Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category

if a tree falls on campus, will you yell “Look out!”?

Wednesday, October 18th, 2006

Yesterday I saw a tree fall on some girl. It happened right in front of me. I saw the tree start tipping and it just kept going. This girl was on her cellphone and walking away from the tree, when my coworker yelled “Look out!” so of course she stopped and turned around just in time to see the leafy top of the tree land right on here. Luckily for her the only solid things that hit her were the little top branches (which hit her leg) but maybe if it wasn’t for that warning shout she’d have escaped contact entirely.

We decided, my coworker and I, that it was probably a message from God. We failed to agree on its meaning, however. He asserted that it was a commentary on our previous conversation, while I argued that if it was a message, it was sent to the girl upon whom it landed and that in any case we couldn’t know its meaning.

meta-ethics – a ramble

Wednesday, October 4th, 2006

What does it mean to be a good person? Does it depend on the opinions of all the people around you, or is it something you can do by yourself? If you were alone on an island, would “being a good person” have any meaning? Is it a social or an absolute construct? This is the big question of meta-ethics.

I think it must be social because all of the examples I can think of involve other people, either directly or indirectly. This is ethical subjectivism. This is not to say that there is no universal way to be a good person and that all morality is relative. The fact is that we’re all human and within this common framework there could very well be a set of behaviors which are always good or always bad independent of the community. My tentative conclusion is that the question is irrelevant outside of the context of a community.

My coworker pointed out that the question of what makes a good person only matters to the person making the evaluation of whether or not you actually are a good person. People have mixed opinions on whether or not I am a good person, for example. And since you yourself are a person, you should behave in such a way as you see yourself as a good person.

This is the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It reduces in the individual case to “do unto yourself as you would have yourself do unto you” or “treat yourself however you would want yourself to treat you” or “do whatever you want yourself to do to yourself to yourself”.

memory

Sunday, September 17th, 2006

What’s the difference between forgetting something and never having known it in the first place?

commercials

Thursday, May 18th, 2006

There have been a couple of commercials on TV lately that have been bothering me. I’d like to share my thoughts with you.

First there’s the Sprint “Fair and Flexible” commercials. This is where unlimited calling starts at 7pm. “7pm?!? That’s…that’s…” “Let’s spin the wheel of adjectives.” Okay, that’s not so bad. It used to be that you only got like 10,000 “nights and weekends” minutes per month, but now they’ve upped it to unlimited. Big whoop. The kicker though is when they tell you “So you control your plan; it doesn’t control you.” What?!? I don’t see how having to wait until 7pm to call people can be construed as “controlling your plan”.

Anyway, the other one is a beer commercial. “I’m just here for the Bud Light.” Now maybe it’s just me, but the message I receive from these commercials is that if you have Bud Light, no-talent jerks will come and crash your party and steal your beer. I guess they’re targeting no-talent jerks as the primary consumers of their product, so this might not be stupid on thier part. It just bothers me, that’s all.

early show

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

It’s 2am. I’m awake. Got a meeting downtown at 8am and I’m not going to oversleep. I’ve already slept 5 hours tonight. Dreamed that I broke off a tooth, and it had wooden roots.

Been doing PLM development hot and heavy for weeks now, and there’s no break on the horizon.

Went to church at St. Joseph the Worker last Saturday. It was their 50th anniversary as a parish. Lots of Vietnamese and hispanic people there now, which is neat. They sing stuff in Vietnamese. Sounds funny. Anyway, I remember feeling very sorry for all those people. The rituals that bind them together and comfort them also blind them and fetter them. Knowledge is a frightful and terrible thing, but Faith will enslave you. The thing that bothers me the most is all the evil crap that gets tied into all the good parts. I agree that it’s good to be nice to others and that violence sucks, but the Bible has mixed opinions on the subject. Interesting that no modern church focuses on the war and killing in the scriptures, but it’s all in there. You should read it for yourself sometime, and think about what you’re reading!

QotD

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly. — Publius Terentius Afer (Terence)

This describes my recent work experience. It’s not that it’s all that hard, it’s that I don’t want to do it. :P

late clarity

Sunday, December 4th, 2005

I’m up late. I’m tranquil and focused and productive. It’s a very desirable state. I wish I could cultivate this state of being during normal daylight hours. Those always seem filled with haze and pain and sloth.

Today was a very busy day. We got Sangeeta’s car from the shop where we had the roof and trunk painted. The old paint was degenerating like leprosy, and Sangeeta didn’t want to be seen in such an ugly car. Can’t blame her. Ick. We’ve still got to bring it back next Tuesday for a couple hours so they can color sand the new paint and make it shinier.

We also got a new futon pad today. Then we moved our futon into the living room, threw half our sofa into the trash, and put the other half in my fun room. There’s more space in here now, and more space in the living room too. Less sitting space, of course, but that’s to be expected. We had too much anyway.

Sangeeta’s dad is coming here from Nepal on Tuesday 12/6/05. He’s staying for a month, and he’ll spend time with his two daughters and his god-daughter. And probably with me as well. We’ll watch football. :)

Guitar practice has been going pretty well lately. I’ve begun focusing on technique and accuracy again, since I normally don’t. I started practicing with a metronome, starting slow and then advancing two clicks and then backing off one, advancing two, backing off one, until I get tired or can’t play that fast. Some of the single string, single finger exercises I can do 16th notes at 175bpm, but anything that involves more complex fingering drags the speed WAY down. I’m working on pressing more lightly on the strings, since in the past I’ve tended to really clamp down as the speed increased, and I ended up with bruised fingertips. Same story with my typing, I’m afraid.

Open Letter

Thursday, December 1st, 2005

Open Letter

This is an open letter to the Kansas School Board, urging them not to be closed to other scientific theories of creation. It attests that…well, you’d better read it yourself.

intro version

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

I find that being around other people too long drains my energy, but that being by myself for too long also drains me. I need to flip back and forth regularly to stay in top form. I also enjoy just walking around in a somewhat crowded environment. School was always good for that. I’d find myself in a trance, walking around and just letting the ambient noise numb my consciousness while I thought about this and that. Mostly about girls, as it turns out, but that’s hardly surprising.

So today I’m at home, working on a project that I detest more and more the longer it goes on. I feel like I’m actually killing myself with dumbness as I do this job. The problem is that I can’t think of anything else I’d rather work on. I think I’m burned out and need to recharge. I feel half dead most of the time, and it’s the dead part that feels better than the part that’s alive.

Sangeeta’s having her car repainted this week, so no car for me until Thursday.

Sangeeta’s father is coming to stay with us next month. If I live through that, I’ll be a very surprised person come next year.

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I can’t remember any dreams but I do remember Sangeeta waking me up over and over because I was snoring.

So now I’m just sitting here, writing all this shit and wondering what the fuck I’m doing with myself anymore.

Born A Couch Potato? Each Persons’ Activity Level Appears Intrinsic, Possibly Tied To Genetics

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Born A Couch Potato? Each Persons’ Activity Level Appears Intrinsic, Possibly Tied To Genetics