gdp's Comments

Sophrosyne Radical : Fortean Diversions: Endorsing Psi -

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:36:31 +0000

Is there any real distinction between what is psychic phenomenon and what is human intuition?

I think it's largely a matter of degree. Both involve the interpretation of meaning, but there's more information attributed to psi than intuition. For example, I might have the intuition that something has happened to a loved one, but a "psi experience" might occur prior to the actual event and entail the impression that a loved one had died in a certain way, a certain place, associated smells, etc. There's a qualitative difference of the type of information attributed to intuition and psi, but I do think they're very strongly correlated. I've not read Blink, but have come across it several times. Were there any other elements of it that stood out?

Sophrosyne Radical : Fortean Diversions: Endorsing Psi -

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:55:31 +0000

Yes, I find the research with RNGs rather compelling as well... I'll add that to the list, and will touch on it in an upcoming installment of the "Fortean Diversions" series. ;)

Sophrosyne Radical : Fortean Diversions: Endorsing Psi -

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:17:14 +0000

I find them all over the net. Some from Google's image search, others from Flikr or Creative Commons. :)

Sophrosyne Radical : Mutuality & Teleology -

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:15:48 +0000

What a thoughtful response. Cheers for sharing it! :)

Sophrosyne Radical : This Day in History: December 15 -

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:02:33 +0000

Here's a write-up by History.com: MacArthur orders end of Shinto as Japanese state religion. And here's another, more broad write-up at the BBC: Shinto and nationalism. Hope that helps fill in some blanks. :)

Sophrosyne Radical : Fred Alan Wolf on Education -

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:33:56 +0000

What a very thoughtful response. Thank you for sharing it. :)

Sophrosyne Radical : A Stoic Perspective on the Relevance of Philosophic Inquiry -

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:04:58 +0000

That seems like an odd thing to say. Would you like to elaborate on your evaluation?

Sophrosyne Radical : The Stupidity of Cleverness?

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 01:48:43 +0000

Agreed, and well-put! :)

Sophrosyne Radical : ClimateGate Crashes ManBearPig's Party -

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 05:18:23 +0000

Some say a comet will fall from the sky Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still Followed by billions of dumbfounded dipshits Some say the end is near Some say we'll see armageddon soon I certainly hope we will I sure could use a vacation from this Stupid shit [...] Cuz I'm praying for rain And I'm praying for tidal waves I wanna see the ground give way I wanna watch it all go down Mom please flush it all away I wanna see it go right in and down I wanna watch it go right in Watch you flush it all away Time to bring it down again Don't just call me pessimist Try and read between the lines I can't imagine why you wouldn't Welcome any change, my friend (Mp3 Lyrics)

Sophrosyne Radical : Strategies for Revolutionaries: Acting with Impeccability -

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 22:40:44 +0000

Agreed. Castaneda should be taken with a heaping spoonfull of salt. He was a shuckster and a charlatan, and warrants critical reading.

Sophrosyne Radical : Natural Intelligence -

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 02:44:14 +0000

After being confronted with and thinking thoroughly about the prospect of cryonics or anagathics, I find the idea of any kind of recording or memory of a being being equated with 'immortality' to be a bit silly - to the point of being offensive, since one may be lulled to settle for such faux life instead of actually living.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a fine example of non sequitur. One may be lulled into settling for all sorts of things rather than actually 'living', can they not? As for 'immortality', I agree that many attitudes towards it appear naive and uncritical; but I think we may be talking about different concepts when we reference the term. In my case, my worldview is very synchronous with that described in Liber AL vel Legis: "Every man and every woman is a star. Every number is infinite; there is no difference." I'd say we're already immortal. It's just a question of manifestation. You're free to disagree with that, or think me silly for it. :) Besides, I did say "hollow form of 'immortality'", did I not?

I still find it difficult to escape the assertion that morality is arbitrary.

I don't. :)

Sophrosyne Radical : Thresholds of Virtuality -

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:58:03 +0000

You introduced me to Mr. Carrico a few years ago; and I agree, he does a respectable job of rebutting the techno-boosters' arguments. Having read three of his major works and watched a handful of Kurzweil's lectures and presentations, and it always strikes me how socially uncritical he seems... It's like he forgets all the sociologic foundations of history... I'm also amazed when such a brilliant individual could skip the social activism and look straight to the Techno God for salvation. I think he likes rubbing shoulders with the elite, and am cynical of his legitimacy.

