911review/philosophy

The Big Questions: What is consciousness?

The philosopher Derek Parfit put it starkly: we are not what we believe ourselves to be.

Actions and experiences are interconnected but ownerless.
A human life consists of a long series - or bundle - of enmeshed mental states rolling like tumbleweed down the days and years, but with no one (no thing) at the centre.

An embodied brain acts, thinks, has certain experiences, and that's all. There is no deeper fact about being a person. The enchanted loom of the brain does not require a weaver.
space.newscientist.com/article.ns [space.newscientist.com/article.ns]

Ive been saying this for years.

We are different people every day.

Brain cells die, and electrical pathways change.
So, the idea that theres a SOUL is nonsense.

I think for our species to survive, we need to throw away these notions of religion
and the soul. If not, it will be our downfall.

We are animals, like other animals on this planet.
We have DNA, tissue, and bone.

At this pointy i have to look at the hypocrisies of the human spirit.
We look at things like "conspiracies" and think how outrageous they are.
We look at things like Aliens and UFO's, and think that one must be crazy to believe in them.
Not to mention one religion looking at another and thinking they are outrageous.

So what is so strong in the human spirit to make us not want to believe whats before our eyes ?
What makes us look at reality and want to see something else ?

I think it has to do with not wanting to take responsibility.
For what you ask ?
For the future of mankind my friend !

Is the human race to survive ?
Well, thats not up to us is it ?
Well, YES, it is.
Many other creatures have perished on this planet, many that have tried to adapt to changes, but at some point , for some reason still didnt make it.

Its very possible that we wont make it either, even IF we learn to live together without killing each other. A meteor could hit us tomorrow wiping the human race off the map.
Its possible too, that before that happens, we could learn to leap into space and develop colonies on other planets.
Just like any other species, its in our nature to survive and procreate...

My NOTE:
This is the BEST book i have ever read.
(no i dont read that much)
but still, it has absolutely changed my life !
The sequil Lila is also great.
Here is an interview with the Author Robert Persig.


The interview: Robert Pirsig

The Seventies bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the biggest-selling philosophy book ever. But for the reclusive author life was bitter-sweet. Here, he talks frankly about anxiety, depression, the death of his son and the road trip that inspired a classic.

Tim Adams
Sunday November 19, 2006
The Observer

At 78, Robert Pirsig, probably the most widely read philosopher alive, can look back on many ideas of himself. There is the nine-year-old-boy with the off-the-scale IQ of 170, trying to work out how to connect with his classmates in Minnesota. There is the young GI in Korea picking up a curiosity for Buddhism while helping the locals with their English. There is the radical, manic teacher in Montana making his freshmen sweat over a definition of 'quality'. There is the homicidal husband sectioned into a course of electric-shock treatment designed to remove all traces of his past. There is the broken-down father trying to bond with his son on a road trip. There is the best-selling author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, offering solutions to the anxieties of a generation. And there is, for a good many years, the reclusive yachtsman, trying to steer a course away from cultish fame.

Article continues
Pirsig doesn't do interviews, as a rule; he claims this one will be his last. He got spooked early on. 'In the first week after I wrote Zen I gave maybe 35,' he says, in his low, quick-fire Midwestern voice, from behind his sailor's beard. 'I found it very unsettling. I was walking by the post office near home and I thought I could hear voices, including my own. I had a history of mental illness, and I thought: it's happening again. Then I realised it was the radio broadcast of an interview I'd done. At that point I took a camper van up into the mountains and started to write Lila, my second book.'

What do YOU think abut this ?
Is this a takeoff of Thomas Paine's the "The Age of Reason" ?
should this be destroyed ?


Starting from the top, the sentiments of guide stones seem benevolent enough. The capstone reads the following message in Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics:

* Let these be guide stones to an age of reason.

A good opening in an era that could use a hefty dose of reason. The four corner pieces each bear two languages--one on each face. The English translation reads:

* Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
* Guide reproduction wisely--improving fitness and diversity.
* Unite humanity with a living new language.
* Rule passion--faith--tradition--and all things with tempered reason.
* Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
* Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
* Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
* Balance personal rights with social duties.
* Prize truth--beauty--love--seeking harmony with the infinite.
* Be not a cancer on the earth--Leave room for nature--Leave room for nature.