20080325

equaitylovefreedom

There is a basis for empathy and for moral equality.
That is our common condition as conscious beings in this universe.
The thing which makes us sapients and sentients different from the rocks in the ground or the dust between the stars is that we are the part of the universe that is aware of the universe. It's a rare, wondrous, and mysterious thing, and it should be valued more than it is.

20080323

morn.day-8

"And if I fail?"
"Eternal consciousness."

I can't sleep.
I mean, I got some sleep earlier, but little interruptions and schedules in this place are throwing off my usual rhythms and cycles.

I guess that's all for now.

20080318

lhospitale

So as my four and a half readers already know, I was in a car accident today. I'm writing this from the eleventh floor of the new hospital in Murray, where they're keeping me for observation overnight. I haven't been in the habit of doing day-in-the-life posts, and it's not likely to start now.

I'm pretty much okay so far. I think. At least they haven't found any serious issues so far.

20080313

seaunderthe

Dolphin rescues beached whales.

The Mythbusters examined stories of dolphins fending off sharks from attacking swimmers, and found that sharks actually avoided the bait they left in the water when their mock-up dolphin was nearby. There's speculation either that dolphins really hate sharks, or they really feel some compassion for the sharks' victims.

Scientific American had an article on bluefin tuna possibly going extinct. Given the hype of dolphins caught in tuna nets, I quipped to my coworker that maybe the dolphins were responsible out of self-defense. Then I realized that while dolphins are certainly smart enough to pull off something like that, they probably aren't psychotic enough to do it. Conceiving that one took this human brain here.

Maybe someday we can convince the dolphins we're as civilized as they are.

20080308

greenliberstrat

So it's a lazy Saturday and I've been watching EcoTech on the science channel. It's full of really interesting materials and devices being developed to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution. It showcases innovations in building design, solar and wind power, even paint that absorbs toxic nitrous oxide and breaks it into harmless nitrogen and oxygen. The show points out that environmentalism really is good business policy because saving energy saves money.
I remember when running with the Libertarian party there was some talk and some articles about free market environmentalism, but one was left with the impression that the people talking about it were just developing talking points for candidate speeches, and didn't really care about environmental issues. The people featured on EcoTech are motivated by real care, and what's more they practice the innovative entrepreneurialism LPers claim to praise so much.
But hey, why be part of the solution when you can bitch about how people aren't conforming to the divinely guided perfected wisdom of the Founding Fathers, and scaring yourself silly with the word "socialism"?

20080307

grecojeebuswrestling

*I am not dogmatically insistent that there are no such things as Gods, spirits, afterlives, etc. But I do demand some model for how they could fit in with what we already know about physics, cosmology, neurology, etc. Failure to provide such a model when the best current science suggests the phenomena themselves are not necessary to explain anything is fair grounds to be skeptical.
Hitchens got at least one thing right in saying that the triumph of atheism is not the total disproof of God, but simply the moment when God became entirely optional.

*Western Civilization is older than Christianity, and barring total collapse and destruction, Western Civilization will outlast Christianity.

20080306

cravemetaliodine

Nothing will give you a hankering for chips, cookies, and cola quite like when the medics tell you to restrict your carbs in preparation for a medical test. It's a specific form of the Law of the Forbidden: that which is prohibited is inherently more attractive.

Ah well. I got to talking metal music with Ben the rad tech. We had Baroness and Black Sabbath in common, and shared enthusiastic introductions to Witchcraft, Pig Destroyer, and tech-death-jazz-fusion greats Atheist. Too bad iodine always makes me feel sick, at least for the first 35 seconds.

letterpolimorals

The Salt Lake City Weekly printed my letter this week:

I sincerely believe Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, simply made a poor choice of words with his 'black baby' remark, and did not have any ulterior racial message in mind. That said, it's a shame he'll probably go down for this instead of for the years of actual hate-filled insanity he and his ilk have pushed through the legislature in their crusade to bind our growing, advancing civilization under the chains of conservative pseudo-morals.

I'd initially sent it to the Trib, but they didn't give me so much as a "thank you for your submission." So, attention whore that I am, I sent it to the SLCWeekly instead. I hope anyone of conservative outlook ever sees it, they're not exactly the audience the SLCWeekly caters to.

The "pseudo-morals" part is perhaps the most important. We've let socially conservative forces run free and amok with the word "moral" for too long. It's endlessly frustrating to hear liberals, progressives, and secularists hide from the word, claim not to believe in it, or debate whether the concept even exists. Your pathetic attempt to maintain cred with a bunch of isolated Postmodern academics will hand victory to the conservative enemies of everything good. Liberalism, social progress, civil rights, free thought and speech... all these are moral battles, all historical progress on these lines are moral victories.

