Abuse takes many forms, and sometimes parents abuse their children and
don't know it. Ignoring the child when it wants attention, or insulting
it by telling it it is bad or stupid or some such thing, or teasing the
child and embarrassing it in front of others, or relentless tickling or
roughhousing when the child gives "enough" signals, or, of course,
punishments that involve denial of food and such. We can even abuse a
child by failing to hug it or tell it you love it and will care for it.
That abused children often (more often than we care to admit) do the same to their children is an ongoing disaster.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Sherlock Holmes had the maxim that whenever you have eliminated all the
reasonable possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how unlikely, has
to be the truth.
This is unscientific and illogical. If something is highly unlikely it needs lots of its own evidence to be believable. Just eliminating other possibilities is not enough. There is always the "unknown" possibility -- something no one thought of.
The rational response, then, to situations where one has nothing available but unlikely things, is to say, "I don't know."
I post this because I see an awful lot of use of this fallacy by people who want to believe essentially unbelievable tales.
This is unscientific and illogical. If something is highly unlikely it needs lots of its own evidence to be believable. Just eliminating other possibilities is not enough. There is always the "unknown" possibility -- something no one thought of.
The rational response, then, to situations where one has nothing available but unlikely things, is to say, "I don't know."
I post this because I see an awful lot of use of this fallacy by people who want to believe essentially unbelievable tales.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Insomnia
There are all sorts of books peddling all sorts of nostrums for insomnia, some of value others questionable.
The best sleep advice is to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, weekends and holidays included, have a dark and quiet and cool place to sleep, don't have a TV or reading lamp in the bedroom, and if you don't get to sleep just tell yourself you are getting rest anyway and that helps and stop worrying.
Nice clean sheets, a comfy quilt, a mattress you are comfortable on, and lots of pillows to wedge here and there (different sizes and shapes and fluffiness) too, but take care you don't end up just rearranging the blankets and sheets and pillows all night.
Finally, find out what foods and drinks contain stimulants and avoid them, and try some warm soup. Avoid pills and alcohol -- they seem to help but are traitors. (There are exceptions to this but it is a good general rule).
I understand that one should have a ritual before going to bed -- especially taking a warm shower or bath -- and avoid TV and computer and bright lights and even reading (although personally sometimes certain books put me to sleep). Sleep also goes better if the room is either pitch black or you wear eye shades; they take getting use to but I carry them with me all the time in case I want to take a nap somewhere.
If you have any sort of chronic pain or cough, get up and deal with it if you can. That can be a real bitch when you are awake and there are no distractions.
The best sleep advice is to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, weekends and holidays included, have a dark and quiet and cool place to sleep, don't have a TV or reading lamp in the bedroom, and if you don't get to sleep just tell yourself you are getting rest anyway and that helps and stop worrying.
Nice clean sheets, a comfy quilt, a mattress you are comfortable on, and lots of pillows to wedge here and there (different sizes and shapes and fluffiness) too, but take care you don't end up just rearranging the blankets and sheets and pillows all night.
Finally, find out what foods and drinks contain stimulants and avoid them, and try some warm soup. Avoid pills and alcohol -- they seem to help but are traitors. (There are exceptions to this but it is a good general rule).
I understand that one should have a ritual before going to bed -- especially taking a warm shower or bath -- and avoid TV and computer and bright lights and even reading (although personally sometimes certain books put me to sleep). Sleep also goes better if the room is either pitch black or you wear eye shades; they take getting use to but I carry them with me all the time in case I want to take a nap somewhere.
If you have any sort of chronic pain or cough, get up and deal with it if you can. That can be a real bitch when you are awake and there are no distractions.
Spirit visits
Certain pain medicines I take for sciatica lead to visits by angels and ghosts and other denizens of the spirit world; it's
interesting. Whenever my sciatica won't let me sleep and I resort to
them, I lie back and see what sort of tricks the spirits will try to
play to convince me they are real.
Evidence of God
I would like to respond to the argument that atheists would not accept any evidence that God exists short of personal revelation.
It is not correct. There is evidence I would accept, such as an asterism in the form of the Tetragrammaton. I would probably accept the clear occurrence of a miracle done under controlled conditions, but religionists have an excuse for why this doesn't work similar to the one psychics use -- it goes away when you control the conditions.
