All posts by Richard

Mark II, Slavery

A plea for intervention

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One of our regular readers posted this on SOLO.

For those poor sods who live in North Korea

The new swines at the top have reiterated their policy that three generations of the family of anyone who tries to escape the godforsaken cesspit gulag of a country, be punished, and for border guards to shoot any such escapees on sight. And then Fatboy decrees today that the population must support his lavish lifestyle on their starving lives and they should form a human shield to protect him.

It is obviously no violation of the non-initiation of force principle for any free country to send in the equivalent of a Navy Seal, or SAS team, such as the one that took out Bin Laden, to take out Fatboy, then keep shooting the prick who swills to the top until tyranny gets the message and buggers off.

If I were a North Korean, I would be pleading every civilised country for such a worthy intervention.

Why have we forsaken the poor souls who live in North Korea?

Consciousness, John, Malaclypse the Younger, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind

Drug-free January

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It’s traditional.

Cocaine. So much cocaine.

Yes, folks, January is my month of self-imposed moral tyranny. But it’s for my own good! And, anyway, abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.

Do not suppose that my January regime is any less tyrannical for being self-imposed. No, sir, this ain’t a democracy. The party of my mind is a hoi polloi of hapless homunculi. It’s a rabble. It’s a rabble that needs to be told what to do (or, in this case, told what not to do). A rabble that must be roused or doused. By dictators. By benevolent dictators. With drugs.

The human soul is no more and no less than a suite of software running on wetware known colloquially as “brains”. We’re made of meat, sweetmeat. But wait! Aren’t Christians supposed to believe that the human soul is immaterial, immortal and indivisible? Well, no, not necessarily. This Christian believes that the human soul is material, mortal and modular. It’s a Biblical view of things. Consider the New Testament account of how it all began.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (KJV)

The King James Bible translates the Greek word λόγος (‘Logos’) as ‘Word’. Although ‘Word’ is certainly close enough, and an excellent choice, there is no exact translation. These days, I think, we might just as well translate λόγος as ‘Information’, ‘Reason’, ‘Algorithm’, or ‘Code’. In other words, software.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (KJV)

That’s right. It’s axiomatic in orthodox Christianity that Jesus was God incarnate. Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. Jesus became meat. Just like us.

Do you ever wonder why the zombies in zombie movies are so intent on getting some “brains”? Well, they don’t want to be the Living Dead. They want to be the Re-Incarnated. They want to be physically Resurrected! But for a non-lurching physical Resurrection you need nice, new resurrection bodies. Most importantly you need “brains”—the wetware—on which to run the software. (You are the software.)

Where were we? The rabble has rambled. Well, never mind… my mind? Where is it? Hahaha! Yes, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’ve been taking too many drugs! You’re thinking … drug-free January, Richard?! Good call!! Well, in the words of Malaclypse the Younger

‘Tis an ill wind that blows no minds.

And that’s one thing that drug-taking does teach you. It teaches you that consciousness is chemical. And that the mind is modular.

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe …

Democracy, Winston Churchill

Democracy

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Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Winston Churchill, Speech in the House of Commons, 1947

Property

Fa’afetai e Atua o le Aso Faraile

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There’s an entry under ‘Theft’ in Ian Heydon’s Samoa A-Z.

It is wise not to leave valuables or even items of clothing unattended on a beach or in a fale. Samoans can have a different view to ownership of property and things can ‘go missing’. Use your resort safe or ask your host for the best place to keep things safe. I have no personal experience of this and feel totally safe in Samoa but commonsense should tell you that an expensive beach towel could be inviting to someone who doesn’t own one.

Samoans? They’re born to steal.

Apparently, it’s the same in Tonga.

Theft happens – not normally through malice but simply because the concept of individual ownership of material goods is not totally accepted. So, don’t leave valuables unattended, including clothing and shoes. If your towel ‘goes missing’ overnight, it’s simply because someone had need of a towel! Just use common sense and don’t leave things open to temptation.

You’re safe from “theft” in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. But is it really theft in Samoa (or Tonga) if it’s not really your beach towel in the first place? If someone needs “your” beach towel more than you do, shouldn’t they have it?

