Category Archives: Philosophy

You Don’t Know Me

Posted on 2 February, 2021 by alfin2101

Of course you don’t know me. I don’t even know myself. Here are some of the reasons why: Philosopher Thomas Metzinger makes an interesting case in his book The Ego Tunnel that we really have no selves at all, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, psychology | Leave a comment

All Bye and Bye

Posted on 31 December, 2020 by alfin2101

No one knows who wrote this classic old time gospel favorite. It has been recorded by a long line of master musicians, from Mississippi John Hurt to Johnny Cash to Elvis Presley to Willie Nelson to Dolly Parton. The 1960s … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Chasing the Dragon of Bliss

Posted on 28 December, 2020 by alfin2101

The term “chasing the dragon” was originally a description of the undulating nature of the opium vapor in a pipe, as the smoker attempted to suck up every gram of bliss contained in the drug. “Chasing the dragon” was expanded … Continue reading →

Posted in emotions, Philosophy | 1 Comment

Can You Explain?

Posted on 22 June, 2020 by alfin2101

Civilizations fall apart without steady maintenance . . . For something to last, knowledge, skills, culture, and enthusiasm must all be maintained through future generations. If you want to perpetuate human knowledge and human culture, you must do more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Maintenance, Philosophy | Comments Off on Can You Explain?

Science is the Belief in the Ignorance of Experts

Posted on 4 May, 2020 by alfin2101

We live in a pandemic of political correctness, which demands the brainless repetition of daily talking points from official experts. But rational actors must see the evidence for themselves, and will automatically disregard the “experts” in order to get at … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Tagged | 3 Comments

Hobbling Time

Posted on 8 February, 2020 by alfin2101

There is an allotment of time for every thought. Our bandwidth of consciousness is limited to under one hundred bits per second at best, in spite of our ability to chunk information and utilise massive parallelism of cortical columns. When … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Pram | Tagged | 1 Comment

We Are Marching to Utopia . . . We Will Soon Be There! 2020 Edition

Posted on 5 February, 2020 by alfin2101

First published on the original Al Fin blog …optimists and idealists — with their ignorance about the truths of human nature and human society, and their naive hopes about what can be changed — have wrought havoc for centuries….instead of … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Utopia | Tagged | 1 Comment

Ending Your Life So As to Live a Better One

Posted on 18 December, 2019 by alfin2101

“The only serious question in life is whether to kill yourself or not.” __ Albert Camus Most of the questions we entertain are frivolous. It is the work of family, schools, employers, advertisers, friends, media, governments, and almost everyone else … Continue reading →

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Science: What it Is

Posted on 12 December, 2019 by alfin2101

Science is a Verb Science is an active and systematic way of building knowledge upon knowledge. We call it “the scientific method:” The steps of the scientific method go something like this: Make an observation or observations. Ask questions about … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

John Boyd: Destruction and Creation

Posted on 28 September, 2019 by alfin2101

Link to Paper: John Boyd: Destruction and Creation PDF This short work by John Boyd is re-published below to illustrate the type of thinking that is necessary to break out of fixed perspectives on how past and current events shape … Continue reading →

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Taking Responsibility by the Numbers, thru the Word, from the Heart

Posted on 6 May, 2019 by alfin2101

Note: This article is cross-published from the Dangerous Child blog Dave Ramsey: Responsibility by the Numbers Dave Ramsey is an author and radio personality who teaches different ways for people to take responsiblity for their finances: Get out of debt, … Continue reading →

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Everything Dies

Posted on 8 February, 2019 by alfin2101

A few thoughts on death — We will all face this moment at the end of our time. But before our own end, we are likely to watch while someone we love passes that mile marker. I think there is … Continue reading →

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If Not for Miscomprehension There’d be No Comprehension at All

Posted on 8 November, 2018 by alfin2101

Jordan Peterson has been on a speaking tour of Europe and the Anglosphere for most of the year 2018. On the surface, this grand tour of the western world is about promoting his latest book, Twelve Rules for Life. On … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, Dysgenics, Jordan Peterson, Philosophy | Tagged | 2 Comments

Density

Posted on 19 September, 2018 by alfin2101

Density: The quality or condition of being dense. The quantity of something per unit measure, especially per unit length, area, or volume. The mass per unit volume of a substance under specified conditions of pressure and temperature. __ The American … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged | 2 Comments