Or, perhaps, the Bible were really the spiritual book people say it is, and the history of religions were not so bloody and hypocritical, or if religion really did have an uplifting effect on its adherents. This would not be as persuasive as an asterism, but it would be good evidence.
If you want to claim something so important and so extraordinary as God, you have to realize with intellectually mature adults the default is going to be skepticism.
I should stipulate -- theistic religions.
I must say, also, that personal revelation is probably the last thing I would accept. I don't have so much ego as to think such a thing would be real instead of my own mind.
It is not correct. There is evidence I would accept, such as an asterism in the form of the Tetragrammaton. I would probably accept the clear occurrence of a miracle done under controlled conditions, but religionists have an excuse for why this doesn't work similar to the one psychics use -- it goes away when you control the conditions.
Or, perhaps, the Bible were really the spiritual book people say it is, and the history of religions were not so bloody and hypocritical, or if religion really did have an uplifting effect on its adherents. This would not be as persuasive as an asterism, but it would be good evidence.
If you want to claim something so important and so extraordinary as God, you have to realize with intellectually mature adults the default is going to be skepticism.
I should stipulate -- theistic religions.
I must say, also, that personal revelation is probably the last thing I would accept. I don't have so much ego as to think such a thing would be real instead of my own mind.
Science is not just experiments: it is also observation and thought. Astronomers, for example, rely on mathematics and thought experiments and
coming up with scenarios to explain observations (one cannot experiment
on black holes, but one can study them). Ideally one's scenario should
go further than just explain observations but also predict things that
observers can then go look for.
Daydreaming
I day-dream for at least a half hour every morning after I wake up
but before I get up. It is very pleasurable, and there is to my mind
nothing wrong with pleasure taken in moderation.
Of course after I am up the world comes at me in force and mind wandering like that is subject to so many interruptions it becomes impossible.
Of course after I am up the world comes at me in force and mind wandering like that is subject to so many interruptions it becomes impossible.
Ezra and the Old Testament
Much of the OT as we have it, and the earliest parts we have, were
written by priestly scribes with the Ezra return from exile. They
probably had access to older documents, and seem in many places to have
made an effort to merge conflicting stories.
They also edited what they had to produce a myth of the Jews as being extremely ancient (which the ancient world accepted without questioning how unlikely that would be) and to put the priests and Jerusalem and its temple at the center of things. The fact is the Hebrews evolved out of Canaanite tribes and the vast majority of the figures talked about (such as David), while probably based on some real figure, are extremely mythical.
At least that is what I've learned over the years.
They also edited what they had to produce a myth of the Jews as being extremely ancient (which the ancient world accepted without questioning how unlikely that would be) and to put the priests and Jerusalem and its temple at the center of things. The fact is the Hebrews evolved out of Canaanite tribes and the vast majority of the figures talked about (such as David), while probably based on some real figure, are extremely mythical.
At least that is what I've learned over the years.
Monday, September 8, 2014
People sometimes kill themselves.
Others are judgmental about it. Some say if they want to do it they should go ahead and do it and get out of everyone's hair with their self-pity. Others say it's a sin against God. Even others say it's caused by demon possession. Finally, and this is probably most common, there are those who say the suicide had to be insane to do such a thing.
There are many reasons people do this, and a lot depends on the culture. The Roman aristocrat who fell on his sword rather than be executed in one of the brutal ways Romans tended to execute people was doing the honorable thing. Many societies see some suicides as honorable.
Most of us can imagine a scenario where we would kill ourselves -- incurable disease combined with unremitting nausea would do it to me (pain I can handle better). Probably also a disease that promised in the future to render me helpless and a burden. We all die someday and some things are worse than death.
However, suicides today most often are associated with the set of diseases put together as "depression." Those who have never experienced it have to remember that this is not "being sad." It is another thing entirely. It is a cloud of blackness that pushes you down and doesn't let you think at all clearly but only makes the world hopeless with no escape.
One thing to remember is that depression is not insanity in the usual sense. It is a mental illness, but not one that involves irrationality (I sometimes think it is a case of being too rational).
