Author: VD

Review of Anathem by Neal Stephenson

It is really not correct to describe Anathem as science fiction. It is actually science fantasy in its purest form, a fantasy about science that blatantly panders to almost every cherished assumption, heartfelt belief, and wishful desire possessed by those who make a literal fetish of science. In Anathem, Stephenson presents a world in which Science and Philosophy dwell apart from the rest of the world, secure in elite monkish conclaves and protected, for the most part, from the vile and vulgar mysteries of the common herd who occupy themselves with such distasteful pastimes such as sports, television, politics, and religion. The scientific elite and the rest of the world have essentially realized that their relationship is no longer symbiotic, but have managed to arrange for a reasonably amicable breakup in which the science-monks get the nuclear power plants and the unwanted smart kids in return for leaving the rest of the world free to go its own way and life life without finger-waving lectures from the science monks about how illogical their behavior is, or more importantly, living with the risk of the science monks blowing up the entire world at the behest of the Saecular Power.

Read the rest at the Black Gate.

One and done

It appears to be only a matter of time before Maureen Dowd and the rest of the New York Times collective mind demand Obama’s withdrawal from the 2012 presidential campaign:

The White House team is flailing — reacting, regrouping, retrenching. It’s repugnant. After pushing and shoving and caving to get on TV, the president’s advisers immediately began warning that the long-yearned-for jobs speech wasn’t going to be that awe-inspiring.

“The issue isn’t the size or the newness of the ideas,” one said. “It’s less the substance than how he says it, whether he seizes the moment.”

The arc of justice is stuck at the top of a mountain. Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for.

Hell hath no fury like a Democratic Party sensing their newly regained White House slipping away… to the Third Bush.

The dishonest atheist

This statement by Cabal demonstrates why one always has to assume, until it is demonstrated otherwise, that an atheist is a lying snake who will deceitfully redefine the language to suit his arguments at need.

Darwinism…a meaningless expression that only exists in creationist literature.

It doesn’t surprise me that some atheists, particularly the militant and evangelical ones, should practice their own form of Taqiyya. They reject the source of morality, after all, so they have no rationale for behaving in a truthful, moral manner. But what astonishes me time and time again is that they should choose to tell such stupid, easily exposed lies over and over again.

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

Darwinism
Pronunciation:/ˈdɑːwɪnɪz(ə)m/
noun

the theory of the evolution of species by natural selection advanced by Charles Darwin.

Derivatives

Darwinist
noun & adjective

No doubt we’ll soon be hearing new fictions about how the Oxford English Dictionary is creationist literature. And then I’ll have to point out that “Darwinism” is also in the Collins, Merrian-Webster, and World Heritage dictionaries as well.

Dar·win·ism

noun
the Darwinian theory that species originate by descent, with variation, from parent forms, through the natural selection of those individuals best adapted for the reproductive success of their kind.
Origin:
1855–60; Darwin + -ism

Courtier science

I have repeatedly pointed out that the profession of science does not create wealth, but is utterly dependent upon societal wealth and the willingness of the people to spend money on it. Scientistry is basically a potentially more useful National Endowment for the Arts. This action by the Turkish government will likely mark the first of many reminders that modern government-funded science will no longer be deemed important enough to justify its existence as the economic contraction continues to reduce tax revenues and the ability of the average individual to pay his bills:

The decree, issued on 27th August, which was just after the start of a nine-day holiday in Turkey, says that one-third of the members of the academy will now be appointed by the government and a further one-third by the Council of Higher Education, which is also a government body. Only the remaining one-third will be elected by current members. The president and vice-president of the academy will in future be appointed by the government rather than by sitting members. In addition, honorary members will lose their voting rights and the age at which members are deemed honorary will be reduced from 70 to 67.

TÜBA has issued a statement that says the government’s decree effectively ends the Academy and replaces it with a new Academy of Sciences that will be under the control of the government. They add: “There is no science academy in the world where the majority of members and the president are appointed directly by the government.”

The academy has been given no reasons for the changes, but the government has the right to make changes to the academy’s structure because the academy is publicly funded.

The Turkish scientists aren’t upset because they are losing an imaginary independence that never existed in the first place, they are upset because those who hold the purse strings are finally exercising the control they have had all along. This should prove an object lesson for science fetishists who have long dreamed of a war between religion and science, imagining that government would naturally side with the scientific elite.

This was always a ridiculous notion, since both the money and the popular support upon which government depends are generated by the religious masses. Scientists had better pray that the coming years don’t bring about a genuine war between religion and science, in the Muslim world or in the West, because it is readily apparent that the scientific world not only can’t hope to win, it can’t even support its own existence and is dependent upon access to the wealth of the other side.

Voxic Shock: Whiskey Zulu India

In which I revisit scenario Whiskey Zulu India with the help of my producer, Vidad. In related news, Greece appears to be in full meltdown. Consider the current yields for the 2-year bond. Today: 55.388%. Last week: 32.766%. Last year: 10.576%. As the Market Ticker has warned, it looks very much as if a Lehman event is on the way.

