Abortion - Religion - Stupidity.

I am enraged.

Every time I hear arguments against legalizing abortion I am dragged into rageful despair; the argument tends to state: all life is precious, and it begins on the moment of conception; so society must protect it, at ANY cost. This argument is carried out from beginning to end loosing respectability at each step:

1. most everyone agrees on life's preciousness,
2. about 40% of the world is certain life begins at conception and not birth,
3. finally, it can be argued: virtually no one would kill a random family of 3 to birth a child.

It is easy to understand how it can become a sensitive issue, but every time some fanatic starts arguing for outright abolishment I simply realize how dumb we all are. Stupidity is arguably why religion is so in tune with power, its simply too easy for man to become sheep; to blindly obey and disregard the beautiful causality which exists in our universe. It starts with imagining someone or something being able to do whatever they/it wants and then replacing whatever causal rules actually exist and are observable in this universe with something else.

There is a conscientious and logical deductive path that guides us towards a challenging observation: we need to make all us dimwits smarter, at least in our capability of foresight (or causal search if you will). Enough of this, its amazing how much we need to advance, that we REALLY DON'T SEE WHATS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!

I propose a worldwide goal:
Raise the global IQ level by 30 points (obviously without recalibrating the scoring statistics). This should be a stated global incentive.

Warren Buffett MBA Talk.

Compartido por Marcos Lara...... ++ Pero, despues del comentario inicial, como que se dañó... no creo mucho en lo que el dijo no. Me lo encuentro short sighted y contradictorio a lo que dijo anteriormente... very short sighted

Lotsa Interesting News Today

While Gizmodo writes about an unidentified space object seen by Hubble, senator John McCain took a questionare from Scientists and Engineers for America

McCains info is slashdotted, and as for Hubble... :D. We may never know if it as a spec of dust, an Imperial Destroyer or the spontaneous creation of a micro-universe...

The Shocking Video Hillary Does NOT Want You To See! (1of2)

Yo estoy viendo muchos videos ultimamente....

Chris Abani: Learning the stories of Africa

some things to think about...

Iran's president speaks in the UN

Boston.com news reports on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran boldly challenged the American President's customary portrayal of the United States as a defender of freedom. In his address to the assembly, Ahmadinejad blasted Bush for leading "an onslaught" of aggression against weaker nations around the world.

Ahmadinejad asked "a bullying power" to "have the courage to declare their defeat and exit Iraq." ... "Some big powers still behave like the victors of the world war and humiliate other nations," ... "These powers . . . have lost the competence to lead the world." Such aggressive nations "use various pretexts to occupy sovereign states," Ahmadinejad said. He lashed out at Bush for operating "secret prisons" in other countries and detaining suspects around the world indefinitely, "without any regard to due process."

Bush avoided the opportunity to confront him in his speech before the General Assembly... Instead he concentrated on his rehearsed story of the freedom begging people of Burma. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, however, declared that Iran's potential acquisition of a nuclear weapon presents an "unacceptable risk" to world stability...

World Stability ?= Who rules over who? why is it an acceptable risk for other nations to have them? how many minutes till the end of days on the dooms day clock?


On other subjects:

When asked to elaborate on his Monday remarks asserting that there are no homosexuals in Iran, Ahmadinejad said, "I don't know any . . . give me an address so we can be aware."

When a reporter from Fox news asked him to clarify his position on Israel, Ahmadinejad asked, "Where are you from?"
After the reporter answered "I'm an American citizen," Ahmadinejad laughed and turned his eyes heavenward before repeating his stated belief that Israel is an illegal occupying power of Palestinian land.

Quijote Urbano, Dominicanos por la Integridad...

Dominicanos por la integridad! (del blog de tio Mario!)

