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HOW PHILOSOPHY COULD SAVE THE WORLD
23Oct/140

▶ Gabor Mate, MD, Feb 19, 2014 in Seattle – YouTube

I have only sampled a bit of Gabor Mate, but he clearly has much to offer

This is what process metaphysics looks like day-by-day.

This is what Richard Dawkins'  notion of extended phenotype  means when taken to logical conclusions.

▶ Gabor Mate, MD, Feb 19, 2014 in Seattle - YouTube.

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23Oct/140

BBC News – DNA yields secrets of human pioneer

BBC News - DNA yields secrets of human pioneer.

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22Oct/140

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo of Hamilton identified as soldier gunned down in Ottawa attack | Toronto Star

Suppose, as seems likely, Canadians respond to such events by tightening security around politicians, government institutions and such ceremonial events as Remembrance Day.

How do we imagine terrorists, radicalised persons, crazies... will respond to ensuing difficulties of getting at ' targets of choice'?

Will they stand down or rethink strategies against the possibility of  better opportunities?

Alternatively, since terrorists tend to be impatient to get on with God's work, will they start choosing less well-guarded infidels to execute or, ideally, behead?

Terrible stuff!  There is, however,  a tiny benefit.  If enhancing the security of important people and institutions deflects terrorists' attention to ordinary folk, then ordinary folk can test their  love for democracy  and elected representatives by considering  whether this increased risk is meet and proper.

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo of Hamilton identified as soldier gunned down in Ottawa attack | Toronto Star.

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20Oct/140

Persistence | The MIT Press

Another question is possible. What remains of the issues Professor Marie Kurtz poses when an 'elephant in the room' problem is raised?

The problem is that everything you and I know involves private experiences:  My idea of you is a private experience.  The idea of objects, the idea of objects'  persistence spatially and temporally, conversations wherein we refer to common elements and mutual experiences, are private experiences.

Accordingly, if an adequate explanation of private experiences can be advanced, the Law of Parsimony and Occam's Razor would be on its side.

Any such explanations would also imply that arguments for subjective idealism (Bishop Berkeley's suggestion that the idea of an actual world is evidence that cost-saving move on God's part  is working) or radical skepticism (I have no way of knowing whether I am imagining you, or whether I am anything more than a brain in a vat manipulated by aliens or Satan ).

A more provocative possibility exists!  What has heretofore remained sacred is Descartes' claim: he exists because the fact of  doubting guarantees the existence of at least one doubter. In other words, experiences of doubting and of being the cogito thinking or doubting, is also a private experience.

In short, the sceptical impulse has heretofore failed to take up the  final challenge.

Persistence | The MIT Press.

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20Oct/140

BBC News – Paralysed man walks again after cell transplant

BBC News - Paralysed man walks again after cell transplant.

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20Oct/140

BBC News – Sex ’emerged in ancient Scottish lake’

BBC News - Sex 'emerged in ancient Scottish lake'.

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19Oct/140

Chomsky dispels 9/11 conspiracies with sheer logic – YouTube

Chomsky dispels 9/11 conspiracies with sheer logic - YouTube.

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19Oct/140

Noam Chomsky versus young conservative – YouTube

Another masterful rejoinder.

Notice, in particular, the comment about 4 minutes in, about 'consciously choosing':  What does this entail.  Is it our consciousness that is doing the choosing or is the choosing occurring through processes that occasionally include consciousness in their proceedings?  This is what I  think.  And I think that this parsimonious bit has escaped Mr. Chomsky's notice - which probably tells us all we need to know about how unlikely it is that the realization will occur widely enough soon enough.

Noam Chomsky versus young conservative - YouTube.

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19Oct/140

She cured Ebola — using garbage bags and raincoats | Toronto Star

She cured Ebola — using garbage bags and raincoats | Toronto Star.

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18Oct/140

Does Everything Happen for a Reason? – NYTimes.com

Does Everything Happen for a Reason? - NYTimes.com.

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