The Great Candian Charter of Rights...

doesn't contain the right to council. Although we are used to hearing, "if you cannot afford one one will be provided for you..." when we watch law and order, the Canadian system isn't the same. Since we essentially an elected monarchy (once elected we are ruled over, not governed) it is not surprising to myself how this court case was decided. As I have learned form separate schools, our Charter is a mish-mash of stuff as opposed to the American Bill of Rights and Constitution which is based on principles (for better or worse). This will hopefully wake up Canadians to a simple and startling fact: Our American cousins have more rights than we do!

The oddest thing about this is that all Canadians have the right to health care, but not legal council. What does that say about your society when you will pay the medical bills but not the legal bills. To me it says we have a system that is not meant to be rattled. Long live the king....

Maybe there is a god...

There are some very convincing arguments as to why Google is god. It's not only funny but has a huge amount of truth. Google, in every respect that is measurable about god, is god. This new Googlism is very similar to the flying spaghetti monster used to normally to counter usual religious arguments by "comical similarity." Googlism is exactly the same but quite stronger since most of us know Google exists! I'm betting other rationalists are just tired of the intellectual arguments that don't convince most people and are long winded. I've found that working on the separate schools issue it is much more effective to have a simple and short counter argument rather than a drawn out explanation about their logical fallacy. The hate mail is really funny!

Jesus proves god!?!

I was watching this and there was a funny point the religious guys made. Doesn't the existence of Jesus prove god? Wouldn't that imply that the existence of any Greek character would prove Zeus, the minotaur etc? Does the ruins of Troy that we found mean Apollo is real? Cool! I want a minotaur!

Republican's praising Regan

If you are like me and think the reverence for Ronald Regan is at a fevered pitch I have a simple solution. Remind them about the immigrant amnesty. It's one of his few actually smart policies and it will brake most Republican's brains (like asking a creationist how you get a population from two humans without inbreeding).

Cultural relativism and why the middle east won't modernize soon

Firstly let me say I believe all humans have the right to freedom of conscious, freedom of speach, assembly, association etc. But when I say I am to some extent a cultural relativist, what I mean is practically I don't think every human who is given these freedoms will understand them or want them. This is a pretty well know result in behavioral science: animals will trade freedom for security. Therefore this is the default mode for humans. To have a society that is free, we must understand what Jefferson said:He who trades liberty for security deserves neither and will lose both. But this is for a civilized human, that is to say a human animal plus years of conditioning in civilized society. One cannot make a civilized person from a jungle boy (to use an extreme example). (Note: by civilized I mean any civilization where the society values freedoms which could be tribal or modern). Humans will almost always default to their upbringing and so giving a person who has lived under an unfree rule (such as Saudi Arabia) will instinctively cower at the choices and possibilities of western culture. This is not genetic since all humans will fear the vast openness of space when in a space suit on a space walk and can only overcome it with training. Also a Saudi child raised in the western world with civilized freedoms will be perfectly capable of valuing and using his freedoms. So while i firmly believe all humans deserve civilized freedoms I don't think they are all ready for it and so the transition for the older people must be slow.

What is an interesting aspect of this is how globalization has changed the field. Some people are naturally rebellious and intelligent and want these freedoms. In years past that meant a fight for social revolution, today that often means immigration. Why fight your government and lead people to freedom which is very hard and dangerous when you can hop on a plane to the western world and live how you want? The Iranian communities in Canada are a great example. The vast majority are highly educated successful professionals. These would be leaders in their country for change but instead the western world offers them the freedom and live style they crave without the danger of social revolution. I'd chose that! What this says to me is places like the middle east and Africa are in a terrible place since the people that would be great leaders are being bought by the west. The west skims the top of the country and leaves the rest making it hard to change the countries ways. But it would be inhuman to let the people waste a way and suffer under a society that does not give them the freedom they deserve.

There must be more to this life => pity?

When I hear the phase; "There must be more to this life," uttered I can't help but feel pity for that person. To be so cynical about the laughter of children or music is saddening. To me, it is hard to imagine not deriving pleasure from this world: the spring blossoming, the silly things animals do, the shared laughter with friends and loved ones, the childish awe of discovery, the joy of literature etc. Not enjoying these things I guess would makes life seem like a waste. But why it really saddens me is these people tend to put faith in some eternal afterlife, thereby deteriorating the value of a single couple of decades.

I really should not argue with these people about the silliness of an afterlife or how an afterlife devalues life. I really should instead find out if this person is lonely and in need of attention and maybe find some ways of helping, because missing out on this life is a real waste.

Tired an irritable

Normally when I take the subway I am listening t a podcast or contemplating things and so people are just dynamic obstacles. But the last few days I've had very little sleep trying to complete the paper asap and boy am I irritable. I actually notice people and it bugs me when they don't move onto the subway fast enough (you know that waddle morons do when they pass through the doors takings as much time to get out of the way of everyone else as possible) or people stop walking for no apparent reason in the middle of nowhere. It's been a while since I took note of people and I don't like them one bit ;-) I guess with more sleep these things don't reach my perception but with my irritability at max I remember the incidents. I wonder if that's why most people are so touchy and miserable, lack of sleep.

It is too bad I find people (in general) so uninteresting. I guess it's mostly habit of doing something else when I'm out and about (reading,listening or thinking) rather than just actively perceiving. Then there's the training form dog walking and learning how to make people feel uncomfortable enough not to pet the dog or say too much to me. It not that I'm antisocial, but how interested can I be in,"your dogs so cute and well behaved." Thanks, and you appear to have eyes and are capable of vocalizations! ... man I just going off tonight... maybe I need some of that sleep stuff...

"I love crowds, but hate people, isn't it ironic?" -Randle