Philosophy & Religion
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Alan Kay, a pioneering computer scientist, defined technology as “anything that was invented after you were born.”
Facts change, people don’t
by Maria Popova “Every individual is representative of the whole, a symptom, and should be intimately understood.” French-Cuban writer Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) was one of the most prolific and dedicated diarists in modern literary history, her journals a treasure trove of insight on life, literature, society, and human nature. From the The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 3: 1939-1944 ( public library ) — which gave us Nin’s illustrated insights on life , this poignant mediation on Paris vs.
Anaïs Nin on Why Understanding the Individual is the Key to Understanding Mass Movements
Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images Daniel Kahneman, New York City, September 2011 In 1955, when Daniel Kahneman was twenty-one years old, he was a lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces. He was given the job of setting up a new interview system for the entire army. The purpose was to evaluate each freshly drafted recruit and put him or her into the appropriate slot in the war machine.
How to Dispel Your Illusions by Freeman Dyson
Jared Soares for The New York Times At a Roanoke County, Va., meeting, dozens opposed the county's paying $1,200 to a nonprofit. They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate to a big-government blueprint against individual rights. “Down the road, this data will be used against you,” warned one speaker at a recent Roanoke County, Va., Board of Supervisors meeting who turned out with dozens of people opposed to the county’s paying $1,200 in dues to a nonprofit that consults on sustainability issues. Local officials say they would dismiss such notions except that the growing and often heated protests are having an effect.
Activists Fight Green Projects, Seeing U.N. Plot
List of conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an attempt to explain a perceived real-world occurrence through the actions of a secretive, usually evil group. Not all conspiracy theories are wrong, but if the theory requires greater suspension of disbelief than random chance would to explain the occurrence, it should be examined skeptically. Conspiracies manifest themselves across the political spectrum. Most of the theories in the list below are crackpot, but a few, sadly, are reasonable and a couple are almost certainly true. [ edit ] Scientific conspiracy theories The Codex Alimentarius is a plan to poison us all.Illuminati
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus , "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati , an Enlightenment -era secret society founded on May 1, 1776 to oppose superstition , prejudice , religious influence over public life, abuses of state power , and to support women's education and gender equality . The Illuminati were outlawed along with other secret societies by the Bavarian government leadership with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church , and permanently disbanded in 1785. [ 1 ] In the several years following, the group was vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed they had regrouped and were responsible for the French Revolution .
How To Be Emotionally Stable: A Cosmic Melody
by Maria Popova “…and realize that everything is connected to everything else…” Inspired by Nick Cox’s wonderful Thought Catalog piece on love’s all too familiar cycle of despair and hope , my friend Max Lugavere (remember him ?) strummed up and narrated a simple melody to a breathtakingly beautiful effect. Stay with it.Prattyasamutpda
Pratītyasamutpāda (Sanskrit; Pali: paticcasamuppāda ) is commonly translated as dependent origination or dependent arising . The term is used in the Buddhist teachings in two senses: On a general level, it refers to one of the central concepts in the Buddhist tradition—that all things arise in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions. On a specific level, the term is also used to refer to a specific application of this general principle—namely the twelve links of dependent origination . The concept of pratītyasamutpāda (in both the general and specific meanings) is the basis for other key concepts in Buddhism, such as karma and rebirth, the arising of dukkha (suffering), and the possibility of liberation through realizing no-self ( anatman ).
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“We take ‘person’ to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her.” As such they argued it was “not possible to damage a newborn by preventing her from developing the potentiality to become a person in the morally relevant sense”. The authors therefore concluded that “what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled”.
Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say
by Maria Popova ‘Philosophy is 99 per cent about critical reflection on anything you care to be interested in.’ Last week, we explored how some of history’s greatest minds, including Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Isaac Asimov, defined science.
What is Philosophy? An Omnibus of Definitions from Prominent Philosophers
Omniism is an esoteric ontological term coined in 1996 by James Anthony Ciomperlik to describe the most extreme version of Pluralism. That is, the concept that there is an unlimited variety of fundamental substances . In this context, Omniism is directly opposed to Nihilism .
Omniism
Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following: As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus the acknowledgement that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions. As acceptance of the concept that two or more religions with mutually exclusive truth claims are equally valid.
Religious pluralism
What is Pluralism?
The plurality of religious traditions and cultures has come to characterize every part of the world today. But what is pluralism? Here are four points to begin our thinking: First, pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity . Diversity can and has meant the creation of religious ghettoes with little traffic between or among them. Today, religious diversity is a given, but pluralism is not a given; it is an achievement.Buddhism is a religion indigenous to the Indian subcontinent that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama , who is commonly known as the Buddha (meaning "the awakened one" in Sanskrit and Pāli ). The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. [ 1 ] He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering ( dukkha ) through eliminating ignorance ( avidyā ) by way of understanding and seeing dependent origination ( pratītyasamutpāda ) and eliminating craving ( taṇhā ), and thus attain the cessation of all suffering, the sublime state of nirvāņa . [ 2 ] Two major branches of Buddhism are generally recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle").