Monday, December 24, 2018

a bit of fiction, maybe

The Real Creation Story...

There was nothing. It was cold and dark. Nothing exists, so the space is truly infinite. That is the characteristic of nothing, the great cold dark void of non existence.  

The time was before t=0, if real time even existed. Conceptual orthogonal time always exists, as much as any concept exists. All the force were one and none, it was just too cold to exist. There was no matter, as the temperature was absolute zero. It is essential to understand the conditions that existed before t=0, for these are unstable conditions. It was dark because no photons existed. It was too cold for matter to exist, as it was too cold for the forces to exist. 

In everything there is a bit of natural variation. It is next to impossible to fine something without natural variation. One bit of the infinite space varied slightly in temperature, the four forces split, and all shit broke loose. The reaction is spontaneous and exothermic. It cannot be stopped once it starts. After that bit of variation, a universe was inevitable. What that universe looks like is, well, it might as well be random, because there are so many variations possible. And now, some 13.8 billion years later, we have a radiation bubble, some 13.8 billion light years in radius, and growing, floating in infinite space. There maybe other bubbles out there, we cannot know with today's information, or not.

There was no bang, as there was no atmosphere. Space itself splits into matter. It would have been a flash, but there was more radiation than flash. Quirks, quarks, bosons, fermions, leptons all spinning in integer ways to form hot plasma, combining to form electrons, neurons, protons. At the edges Hydrogen and Helium, perhaps a touch of lithium form, with mass and are forced outward at slightly less than the speed of light as mass has come into being. It is a spontaneous and exothermic reaction, driving itself outward, it cannot be stopped now. It grows without plan, without purpose, without meaning, without any control. It is spontaneous and growing.

Expansion has continued now for some 13.8 billion years, measured backward, after the year was developed on this lonely planet. We lie somewhere in the middle 1/3 of this massive radiation bubble, that we can just measure... well sort of, now. We animals have developed, and learned to build machines that are able to scene the radiation, just. So now, how long do we have before we destroy our own atmosphere by overgrowth? 






Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Kant's Magic Eightball

His Categorical Imperative says: "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law."

So consider the abortion issue: We can see this yields easily two alternative; no abortions ever or each human has the freedom to exercise control over their own bodies. So what value is Kant? This result depends on how the question is asked. This can be extended to any human body issue, suicide a self mercy termination by another name.

Freedom to exercise control includes the rights, authority, responsibility, and obligation. OK. What about the power to do that which is necessary? Well if they are not addicted, and has the knowledge to know what must be done to overcome the resisting desires, appetites, emotions, chemical drives that oppose the logical directions. It is easy to say go on a reducing diet, while all about is food, food being pushed, that has drug like effects on some of us. 

Each of us with the our own rights, authority, responsibility, and obligation over our own body is something that we could call personnel freedom which many governments and societies try to regulate against, with limited successes. We, as a world population, are in an overpopulated condition, above the carrying capacity of spaceship earth. So we do not need such strangle hold on the people, which was never real anyway. It was just an effort to control that which could not be really controlled anyway. 

Our world populations is above the long term carrying capacity of spaceship earth, based on carbon dioxide levels. This is driving climate change, and will result in the sixth extinction or mass die off. Oh well. The governments are not serious in dealing with this issue; if they were we would have a world one child policy, free birth control, abortions, assisted suicides, and the like. Fertility Clinics would not exist. Births of less that eight months would not receive neonatal care, perhaps there would be no birth assistance... those which were not born alive and health not be resuscitated... Because we can do something does not mean we should. Those things could be regulated to some social contract standard. 

Social Contract is a valid ethical standard. All that know the standard can learn to live with that standard or change that standard to something acceptable to all or more. It is those who wish to impose their opinions on others that have the issues. Our individual freedom comes with obligations to others, as well as responsibilities... to take care of ourselves. 

So after examining ethic, philosophy, and the like it all comes down to this: it is up to us to make the decisions; there is much money to be made by discussing the choices, but in the end, is is still down to each individual to make their own decisions... right or wrong, and to take responsibility for those decisions. But Kant lets us off the guilt for he is all about intent, not results. 
  


Sunday, December 16, 2018

More Kant

So Kant thinks that we should always do our duty.  Ah but there is a problem in the translation of duty from the German pflicht. The Germans have a dozen words for duty, while we have duty and obligation. To be human is to do human things. Do human things is more in line with pflicht than duty, but the art of translation is not an exact science, more of an art. Perhaps we should read only interpretations, not translations.

All human actions can be broken into two groups, the categorical imperative or hypothetical imperative; required or choice. But which decisions are which? So we know how to deal with categorical, but not what is in that group. There is a concept that all decisions dealing with others must be moral; but there is also freedom of person to choose... and these seem to conflict.

Consider the abortion issue; when we universalize just abortion, abortion can be said to be wrong, but when we universalize the free choice to chose abortion, it appears to right. These are opposites, even though I have worded one in the negative and one in the positive. So the categorical imperative can be played with to give what ever result we wish to get... some test. So when we add freedom that humans must have, that must be a human right, it becomes clear, nobody has the right to force anyone to do anything... illogical or religious.

So a good will or intent, freedom and eudomonia, joy of satisfaction from the Greek, are the basic human needs, that we can all self impose on ourselves. How different is this from the Stoics or Buddhists? Not much. The order of priority different, and perhaps the words used to describe the same feelings.        

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Oh well, we tried

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/climate-poland-canada-lead-1.4943722 

So Canada response is not adequate. No shit Sherlock. To stop climate change, we would need to go to 1960 carbon use, world wide. Not going to happen until we humans have a major die off.

We would need to have 1/2 the population, 1/5 the oil, 1/3 the coal, 10% of the natural gas. Not going to happen.

Trudeau is government by the rich for the rich. If he were serious about climate change, he would recommend a one child policy, cut immigration to next to nothing, cut fertility clinics, preemie treatment before 32 weeks, promote open assisted dyeing, and all other means to trimming the population. He is not; therefore, he may talk climate control, but it is just talk.

So what is the plan? To carry on a mild plan that will be uncomfortable but have no real effect beyond generating revenue for the government.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Kant, Well...

Kant had something he called the categorical imperative; something we just need to do always. He had a test, and most employment generally fails that test. We should always do things that are ends in themselves, not just a means to an end. Most employment is just a means to obtain money. If you doubt that, well just consider what you would do if you became a lottery winner... Most would not continue. So the concept of work fails Kant's test to ethical behavior. Now the question becomes is Kant's test right or is it the test that is wrong?

Kant had three tests; the first was reciprocity or universality. It is unclear to me at this point if he thought something needed to pass all three or just one of the three. If he thought it needed to pass all three, he is out to lunch, for there would be little left. A pass on one leaves little enough. 

Ideally we would all like to be doing something that we enjoy; it makes the time go fast. Few have that much. Even when we enjoy our jobs, there will be parts that suck and we do not enjoy. When the job changes, and the computer takes away the part we enjoy, we may need to make changes. Advancement may also take away the part we enjoy... now what? Oh well, in the end we just die. Pucker up, butter cup.

But Kant oversteps, I think. Oh well. Doing our duty, as long as our duty is ethical, is just fine. Perhaps.

Ethics needs to respond to the issues of the time. We live in an overpopulated time, so abortion, birth control, are right for survival. A hundred years ago, we were a species with issues, so these would have been wrong, even if they were possible at that time. Ethics are relative. It would therefore be unethical to provide fertility assistance, but what about vaccinations, and medical aid? We need to look at each ethical decision as a decision, there is nothing objective, all is subjective.

We need to tolerate others. We do not need to tolerate wrong beliefs, and teaching of hatred, or violence. That is what religions like Islam and Christianity do. We should be eliminating this as permitted behavior. But this is just opinion, and is this really the time; I think it is, for if not now, when?

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Humans are Doomed

Our fate is sealed. The carbon dioxide cycle continues at a slightly faster rate, but our carbon dioxide production grows faster. Spaceship earth will become a carbon dioxide death trap, with no escape, except for perhaps a few that can breath well enough to live in a high Co2 atmosphere. After the population drops, plants will take up that Co2 and lock it back into fixed carbon, and the next species of homo can do this all again. That is reality folks. As we die off, oh well. We all die off, and nature will take care of earth, not humans. We humans can make our own way, individually, or as small groups, or as a population, if we have leaders, educators, and enough courage to learn.

