SPOILER ALERT: What “Atlas Shrugged” means
March 23, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on SPOILER ALERT: What “Atlas Shrugged” means
On the “wall” for the facebook.com public group named “Ayn Rand” (the author philosopher who wrote the novel “Atlas Shrugged”), a group member posted the following question:
What exactly does the title of Atlas Shrugged mean? I remember the quote in the book went something like “Do you know what I would say to Atlas? I’d tell him to shrug.” But I’m unclear on what it literally means. Does it mean to make a gesture that says “Uh whatever” as if you don’t care, or does it mean to stop bearing the weight of the world and just let it drop?
I reply as follows. Read more
Why “other dimensions” do, and do not, exist
March 23, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on Why “other dimensions” do, and do not, exist
A friend asked “Do you believe in other dimensions?”. I replied as follows:
Other dimensions of what? I’m not being obtuse here. It’s just that anything can be quantified as a dimension. For example: the sweetness of a fruit, the hardness of a snowball, the volume of precipitation etc. There are literally as many dimensions as there are things to quantify. Read more
Bombings in Brussels: Everything you’ll read about them, in one tiny article
March 22, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on Bombings in Brussels: Everything you’ll read about them, in one tiny article
Earlier today, explosions “rocked the Brussels airport and subway system, killing at least 28 people and injuring many more“…but we cannot be certain of the bombers’ motive, and ultimately this is a response to something awful we’ve done in another country (for oil…or, something money-related), and religion certainly had nothing to do with it, and the bombers were mentally ill, and they were odd, and “real” people of their religion (possibly Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism…we can’t rule that out) would never do such a thing, and saying otherwise is racist (even though religion has nothing to do with race), or isolationist (even if you are pro-immigration), or “privilege” and “patriarchy” (because, well, what isn’t?), or….whatever….and we should respond by turning the other cheek, and taking our troops out of the Middle East, and telling would-be attackers that we mean no one any harm so, please, please, don’t hurt us (pretty please, we’ll be nice). In short: nothing to see here folks. Move along. Everything is double-plus good.
Celebrate Judge Me According to My Genetics Day!
March 9, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on Celebrate Judge Me According to My Genetics Day!
Rise up, ugly people. You are not a group of individually judged entities (sometimes quaintly called “human beings”). You are but cells comprising the ugly people entity. Whether you’re a saint or a sinner, a winner or a loser, a producer or a vampire…none of that is relevant to the issue of how you should be judged. None of that should determine what you deserve or get. You are a single ugly people entity, and you should be judged as such. What you deserve depends upon the worthiness of the collective entity of which you are but a cell. Read more
Why political philosophy, by itself, fails
February 24, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on Why political philosophy, by itself, fails
A facebook friend of mine asked how a teacher can impress upon a politics/philosophy student the importance of not treating political philosophy as a stand-alone, self-sufficient thing; the importance of knowing the philosophical underpinnings of one’s political philosophy. I responded as follows:
Teacher: What is your view of politics/economics?
Student: I’m in favour of capitalism.
Teacher: What if I told you that capitalism is evil, because your highest value is your death, your highest virtue is obedience to the will of God, and your highest purpose is to sacrifice yourself for the benefit of others? Read more
Creed of the Celebrity-trial Watcher
February 5, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on Creed of the Celebrity-trial Watcher
Whoever loses, I will never forget: it was the lawyer’s fault. It was the lawyer’s fault that the legislators drafted the Code the way they did. It was the lawyer’s fault that the judge/jury interpreted the law they way they did. It was the lawyer’s fault that witnesses lied, or had a bad recollection or inconsistent testimony. It was the lawyer’s fault that there was no evidence, or that the judge allowed something into evidence, or refused to do so. Whatever I do, I will be sure to reject the idea that…justice prevailed.
Thought of the Day: Technology and the Death of Banks
January 22, 2016 by Paul McKeever · Comments Off on Thought of the Day: Technology and the Death of Banks
This is more a note to myself for future consideration, but I share it with you now in case you want to ponder it, my dear readers.
Consider: Technology eliminates middle-men. Banking is the epitome of middle-manning. Banking arguably is a do-do bird service in an age when lenders and borrowers could use software and data sharing to assess credit-worthiness, to find the lowest interest rates and best terms, and to create records of who owes what to whom. This will all become apparent when the banks are finished laying-off all of their employees and we realize that we’ve all been paying a corporation for the use of their computer.
