Year: 2010

Linked to Karen Armstrong previously – her “Charter for Compassion” campaign was the subject of her TED talk. She ends up pretty campaigning and preachy in that piece, but she shows a sophisticated position in the God vs Science wars. Not surprising given her history and the enormous number of books she has written on religious history. The History of God and The War for God amongst them.

I started reading her The Case for God at least a month ago, but had a chance to finish it today after a break in which, ironically, I had also read The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

Can’t do a review justice here, but The Case for God is excellent. Dense with research, quotes and references. Starting out with Joe Campbell and George Steiner, she ends on a Buddhist koan, taking in every philosophical and scientific source I’m aware of (Socrates to Wittgenstein, Tillich and Toulmin to the PoMos and the new-Atheists, too many to mention.)

Just finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid), so was taken with this perspective on the British PM visit to China. The east has been the dominant economic culture for 18 of the last 20 centuries.

Lots of irony in the book, and the core metaphor is a bit thin / naive, a young author I guess, but a page-turning story about Eastern rejection of Western presumption and Western paranoia of the motives for such rejection. Won’t spoil the ending. 9/11 was the wake-up call / turning point for many.

Good spot from Johnnie again.

Why did nobody ever mention the hills ? Brisbane is a new location for me. Culturally and architecturally reminded me of Melbourne meets Perth meets Alabama with a tasteless church on every corner, except everywhere is uphill to/from everywhere else. I’ll either get fit or ….

After three consecutive nights in the air, my first night in town, last night, was 12 hours solid sleep, but tonight was a recce of Fortitude Valley.

Ric’s Bar had genuinely live music, others had karaoke despite the “live” billings on the Wednesday night. But a very full gig guide to look out for,

Openers at Ric’s were Udays Tiger. Guitar and Drums, with loops of both under control of the guitarist’s feet. Interesting, creative and rough, but very effective – had me in mind of QOTSA. Vocals a bit low in the mix, and a bit strained for my taste, but I will look out for them again.

First it giveth, then in taketh away. The “headline” were At Sea. Equally interesting but less satisfying 5 piece. Bass, lead and rhythm guitarists need to get in sharper tune, if their layered textures are going to work without discord. Rhythm guy seemed want to be at 11 to everyone elses’ 9 and the vocals – interesting goth female – suffered again. Same drummer in both acts. A version of Morning Dew had me singing along (only non-original I noticed), but sadly only the trad two-verse version. The point of the cold-war version is that after the flash in the sky there is no more morning dew.

Such short sets. All over by 10:30pm.

Must look up Gav whilst I’m in town.

From David Morey via Horse at MoQ Discuss, an NPR blog from Marcelo Gleiser with an interesting little quote from Robert Pirsig’s ZMM.

The cause of our current social crises is a genetic defect within the nature of reason itself. And until this genetic defect is cleared, the crises will continue. Our current modes of rationality are not moving society forward into a better world. They are taking it further and further from that better world. Since the Renaissance these modes have worked. As long as the need for food, clothing and shelter is dominant they will continue to work. But now that for huge masses of people these needs no longer overwhelm everything else, the whole structure of reason, handed down to us from ancient times, is no longer adequate. It begins to be seen for what it really is—emotionally hollow, esthetically meaningless and spiritually empty. That, today, is where it is at, and will continue to be at for a long time to come.

Reason has a genetic defect. Got it ?

Not sure I agree that the major reputable news organizations are necessarily a-political, but nevertheless interesting look at the politically biased reporting of numbers at the recent John Stewart and Stephen Colbert “Sanity” event.

I’ve been in crowds of a quarter of a million a couple of times, and that’s quite an event. Restores your faith, etc. (Hat tip to Clive Andrews / Mark Whitaker / Peter Owen on Facebook.)

For what it’s worth I don’t believe Harry should suffer any “punishment” for expressing his opinions the way he did. (I actually think Gomes was at fault, and Spurs have to live with their own cock-up. Clattenburg could have made a more judicious call, even though he was technically right in what he did. Fools and farces, rules and wise men etc … )

… still claim that the cement design was not at fault in the Deepwater Horizon Macondo Well blow-out ?

That is, whoever was at fault for accepting the design and its testing – lab testing and in-situ negative pressure testing – the “cement job” failed. The design includes the whole implementation and testing process in my book.

The problem of scientific privilege when it comes to knowledge is pretty much the raison-d’etre of the Psybertron blog since 2001. Scientism. Originally, this arose from concerns in business & organizational management …. my manifesto says:

” … management mistook itself for a science.”

Of course the imperative to make a blog of it was the realization that the organization, management, governance, even democratic self-governance of human activities in general, including science and academia themselves, were suffering the same mistake. Western rational arrogance prompting mid-eastern irrational terrorist reaction of 9/11 was simply the final straw that catalysed the action. Those same circumstances have also created the whole god vs science debates of the past decade. (Still current in the church and state separation debates of the US mid-term elections right now.)

This week’s Thinking Allowed was accompanied by Laurie’s comic newsletter “My Life as a Management Consultant” …. the joke, the gibberish, the ring of truth supported by sounding or claiming to be “scientific”, even science itself.

“Science’s First Mistake — Delusions in Pursuit of Theory”
by Ian Angell and Dionysios Demetis.

Ian Angell interviewed by Laurie Taylor in the second item in this week’s program, some snippets that caught my attention.

Gravity, even just causation in general is a myth. Causation is in your head. It is one of the delusions of science. Delusion in pursuit of theory.

The so far so good fallacy of seeing science as simply contingent, where as it is plain wrong. Jumping from the top of a ten story building and shouting “So far so good” to witnesses on each floor. (Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven)

The model changes the world, there is no linear model. Game theory behaviour in action. If DNA is valid forensic science, then any rational criminal simply spreads confusing foreign DNA samples over their crime scene.

The nonsense of scientific models of economic processes. The nonsense – thorough absurdity – of scientific denial of religion. The nonsense of CERN and LHC, and unified theories.

Our model has distinct “objects”, for cognitive reasons, but the world itself does not. Objectivity is a myth. Even numbers.

Julian Huxley (?) “Attempts to prove the truth of religion scientifically is like attempting to explain that the world is round musically.”

Every topic the subject of countless posts here on Psybertron. Excellent.

[Post Note …. and in fact Ian Angell has a WordPress blog too …. Reality Revisited …. where the book can also be downloaded. Reading this article from his LSE web page you might not see him as agnostic as he claims to be, but he is clearly riled-up against scientistic smugness.]