USUPhilosophy

Read this. It is by a guy who went to law school, graduated, and is now switching to something else. It contains this notable nugget:

It’s tempting to look back over part of one’s life and indulge in regret or self-praise when really, all the strands in the whole web of decisions that make up a life in progress are deeply and irreducibly entangled, and one can’t just chop one out without becoming a total counterfactual mess. (You may cite this as Gowder’s Holistic Argument for the Stupidity of Regret. Thank you.)

His blog looks interesting.

Here is a sample:

Hui Neng once approached a student who was sitting in meditation. “Why do you spend so much time sitting?” he asked. “Because I want to become a Buddha,” the student replied.

At this, Hui Neng picked up a brick tile from the floor, and began rubbing it with his robe. “Why are you doing that?” asked the student. “Because I want to make a mirror,” Hui Neng replied.

“But Master,” said the student, “no amount of — oh, wait, I get it! Very funny, very funny.”

More here.

Are all Americans Afro-Americans? Was your mama a neanderthal? Is there any such thing as “race”? Interesting Scientific American article here on all these matters.

Here is a sensible article about Socrates’s skepticism. It makes me realize, once again, just how rare it is for an individual to insist that he/she really doesn’t have knowledge of important things — but without giving up on the task of acquiring it.

I’ve encountered more people in Utah who follow Ayn Rand than anywhere else. So here is a discussion of someone who followed her and has now “shrugged her off.” Any thoughts?