A Root Of Rationality

A Root Of Rationality

It is strange to think that some rational arguments have their roots in irrational opinions. Before one can make a stand couched in rationality, one can have a subjective opinion on the matter. Given this possibility, it is not unexpected that irrational motions can be defended by rational arguments. For example, an objective fact like “Rabbits reproduce quickly” can be verified by objective comparisons between the rate of reproduction of rabbits relative to every other living creature. It becomes harder to do so when saying “Rabbits have too much sex”, in which case it is a subjective motion that requires, in addition to the rate at which they have sex, the definition of just how much is too much sex.

Who defines such things, and how are they defined? In a subject as distant and perhaps irrelevant as figuring out how much rabbits reproduce or if they’re too sexed up, it’s easy to tell the difference between arguments based on objective observations (regardless of their correctness; that is due to the researcher’s methods) and subjective ones. Better yet, in matters that are of fundamental concern to people, like say group activities in a collectivist society or religion in a theocracy, one may be tempted to couch irrational opinions in rational arguments.

The examples are all over history. Consider Gallileo, who had his ideas turned down by the Church for contradicting what was then a well established dogmatic “fact”. Undoubtedly, even the Church at the time had perfectly good rational arguments to defend their opinions which were not testable in reality. It was simply a matter of faith.

This leads to a crisis of faith, especially in matters where uncritical thought is celebrated. As some may quote Einstein, common sense is a collection of prejudices acquired by age 18. Being a collection of prejudices, the only real defense is to have some people thinking critically about what is widely accepted as the established reality.

Granted, it is impractical to have all of society mulling over every single matter, fearing for its factual accuracy or practicality. That would probably be as bad as or even worse than blind faith (or better, seeing as a surprising number of misconceptions could be hidden in common sense matters and someone may question the practicality of capitalism itself). Still, it helps that the rational arguments be tested for epistemological errors, and not just in the social sciences or “hard” sciences, but indeed in all areas that may harbor them. This would probably help prevent rationality from experiencing a serious case of root rot. As my subjective opinion on the matter, it should also be tested to verify its status as a viable option in an uncritical world.

Christmas Overseas

It is a most curious experience, spending Christmas in another country where Christmas isn't that big a thing. You can walk along the streets and not hear Christmas songs. That may be a good thing, seeing as the place is comparatively untainted by Christmas consumerism. However, it does also rob the feeling of Christmas.

Sometimes I ponder on the Grinch, and what Christmas is really about. It's not just about presents. Not that I exchange Christmas presents anyway. It's really about the intangibles, like being with your family and happy together. Or simply the celebratory mood that accompanies the season.

What is Christmas like in a country where it isn't really celebrated? Truly, it feels like any other day, with the exception that you're well aware of what the day means to yourself, and that feeling is a very, very private and personal thing.

Yes Man

Here is yet another movie that made me think. Which, of course, is a good thing considering that I expected Yes Man to be a rather light-hearted comedy. It turns out that the movie is quite the meaningful tale of how one can learn to live, but not to do so artificially. One cannot mechanically get a life, though one can find a way to loosen up and find enchantment in everyday living.

The drawback, perhaps, is the sort of stereotyped "life" that is presented as worth living. A life that seems to me to be suspiciously like that of a social addict. While it may be healthy to have a social life, being overly social and having little time for oneself sounds like a recipe for disaster. Besides, who's to say that one cannot have a "life" without voluntarily getting involved with lots of people?

Still, I feel that this is a rather good couple movie and meaningful. It made me think about what I've been saying "No" to, when I could (and wanted to) say "Yes". Sometimes, it's good to open up a bit more, methinks. And as for the show, I'd say it gets 8.5/10.

The Long Tom

Some days, you get lucky. Today, I kinda did. Someone donated a nice Pentacon 500mm f5.6 and it's pretty much exactly what I've been looking for for a long time. That is, a sturdy long lens which is capable of taking the shots I've been longing to make.

While I haven't actually managed to shoot using it just yet, I'm quite pleased that my current tripod is comfortably capable of supporting it. This means I'd be able to peg the longer exposures with confidence. That comes at a price, of course, since the lens itself already weights a healthy 3.5kg.

