Sunday 15 March 2020

Any Questions?

If readers have questions - do ask.

I don't promise to answer (there are such things as trolls, agents provocateurs, time-wasters, mad people, and monomaniacs; or I may not know the answer; or I may not want to answer); but I will (at least) consider your questions.

12 comments:

Joseph said...

Is science dead, or has it been perverted (to one degree or another) to serve evil? I don't think we can say that weapons manufacturers, including bioweapons researchers and creators, are not even trying. It seems to me they are trying, and often succeeding. But their goal is to find something that "works" for a given end, often a malicious end, rather than something that is good. They are, in a way, pursuing truth, insofar as their efforts must conform to truth in order to succeed, in the same way that an ugly building must nonetheless conform to the laws of physics in order to stand. But this is truth separated from the Good and the Beautiful, truth twisted to serve evil.

Or perhaps even these people rationalize what they are doing as being in service to good, a "necessary evil" for a greater good, the way the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are rationalized.

Bruce Charlton said...

@ J. I distinguish science from technology. Technology can operate in the absence of science - for example in ancient China which had inventions such as gunpowder and paper.

Science emerged from about the sixteenth century in Europe.It led to a tremendous acceleration in technology, by providing qualitative breakthroughs in understanding.

Technology continued after the end of science, but increasingly inefficiently. And then capability began to decline in most areas, outside of computing.

This is partly due to increasing dishonesty, and also due to decline in average intelligence due to several factors covered in my book The Genius Famine (now available free obline). And also to malignant bureaucracy coupled with dominant leftism.

David Earle said...

I've been reading your blog for a couple months now and I appreciate your thoughts and way with words.

How do you see this playing out and on what kind of timescale?

Will people that live in rural areas away from the city be just as affected?

Do you predict all these quarantines and restrictions will never be lifted? Are all the closures we are seeing (schools and businesses) permanent? Are people no longer going to be able to travel internationally and domestically?

Crosbie said...

Have you seen Messiah? It demonstrates (fictionally) that belief depends on something other than the evidence of the senses. It's also very good TV!

From Wikipedia:

"The series focuses on the modern world's reaction to a man who first appears in the Middle East, whose followers claim him to be the eschatological return of 'Isa (Jesus). His sudden appearance and apparent miracles spark a growing international following, casting doubts around who he really is, a case investigated by a CIA officer"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(American_TV_series)

Bruce Charlton said...

@i - Thanks. We know the basic objectives (a totalitarian society of omni-surveillance and micro-control, opposed to Christianity and its values) but I don't suppose the local timings and details are pre-determined.

@C - No, I haven't seen it.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Anonymous (see guidance to commenters!) - I am the worst possible person to ask for acreer advice; having had a very flat non-career. You need to learn from personal experience and intuition (not from general principle and what other people say) what is best for you personally here and now - but whatever you decide you may be wrong and need to change, or things may change anyway and what was right may become wrong. There only needs to be one niche for you.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Jeb - It's a samizdat sort of thing - adapted from some tactics that Vaclav Havel said concerning the Eastern Bloc era. See if you can work out why.

Jeb said...

Here is a great one, especially the final half of it:

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/no_author/a-politically-motivated-epidemic-but-maybe-there-is-a-hidden-end-game/

You are right, the media is not reporting the race of the younger people who died in Italy:

"But Italy appears to have increased mortal respiratory tract disease among 18-44 year-olds, which would point to immigrants in Northern Italy who likely have latent tuberculosis, while its senior adult population appears to have normal seasonal flu that sometimes has mortal consequences. Italy was in a battle to control tuberculosis cases long prior to this recent spate of deaths."

"By being forced to disband (self-quarantine) and not congregate, we can’t mount up opposition to government. We may now have to tune in to an online church service instead of attending a synagogue or church, or take a school class from home. But then we won’t be talking to each other. The churches and synagogues may be the last line of resistance in a covert effort to take away the right to assemble, banned under the guise of halting the spread of infectious disease."

"I think many Americans know this viral epidemic is not real, but the panic-buying is. That the data behind this coronavirus is flawed and the epidemic contrived.

I think politicians know that too, but must pretend it is for real to sustain their political lives."

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/no_author/a-politically-motivated-epidemic-but-maybe-there-is-a-hidden-end-game/

Rich said...

Bruce,

What do you make of our western food system? It seems to be actively trying to poison people, possibly in an effort to dull our minds. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Bruce Charlton said...

@ads - Up to now, life expectancy has been continually rising in The West - so I don't think the net effect is likely to be significant.

My name is Matt said...

Hi. Can you share any resources for beginning Christian meditation that you wrote about recently. Thanks.

Bruce Charlton said...

@M. I don't know of any. It's something I had to work out for myself.