Beth

Echoes gets a regular airing in my house 🙂

I remember playing Echoes from Pink Floyd’s Meddle, some 50+ years ago, with the record arm lifted so it would play on repeat. Around the third time, my father unexpectedly burst into my room shouting at me to turn it off, as it was like Chinese water torture to him.  So obviously I did, but I had remained astounded that the notes of Pink Floyd at…[Read more]

Strega….If the rain becomes persistent and you discover you’ve been staring through the same window for twenty minutes……..

Lovely rainy day here – no need to do anything at all 😉

Thanks Reg!

Have a great week!

Some nights I sneak around the Campus, spray-painting ‘QUALIA’ on the walls of the Psychology Dept block then strike it through.

RTFF

*Governments and legal systems still tend to conceptualize atheism and humanism merely as an absence of religion rather than positive philosophical convictions entitled to equal respect. Freedom of religion or belief doesn’t mean religion plus an exemption for everyone else. The State doesn’t get to decide that theological convictions are…[Read more]

“Disproportionate”? Sorry, I should have specified ‘relative to what’.

Yes, Israel is disproportionately represented in scientific and technological innovation relative to its population and size. I would say that Israel produces more high-level scientific and technological output than you would expect from its population, land area, or even it…[Read more]

I would have like to have been in the meeting when that idea was first floated. I think Israel’s longstanding advantage has been disproportionately dense networks connecting universities, engineering, medicine, entrepreneurship and venture capital. That produces a cultural environment in which somebody can plausibly say “Can I have some money to g…[Read more]

Have a great week!

Thanks Jake, I appreciate that. Yesterday a friend of mine said “Reg, I am so glad you are an atheist!” I looked a bit bemused as we know each other a long time and are both of us are ‘militant’ anti-theists. She caught my look and continued…..”I mean, even as an atheist, you would be able to convince certain people that God is real”. I replied…[Read more]

Let’s take the ‘Kafka Intifada’  a little further. However, I will coin it the “The Samsa Effect”.

Gregor does know that something has happened to him. What he fails to grasp initially is the significance of his transformation. His world has changed beyond recognition, but his inherited routine of thought continues running as though nothing fu…[Read more]

I don’t get why anyone would believe in stuff because they want to, rather than because they think it’s true.

We need to make a distinction between belief and inquiry. You can choose to examine a claim, expose yourself to arguments for it, avoid contrary evidence, join a community that reinforces it, or repeatedly rehearse certain ideas. Tho…[Read more]

Is this post even visible to the other members?

Here is another post regarding the Sunday Book above.

I hate to be a killjoy but am I the only noticing that this group has pretty much become (excuse my French) a circle jerk? Only Reg, Enco, Jake, Pope, and Simon make contributions save for the weekly ‘Thank you Reg” by Strega.

My last couple posts raised question one would think any mentally awake and aware people would want to…[Read more]

Have a great week!