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News & General Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: SoldierofFortune on March 23, 2019, 11:29:03 PM

Title: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: SoldierofFortune on March 23, 2019, 11:29:03 PM
I am reading the book "Homo Deus" by Yuval Harari...

It ıs a best-seller: I don't know how books become best-sellers, because they sell best or they are labelled as best-sellers as an advertising strategy because they are wanted to be read by more people...

There is a mission for public intellectuals...
Their mission is to inform the people about what to think.
If the people will think, the superior mind for whom some public intellectuals are in their service, wants us to think in the way they want... they say WE make them think IF they will think, they say...

I have been aware that sci. and tech. are the monopolistic power which are not the humanity's common treasure but which are possessed by a handful of elites who think they know better what is better for the commons' supreme good...
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: SoldierofFortune on March 23, 2019, 11:31:15 PM
BTW it is an illuminating book, i recommend it to be read. even if it is some intellectual propaganda. adressing the issues intellectually.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on March 24, 2019, 03:41:55 AM
Christianity = Deus Homo
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on March 25, 2019, 05:24:51 AM
Quote from: Baruch on March 24, 2019, 03:41:55 AM
Christianity = Deus Homo

Why should all humans be superstitious magical-thinking religious-thinking types? 
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on March 25, 2019, 07:20:39 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on March 25, 2019, 05:24:51 AM
Why should all humans be superstitious magical-thinking religious-thinking types?

You ignore the word play.  The title of the book quoted in the OP is ... Homo deus = man is god.  The Christian creed is Deus homo = god is man.  I see this as a dialectic, both are true.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on March 29, 2019, 02:48:55 AM
Quote from: Baruch on March 25, 2019, 07:20:39 AM
You ignore the word play.  The title of the book quoted in the OP is ... Homo deus = man is god.  The Christian creed is Deus homo = god is man.  I see this as a dialectic, both are true.

There being no actual deity, the argument is essentially one for superstitious people imagining a deity and trying to relate that to reality unsuccessfully.  I don't quite understand how people fall into such superstition, I only acknowledge that it happens.

Here are some words I consider to be about equal in reality:  deities, zombies, angels, witches, gargoyles, devils, cherubs, orcs, elves, bridge trolls, giants...
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on March 29, 2019, 03:26:43 AM
There being no humans, just aborted random cell clusters ....

Here is a myth ... Hillary is electable.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Unbeliever on March 29, 2019, 01:40:41 PM
Quote from: Baruch on March 25, 2019, 07:20:39 AM
You ignore the word play.  The title of the book quoted in the OP is ... Homo deus = man is god.

Oh, I thought it meant "God is a homo."
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on March 29, 2019, 07:26:50 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on March 29, 2019, 01:40:41 PM
Oh, I thought it meant "God is a homo."

God has hairy hands, having no woman and all ... you now why ;-)
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on April 02, 2019, 07:07:26 AM
Quote from: Baruch on March 29, 2019, 03:26:43 AM
There being no humans, just aborted random cell clusters ....

Here is a myth ... Hillary is electable.

In a sense, we ARE mostly accumulated cooperating cell clusters with a lot of beneficial parasitic or cooperative bacterial cells involved.

As to Hillary, she DID get a majority of the popular vote and in that sense was certainly "electable".  As was Al Gore before her.  This "winning while losing" game has probably got to stop.  THe Electoral College was SUPPOSED to be the deciding body of choosers; not an automatic game count.  Not that I really like that concept either. 

As Alexander Hamilton writes in “The Federalist Papers,” the Constitution is designed to ensure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” The point of the Electoral College is to preserve “the sense of the people,” while at the same time ensuring that a president is chosen “by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”

It failed in 2000 and it failed in 2016.

But I digress...
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on April 02, 2019, 07:38:30 AM
Yes you digress.  The Founders hated democracy and worked to stop it.  Limiting who could vote for instance.  And the Electoral College was invented to prevent the big cities from dominating national debate.  And Senators were originally chosen by the states (and still should be).  The terrible innovations (other than making chattel slavery partly illegal ... teen prostitutes don't count) since then have made the constitution worse.  Plebiscite is the worst way to govern, as demonstrated by Brexit.  The WH election has almost become a damn plebiscite, in a way that no other office has.  If people didn't like the Constitution of 1787, they should have resumed being a crown colony, so that distant Parliament could govern us provincials.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on April 02, 2019, 08:16:39 AM
Quote from: Baruch on April 02, 2019, 07:38:30 AM
Yes you digress.  The Founders hated democracy and worked to stop it.  Limiting who could vote for instance.  And the Electoral College was invented to prevent the big cities from dominating national debate.  And Senators were originally chosen by the states (and still should be).  The terrible innovations (other than making chattel slavery partly illegal ... teen prostitutes don't count) since then have made the constitution worse.  Plebiscite is the worst way to govern, as demonstrated by Brexit.  The WH election has almost become a damn plebiscite, in a way that no other office has.  If people didn't like the Constitution of 1787, they should have resumed being a crown colony, so that distant Parliament could govern us provincials.

