The Warfare Is Mental

City To Close Streets On Two Sundays

August 15, 2008

*from The Potrero View

"As a bird needs to fly… People need to walk,” Bogotá, Columbia’s former mayor Enrique Peñalosa is supposed to have said, in reference to that city’s weekly Ciclovia, during which 90 miles of roads are closed to automobiles. On Ciclovia, held on Sundays and holidays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., an estimated two million people take to the streets to recreate, dance and participate in cultural gatherings.

Ciclovia – “bike path” in Spanish – is a simple concept: create a car-free zone for people to use. Cyclists, skaters, skateboarders, joggers, strollers and recreational enthusiasts of all types are encouraged to participate, free of charge.

Thoughts on the Nature of Evidence

August 5, 2008

Today I thought about evidence. Not any evidence about anything in particular at first, but more about the root characteristics of evidence – what it is, what it isn't, when it is strong, when it is weak, etc. What we call evidence is merely nothing more than some fact or feeling, and it occurred to me that many of us (myself included) misunderstand the nature of evidence we often hang belief upon. Even more interesting was the discovery that in debates between atheists and believers, much evidence is inconclusive as opposed to genuine. Genuine evidence lends well to incontrovertible conclusions. On the contrary, inconclusive evidence cannot reliably sustain incontrovertible conclusions. Also note that several pieces of inconclusive evidence pointing to a conclusion carry greater weight than just one piece.

On Evangelism

July 8, 2008

I was in the blogosphere this morning and came across a question:

"Is it okay for atheists to try to change people's minds? To try to convince people that their religion is mistaken, and that they should de-convert and become atheists instead? And is there any difference between that and religious evangelicalism?"

To begin, I'd respond by saying atheists are fundamentally incapable of any form of evangelism. This is because the word itself is inextricably intertwined with positive affirmations of faith. Now this is not to say that atheists can't or don't undertake similar methods as evangelists in getting their points across. Nonetheless, the question the author asks is valid.

Are We Alone In The Universe?

June 20, 2008

In general, I take a non-committal stance on the question of extraterrestrial life. Like nearly every other question entangled in religion and metaphysics, the question of humanity’s role in the universe is inevitably muddied by pop culture, mass ignorance of science and ulterior motive. It’s fine if UFO enthusiasts and little green men supporters want to believe that carbon-based biogenetics also happened to evolve metazoa capable of traveling to Earth in mechanical craft ala Newtonian means, but don’t say the facts of astronomy, physics or statistics support it!

Comment Policy

June 19, 2008

TWIM values free speech. Ads get cut, that’s about it. Comments and criticisms from readers, writers, logicians, freethinkers, believers, skeptics, atheists, agnostics,
scientists, theologians, philosophers, cranks, haters and trolls are welcomed. As in the flesh, inflammatory vitriol is subject to harsh rebuttal.

Extraterrestrials Exist

Well, so says Bob Lazar and countless thousands of others at least. I’d like to discuss a few claims from Mr. Lazar as well as a few claims made about him in the following short video. If you’re at all the type of person interested in the ET question, then this article is for you, but first I ask that you observe the evidence for yourself (the video associated with this post can no longer be found.

False Argument #15: The Telepathy Tropes

June 17, 2008

There are two opposite polarities of misinformation surrounding the phenomenon of telepathy. The first erroneously dismisses the entire gamut of legitimate evidence, and the second erroneously bolsters what little legitimate evidence actually exists. That no scientifically acceptable, persuasive evidence exists and that telepathy is a scientifically proven phenomenon are both equally false arguments. Although the phenomenon is inherently difficult to test systematically and is by no means proven, significant telepathic experiments have been conducted resulting in published works and peer-reviewed papers.

Psychic Kids: Children Of The Paranormal

As I was writing yesterday, I overheard a trailer for this show about kids experiencing paranormal phenomena. Since I've had more than my fair share of interesting phenomena occur throughout my life and have dedicated a substantial amount of time to reading and independent thought about the subject, I anticipated its 10:00pm debut on A&E. The show turned out to be both about as good and also a lot worse than I expected, and I do not mean to eschew or denigrate the families or producers. Contrary, I side with the parents in their estimation that what is happening to their children represents an authentic phenomena, but I think the methods used by the producers to present such a controversial subject to the general public are subjective, confounded and devoid of any substantive scientific value.

Atheism And Theism – Both Logically Flawed

June 16, 2008

Many and possibly all traditional expressions of theism and atheism suffer from inherent logical flaws. The idea is in general accord with a debate I’m currently re-hashing with myself over whether a successful ontological argument exists, or whether one is even capable of existing, and if yes or no, then also on what grounds. My area of expertise is not philosophy or logic, and the presupposition in this particular argument is that I correctly understand the terms I use to support my thesis.

Some Exceptional Writing Advice

June 15, 2008

If you are a writer who takes your work at all seriously, I cannot overemphasize the importance of this post. I found a maize-colored, folded-up piece of paper a few years back that I couldn’t assign to any particular source, but the words were so powerful and relevant to writing that I kept it. I don’t know who wrote it. I’m posting it here not only because I think every so-called writer needs to refer to it several times annually for at least five years, but also in the hopes that somebody might know where the little gem came from at all.

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