There’s this video, and then there’s comments I’ve read all over that go something like this: 1) “So weird to see the Death Star upside down,” or something equally as innocent and merely observational. And someone replies with: 2) “you idiot theres no upside down in space its all relative you probably like the prequels … The Epistemology of Orientation in Space
Despite being a Supreme Court judge, Potter Stewart opined some wise words: I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [“hard-core pornography”], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the … It Is What It Is, Except When It Might Not Be
One of the longest running gags in my mind staples of what I write here is that human reason is incapable of understanding a lot of what it’s purported to understand. This is exemplified best when we believe we’re being “reasonable” or “rational” concerning large, distant, complex events, involving lots of actors…basically anything seen or … Believe Whatever You Want
I have to admit, it doesn’t look bad at all; they’ve mirrored some iconic scenes from the original. My only qualm is how it seems director Rupert Sanders is treating Motoko’s identity crises, and it’s important because that was the theme of the original film. How can we know ourselves? What separates us from, and … Official Ghost in the Shell Trailer
Interesting conversation between Scott Adams and Stefan, in the early minutes before they get into the politics. I like Adams, but he’s inaccurate in the self-assessment of his childhood religious beliefs, which he describes at around the 1:20 mark. He didn’t necessarily decide to not believe. He didn’t believe in the first place because he … You Don’t Believe in the First Place
My entry for Ed’s Radix Fidem project has been revised (see original here). I added a concluding paragraph, and Ed had his hand in some editing. The last paragraph was a doozy for me, though you can’t really tell—it’s not Shakespeare nor St. Paul. I mulled it over, off and on, for almost a month. … The Epistemology of Belief, Revised
Azure Ides-Grey posted a video about the hippopotamus dilemma. I commented: A philosophy professor of mine came up with a similar dilemma. His solution, which I liked, was to demonstrate that 100% of the room’s capacity was taken up with non-hippopotamus objects: in this video’s case, it would be mostly air, with some books, shelves, … There Is No Hippo
There were a few extra things I had written for Ed’s Radix Fidem project that I edited out because it seemed to veer a little too much off course. It was regarding the ineffectiveness of the two logics when used outside of their scope. Have you ever seen network systems diagram, or mobile application workflow, … Addendum to Epistemology Post
As always, I don’t bother much with the political aspect (although at times it’s entertaining), but Scott Adams has some interesting “duh” insight in “Let’s Talk About Hitler”: As I have explained in this blog before, analogies are not part of reason. Sometimes things just remind you of other things. That’s the beginning and end … Analogies Are Not Arguments
I made a drive-by comment on a recent Stefan Molyneux video, which caused an avalanche of responses, most of which I didn’t read. I did make one more comment that clarified/reworded the original. I don’t know if it helped. It probably didn’t. In reading the video’s description, the philosophical assumptions are apparent: Question: “I consider … God and Evidence
If you didn’t hear, scientists discovered some unusual gravitational waves emanating from two black holes. It’s a big deal since it strongly bolsters Einstein’s space-time theories. Mike Duran quoted astrophysicist Hugh Ross on Facebook: “The existence of gravity waves is an important prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Einstein’s theory of general relativity is … God’s Nose Wiggles
Please excuse the lack of substantive posts lately. I’ve been busy doing clean up work in the aftermath of Pale Blue Scratch’s release. Things will be back to normal soon…whatever that means. My friend Ben Smith did a series of talks/lectures on philosophy and basic apologetics. I haven’t listened these all the way through, but … Three Apologetics Videos
Perceived object X can be distorted to n degree, such that recognition is impossible. Or X can be entirely replaced with another object Y, that mimics the n degree, but also the way it’s distorted m. The effect is the same, though a bit of knowledge can be gleaned from the former case. If distortion … Distortion, Replacement, and Identification
At least, I don’t think it is. From the clickbaity “According To Science, This Is The Perfect And Best Road Trip You Can Possibly Take.” WITH THE HELP OF A SOPHISTICATED ALGORITHM, THIS ROAD TRIP ALLOWS YOU TO START IN ANY STATE. JUST HOP ON AT THE POINT THAT RUNS THROUGH YOUR STATE AND KEEP … Math Is Not Science
Well, to provide a tl;dr answer to the question posed in the blog title, He might shoot a lot of B.C. Egyptians, particularly first born sons. He’d also maybe shoot Canaanites—all of them. Lots of the contextual “What would Jesus do in x situation? Let’s find out,” hypotheticals end up being an ad absurdum argument, … Who Would Jesus Shoot? AKA, Stop Putting Jesus in a Clown Suit
The quote below is from Children of the Mind (free pdf here), the last book in the The Ender Quartet series, Chapter 7, page 101. This is part of a chapter of the book that stuck with me, since it describes a material and technological phenomenon in mythical language. “Myth” has been transformed into a … Orson Scott Card’s Myth-Language
After a some comments I made on one of Mike Duran’s post, “Does Christian Fiction Have a Race Problem?”, I was set to write a lot of about the politicized nature of the modern diversity concept. Stefan Molyneux beat me and saved me some writing time, so I’d advise you to watch the video below. … The Diversity Issue
The comments on my last post reminded me of how much scientific “stuff” we really don’t know, epistemologically, so this is just a quick reminder. Since we don’t do experiments ourselves and only learn about them after they’ve gone through many hands and eyes, and through a massive popularization filter (looking at you, I Fucking … What You Really Love
From a letter to William Lane Craig, Craig’s response (bold mine): Your envisioned scenario is quite similar to the objection of the late philosopher J. Howard Sobel. Sobel invites us to conceive of something which, if it is possible, is a dragon in whichever world is the actual world. This is just like your “phoenix … Mad Max(imally)
See here and here for reference. 1. Inference (2): “If (i) morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, then they are morally good independent of God’s will.” – Possibly true, but irrelevant, since there’s other things besides God’s will that morality could rest upon: i.e., God’s power or omniscience. 2. … The Euthyphro Dumb-lemma