Ethics, doing what is right to do, even when it is not easy, must be the foundation of going forward from here. This must be founded on survival as a species, or at least the foundation for the next species, which is more likely, as we animals are always in transition, the examples we have are also in transition, until failure of the line occurs, and sooner or later, it always does, or has in the past. We humans have caused the extinction of many species. Oh well, in the end we just die anyway. Death is always with us, looking back, it always has been. We can choose to ignore death, until it grabs us, or we can look at it and understand it; it is the end of life. Where does the light go when you  turn out a lamp? Life is similar, life is, death is just not life. Life has value, death not so much. We, as individuals are doomed.

Ethics likely came to humans before religions grabbed on to them, and tried to upgrade them. We need to go back and understand the foundations, we want to live, flourish and prosper. To do that, we need cooperation of all humans, so the contract of reciprocity, equality, symmetrical treatment, whatever we call it, was developed. Historically we saw this with the Indians in North America in the Six Nations. Historically the nations states of Athens and Sparta started in a big way. We can surmise  similar happened elsewhere, and once peace is established, we just forget and carry on in flourishing. Occasionally there is an issue, and a civil war occurs, but the problem is resolved, and we carry on. But there is no easy solution for flourishing too well.

First, to keep the peace, we need to prevent any group from teaching hatred and violence to their young. That means we must give up hatred and violence. Not going to happen in the foreseeable. Humans are therefore doomed. Oh well. Equality must be enacted at the same time. And to help with the population control, a one child policy until the Co2 comes under control. Population needs to decrease to something like 1/2, oil production to 1/5, coal to 1/3, long term to match Co2 production and absorption. Oh well. Population controls everything, if we have the will.

Greed drives humans. That is a biological fact that can be observed in free living humans everywhere. We like comfort, ease, security, heat, light, and will tolerate some work, exertion, and the like when conditions are right. This work, effort must be ethically driven. Religions may have been the first way to try to force the non compliant into line. Perhaps we religion, but without any gods. Reason based religion to develop society. Starting with the foundation of ethics, through reciprocity, flourishing, to satisfactions. We currently admire run-a-way success, but this also needs to be capped... somehow. Some sort of succession duty, wealth redistribution, or the like. 

  

Sunday, December 2, 2018

The Unwilling

Steven Novella, religions and other groups display a logical facility type failure that is not often talked about, the unwillingness to look at the evidence, to understand the implication, and to even consider the possibility that the evidence is correct. Consider the vaccination/autistic issue.

What do we know about autism? It is a early development issue that strikes a few children in developed nations; the frequency increases with time and/or development. The frequency of autism seems to be lower in areas where vaccination is less, but in those areas development may also be lagging. We also know that it occurs in children that have closer column spacing and more neurons per column than average; as dyslexia occurs in people with larger than average spacing and fewer neutrons, but only of a few of such children. There must therefore be one more factor, something like an epicgenetic switch that is either on or off, or an allergy/hyper sensitivity that selects individual children. The columnar spacing is a genetic, nutritional, structural that becomes fixed or fully defined by about 18 months of age. What ever the cause, it is in the first 18 months and/or during gestation. This applies to both autism and dyslexia.

People like Steven Novella do not get this, or do not accept this. It is just unwillingness to believe the evidence, and argue, just unwilling to accept the known information.

Vaccinations upset some children considerably, they are often irritable, have minor fever, but nothing helps to settle the child. It is always anecdotal, occasionally with a medical report that shows a mild temperature and little else. Now a child receives some 23 vaccinations before age two. All this does not mean a autistic child, however, it is likely an environmental cause in addition to an hypersensitive/clergy to something in there environment. Vaccinations are one of the potential factors that needs to be explored further, along with other environmental possibilities.

The mothers diet is also a potential factor, as vegans seem to have a higher frequency of autism. It is noted that many if not all autistic children have digestion/gut issues as well. Some find relief by picky eating, totally avoiding some foods, milk, gluten and/or wheat, eggs/ meats, greens, whatever.

So why the reluctance to consider the possibility Mr. Novella? Why the reluctance to consider the facts? Unwillingness to look at the facts is just one more logical facility.

This same reluctance to look at the evidence shows up in climate change deniers, the religious, the emotional, and other places. 

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle describes the flow of carbon. We can put mass numbers to many parts and it show how much trouble we humans are in. It has not silently slid up on us, but few are willing to take action, likely because it is going to force big change on us.

We humans are so good at reproducing that there are now 7.7billion of us. The carbon cycle shows failure started with 3.0 billion. (~1960) We are now severely overpopulated, and the crunch is coming soon. No one is taking action. Oh well, we are a species in transition, going through a boom and die off cycle. We are about to go into a die off phase, the survivors will found the next species. Oh well.

All I can do is to continue, as I will soon die off anyway. That and taxes is about all we can be certain of.

The skeptics of this; there are many, will come to understand in old age. Oh well. One child policy is our best hope, but the religious will not listen because they have given up logic. It is logic that is the great hope; but after the logic comes decision, and then action. And decision and action are not always driven by logic... or economy. If it is not right, the price does not matter. If there are two choice, the cheaper or easier may not be the best one, but that is what our government and so many will select. It does not matter, it is only money.

Carbon Tax in a political concept that generates revenue for the government and has little effect on the carbon demand. It is a tax, not a strong solution to the problem. No one is willing to take the first step, that is to outline a plan, teach that plan, implement that plan. It will need to tackle ignorance, non logical thinking, and population growth. One Child policy, is not enough of a cut, but it will be, after we existing die off. It is the only way. Religions need to be removed. Who will do it?   

Monday, November 26, 2018

Asymertical Thinking

 Conformation Bias or is it non-reciprocal or asymmetrical thinking. No, it is I am right, and if you do not agree, then you are just wrong...

Steven Novella

Currently, I am reading The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe which is a lovely book, but it contains some inaccuracies. Yet these same inaccuracies are talked about using some of the same bad argument/ logical failures that he describes.

Circular logic or what? We are biased by our beliefs. We learned these from our culture, education, and we practice these without seeing these for what they are. As Thomas Paine said, to argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

When Novella talks about GMO and Autism/vaccinations he never considers that there could be a link; a third condition such as hyper-sensitivity, akin to allergy that only effects a tiny percent of the population. Both cases for are without clear evidence either way; however, there are anecdotes that suggest a correlation. Without allowance for these, he sweeps reality and his arguments under the bus of his ego. We humans are not uniform, like the medical and chemical industry likes to think. Consider allergies as one example.

It is like the useless ass covering medical direction: do not take if you are allergic. You cannot know until you try it... so what value is the statement? It is ass covering removing the liability.    

Asymmetrical thinking comes from not being symmetrical or reciprocal in the study of ethics with no authority foundation. (no god ethics) This is to say that we all want peace, security, economy, stability to live and grow. In order to have this, we need to provide that to others, aka reciprocal conditions to others, or symmetrical conditions, depending on the author. Do to others and you would they do to you sort of thinking, which goes back to and likely before recorded history.

It all does not matter, for in the end we all just die anyway.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Competition vs Aggression

Competition vs Aggression

Is competition a gateway to aggression? I think probably it is one gateway, if control is not developed.

Many people think competition is the greats thing. Bill Gates for one. Others think as I do, like the Quakers, Mennonites, and similar pacifist groups, that competition is the gateway to aggression as they stimulate similar emotions, and those emotions, passions need to be tempered with reason, and that sadly does not always happen. As a result we see aggression occurring, especially when one is not fair, the opponent may express this through violence. This is common in youth, and it is a struggle for coaches, especially when dangerous weapons are in play such as in archery. Life is not fair, and everyone needs to learn that. Many cannot handle success or loss. They are both a problem.

We see hazing occurring in school sports teams, and while that may seem OK, both sides learn that violence is OK. Not good learning for either the hazer, or the hazed. Once again we see competition as the gateway to aggression. There are some who are aggressive that say it is survival of the fittest, but as we see in the US, a gun makes the weak willed dangerous. Not a safe situation. As old Colt said, I created an equalizer.

US nationalism is going to excess and has caused aggression against it's neighbours and the world. In the north of Pakistan, the US has caused somewhere north of 125,000,000,000$ damage in bombing and war raids, killed 75,000, displaced 2,000,000 and the Taliban are as strong as ever. US has provided about 1,300,000,000 in aid, that the US also directs the spends in developing and backing the Pakistan Army. Some infrastructure will remain after the army no longer needs it, but it is built for the army, not the civilian use. And this, the US calls aid. How can they rational expect cooperation? More aggression.

On a human level, addiction has a physical component, and a psychological component, when combined, the human has no reasonable chance of defeating while using. That is the problem, one must get clean and lose the desire to use, before they can have a chance of recovery. They also must never use again, if they wish to stay clean. That is the problem for food addicts, we must eat to live. And to that problem, modern science and the medical profession has no real answer. They say that used as directed, opioids are not a problem, but once addicted, we lose the ability to not use, so the medical people say it is not our problem. They do not take reality into account. This is passive aggression, institutionalized. Addiction is real. And it is the competition, elimination of competition is aggression. It is that I am the best attitude that causes aggression and unreality.