That aside, I guess I'm gona name this long tom...Hubble? Or should it simply be Long Tom. Ah, decisions, decisions...

The OM Bellows

After a long and expensive search for a good bellows unit, I finally settled on the Olympus bellows. Come to think of it, I should have kept searching for a bargain on the piece rather than walking in circles around its price. Anyway, it turns out that the bellows is really the only one worth bothering about.

For one, the bellows comes with a focusing rail under it. Moreover, the front and rear segments are fully reversible and mobile. That's quite an improvement even over the swiss piece I currently have, which has a fixed rear segment. Now that's something worth spending money on.

Of course, now my main issue will be to figure out how to modify the old bellows and/or get it offloaded...

Transcending The Human

The more I notice the disparity between logic and instinct, the more I feel that there is a need to transcend the human condition. That is, to transcend the instinctive animal that humans are, and to try to become more aware of one's deepest, darkest motivations.

As heuristic creatures, humans are quite adapted to life in the "wild"...which is quite different from the highly ritualized and regimented society that most urbanites live in nowadays. Yet this adaptation to living in a relatively uncontrolled environment can have many negative consequences in a controlled environment dominated by rational thought. Indeed, rationality itself can become corrupted by untrained instinct when subconscious urges lead to an imperative to drive a rational argument to victory at any cost, even to the detriment of logic itself so long as the argument may be won.

This is not to discount the intuitive side of reasoning, whereby one is in tune with one's feelings. In fact, understanding the roots of one's intuition and feelings is a step towards transcending the animal nature, whereby one knows why one feels as one does. That not only helps avert rash acts that may be later regretted, but also prevents oneself from being manipulated by others without realizing it.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

This will perhaps turn out to be a film that is a sign of our times, what with the constant fear of environmental disaster and the seeking of salvation from utter devastation. Actually, considering its theme, the film actually turned out to be pretty good.

Of course, we'd have to deal with the funnies first. The aliens (actually alien), turned out to be pretty human. Keanu Reeves human. They're quite ignorant and reckless just like humans, but we'd probably deal with that in another post. Primarily, everyone cracked up the moment dear Reeves decided to speak mandarin, and managed to royally mangle it (they really should have stuck with English). Oh, and how America tried to deal with ultra advanced aliens in a Bush'esque manner, then wonder if we managed to scare them off.

Overall, it was an ID-style end of world film, with infinitely advanced (and this time invincible) aliens trying to destroy earth, with the inevitable heroic ending where the earth gets saved. While I loved the theme of salvation where humans begged for another chance to save themselves, I felt it was pandering to the overdone idea that humans need to save their own planet, yet not inspiring any real drastic actions to the effect. Then again, that's probably not the objective of such a film...

I'd say 7.5/10, primarily because of the cool animations and nice concept, but it really could've been a lot better without the mangled mandarin and overly human aliens.

Izzy Hilton

Maybe I'm slow. Maybe I'm crazy. Or maybe I'm just Malkavian. But I dare say that Izzy Hilton is definitively incredibly cute. Alright, so I'm slow at catching on when it comes to these things. Go ahead, blame the Malkavian. I dare you.

That said, it is incredible what a neat little package he is (pun intended). By crushing on him, it's entirely possible to be simultaneously lesbian AND straight...all at once! Alright, perhaps this is quite out of character for me, but then sometimes it's just nice to cut loose. Anyway...this also means I'm back. Finally. After being grilled for incredible amounts of time while doing absurd stuff. Oh, and in the meantime? Get a Nosferatu to turn Izzy, wontcha?

Random Discoveries

Randomness promotes discovery. Actually, it is the random events that help "create" new things, such as the happy accident that spawned penicillin. Without the possibility of such randomness, the more unusual discoveries may never have been made and perhaps life would be a lot more boring.

Yet such discovery would prove more difficult to spot in the absence of controls. Had the petri dish not been known to contain certain organisms and the expected results known, the mold growing may well have been accepted as a regular occurrence and discarded.

It may be a lot more likely to have these discoveries in the presence of controls, but control must be allowed only to an extent. Should controls be so stringent as to forbid the acceptance of discoveries outside the realm of control, many breakthroughs may be discarded before their time, and discovery itself be significantly set back.