tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8039655111478741362011-10-11T21:23:45.992-07:00"The mu answer [tells] the scientist that the context of his question is too small for nature's answer and that he must enlarge the context of the question." –Zen and the Art of Motorcycle MaintenanceDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.comBlogger351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-57668827261416456002011-09-05T21:02:00.000-07:002011-09-05T21:02:45.065-07:00

"If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time. A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it." —George Carlin I recently moved from Indianapolis, Indiana to the San Francisco Bay area for a new job with Meebo, and I decided to skip the moving truck, sell the car, and travel by airplane. That's the what, when, and where. Now for the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-58843350524401071232011-06-19T13:50:00.000-07:002011-06-19T13:50:53.216-07:00

About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember some one saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service! —Charles Darwin Imagine

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-29538346133682045822011-03-27T18:43:00.000-07:002011-03-27T18:43:19.998-07:00

"For rain that's falling halfway down the sky I apologize"—"I apologize", Splender I've never understood why, if God exists, he would leave so many people so much room for doubt about his mere existence. I've heard people say, "What do you mean? I see God working in my life every day!" and, "If you're not looking for miracles, you won't notice them." That may be true, but I don't understand why

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-60789744730112508582011-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:002011-01-30T10:44:02.129-08:00

I'm totally outraged at the way state lotteries are managed, specifically the massive advertising campaigns they run. There's an excellent article from the Washington Monthly about it that basically explains what I'm so angry about. I'd really encourage you to read the whole article, but I'll summarize the main points I got from it: lottery programs are hugely successful marketing machines that

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-18102339033605069472011-01-02T14:17:00.000-08:002011-01-02T14:21:14.406-08:00

"Colonel," I said in a serious tone, "let me tell you something about these locks: When the door to the safe or the top drawer of the filing cabinet is left open, it's very easy for someone to get the combination."...The colonel had sent a note around to everyone in the plant which said, "During his last visit, was Mr. Feynman at any time in your office, near your office, or walking through your

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-76824499090843176612010-11-03T17:31:00.000-07:002010-11-03T17:35:06.202-07:00

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.—The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy I was watching an interview with Colin McGinn where he said that he thought the ontological argument is interesting because nobody's ever managed to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with it even though it's wholly unconvincing to everybody who hears it. There are lots of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-3825298063673854262010-11-01T19:37:00.000-07:002010-11-01T19:37:51.173-07:00

I'm not happy about several aspects of the way voting has been working in our country. I hate all the mudslinging, I'm irritated with all the manipulation and confusion, and I feel very powerless as an individual voter. I think there are some small steps we the people could take that could unlock the full power of our voting system in subtle ways, and stop people hijacking our intentions. It's

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-31301337060955166602010-10-03T16:02:00.000-07:002011-04-02T16:38:32.932-07:00

I've had a lot of random thoughts about Wikipedia stewing for a while. It's finally time for me to get them out, and hopefully some interesting discussion will come out of it. A Little HistoryOne of the most interesting aspects of Wikipedia's history, to me, is that its creators initially didn't think it would work. It was a lark. Before Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanders worked on a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-56774918498138467442010-09-19T10:48:00.000-07:002010-10-19T06:43:19.982-07:00

After 5 months with Netflix's Instant Streaming disc for the Wii, I've got some observations to share.The GoodFor one thing, the disc is free! All you need is a Netflix account and a Wii. Order the disc, and it'll come in the mail in 1-2 business days. Pop it in your Wii, connect your Wii to your account, and you're good to go with your queue and everything.For me, it's made Netflix's instant

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-17442571838672063102010-09-16T21:51:00.001-07:002010-09-16T21:56:10.454-07:00

Joshu asked Nansen, "What is the Way?""Ordinary mind is the Way," Nansen replied.—Kōan 19, MumonkanI'm thinking about mixing it up a bit and having more blog posts that don't require their own footnotes and citations. I thought about creating a separate blog for that, but a) then I'd have two blogs that rarely get updated, and b) I think this blog is too stuffy and could stand some fresh air once

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-26920838391997725152010-09-16T20:00:00.000-07:002010-09-19T10:37:00.063-07:00

The fire washes my soul clean And what remains is a mouthful of ashes—"Asche zu Asche", Rammstein (translated) I've laid out in my previous post some of the reasons I'm not completely satisfied ruling out the idea of an immaterial soul. Now I want to paint a picture of why I'm not comfortable accepting the idea of souls wholesale. But first, I need to flesh things out a bit more... If there must

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-43453763290986435772010-09-11T13:37:00.000-07:002010-09-19T10:36:35.970-07:00

"Water, 35 litres. Carbon, 20kg. Ammonia, 4 litres. Lime, 1.5kg. Phosphorus, 800g. Salt, 250 g. Salt Peter, 100g. Sulphur, 80g. Fluorine, 7.5g. Iron, 5g. Silicon 3g. And trace amounts of fifteen other elements. Those are the elements to make an average adult human body. You can buy these elemental ingredients at the market with the pocket money of a child."—Fullmetal Alchemist I've been thinking

