Thank you, Glen. Re: Vampires, *Twilight* is one thing that happened. Ick.
A note on "dazzled" or "bedazzled", vs. "amused", or "bemused": I am frequently amused, and often bemused by things I see and hear every single day, but almost never dazzled. To be dazzled is to lose one's vision, or perspective, or ability to think rationally - a very unhealthy thing to do as a steady diet. Attempts should be made to avoid blind bedazzlement. It's bad for the rest of us. Finally, back to the original offending, as you say, question: who is to say we wouldn't find the puzzles of the universe twice as interesting and amusing, and bemusing, if we were twice as smart? Hopefully all the while being less prone to swallowing those absurd religious hooks, lines, and sinkers? I am particularly unsympathetic towards those who have chosen to be bedazzled by the Mormon religion, because that is the one major "religion" whose genesis occurred entirely during modern recorded history. Joe Smith was a scam artist, a scheister, a grifter, and a lier; that story about the golden tablets he "found" in a field on New York state, covered in "Egyptian hieroglyphics" which only he, conveniently enough, ever saw is the *basis* of the Mormon religion. The whole story is a HUGE load of bullshit, and yet it is happily swallowed, er, excuse me, taken as "an article of faith" by the multitudes comprising the fastest growing religion on the planet! And, as one of my friends said recently, "The only difference between the Mormon religion, and Christianity is time and place." So with that, it is now permitted for those on this list who choose to act in the capacity of apologists for bible-thumping zealots everywhere to resume their chastisement of me for having dared to ask the offensive question. Twice. --Doug On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 10:39 AM, glen <[email protected]> wrote: > Sarbajit Roy wrote at 04/06/2012 06:36 AM: > > I would treat induction/deduction/abduction in an alternate formal > manner. > > http://psivision.objectis.net/DeductionAbductionInduction > > Thread successfully hijacked! ;-) > > I think it's hilarious how we all want to _fix_ the semantic map and > that we fail to tolerate others' maps. I also think Nick, Doug, and > Bruce (and everyone else) are and will always be using different > definitions of the word "induction". And I actually think that's a > _good_ thing. Ambiguity is good. N-ary relations are good. Why are so > many of us so _proud_ that we are not dazzled by what others think? > What's wrong with basking in the idiocy, mediocrity, and brilliance of > the world around us? Where lies this impetus to either retreat into > little holes of cynicism or forcibly _remake_ reality to match our > fantasies? > > Let's take this back to Doug's original offending question: whether a > two-fold increase in intelligence would lead to a reduction in religious > belief. Moron that I am, I am fascinated and dazzled by tales of magic, > extra terrestrial life, personal transformation, and mythology[*]. I.e. > the thoughts of others. These thoughts breathe life into what can > become a debilitating existence of fact-checking and pompous denigration > of others' semantic maps. > > So, if I were to draw lines (which I won't lest I contradict myself ;-), > then you should count me on the side of the morons who prefer to be less > intelligent and continually bedazzled by the thoughts of others. > > > [*] Though I am thoroughly tired of vampires at this point. [sigh] I > used to love a good vampire story. I'm not sure what happened. > > -- > glen > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > -- Doug Roberts [email protected] [email protected] http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