So as we go through a life with failures, we need to keep our spirits up, depression is also real. We need psychological support, too know we are right. Life is unsatisfactory, our thinking is the cause, the solution is to change our thinking. It is not the situation that cause us strife, but our thinking about the situation.Religions provide a thinking for you; Buddhist and Stoics* provide a logical alternative way of thinking. In the end we realize that much of the common wisdom is just wrong; we need to unlearn, and relearn the right thinking in this overpopulated world where every one is selling, many are selling bullshit. We each are on our own; but there is logic to guide us through this restructuring.

  

   

 * also include several other early Greek schools in this case.

added: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46301059
"They believe peace is achieved by dismissing concepts of ownership, competition, vanity and greed."

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Irrelevance

Irrelevance 

How does one stay relevant in an over-populated world? Once we accept overpopulation as being real, that is to say that spaceship earth can support perhaps 3.5b peoples long term, based on Co2 absorption capacity, and we are now 7.7b, how does one stay relevant?

Well first our population will clime to I do not know, 10-12 billion, and then the general population will get the idea, Co2 will be 550 to 600ppm, death will be common from just going to sleep without a forced air device.. Now know as a CPAC. Oh well, it is a peaceful way to go. Our population will start to decline... but the decline will be in the industrial areas where life is easier, physically. Those that work hard physically will be those that are better adapted to poor air quality, self selecting, those who are adapted will be the ones who are able to work harder... Humans will survive; but the next species will have better lungs, to be able to live in a high Co2 environment. They will be the next species... new and improved. Perhaps after this version of humans are gone, the earth can return to low Co2, after the plants take over and capture carbon... or not.

With a population of 7.7b, how important is an one single life? Not to the statistics, but to each individual life, life is important until it is not, or it become a negative. Canadian right to die legislation needs to loosen up a bit. The Catholic facilities need to get on board, and the right to request self termination at a future time or condition needs to be in the legislation. I, with a deadly condition, must be able to leave a directive to terminate when I reach a non-compos and/or painful stage. That extends life as far as is rational.

Using the Frye standard of evidence, which is something less than scientific proof level of proof, we can test all claims for truth. Does god exist, no evidence; therefore not likely. Is the world flat or round, the flats lose, as round is the only real possibility. Vaccinations, well vaccinations work but giving them too soon may also cause damage. Proof of no damage is not been proven. Cholesterol, well they have shown that people with lower cholesterol live longer, but not lowering peoples cholesterol cause them to live longer. Their quality of life is lower so suicide and self termination is higher, overrunning any benefit. Oh well. GMO do not allow the land to produce more crops, it does allow one of two crops in a row to produce more, but moisture is usually the limiting factor. The land then must be rested or rotated. There are some areas where intensive farming is possible, but these are rare.

Fire, climate change, dry winds, forest management is a big issue in some areas around inhabited areas. But if one level of government is unwilling to allow direct management, they are then responsible... as I see it.

Trump's policies seem nihilistic, without meaning and purpose, but what do I know? More than average, I expect. Placing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum just raises prices; placing quotes would have greater impact if his intent is to raise internal production. But without understanding the environment, and putting a price of pollution, WTF.

A one child policy worldwide is the only move now that makes sense along with a few years of freezing migration everywhere. Muslim countries must deal with the Muslim refugees, and there still is no god. Oh well, reality is a bitch...   

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Nationalist or Globalist

It is Important to understand the effect on Canada of this document. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/10/10/2018-21106/inadmissibility-on-public-charge-grounds

We live in an overpopulated world. Immigration and refugees. both economic and political are going to increase, people seeking a better place to live, where their homeland is more overpopulated than they perceive other areas to be will try to migrate. North America was founded by refugees, many were religious and philosophical refugees, and some economic refugees. The cause of refugees is not important, but we need to understand that they are making the decision to migrate at a time when the whole earth is already overpopulated. The is no available lands that are not needed for solar powered carbon capture.

In 1960 there was 3b people, and we produce 20bb of oil. The earth Co2 was more or less stable. Since then, the population has risen, oil production has grown, and the Co2 level has risen. There is little we can do about the carbon dioxide level... underground storage is leaky... just look at the natural gas storage in California. So what is the solution? We know that the fuel demand is not easily reduced with price, making carbon tax a ideal money generation tax but a poor reduction of use tax. Carbon use has become tied to population. The only thing we can do is reduce population.

So how are we going to do this, and where is it going to be done at? If we are a true "Nationalist" we will keep all non producing people out of our country, and keep our population low so we will not need a world one child policy, and similar measures, in our country.

So the US has created a "public charge" concept, a class of spending that the government must pay. All welfare, medical for the poor, feed for the poor, education, and the like. All they want to let in are the wealthy, working, educated people. That is going to put a load on Canada to accept the ones that do not qualify to the US. We are going to get the US rejects.

If we are a nation of the future, we need to become selective of who we let in. We are going to need to become "Nationalistic" to protect Canada.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Rational... well not so much.

Barbed wire, used properly, can be a beautiful sight. A statement that brings to mind: " I love the smell of napalm in the morning." I am predicting that the first statement will become a cult classic, like the second is/was. 

Live in according to human nature: human nature is rational in the Stoic ideal, therefore humans should live rationally. Well that is the Stoic belief of concept anyway. Once we start to eliminate all the coping systems, we may need to examine a "philosophy for life" or should that be a "philosophy in life" or of life.

Trudeau and the liberals say that diversity is Canada's strength; others say that diversity is a burden, and some of the new immigrants will overload this country. I personally am more concerned about the drag the natives place on this country, with the taxes and debt load to support them.

Science make it clear there is little to define a meaning of life, and our only real purpose is to produce the next generation, which we have overdone, with overpopulation since 1960 based on atmospheric Co2 levels, so we are free to live, learn, and understand the human condition. To live rationally seems to be the plan. Now WTF does that really mean? And we note that the native reproduce much faster than the white population.

Until now, most people in the world have used coping systems, religions as guides to life. Today, most may be true still, but there is a cutting edge breaking free without a religion or state directing life. We are absurdly free to decide how to live; now it is our responsibility to decide and to do it.We are being held back by taxes and slow to change bureaucracy. We are being held back by the religious mess of the immigrants. We are being held back by religious education and ignorance of religions being pushed onto the young of those religious. They do not realize that they are using coping systems, not reality.

Recently, well, within the last century, Existentialism has pushed this freedom view, but had little to offer for advise or caution. Two millennia ago, the Stoics provided directions that realized freedom, and these two view result in similar outlooks but from different approaches. Buddhism also arrives at a similar end state, once we strip it of all the ritual and supernatural stuff, as the Modren Western Buddhist movement has tried to do. This may suggest that the outcome is correct, not necessarily the method of arrival, but that does not matter either.

The founding principal must be rational, or rationality. This, along with prudence, the ability or skill to make right choices. These, when understood and adopted will end all religious thinking. Oh well, if the Co2 does not get us first.  

Thursday, November 1, 2018

To Comment or not to Comment

It is always a question, to comment of not to comment on other blogs. It can draw traffic, or just bullshit rhetoric. Noise. I got into a discussion with a (((punk))) on an atheistic lite blog. I did not realize that three brackets around the name (((name))) was a )))far right radical((( symbol or (((Jewish))) symbol; or I would not have responded. The young fellow was missing any logic, but Oh well, what do we expect from a ((( punk)))... rhetoric only.

Now let me say that I do not have anything against jews, but they seem to want special treatment because they are Jew. They invaded Palestine after WW2, for the second time and expect peace. Our ancestors invaded North America, and we expect the native to be peaceful... well where is the logic there... and what do we get. Open season on natives... 

Back when I was young, and at University, when the slide rule was common for calculation, when we need to track mantissa and exponent, there were rules of calculation. Significant, potential error, were considered at most calculations.  Buckingham's Pi theory ruled, and occasionally the question was questioned as to the value of the question. There was one more; is the data real or noise? Is the data significant? Slide rule fourth digit, the smugged number, the beer induced laboratory experiment with totally fudged data, where the data had no value, the write up and calculations were all that was marker. Lots of those at Uni. Is the data real or imaginary?

Where the data does not pass Buckham's Pi theory, and the data has no checksum like component, then, should be considered as suspect. That pitches our much of the studies and potentially bogus. Oh well. I think that we need to evaluate the things we have lost with the computers, and no error calculations. Check sums. Also tests for data validity. Too much is just bullshit.