Mailvox: bad script

GS and others using IE have written to tell of a problem:

Since Sept 7th I have been repeatedly getting the message “A script on this page is causing your web browser to run slowly….” and locks my browser on your web/blog page. I am not having this problem on other pages. I have internet explorer 8.0 on windows 7.0 professional 64 bit.

I just removed one Facebook “pagetracker” script from the template. The other possible culprits are Mises, CoComment, and Google Analytics, but there aren’t that many scripts on the site. If you’re using IE and getting the “A script on this page is causing Internet Explorer to run slowly” message, go to this Microsoft site and click the “Fix it for me” link. Please let me know if that takes care of the problem.

Education and the Iron Law

In which millions of university students are going to learn that they should have taken economics in high school:

MILLIONS of school-leavers in the rich world are about to bid a tearful goodbye to their parents and start a new life at university. Some are inspired by a pure love of learning. But most also believe that spending three or four years at university—and accumulating huge debts in the process—will boost their chances of landing a well-paid and secure job….

The supply of university graduates is increasing rapidly. The Chronicle of Higher Education calculates that between 1990 and 2007 the number of students going to university increased by 22% in North America, 74% in Europe, 144% in Latin America and 203% in Asia. In 2007 150m people attended university around the world, including 70m in Asia.

It’s not rocket science. If supply is increasing faster than demand, then wages for university graduates are going down even as tuitions rise. Any given university degree may or may not still be worth buying, but it is as stupid to attempt to determine if going to college today is worth it or not based on your experience of 20 years ago as it is to think you’re going to get a gallon of gas for $1.14. Value isn’t merely subjective, it’s dynamic.

The PZ Myers Memorial Debate update II

Announcing the judges:

Christian: cl aka The Warfare is Mental

Agnostic: Alex Amenos

Atheist: Scott Scheule

Dominic has confirmed that he is fine with all three of them. So, while Dominic and I compose our initial pieces, which we will send to each other in order to allow for the writing of the initial responses, it would be a good idea for the judges and everyone else to discuss how the scoring system will work.

To recap, Dominic and I are each writing an initial piece, then will compose a response to the other’s initial piece. Those four pieces will then go to the judges, who will score the initial round as per the system decided here. Judges, please email me to confirm that you are good to go so that I’ll have your email addresses and can provide them to Dominic as well.

UPDATE – Okay, my initial piece is done and off to Dominic. I’m not sure it won’t convince anyone I’m not off my rocker, but at least it should prove interesting.

Drugs are terror

The real nature of the Patriot Act:

Dinh was an assistant attorney general under John Ashcroft and was tasked on the morning of September 12 with writing a bill to fix whatever laws might impede investigation. The scholarship provided little guidance for how to make terror investigations easier, so Dinh sent an e-mail to the nation’s U.S. attorneys and FBI agents, asking for ideas. G-men are not constitutional lawyers, and excesses were rife: Someone wanted to send neighborhood watches in search of sordid types. The attorneys at Justice made piles, winnowing as they went: “Crazy Ideas,” “Quarter-Baked,” “Half-Baked.”

In those patriotic weeks, partisan conflict dissipated easily. The Democratic Senate and the Republican House each had their own bills, and Ashcroft, smiling, said every idea in each of the drafts would be adopted unless it conflicted with another provision. Jim Sensenbrenner, the bombastic, rotund Wisconsin Republican, leaned back in his chair and said his bill was called the USA Patriot Act. There were no conflicts with that; the name was in.

Delayed Notice Search Warrants

1,618 Drugs
122 Fraud
15 Terror

Of course, the average neocon will look at that and assume that 15 9/11 attacks were stopped or averted, therefore it was worth it! Of course, surely we can solve all of the nation’s pressing problems at once by declaring the War on Anthropogenic Drug Poverty Terror Change stimulus package.

Disturbed gang-bangs Taylor Swift

This is Game set to music, the perfect juxtaposition of naive young female delusions about bad boys and the predatory male perspective. One cringes at the lovely little lamb’s attitude about how it will safely lie down with the poor, misunderstood, and very hungry lion. Disturbed and Taylor Swift are like one of those couples where you look at them and figure she’ll be lucky if she ends up in the hospital instead of the morgue. It’s also unusual in that the mash-up is arguably better than either song that goes into it. If whoever put it together could have only somehow pulled a Rock Sugar and mixed in the psychopath’s manipulative line from Decadence as well, it would have been perfect.

“If I scare you now, don’t run from me. I’ve been hiding my pain you see.”

The insurmountable gap in understanding between these interwoven lyrics had me laughing out loud:

Swift: If you could see that I’m the one who understands you. Been here all along so why can’t you see, you belong with me?

Draiman: Come inside now I implore, do you think you can restore the crucial pieces missing from my brain.

Swift: Hey, isn’t this easy!

Draiman: What seems to be the matter dear? Why do you cry and shake with fear?