Yes they did, uncertain as to how democracy would work out.  But what you fail to understand is that the purpose of the Electoral Congress was originally created FOR THE PURPOSE of preventing people like Donald Trump from becoming President.  The Electoral College was created to stop mob insanity from choosing a President so autocratic and corrupt from gaining power.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on April 02, 2019, 12:51:32 PM
Wrong.  Impeachment is the means of controlling tyrants.  Your agnatology is contemporary BS.  The Founders had no idea that a complete political neophyte could get elected to any major office in the US.  You simply wished to prorogue the Electoral College to get the result you might like, in 2000 and 2016.  You would not be saying this, if Gore or Clinton had been elected.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on April 07, 2019, 06:05:39 AM
Quote from: Baruch on April 02, 2019, 12:51:32 PM
Wrong.  Impeachment is the means of controlling tyrants.  Your agnatology is contemporary BS.  The Founders had no idea that a complete political neophyte could get elected to any major office in the US.  You simply wished to prorogue the Electoral College to get the result you might like, in 2000 and 2016.  You would not be saying this, if Gore or Clinton had been elected.

OK, I had to look up agnatology.  Wikipedia says "Agnotology (formerly agnatology) is the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data.

Interestingly, that seems to be exactly what Trump and his dedicated Fox News staff does instinctively.  So I wouldn't claim that as a great intellectual strategy.

Trump and Fox deliberately falsify facts, depend on innuendos, and make unsupported claims, as well as divert attention from real issues by means of creating temporary crises. 

I'll give a few examples.  Trump is facing Congressional investigations into his taxes returns, emolument violations, and profit-gaining as a public official.  So he shuts down one legal point-of-entry from Mexico to the US.  Everyone argues about the port-of-entry issue and Trump evades the serious issues for a week.

Another method Trump uses is to announce he will appoint and mind-blowingl-unqualified idiot to some job and everyone focuses on that.  Meanwhile, Trump isn't being talked about regarding his false tax claims and other financial violations.  And of course, his habit of accusing his detractors of what he actual does himself.

You doubt that?  Consider that Trump of the braggadocio for routinely assaulting women and invading their personal space in beauty contest dressing rooms is now attacking Joe Biden for being a standard political "hugger".  Can he be more insincere than THAT?

But he is discovering that there is a difference between playing games with NYC Aldermen and cheating local contractors VS facing Congress and real courts.

So what Trump does IS agnotology.  I learn something new every day here...
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on April 07, 2019, 09:32:24 AM
I have yet to hear any argument for modifying the Constitution, that isn't based out of short term partisan thinking.  Which means if enacted, will bite us in the ass.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on April 07, 2019, 09:45:07 AM
Quote from: Baruch on April 07, 2019, 09:32:24 AM
I have yet to hear any argument for modifying the Constitution, that isn't based out of short term partisan thinking.  Which means if enacted, will bite us in the ass.

So, suddenly, you don't want to discuss "agnotology"...
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Baruch on April 07, 2019, 12:17:21 PM
Quote from: Cavebear on April 07, 2019, 09:45:07 AM
So, suddenly, you don't want to discuss "agnotology"...

Didn't know it needed more.  You responded very competently (you looked it up).
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on April 07, 2019, 02:15:02 PM
Quote from: Baruch on April 07, 2019, 12:17:21 PM
Didn't know it needed more.  You responded very competently (you looked it up).

Well, "agnotology" wasn't exactly a household word while I was growing up, and I didn't major in semantics or philosophy in college.  On the other hand I do know what "perdincifying" and "crepuscular" mean.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Mr.Obvious on April 11, 2019, 01:57:54 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on April 07, 2019, 02:15:02 PM
Well, "agnotology" wasn't exactly a household word while I was growing up, and I didn't major in semantics or philosophy in college.  On the other hand I do know what "perdincifying" and "crepuscular" mean.

My guesses are
Perdincifying: 1. The act in which one or multiple rednecks beautify an object, area, animal or person. 2. To make something increasingly perdy.

Crepuscular: A formerly thin, French pancake that has hit the gym.
Title: Re: They make us think what we should think.
Post by: Cavebear on April 14, 2019, 12:27:54 AM
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on April 11, 2019, 01:57:54 AM
My guesses are
Perdincifying: 1. The act in which one or multiple rednecks beautify an object, area, animal or person. 2. To make something increasingly perdy.

Crepuscular: A formerly thin, French pancake that has hit the gym.

*SMILE*

I made up the first word.  Great effort on the definition though.

On the 2nd, I see your connection to "crepe" (the egg thing) and "uscular" (like muscular).  Couldn't have done better myself.  But "crepuscular" means "active at dawn and dusk".

Well done...