interweaving ideas
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Anthropomorphism VS Anthropodenial
At one end of the spectrum are the religionists, who believe the human race was created above the animal kingdom, distinct from it. Animals have nothing in common with human beings other than the relationship of being at our subjugation. At the other end of the spectrum are environmentalists who see animals as equals to…
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Considering A Flat Tax Rate
The American Tax system, with all of its hidden taxes in addition to its wage tax, has created a “boiling frog” syndrome, where the taxes increase slowly in many, virtually undetectable, ways, until we are unknowingly crushed under their burden. Take an example of earning $100, we subtract 20% for income tax. Then, when the…
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Great Films: “The Day the Earth Stood Still”
The special effects in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” may have wowed audiences of the time, but the film continues to inspire today because of the concepts it involves. A brilliant being from a distant world, Klaatu, similar to humans, but vastly more advanced must deliver a crucial message to the world, but Cold…
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Transhumanism
Also known as “Posthumanism,” this concept is approximately defined as “Persons of unprecedented physical, intellectual, and psychological capacity, self-programming, self-constituting, potentially immortal, unlimited individuals.” Humanism finds reasons for ethics and morals without traditional religion, basing its philosophy of life on empirical observations of the world around us. Recognizing the trends, seeing the millions of years…
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The Moderate Political Option
A friend of mine in early College was making a “Pros” and “Cons” list concerning Geneticially Engineered Food Crops. As a very environmentally concerned person, her “Cons” list had grown substantially larger than her “Pros,” and she was asking me to describe additional benefits/problems of GM Foods. One concern I voiced was the introduction of…
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Why Base-10???
In the book “Odd John,” an evolutionary leap of a child wonders why human beings constructed their number system in units of ten. After all, units of twelve are divisible by {1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12} while ten is only divisible by {1, 2, 5, 10}. Taking this a step further, a base 60…
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Emotional Mind Control
Emotional Maladaptations Emotions are evolutionary adaptations that have served countless species in their quests for survival success. They perpetually influence our actions, prompting us to engage in behaviors that bring feelings of joy and avoid behaviors that evoke fear or misery. The fight or flight reflex is an emotional reaction. Members of our species lacking…
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Elitism
American Republicans and Democrats love to paint themselves as independent-thinking, anti-establishmentarians. Republicans decry Academic and Cultural elitists. Democrats decry economic elitists. Both of these groups are actually rattling their sabers at the American Meritocracy and scapegoating away the weaknesses in their own ideologies. First let’s consider how the two social architectures most often charged with…
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Bring On the High Gas Prices
I just want everyone to know that I am ready for oil production to begin its decline. I own a lightweight pickup truck, a motorcycle, and a mountain bike. I’m settling into the town where I live and I have enough money to pick up and move into a major city should things become unproductive…
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Successful Thinking
Human beings have one of the largest brain to body mass ratios of any animal on the planet. While it could be argued that this is due in part to our sophisticated hand control, just as an octopus requires a large brain to control its eight appendages, our obvious accomplishments as the most successful higher-order…
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Great Films: “Army of Darkness”
“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon Not all movies are about making us think, some are about senseless fun. This Sam Raimi / Bruce Cambell pair-up is rife with comedic action and is my favorite way to blow an hour and a half of laughing my ass off. Army of Darkness…
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The Floccinaucinihilipilificators
Floccinaucinihilipilificators, or “Haters” for short, or “h8rs” for shorter, are people who engage in excessive floccinaucinihilipilification. If you’re not familiar with this word, it’s probably because you have a life, and I’ll get to explaining how to pronounce it farther down. For now just accept that string of 28 characters as what this random thought…
