Monday, February 03, 2014

Science as Religion

There seems to be a common drive among atheists to place Science into the same place as God in a religious structure. For example, Moldbug cites Richard Dawkins as believing in "Einsteinian religion". This involves a fundamental misunderstanding of what science is and what science can do.

Science is not Truth; it is not even truth. Science is a process, not a body of knowledge. Science is the scientific method. It is a process for testing theories that (hopefully) helps us asymptotically approach true knowledge. How rational is it to worship a process?

Oh wait. This is the same culture that believes so strongly in the rule of law. Except that all laws are interpreted and implemented by men. So there is no way around human judgment. Oops.

So why do otherwise intelligent folk who really should know better pretend to worship science? Purely as a cudgel to wield against the more conventionally religious? Or do they just feel the universal religious impulse and to deal with the cognitive dissonance they redirect it into something seemingly irreligious? That would be an inconvenient truth.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Charlie Brown and Politics

The perfect metaphor to understand the US political system is Charlie Brown and the Football. That clip is perfect. There is even a written contract, and you can see how much that is worth. If you are not sure what each character represents after the government shutdown, then I don't think I can help you. That laid bare the farce that is politics in this country.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Golden Age of Lies

I have not updated here in eight years, apparently. I lack a burning drive to write, but I do have an insatiable intellectual curiosity that I have been feeding. I've updated the link list with some of the current blogs that I read. If there's a thread connecting them, it is that we live in a society based on lies. It would be an exaggeration to say it is a Golden Age for lies and liars.

Our financial system... based on lies.
Our political system... based on lies.
Our health care system... based on lies.
Our educational system... based on lies.
The Standard American Diet... based on lies.
The interaction between the sexes... based on lies.

I do not intend to expound on each of them here. I can provide links or you can peruse the link list. Welcome to the Dark Enlightenment.