Re: Ben Bernanke, fearless leader
John Williams wrote: Can some complex systems be analyzed by comparison to a more simple system? Sure, there are plenty of examples, although most of them are in the physical sciences rather than the social sciences. Asimov's psychohistory made a great story, but it does not work in practice. There are precious little useful predictions coming out of economics. Do you mean predictions in the historical sense? Doug Kidding, just kidding... ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Republican Cult
William, Aye. The application of religious thinking where it is not warranted (we differ in that you think it is /never/ warranted, I don't. Oh, well...) leads to crazy outcomes. The most vocal parts of the Republican party are doing just that: they're applying the logic of faith where knowledge would be better applied. Dave On Aug 31, 2009, at 10:57 AM, William T Goodall wrote: http://progressivenation.us/2009/08/19/the-republican-party-is-turning-into-a-cult/ Some thing strange has hap pened in Amer ica in the nine months since Barack Obama was elected. It has best been sum ma rized by the come dian Bill Maher: “The Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved to a men tal hospital.” [...] How do they train them selves to be so impervious to reality? It begins, I sus pect, with religion. They are taught from a young age that it is good to have “faith” — which is, by definition, a belief with out any evi dence to back it up. You don’t have “faith” Aus tralia exists, or fire burns: you have evidence. You only need “faith” to believe the untrue or unprovable. Indeed, they are taught that faith is the highest aspiration and most noble cause. Is it any surprise this then percolates into their political views? Faith- based think ing spreads and contaminates the rational. -- William T Goodall Mail : w...@wtgab.demon.co.uk Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://web.me.com/williamgoodall/blog/ There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance - Steve Ballmer ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On 'Incomprehesibility'
On Aug 31, 2009, at 5:18 PM, William T Goodall wrote: On 6 Aug 2009, at 23:46, Mauro Diotallevi wrote: On Sun, Aug 2, 2009 at 8:05 PM, William T Goodallw...@wtgab.demon.co.uk wrote: William T Goodall Mail : w...@wtgab.demon.co.uk Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://web.me.com/williamgoodall/blog/ Every Sunday Christians congregate to drink blood in honour of their zombie master. So what's wrong with a little ritualized cannibalism among consenting adults? ;-) See how amusing you think it is when they come to eat YOUR brain :-) Then isn't it completely grand that it is always and ever has been / symbolic/. Dave ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On 'Incomprehesibility'
Dave Land wrote: So what's wrong with a little ritualized cannibalism among consenting adults? ;-) See how amusing you think it is when they come to eat YOUR brain :-) Then isn't it completely grand that it is always and ever has been / symbolic/. What about this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysteine#Industrial_sources Soylent green is not alternate future. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: On 'Incomprehesibility'
On Sep 1, 2009, at 11:32 AM, Alberto Monteiro wrote: Dave Land wrote: So what's wrong with a little ritualized cannibalism among consenting adults? ;-) See how amusing you think it is when they come to eat YOUR brain :-) Then isn't it completely grand that it is always and ever has been / symbolic/. What about this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysteine#Industrial_sources Soylent green is not alternate future. Ugh. Following the link for Food safety in China#Soy sauce made from human hair on the above page was pretty gross, too. At my church, which is the traditionally Japanese-American Methodist church in San Jose's Japantown, we eat a lot of Shoyu, but I don't believe that any of it is made from human hair. And the body that we eat in remembrance is most definitely bread. Dave ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
