Month: May 2009

Blubrry.

Hitchens and Dawkins that is, according to Terry Eagleton in this NYT review of his “Reason, Faith and Revolution” by Stanley Fish. Linked via a great piece from Ben Goertzl.

Don’t entirely agree with Ben. OK, so the philosophical / metaphysical questions like “why is there something rather than nothing” are not exactly “theological” questions – but they are questions whose answers … after any amount of conjecture … can only ever be taken on faith. A belief that can never be “reasoned” on the basis of known “science” even as the scientific boundaries are pushed back.

[Post Note – Fish’s God Talk Pt 2 here also in NYT. Thanks to Marde at Seev’s Place. – Ian McEwan quoted too – the narrative view – morality depends on believing – actually “having” – a story.]

Garbage via Rivets.

And more of the stuff, via StumbleUpon

Great George Monbiot piece in the Grauniad. Thay tyranny of numbers again.

These men would’ve stopped Darwin.  Science research in Britain is now all about turning knowledge into business, rather than the beauty of exploration.

Of course the problem is that neither side of that choice is the right one – knowledge purely for its own sake is as barren as knowledge for someone’s financial interest. The point is knowledge for value to humanity and the cosmos – wisdom – truth AND beauty. (Thanks to Nick Maxwell at FoW.)

… that isn’t bad going for keeping your trap shut and selling what ever integrity you ever had down the swanny …

A sense of proportion on the MP’s expenses “furore”.

I almost posted yesterday to react to the constant focus of “what” MP’s expenses cover rather the why and how expenses are paid, but this reaction from Ffoulkes puts the media in its place.

Interesting piece from Clay Shirky on interactive media as a kind of industrial revolution. Let them drink gin ? Let them watch TV ? Very much in the Douglas Adams / Church of the Interactive Network mode. (Interesting at least partly because I’m currently re-reading Bronowski’s “Man Without a Mask” study of William Blake.)

(Via Rivets)

Sun rays and other atmospheric effects. Via Rivets.