Anyway, in Samoa it’s not just a hypothetical beach towel that’s “gone missing”.

It’s an entire day!

Christian Libertarianism

‘Tis so

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‘The game’s going on rather better now,’ [Alice] said, by way of keeping up the conversation a little.

”Tis so,’ said the Duchess: ‘and the moral of that is — “Oh, ’tis love, ’tis love, that makes the world go round!”‘

‘Somebody said,’ Alice whispered, ‘that it’s done by everybody minding their own business!’

‘Ah, well! It means much the same thing,’ said the Duchess …

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Atheism, Ayn Rand, Meta-ethics, Philosophy

Objectivism is a religion!

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Atheism is not a religion. The term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in a god or gods. The term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in the supernatural.

Objectivism is explicitly atheistic … but wait! Implicitly, Objectivists believe in a supernatural realm! It’s a cornerstone of the Objectivist philosophy! Surprise, surprise! Objectivism is not, after all, a naturalistic worldview.

Rand wrote an essay called The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made. In it, she says

Any natural phenomenon, i.e., any event which occurs without human participation, is the metaphysically given, and could not have occurred differently or failed to occur; any phenomenon involving human action is the man-made, and could have been different.

In other words, phenomena involving human action are not natural phenomena. They’re supernatural phenomena! Why? Because Man is a supernatural being! Why is Man a supernatural being? Because He has a supernatural power! And what is Man’s supernatural power? It is the ability to exercise something called libertarian free will.

Unfortunately, Objectivists are at a complete loss to explain how this works, to explain how it is even possible, or to explain how the notion of free will even makes sense according to the atheistic, materialistic worldview to which they profess to subscribe. Nonetheless, Objectivists are adamant that Man possesses free will.

Libertarian free will is a supernatural capacity. One who exercises it is a supernatural being.

Objectivism is a religion, but Objectivists worship Man, not God.

[Cross-posted to SOLO.]

Atheism, Semantics, Thomas Jefferson

Atheism in the public square

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In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams wrote

Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!”

Positive Atheism tells us

This was not his reasoned opinion. Although John Adams often felt an urge to advocate atheism as a popular world view (because of the sheer abuses perpetrated by religious charlatans), he was of the firm and reasoned opinion (basically undisputed in his day) that religion is essential to the goal of keeping the masses in line.

Clearly, as Adams used the term, ‘atheism’ means “no religion”.

Jefferson famously said that

religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God

What of those who have no God? They have no religion. Jefferson also said

Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual.

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. It implies non-belief that there is a God. Atheism, as understood by Jefferson, is not a religious belief.

John Lennon wrote a song in which he famously asks us to

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

By religion, Lennon means belief systems which include beliefs in the supernatural—God, Heaven, Hell, etc. His view is that we’d be better off in a world in which there was no God, i.e., one in which atheism was true. In such a world there would be “no religion” and “all the people living life in peace.”

Atheism, as understood by Lennon, is not a religion.

Once every 5 years, New Zealand citizens are required to participate in a census. One of the questions seeks to elicit the respondent’s “religious affiliation”. According to Wikipedia,

In the 2006 Census, 55.6 percent of the population identified themselves as Christians, while another 34.7 percent indicated that they had no religion

That’s right, there is a box to tick labeled ‘No religion’. There are no boxes to tick labeled ‘Atheist’ or ‘Humanist’ or ‘Objectivist’. There’s not even a box labeled ‘Jedi’.

Atheism, as understood by Statistics New Zealand, is not a religion.

Wikipedia’s has an entry titled Irreligion in New Zealand.

Irreligion —the absence of religious belief or affiliation— is an increasing trend in New Zealand. Although New Zealand has no established religion, Christianity has been the majority religious affiliation since European settlement in the 19th century. The trend toward irreligion may indicate increasing secularisation as well as a rise in non-institutional spiritual belief.

Atheism, as understood by (some) Wikipedia authors, is not a religion. It’s an irreligion!

The meaning (or meanings) of a word is determined by the conventions governing its use. What those conventions are is determined by the facts of usage. (See examples above.)

It is not conventional to call atheism a religion.

It is conventional to rebuke those who do. 😉