In taking on a study that goes against our interests, companies often tear down the author. The study may be correct, but the author has exposure, so it easy to discredit the author, rather than the work. We see this frequently in diet studies, like Tim Noakes, and NHS vaccinate Andrew Wakefield for example.  Noakes was correct, while Wakefield paper had minor errors in the calculations. Wakefield was destroyed, even though his data shows that 18 autistic children had MMR vaccination at less than 12 months age. It found a common element with a cluster of autistic children. It also showed some form of IBS was also common to all. It cannot say anything about cause either way.

All this does not matter, there is much bullshit on the net, and it all should be exposed for what it is, bullshit. But so is religion. We now understand that all religions are just group coping mechanisms. There are better ways to cope, reality, understanding, truth, and those systems that intend on exposing the truth, mainly science.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Dog Whistle Politics

Dog Whistle Politics


The modern meaning of dog whistle:

noun
  • a high-pitched whistle used to train dogs, typically having a sound inaudible to humans.
  • a subtly aimed political message which is intended for, and can only be understood by, a particular group.

"dog-whistle issues such as immigration and crime"

So what am I on about?  US politics, the Trump used this to call in the Russian to find Hillery's emails. So the Trump does not realize that there were and are people who listen to what he says, and try to help. We see the same in Canada and Trudeau's efforts to pacify the Indians.

Who is doing our thinking for us? Are we allowing ourselves to be fooled by fast talking peoples who have their best interests at their heart. Are they out to fleece the taxpayer? When we see the oil line purchase, yes. The Oil Line guys say this is a bad investment, Heavy Alberta Crude is just not bringing the dollars. There is no money to be made with this line, if we do get it built. And Trudeau buys the line, and we taxpayers will pay. It might eventually make money or not, but we are on the hook for the cost now. We are being fleeced. So do we respect Trudeau? Should we believe Trudeau?

Should we care what he says?

The earth is overpopulated, if we use Co2 as a guide. So why are we letting more people into Canada? Are we letting the Liberalism drive our thinking to non-rational places? Is the Liberal ideology beyond reality, beyond what is practical?

Who is doing our thinking for us? And who is responsible if they are wrong?

When we see the light on a topic, concept, and know that we are right, we must persist. It is easy to see this on the internet. Some will insist that black is white, and refuse all argument, all discussion, all evidence, just like the religious insist that gods are real, or insist that their god is real. Religions are the original coping mechanisms, systematized as a group delusion. It is pointless, unless to clarify your own thinking about a subject. All we can do is clarify our own thinking and arguments. It is futile to think we can change others much. We may occasionally, but it is the exception.   

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Anti-Semitic ?

Anti-Semitic, what does that really mean?
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGg1o2vk6G8

This is all "if you are not with us, you are against us" dipole statements. The vast majority of people do not give a damn. It is just an irrelevant concept. It is miss-leading to cage the question as a dipole; it is actually the two corners of a wide field, with many layers of concern.

The Jews are not innocent either. They invaded the Middle-east from Africa. Later they invaded again after WWii, and took land from the Palestinians. The reality is the Jews are not blameless, but an invasive culture who demand their own way. They deserve all the distrust, dislike, anomisty they get. They do not deserve violence except in return of violence. Defense is always permitted.

We need to separate hatred, the internal feeling from violence, the outward expression of that hate. No one can impose a feeling on others, it just cannot be done, try as you like. The politicians can regulate all they like, but it is impossible. They can however make appeals reason, and if their reasons are sound, influence our decisions.  Understand that hatred is often earned through past actions, and kept alive in the present, often by actions.

Trump is polarizing figure, those that hate Trump and those that hate "those who hate Trump". Note that I have used the negatives here; Not all those that support Trump hate those who oppose Trump. Some do not feel that strongly either way. We are a warring species. We need to learn to accept this and deal accordingly, while understanding this. The Europeans of the 19 Century, (+/-) took these land from the Natives; and allowed some of the natives to live. Those have grown into resentment, and we live with that today in Canada.

Others owned slaves; some still do today, and others still would like to. That is the history of the US that they live with, along with a military/gun industry, that is the biggest in the world, and it is a major employer, and political powerful. The US generates strong feelings intentionally, so they are welcome to all the troubles that brings. No one is willing to tone down the rhetoric. It is all aimed at raising passions, not understanding. Understanding requires admitting your part in any conflict, and seeing it from the other side.There is too little tolerance, understanding, and too much physical provocation and action today.

Overpopulation; not enough space between people, or groups is a major contributor to the problem. People keep doing things that we do not like, and the resentment raises. Armament is not the long term solution, that is escalation of the problem, of the risk of Violante. Understand the real causes; inequality, resentment for real and perceived slights, abuse, historical wrongs, etcetera, on both sides, and learning to live with reality, without forcing change onto the other group is a required skill. That skill is lacking in the US today.

Saturday, October 20, 2018

What is Important?

Perhaps that is a question we should answer each morning, shortly after we get up. Perhaps my serenity. So why am I allowing anything disrupt my serenity today? I am surrounded by idiots, begots, those who live in group delusions, with collective coping mechanisms, those who have their own agendas, mainly to separate me from my money, without regard to my needs or values. I am reminded of Marcus Aurelius 2.1 Today I will meet people who are meddling, ungrateful, aggressive, treacherous, malicious, unsocial. I cannot us his list; the people do not owe me anything, and their attitude must be me first always, just to survive.

I have been with wife's family for a few days, and my serenity is the most important thing to me today. I can understand why we often see groups together, but each on their own cell phones in restaurants. It is the most peaceful way to be together. There is the parasite, the interrupter, the busy body, the perfectionist, the accommodator, the outside, at one table, and no dispute going on. When it come to "who is going to look after Uncle's (brothers) finances as we wait for him to die," there will be disputes and high emotions. None of this is important. It was all being taken care of before, correctly but not exactly legally before. It is illegal for anyone other than Paul to use Paul's debit card to pay Paul's expenses; Oh well. Now it will be all legal. Four days of my life, 1600 Km, with all the travel expenses for that.

So there are those people who hold that Andrew Wakefield was wrong at pointing out that MMP and autism have a link in data. What he found was actually the year to year increase in the frequency of autism; and the same time a year to year increase in frequency of MMP vaccination in the mid 80's in one area in Scotland, not causation, but he was using only 19 autistic children data points. He also found something like75 percent of the mothers were vegetarian, but nobody cares about that, yet that is significant. Oh well, so much for Experimental Design.

Perhaps we all need a coping mechanism, like religion is for so many, providing consolation and comfort...too keep us busy, in our idle time. Serenity would be almost automatic, thinking about a pleasant time and place, where the vicissitudes of life are not present.

Negative Visualization, as Irvine referred to the Stoic process of thinking about the worst that can happen, and making peace with that, can be a release. Even Buddha seems to be doing over statement in "life is suffering", rather than the rational "life contains suffering"; although, in Buddhas time, life was often brutish, harsh and short. Oh well. Practice life without x is a exercise in acceptance, and in change, impermanence. Practice life without much food is a diet, practice life without a phone is quite time, or not if with people. A phone "addiction like" behavior is one way to avoid engaging with those we are with; perhaps that lack of engagement is a way of avoiding topics, politics, religion, gardening... When we live next door to an aggressive, loud, ignorant arrogant elephant that wants it his way... what can one do when we live in such a zoo...




   

Monday, October 15, 2018

So what is right?

The French Quebec leader that says that a crucifix is not a religious symbol. Catholic Priest that says there are no Catholic LGBT, like these things are mutually exclusive; perhaps they are.

So is it possible to create a universal ethical standard, something like the UN Charter of Human Rights? The short answer is no, because the UN Human Rights charter is all inclusive, and does not eliminate things that are not rights like false belief. It allows indoctrination of people, and youths with false/untrue statements/concepts that are wrong/false/opinion.

It turns out the primary virtue must be prudence to allow for sorting of statements, evidence based verse opinion based. To add to the difficulty, all prudence is based on existing knowledge. So there is a problem if/when the existing knowledge is wrong or does not allow questioning of traditional beliefs.

So in an overpopulated world as we have become in the last 50-60 years, what is truth?  Many people do not accept this reality, and the impact recognizing this has on one, and one's outlook on life and the future. We see things like Harper yapping on about limits when the planet as we know it is doomed due to free carbon dioxide. Doomed, I say. The earth carbon dioxide level will keep on rising if we shut off half of the fossil fuel... due to the 7.7b people. We people produce about the same amount of Co2 as we produce in burning 500 liters fossil fuels. Well not quite but close. The only solution is to reduce the population in the future... If we start now, with a one child policy world wide... perhaps humans can survive. If we carry on, well the economic engine keeps driving us, we are beyond anything the governments are willing to do now.

