Thoughts

rights

Why do people have rights? Why do we say that rights exist?I suppose it is because we believe in them. We even tend to write them down in our law books and ethics guidelines. Rights have no physical existence and, in a godless universe, have no absolute meaning. At their core, rights exist because we… Continue reading rights

pharmacy

A few days ago I was in a pharmacy. A guy in front of me was being attended to by one of the people working there. His posture was terrible. His back was bent like an ancient old woman. His shoulder were hunched and rounded. His head jutted forwards like one of the space-suited aliens… Continue reading pharmacy

greed and aggression

The Brexit deadline is approaching at the end of March 2019.Before the Brexit referendum, political were playing their political and power games, in-fighting and trying to score points over each other to further their own careers and political agendas. This adversarial system is what led to the Brexit referendum. There was no reasoned, in-depth analysis,… Continue reading greed and aggression

shouting the loudest

Maybe, in a world highly influenced by social media, the loudest voices are those which evoke strong emotional responses. These are the voices who are liked (and disliked) into our social media feeds – the silent majority does not react any more. Those who should the loudest are on the extremes of opinion. Personally I… Continue reading shouting the loudest

wrong way round

There has been an argument around for some time in the USA to say that being gay is a choice and that being obese is genetic.This is simply the wrong way round, there is some good evidence of genetic factors which influence sexual preference and considerable anecdotal support. As for obesity, genetics might give a… Continue reading wrong way round

modern day sophists

I think that is is interesting to listen to Milo Yiannopoulos and Ben Shapiro on YouTube. They are both excellent debaters, Milo in particular is charismatic and persuasive, Ben is obnoxious but also persuasive. Sometimes they will argue based on numbers and facts, sometimes they will discredit or ridicule their opponents personally, sometimes they appeal… Continue reading modern day sophists

impatience

Why is it that in the street or on public transport almost everyone is staring at their smartphone but in the post office waiting for their number to come up, almost no-one is looking at their phone. Instead they are staring at the board with the numbers for the queue to be served, even when… Continue reading impatience

devolving

I remember years ago watching a keynote webcast by Steve Jobs as head of Apple. He introduced a new advert for the iPod, maybe it was the launch event of an updated iPod, predecessor of the iPhone. The advert showed outline animated people dancing wildly, impassioned by the music heard through the characteristic white headphone leads. Now years later… Continue reading devolving

truth or advocacy?

Queer theory and how it reinterprets gender identity are about advocacy and politics not science. California seems to be the centre of the trend towards denying that gender exists and that sexual orientation is entirely caused by societal imprinting. Some people even claim that the use of pronouns like ‘he’ or ‘she’ is a type of… Continue reading truth or advocacy?

is science just another religion?

The difference between science and religion is that science is true whether or not you believe it whereas religion is false whether or not you believe it. Why do I believe this? Because I was allowed to choose and was not indoctrinated to believe the lies of religion.

our society is heading towards collapse

There are currently many different societies on our planet – Western capitalist societies, Eastern societies, Middle-Eastern societies – if I may paint the image of a few groups of societies with broad brush stokes. Inside these groups there is also considerable variation of course. Most modern societies are growth-based systems where economic growth is the… Continue reading our society is heading towards collapse

why I am an atheist

I am atheist by a leap of faith. Not just a lack of belief in a deity, rather one step more, a belief that all this lack of evidence, all the evil in the world, all the evil performed by religious fundamentalists (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and others), all the religious war and hatred and bigotry,… Continue reading why I am an atheist

modernising religion

Richard Dawkins advocates for atheism and humanism, with the belief that better education, truth and widespread understanding of the scientific method will make for a better society. Socrates said that for a democracy is only as good as the education of the people. So Dawkins position seems to make sense : better education means a better democracy and… Continue reading modernising religion

roles

Is Homer Simpson a parody or a role model?

motivated reasoning

I read a little about motivated reasoning recently which is about how people use information to support pre-conceived points of view, sometimes political and sometimes ethical viewpoints. In our modern world, information is filtered by social media which presents us with news which our friends like or which is similar to what we already liked.… Continue reading motivated reasoning

pensions

I watch a group of people outside smoking and think ‘all the more pension for me’.

despondency

Recently I watched a movie called Holy Man on television. It is about someone trying desperately to succeed in running shopping channels who finds help from a guru he meets on the road. This guru said something which I found interesting – that we have only 75 summers, 75 springs and so on. In the… Continue reading despondency

chicken necks

I am watching a guy, who looks to be around 30. He has obviously put time and energy into working out to make his biceps bigger. He has paid for his fashionable arm tattoos. He has spends money on his hairstyle and neatly trimmed beards. Yet his pushed forward “chicken neck” looks terrible. From the… Continue reading chicken necks

temples

Sometimes I visit an unfamiliar European city and I follow the tourist trail, seeing the sights. Usually this involves visiting the main cathedral which is usually of astounding proportion and workmanship. I find myself thinking, these people who built this must be right, their deity must exist or it would not make sense to build… Continue reading temples