Quote of the Day 10-16-09

“I hope that I may claim in the present work to have made it probable that the laws of arithmetic are analytic judgments and consequently a priori. Arithmetic thus becomes simply a development of logic, and every proposition of arithmetic a law of logic, albeit a derivative one. To apply arithmetic in the physical sciences is to bring logic to bear on observed facts; calculation becomes deduction. The laws of number will not, as Baumann thinks, need to stand up to practical tests if they are to be applicable to the external world; for in the external world, in the whole of space and all that therein is, there are no concepts, no properties of concepts, no numbers. The laws of number therefore , are not really applicable to external things; they are not laws of nature. They are, however, applicable to judgements holding good of things in the external world: they are laws of the laws of nature. They assert not connexions between phenomena, but connexions between judgements; and among judgements are included the laws of nature."

Gottlob Frege; The Foundations of Arithmetic, 1950, p99.
[emphasis added]

“Critical Thinking” as a Materialist Fraud

I recently became aware of a YouTube video family purporting to teach “critical thinking”. This was interesting enough to me that I invested the 2 hour + download time over our frail country phone lines in order to see a 9 minute video called “Open Mindedness”, which is only one of maybe 8 or 10 “instructional” videos by someone called “QualiaSoup”.

It turns out to be a good starting video, because it clearly and in no uncertain terms spells out Qualia’s Philosophical Materialism. The entire video is dedicated to two concepts: Rule #1, one must not believe anything without evidence. Rule #2, if you don’t obey rule #1, then you will be open to believing anything and your mind will be filled with rubbish.

As might be expected, “Science” is mentioned reverentially throughout, as is the implication that science is the only critical thinking that is possible. If the evidence for a certain premise is not scientific, aka material, then one must not accept the premise but must reject it with at least an “I can’t know”.

This is reinforced with the standard references to believing in fairies, ghosts, paranormal experiences and so on: fear-mongering blatantly aimed at limiting reality to physical, material, measurable "scientific" entities.

But as we know, Truth does exist and can be known. Further, it cannot be tested physically since it is not material. And further still, science never, ever produces Truth, science produces only contingent factoids. This means that material evidence - via science - does not give us Truth and even its factoids are vaporous. And any implications to the contrary are false. This does not mean that science is false. It means that using science as a limit to reality is a philosophical error.

There are no tools presented by Qualia’s video to implement evaluation of the materialist “evidence filter” touted by Qualia, either for the actual evidence, its source, nature and validity, nor for the discernment process required for the actual screening and cognition of evidence. Nor induction with its limitations and deduction with its limitations. Nor falsification as a screen for non-material propositions. Nor axioms, their source and validation. Nor the difference between hypothesis and theory. Judging from the titles of the other video family members, I doubt that any reference to these are made anywhere in any of these videos.

These videos, based on viewing the Open Mindedness video, are not based in any principles of logic, nor the principles of rational thought, nor the apprehension and comprehension of the First Principles. They are purely philosophical, not rational. And, again judging from titles, they are purely a tool of Atheism.

But what these videos do demonstrate quite vividly is the principle that one must question EVERYTHING, especially if it is on the web. (And that includes what one finds on this blog, too). Question everything, study the principles, introspect and intuit. That will take you beyond science, and into the realm that actually contains Truth.

The pity of these videos lies in the comments section, where gratitude flows for having been given the materialist process of “critical thinking”. Those folks who believe what the videos teach now are shut out of the path to apprhending full reality, and are confined to the materialist box.

PZ Watch 10-14-09: Too Good!

Today PZ says,

OK, I confess: I completely lack the tools and background to evaluate this claim:

A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

Except for one thing: the proponents of this idea are operating in the world of pure speculation, and have no evidence to support it, yet. That tells me that I'm best off provisionally rejecting it. I'll start incorporating crazy counter-intuitive notions about the nature of the universe when the cold implacable hand of the universe starts shoving them down my throat, not before!

Let's take this verrrry slowly and savor it. PZ identifies a world of "pure speculation". This, he claims, is a place where "there is no evidence to support it." Now of course there are math and logic and quantum theory to support it, so appparently what PZ is referring to is hard evidence: experimental. Yes, experimental evidence is needed, according to PZ, in order to avoid a "provisional rejection" on his part - despite his admission of being knowledgeless in this area of science.

In fact he requires this hard evidence in Charleton Hestonian terminology":

"I'll start incorporating crazy counter-intuitive notions about the nature of the universe when the cold implacable hand of the universe starts shoving them down my throat, not before!"

Well, PZ, here is a "crazy counter-intuitive notion":

"We can build up immense amounts of complexity from nothing but noise..." (PZ Meyers, 10-11-09)

Where is the HARD, NON-SPECULATIVE evidence? Mmmm Hmmm; it must be buried in that mountain of SPECULATIVE evidence that is so often brandished about in evoutionary apologetics, eh, PZ?

Or maybe, PZ, you are ANTI-SCIENCE?? Mmmmm Hmmmm. Now, "Dr. Nielsen is well-qualified in this tradition. He is known in physics as one of the founders of string theory and a deep and original thinker..." This is no lightweight; this is an expert we're talking about here, PZ; you are rejecting an expert in his field? A field where you "have no tools"? Uh oh. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

Enviro-Cultism

The Friends of the Earth have apparently convened their own ad hoc court, where they put those accused "climate criminals" of their own choosing on trial with the intent of punishing them (morally, somehow). Christopher C. Horner has translated the following bulletin from Spanish:

NOTICE TO THE PRESS
Friends of the Earth International
October 14, 2009
First International Court of Justice Climate

Cochabamba, Bolivia, 14 October 2009 – With the aim of identifying and morally punish[ing] those who violate the environment, this 13 and 14, held the First International Audience Climate Justice in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and it is intended that the UN continue that work.

