butterdream

Which card(s) must you turn over in order to test the truth of...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:17:07 +0000

Which card(s) must you turn over in order to test the truth of the proposition that if a card shows an even number on one face, then its opposite face is red? Answer is here.

"Even things that are broken or complicated become things some people want to protect from change..."

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:59:00 +0000

“Even things that are broken or complicated become things some people want to protect from change because they’re familiar with the intricacies of how those things work.”

- Jason Fried

Cat on the pitch!

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:19:04 +0000

Cat on the pitch!

"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem, in a way that will allow a solution."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:30:05 +0000

“The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem, in a way that will allow a solution.”

- Bertrand Russell

Top 5 regrets of the dying

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:47:36 +0000

1: I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2: I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
3: I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4: I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5: I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This (r)evolution is love.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:49:00 +0000

This (r)evolution is love.

Since 1980 productivity has risen by 80% and average wages only...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:15:00 +0000

Since 1980 productivity has risen by 80% and average wages only 8%. Why? The extra value has been siphoned off by the rich and powerful.

"Right-wing ideology forms a ‘pathway’ for people with low reasoning ability to become..."

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:36:46 +0000

“Right-wing ideology forms a ‘pathway’ for people with low reasoning ability to become prejudiced against groups such as other races and gay people.”

- Paper published in the journal Psychological Science, via the Daily Mail (of all places).

John Tavener’s other-worldly choral rendition of William...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:23:00 +0000

John Tavener’s other-worldly choral rendition of William Blake’s The Lamb. Alludes to a Christian god, but, taken through secular ears, is just as profound, if not moreso.

Ticking time bomb scenario

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:22:00 +0000

Ticking time bomb scenario:

A thought experiment used in the ethics debate over whether torture can ever be justified.

Photo

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:57:00 +0000

Moral luck

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:43:00 +0000

Circumstantial moral luck:

A poor person is born into a poor family, and has no other way to feed himself so he steals his food. Another person, born into a very wealthy family, does very little but has ample food and does not need to steal to get it.

Should the poor person be more morally blameworthy than the rich person? After all, it is not his fault that he was born into such circumstances, but a matter of “luck”.

Resultant moral luck:

Two persons behave in a morally culpable way, such as driving carelessly, but end up producing unequal amounts of harm: one strikes a pedestrian and kills him, the other does not.

That one driver caused a death and the other did not is no part of the drivers’ intentional actions; yet most observers would likely ascribe greater blame to the driver who killed.

(Moral luck on Wikipedia)

Reverse graffiti

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:30:05 +0000

Reverse graffiti:

A method of creating temporary images on walls by removing dirt from a surface.

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:38:17 +0000

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”

- George Orwell, 1984

Global brain

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:37:32 +0000

Global brain

Photo

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:14:31 +0000

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge."

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:13:52 +0000

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.”

- Daniel J. Boorstin

Photo

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:30:46 +0000

"I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong..."

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:09:27 +0000

“I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life. They seek position, marriage, reputation, outward success of money, and remain unhappy and neurotic even when they have attained what they were seeking. Such people are usually confined within too narrow a spiritual horizon. Their life has not sufficient content, sufficient meaning. If they are enabled to develop into more spacious personalities, the neurosis generally disappears.”

- Carl Jung

Photo

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:29:24 +0000