Interesting Quizzes

by John Cole| November 16, 200512:51 pm| 29 Comments

Here is another one of those quizzes we all love. Paste your code in the comments.

Haymaker

You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.

You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.

Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

For those of you wondering about Tim, the results are in:

Handholder

You go out of your way to build bridges with people of different views and beliefs and have quite a few religious friends. You believe in the essential goodness of people , which means you’re always looking for common ground even if that entails compromises. You would defend Salman Rushdie’s right to criticise Islam but you’re sorry he attacked it so viciously, just as you feel uncomfortable with some of the more outspoken and unkind views of religion in the pages of this magazine.

You prefer the inclusive approach of writers like Zadie Smith or the radical Christian values of Edward Said. Don’t fall into the same trap as super–naïve Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge who declared it was okay for clerics like Yusuf al–Qaradawi to justify their monstrous prejudices as a legitimate interpretation of the Koran: a perfect example of how the will to understand can mean the sacrifice of fundamental principles. Sometimes, you just have to hold out for what you know is right even if it hurts someone’s feelings.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out..

Via Lauren.

Interesting QuizzesPost + Comments (29)

2005 Weblog Awards

by John Cole| November 15, 20053:54 pm| 20 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing

The 2005 Weblog Awards (by Wizbangblog) are now open for nominations. To nominate, go here.

2005 Weblog AwardsPost + Comments (20)

Hello Dalai

by Tim F| November 13, 20051:27 pm| 15 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

As John mentioned earlier, the Society for Neuroscience invited the Dalai Lama to keynote their (huge) annual conference in DC, and out of general interest I ponied up for a nonmember registration and drove down from Pittsburgh. The talk kicked off an annual series on the potential dialogue between neuroscience and ’empirical’ meditation knowledge bases such as Buddhism, although some neuroscientists protested what they saw as science inappropriately endorsing a particular religion.

Contrary to the critics, the Dalai Lama (known as His Holiness, HHDL, or by his original name Tenzin Gyatso) seems to me the perfect choice to keynote a discussion between neuroscience and traditional mind-body knowledge. HHDL’s Mind and Life Institute has facilitated dialogue between eastern and western students of the mind since 1987, and he has written two books that strongly argue in favor of accomodating modern science in spiritual life.

For those who are interested, here’s a brief rundown of what I gleaned from his talk.

show full post on front page

HHDL started, smartly in my opinion, with the question of whether religion should accomodate science. A much younger HHDL discovered while experimenting with a gift telescope that the moon reflects light rather than making its own light, as one revered sanskrit text claimed. Rather than throw out the telescope, HHDL convinced his teacher that the ancient scholar was wrong. He used this to make the larger point that Buddhism’s attitude of open-minded skeptical inquiry should have no problem fitting in with modern science, although he acknowledged that some traditionalists might call him a bit of a rebel.

What can science gain from Buddhism? HHDL’s primary point would sound familiar to anybody who’s read Emmanuel Kant, that is to say that any human activity can be considered good if it has the effect of increasing the positive human qualities. In his view problems almost always come from a basic lack of understanding (ignorance) of the larger situation, which explains his enthusiasm for the research sciences. In his view the more we know about ourselves the less likely we are to misinderstand each other and act out of ignorance. [gratuitous self-shout out: Tim F’s law] He made the point that if and when science produces a simple surgery that removes the harmful emotions he would gladly sign up and save several hours of daily meditation. While he didn’t have lobotomy specifically in mind, neuroscientists can (understandably) misinterpret what he meant and he later was obliged to explain that one should never seek tranquility by numbing one’s critical faculties. In his view inner peace must come from exercising critical thinking rather than subduing it, which suggests that a primary goal of mind research ought to focus on understanding the positive and negative emotions so that we can control them better.

It’s clear that scientific progress is not by itself an unalloyed good thing. HHDL suggested that scientists working in sensitive fields such as neurobiology carry a ‘sense of responsibility’ in what they do [I would insert the observation that in science you’re far more likely to find a ‘sense of employment.’ If the NIH asked for grants to study TV-mediated mind control it’s safe to predict that they would not lack for qualified takers. That message would go more effectively to the civilian policymakers who set funding priorities]. In response to a tricky question about animal research he suggested that researchers who have a sense of empathy with the animals on which they experiment will incur less harm [in my experience they also do better research], and that one must always weigh the harm they do against the greater good.