To little to late. We are doomed. It does not matter now how fast we try to paddle, we will go over the falls... unless something happens, and that might be worse but save us. Nuclear war, epidemic, major war, something, asteroid strike, eruption of Yosemite Sam, crop failure...something.  

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Thankgiving

Reflection on the ways of the past is all fine, but reality is now. Society, life has changed. Those things are gone. 
https://newrepublic.com/article/147276/death-civility-digital-age

Those are the symptoms. We need to understand things like:

Atmosphere carbon dioxide level rise, and its' effects.

Overpopulation based on various supply limits; Co2, food, water, energy, shelter...

The effect of modern life on humans and their psyche.

Climate change, the jet stream warble, severe weather, heat.

Potential of wars, diseases, extreme weather events

Geological events....

So we need to recognize that we puny organisms adapted to life on this spinning rock, and that our destruction is assured, the question is just one of timing.

So perhaps we need to learn to live without a mind blanking coping mechanism, or with a mind blanking coping method if that makes us feel better. 

The solution could be: https://modernstoicism.com/stoicisms-ancient-and-modern-by-tony-a-a-long/ 

Or we could all just be thankful for what we got, and bury our head in our hands, and use a handy coping mechanism to get by with. 

Monday, October 1, 2018

Foundation of Virtue

“Prudence [practical wisdom] is the knowledge of things which are good, or bad, or neither good nor bad. … Justice is a habit of the mind which attributes its proper dignity to everything, preserving a due regard to the general welfare. … Fortitude [courage] is a deliberate encountering of danger and enduring of labour. … Temperance is the form and well-regulated dominion of reason over lust and other improper affections of the mind.” (On Invention II.54)

Well what am I on about today?

I have been reading ethics for a bit now, and all I can say is that everybody has an opinion, and these opinions seem to say that it is right to do good, wrong to do evil, and there is no clear definition of either. Ethics are always subjective often adaptive, that is change over time and conditions of life, traditions, cultures and ethnic groups. As soon as one accepts one ethic precept, a bunch of more statements can be made by logical extension, defining what should and should not be done. So how can one say existentialism is better than virtue ethics?

Prudence, that is the ability to judge which is better, is a foundation virtue, yet is the result of what we believe, which is the foundation for prudence. The whole fudging thing is circular logic, so it should be based on what? Iteration, testing, and picking the most likely to be true statements. So the best argument for no god becomes bone cancer, and the best argument for a god becomes the comfort and consolation one can obtain from a group delusion. So what is the point?

I write because I have something to say without interruption, and criticism, well until it is published anyway. In the end it does not matter, no one with the power to do anything is listening to the Co2 danger, the political danger, climate change, religion bullfeathers, or anything else much. In the end I will just die anyway, and nobody will care too much. Some will be relieved. I cannot blame them; I do not care for their religion; they do not care to be told that they are wrong, and so it goes.

So the existentialist thinks that we should not do anything that has the potential of shorting our lives. So this implies no drinking, drugs, gambling, proper diet and exercise, stay out of heavy traffic, late night driving, pay attention to rules of the road, avoid unhealthy situations and areas, chemicals, and the like. The virtue ethic suggest that we need to do good things only, and avoid evil things. So what is the difference? How we come to the same conclusion. But existentialism is much clearer, more direct of reasoning. Protect the asset type prudence. Yet there are all those who do not; are they wrong, or do they just value pleasure more than those who think sober life has value?

So what about when a practical situation does is not adequately addressed by theory? Somethings cannot be taught because we do not understand the problem. So what is virtue really?
Behavior showing high moral standards, but what are high moral standards? That depends on you culture, time, on your beliefs, and that just depends on, well where and when you were dropped on this planet. Oh really?


 

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Trump, a legend in his own mind.

Trump, a legend in his own mind.

https://www.thisisinsider.com/trump-unga-un-speech-laughter-video-2018-9

I am the greatest, Billy the Kid, or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K3DI07Ibb4

Trump is a protectionist, and thinks the US is the greatest country in the world, a definition of patriotism. He is not the leader of the free world but rather a comic character.

Oh well. Emmanuel Macron is much more of a natural leader. He knows what he wants, and goes after it. He is usually right also, but that is sort of irrelevant.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Revisionist History

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/09/20/alberta-course-asked-students-about-positives-of-residential-schools_a_23534319/

The purpose of the residential schools was to provide education to the natives so that they could become useful citizens of Canada, as envisioned by the early politicians. This was at a time when you could shoot a native without danger of any charges, at least in the area I grew up in. 

I recall a time that I went for a beer with my brother-in-law, not long after he had been in a traffic accident on a dusty road in Saskatchewan, where two Indians had died. He was greeted with something like: Gerald, I hear you killed two Indians, let me buy you a beer...

I will remind you all that the residential schools were not just for natives; but also the whites from small places where there were no schools available. I was fortune enough to have been dropped on the earth in a area where there were schools, but remote enough that some more remote children were billeted around, and went to school with us. It was a public school, not religious school. I got to know about residential schools from the stories that some told of a few years of religious residential schools, near the end of residential schools.

It was a desperate time and area, life was not easy. We had no power, phones; Heat was wood and some coal at night, when it was real cold. Father would buy a rail car of coal, and sell most of it off. We would keep about 4 pickup loads for the winter. Anyway...

Those were different times, and the was much discussion about the native problems, should we just let them die off, or should we help them, and how should we help. Education was seen as the long term solution. There was not many of them, unlike now. They have reproduced at a much higher rate than we whites. The US history says they tried to make slaves out of theirs; but that had not worked. As a culture they would rather die than work; they were considered to be worthless. That was the common opinion where and when I was raised. I do not hold that blanket opinion now, but I recognize that time management and mathematics are not part of their culture. Many think that they are special because they are native, and we took their land. We may have, but it was from their ancestors, and they became a concurred race. Get over it and figure out how to live in today's society, or live on your reserves as your forefathers did, where 50 years of age was old, and life was cruel, brutish and short. That is reality, not revisionist.

Well now you want reconciliation, and revisionism. Get over it, we the existing population, will never accept that. You will need for us to die off first. Same with immigration. It is all too much. Change can only happen so fast, and the world is over populated already. Stop reproducing for growth, only replacement can occur.

 

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Deep Ignorance

Deep Ignorance or deep seeded ignorance or deep seated ignorance is the state of total oblivion to reality. It is the condition that occurs with denial of climate change and religion. It is, for those with the condition, a blissful state of illusion or delusion. It is the state of many flat earth people, living in a world of ignorance.

How do we deal with family that live in such a world? Ignore them, avoid them, go live my life without any interaction from with them? Zero interaction is likely the best way. Estranged.

Friday, September 14, 2018

Letter to new atheist

https://www.atheistrev.com/2007/05/letter-to-new-atheist.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AtheistRevolution+%28Atheist+Revolution%29

got me thinking about my coming to realize that I was an atheist. I think that I realized that god did not care about people about the same time that I realized that there was no Santa. It was all just concepts to avoid reality, and the thinking about how savage, cruel, and short life could be. Praise the Lord, an avoidance of reality method of getting through life. This offers great consolation, comfort, and ignorance of reality. Which is more important to you? I like knowledge, reality and truth.

For many years I understood that gods were concepts, and if I could believe those concepts, than I could use the benefits offered, like sobriety. But AA/OA cannot work for those who do not believe, unless the social aspects are enough to keep one sober in AA. OA is a lost cause, there were not enough people who were living in the program around here to keep me away from the food. Those who are using drugs and keeping the weight off are not good company to be around. Finally it became apparent that that approch was a waste of time.

Aristotle was good at describing the human condition without politically correct restraint. Aristotle describes the problem as; the nonrational desires are stronger than the rational desires; we do not have absolute control of our nonrational desires, aka of our bodies. Free will is just that freedom of our will, our thinking, our opinions, not control over our bodies. Many do not have complete free will, that is we know it is wrong or undesirable to do, but we do it anyway. We are unable to overcome the nonrational desires. It is a problem only for some people over some things. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway. Consider the overweight, that are unable to stop eating enough to maintain normal weight.

Christianity does not provide such understandings. It runs over such thoughts with concepts like truth and replaces that with feel good concepts; god's will, heaven, afterlife, and other bullshit concepts. It is a block to understanding, and promotes acceptance of bad ideas, consolation and comfort rather than reality. It is a block to progress.

