Bazza Posted March 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Re: The Last Word musical doodles created by me. 1) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7351985/musicaldoodles/Bazza%27s%20First%20Garageband%20for%20Ipad%20Song.mp3 2) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7351985/musicaldoodles/Bazza%27s%20First%20Garageband%20for%20Ipad%20song%20enhanced.mp3 3) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7351985/musicaldoodles/jazzy%20techno.mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: The Last Word No interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: The Last Word Just starting reading Werner Jaeger's Gifford Lecture turned book The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers. According to St. Augustine he distinguished three kinds of theology (genera theologiae): mythical, political, and natural.4 Mythical theology had for its domain the world of the gods as described by the poets; political theology included the official State religion and its institutions and cults; natural theology was a field for the philosophers—the theory of the nature of the divine as revealed in the nature of reality. [...] Greek philosophy is genuine natural theology because it is based on rational insight into the nature of reality itself; the theologies of myth and State, on the contrary, have nothing to do with nature but are mere artificial conventions, entirely man-made. St. Augustine himself says that this opposition is the very basis of the concept of natural theology.8 Modern science seems to be secular natural theology, or natural logos Anyway though I'd give Cancer a heads up as he works in a Jesuit university and I'm sure the two, science and Greek natural theology might be of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: The Last Word I have no doubt such stuff is old hat in the Philosophy Department here, and certainly others. Me, I'm just here to corrupt the young with physics and astrophysics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: The Last Word Me' date=' I'm just here to corrupt the young with physics and astrophysics.[/quote'] Aka "the good stuff" (meaning physics & astrophysics ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: The Last Word No ... just stuff I know. I think I've already made clear I know just about squat about real philosophy. And worse, I don't have a lot of interest in changing that. I've tried reading some philosophy, and to me it's like shoveling flies across a room. Lots of effort, lots of annoyance, very little happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Re: The Last Word well back to sleep I guess (see edit above) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Re: The Last Word When logic & reason break down, where do you turn too, hope, faith? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Re: The Last Word We'll see if that ever happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Re: The Last Word When logic & reason break down' date=' where do you turn too, hope, faith?[/quote'] More data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Re: The Last Word *chuckle* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Re: The Last Word Chuckles, the Cereal Killer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Re: The Last Word *chuckle* The human mind is a pattern, nothing more. The first dim flicker of awareness in the evolving forebrain of Australopithecus carried that pattern in embryo; and down through all the ages, as the human neural engine increased in power and complexity, gained control of its environment in geometrically expanding increments, the pattern never varied. Man clings to his self-orientation as the psychological center of the Universe. He can face any challenge within that framework, suffer any loss, endure any hardship—so long as the structure remains intact. Without it he's a mind adrift in a trackless infinity, lacking any scale against which to measure his aspirations, his losses, his victories. Even when the light of his intellect shows him that the structure is itself a product of his brain; that infinity knows no scale, and eternity no duration—still he clings to his self-non-self concept, as a philosopher clings to a life he knows must end, to ideals he knows are ephemeral, to causes he knows will be forgotten. The whole book is here but I don't know if that's a legal copy or not; it's a good enough book that buying a copy is worth doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Re: The Last Word Good title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Re: The Last Word It's one of my favorite time-travel stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word Keith Laumer's Dinosaur Beach, chapter 18, section 40 The human mind is a pattern, nothing more. The first dim flicker of awareness in the evolving forebrain of Australopithecus carried that pattern in embryo; and down through all the ages, as the human neural engine increased in power and complexity, gained control of its environment in geometrically expanding increments, the pattern never varied. This sounds like something Wilhelm Wundt or an adherent might say. Man clings to his self-orientation as the psychological center of the Universe. He can face any challenge within that framework, suffer any loss, endure any hardship—so long as the structure remains intact. Sounds like this is justified true belief. Without it he's a mind adrift in a trackless infinity, lacking any scale against which to measure his aspirations, his losses, his victories. Even when the light of his intellect shows him that the structure is itself a product of his brain; that infinity knows no scale, and eternity no duration—still he clings to his self-non-self concept, as a philosopher clings to a life he knows must end, to ideals he knows are ephemeral, to causes he knows will be forgotten. Almost as if the author is--but not quite--paraphrasing/restating Parmanides' philosophical concept of Being. Just my take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word The whole book is here but I don't know if that's a legal copy or not; it's a good enough book that buying a copy is worth doing. It's one of my favorite time-travel stories. I had a look at the author's Wikipedia page and read the books reviews on Amazon. Looks to be very much a underrated classic. The 6 reviews on Amazon praise it highly, one treasuring it. How similar is Jurassic Park, as this is a sort-of reverse time-travel story, bringing the past to the present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word I haven't read Jurassic Park. When I get time for discretionary reading these days, I tend to read history rather than fiction. Good Omens (finished over the weekend) is an exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word "Brilliant!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word And, I find myself humming Bohemian Rhapsody a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word "... Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me-e-e, for me-e-e, for meeeee ..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word Yeah, but you don't want to hear my transliteration of me humming the subsequent guitar riff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word That's the best part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word Of the song, yes. Of my feeble imitation thereof ... not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Re: The Last Word But the enthusiasm, man! That's to be celebrated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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