Surge of Americans Renouncing US Citizenship

Posted on 2 August, 2018 by alfin2101

It seemed like there was exponential growth in the number of expatriates from 2008 until the end of 2016. However, the numbers seem to be leveling off, or even dropping. __ Source via TaxProf A large number of US citizens … Continue reading →

Posted in Donald Trump, Ideology, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged | 4 Comments

Jordan Peterson Read All of Sam Harris’ Books

Posted on 23 June, 2018 by alfin2101

The respective philosophies of Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson have not intermeshed smoothly so far. In two separate hour-length podcasts, the two men could not agree on a common concept of “truth” or an agreed upon method for the discovery … Continue reading →

Posted in Jordan Peterson, Knowledge, Philosophy | Tagged | 7 Comments

Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, and Brett Weinstein… Where They Belong

Posted on 22 June, 2018 by alfin2101

I Am Not Talking About Vancouver Tomorrow, 23 June 2018, Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris will attempt another futile debate on the relative merits of their divergent epistemologies. The event at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver is sold out. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Jordan Peterson, Knowledge, Philosophy | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Jordan Peterson and the Rise of the New Chautauqua

Posted on 9 May, 2018 by alfin2101

The Return of Public Lectures Useful to the Public Back in late 19th and early 20th century America, “Chautauqua circuits” of public lectures swept across the states. This was long before radio and television — and a hundred years before … Continue reading →

Posted in Groupthink, Ideology, Jordan Peterson, Online Education, Philosophy | Tagged , | 11 Comments

First Blood: Sam Harris Confronts the Echo Choir

Posted on 6 April, 2018 by alfin2101

First Blood: In Which Sam Harris Offends Ezra Klein As long as author and provocateur Sam Harris only attacked Christians, violent Muslims, and Donald Trump, he was mostly left alone by the curtained overlords of politically correct public discourse. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Genetics and Gene Expression, IQ, Philosophy | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Maximum Impact: How One Man Could Change the World

Posted on 27 March, 2018 by alfin2101

Global Change via Religion/Philosophy Looking at Moses, Jesus, the Buddha, Mohamed, and the Hindu legacies, one sees many long-term impacts of a global and quasi-global nature. Religion represents a deep and archetypal philosophy, which acts on multiple layers of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Jordan Peterson, Philosophy, Politics, Ritual and Tradition | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Brazil Has Strong Gun Control — And Sky High Murder Rates

Posted on 21 March, 2018 by alfin2101

For Criminals, Guns Come Easy Thanks to strict gun control laws, the ability of the average Brazilian to defend himself from more bloody-minded countrymen is limited. By absolute numbers of homicides, Brazil leads all other nations. 60,000 Brazilians were sent … Continue reading →

Posted in Competence, Crime, Philosophy, Weapons | Tagged , | 4 Comments

The Tragic Misconstruction of the Human Life Cycle

Posted on 6 January, 2018 by alfin2101

Modern humans have somehow come to believe that the human life cycle stops in young adulthood. Choosing to forego the critical step of procreation — and spending almost all their resources trying to maintain themselves at the young adult stage … Continue reading →

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Mind the Brain

Posted on 20 October, 2017 by alfin2101

The better you can understand your brain, the better you can understand your own mind. And understanding your own mind is an open door to self-liberation and freedom. Short of that, every human being is a slave to mindless habits, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, Human Brain, Learning Theory, Optimism, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Delusions, Obsessions, and Ideologies in the Age of Trump

Posted on 18 February, 2017 by alfin2101

Delusions are unfounded but tightly held beliefs. Everyone is prone to forming delusions — in fact it can be said that human life is built upon systems of delusions, depending upon one’s upbringing. Ordinary delusions, as opposed to pathological delusions, … Continue reading →

Posted in Everything You Think You Know Just Ain't So, Groupthink, Ideology, Knowledge, Philosophy | Tagged | Comments Off on Delusions, Obsessions, and Ideologies in the Age of Trump

The Government Is Not the Country

Posted on 11 November, 2016 by alfin2101

My kind of loyalty was to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, Groupthink, Ideology, Making Government Unnecessary, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Government Is Not the Country