Ethics are relative and adaptive; that is there are no absolutes. There are few objective ethic premises, but many causal-result statement that the rational person should accept. Each child should have 16 gggrandparents. If we want to live a life of peace we need to allow others to live in a similar manner. Each person must be free to live well, and freely. Only associate with those who think similarly, aka like minded peoples; avoid people who exert a negative influence, associate only with those who are a positive influence, and the remainder of the Buddhist mangala sutra, (or suttra) ,not the Hindu wedding chain/necklace.

Reality is a bitter pill much of the time, but reality is reality. We all die. Impermanence. Non-self, we all learned from our ancestors and others, until we filter and come to own our beliefs, and then we are responsible for every thought, belief and action.  This is similar to MacQuarrie Existentialism in that his concept is that after we make the decision to keep on living, we are responsible for every thought, belief and action, but I digress. The essential point is that after we own our thoughts, concepts, beliefs, we become responsible for them. Society also forces us to accept responsibility for our actions that effect others, and tries to suggest we are responsible for our actions that are driven by our nonrational desires, which we have no control over. Bullshit. These are beyond our absolute control, even if other impose this concept on us. Have you ever seen a rehabilitated psychopath or sociopath? It is just not reality. Rehabilitated overeaters do exist, but they struggle or obsess until death.












Thursday, September 6, 2018

Politics

Politics

Opinion, opinion, all is opinion. Was that Marcus Aurelius that said that or something like that. It is a real life test of a change of law, to hell with the people it hurts. It is the damage that governments do to the people that is really bad. They know only some, it is the unknown unknowns really do the damage.

What right does anyone have to impose their opinion onto others? The rule of law... bullshit. It is their opinion. Law is a concept that allows one group of people to abuse others without fear of reprisals. But if the country fractures, what then? Civil War?

Trump seems like he is headed to annihilate NAFTA. So what damage will that do? First, we will all be driven Japanese/Korean cars. But many of us do now. China will become the supplier of choice in Canada for many things. Oh well. The only constant is change. Fuck Trump.

Today an Op-ed piece has created the news of the day. Oh well.

What right do any group of non government people have in trying to force their opinions on other groups. Morals are often just traditions of the group, and these are adaptive; that is they change with the perceived conditions. So morals, ethics are just opinions of a group. So are religions, so are ideologies, and even philosophy, even tho the last two often start with a couple of premises and build from there. If we accept that a is true, then it follows that something else must be true. It is the next step, the "therefore we all should" that is in dispute.

Is the old ought (should) from an is that creates the problem. But what do I know. I think I will go dig some holes.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Once more

https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/in-god-we-rust-holy-hats-pregame-prayer/

It comes from the Greek Republic. Or Latin Vox Populi, Vox Dei. Approximately the voice of the people is the voice of god.
The voice of the people is god, and in that god we trust.This is not the christian god but the voice of the people... well maybe it was or not.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Free Market and Game Theory

Free Market and Game Theory

Every Conservative seems to believe in a free market. But game theory shows that free market are not the best scenario when there are many producers and many consumers. That drive prices too low in oversupply, and it is only good for consumers. It times of short supply, it is good for the producers. But the producers make decisions to get into/leave/forced out, and the market is in flux all the time. Not good if it takes years to adjust your output. How long are you willing to not make wages? How cheap are you willing to live? Free markets do not work where the ability to supply exceeds the demand. Marketing boards or Quota system produces a much fairer to the producer but not for the consumer. Consider the milk situation in Canada verse the US.

This is exactly what is predicted by game theory now. The Conservatives have a wrong plank in there platform. Oh well, I am a centralist, and look at issues one at a time. No party represents me very well.

We had a regulated electrical price system in Alberta but the conservatives applied their free market wrong concept to it, and now we pay through the nose every month. Games just do not work without rules. Oh well, wrong policies are common.

The world is overpopulated. That is a fact that cannot be disputed when we consider the carbon dioxide level. It should be one of the criteria in any immigration policy.  With Canada open borders, we are letting in too many people without skills, and then supporting them, when they cannot earn a living in our economy.But Trudeau know best. On Immigration, he is over the line. On refuges, who are not willing to follow our laws... do not know our laws...he is over the line. What is one to do? Vote Green?

Friday, August 24, 2018

Supply Management vs US Farm Welfare

Supply Management vs US Farm Welfare

Max has an idea. Do away with our supply management system for dairy. That means that we, the people, would need to buy up the quotas, which currently are an asset of the farms. and put some 18000 farms and farm families on welfare. 

The current milk price in Canada is C$0.76 per liter, up to the quota amount and in the US C$0.43 plus Farm Aid Package. Produce as much as you like, if you can sell it in the US. A Canadian farmer will be making less than minimum wage in direct wages, forget about all the overtime, and seven days each and every week. 

Canada allows milk import, up to a limit to make up seasonal shortfalls on the spot market, and anything more, it taxes/tariffs at 270%. This allows the Canadian milk farmers to survive. If Max has his way, those farms will not survive, and all milk will be imported. 

The first Trudeau rammed French and immigrants on us, the second immigrants and Indians.  

Indians are more of a risk to the next generation than Muslims, but these may actually be less than global warming.  But the Indians will try something like South African land redistribution after they gain control. Once the Muslims become a majority, they will do as the Quran says, and stop being tolerant of other religions. The Muslim Religion, Islam, and the Quran is a true evil of this world in so many ways.


Global warming is the secondary effect of rising carbon dioxide, along with the methane released by warming of the arctic waters. The arctic sea ice is now essential seasonal after this year.


From the Arctic News: The picture I wanted to include will not scale here. It is the one showing the much lower albedo of water compared to ice, that is reflection of 6% of solar energy, compared to 90% for snow.

http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-once-thickest-arctic-sea-ice-has-gone.html

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Notes from about

If only Trump had not run for president, his minions could have continued laundering Russian money, evading taxes and paying hush money until he tweeted off this mortal coil.

He asked the Russians for help to win the election and they responded with a Facebook campaign.  That defines collusion.


Saturday, August 18, 2018

One version of the Satanic Commandments


  1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
  2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
  3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.
  4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
  5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
  6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
  7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
  8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
  9. Do not harm little children.
  10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
  11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

Christians would be better off it they lived by these. 

Monday, August 13, 2018

Humans!!

http://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2018/08/13/candidate-a-pastor-wants-to-go-back-to-when-being-gay-was-criminalized/

As an alien, is it a human characteristic to do as Islam suggests in being tolerant publicly while you are a minority, but when you are the majority being highly intolerant of others? ... To force a uniform culture/society/behavior. Well, some days nothing makes any sense, so when I think I am an alien, the humans are just a life form to study. They think one in private and within peer groups, yet publicly do something different. Oh well. 

So is there a difference between private and public tolerance? For me there certainly is. I would never allow myself to become close to a Muslim, Indian, black, gay, alcoholic, drug user, etc. But then the Stoic concept of practicing death (negative visualization, or Epictetus Enchirion 7, 11)  of those around me keeps me from becoming to attached to most, if not all. Where the others do not impact me, I do not care as long as they do not try to force themselves or their concepts onto me. Perverts, and others need to keep away from me, else.

Victoria took down Sir John A MacDonald statue for fear of upsetting the natives, but intimidation will not make the natives popular. Under Trudeau, there may be a effort at reconciliation, but it is the native that will need to reconcile themselves to Canada as she exists today. Soon Canada will not be able to bribe the Natives, she will be broke, and there will be a tax revolt.

Trudeau is losing popularity within the white community... Do we have control... 2019 election may change things...

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Wrong Move Government

https://canoe.com/news/national/john-a-macdonald-statue-removed-from-victoria-city-hall

The concurred peoples will never be happy anyway. They do not pay into the system with their Indian cards. So why should we care? Morals are adaptive. It was permissible to shoot Indians in my grandfathers time, and only became illegal in my fathers time. I come from long generation though, and am getting oldish.

And with the Gerald Stanley thing, where the natives are doing a civil suit after a not guilty by the criminal justice system, the natives are getting uppity. Perhaps the law needs to be changed a bit.

We just lost property rights if the Indians win this. We need to be able to defend our property if we have real property rights. Oh well, we all just die in the end.

Canada is nice itself out of existence. 

Monday, July 30, 2018

quasi-mystical word salads

quasi-mystical word salads: a term used on freethought blogs, but when I went back for the link, it was gone... is a nice term for a lot of stuff that I see on the net.

Here is an example of such http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2018/07/30/17776/

Saturday, July 28, 2018

A new type of preacher?

Do we have a new type of preacher developing or a new old religion?  It is a belief system, therefore, a religion.

