Creatively Advancing into Novelty
Humans are infinitely concerned about the infinity to which they belong, from which they are separated, and for which they are longing. –Paul Tillich (Paraphrase) I recently listened to Ryan Bell’s enjoyable interview with LeRon Shults. I really like listening to both Ryan and LeRon converse; they’re both super smart and interesting people and I’m…
“Warmongers often claim that they are only being realistic, that peace is a great idea and all but that’s just not how the world works. This claim of realism is often just a narrowing of events and an ignoring of the context of the situation. It’s not being realistic, but simplistic. They claim to be…
“I think the existence of zombies would contradict certain laws of nature in our world. It seems to be a law of nature, in our world, that when you get a brain of a certain character you get consciousness going along with it.” –David Chalmers I’m fascinated by the philosophy of mind. I find thinking…
“The American youth who open fire on their peers, neighbors, classmates, and teachers offer us the opportunity and the impetus to grapple with a contradiction at the heart of the USA. For what are these “mad” youth doing but applying the approved and honored teachings and techniques of American society…just in the ‘wrong place’ and…
“But hope is not optimism or pessimism: You will look like the spoilsport among optimists and the polyanna among pessimists. Hope is the embrace of the possible. In the face of what looks impossible.” –Catherine Keller I recently had a wonderful and thoughtful dialogue in the Process and Faith Facebook group about the subject of…
“I agree there are differences between race and gender. The differences have to do precisely with the unique forms of oppression that have been constellated in relation to each historically. I’m less convinced by attempts to draw lines separating “culture” from “nature.” It’s misleading to simply say that gender is learned (and so contingent) and…
“The links between capitalism and racism have also been well documented. It is a little recognized fact that the breakdown of union power in the late 1960s was facilitated, in part, by the racial tensions that spread through heavily unionized industries (especially steel and automotive) in the wake of pushes to desegregate the unions. Working…
“But the culture is changing at a rate faster than their education and values have trained them to accept. That in itself is a form of oppression—to neglect some people from educational and economic opportunity, then judge them when they can’t get on board with the agenda of the more progressive element of society.” Richard…
“A plague is upon us, he warns. Harmless jokesters and joy-bringers are literally being figuratively strangled by the long, thin goblin-fingers of “political correctness” (which is a fancy term for “not treating people who are already treated like garbage like garbage”), even though all they were trying to do was just say anything they want…
“One reason that a profound moral improvement of humankind is hard to envision is that it seems difficult to pull ourselves up morally by our own bootstraps; our attempts at improvement are going to be made by the unimproved. The people who implement the singularity, mess about with the genome, prescribe the medication, preach the…