Sophrosyne Radical : North American Police State -

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:57:04 +0000

Agreed. I've been in the Great White North for nearly 3 years now and during that time I've crossed the border 3 times. I avoid it like the plague. Nevertheless, I can still remember teaching social studies classes at international schools where students learned the US/Canada border was the longest undefended border in the world. It was untrue then and it's even less true now. :(

Sophrosyne Radical : Explicating the Implicate -

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:56:46 +0000

It looks like you managed to provoke some good conversation. :) The "essential essence" bit is very complex in Buddhism. Most schools reject the notion outright, but others have different takes on 'individualized essence'. Personally, my neoplatonic bias leaves me less than comfortable with the annihilationists' extreme cynicism, so Bön has more appeal to me than Theravada, Mahayana and Pure Land. But, as always, your mileage may vary. :)

Sophrosyne Radical : In Memoriam: Fallen Heroes & Uncommon Values -

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:22:08 +0000

Hi Paul! Yes, I stumbled onto JFK2 a few years back. I think it presents a very provocative analysis, and I've even used sections of the film in classes I've taught. Although the relationships get rather complex and convoluted, some of the segments are quite explosive. There's a similar film which digs into JFKjr's 'death' which is also worth checking out. ;)

Sophrosyne Radical : ManBearPig on Life Support?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:48:48 +0000

Polar ice has been thawing and refreezing for a lot longer than humans have been in the picture. ;) <hr> cf:

"Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh released a report last week that says there is no conclusive evidence that climate change has caused the melting of the Himalayan glaciers. The report says that not all of the glaciers are receding at alarming rates and that a few are even advancing." - (Washington Post)

"Crichtdon graduated Harvard Medical School, was a published scientist, and was a fellow at the Jonas Salk Institute before becoming a Hollywood writer/producer, so it's not really a fair fight. Al Gore and the entire accepted dogma of man-made global warming (AGW) is obliterated." - (Daily Bail)

Sea levels are set to fall over millions of years, making the current rise blamed on climate change a brief interruption of an ancient geological trend, scientists said on Thursday. They said oceans were getting deeper and sea levels had fallen by about 170 meters (560 ft) since the Cretaceous period 80 million years ago when dinosaurs lived. Previously, the little-understood fall had been estimated at 40 to 250 meters. "The ocean floor has got on average older and gone down and so the sea level has also fallen," said Bernhard Steinberger at the Geological Survey of Norway, one of five authors of a report in the journal Science. "The trend will continue," he told Reuters. - (Reuters)

"Temperatures in Antarctica during warm periods between ice ages soared to up to 6C warmer than the present day, a study has shown." - (Telegraph)

Sophrosyne Radical : Strategies for Revolutionaries: Collaboration -

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:20:31 +0000

Bucky suggested those 'scarcity-minded individuals' were remnants from the age of piracy, but he wasn't terribly successful in undercutting them. He thought it may take a generation before his ideas were ready to be accepted. As a result, unnecessary suffering and scarcity continues. :(

Sophrosyne Radical : In Memoriam: Fallen Heroes & Uncommon Values -

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:11:30 +0000

One thing you might 'see in the guy' is a heroic, compassionate human being. ;)

Sophrosyne Radical : Polypotency -

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:30:26 +0000

Yes, as you have described, an individual\\\'s potency encompasses a wide array of ever-changing variables. Dynamic individuals - such as yourself - are probably more comfortable with that complexity, but many people lock themselves in boxes of their own design. This parallels a crystallization of intelligence that\\\'s been shown to block learning, and maybe I\\\'ll pick up on this topic in a subsequent post. As for email alerts, under the comment box there\\\'s a drop-down tab for subscriptions. If you try to subscribe and it doesn\\\'t work properly, please let me know and I\\\'ll look into it. :) FYI: You can also make comments using your Facebook or OpenID (e.g., Gmail). ;)

Sophrosyne Radical : Data & Purpose -

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:21:40 +0000

Cheers for the thoughtful reply! I agree that it's inappropriate to irresponsibly apply the maxim, "an unexamined life isn't worth living." My wife works with a lot of students who wouldn't have the functioning power to "examine life", but they lead lives well-worth living, IMO. :)