Stoic Solutions Podcast where I offer practical wisdom for everyday life focusing on topics including gratitude, acceptance, overcoming adversity, finding meaning in life, moderation, dealing with change, friendship, loneliness, and anger.
http://donaldrobertson.name/2018/07/28/interview-justin-vacula-on-marcus-aurelius/

What about the big parts of Stoicism? Separation of control, and separation of the "event" and our thinking about "event". What about the hard attitude toward death? What he seems to be selling is a washed down version of Stoicism as described by the original authors.  Ah, but this is just the bait. After the hook is taken and the barb set, what is the story? Dose the answer lie in the donation button after being supported by a educational institute?

There is no doubt that the world needs preachers for those 60 some percent of the population who never read a book post high school. These people do need some guidance, but the real debate is over the name. Is "Stoicism lite" a more correct description? What they do is up to them, but truth is ultimate in Stoicism, so is this really Stoicism. But what do I know, I have only read, learned and studied this in isolation, more or less, for a short while, since the beginning of this century. 

As I have said, Stoicism is a religion. It does encourage logic, self examination of the points, and allows a three way split of all intake concepts, acceptance, rejection or abayence.  Based on what ever we currently believe, we can address any new concepts. That is the catch, we start learning from where we are at. If we have wrong ideas in our mind, we believe them to be right, and how are we to separate right from wrong?

Becoming a strong atheist has really forced change of my thinking. Many discussions, comments, or questions I have faced from the religious only make sense if they believe there is a god. If there is no god in our thinking, these quires are often not logical.

So you believe in "the big bang"? Well, that term is not a description of the events. It was big after a bit, but there was no atmosphere, so no bang. It did later produce a radiation pressure wave, which we can map today, 13.8 billion light years away, more or less. What happen before? There was nothing, Well it was cold, less that absolute zero, and a portion of space came to absolute zero. At absolute zero, the forces come into existence, the Higgs field comes into existence, which is spontaneous, and exothermic, and the chain reaction is started. It cannot be stopped. It would more exactly be described as a big flash. Sound, as described by the term bang, is a human perception of a shock wave in atmosphere. Not possible to understand if you think humans are anything more than a present day manifestation of aggressive cooperative bacteria. We all descended from that organic beginnings, through the fish.

It does not matter much. In the end we all just die anyway.     


Degrees of Seperation

https://www.canadianatheist.com/2018/07/survey-jacobsen/

Interbreeding with other races is different than associating with other races. Working with them is fine, even socializing, yet I believe in keeping some of each race pure. Each race will physically and psychologically strong/weak environments, the biological variation. In general the within group variation masks the between group variation, but many studies have teased out some differences. Those provide some advantages to specific breeds for some things, but cultural, religious, educational and experience are much bigger factors. Breed provides the genetic material, nurture provides much more conditioning for life.  

The selection of a mate to reproduce with is critical for the next generation. Those in power, the rich recognize and tend to stick together, a money criteria in mate selection. This likely purifies some characteristics, like stuck-upness, whatever the pc term is. Like tend to stick together, but when the privileged few are in control, privilege will remain. For this reason, money should be taken out of politics, so that the voice of the people is the voice of the people, not the voice of the wealthy, as it is in the US today, and less so in Canada.  


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Danforth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_N8QL9ReRs
Another Muslim shoots a bunch of people with illegal hand gun.

The only way this will end is to remove one of two from the mix, guns or Muslims. Or remove both. The way to remove guns is to stop manufacturing of guns. Education of the reality of religion; it is all just a tradition from the bronze age, it is just our thoughts that drive us; place non religious thoughts and the desire to kill can be removed. A book that says killing is the right thing to do is not helpful for peace.

Muslim is a religion of intolerance to other ideas of how we should live. They are just wrong, like christians. There are no gods, no afterlife. Death is final. We only get one life so we need to make this one as good as we can, good being not hurting others and being productive or valued in some form. Anything will do. The more I learn, the more I see the problems of wrong information in the world. Not just wrong, but damaging. Those who do not accept climate change caused by man are just looking away from reality. What can we say. The economy is less important than a planet that humans can live on. Over populations remains the big problem. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway.

Since the politicals do not have the will to make the changes necessary from human survival, the extinction event will come. Oh well...

 

Monday, July 23, 2018

unreferenced notes from about the web

China, the importing of oil has reduced. WTF. So solar energy is affecting oil consumption. I would have expected coal first, but that may go unnoticed as much coal is not imported. Not much information flows out of China. China is perhaps the leader in solar adoption.

reethinker.co.uk/2018/07/23/non-orthodox-weddings-rabbi-gets-nabbed-by-israeli-police/
So the Jews are forcing there religion on... well there are followers, just not the right way.

Israel, the Jews are an invasive species anyway, the invaded and displaced Muslims to form Israel to start with. They form ghettos most everywhere they settle and do not mix with other populations much. Oh well. The world is over-populated anyway.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/992896/donald-trump-news-latest-poll-approval-rating-putin-russia-election-helsinki
Have the Russians hacked the rating system/ polling system? That could explain the growing loss of rational response in the US. A rise in support is not reflected in comments.

Religions seems to effect personality or individual behavior by defining what we should believe in a general way. Family is a Roman Catholic high, while community is a more protestant thing. Getting ahead by work is more protestant. Indulgences are certainly catholic, even where they still exist today.

So we become indoctrinated into our society and belief system in our youth, and modify it slowly as adults or not much at all. Or rapidly if we start to study our own belief system. Religion got society to here, and it is now holding us back. It is time to let go. 

Thursday, July 19, 2018

What if

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44892889

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2018/07/19/a-russian-spy-used-the-national-prayer-breakfast-to-infiltrate-america/ 

So the Russians have infiltrated a prayer group. What about the NRA? It is populated with the America government-defense industry, and that would be a good source of knowing what the US military capacity is? Is the NRA secure, or is it leaking to the Russians, like Trump?

It seems likely that Trump is a security weak point. How is the US going to handle that situation?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44885633  

and yet more is revealed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGlUXz--eBk

So is Trump Russian? Treason?

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Occam


http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2018/07/the-search-for-meaning/#disqus_thread

To provide the next generations:


 Perhaps the simplest solution is the most likely, well, likely the answer is among the simplest where there are multiple choices... but what is the meaning of life?

Well there is not one... is simple but likely not quite true. To provide the next generation is a much more likely of a solution to the hypothetical question as to the meaning of life. Nothing more, nothing less.

Not a true Occam solution, but close.

 Some will, some will not, the biological diversity grows, as we overpopulate the world. We are ripe for an extinction event, partial more likely than complete.

Biological units must grow and die to be renewed. Oh well, that is our lot in life. What choice do we have?

Based on the rising Co2 levels, we have twice as many people who can be supported in the life style to which we have become accustomed.

Thursday, July 5, 2018

best july 4 comment

make us the adult in a house where in the basement a screaming orange toddler with a lit match holds us all in terrified thrall to his tantrums.

Saturday, June 30, 2018

On the political situation

On the political situation

Trump is a basic bully. He is not getting his way in the world, and outside the US, his tariff actions simply are one more factor in our product selection. Small motors, Honda and Daewoo and others win.

"The MAGA hat has come to symbolize racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, misogyny, white supremacy, homophobia." and also the right of might, the basic bully.

But he is who the US wanted as President. They got there wish. We will survive the asshole. 

Monday, June 25, 2018

Atmosphere Survival

Atmosphere survival is the concept of keeping the atmosphere in the condition it was in prior to say 1960. To do this we would need to return to a pre-1960 level of net Co2 emission, and likely a pre-1960 population. This was common discussion in the mid 60's, for those of us that can recall the time. I did not get traction then, and became a topic not to discuss for there is no solution on offer, only the eventual demise of humanity as we know it. I am not saying extinction but rather major change in the next few generations. Perhaps we will adapt to high carbon dioxide atmosphere, perhaps this will be the limiting factor to human growth. I do not know. Change is the only constant.

Temperature is one of the dimension of space. Before there was anything, there was no temperature, absolute zero, or less. Once a region of space warmed to absolute zero, space thawed, the forces separated, matter can exist, shit happens because it can. That was the beginning, 14.8 or 15 billion years ago. But a year is a long time in a atomic world. And the universe was off to the races. Change is the only constant. and in the end we die and are recycled, one atom at a time. Oh well. Perhaps humans will survive, or perhaps mutate into something else.

Out atmosphere temperature is tide to weather. There is no doubt of that. Temperature of the atmosphere is tied to weather. Expect change, that is all I know for sure.

My mind is going, as is the body, but Oh well, in the end we all just die, and the process is not a straight line for sure, but one of breaks and bends. Climate is likewise, and is generally unpredictable in extend, yet gives hints of directions. Here, warming of winters for sure, at least in my lifetime.  

