General Sophistry

General Pace defends his underestimation of American casualties:

“When you take a look at the life of a nation and all that’s required to keep us free, we had more than 3,000 Americans murdered on 11 September, 2001. The number who have died, sacrificed themselves since that time is approaching that number,” (Source)

Too bad Socrates cannot skewer such idiocy.

Meme watch

Just because he praises logic, Al Gore must be a Vulcan.

Only Vulcans praise logic.
Al Gore praises logic.
∴ Al Gore is a Vulcan.

I guess that makes me a Vulcan, too. And Aristotle. And Frege.

google vulcan gore

conjecture: only morons disparage logic. 🙂

Morons on the March

There is nothing more dangerous than a conservative who invokes the name of God:

“God has spoken to me,” DeLay said. “I listen to God, and what I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to devote myself to rebuilding the conservative base of the Republican party, and I think we shouldn’t be underestimated.” (Source)

Conservative ideology breeds fear and spreads ignorance. Beware.

Here’s a fun trick I learned from Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins: replace “God” with “Zeus” or “Gaia” and see how it sounds.

Patience

For the set of morons is not yet empty:

Three of 10 Republican presidential candidates said in a recent debate that they did not believe in evolution. (Source)

The clever do all things intelligently,
but the fool displays folly. (Prov 13:16)

Intelligent System Test

Meaningful questions get answers:

How old is Al Gore?

Stupid questions, on the other hand, do not:

When is the rapture?

Draw your own conclusions, for thinking will soon be a crime (evidence).

The Deification of Fallacy

or: Fox News praises Jerry Falwell.

In this clip I heard Hannity exhibit the following fallacies:

• Appeal to Sentiment (You can’t criticize Falwell because it disrespects his family)
• Appeal to Authority (You can’t criticize Falwell because of all the good he did)

Christopher Hitchens, in comparison, maintains his calm.

I imagine Fox news viewers probably can’t even define a fallacy. Maybe because they are all too busy beating their wives.

And I have to admit that I side with Hitchens: whenever a biggoted moron dies, I feel like celebrating. Considering how many biggoted morons remain—Falwell, Coulter, etc.—I predict that I will be a very happy man well into my old age.

Can Logic Rescue Democracy?

Al Gore seems to think so.

Why has America’s public discourse become less focused and clear, less reasoned? Faith in the power of reason—the belief that free citizens can govern themselves wisely and fairly by resorting to logical debate on the basis of the best evidence available, instead of raw power—remains the central premise of American democracy. This premise is now under assault. (Source)

And why has America drifted from logic and reason? Because of soma in the form of television.

Watching TV, even when the shows are funny and provocative (like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Keith Olberman), is a passive act. You don’t think when you’re watching TV. And if you’re not thinking, you’re not much use to anyone.

As a counterpoint to Al Gore, consider Noam Chomsky, who holds the view that we live in a polyarchy, and not a democracy.

In the light of the state of the world today, I have been wondering how can one increase intelligence in the world.

Judgement Day?

(A knock at the door)

A: Who is it?

(The door slams open)

God: It is I! The Lord your God!

A: Oh, jeez. Did you invite him?

B: No. And today isn’t the sabbath.

A: Then what is he doing here?

God: Silence! You displease me!

A: Uh, oh. I think it’s judgement day.

B: Damn. And I forgot to atone for my sins.

A: Me too.

God: Kneel!

A+B: Yes, Lord!

A: Did we sign up for this?

B: You’re the one who picked one of the vengeful religions! We could have signed up for Buddhism!

A: Must you always blame everything on me?

God: Silence! Today is Judgement Day! You two shall stand trial!

A+B: For what Lord!

God: For the sins of your kind!

A: Oh, damn. We’re boned.

B: To say nothing of deafened. Oh Lord! Can we please have a lawyer!

God: I am merciful!

(A thunderclap. Jesus appears.)

A: Uh, I was hoping for someone from the Old testament.

B: Someone who had a real kingdom, maybe?

A: Like wise King Solomon?

God: Silence!

Gaia Wakens

I just wrapped up an update and simplification of my Gaia Wakens.

I intend to add more logical content, but the content that was there needed cleaning up first. I still need to fix up some of the graphics so they render properly in IE6 . . .

The site expresses my hope that we can learn to think before we kill ourselves and our fragile home.

(0/0) | (0/1) | (1/1) | (1/0/0) | …

A: You know what I think?

B: I’m afraid you’re about to tell me.

A: I think that the barrier between words and symbols and numbers is breaking down.

B: Please provide an example.

A: Gladly. For instance, I’m beginning to perceive human sexual relations in binary terms.

B: You’re tired of masturbation?

A: No. Yes.

B: Zero. One.

A: What?

B: Never mind. Please continue.

A: Ok. For example, let me construct a metaphor. Human sexuality occurs between poles and holes.

B: For a moment I thought you were going to say “between men and women.”

A: Ever hear of homosexuality?

B: I’ll assume that’s a rhetorical question.

A: Returning to my metaphor: human sexuality occurs between poles and holes.

B: Let me guess: you’re assigning binary digits to poles and holes.

A: Exactly! Holes are zero and poles are one.

B: I see what you mean. Holes are round, hence zero.

A: Right!

B: And poles are straight, hence one.

A: Yes!

B: You’re forgetting that some holes are lesbian and some poles are gay.

A: Yes, but one represents a man and one is straight.

B: I thought you were bisexual.

A: I’m confused.

B: Same difference.