Since not much is going on over here, though I’d run this one up the flag pole see what happens.
That is, someone who appreciates that Earth is our only touchstone with reality. Someone who understands deep time and who glories in being a living product of billions of years worth of harmonic accumulating complexity flowing down the arrow of time.
Earth truly is our mother. We were born through her processes and we survive thanks to her life support system. That is, Earth’s global biosphere that humanity is consuming and destroying fast as possible.
An Earth Centrist is someone who’s not fearful of, nor resentful towards, the eternal deep-sleep that awaits me and anything else that’s been blessed with the spark of life and a moment on Earth’s stage of living reality speeding through time.
Heaven and hell are ours to find, here on Earth. Life is lived today and tomorrow will take care of itself.
Learning enough to start appreciating the folds within folds of complexity that is Evolution, aka accumulating change over time, affords a solid foundation of discovery for yourself, who you are, why you are, your place in creation, and why it’s all good.
Ironically, as I’ve been spending my decades studying and evolving my Earth Centrist outlook, untold millions of fellow citizens have been getting brainwashed by media campaigns fostering blind-faith based thinking. Along with focusing on sowing anger and doubt, rather than intelligent constructive dialogue and good-faith learning about Earth sciences.
Today, it seems like a third of our citizens still adore a man that told them over thirty-thousand lies in four years. A guy who’s pride-blinded belligerent ignorance single handedly created a worst case scenarios of a killer global pandemic, and he shows no remorse, he’s oblivious, and people think that’s okay. Facts don’t matter, it’s a lie if I say it is.
Citizens who’s self-certitude has destroyed America’s once proud sense of Fair Play, respect, listening as part of dialogue. Pluralism as a good thing, that we might as well work with each other, considering the reality of demographics. “Telling the truth,” and so on. It’s all no matter to these Republicans: I want to believe lies, so I shall. I want to make everyone who disagrees an enemy, so I shall.
America always has been a struggle between humanity’s best instincts pitted against the ruthless and worst humanity has to offer. Now here we are. Is this the last inning? Does anger and willful disregard for physical reality’s truths win in the end?
Do you think understanding Earth, and serious science and honesty is important? Curious? Visit: The case for reality, because apparently someone needs to make one. A student resource, ConfrontingScienceContrarians.blogspot . com.
The no-police zones in Seattle created last summer were an extreme expression of my values. They wanted to create a community where people helped each other and protected each other. I didn’t participate in it because I know attempts at “no-leader” structures always fail. In fact very few people who call themselves “Left” supported the idea. I couldn’t find a poll. I’ve never seen any support from elected officials.
The DC insurrection was an extreme expression of conservative values. They wanted to subvert the legal process of the Constitution and install an authoritarian system with a platform of reducing services to people in need and end progress toward equality. Participation was low, but it took a lot of support to get the people there who did go. Support continues for their actions according to polls and the rhetoric from elected officials.
Just another day in the life. Hope I’m not boring you too much.
We can try another one.
<blockquote>I thought I was finished with the review section of my "Hoffman playing basketball in zerogravity" project.
Then I decided to send Professor Hoffman an email asking if he’d responded to Dr. Mausfeld’s paper and he was kind enough to send me a link to more than I had bargained for: “Probing the interface theory of perception: Reply to commentaries” Hoffman, Singh, Prakash, September 30, 2015. It's their response to a collection of 10 expert comments. Some critical and some excited about further exploring Hoffman, Singh & Prakash's Interface Theory of Perception (IT).
So far, I only read through Anderson’s section, because I went off to read the paper in question and it captured my attention.
I’ve spent the past few hours with Barton Anderson's critique (highlights to appear in my next post), and it’s surprisingly interesting, edifying and humbling. It makes me want to repeat that I’m no scholar and don’t presume to be one. What I am is a guy who’s spent my days paying attention to my life, the natural world around me and the lessons Earth scientists have discovered and distilled for general consumption. I’m a serious student and that demands exploration and pushing limits.
The main reason the Case Against Reality and Hoffman’s Interface Theory captured my interest is that it promised to provide a vehicle for exploring and developing my own rather more down to earth notions.
For instance, that we, as a people, and too often scientists included, lack an explicit appreciation for the divide between Physical Reality, (which includes our bodies and brains), and our ever so imaginative Mindscape. Which is the sum total of our dreams, thoughts and perceptual awareness - the me, myself and I.
I believe an explicit appreciation for Earth, as the only touchstone to reality that we humans have, is a necessary prerequisite for wise decision making and constructive living on a crowded, shrinking planet.
That's because, what comes from ignoring this fine point (namely, the ‘Physical Reality ~ Mindscape’ divide), is that people, including scientists, tend to fall in love with the beauty and ingenuity of their own ideas, then pushed by the needs of our egos, lose sight of the physical reality we are actually embedded within every moment of our existence.
The past decades of strategic and lavishly funded mass campaigns* of pure, deliberate disinformation intended to manufacture doubt in complete disregard for honesty, scientific facts, physical reality, or Fair Play for that matter - has been nothing less than brainwashing committed to normalizing disregard for science, and honesty, while enabling delusional thinking.
(*For whatever scientific findings were inconvenient to special interest groups with rich lobbyists and the best advertising minds money could buy. Look where it’s brought our once well run, fairly happy, mightiest government and society in the world. To the brink of self-destruction driven by people embracing belligerent ignorance that was fostered by an acceptance of deliberately manufactured fear, anger and cluelessness. But, I digress, there’ll be time for that later.)
With that rambling introduction, here’s the paper Hoffman shared with me this morning.</blockquote>
https://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2021/01/diary-hoffmans-responses.html
I almost hate to show you this, because I know you’ll want to spend some time with it. I haven’t watch/listened to it yet, but I’m a big fan of Lex Fridman. I was surprised to see he had Hoffman as a guest. Fridman usually ends with a question about the meaning of life, and covers the hard question of consciousness and free will with just about anyone. I hope he challenges this guy.