Psychiatry has tried all sorts of ideas on how to deal with this, and often can have a temporary effect, at least until the depression passes, but then they lose the patient next time around as the disease figures out the psychiatrists tricks (not unlike the cancer evolving resistance to the treatment).
It is true that how we look at the world is a great part of the problem -- the old "glass half empty or half full" sort of thing, but knowing this does a depressed person little good. Truth is, one can always think up the negative side of things, as the world is not all that good to people and most young people have their ambitions squashed fairly fast anyway.
It is purposeless to try to find a purpose in life. The vast majority of us have only one purpose in our existence -- to give life and happiness to our children. This is something of an evolutionary trick, since usually the children don't turn out as expected and sometimes turn on us, and we have to adapt.
In the end the only real treatment for depression is going to be medical, not psychiatric (psychiatry is seen as a branch of medicine, but its methods and training are different). The widespread bias against dealing with emotional problems with pills needs to be overcome -- diseases are best treated with pills, although in some cases other forms of intervention can work.
There is no guilt associated with being depressed -- the tendency runs in families and is just part of the baggage we are born with. It is useless (and in my opinion evil) to tell the depressed to get over it and stop being so self-involved.
Finally, there is no guilt associated with someone who has actually committed suicide. They should be treated as anyone else who has died of a chronic disease. The death should be reported as such (not covered over -- society needs to know the reality) but without blame or shame or as a scandal.
Others are judgmental about it. Some say if they want to do it they should go ahead and do it and get out of everyone's hair with their self-pity. Others say it's a sin against God. Even others say it's caused by demon possession. Finally, and this is probably most common, there are those who say the suicide had to be insane to do such a thing.
There are many reasons people do this, and a lot depends on the culture. The Roman aristocrat who fell on his sword rather than be executed in one of the brutal ways Romans tended to execute people was doing the honorable thing. Many societies see some suicides as honorable.
Most of us can imagine a scenario where we would kill ourselves -- incurable disease combined with unremitting nausea would do it to me (pain I can handle better). Probably also a disease that promised in the future to render me helpless and a burden. We all die someday and some things are worse than death.
However, suicides today most often are associated with the set of diseases put together as "depression." Those who have never experienced it have to remember that this is not "being sad." It is another thing entirely. It is a cloud of blackness that pushes you down and doesn't let you think at all clearly but only makes the world hopeless with no escape.
One thing to remember is that depression is not insanity in the usual sense. It is a mental illness, but not one that involves irrationality (I sometimes think it is a case of being too rational).
Psychiatry has tried all sorts of ideas on how to deal with this, and often can have a temporary effect, at least until the depression passes, but then they lose the patient next time around as the disease figures out the psychiatrists tricks (not unlike the cancer evolving resistance to the treatment).
It is true that how we look at the world is a great part of the problem -- the old "glass half empty or half full" sort of thing, but knowing this does a depressed person little good. Truth is, one can always think up the negative side of things, as the world is not all that good to people and most young people have their ambitions squashed fairly fast anyway.
It is purposeless to try to find a purpose in life. The vast majority of us have only one purpose in our existence -- to give life and happiness to our children. This is something of an evolutionary trick, since usually the children don't turn out as expected and sometimes turn on us, and we have to adapt.
In the end the only real treatment for depression is going to be medical, not psychiatric (psychiatry is seen as a branch of medicine, but its methods and training are different). The widespread bias against dealing with emotional problems with pills needs to be overcome -- diseases are best treated with pills, although in some cases other forms of intervention can work.
There is no guilt associated with being depressed -- the tendency runs in families and is just part of the baggage we are born with. It is useless (and in my opinion evil) to tell the depressed to get over it and stop being so self-involved.
Finally, there is no guilt associated with someone who has actually committed suicide. They should be treated as anyone else who has died of a chronic disease. The death should be reported as such (not covered over -- society needs to know the reality) but without blame or shame or as a scandal.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Causality as karma
I don't think it's necessary to use the possibility that the universe
was once a singularity to say the universe breaks "its own rules." The
rule is that of causality, and we know this rule is constantly broken,
that causality may be something of an illusion based on probability and
the statistical "law of large numbers" rather than something inherent to
existence.
