biggest problem he faces is the problem of excellence: he makes it look easy. This can be a problem. The public doesn't know where the craft lies. It's wiser to make it look harder than it is, a lesson all jugglers learn."
- Neil Gaimen on Terry Pratchett
On Writing &/or other Professional Expertise
"Well, he's no genius. He's better than that. He's not a wizard in other words, but a conjurer. Wizards don't have to work. They wave their hands and the magic happens. But conjurers now... conjurors work very hard. They spend a lot of time in their youth watching,very carefully, the best conjurors of their day. They seek out old books of trickery and, being natural conjurors, read everything else as well, because history itself is just a magic show. They observe the way people think, and the many ways in which they don't."
- Terry Pratchett on Neil Gaimen
- Good Omens (book) by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
"Offer people a new creed with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow."
On Writing &/or other Professional Expertise
"Terry [Pratchett] has been writing professionally for a very long time, honing his craft, getting quietly better and better. The biggest problem he faces is the problem of excellence: he makes it look easy. This can be a problem. The public doesn't know where the craft lies. It's wiser to make it look harder than it is, a lesson all jugglers learn."
- Neil Gaimen on Terry Pratchett
On Writing &/or other Professional Expertise
"Well, he's no genius. He's better than that. He's not a wizard in other words, but a conjurer. Wizards don't have to work. They wave their hands and the magic happens. But conjurers now... conjurors work very hard. They spend a lot of time in their youth watching,very carefully, the best conjurors of their day. They seek out old books of trickery and, being natural conjurors, read everything else as well, because history itself is just a magic show. They observe the way people think, and the many ways in which they don't."
- Terry Pratchett on Neil Gaimen
Seven Years in Tibet 12/26/09
"Tibetans believe all living things were their mothers in a past life. So we must show them respect and repay their kindness. And never ever harm anything that lives."
- The Dalai Lama, Seven Years in Tibet (movie - docudrama)
"When you are not strong enough to fight, you should embrace your enemy. With both arms around you, he cannot point a gun at you. Nothing in politics is a matter of honor, my friend."
- The Dalai Lama
"All beings tremble before danger and death. Life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. You must understand that these words are engraved in the heart of every Tibetan. It is why we are a peaceful people who reject violence on principle. I pray you will see this as our greatest strength, not our weakness."
"Religion is poison."
- Communist Chinese General
"To return a gift is unforgiveable."
"There was a time I would have wished you dead. But your shame will be your torture and your torture will be your life. I wish it to be long."
"We have a saying in Tibet. If the problem can be solved, there is no use worrying about it. If it can't be solved, worrying will do no good."
- The Dalai Lama
- The Dalai Lama, Seven Years in Tibet (movie - docudrama)
"When you are not strong enough to fight, you should embrace your enemy. With both arms around you, he cannot point a gun at you. Nothing in politics is a matter of honor, my friend."
- The Dalai Lama
"All beings tremble before danger and death. Life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. You must understand that these words are engraved in the heart of every Tibetan. It is why we are a peaceful people who reject violence on principle. I pray you will see this as our greatest strength, not our weakness."
"Religion is poison."
- Communist Chinese General
"To return a gift is unforgiveable."
"There was a time I would have wished you dead. But your shame will be your torture and your torture will be your life. I wish it to be long."
"We have a saying in Tibet. If the problem can be solved, there is no use worrying about it. If it can't be solved, worrying will do no good."
- The Dalai Lama
Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
"The media never met a potential apocalypse it didn't like."
"People respond to incentives."
"People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, one of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of unintended consequences."
"The brilliant rationalist had encountered a central, frustrating tenet of human nature: behavior change is hard."
"When people aren't compelled to pay the full costs of their actions, they have little incentive to change their behavior."
"Like all the best religions, fear of climate change satisfies our need for guilt, and self-disgust, and that eternal human sense that technological progress must be punished by the gods. And the fear of climate change is like a religion in this vital sense, that it is veiled in mystery, and you can never tell whether your acts of propitiation or atonement have been any way successful."
- Boris Johnson, journalist and previous mayor of London
"People respond to incentives."
"People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, one of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of unintended consequences."
"The brilliant rationalist had encountered a central, frustrating tenet of human nature: behavior change is hard."
"When people aren't compelled to pay the full costs of their actions, they have little incentive to change their behavior."
"Like all the best religions, fear of climate change satisfies our need for guilt, and self-disgust, and that eternal human sense that technological progress must be punished by the gods. And the fear of climate change is like a religion in this vital sense, that it is veiled in mystery, and you can never tell whether your acts of propitiation or atonement have been any way successful."