HHDL reminded me a bit of the author and researcher Edward O. Wilson in that the most genial people sometimes have no problem setting off the real-world version of a board-crippling flame war. HHDL ended his short speech by declaring that any religious leader who doesn’t represent ‘fundamental human values’ (compassion, humility, affection) is irreligious and a hypocrite. That’s nearly a direct quote. His telescope story also constitutes an implicit criticism of the western fundamentalists who had every access to science that the insular Tibetans never had and nonetheless choose to throw away the telescope. In your face, Pat.

***Update***

New title has more zip.

Hello DalaiPost + Comments (15)

Open Chili Thread

by John Cole| November 13, 200512:42 pm| 49 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I made chili last night, and I am having a bowl (after some tomatoes, mozerella, and basil- weird combo, right?), and thought maybe you all had some chili recipes you might want to share. This batch was so good, I think I am going to make another batch next weekend, so if you have anything interesting, let me know.

Open Chili ThreadPost + Comments (49)

Not Feeling It

by John Cole| November 13, 200510:54 am| 31 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I just don’t feel the need or desire to blog today, so you guys are going to have to go elsewhere or just argue amongst yourselves in the comments threads.

This piece on Henry Rollins and the USO in the NYT Magazine is fun (quick disclosure- Rollins and Black flag are an old fave of yours truly, back in the days of Jodi Foster’s Army, the Dead Milkmen, the Butthole Surfers, the Dead Kennedys, etc.).

Also, Tom Maguire has plenty of stuff up to start a flame war/discussion:

Left unexplained – how the Democrats unrelenting focus on the use of pre-war intelligence is going to substitute for a plan to resolve the situation in Iraq. Was it really only two weeks ago that Harry Reid forced the Senate into a closed session to discuss that?

Perhaps Sen. Reid was simply intending to commemorate the second anniversary of the leak of the strategy memo explaining how the Democrats could politicize the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings for maximum benefit.

This political posturing by the Dems is understandable – their party is pretty well united around the desire to have a mulligan on the decision to go to war against Iraq.

However, on the slightly more topical question of where we go from here, the problem that crippled John Kerry continues to vex the Democrats – their anti-war base wants to declare Bush beaten and leave Iraq, while many of their leaders continue to argue that defeat is not an option.

Unless the world blows up, I will be back tomorrow. I believe Tim is in DC seeing the Dalai Lama, so he may or may not be around later on to report on his trip.

Not Feeling ItPost + Comments (31)

“Fishin’ for Religion?”

by John Cole| November 10, 20051:54 pm| 48 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Politics

Ezra Klein has an interesting take on the Kaine/Kilgore election that I had not followed.

“Fishin’ for Religion?”Post + Comments (48)

More on the Hettle/Deignan Flap

by John Cole| November 10, 200512:55 pm| 23 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links

Inside Higher Education is now reporting on the behavior of Wallace Hettle:

What might have ended there as an everyday online spat was only the beginning. A frequent visitor to the Bitch Ph.D. site, the University of Northern Iowa history professor Wallace Hettle, felt obliged to defend Bitch Ph.D.’s liberal end of the blogosphere. Hettle found Deignan’s curriculum vita at Info Theory, which lists his academic advisers, the Purdue mechanical engineers Galen King and Peter Meckl, who will play a big part in deciding if he will ultimately receive a Ph.D. Hettle e-mailed them, indicating that Deignan’s comments were “unprofessional” and “contrary to the spirit of free enquiry.” Hettle announced his actions within the comment section of Bitch Ph.D.

“Yes, we received an e-mail,” King confirmed on Wednesday. “It said that Paul was exceeding his bounds, if you will, on what is essentially a private site. He’s been asked to refrain, at least until he’s [graduated from Purdue].”

Read the whole thing. And I don’t care about your personal opinions of Jeff Goldstein, Bitch PhD, Deignan, or Hettle, so don’t bother depositing them here. Just discuss the issue.

More on the Hettle/Deignan FlapPost + Comments (23)

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

People are weird.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

This fight is for everything.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

So very ready.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

When we show up, we win.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

“woke” is the new caravan.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Interesting Quizzes

Haymaker

Handholder

2005 Weblog Awards

Hello Dalai

Open Chili Thread

Not Feeling It

“Fishin’ for Religion?”

More on the Hettle/Deignan Flap