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POPSConceptual Thinking versus Metaphor I too think that, useful as it is, syntax-locked rational discourse is but a pale ghostly existence contrasted with the vital richness of metaphor and image-ination.
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POPSGut Anxiety The gut brain is not separate from the thinking brain. We are feeling creatures, not rational robots.
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POPSWe Are Screwed! And we have a congress that just cannot say NO! He is way out of control, the sixties must have been REALLY good to Bush and the others in charge of government, these are not the actions of sane, rational thinking people, you would have to either be on drugs or lost enough brain cells from their use to think this is okay!
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POPSGeniuses of Science Next year, we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and the 150th of the publication of his 'On The Origin of Species', which revolutionised our understanding of biology. Approximately 1,000 years before the British naturalist published his theory of evolution, a scientist working in Baghdad was thinking along similar lines. Although the Muslim world is often now seen as ill-equipped for scientific discovery, we can look back to Baghdad and see the origins of the modern scientific method, the world's first physicist and the world's first chemist; advances in surgery and anatomy, the birth of geology and anthropology; not to mention remarkable feats of engineering. (DT)
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POPS NO 'SPECIAL' PEOPLE' The joke 'the lunatics have taken over the asylum" is no longer funny. It is good to see people thinking for themselves.
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POPSThe Strange Journey of Ayaan Hirsi Ali: From Devout Muslim to Outspoken "Feminist" Critic of Islam
The former "liberal" who becomes an outspoken right-winger has become an American political archetype. Ronald Reagan and David Horowiz are two prime examples of the breed. They use the rhetorical tool of claiming to be just as caring and compassionate as their previous political incarnation, but the left's irrationality and hatred of (you pick it) the West, America, Christianity, capitalism, etc. caused them to wake up one morning and see the light. And having transformed from lefty caterpillar into a right-leaning butterfly, they present themselves as qualified to comment on liberalism's moral and intellectual failures. related version of this turncoat persona : a "reformed" Muslim woman who favors crushing Islam under the boot of Western militarism. Once very devout in her Muslim beliefs, Ali has transformed into an outspoken critic who bases her calls for the destruction of Islam on feminist and human rights principles.
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POPSMyth vs History Most in US accept the Bible as factual instead of mythological? My own experience with believers seems to back up this claim.
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POPSCarr on IT changing human intellect
If this higher consciousness were to be some form of emergent group consciousness, then we wouldn't "see" it unless we were part of that self-deluding component of the mind which kids on that it is self aware and has an executive role. If we are any other strand of thought, we would continue to perform our roles, oblivious to the fact that we were a component of a higher consciousness. Probably ;-) Is the sleep of reason necessarily a bad thing? Is rational argument actually any better than rhetorical, or was it a necessary substitute for the immediacy of social connectivity which allows the rhetoric to flourish again? If "we're lapsing into a dream state", doesn't this imply that we are either all doing it individually (I'm not...) or 'we' constitute parts of a whole which can dream? What sorts of things can dream? I agree that our mode of consumption shapes our intellects - everything we do does. But I don't think we should write our intellectual lives off just yet.
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POPSEffective Alternative Medicine Practitioners Need To Be Good Liars Alternative medicine disciples will trot out the "a lack of evidence doesn't mean absence of evidence" mantra but logical thinking raises this interesting observation. Alternative medicine practitioners who adopt a rational stance to their profession have to be good liars - if thy aren't then the good old placebo effect doesn't work.
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POPSRational Thinking - Don't Take It For Granted Logic, reason, rationality - call it common sense if you like. This is the only thing that can save us. Save us from ourselves, save us from would-be dictators, save us from snake oil salesmen, save us from religious zealots, save us from.....
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POPSMaterialism and C.S. Lewis The ideological world can be divided along the lines of Materialism and Naturalism. The current labels of Conservative and Liberal really do not fit at all in this World. Materialists divide the World into groups, categories, classes, race, ethnicity, etc. They reject the idea of logic and truth as conventions of the mind. The family tree of Materialism includes: Malthus, Darwin, Stalin, Sartre, Nietzche, Hegel, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Communism, Eugenics, Abortion, Socialists, Communists, Environmentalists and NeoConservatives.
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POPSMaterialist on the March: Stop global warming by not having babies The materialist revival is surely emboldened and history is on a crash-course for centennial re-runs. Add to this the encroachment of socialist values, the tyranny of political correctness, militant-atheism, militant Islamo-fascism, environmental propagandists, the support for eugenics, the dismissal of the scientific method, the general common ignorance of our Paris Hilton world and we are not far from the thinking of Malthus. Of course all of the materialist rantings are hooey. There is no population crisis and there never will be. There is no global food and water crisis and there never will be. There is no global warming crisis and there never will be. The whispers of this lunacy have been gaining over time.
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POPSPhilosophy since the Enlightenment Philosophy can sometimes seem like like a subject that has little practical application, but in studying it the way we think is examined, dramatic differences, and similarities can be seen in the way beliefs can be held by people with apparently rational justification. These beliefs and opinions have a direct effect on the way the world is seen. 'Reality' may stay the same, but if the way it is seen changes, is it the same reality ?
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POPSUS: Seeking Vengeance not Justice is self-defeating!!!
The US ignored promising overtures from longstanding adversaries, rejected the advice of previously close allies, and set dangerous precedents that will haunt US foreign policy for decades. Through it all, US policymakers either relied on or hid behind the excuse of faulty intelligence, which contributed to the failures to track the Sep11 perpetrators prior to the attacks The "global war on terror" has been going on now for over 6 years. Its emphasis on military responses - in Afghanistan and Iraq - has only swelled the ranks of terrorist organizations. The erosion of civil liberties has undermined democracy at home and raised serious doubts abroad about US credibility. The failure to put adequate funds into homeland security - particularly port and border protection - has put too great a burden on local governments. The hostility to international mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court has weakened the very institutions that can properly address terrorist organizatio
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POPSThe Convention on the Rights of the Child When it comes to the forced inculcation of religion and the resulting abuses of children in the name of religion, the UN, all of its affiliated organizations, and almost all national governments remain steadfastly silent. Just as we all stand up against child marriage, because marriage is an institution meant for adults, and just as we do not let children participate in certain civic duties, such as voting, until they reach a certain age, the time has come to debate the participation of children in religious institutions. Innaiah Narisetti is the chair of the Center for Inquiry/India. This article is excerpted from a paper that he will present at the Center for Inquiry’s congress in China this coming October.
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POPSExactly the Wrong Response to Caplan I absolutely agree that there is a difference between economic rationality and something like good judgment, but child labor and minimum wage laws (and every other real check on the market) come not from the better angels of our natures, but from the stubborn struggle of the workers, and the fear of that struggle among the decision-making elites. The moralistic rejoinder to free market ideologues is liberal in the bad sense--fuzzy headed wishful thinking.
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POPSCutting Through Bush Propaganda Video clips don't seem to get as much attention as text clips, so I have made a text-clip of my own video clip to call attention to a great piece of news commentary by Keith Olbermann. In my opinion every American concerned about the loss of our brave sons and daughters in this war needs to view this video to really have a clear picture of what our sad and delusional Commander In Chief has brought us to.
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POPSCutting Through Bush Propaganda Classic clear thinking by Keith Olbermann on the anniversary of "Mission Accomplished". I cannot imagine a rational and cogent conservative rebuttal of Keith's incisive commentary. Spin can't spin this truth in the hard light of day.
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POPSShe's Baaack! A publisher couldn't ask for better publicity than a protest against your books. People will want to read the books for themselves and see what all the hub-bub is about, which amounts to more sales!
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