- Boris Johnson, journalist and previous mayor of London
"The Hangover" or twas too much for facebook... 12/27/09
“Yeah, well, if I ever get a gun again, I’ll probably shoot him.”
“Why don’t you just ruin his laundry?”
-State of Nature: War by Nicholas Slaughter
“There are these little spots floating around. Are any of you getting this?”
In his most derisive voice, Horace said, “It’s snow, you moron.”
“Fuckin’ A.”
-State of Nature: Civilization by Nicholas Slaughter
"In life a person really only has three choices: to run, to spectate or to commit."
- City of Joy (movie)
"The stated authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."
- Galileo (presumed)
"Billiions of dollars could be saved annually on packaging materials if all shipping boxes and all packages of food in the supermarket were spheres."
- The Pluto Files by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
"You might become more skeptical of the conventional wisdom; you may begin looking for hints as to how things aren't quite what they seem; perhaps you will seek out some trove of data and sift through it, balancing your intelligence and your intuition to arrive at a glimmering new idea. Some of these ideas might make you uncomfortable, even unpopular...But the fact of the matter is that Freakonomics-style thinking simply doesn't traffic in morality. As we suggested near the beginning of this book, if morality represents an ideal world, then economics presents the actual world."
- Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
And more on the true scientific method...
"The organization of the solar system, how the solar system came to be the way it is - those are genuine scientific questions. But the labels you give things - no. You're having an argument over something you generate rather than what is fundamental to the universe."
- The Pluto Files by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
"Power is a disease one has no desire to be cured of."
- Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician from 1946 to the present notable for his scandalous schemes and intimate connections with the mafia & the Roman Catholic Church.
"There's something wonderful about the way dogs live in the moment. They don't look back. They don't yearn. They don't want what they don't have. Clearly, we are not like that as a nation." - David Frankel, director "Marley & Me"
“Economy in decline. Sound familiar? What a difference three months doesn't make.” - CNBC, January 2009
“Love him or hate him, Bush has undeniably been a President who tried doing things differently, but nevertheless got different results. He is the free-market apostle who wound up ordering massive government intervention. The clarion of free trade and lawful immigration who leaves office with protectionism and isolationism resurgent. The would-be uniter with the wedgelike effect.” - Time, 1/26/09
“We were trying to say something differently, but nevertheless it conveyed a different message.” - George W. Bush's final news conference, January 2009.
"Sometimes you misunderestimated me," George Bush, final news conference as President, 1/12/09
“Why don’t you just ruin his laundry?”
-State of Nature: War by Nicholas Slaughter
“There are these little spots floating around. Are any of you getting this?”
In his most derisive voice, Horace said, “It’s snow, you moron.”
“Fuckin’ A.”
-State of Nature: Civilization by Nicholas Slaughter
"In life a person really only has three choices: to run, to spectate or to commit."
- City of Joy (movie)
"The stated authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."
- Galileo (presumed)
"Billiions of dollars could be saved annually on packaging materials if all shipping boxes and all packages of food in the supermarket were spheres."
- The Pluto Files by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
"You might become more skeptical of the conventional wisdom; you may begin looking for hints as to how things aren't quite what they seem; perhaps you will seek out some trove of data and sift through it, balancing your intelligence and your intuition to arrive at a glimmering new idea. Some of these ideas might make you uncomfortable, even unpopular...But the fact of the matter is that Freakonomics-style thinking simply doesn't traffic in morality. As we suggested near the beginning of this book, if morality represents an ideal world, then economics presents the actual world."
- Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
And more on the true scientific method...
"The organization of the solar system, how the solar system came to be the way it is - those are genuine scientific questions. But the labels you give things - no. You're having an argument over something you generate rather than what is fundamental to the universe."
- The Pluto Files by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
"Power is a disease one has no desire to be cured of."
- Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician from 1946 to the present notable for his scandalous schemes and intimate connections with the mafia & the Roman Catholic Church.
"There's something wonderful about the way dogs live in the moment. They don't look back. They don't yearn. They don't want what they don't have. Clearly, we are not like that as a nation." - David Frankel, director "Marley & Me"
“Economy in decline. Sound familiar? What a difference three months doesn't make.” - CNBC, January 2009
“Love him or hate him, Bush has undeniably been a President who tried doing things differently, but nevertheless got different results. He is the free-market apostle who wound up ordering massive government intervention. The clarion of free trade and lawful immigration who leaves office with protectionism and isolationism resurgent. The would-be uniter with the wedgelike effect.” - Time, 1/26/09
“We were trying to say something differently, but nevertheless it conveyed a different message.” - George W. Bush's final news conference, January 2009.
"Sometimes you misunderestimated me," George Bush, final news conference as President, 1/12/09
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