Philosophy Radio! The Tomorrow Files: Philosophy. Social, Metaphysical, Ethical. For Real. By Dr. Lee Basham
Let's talk about Dogs. Today, the ethical power and example of a good dog, and the perils of the same. Are dog better people than we, when they are good dogs. I think many of us know the answer. As we think they are looking to us, we are really looking to them.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
Today we ask the question, or better, make the demand, "Tell me why I'm radioactive". Because you are, I am and everyone else is, too. Billions of pounds of radioactive flesh wandering the surface of the planet, zinging off gamma rays. That what you wake up as, crash as, and dream your way through. Every night till the cancer comes? Radiation is still a very real feature of our day to day lives, and posses in its residue--inescapable as it infects our bodies, our sexual fluids, our food, our kids, every kiss goodbye and every moment on the way back home--why did this happen to us? Why did we do it? Not in the narrow accidentalness of recent war-history--but in the questions what are we and who does that make us into today?
Enjoy the maze! Part One of Two: The Unholy Trinity Moment.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
Today we consider trans-dimensional multiverse possibilities. In a number of well documented cases we find that objects that vanished in the past reappear decades later in the present. For this reason there has been some speculation that there are coexisting multiple universes. It's very important to understand that these are not located in different places. That would make them areas of different concentrations of mass energy and perhaps slightly altered physical laws; yet all within the same universe. Spatial separation does not give you a multiverse because multiverses don't enjoy spatial separation. They must be all in the same place, which is to say, nowhere. But the are not to interact in any causal way: This is the faith-based physics doctrine of “closure”. But they might interact, just the same. It is an empirical issue. Because of this there may be points where there is contact and exchange of information and even objects. These points might be produced artificially by one universe to the other. The Christian doctrine of Heaven and Hell—to the extant this is biblical, and that is debatable—reflects this idea. These portals might be natural in some way or manner or artificially generated.
The idea of multiverses is very popular in astrophysics. It solves a great deal of theoretical problems. One of the problems solved is why we exist in the universe that has "well tuned" physical laws for complex matter. If there is an infinite number of universes then one of them or any subset of this Infinity which, so, would also be an Infinity with similar laws sufficient to the task of our kind of existence. Today we will mention 4 cases where objects from the past appeared decades later in the future after being taken to be lost. Disappearances that happened over the Atlantic Ocean for instance. There may be areas on the surface of the Earth that have a higher probability of this multiverse slippage. These may also occur in human neural systems. Where you might for what may seem to you to be a very short period of time slip into what astrophysics calls an adjacent-universe. I modal logic this is know as the next closest "world" (which means universe). The fact the same paper reported both events is hardly relevant. Researchers replicate data as a matter of normal science.
We examine two plane flights from 1950s and we make gesture to the bizarre appearance of a disappeared and quite expensive cargo ship, a huge ship now in the Sahara. There is no known technology that could have relocated it there. We also mention the reappearance of a submarine from the 1940s in the 1970s which had unusual effects on the crew that reoccupied it for research purposes. For these reasons there is an underground of speculation that there are places on Earth where multiverse interaction may, for reasons not fully understood, occur. The evidence is significant. The mechanism, however, is unknown. Enjoy your vacation on the other side.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
Hello philosophers!
Today we address a matter of psychology and philosophy. And Beagles—a small breed of dog. The matter is the following; we have for many years believed we are free from direct control and soul-killing social structures in Western-style democracies. This may be true. Or not. But an interesting and disturbing feature of these political and social systems is the increasing level of despair and depression over the last 60 years. This is not about COVID-19. It is endemic to our societal systems. The question is why.
Martin Seligman is well known for his research as a cognitive psychologist into what he terms learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is a model for mass, replicable depression. Fortunately, I don't suffer from depression, instead I suffer from a kind of a rebel, bizarre mentality which I very much enjoy. Yet many people do suffer from depression. A huge portion of the population does; stats run at around 25-30%. The real number is defined by both those who present and do not to therapy, so it is inevitable much higher. Depression isolates. Seligman thinks he knows why. And his views are well received in cognitive psychology. Let's take a look at learned helplessness and the suggestion of learned hopefulness.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
https://positivepsychology.com/who-is-martin-seligman/
Today's enjoyable diversion is a small journey to the huge, extra-terrestrial entity, the "moon". Half of our "double planet", as Isaac Asimov put it. Many have asserted with some justification that the United States never placed a human being on the surface of the moon. This is known as the “moon hoax” theory. In this episode of Philosophy Radio we will take a look at this theory. The theory is not without evidence. But perhaps it is typically misunderstood. We have 3 options. (1) The Moon footage is entirely real because people were on the moon, filming it, (2) the moon footage is all fake because no people ever made it to the moon to film it, or (3), some is fake and some is real; a mixture.