El mal social de la corrupción se ha instalado para quedarse en nuestro entorno de tal manera que la percepción que tenemos es de que no hay solución posible: en una escala de cero a cien, donde el cero corresponde a la imposibilidad de enfrentar con éxito la corrupción y el cien corresponde a la posibilidad de la victoria total contra la corrupción, el dominicano piensa que estamos en 22, es decir, las posibilidades de ganarle la batalla definitiva a la corrupción es de 22 % en la percepción del dominicano.

Otro índice que define nuestra respuesta ante la corrupción es el Índice de Actitudes, que en una escala de coro a cien, donde el cero corresponde a la indiferencia y el cien a la denuncia y la oposición resuelta, en ese índice, los dominicanos sacamos 23%, es decir, nuestra respuesta a la corrupción es cercana a la indiferencia.

...

El Índice de Valores es una herramienta que nos permite medir, en escala de cero a cien, cuan arraigados se encuentran los valores éticos en una sociedad en particular, en donde el cero es una sociedad con valores no éticos y el cien es una sociedad con valores éticos. Ese Índice de Valores es una esperanza para nuestra sociedad, pues ese índice arrojó un valor de 60. Nuestra sociedad sabe perfectamente qué está bien y qué está mal.

Vicarious

Tiguere & Pendejo, mentalidad nacional. pt1

En lo que yo he podido percibir de la cultura de esta ciudad, (la del famoso contra-punto del tiguere y el pendejo), hay una raíz en la cultura nacional de unos años atras, quizas desde antes, me encantaría conocer la cultura en la época de Santana o Lilis, siempre han habido unos cuantos aprovechados de la tolerancia nacional...

... Es importante tomar conciencia de que como sociedad no tenemos muy claros los límites entre la tolerancia y la justicia. Si tolero en exceso soy injusto y lo que estamos proponiendo es precisamente un ejercicio de justicia, de manera que tenemos que hacer esfuerzos para no tolerar más allá de la justicia. ...

The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush...

En cosmic variance salio un articulo que dice:

"I just found out that Molly Ivins died. I have been a huge fan of her books and columns, and enjoyed the perspective she brought to the worst administration in American history.

Ivins was known for her incisive wit and her strong liberal views, which stood out all the more given her Texas roots. If you want to understand our president’s ignominious background, the range of his business failures and bailouts, and his callous record as governor of Texas, you need do little more than read her wonderful book Shrub : The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush.

In an epoch when good journalism is hard to find and much of our most honest news comes from humorous sources, Ivins was a national treasure and will be sorely missed."

Me dan ganas de leer el libro.. no se porque, pero hay cosas a veces que coño son sorprendentes y para mi Bush es una de ellas... (El reloj del 'Fin del Mundo' esta 2 minutos mas cerca del fin...)

 "Growing global nuclear instability has led humanity to the brink of a "Second Nuclear Age," the group concluded, and the threat posed by climate change is second only to that posed by nuclear weapons."

A ver si el pesimismo de mi abuelo sera realidad.... : /

Seriously, I thought that was metaphorical

Responsible Thinking Principles:

Seek as accurate an understanding of reality as possible, guarding against false beliefs.

Question the claims of authorities and widely held beliefs.

Do not become polarized or emotionally attached to any viewpoint.

Subjective judgments may seem to be based on our own experience but may in fact be based on what we have been told or on our expectations.

Always judge a course of action in comparison to its alternatives.

Base opinions on measurements wherever possible.

Use calculations rather than intuitive judgments when very large or very small quantities are involved.

Vague claims are usually worthless.

Never form a strong opinion after hearing only one side of a controversy.

A person can be highly intelligent, sane, and honest and still be totally wrong.

Correlation does not imply causation.

Beware of shortcuts to the truth.

Anarchists propose that through responsible thinking, humans need not form government or devise mechanisms, to enforce laws or mandates, other than self & mutual respect and responsible thinking. Reality has always proved them wrong. Yet I suspect, many of us still believe the world can be a much better place simply by thinking things through, and thinking responsibly.

This is why I ask myself how humanity would become if there were a global increase in foresight, or the general IQ relative to current levels.