03 SEP 2011 by ideonexus

 The Numeral Five Backward

Standard mathematics has recently been rendered obsolete by the discovery that for years we have been writing the numeral five backward. This has led to reevaluation of counting as a method of getting from one to ten. Students are taught advanced concepts of Boolean algebra, and formerly unsolvable equations are dealt with by threats of reprisals.
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Woody Allen's humorous fancy about people disputing basic mathematics is intriguing for the way it hints at a world where even the most basic concepts could become subjective through irrationality.

29 MAY 2011 by ideonexus

 The Rational Versus the Irrational

Only two possible escapes can save us from the organized mayhem of our dark potentialities-the side that has given us crusades, witch hunts, enslavements, and holocausts. Moral decency provides one necessary ingredient, but not nearly enough. The second foundation must come from the rational side of our mentality. For, unless we rigorously use human reason to discover and acknowledge nature's factuality ... we will lose out to the frightening forces of irrationality, romanticism, uncompromisi...
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Look at the works of our irrational nature and compare them to our rational to see which direction we should wish humanity to travel.

06 APR 2011 by ideonexus

 Richard Dawkins Confuses Moderate and Fundamental Religio...

While Dawkins is clearly right in his contention that religion -- any religion -- should be fair game for critics, his brand of purist atheism is grounded more in philosophy than in a cleare-eyeed look at the real world or the way religion works in American society. The difference between moderate religion and fundamentalism, now as in the past, is that moderate faith attempts to accommodate itself to secular education and ecular government: the American religious right rejects both. If there...
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The difference between them is that one group is willing to concede things about their religious doctrine, while the other is unyielding in its irrationality.