Earth

Why do we continue to look down at the black hole of ecosystem cataclysm with tepid glances?

To torture or not to torture….

The magnificent iconoclast Sam Harris has always had to defend himself against the lazy or fundamentalist-minded masses. It is implicit in his title. However, more rarely he has to defend himself from his peers and it’s this conflict that I find to be the juicy stuff.

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/why-id-rather-not-speak-about-torture1/

This link above an example of just such a juiciness. It’s Sam defending a statement he made about how torture, in some circumstances, is not only ethically justifiable but ethically necessary, yes necessary! He explains how it was taken out of context and provides more meat around the arguments why such an concept can be true.

I won’t say anymore about it other than to say I agree with him (only after reading it) and whet your appetite with a quote from his blog.

“My argument for the limited use of coercive interrogation (“torture” by another name) is essentially this: if you think it is ever justifiable to drop bombs in an attempt to kill a man like Osama bin Laden (and thereby risk killing and maiming innocent men, women, and children), you should think it may sometimes be justifiable to “water-board” a man like Osama bin Laden (and risk abusing someone who just happens to look like Osama bin Laden).”

Chrome Dome slap Head

When you see the lone hair gallantly standing its ground on the crest of the forehead, it takes some time to realise that rather it being a rouge hair that has sprouted out of place, it becomes sombrely revealed that it’s in fact the last bastion of the once thickly forested hair line.

The reactions to this discovery are laughably predictable; surprise, denial, sadness and acceptance and I think that you can guess the phase I’m in that has allowed me to write this.

It has forced me to confront the reality of aging for the first time. At a spritely 27, I’m probably perched on the inclining slope of the balding bell curve so I’m joining the march of the first wave of pilgrims of my generation towards the land of the chrome dome slap heads – a land where birds where sunglasses to shield themselves from the shiny glare of the humanoids below.

You know that unremarkable phenomenon, the one where you suddenly notice every 10th person driving the same model as your new car, well the same goes for the slap heads. What you realise is just how normal it is and how untroubled ‘they’ look, not because they can’t see what’s going on up there without looking in a mirror but because they really don’t care. Given the preference, perhaps most would like to have retained their youthful locks but just can’t be bothered to put up the fight. However, I suspect that some, and I’m nearly at the cusp of genuinely including myself in this group, would not have it any other way. Its more of a philosophical statement of sorts, and kind of rebellious reverse Mohawk that gives two fingers to the unhealthy fascination with youth.

It’s not that bad, really.

Peter Pan

I’ve come to recently understand one of my best friends it appears, is the boy that refuses to grow up. Just like the real Pan, he is a wholly original and strong willed character but with a rather more quiet charisma accompanied by an acute sense of observation.

Peter Pan, just like my good friend, would also very likely fly in, eat, drink and sleep at his friends invitation and then fly out leaving a wake of mess behind. This was perhaps tolerated when we were all boys and girls but things have changed.

Like most boys he ultimately follows the indulgent doctrine of ‘I just want to do what I want to do’. Whilst this doctrine is alluring at first and provides endless attractive possibilities for the mind, if it becomes hardwired and isn’t allowed to mature into a more expanded meaning, it becomes not only toxic to people around him but will limit his own potential for deeper happiness. To borrow Nick Caves words “The worst crime one can commit is to not live up to ones true potential”.

Altruism, or more broadly a contribution to a cause or people that is greater than you is where a huge reserve of happiness and satisfaction is found. Don’t be afraid to take more responsibility, try harder and don’t be unwilling to compromise in the short term. Having a long term goal gives a subconscious clarity to your choices that can only help make you more satisfied.

Give more time to others and build the foundations now that you’ll need to rely on in the future.

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens, see above in his most natural and polemic position – behind the lectern, is someone that I admire greatly and has found as a constant source of inspiration and ideas. He has throat cancer and his own words: “In whatever kind of a “race” life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist”

Below is my message to him as posted on Vanity Fair

Christopher,

You, with the help of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have caused a seismic shift my outlook on life. Your eloquent and sharp prose combined with your charismatic confidence has helped me out of the fog of delusion, smashed apart the self imposed bounds of serfdom and given me a prime example of how a mans mental strength can, and should flourish. For that I thank you.

My thoughts are with you Christopher.

Island

I’ve recently finished reading Island by Aldous Huxley. I have to say from the outset that I’m a sucker for both Utopian and Dystopian novels. Two of my top 10 books are 1984 by George Orwell and Utopia by Thomas More. The corollary is that they can be extremely mediocre, as was Fugue For A Darkening Island by the unremarkable Christopher Priest. I must say I only bought it for its outstandingly kitsch front cover.

The reason behind the fascination with these two ideas is nothing intriguing. It’s innate to the human condition to not only imagine the perfect but also the ruinous. One almost seems impossible or at least lacks some definition without the existence of the other, which hints at one of the reasons I don’t believe in a Heaven – but that’s another story.

As the name suggests, the story is set on a tropical island where the people live fulfilling and peaceful lives, told through the eyes of a cynical journalist who is inextricably involved in the impending downfall of this little paradise.

The book treads a skilful line between novel and essay. At some points you feel like the reality of the dialog is compromised due to the author trying to massage an idea thoroughly but in most parts you are convinced that it is indeed how these people think and talk. Inevitably with Utopian and Dystopian novels the threshold of contextual description is larger than that of perhaps other types of novels. But if it’s done well, as in this case, description turns easily into experience.

His prose has an invigorating quality. The frankness of much of the characters dialog, most memorably of the children he first meets, gives a refreshing tone to the novel. The bon mots expose my lack of French and many other references are tragically lost due to my shallow knowledge of history. However, these were minor hiccups my enjoyment. The book will make you look at those in power with even more distrust and, if like me, reinforce that urge in the back of your head to get away while you can, live off the fat of the land and get soil under your fingernails.

Maybe I’ll start up a commune and call it ‘Alap’ in tribute…

Electronica

Moved to tears by transistors, shivers of joy from lines of code, is it possible – it seems so. Emily Howell is a computer program written by David Cope, Dickerson Emeriti Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Listening to the music invokes a strange sensation. Irrespective of weather one thinks the music has merit, the sheer idea that something non-animal has composed something with a sense of flow, structure and rhythm is truly astounding. Is this not the exclusive domain of the hominid or the song bird?

The programmer has simply tapped into the same process that makes people good composers – our capacity to remember, both consciously and subconsciously an enormous database of sound and music and then combine them into new and 'original' compositions. By teaching the computer general ‘rules of thumb’ the computer essentially looks up snippets of music’s which traditionally follow one another and spits out something that is more often than not, better than what 99% of the general population could ever attempt.

Many people would find this idea a somewhat offensive suggestion but to me it’s a beautifully humbling one. This latest development in human inquiry builds upon the mountain of evidence bravely started by the Galileos of our early scientific history. It brings us one step closer to realising that We share some blood with Emily, being at heart and in mind essentially transistors and code. The similarities to the nerve synapse and DNA code is plain for all to see – it’s just that Emily when measured against us resembles something more like a humble bacterium. But, before you scoff at the thought and fall off your chair, does this make us any less special. No of course not. As Douglas Adams says “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”