Two bigger-name bloggers, Steven Den Beste and Steven Leeds, have been having a high profile debate about how one can judge another’s culture. After reading both their “well-put” opinions, I’ve come to the following, somewhat disturbing, conclusion:It is impossible to logically deduce the “right” or “wrong” of moral behavior
I was talking with Chatfield about this last week. Say, for instance, that we say that Saudi Arabia’s moral system is inherently worse because they subjugate women. Most of us would eventually come to the conclusion that because the reason we live (the “metaphilosophy”, I call it) is “to maximize utility.” That is, if sum happiness is greater under one system, we can conclude that that system is inherently better. Assuming this one axiom, we can conclude that our system of allowing women freedom is better than subjugating women.
However, the problem with that is that every logically deduced axiom can only prove axioms within its own metasystem. For instance, say the Saudis argued that the metaphilosophy is not to be happy, but to serve the will of the Prophet. Measuring in “Prophet utility” rather than our definition of utility, it could be logically deduced that the Saudi’s system of morality is better than ours! Because no logical system can be both complete and accurate (see Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem to see why mathematics can’t solve every problem), this conclusion is required:
It is necessary to accept certain propositions on faith or instinct; this DOES NOT imply that they are “true”
This is not an argument for the existence of God. All it says, I think, is that logic can’t PROVE anything. It can push us inexorably toward a conclusion. Or maybe that logic can’t imply *some* premises in a closed systems? I’m not sure. This is one of these subjects that you can’t come to a conclusion about in an afternoon, I guess. Anyway, if anyone comes to a conclusion on anything related to this, or happens to understand Godel’s implications more than I do, gimme an email: cure@bu.edu.
How to make money on Ebay - A Simple Guide. Ebay is a mint. No doubt. I’m going to go Goodwilling tomorrow, and do some general Boston exploring. Hope I find something good. Dude, Josh, you are gonna be so jealous. There’s a “New England Classic Gamers” meeting on the 19th that I’m going to in the suburbs, with like 30 or 40 people all bringing their stuff to trade and show off. The guy in charge is gonna get me an Atari and a few games, and I’m gonna trade my Japanese Sega Saturn (worth like 50 or so + games + extra cart, so maybe 80-100 total) for some more stuff. Some of these guys have like, full NES collections, Panesians and all. It’s gonna be wicked sweet. I’ll be a total nerd, though. Ah well, hehe.
Yo, I’m officially a college student. I wrote the paper, “Incompleteness Theorem: Fragments, Interjections and Jazz-Age Status Consciousness in Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt.” And I got an A-, “very good work.” Now, you and me both know that the whole paper was more or less BS’ed. You’d think that BS gets weeded out the higher you go on the intellectual chain. Turns out they only encourage it more. While of course Lewis means what he means when he writes something a certain way, to link his use of common dialogue elements to the decline of a hurried society seemed ridiculous to me when I wrote it and still when I got it back. But hey, my dignity for an A (I think that should be a line in a rap, huh?).
And speaking of BS, remember how my team won a debate 2 weeks ago where we convinced a panel that it doesn’t pay to pay for college? We won another one this week where we were the Pro side on “Is the US Welfare System Efficient?” Even I didn’t know I could BS with such a straight face. My Econ teacher has referred to me as both “A future Arthur Anderson accountant” and “a future Congressman”. Good times. Next week, I actually get to argue an argument that will be an automatic win - that is, Is Globalization Truly Global?
Are Asian guys really that bad at sports, and further, Are black guys really that dominant? This Slate columnist says no on both counts. I’d say that, in team sports of near any kind, ethnicity and size can always be overcome by other work ethics. DaMarcus Beasley, star of the US soccer team, is like 5′8″, 130. Size isn’t all that matters…in sports, at least.
I bought the freakin’ bombest jacket last weekend. And I bought in on Newbury Street. I feel wicked posh now, heh. It’s a Perry Ellis Portfolio 3/4 length black leather jacket. So so nice and so warm. It’s like, not short like a bomber jacket, and not long like a trenchcoat, but a little longer than a normal jacket. Y’know, it’s like those leather jackets that don’t make you look like you hate everyone and would be acceptable if worn at an MTV event. Anyway, it was “last season’s”, so I got it for 150 instead of 400, which is tight.
Mother Teresa wasn’t so Saintly, by most non-Catholic definitions. She was certainly not a bad person, I’d say, and she did give people dignity in death, but this is a damn convincing argument that she cared more about ministry than about poverty. Of the hundreds of millions of dollars given to her order, why did she never buy medicine for the Kolkata poor, or a modern hospital? Money donated to her ended up going to her Order’s nunneries around the world rather than directly into improving India’s fate, and further, she was vehemently against giving people medicine to extend their life. So instead of living 20 years longer, the poor in Kalkuta died on nice blankets. And if that’s the 2nd miracle that the Vatican need to confirm her as a Saint, they need to look elsewhere.
And yes, Calcutta is now, PC-style, spelt “Kolkata”. And, I’ll no doubt bet, Corea (Korea) is next.
First Coinbird, now it’s Elephants singing Pavarotti. Ah..the internet.
And finally, The New Republic clears it up for the left-of-left by telling the truth: Logically, an Iraq War is not beneficial for oil companies. First, war in Iraq would equal higher energy prices. Second, American oil companies have been pledging an end to sanctions, not further complicated measures in the Far East. It would be most beneficial for oil companies if we let Saddam just sell his oil to them, as he has said he would do if he were allowed. He’d probably buy palaces and weapons with the money, but you know how it goes.
And I’m making my “the war tactic is a bluff” into a solid bet: A $20 bet is on the table for anyone who wants to bet that the US will go to war with Iraq before, say, New Years Day, assuming that Saddam doesn’t fire missiles at Israel or something like that. Email me if you’re interested. Prepare to send me the check on January 1st.
Da Music of 908
“Wylin Out” by Mos Def & Diverse All Music called Diverse the hottest MC from Chicago since Common. Two years ago. Now he’s back on a Mos Def-backed single, produced by midwest genius Prefuse 73. Hot beat, tight rapping from both men. This track is hot. The CD it’s off, “Urban Renewal I” from Chocolate Industries, I’m gonna pick up soon. All the songs I can find on Kazaa from it are sweet.“A Dios Le Pido” by Juanes Juanes, Latin American superstars, might finally make inroads in the US with this track. Really addictive pop-rock, though not as good as “Fotografia”, their track with Nelly Furtado that I talked about a couple months ago, in my opinion. Still very good, though.
