Cult of Sundries

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More thought experiments. [This is a simple courtesy to those who have no interest in participating in one.] Recently, a friend sent me this video: It is a common example of someone trying to reason with a deeply religious person and the eventual failure to convince the religious person despite rational discourse. The host, Maajid Nawaz, attests to being a Muslim himself. The point of contention was the hijab.  The entire exchange is focused on why the caller would believe she has to wear one. An argument offered is that the hijab is not required by the Quran, but instead imposed by some male in a hadith  somewhere.  The conversation then descends into a series of fallacies and the call ends without a resolution. Normally, I would love to dwell on the caller, but this time I want to focus on an argument by the host. To stress this, I'll provide another example. This time from my main man John Fugelsang, on Twitter.  Those of you who do not have time to waste, Fugelsang is

[Fair warning: this includes a thought experiment.  Those uncomfortable with the thought of one should probably sit this out.] This subject comes up a lot. If you are an atheist, it resonates irritatingly as I think it takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. I'll leave aside the irony of a believer having less faith in God than atheists having faith in themselves. Okay, after a brief sneering chuckle. But what does it mean? The assertion is predicated on ex nihilo creation of the universe, life, and species. The Big Bang, abiogenesis and evolution are apparently so incredible that they could not possibly have happened by chance accident luck non-supernatural causes. In short, it is a daily double: argument from design and an argument from incredulity . The notion being that because none of us "were there" at inception, we are speculating and taking things on faith. "Were you there?" is a familiar challenge. Well, obviously

[I think I am going to start redoing some topics that I have an interest in, rather than attempting to appeal to culters and culteresses.  Who knows, maybe this is what folks want.] "Why did you smoke pot, Timmy?" "Well mom, everyone else was doing it, so I thought it was cool" "If everyone jumped off a roof, would you?" Most of us can recall a similar conversation from our childhoods. It is usually when parents tell their kids that something is not OK to do, just because everyone else is doing it. To a large extent that makes sense, right? Just because everyone else is doing it, why should you? Would you jump off a roof because everyone else was? What if the building was on fire, and people partying on the roof figured that jumping off the two-storied building was indeed the best chance of saving yourself? Then, it is not as clear cut. Often in argumentation, whether it be on your favorite news program or your debate channel, y

Well, those who know me or care to know me, know that I am not one much for platitudes. Wait, what’s a platitude? plat·i·tude ˈpladəˌt(y)o͞od/ noun plural noun: platitudes a remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful. "she began uttering liberal platitudes" synonyms : cliché, truism, commonplace, banality, old chestnut, bromide, inanity,banal/trite/hackneyed/stock phrase "boring us with his platitudes" Yup, something that sounds good, but it only sounds good. It doesn’t do anything, and if you think about it a bit, it is irritating as hell. At least to me, it is. For example, There’s no I in 'team' . Arguably emphasizing teamwork. I like how Dr. House addressed that: The point being, well, sometimes—more often than you think—there is a brilliant individual who is carrying more than her share of the load. The common argument against my irritation is that such

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it  ~ Aristotle[1], circa 350 BCE. I like to conduct thought experiments because they are useful to understand how people think. But, almost always, I am disappointed because people get defensive and refuse to engage. Perfectly understandable and often frustrating, but it does not faze me, I'll keep trying. One way to conduct a thought experiment is to use a hypothetical situation. A key requirement for such is that the participant provisionally accepts the premise(s) and then reasons out the rest. Albert Einstein used thought experiments a lot. They were useful to him to explain complex phenomena and to gain insight into them.  His book, Relativity , is filled with such. As an example, they shed light on how the same object falling from a moving train appears to take a different path depending on whether the observer is watching from the stationary platform, or from the train itsel

I only wish it were not so common. That probably disappoints a lot of you, maybe even makes you wonder if I am being satirical. Most assuredly, I am not. Plus, this is my second rodeo on common sense. I am not as certain that people will take it any more seriously, but I do hope that they'll.  It may be written rather flippantly, but I am completely serious. Common sense usually serves as a proxy for obvious solutions to easy problems. Which then prompts people to recommend commonsense solutions to all problems. Consider some that you might have heard: "If only we had some common-sense gun laws, we would not have these mass shootings." "Our healthcare system is far too complicated. What we need is to replace it with some common-sense solutions." "People losing their retirement savings in the financial crisis was sad. If only these investors had exercised some common sense and not bought houses they could not afford!" "You do not ne

Given that people's memories are short, and Tom Cruise even shorter, it wouldn't hurt if I  rebooted some of the old previously read articles. A new venue for a classic channel demands nothing less. Roy Batty has been on my mind lately, and if you have not noticed, the default avatar for the Cult is a classic Roy Batty image. [At this point some of you are wondering, "Just who the heck is Roy Batty, and why do I care?" ] Watching Blade Runner is required homework for the Cult, especially because they do not make sci-fi quite like that anymore.  Besides, it is a great movie—you'll just have to take my word for it. After that, you'll need to look up Rutger Hauer on your own. The movie plot goes something like this: It's the future, and a tech company has created replicants—androids that are almost human—and they have replaced or augmented humans in hazardous work environments (like mining), entertainment, and yes, pleasure. Things, however, go wrong

I take it that everyone else here has been to an Oprah show in person?  You haven't?  Seriously? [Keels over in shock.] Well, if you cannot get to Oprah's show, she'll bring the show to you. At least, I think that's what happened in Virginia over the weekend. No, not everyone got a free car, it was something way better.  As some cerebral comedian once remarked, there are three stages in your life: You are born. You watch TV. You die. We can all agree that birth and death are not memorable, given that no one here remembers what it was to be born, and will not know what it'll be to be dead. But that middle part—that is what we all live for. Face it, without TV, you'd not even see Oprah handing out cars. Besides, no one wants a car anymore, right?  Those damn things guzzle gas, and the most they do is take you places. A TV on the other hand, while too heavy for just one hand, is a necessity. You can watch it, you can yell at people that appear on it

David Letterman once said that one must do the same crap on two different channels to be recognized as a success. Given that this is not my first rodeo, and I blew past two websites months ago, and mainly because Alexander wept like a sissy for there were no more worlds to conquer, I finally threw caution to the wind and decided to take our show on the road [1]. To be fair, I was led on by the treachery of others, notably my co-pilot (Clemency) who is busy flying a kite in the cockpit. So this being my third vain attempt, and hopefully not an attempt in vain, I figure I will have checked all the pre-filled boxes for guaranteed success. Soon Rear Admiral Ahab will have his whale I will have Pauly Shore. While the quest continues, however, I intend to re-form the cult. “Why, SK, why?” all y’all ask plaintively, “you have so little as it is.” I have it on good authority that I have good instincts. Sort of like a third sense , if you know what I mean. I also know that by gathe