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-8988651227398434712010-05-02T06:45:00.000-07:002010-11-01T09:55:49.065-07:00

Say this world is not so shallowWhen you can't beg steal or borrow.Save your breath your soul is hollow,And it's all too much to swallow.—"The Remedy", Abandoned PoolsHe with nothing to say shouts loudest. Or something like that. Think of politicians, picketers, and advertisers. Some of them might have something worthwhile to sell you, but not the ones that get your attention and flood the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-23470951322999668102009-12-22T16:21:00.000-08:002009-12-22T19:51:56.838-08:00

Look through a faithless eyeAre you afraid to die?—"Thoughts of a Dying Atheist", MuseI've heard a lot of speculation here and there about a link between depression and atheism. It certainly makes sense to Christians that without God and a life purpose, there's just no reason to get out of bed in the morning. And there's enough circumstantial evidence that you don't have to be living under a rock

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-40096344194836473492009-08-06T16:31:00.000-07:002010-06-06T10:59:39.990-07:00

I hold a lot of uncommon beliefs, but determinism is probably the most infuriating to argue for. Free will advocates and "incompatibilists" seem to hold by far the majority view (although I can't find any relevant statistics). They argue that in a deterministic universe, a criminal justice system, the concept of choice, and "getting out of bed in the morning" make no sense, all of which I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-18065981654271514652009-04-21T07:01:00.000-07:002009-05-01T22:29:37.736-07:00

There seems to be a lot of buzz in the theological community lately about the "Argument from Fine-Tuned Constants", which is an argument for Intelligent Design that claims that a universe like ours can only exist when certain universal physical constants lie within a very narrow range. I have a lot of problems with this argument, and I argue that not only is it not very compelling, but it's an

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-53754110513193003772009-04-06T09:19:00.000-07:002009-04-06T10:34:36.890-07:00

I knowYou love the song but not the singer.—"I Know", PlaceboI recently read Atlas Shrugged, and since then I've been doing a lot of thinking about Ayn Rand's philosophy. One of the weirdest turns she takes in her philosophy is how she applies her "no sacrifice" tenet to love and relationships, but as it turns out, I'm starting to see more and more how it all makes sense. In a nutshell, she

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-8747583341178428992009-04-03T18:00:00.000-07:002009-04-03T20:49:18.517-07:00

"If I could do it, it ain't art." —Red GreenThere's a discussion on Kevin's and Ben's blogs about whether there's any objective standard for art. I like to watch movies, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a movie good. Some movies that I feel like I should like but don't; others I like for exactly the reasons I hate another. And while there are some movies that almost nobody

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-1843724058349384462009-03-27T16:42:00.000-07:002009-03-31T09:54:16.280-07:00

Since my last post on the airplane/treadmill problem, I've had some extremely interesting conversations about it with a few friends. I'd like to make some clarifications and qualify a few of my earlier statements. I apologize, this looks like it will be another long post, but it also looks like now we're getting to the real meat of the problem."Eustace Bright" asked me if this has ever been

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-69911782525365030642009-03-23T15:30:00.000-07:002009-03-24T10:50:15.158-07:00

A few days ago I posted a description of the Airplane/Treadmill Problem, which is basically a trick question of physics and logic:Imagine a 747 is sitting on a conveyor belt, as wide and long as a runway. The conveyor belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?Now I'm going to share my thoughts on what's wrong with the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-54020781564203690522009-03-21T14:50:00.000-07:002009-03-21T15:52:44.887-07:00

It's time for a physics/logic problem. This problem has been circulating for a while, and there have been a couple of interesting arguments and an ocean of stupid ones.Imagine a 747 is sitting on a conveyor belt, as wide and long as a runway. The conveyor belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?The problem is actually

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-76644622536218072192009-03-14T16:00:00.000-07:002009-03-17T16:27:55.477-07:00

There seems to be a lot of confusion about subjectivism and its implications, so rather than expound arguments against objective values, I thought this time I'd take a step back and get a birds-eye view of objective vs. subjective worldviews.First let's see how things look to a subjectivist:Subjective OutlookIn this model, there's an objective truth that underlies all shared experience (meaning

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-6477686728343428162009-02-22T18:20:00.000-08:002009-02-22T18:57:14.984-08:00

Language is incredibly ambiguous and emotion-laden, so much so that it's impossible to use neutral language. Instead of putting no spin on our words, the best we can do is put "the right" spin on them. It's all you can do to not mislead people, and if you succeed, then they'll be misled by somebody even dumber.So, by way of illustration, I've decided to compile a short list of statements that are

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-89671258615161658242009-02-17T17:10:00.000-08:002009-02-17T18:03:29.751-08:00

