Sunday, April 14. 2013
I have been saving two links about Tallis' 2011 book, Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity, until I found time to say something interesting about the ideas. I could not add anything, as it turned out, because Mark Signorelli says it so well in his review.
Tallis, a neurologist (and amateur and impressive philosopher) wrote the book as a critique of biological and evolutionary reductionism.
Here's a brief review from the WSJ.One quote:
In his vigorously argued "Aping Mankind," Raymond Tallis takes on what he calls "neuromania" (the belief that we are our physical brains and nothing more) and "Darwinitis" (the insistence that our consciousness can be reduced to evolutionary terms) in a robust defense of the unique nature of human consciousness. Mr. Tallis, a doctor and researcher in clinical neuroscience, believes that most contemporary accounts of human consciousness fail to understand the lived experience of individual minds. Reducing man to simply another animal in a real sense de-humanizes us, with disastrous effects in areas from social policy to the interpretation of art and literature, which the author touches on in engaging asides.
Here's a quote from an Amazon reviewer:
Aping Mankind is negative research. While most popular-science writers attempt to weave compelling stories from the latest neuroscience experiments to explain 'why we are the way we are', Tallis attempts to show why these stories simply cannot be true. If you are skeptical of media--and scientific journal--headlines such as "Researchers discover the location of love in the brain", then you may enjoy Aping Mankind. In this work Tallis exposes the odd proclivity of scholars, from biologists to literary critics, to anthropomorphize pieces of matter while simultaneously dehumanizing human beings. In effect we are systematically transferring our humanity to matter, and this may not be good for our health--just like vitamins.
Returning to Signorelli's impressive review which opens like this:
I can recall very clearly the moment at which the spread of Darwinian ideology became a matter of concern for me. Previously, I had been acquainted with such ideology, and recognized it as but one more strain of fashionable cant, promoted by a set of persons quite obviously unfamiliar with elementary philosophical reasoning. Having attended college in the late twentieth century, I, like many of my generation, simply became accustomed to dwelling in an intellectual atmosphere poisoned by noxious dogmas, whether deconstructionist, multi-cultural, or what have you; Darwinism was evidently just such another doctrine, and so I took no great alarm at its prevalence. That changed one evening when, surfing idly across the internet, I came across the late Denis Dutton’s article on “Aesthetics and Evolutionary Psychology” in the Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, an article which proposed the advantages of applying evolutionary theory to our inquiries regarding the arts and literature. This was the first time I had encountered Darwinism in such a context, and when I looked into the matter subsequently, I found that Dutton was by no means alone in his project; quite a body of literature had amassed by that point, purporting to offer evolutionary accounts of poetry, dance, and painting, among other things. Now I became alarmed, and greatly so. Literature (understood in the broad sense of learning, or letters) has been everything to me, the source of all my consolation, and all my self-understanding. To see it threatened by this dirty little creed, with its invariable tendency to degrade whatever comes under its purview, was deeply worrying to me. So I began writing against it, with that same defensive urgency that motivates a man to fight for kin and country.
Today, he asks me to contact my senators about gun violence. For one second, I thought I might ask my senators to do something about urban handgun violence committed by crims with already-illegally-owned weapons, but I quickly decided it wasn't worth the effort because they don't care about that.
They only care about my legal firearms. I don't think the crims bother with background checks. My senators are hopeless and it's not worth the trouble to write to them.
Brandon Smith put a lot of time into this post: Are Individuals The Property Of The Collective?
It's a fundamental issue, isn't it? One of the things that stunned De Toqueville was the abundance of voluntary affiliations and organizations in the US. Of course, The Collective doesn't do voluntary. I hate the very concept.
Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)
9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
9:2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
9:3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
9:5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
9:6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
9:7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.
9:8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9:9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord."
9:11 The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying,
9:12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."
9:13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem;
9:14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name."
9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;
9:16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
9:17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
9:18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized,
9:19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,
9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."
More wonderful photos here.
Saturday, April 13. 2013
Gosnell might be the worst serial killer in history. (Excluding government people like Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, etc. The world of evil has two kinds of killers, the amateurs and the professionals.)
Good news: Women Now Empowered By Everything.
If gals get all of the empowerment, will there be any empowerment left for us guys?
Of course, it's not classic liberalism, but old-fashioned statism. An Entomologist's-Eye View of Predatory Liberalism:
Marriage -- or the sacralization of the male-female union -- is the foundation of civilization, so the left's attack on it is utterly predictable.
 We like to eat lots of those skinny French beans. We steam them in Costco-style bulk, and they last a week.
