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Started by Lord T Hawkeye, September 19, 2009, 01:02:11 AM

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Phil Helenes' version of Genesis.  I loved it dearly.  ^^

In the beginning, there was light, light so hot that nothing else could exist, but the void grew faster than the light and that was good. And out of the light came the tiny heralds of what was to come, as small to an apple as an apple is to your spherical world. For I tell you light can become solid and solid can become light. Take heed for I tell you what no man yet knows. And the heralds waited in the light for their time and 400 millenia later, when it could be so, so it was. And these things I will call atoms fell together. And I tell you children of the light, in the void, great clouds of atoms fell together, called by mutual attraction, forced to become one, growing in size, gaining mass until at the center of the great clouds there came a new light. As atoms of the first and simplest kind were forced together to become atoms of the second kind. And behold! The first star was born!

Soon there were many stars, swirling by the hundreds of thousands of millions, floating in islands like discs, each island separate, racing apart. And the islands themselves shall be numbered in the hundreds of thousands of millions. And some of the stars were small and burned slow and dim and long. And some were giant and burned bright blue and fast, making atoms of the second, third and forth up to the twenty sixth kind until they could burn no more. And then they die a powerful death buildling up atoms of the ninety second kind and beyond which they spread along with abundant blinding light like seeds back into the void, disturbing the stillness of the surrounding atomic clouds, giving birth to countless stars in their wake. But these new stars drew around them disc shaped cloaks of the ninety two types of atoms, the ashes and the seeds of the first giant stars. And the heavier elements fell towards the new stars and over millions of years there formed worlds of rock and metal to encircle the sun. And away from the star, worlds of vapour and ice were formed, circling more slowly in accordance with their greater distance from the sun. And nine thousand million years later after the beginning of one star, one rocky, metalic world, ninety two types of atoms danced to the tune of the light and the lightning while mountains fell from the sky. This place would be called Earth.

And for half a billion years, the dance went on, atoms joining in ways forbidden in the heat inside the stars from where they were made but inevitable where the magnet is mightier than the fire. And by the law of the magnet and the lodestone, one chain of many atoms begat chains of identical form and the chains spread through the waters, filling them, growing in size and complexity, taking unto them the poisonous clouds and vapours that hung over the world and giving back the air. And the sky of the earth, now clear of the falling mountains, turned blue. And four thousand million years later still, you stand here, yearning to know how you came to be.

But if you have the mind to ask the question, you have the mind to find the answer. Look to the light of the world, see how they dance. From this and only from this will you find the answers that will lead you to the knowing. And one day you will make better eyes from the sand and look out into the night and you will see wonders, things hidden unto them. But keep looking and thinking with better eyes and clearer thoughts and knowledge will come to you. You will see the island discs of countless millions of suns stretching back into infinite. But be not afraid, see my creation, the jewels of millions of suns, stars of blinding light, holes of darkness that hold back the light, the clouds of atoms from which you came. And it is all yours if you can work as one. I can give you no more than all that is.
I recently heard that the word heretic is derived from the greek work heriticos which means "able to choose"
The more you know...

If I have put this here before, say so, and I'll remove it.  I can't stand double posts.
A thought provoking essay:

Anarchists & Minarchists & Socialists, oh, my!
June 30th, 2009
by Dale Everett
"I'm getting asked a certain question a lot lately. Why pick on minarchists? We're on the same side! Why aren't you picking on socialists more? I'm glad I was asked because it made me put some thought into best how to express this with words. What is it about the philosophy of minarchism that really gets up in my craw?

And then it occurred to me. Anarchists and minarchists in one key respect are polar opposites. I've said before that there is an ocean between an anarchist and a minarchist, but only a creek between a minarchist and a socialist and I can finally nail it down succinctly. An anarchist believes that a monopoly government is the source of our enslavement. A minarchist believes a monopoly government is crucial to protecting our liberties. Exact opposites! So why do people keep saying we're on the same side? Presumably it's because we have similar preferences. We both love liberty.

Now let's compare minarchists to socialists. A socialist will justify aggression on the basis of need. Food, shelter, and medical care are all essential needs and a socialist feels justified in using aggressive violence to satisfy those needs. On that same basis, a socialist will also absolve individuals of responsibility and pass that responsibility onto 'society' which is a very abstract and subjective thing, a calamity of collectivism, which of course is why it's such a disaster in implementation. It's why individuals fail to develop a sense of their own responsibility and become incredibly dependent on their governments, remaining in a childlike state with governments assuming the role of their parents.

So now let's compare minarchists to socialists. A minarchist loves liberty a lot. A minarchist also believes aggressive violence against innocent people is justified due to a critical need, but only for that which suits their personal preference, i.e. providing for the protection of liberty. This is commonly defended in the same manner that socialists use for justifying aggressive violence, i.e. on the basis of need*. The minarchist claim is that we are responsible for providing for all of our own needs whether it be food, shelter, health care, or educating our children, but when it comes to the most crucial thing that's at the foundation of all the others, they absolve the individual of responsibility and pass that crucial task on to a murky subjective thing, that calamity of collectivism known as 'society'.

It's for this reason that I believe the minarchist approach to liberty is such an utter failure. I don't argue against minarchism to pick nits or because I'm a purist. I'm a long way from being a purist. If I were, I'd stop making calculated decisions regarding my activism. I'd drive without a license and I wouldn't pay a single penny in taxes no matter what, even if it meant pointlessly rotting in a jail cell or living as a hermit in a booger hut.

