I asked ChatGPT to give eight headings to structure my thoughts around how I might approach this topic. It volunteered eight with a whole bunch of subheadings. Obviously, these are interrelated and might be reorganized differently and supplemented. Also, it might make for a long post, and my post will touch on much that I … Continue reading My Politics
Category: other stuff
I was going to write a longish screed about the equality-equity debate. The meme typically shows some version of the first two panels. And of course, other versions depict rich people with many boxes, and the rest are dug into pits. Anyway, this is my version. Hope it speaks for itself.
Recently, a whole bunch of flat Earth-type videos have appeared in my YouTube suggestions. But it is an interesting question. Just ignoring the massive acceptance of the Earth being an oblate spheroid. Ignoring the millennia of people measuring the Earth's radius, engineers accounting for the Earth's curvature for large projects, ie, long tunnels and bridges, … Continue reading Cavendish
People have a strange capability of believing weird things. Some examples: The world is flat The moon landings were fake Vaccines are harmful and microchips The Earth is only six to ten thousand years old Donald Trump was worth voting for a second time Angels and jinns Karma and reincarnation Afterlife Divine Birth of Jesus … Continue reading Beliefs
Scientism is used as a pejorative. I could argue it is a reaction of philosophy to science, in a similar way that Luddites react to technology. Generally, scientism is seen as a use of science that is in some way inapplicable to a phenomenon or circumstance. ScienceBut first, what is science? Well, it is a … Continue reading Scientism
Sometimes, I despair when I hear some people describing President Donald Trump as amoral. I can't help thinking what those people mean is, that Trump's actions don't comport with their idea of the right way for a President to behave. To my mind that fits with the concept of immoral rather than amoral. Some might … Continue reading Amorality
Do we live in a zero-sum1 universe? Well, the answer is yes, no, maybe. In writing this essay, I was reminded of an episode early on in my second ‘real’ job. Our company sponsored a local university professor, and in return, the professor and perhaps a protégé would give lectures for a day or two … Continue reading Zero-Sum
Recently, I came across a letter from Einstein to a grieving father, Dr Robert Marcus, who happened to be a rabbi and had written in desperation. The father’s letter seems to have come from a book by Naomi Levy, called Einstein and The Rabbi. The two predominant questions to Einstein were: Is there any consolation … Continue reading Death
I have not posted in a while, so I thought I'd post this brief interaction with ChatGPT on the subject of consciousness as an epiphenomenon. The program, I have to say, is a smooth-talking bastard, but in a good way (a way that I like).Incidentally, the image is created by ChatGPT (DALL·E 3) I asked: … Continue reading Epiphenomenon
Came across this TED talk by Hughes today. The talk was neither strident nor unreasonable. The general premise is that our policies should be 'colourblind'. Meaning that the policies should be indifferent to race. And that policies should be based on class instead, where the target groups, black and Hispanic, are over represented in the … Continue reading Blindness
rom's corner 