Mrs. BD likes to dress them with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon (which is the Italian way with vegetables), but I prefer olive oil and wine vinegar. And salt of course.
Add a little crumbled goat cheese or Feta cheese, some bacon, maybe a chopped tomato, and you can make a fine lunch out of them.
Many current economists think he extended it. It is relevant to today's economy, I think: Prager U: Did FDR End or Extend the Depression?
 The Commencement-Speaker Litmus Test
Don’t forget parents share genes with their offspring
Yes, that's the problem
Another political change story
Why Liberals support Gun Control
State power
Billionaire Bloomberg Badgers Moms … Who Suck Baby Binkies?
Guy has gone crazy. Binkies are stupid, but is that his biggest problem?
Examining New York politics is like dipping a ladle into the sewer
For the past 200 years...but the vigor and ambition of the people outweighs the pond-scum pols
If he could
Indeed. But he used scissors so it's OK.
Most people I've seen in life on disability are perfectly capable of doing something useful. Blind paraplegics have jobs in America, as do people with Down Syndrome. Life on disability is life without dignity and self-respect. Same with Welfare.
How many people have noticed that there are virtually no Hispanic tech wizards in Silicon Valley?
 Sonnet 46
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie--
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes--
But the defendant doth that plea deny
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impanneled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart,
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part:
As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
And my heart's right thy inward love of heart.
I like the witty way he echoes the legal metaphor in the convoluted puzzle of words and ideas, which forces your brain to work to untangle it. Crafty guy, was he not? A way with words, too.
Name, and date of birth if possible, please.
This beauty was parked next to us in the Lincoln Center parking lot tonight. We went in with friends to see the Nederlands Dance Co. on one of their very rare visits to the US, at the David A. Koch Theater. All 3 performances were sold out, unsurprisingly, but we got lucky.
On the drive home, Mrs. BD delivered a fine exposition, on our demand, of what the intentions were of their new choreographer team (splaining that it was less about rhythm and more like talking in movement). Their 20-person troupe is remarkably skilled. Then the topic of Sophie Guillam somehow came up, so after that she waxed eloquent about Sophie Guillam's performance in Sleeping Beauty with the Royal Ballet, which she had taken a BD daughter to see in NYC a few years ago. Our daughter had said to her Mom in the lobby - "Mom - Look! There's a real Princess." Her Mom said "No, sweetie, somebody just dressed up for the opening," and then turned and looked and saw it was Princess Margaret dressed in princess clothes to the nines, jewels, tiara, and a long green gown with a couple of attendants and guards.
Daughter had just thrown a sun dress over her wet bathing suit, rushing from swim team practice, never having combed her wet hair. She certainly felt underdressed. It seems that was an immortal performance because Guillam could do things with Sleeping Beauty that nobody else alive could do. Guillam later switched to modern dance because she became bored with her mastery of Ballet technique and wanted new expressive challenges.
We had a nice seafood supper first at the Atlantic Grill down the street from Lincoln Center.
NYC is always a blast for us, a jolt of vitality, a change of pace.
Friday, April 12. 2013
I am a big fan of AA as a help with addiction and as a method for personal growth and maturity.
It's not the only way, but it might be the best way for those who have trouble with it. Recently, people have recommended two books by Allen Carr:
The Easy Way to Stop Drinking
Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking
It's been many years since we have bought either fresh or dried Thyme at the store. It's the easiest herb to grow in full sun and dry, lousy soil, and it comes back after hard freezes and cold winters. An advantage is that the leaves stay on the plant all winter, so you can just go out and scratch the snow off and harvest the sprigs you need. (I just throw the sprigs in with the leaves on, so my cooking often ends up with denuded Thyme sprigs in it.) Cooking with Thyme.
Another advantage is simply the smell it creates in a garden on a hot summer day. 4 or 5 small plants in the Spring will spread all over, only needing a little watering the first year to get started.
Thyme is the ultimate "savoury" flavor, but it's mild enough to make it difficult to over-use. I think it's basic to most stews and soups, Italian or otherwise. My chef friend uses it in muffins and biscuits, and on vegetables. She uses chopped Thyme blossoms on fruit cocktail. It has to be part of any bouquet garni.
Thyme comes in many varieties, some man-made and some wild. Most is Thymus vulgaris - common Thyme, with variants thereof. I assume it has Mediterranean origins. In the Massachusetts Berkshires, we have acres of Creeping Thyme as weeds in the less-fertile meadows, and my Mom always planted it between flagstones. Smells good in the summer when stepping on it, but watch out for the bees.