As the founder of WatchTower said: "This is a business association merely ... a business convenience in disseminating the truth, which established the fundamental doctrines of this organization" as he founded a evil organization. Man made without a clear purpose other than control of people, evil and wrong to its' core. It uses the concept of religious faith to control people, develop assets, and create wealth for those who follow and rise in the organization. It covers wrong act, abuse of people, sex crimes, and other evil acts of the leaders. Not knowledge, ethics or truth, but control of the followers is the purpose now.

Ethics is worthy of study, religion is not. We are all individuals, and the adults must make their own choices as to what is worthwhile, what is right and what is not. We have no right to force our views onto others, but we may put them out there for others to read, and perhaps understand or not. All we have as free will is our opinions, aka past decisions, and the ability to ascent or reject a concept or idea. Our motivation, desire, and aversion are secondary, as these concepts arise, we ascent or reject each in turn, for action on or no action on. We may desire, but defer action, we may reject the desire, and the desire may remain. How many times? Forever may be the only right decision. Moral and immoral are just human concepts easily replaced by right and wrong. It is often not a good choice, but the best available choice, which may be a bad choice. 

Choices we make... from something else I was reading on memory aging... "Her clarity on her own family is superb, including the distance she maintains from a fraudulent and abusive sibling." Shunning of a form. Just like staying away from the religious of my family or origin.And so it goes on.



    

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Empathy

Trump and his immigration policy is just wrong.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trump-defiant-over-separations-despite-backlash-1.3979294

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-united-nations-human-rights-1.4713021

How is what trump is doing anything like right?

What about those employees of the US? Since WWII just following orders has not been a defense. So are those employees to be held responsible for their actions as war criminals?

Can trump and the employees be held out as war criminals?


Monday, June 18, 2018

Pope shit head

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2018/06/18/pope-francis-families-with-gay-or-lesbian-parents-arent-legitimate/

Once you realize there is no god, then the pope and his elk become a bunch of old men trying to control others.  He has no right to control others. He is just another shit head ego pushing his opinions. Just like trump.

No religion has any real authority over anyone. We just let them control us, or our ancestors, and some of us have taken back our own authority. I have more education that the pope. He has one error in his thinking, that a god exists. Once that error is corrected, he becomes just another alien in a funny hat.  

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Philosophy of Life

One can develop or select a philosophy of life to direct our life, or the remainder of our life. That is essentially a religion, but philosophy tends to discount any mysticism. So we can select something, some philosophical concepts and allow those concepts to control our decisions going forward. OK. But one concept is not enough, even if we knew the outcome. For what would we trade a few thousand days for? Occupation? Well some occupations shorten our life expectation. Working in construction for one. Not through just on the job hazards, but also through the full on work, full idle cycle of exhaustion/boredom, boom/bust, what ever you call it. And not just construction, oil, energy, even auto. It is the boom and bust that we have seen since industrialization. And does philosophy help, well it can, if we are to allow our philosophy or religion to control. But not religion, for religion requires belief without evidence or logic.

We can start with life as the criteria to judge against. Anything that detracts from life expediency, or quality of life, may need to be modified or examined at least. But even then there can be conflict between what we see as quality of life and quantity, aka life expediency. We may need to make a philosophical choice, are we going to risk life with drugs, alcohol, food, exercise, work, recreation, down time, hobbies... it all becomes a philosophical question, after we take time to actually make a formal decision. Much of the time we just go with the flow... not consider the choice, and just do the next thing that shows up.

So once we define the quality of life we wish to live, the quantity becomes a partly dependent variable, more or less, on that choice. So as we age, life choice become more clear, some things should just not be done anymore, and should not have been done in the past. We were in error. Oh well, that is history. We learn and go forward into today, living differently, as we actively make decisions based on what we know, and what we think is the best choice. We can grow the philosophy, the rationally prepared criteria for our future decisions; yet we should always be examining this philosophy, there may be better philosophies to find or discover, in some cases. Fixity of philosophy is also a danger, not seeing better when it is presented. That is one more shortcoming of religion, the skeptic movement, Stoicism, what have you.

Compassion is an important virtue, but it is often twisted into altruism, an evil. Why should I be concerned about someones life if they are not? (as a response to the drug problem, for example)

Cooperation is the virtue, not doing for others, or providing for others. But life has become a struggle; we are living in an over populated world. We need to rally look to find opportunities. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway.  




      

Friday, June 1, 2018

Purpose or Not


https://www.atheistrev.com/2018/06/recommend-some-atheist-blogs.html  got me thinking about the purpose of this or any blog.

In my case, the purpose is personal expression, it does not matter if others read it, but I needed to say it. Others reading this is secondary, but a good effect.

As an atheist, having been a atheist for a long time, and having tried to believe in a concept god for the potential benefits, all the while knowing that there is no evidence for a god, has left me in a position of not being too concerned for others. Once I also accepted that the earth is over populated, as evidenced by Co2 levels, and humanity are going to suffer because of this... well the next generations will need to evolve the ability to live in a higher Co2 atmosphere... then human life loses value. Why should I be concerned about others lives if they are not concerned about themselves?

In my philosophy and similar reading, it is apparent that homo-sapiens are merely the current dominate species, nothing more. We too, will become extinct, likely. We may become extinct through change, with a new species emerging, but each of us become extinct. Oh well.

I have a magpie philosophy, pick out the shinny bits and let the rest go by. Existentialism shiny bit is that this life is the thing of highest value to me, so I should not do anything that lessens that value. So the drug and alcohol world will just need to leave me alone. If you do not care about your life, why should I? So how does this fit in? Well, I am atheist, but that is incidental to life, it is the clear religion. If "atheism" is a religion, then clear is its' colour. Canadian Eh.

The US is a high war industry country, it cannot be peaceful. The war industry and the gun industry are related; it needs a violent population to keep the war industry alive. Peace cannot happen with such a massive war industry. Oh well, we live next door. We need a strong border to keep out the violence. Why should I care when Americans kill other Americans, or Muslim on Muslim. It is just savages killing savages, in an overpopulated world. As an atheist, I need to be responsible for my actions, not the actions of others, especially savages.

From the Stoics, one shinny bit is some things are up to me, the rest is not. It is irrational, aka not logical, to care much about that which is beyond my control and influence. Others may try to force onto me stuff that is beyond my control, but that is not my concern, for they are at best ignorant, and possibly willfully damaging. Ignorant or arrogant, it is their choice. Another shinny bit is that it is not the event that causes us issues, but how we think about it. Take the drug fentanyl/canfentanil issue, if those people do not care about their own bodies, why should I? Well it is addiction. So is some overeating. There is treatment for drug addiction, but not for food addiction. It is all about how we think about it anyway. 


   



Thursday, May 17, 2018

Sisyphus, Roll That Boulder

https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2018/05/17/the-damage-done-by-bullshit-jobs/
Different hill, different boulder, and still we must envision Sisyphus happy, enjoying the returns of his efforts.

There has been much in the news of Jordan Peterson and his new book and philosophy. He is very articulate but shoot your mouth off, expect flack, ignore flack, as a philosophy... well that is my impression of the Youtube stuff I have seen.

I tried to read his book, but anyone who thinks the bible is literally true, and uses it as an example on the first page of his book does not get me to go beyond there. The bible is story or myths, fairy tails of old, and similar. There may be some truths and fact in it, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I have, within my control, the ability to suspend assent and rejection, or hold in abeyance, any proposition.  The bible cannot be considered as historically accurate, for there is enough errors in it that bullshit is bullshit applies.

Any time anyone says anything on the internet, we can expect flack. True. Likely. So keep your negativity to yourself or I will just turn comments off, not just delete them with my bow fingers.

No one is teaching morality anymore. Religion always did a poor job, families likewise, schools not much, so likely all the young get is a bit of incidental learning, social learning. The underlying reasons, causes, benefits, advantages are just not taught. The more I read about ethics, the more I realize that morality has logical foundations, and we drift off the proper course when we do not return to the foundation from time to time. We may need to check to see it we are still over a foundation when we run into difficulties. In order to do this, we need to understand all the foundations.

One of those foundations is culture/religion, so two separate groups cannot be expected to get along in any one geographic region. Getting rid of religion and understanding the "social rules" can reduce conflict. So here is one: shoot your mouth off and take a chance on offending others, or reserve comments and perhaps avoid offense, that is the question. Always speak the truth seems the way to go, but then we say there is no evidence of any supernaturals, and we can give offense to the religious, if they realize their god is a supernatural. Oh well, in the end we all just die off anyway.