This initiative comes to the search for compromises and solutions world governments have not been able to achieve against Change Climate.

The initiative seeks to influence institutions like the Organization of the UN to step in the formation of courts consider the crimes related to climate change, plus explore options for preserving the environment.

The court has received reports of at least ten people and nations indigenous descent, peasant movements and fishermen, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, Brazil and Bolivia to be argued in hearings and reviewed by a panel of recognized social and environmental activists, including ecologist Richard Navarro, representing Friends of the Earth International.

“Rich countries must dramatically reduce their OWN greenhouse gas emissions already. That is the first step towards climate justice. Besides climatic and ecological debt must be recognized and paid. False solutions such as agrofuels are [NB: not?] acceptable,” according to Irene CENSAT Velez de Agua Viva (Friends of the Earth Colombia) and co-Coordinate of the Climate Justice Program of Friends of the Earth International.

The First International Climate Justice Court is also the result of an initiative to make Bolivian President Evo Morales, last September in a United Nations conference, in which proposed the establishment of a tribunal against the change climate, as permanent investigative body to governments and companies that pollute the environment.

The government of Evo Morales has shown a strong stance in defense of environment and Mother Earth and their negotiating positions United Nations on climate change have been very constructive, according to Friends of the Earth International.

Setting themselves up as a para-world-government with elitist judicial powers is mere silliness, unless of course, they actually do endeavor to punish someone - in which case they are themselves international criminals. The environmental "laws" that they perceive as being broken don't exist except in their minds as religious dogma. And the deification of "Mother Earth" renders the Friends of the Earth as just another cult, albeit one with dangerous-sounding aspirations, aspirations with lynch mob mentality behind them.

The Left vs Free Speech

This week the Obamacrats escalated their war on Fox News via their “diversity czar”; Fox is the only cable news outlet that doesn’t faint in Obama’s presence and doesn't carry his every wish as unexamined gospel. The diversity czar obviously was not in favor of actual facts being brought to light; so she used the standard response, which is to attack the source of enlightenment. The facts, however inconvenient, are not being discussed by any of the Leftist media tentacles, probably because there is no defense against them. So the thrust is to try to damage the source for such facts, and thus minimize future revelations of such annoying material.

When the executive branch of the U.S. government starts to demonize and attack private parties and adversarial information sources, the spectre of socialism as remembered from the 20th century returns. With Obama lackeys such as Chris Matthews ruminating about killing Rush Limbaugh, and others calling Limbaugh a racist despite lack of evidence of that, the picture clarifies even more: if possible, completely destroy those who dissent.

Now the teeth are being installed through a Democrat trick to get passage of the thought crime legislation they so love. They have installed the hate crimes bills inside the Defense Measure. So in order to vote for the Defense measure one must also vote for thought crime legislation. They could not get these thought crime bills passed using normal procedures, so they must sneak it through buried in an unrelated bill. Then modifying the law is much easier than passing it in the first place. With these in place, Christians will be shut up or incarcerated, and the bible itself will be attacked as a tool of hate. Homosexuality and sexual paganism will become positive character traits to be admired and emulated.

Along with the new presidential power to shut down the internet if he sees a threat, the IRS attack on bloggers, and the continuing congressional attack on talk radio, is there any longer a question as to what sort of speech it is that the Left will approve?

It certainly won’t be approving coverage of Cass Sunstein’s plans for removing organs from living people designated terminally ill, to be placed in needy people of higher value. Nor Ezekiel Emmanuel’s graph of human value vs. age. Nor much about the Chicago tenements left to rot into violent slums under Michelle Obama’s oversight. And certainly nothing about the false use of Matthew Sheppard’s murder as a Homosexual Hate Crime, a bungled robbery with no overtone of hatred for homosexuals. Or referring to Planned Parenthood’s positioning in the healthcare bills as designated teachers of sexuality and “reproductive health” (abortion) in government schools.

The Obamacrats want total control of the thoughts of the masses, not just partial control. And they daydream outloud about capital punishment for dissenters. They have packed the Federal Communications Commission with sympathetic drones. The war on free speech is heating up. Perhaps the remaining rebels will have to go underground to print their anonymous pamphlets.

Note: Error correction, 11:57 a.m.

Quote of the Day 10-11-19, #2.

"It appears that the gay community is holding Obama to a higher standard than the Nobel committee. Obama's past approach - Let's divide this up; I'll talk, you swoon - isn't working."

Tom Maguire

Quote of the Day 10-11-19

"We can build up immense amounts of complexity from nothing but noise, so just babbling about how complicated something is says nothing about the impossibility of its origin from chance events. Order, functionality, and, as Joe Felsenstein defined it, adaptedness are more relevant properties, and we have a natural mechanism for generating those, too. It's called selection."

PZ Meyers

[Hypothetical biology can take utter randomness (noise) and turn it into, say, sentience? Just by selecting noise spikes, I suppose. Then let's see them do it. "We must have evidence if we are to believe a thing." (Bertrand Russell) So far from these folks, nothing in the area of firm, experimental, replicable scientific evidence.]