It’s always interesting when I run across things on the internet that jolt me back into a philosophic mood.  I never thought that such a thing would happen from coming across something like that from the blog of an intelligent design proponent.  This post brought into focus my pet peeve of intellectual honesty.  If there’s one thing I can’t stand when people try to make arguements, it’s intellectual dishonesty.

After doing a bit of reading about this author, he seems to be pretty well recognized as an ID supporter that actually adheres to some standard of intellectual honesty.  I know a few people reading this will have instantly though “ID supporter? he must be retarded,” but that is exactly the type of intellectual dishonesty that this guy tries to avoid.  Specifically take a look at #1 and #7.

Intellectual honesty was a concept that had fallen to the back of my mind.  When I first saw that title of the post in my reddit feed all of the thoughts I’ve had about it in the past, while taking philosophy classes, came rushing back.  More than anything else, I respect people for being intellectually honest, not matter which way they’re leaning.

It seems that intellectual honesty is a rare thing in this day and age.  From simple advertisements, to the travesty that is Fox News, the world at large seems to be quite an intellectually dishonest wasteland.  So much so that I am extraordinarily refreshed by the rare occurrences of honesty that I come across.  Even amongst people I talk to every day, I can pick out inconsistencies and double standards on a regular basis.  Hell, often I catch myself doing it.

The past two weeks have been mentally tiring.  After a two weeks on the new team, I started to get bored with just learning objective-c from a book and I was getting more and more eager to start working on actual code.  Despite having a short list of menial tasks to get me familiar with the code base a bit, I wanted something a bit more hands on. Over the last week and a half I’ve not only managed to scrounge up some stuff to do, but I’ve managed to do it without seriously breaking much.  WOOHOO!

Though it’s left me quite mentally tired, it’s helped get my brain churning again.  About a week ago while hanging out at a coffee shop with friends, we started philosophizing about the prospect of free will.  (Granted, this was after an absurd philosophic inquiry into what makes a questions a good vs worthwhile vs valid question.)  I haven’t had a good philosophy session in a while, and I think it might have been because I’ve become quite mentally lazy.  While I was on the snagit team, I often got stuck with less than mentally stimulating tasks (fix this or that bug, blah blah).  Switching to the new platform and having to deal with that learning curve seems to have jolted my brain awake again.

Throughout my day-to-day routine, I’ve been more aware of my surroundings.  I’ve also picked back up a philosophy book I started reading about six months ago, but ran out of time to sit and read.  It’s nice to get back to reading it, though I now see that had I finished this when I started, it would have given me answers to quite a few questions that were raised during my most recent philosophic discussions.  Now I just need to find a way to satisfy my craving to get out and work on my photography.  If only I knew of some more interesting spots to take pictures.

With that, I leave you with a picture of the happiest i’ve ever seen my trunk.  That’s right, five and a half cases of really tasty beer.

Tuesday I found out that one of my favorite teachers from high school died while undergoing a routine heart procedure. It’s unfortunate because he was one of those teachers who actually cared about his students, even though it may not have always been apparent given the amount of homework he was known for. I don’t remember any specific incidents from being in his class, but I do recall that I enjoyed his class and he kept it entertaining (which was a hard thing to do for my in high school since I was one of those ’smart’ kids who got bored with how slow many classes had to go to compensate for the rest of the students).
Thursday I drove back to Frankenmuth for the visitation. This was the 2nd time that I’ve actually seen a dead person in a casket in real life (the first being when I was 6), and the first time it was someone that I actually knew and cared about. Being confronted by his wasn’t particularly heart-wrenching or mind blowing or like the cliche stories that are told about being seeing death and being scared into actually taking action and living their life. I am sad for his passing, but what brought tears to my eyes was seeing all the people there whose lives he touched.
Being at the funeral home and seeing everyone that came to visit and having to stand in line for over an hour showed me just how many lives he’d actually touched through the course of his. Granted, he had the advantage of being a teacher, so there was a constant stream of people coming and going. Even so, he managed to have a personal effect on each and every person.
Seeing all those people made me realize that that is how I want my funeral to be. A line out the door of people whose lives I somehow touched. Granted, I have a loooong way to go as of right now, but this gives me a goal to strive for.

Though I may not strike many as someone who likes poetry, there is some that I really enjoy. I’m not one to sit down and read through a book of poetry. The only time I read it is here and there when I find one that seems intriguing. Otherwise, I tend to stick with spoken word. Reading poetry is rigid and emotionless in my head. I think that comes from reading too much philosophy.

Saul Williams came to MSU to do a Q&A and recite some of his poetry. Even when answering questions his words had a poetic hint to them. He talked about how he got into poetry and music, as well as what it was like working with Trent Reznor and what he went through growing up. It was especially interesting hearing him talk about the personal transformation that he put himself through after college.

As he was answering a question about his religious views, he went into a story of how he went through questioning established standards and how he saw things in the world that he didn’t want to become. This motivated him to take charge of his life and how he ended up chronicling much of his journey in his poetry. Hearing this helped me identify with him and gave me a great feeling hearing other people’s stories of their journey.

One thing stuck out to me. At a certain point he was talking about how the Gregorian calendar basically sucks (though he used better words). In this rant, he talked about how the human race has quantified time in such a way that we think in hours and minutes and seconds rather than experiencing moments. His final point along those lines is that we need to re-evaluate and look for “moments instead of minutes.” Those of you who know me in real life know about my “watch.” Usually I don’t get into the philosophy behind my watch because it’s too much explanation for simple conversation, but now I have this simple phrase to say that explains it all.

Most of my friends know that I really enjoy philosophy. Philosophy, however, isn’t something that tends to come up in casual conversation however. From time to time I find myself in some sort of philosophic argument, whether it be the necessity of evidence to justify a belief or why Ayn Rand was crazy. Every time I happen upon some philosophic discussion, I revel in it. It is my bread and butter. More often than not, however, my present company doesn’t respond well to philosophic inquiry.

Enter alcohol.

A few weeks ago I was out at wine night with three of my friends. We got on the topic of diets and it was brought up that the human body didn’t evolve to digest meat and it evolved more effectively to digest plants. Building upon that assumption, my friend claimed that that is the reason why people should be vegetarian. Here is where I saw my opportunity and took it.

Stealth drunken philosophy trap GO!

After a few drinks, everyone seems to be a bit more predisposed to arguing. Question a drunk’s reasoning and you’re in for an earful. Luckily for me, that’s exactly what I was looking for. Granted, the argumentation can be a little rough on both sides, but it’s better than nothing. One just has to keep an eye on the line between arguing and getting punched in the face.

I recall the moment vividly. It was as if my friend had held up a giant bullseye that was just itching for some potshots. Right after he said that, my mind slowed a bit as I contemplated attacking. My favorite way of starting these interactions is one word: Bullshit. Quickly followed by coy smirk. And that is just what I did.

I’m not sure if I should feel bad for pushing people’s drunk buttons for my own philosophic entertainment, but I sure do enjoy it. Ever since the my junior year, when it seemed like a drunken conversation about god happened weekly, I’ve noticed a steady decline in my drunken philosophy (and philosophy in general) quota.

Now taking appointments for sober or drunken philosophy. I’ll talk about anything. Bring it on.