It reminds me a little of the Buddhist and Hindu idea of karma -- what you do has consequences. We know those consequences are not preordained but just made more likely when you behave certain ways.
It reminds me a little of the Buddhist and Hindu idea of karma -- what you do has consequences. We know those consequences are not preordained but just made more likely when you behave certain ways.
Theravada life after death
I think of mind as a process using memories stored in the brain and
sensations provided by the brain, that can be thought of as a sort of
life process (the flame on a candle, a wave on the water -- that sort of
thing). When brain dies what becomes of this process?
If it weren't for the observation that waves can perpetuate without a medium (well it's more complicated than that but there is no aether), maybe the process that is mind can go on even though the body has died. This is pretty much standard Theravada Buddhism that the "life spirit" goes into a womb and is reborn, except see it as the conservation of sentience.
Trouble is the memory and most of the personality are in the brain and die, and the new baby has its own genes and life experiences and is a different person. This would not seem to be a formula for "going on." It is more like making a big deal out of the fact that the atoms that make up our body get recirculated through the biosphere. Substitute life spirit for atoms and you get much the same result, not terribly profound and not particularly different from simple extinction.
Mozart (and most great artists of all fields) had a distinct voice from the youngest age, and he has not reappeared.
If it weren't for the observation that waves can perpetuate without a medium (well it's more complicated than that but there is no aether), maybe the process that is mind can go on even though the body has died. This is pretty much standard Theravada Buddhism that the "life spirit" goes into a womb and is reborn, except see it as the conservation of sentience.
Trouble is the memory and most of the personality are in the brain and die, and the new baby has its own genes and life experiences and is a different person. This would not seem to be a formula for "going on." It is more like making a big deal out of the fact that the atoms that make up our body get recirculated through the biosphere. Substitute life spirit for atoms and you get much the same result, not terribly profound and not particularly different from simple extinction.
Mozart (and most great artists of all fields) had a distinct voice from the youngest age, and he has not reappeared.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
The life we find on the earth occupies but a vanishingly thin layer near
its surface, even when you count deep rock microbes. It has no effect
at all on what goes on through the main mass of the planet.
Distinguish between life (complex molecules with that mechanically reproduce themselves using material from the immediate environment) and sentience (the experience of life and sensory input and emotions and thoughts). The biosphere is not sentient and is composed mainly of things not sentient. Anyone who says otherwise needs to prove it.
Distinguish between life (complex molecules with that mechanically reproduce themselves using material from the immediate environment) and sentience (the experience of life and sensory input and emotions and thoughts). The biosphere is not sentient and is composed mainly of things not sentient. Anyone who says otherwise needs to prove it.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Russia is getting scary
I did a survey of several Russian newspapers available in English on the internet. They all take the same line.
The difference between this and Western reporting, where newspapers are all over the place -- although in the Ukrainian case both leftwing and rightwing papers are similar and the exact opposite of what Russian readers are getting -- is striking.
It is discouraging too. There is plainly no freedom to publish against the government in Russia -- something that can only be said to be fascist. That is a strong word and a few have taken me to task for using it to describe Putin, but I think the evidence is strong.
There is the resurgent militarism and military boasting, the use of nationalism for political purposes, the clamping down on the press and other forms of expression, the use of hoodlums and criminals as enforcers, the close ties with cartels and industrial lords, and of course the anti-gay campaign (pick a disliked minority and persecute them). It is all too familiar.
The difference between this and Western reporting, where newspapers are all over the place -- although in the Ukrainian case both leftwing and rightwing papers are similar and the exact opposite of what Russian readers are getting -- is striking.
It is discouraging too. There is plainly no freedom to publish against the government in Russia -- something that can only be said to be fascist. That is a strong word and a few have taken me to task for using it to describe Putin, but I think the evidence is strong.
There is the resurgent militarism and military boasting, the use of nationalism for political purposes, the clamping down on the press and other forms of expression, the use of hoodlums and criminals as enforcers, the close ties with cartels and industrial lords, and of course the anti-gay campaign (pick a disliked minority and persecute them). It is all too familiar.
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