No, I argue against minarchism because I believe principles are pragmatic and that the promotion of minarchism is a big part of the problem. They're arguing against socialism out of one side of their mouths while proposing a slight variation on socialism out of the other side. It's an incredibly weak argument and makes an easy target for our opponents to poke holes in. I love them because we have a common interest, but I feel a need to exercise great care in how I team up with them because the act can make me an easy target right along with them. It can be quite a liability from a completely utilitarian and pragmatic point of view. The irony that they've often felt the same way about me has not escaped me.

In the process of defending minarchy, one is also inevitably defending socialism. It is for that reason that I am so skeptical of whether minarchy is even possible. Governments, like a cancer, don't stay small as long as they have legitimacy and they don't get smaller as long as they have near 100% compliance with their demands and massive moral support. Can we have much smaller government? I hope so and I'm an optimist. I think we can. I'm sure we can make governments smaller, which I would be thrilled to do, but it will require anarchism to get on the right track.

Minarchists, I love you like I love a pet that just won't potty-train. I know you're trying your darnedest, but it sure is frustrating. I'm going to keep making fun of you, but just remember that it's playful ribbing from a friend; an incredibly condescending and tactless friend, but a friend nonetheless.

* Here's a little thought game for objectivists. Grab a highlighting pen and go through some of your blog posts against anarchism. Now highlight everywhere you say the word 'need'. Can I get an 'Oh, SNAP!' from some of my gay fans?" --Dale Everett, source
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

"The Twilight series sucks." --Any reasonable person
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

Quote from: surhotchaperchlorome on January 30, 2010, 07:06:37 PM
"The Twilight series sucks." --Any reasonable person

"A-Fucking-Men to that!" My girlfriend and I in response to the above quote.

Quote from: Virgil0211 on January 31, 2010, 12:22:34 AM
"A-Fucking-Men to that!" My girlfriend and I in response to the above quote.
"I knew you would like that.
I was thinking of you when I posted that."  --Me in response to that quote.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!" --Barry Goldwater
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

"The essential psychological requirement of a free society is the willingness on the part of the individual to accept responsibility for his life."
--Edith Packer, clinical psychologist

"War and poverty are caused, not by 'selfish others,' but by our own reactions to them. If we wish to change the world, we must first change ourselves." --Dr. Mary J. Ruwart


Both quotes are from the free online version of Healing Our World.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

The state that does not recognize the value and dignity of human life is obsolete - The Twilight Zone, "The Obsolete Man" episode.
I recently heard that the word heretic is derived from the greek work heriticos which means "able to choose"
The more you know...

From "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish" by Douglas Adams

[An enormous spaceship has just landed on Earth, causing incredible destruction in the process. A giant robot then steps out.]

"I come in peace," it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, "take me to your Lizard."

Ford Prefect, of course, had an explanation for this, as he sat with Arthur and watched the nonstop frenetic news reports on television, none of which had anything to say other than to record that the thing had done this amount of damage which was valued at that amount of billions of pounds and had killed this totally other number of people, and then say it again, because the robot was doing nothing more than standing there, swaying very slightly, and emitting short incomprehensible error messages.

"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."

"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"

"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."

"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

"I did," said ford. "It is."

"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"

"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."

February 02, 2010, 03:59:26 PM #204 Last Edit: April 03, 2010, 04:08:48 PM by surhotchaperchlorome
@Shane's quote: lol

"The ideas of economists and political philosophers both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood.  Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.  Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." --John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." --F.A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit

Both quotes and their sources are from that video of Keynes and F.A. Hayek rapping.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

February 04, 2010, 02:39:43 PM #205 Last Edit: February 05, 2011, 11:50:35 PM by surhotchaperchlorome
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able, and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God." --Epicurus
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

"@dizzle42008 Economics has tremendous scientific merit, but psychology is dead. It's all about cognitive neuroscience now."  --TheAmazingAtheist
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

"First, the private sector is superior to government as a problem-solver because private transactions require the consent of all parties to them. When government interacts with people, there is always at least one party that is forced to participate and that is, therefore, abused and exploited.

Second, private decisions are made by individuals and firms that know more about their particular circumstances than anyone else could possibly know. In contrast, governments cannot know as much about the persons and institutions they deal with and thus are forced to make and enforce arbitrary general rules that apply the same to different people and different circumstances, regardless of the absurd or unjust consequences.

Third, because, in the words of Frederic Bastiat, people are not clay, they always react and respond to the state's use of power against them in ways that result in unintended and negative consequences from the state's point of view, now fashionably called 'blowback.'

Fourth, the widespread use of state power erodes private morality, as people learn from the state's actions and rationalizations that it is acceptable to use force against others to achieve your goals. Unfortunately, the state and its politicians—corrupt, mendacious, rapacious, lascivious, and ruthless—have become the great moral teachers of our time." --James Ostrowski, A $21 Trillion Tax Cut
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

February 05, 2010, 11:01:04 PM #208 Last Edit: February 06, 2010, 02:26:42 AM by surhotchaperchlorome
"Nobody can be at the same time a correct bureaucrat and an innovator." --Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

"Should not reason alone be the judge?" --Hypatia
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537