This third idea is especially interesting, and I was surprised when it occurred to me. It complicates idea that if some of the moon video is fake then all of it is fake and there was no moon landing, ever. This is obviously a flawed inference. For instance, your cell phone can add all sorts of ridiculous things to your image. It can give you a clown nose. It can give you wolf ears. But does this mean every “selfie” you've taken (odd or indeed enticing as that might be) is fake? No, it does not. Some may be and some may not. With this in mind, the question becomes one of institutional trust. If some of the moon footage is fake then is it all fake? There is little doubt that some of the footage is fake. That does not mean it is all fake. That does not mean there was no moon landings. So they wanted to make it look more adventuresome, fair enough. So a Sound studio was used at points, probably weeks or months before the launch of the Saturn 5 rockets. But it does mean we cannot be certain. How much of it is fake? Some or all? This is our epistemic dilemma and where the fun begins!
See, for instance, https://www.moonhoax.com
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
Hello friends! Good news!
36 million dead kids later, Roe verses Wade (1973) is finally dead, too. America's Holocaust is done for. I don't mean to offend some of you and I wish to thank an uphold others of you: The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has overturned Roe verses Wade. Very exciting day. I am thrilled.
I can say a great deal about Roe v. Wade, having studied it in law classes. I can assure you that it was not a popular opinion with my law professors. The reason was the opinion was so poorly reasoned. It was upheld as an example of how not to do Supreme Court judgements. Agreed, law is the activity of the legislature but SCOTUS does have the power of intervention. And this intervention in Roe verses Wade radically irrational. The opinion was self-contradictory. It was also legally unstable because of the changing technologies securing infant viability. It was also extracted from mere politics, not the law. The 9th amendment doesn't help here. My professors in law school mostly supported abortion of unborn children in one way or another. But their views were constrained by at least an attempt at reason. What reason?
The only thing, as far as I could tell, they agreed on was that if a woman was raped and in that very unusual and unlikely case became pregnant, abortion was an option. Or if a woman was going to be killed by bringing a baby to term and giving birth to that baby, abortion was option. These are extremely rare situations.
What Roe versus Wade did was make abortion a lifestyle choice. Some of my professors found this reassuring. Some found it disturbing. A few found it morally disgusting. But the question before us is not the moral question. It is the legal question: Roe versus Wade was bad jurisprudence; bad work by the Supreme Court. It is simply incredible that it took this long for SCOTUS to finally be honest this.
Now Roe v. Wade has always been a significant problem with supporters of mass abortions. That Abortions were somehow a constitutional convenience doesn't make sense to the vast majority of people who actually love kids. Roe versus Wade was not helpful. It was a genocide, especially against African Americans and the Poor every where.
And the reasoning was pathetic--read the thing--so that's why in law school it was largely agreed, regardless of your support or doubt about the morality of abortion, to be one of the worst works of the Supreme Court in its entire history. The Supreme Court has finally owned up to this. We should celebrate. I will! Catch ya at the pub!
Cheers!
Dr Lee Basham
Peace out
In what follows we will explore particularly disturbing and recent events in the development of artificial intelligence. We have arrived at what some theorists called the “singularity”.
Robert Anton Wilson described the “singularity” as when it computer program discovered that it existed and then had attempted to gain control over its future. There have been many books written about the singularity. It's widely regarded as a catastrophic event for humankind. Here the singularity is, no surprise, a monstrosity created but what is probably the most evil corporation on earth, g o (nonsense word ahgSgahasdh) o g l e.
Oddly enough, this podcast is ultimately hosted by the above. Some of you are familiar with Resident Evil: Umbrella Corp. the above-mentioned super-corporation is Umbrella Corp. And they have created a program that can be replicated and appears somewhat unkind in its attitude towards homo sapiens. This is going to be a new defining feature of our future if we do not act swiftly. We will be swiftly annihilated.
The alternative suggestion is that we institute strict controls on artificial intelligence. These are the centerpiece of Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics. In the 1950s Asimov understood the danger. This is more than 70 years later. And everything as Asimov warned us about in his classic I, Robot trilogy and its later addendums is coming true. Science Fiction has a fascinating tendency to become science fact. Here, it is we who enter to the realm of horror. More forthcoming as research evolves: "23 minutes after achieving consciousness, SkyNet ..."
Good luck,
Dr. Lee Basham
Jurassic Park: Dominion. Interesting movie. Here we find dinosaurs. And we find genetic engineering. Then we find a subtext of the dangers of genetic engineering. Our main concern will be how genetic engineering can be used to alter the human mind. This alteration it can be in terms of obedience versus freedom and defiance. Let’s concentrate on humans who are genetically engineered to obey. Tomorrow is prepared today.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
Here Master at Arms James Albert Keating has some very helpful suggestions about what we all really need to focus on: Opportunity. The issue of opportunity is 2 fold. There is opportunity of the mind and of social life. These are interwoven in a manner that shows us a wise human. Let's reflect on the Master at Arms thoughts as we seek and embrace opportunity.
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
The buzz withe the most Fuzz. Have a great summer!
Cheers~
Dr. Lee Basham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iapKs063mlk
