"Curiosity did not kill this cat." -Studs Terkel
Death is one of those many things your mind blocks out on a day-to-day basis in an attempt to keep you on a mentally even keel and not terribly depressed drowning your sorrows in a chocolaty cereal.
The reason is because Death is not pleasant and being constantly aware of it will make life rather difficult.
Just try to function in society while being fixated on Death.
You start asking perfectly happy people questions about Death that they simply don't want to be asked.
These are nice folk who have Death fenced off in a dark and sunless prairie, located on a desolate moon, deep in the subconscious Universe of their minds and here comes you floating by in your morbid spaceship asking things like, "I keep thinking about Death from the perspective of being alive, don't you?"
I spent a good portion of last night reading Epitaphs and from a quick bit of math I could tell the majority of them ironically didn't believe in Death (or rather, didn't believe in being dead).
Dr. Sam Parnia and the AWARE Study seem to be fixated on Death.
Their dilemma is that no one wants to hear about Death. Their solution is to not talk about Death and instead talk about consciousness... sorta....
Sources of the above nonsense:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33055341#33055341 (w/ video)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33055601/ns/today-today_health
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910090829.htm
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Lyrics and Badges
Today I received Royal Mail.
Inside the sand colored envelope were the following:
If you do not know who Thea Gilmore is, you must not hesitate in visiting her website in order to become acquainted with her music. Her lyrics do not disappoint.
Thea's website
Thea's myspace page with samples of her music
My uncannily embarrassing interview with the poor girl
Inside the sand colored envelope were the following:
If you do not know who Thea Gilmore is, you must not hesitate in visiting her website in order to become acquainted with her music. Her lyrics do not disappoint.
Thea's website
Thea's myspace page with samples of her music
My uncannily embarrassing interview with the poor girl
Monday, September 21, 2009
Clone Thought Experiment: The Dilemma
This is supplementary material to the question posed in Clone Thought Experiment.
We'll presume our situation to be exactly the way it was in the previous thought experiment, except this time, as you and your clone are being lead into the room, you are instead seated next to each other.
Sitting on the other side of the table is a tall, thin, and serious looking man in his 50's.
He explains that overnight there was a power surge that deleted all of the facilities documentation and files.
Every security camera tape had been erased and in the darkness there was much confusion.
His point being, the facility has lost track of which room you were placed in and which room the clone was placed in.
How can you go about telling yourselves apart?
We'll presume our situation to be exactly the way it was in the previous thought experiment, except this time, as you and your clone are being lead into the room, you are instead seated next to each other.
Sitting on the other side of the table is a tall, thin, and serious looking man in his 50's.
He explains that overnight there was a power surge that deleted all of the facilities documentation and files.
Every security camera tape had been erased and in the darkness there was much confusion.
His point being, the facility has lost track of which room you were placed in and which room the clone was placed in.
How can you go about telling yourselves apart?
Friday, September 18, 2009
Clone Thought Experiment
PREFACE
For the sake of this thought experiment, we will use the marvels of Science Fiction to create a Clone that is an exact duplicate of you right now, with all your same features and memories.
One evening you enter a cloning facility.
Upon entering you are greeted by an orderly and escorted to a plain room with a single bed.
You lie down on the bed and fall asleep.
The following morning you are awoken by the same orderly and lead into a white room.
Centered in the white room is a square table with two chairs.
Each chair has in front of it one sheet of paper and one sharpened number two pencil.
Across the room you notice another orderly, looking exactly like your orderly, simultaneously guide your clone into the room and towards the table.
You and your clone are then seated at the table and left alone.
A disembodied voice instructs you and your clone to draw a picture.
Will you and your clone draw the same picture?
For the sake of this thought experiment, we will use the marvels of Science Fiction to create a Clone that is an exact duplicate of you right now, with all your same features and memories.
One evening you enter a cloning facility.
Upon entering you are greeted by an orderly and escorted to a plain room with a single bed.
You lie down on the bed and fall asleep.
The following morning you are awoken by the same orderly and lead into a white room.
Centered in the white room is a square table with two chairs.
Each chair has in front of it one sheet of paper and one sharpened number two pencil.
Across the room you notice another orderly, looking exactly like your orderly, simultaneously guide your clone into the room and towards the table.
You and your clone are then seated at the table and left alone.
A disembodied voice instructs you and your clone to draw a picture.
Will you and your clone draw the same picture?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Google is... Round 2
While wasting more time typing random phrases and questions into the Google search bar something occurred to me.
The aggregate of searches typed into Google is a window into the human condition.
The questions people ask, their desperation for answers about the unknown; these are the similarities about being human that might be exactly what people need to get past the shallow differences that are created by our post-modern world.
What are people searching for when they turn to the Internet...
Self reflection
Express feelings
Review morality
Search for help
Probe the unknown
Speculate on the mysteries that surround them
Question the limits of the physical world
Make statements about life
Discuss the Universe
Figure out who that dude in tights is
The aggregate of searches typed into Google is a window into the human condition.
The questions people ask, their desperation for answers about the unknown; these are the similarities about being human that might be exactly what people need to get past the shallow differences that are created by our post-modern world.
What are people searching for when they turn to the Internet...
Self reflection
Express feelings
Review morality
Search for help
Probe the unknown
Speculate on the mysteries that surround them
Question the limits of the physical world
Make statements about life
Discuss the Universe
Figure out who that dude in tights is
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