As a lady with refined sensibilities, Mom was always attentive to the small, charming details of life. There were always small vases of wildflowers around.
It's about nationalizing public education. Common Core: Nationalized State-Run Education.
That means to me that the feds want to politicize and control it. That's pretty much all the feds ever want to do, isn't it?
Best tabloid in Maine, with best headlines too: The Rumford Meteor
Thursday, April 11. 2013
 The Chippies arrived here today, up from their wintering grounds in the deep south. You don't need binoculars to identify a small sparrow sitting high in a pine tree, even if he is not delivering his territorial chipping call.
They breed throughout most of the US.
Ben Carson steps down as Hopkins commencement speaker.
A sad day when somebody can feel unwanted for believing that marriage is for a man and a woman. Of course, it's their loss, not his.
Dog Bites Man; Man Rapes Girl: Journalism and Other Crimes
And if you got your news from the MSM, you might not even hear about the Gosnell story. Here's another that you won't hear about: Another abortion clinic horror story: Planned Parenthood of Delaware.
Stories that do not fit The Narrative are no longer deemed newsworthy.
 Remarkably Audubon-like photo of eagles sharing a meal from Smithsonian, via Am. Digest.
Heather MacDonald never ceases to amaze: Rigoletto, L’Elisir, and Clemenza - Considering three new Met opera productions
She does opera reviews too? She is too much. Well, she went to Andover so maybe that explains it. Yale, Oxford, and Stanford Law too. Here's her bio.
My year on Match.com - I'd done so many scary things in my life, but this might be the scariest. At the age of 58, I joined a dating site
What Really Happens When You Flush on an Airplane?
That plumbing requires serious engineering
The myth of Breast Feeding
Many Moms love to do it, but any health benefits seem to disappear when corrected for income and social class. Poor people breast feed less.
Wood: The fuel of the future - Environmental lunacy in Europe
Wood is fuel for barbarians like me and Sippican. It's just pre-fossil fuel for rednecks and Neanderthals.
Almost 100 million people aren't smart enough to enlist in the military
As Dr. Merc pointed out, precisely 50% of Americans are of below-average intelligence. Strange how it comes out to exactly half, isn't it? That's not fair.
The US equity market: It's not a rally, it's a credit bubble of epic proportions
David Stockman on The Federal Reserve: is "off the deep end"
What he says
Can the Weiner get up again?
He is an astonishingly obnoxious jerk.
War on Poverty: $15 Trillion Wasted
Not to mention the incalculable costs of the unintended consequences
How to milk the system: Lawyers & disability claims
Andy Kessler: The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy - Counting on 7.5% when Treasury bonds are paying 1.74%? That's going to cost taxpayers billions.
Gun Manufacturer to Leave Conn. After New Gun Control Law
Historically, CT was the center of weapon manufacturing
VDH unloads: Confessions of a Counter-Revolutionary
What he says about everything
New MSNBC promo: You have the right to health care, education, housing, and food at all times
Same as children and slaves
IRS: We Don’t Need a Warrant to Read Your Emails
Energy Journal: Shale Ripples Hit Middle East and Russia
Minority contractors ‘game the system,’ find havens in D.C. homes
Minority (ie black) shell companies profit by acting as contracting pass-throughs for service and manufacturing companies. Despite seeming fraudulent, it's entirely legal, encouraged in fact by the government. One easy way to profit from skin tone is to offer to be an intermediary conduit for white-owned businesses.
Wednesday, April 10. 2013
Powerline: The Philosopher king for the nanny state
If we the people need coercive paternalism because we're too dumb to pick our own food, then surely we are too dumb to be allowed to select our governmental representation. Therefore, I propose myself as Philosopher King. Why not me? I did study Plato in college. He invented an ideal, all-wise and altruistic totalitarianism. First thing I would do in the job would be to eliminate the position and fire myself, which is what my philosophy would require.
Well, that's what I would do if I did not happen to enjoy the power and perqs too much...
Point is, I think Bowdoin Prof. Sarah Conly is insane in the (probably) non-clinical sense. After all, is she exempt from bad choices herself? Who are the ubermenschen? Professors? God forbid.
This simple problem, offered by a reader, doesn't (I think) require Bayesian methods:
Suppose some one person stole some money and there are a hundred possible suspects. You use a lie detector, which has a 99% chance of a positive if you are guilty, and a 99% chance of a negative if you are innocent. Someone tests positive. What are the chances the person is guilty?
As with medical tests, this deals with rates of false negatives and false positives. Please explain your answer in the comments.
|