Today's question: What does morality do?If I tell someone that I don't believe in any sort of morality, I tend to get a response of shock and "moral panic". After the shock wears off, the arguments range from "how do you get out of bed in the morning?" to "that's what destroyed the Roman Empire". The consensus seems to be that if everyone were like me, the results would be terrible. So, I ask you

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-77665130623898922632009-02-16T19:16:00.000-08:002009-02-17T09:51:37.613-08:00

I want you to imagine something...One day someone hands you a book, and tells you, "You need to read it. It's the next step." You ask, "...what for?", and are met with a blank stare. "It just is! It's the next step."Later that day, a lady tells you, "I believe it's the next step to sing 'I Am the Walrus'." "Oh..." is all you can manage. She looks at you in disbelief. "Well, why aren't you doing

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-76641875526874438122009-02-13T18:57:00.000-08:002009-02-14T10:25:47.655-08:00

I keep hearing people say that atheists have no valid motive or right to spread atheism. I think this perspective is ridiculous all over. The reasons to promote atheism may not be as obvious, but they can be just as significant to an atheist as a Christian's reasons are to the Christian.The most common objection is "you only have this life to worry about, but for me it's an issue of eternity". If

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-42080563279113878562009-02-04T19:10:00.001-08:002009-02-13T19:06:39.373-08:00

"I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.I learn by going where I have to go." —The Waking, Theodore RoethkeFatalism is the belief that there is only one possible future. The name comes from "fate" rather than "fatal", but emotional nuances still haunt the term from the first time you hear it, making it more natural to dismiss and criticize. The idea is at

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-29215473352555198432009-02-04T16:35:00.000-08:002009-02-04T18:28:54.638-08:00

If someone's beliefs point to some type of morality, then I have no business judging or interfering. But many people seem to actually put the need for some kind of morality ahead of the existence of a particular system, and furthermore require that the criteria of right and wrong are universal and unambiguous. They claim that without a system of guidelines, everyone will sink to the worst depths

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-42000985852418405792009-01-16T18:11:00.000-08:002009-02-14T10:27:12.193-08:00

Never let it be said that probabilities don't matter. Sally Clark, a British woman whose two sons suffered cot death (a.k.a. SIDS), was arrested under suspicion of murder. Her prosecution included testimony from Roy Meadow, a pediatrician who claimed that the probability that both sons died of natural causes was less than 1 in 72 million. He got that figure by squaring the 1 in 8500 likelihood of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-43592101843414028732009-01-16T18:02:00.000-08:002009-01-28T06:27:46.287-08:00

Every idea, whether or not it's accurate, is based on other ideas, itself, some mixture of the two, or nothing. Relativism has a lot to do with ideas and implications, so I'll say a little on that subject before I get back to why it's important.Because ideas are only anchored to each other, all ideas are ultimately "floating in space" in a sense, and the entire corpus of human knowledge is not "

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-36436256533561766802009-01-16T16:36:00.000-08:002009-01-16T18:00:58.172-08:00

Ethics and values and morals, oh my! It's time to throw caution to the wind and discuss relativism. Before I do, though, I'll need to invoke my muse and put all my energy into doing this just right. The internet is full of discussions about relativism, and as far as I can make out, it's all either horse poo or extremely boring. I'm going to try my best to keep this and any further posts

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-90134045410052476612009-01-06T15:54:00.000-08:002011-07-09T11:58:09.674-07:00

There's a city where everyone loves yellow. It's the color of happiness and excitement, so all the people there paint things bright yellow and wear yellow clothes all year. But Bob really likes the color blue. It's not that he dislikes yellow, but to Bob, a little splash of blue looks nice alongside the yellow. When Bob was a little boy, his preschool class drew crayon pictures. He drew a big

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-82114014083982723932008-12-30T16:50:00.000-08:002009-02-04T19:14:55.317-08:00

I was raised Christian in a private Christian school, my entire extended family has always been Christian, and I didn't know any atheists to speak of until I became one (I love my family and friends tremendously even though I disagree with them, but I do wish I had had someone to share the journey with). Since then, my exposure to other atheists has been limited, split between self-advertised

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-77407791305662148402008-12-26T18:34:00.000-08:002008-12-29T19:31:34.688-08:00

The term science means many things to many people. One of the worst, in my opinion, is the idea of men in white lab coats in a fancy, expensive lab. The implication I find so frustrating is that science is restricted to certain people at certain times. If anything, most of the science has been squeezed out of the process by the time it gets to a laboratory. Science is not a mechanical process,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803965511147874136.post-46122310179993487922008-11-11T17:19:00.000-08:002008-12-26T21:20:57.693-08:00

"An intelligent couple can [...] know that the ultimate reason for their sexual urges is procreation. They know that the woman cannot conceive because she is on the pill. Yet they find that their sexual desire is in no way diminished by the knowledge." --Richard DawkinsMany people seem to get the idea that eugenics would be the natural conclusion of evolutionist thinking. If nature has been

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14301480369336177718noreply@blogger.com0