Liberals and conservatives think differently. They experience moralistic emotions under different circumstances. Various cognitive studies suggest liberals are more comfortable dealing with ambiguous or nuanced information than are conservatives. This may relate to the tendency of liberal thinkers to let the word "moral" be left in the hands of absolutists, as they've fallen for the conservative rhetoric that only absolutism can be "moral." Conservatives also attach much greater weight to concepts like hierarchy and purity than do liberals, who only experience moralistic emotions in categories of justice and harm. That's where we need to take up a moral discourse, because it implies conservatives may be willing to tolerate injustice and harm for the sake of purity, ingroup identity, and authority. We need to accept the language of morality to see to it that justice, freedom, and the general good are always prioritized in the democratic system.

20080303

nongunlawwoes

I was cleaning out an email account (well, partially cleaning out) and came across some recent email alerts from Gun Owners of Utah. I really don't like what they've done there. I refer specifically to GOUtah's attitude to Henry's Law (the attempt to make animal torture a felony) and the Dating Violence Bill (to create a legal mechanism for people to obtain protective orders on people they've had a relationship with but haven't actually lived with.)

I've found myself drifting away from my former political affiliations. I am still for gun rights, but I'm not inclined to be belligerent about it as I once was.

Anyway, on these recent legislative issues, it's like the gun group are so hair trigger on some little details, they've lost sight of the broader message and goals.

We'll start with Henry's Law, shall we? The law does not specifically address firearms, but GOUtah wanted everyone to vote down this "anti-gun" bill because it might deprive animal torturers of their right to bear arms.
Yeah, think about that a minute.
So, most pro-gun folks would agree we've got a few useful control systems in place. You want to buy a gun, you get an instant background check, which filters out those with histories of violent felonies or danger-to-self-and-others-type mental illnesses. GOUtah seem to object to the idea that dismembering a dog or squeezing gerbils 'til they pop should be added to the list of violent felonies we watch out for. If you find provisions of a law dangerously vague (as they claimed), you work to address the vagueness. If after honest effort, it's impossible to fix the vagueness, then you shut the law itself down. But overzealous gun folks in Utah made it look like they support animal torture. This in light of the fact that there's a huge amount of evidence that cruelty to nonhuman animals reliably predicts cruelty to humans. Psychopaths essentially practice on nonhuman animals until they can build up the courage to apply their urges to humans. Even if we're not talking out-and-out serial killers, someone with a sociopathic lack of empathy and an angry streak, someone inclined to take it out on nonhuman animals, is almost certainly unsafe around h. sapiens as well. I heard tell that at least one Utah State legislator was waxing on about how throwing cats in a bag and then drowning them is just perfectly normal behavior lots of good people do, and certainly no one should be stripped of gun rights for it. Insanity like that can only weaken the RKBA cause.

Then on the Dating Violence thing. Here, I can at least comprehend the logic. In principle, no one should be disarmed without a proper trial for their crimes. Still, there is a clear social need for people to be able to obtain formal legal protection from former relationships turned dangerous. Current law only allows it for those who've actually married or cohabitated, but the dangerous control freaks don't generally need life under the same roof to make them shed their charming exteriors.
If there are concerns it will be applied unjustly to innocents, those details can be addressed and fixed. But don't make it look like pro-gunners are also in favor of domineering obsessive stalkers, or you lose the gun rights fight forever.
The specter of the guy who seems so nice at first but turns dangerous and controlling after a time is all too real, and you don't want to look like you're on his side. As with animal torturers and people who think the archangel of jello wants them to burn down buildings, control-freak obsessed stalkers are on most folks' list of people we assume can't be trusted with lethal weaponry.

I consider it a proper function of universal education to show all girls growing up that there are more options available to them than serving someone else's will, and to instill self-respect in them so that they will absolutely never want to "graciously submit." Then all the guys sick enough to want their girlfriends and wives to be subservient to them will be eternally frustrated, never achieve their captain-of-the-household dreams, live in misery, and die alone as they deserve. Or we can use universal education to instill enough respect and morality in boys growing up so that they realize authoritarianism is absolutely and universally evil, and that all relationships are among equals. Best of all, we can instill all these things in all children wherever they fall on the sex and gender spectra.

20080301

videoimplant

Subcutaneous implanted video display

corporatevampire

"Sociopaths are already highly productive members of corporate society."
This is a web tie in to Peter Watts' novel, Blindsight. It also has some delightful social and political satire.
Several of Watts' novels and stories are available free on his website, in the Real World section. His science fiction is rigorously researched, absoutely brilliant, and wholly depressing. Highly recommended, at least for certain moods.

apheroldschool

I am at this moment connected to a machine that is drawing my blood and separating bone marrow stem cells for later use. The folks here can tweak the machine to get at various blood components as needed, This isn't even the leading edge, it's a refinement of a technique, using the equipment in new ways over the decades.
 
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