No one gets it right all the time, and people should never be held to impossible standards. Only religion attempts to do that. In the aggregate, Daniel Dennett's work weighs heavily on the positives side of the scale.
Agreed. I didn't agree with him on some key points (I'm resisting the temptation to delve into them here), but he had a lot of good and important things to say.
I learned of Dan's death right after I had sent him an email about a minor tax issue, relating to the business we formed for the play. We only talked about our mutual interests; I had no knowledge of his comments on trans issues.
This is Daniel Dennett in a sentence. He always seemed to be soft-spoken, perhaps not as brash as Hitchens or as showy as Sam Harris, but he knew how to make a statement and make it stick. He had no time for bullshit or ignorance, and he knew well how to counter both.
And we're gonna miss him like all get-out. Thanks for what you brought to us, Daniel. We owe you a lot.
That's the problem though isn't it. You can't find someone in New York that doesn't have at least some sort of opinion about Trump. Maybe if I started recruiting jurors from somewhere around the headwaters of the Amazon?
"identity politics and cancel culture had “torn apart” the Humanist movement" – this grinds my gears almost as much as "the MSM won't tell you this but ..." (when 10 seconds of googling proves them wrong.)
1. People who claim to have been "cancelled" always seem to find a platform somewhere from which they can bore us to death. Often from the MSM.
2. If "identities" got the same results from the political process as everyone else, there would be no identity politics. But they don't, so there is. And they're probably always will be because that's the nature of politics.
I get tired of reminding these arseholes that it was identity politics that got women the vote and improved the lives of black Americans in the 1950s and 60s. The fact that there is institutional racism today, means that identity politics are needed. So fuck 'em.
I think it is one of the FRIENDLY ATHEIST's most appealing strengths that he is sensitive and nuanced in his views in ways both insightful and compassionate. Kindness is most appreciated in the presence of cold reason and hard facts. Dennett was a brave contributor to a better future. Thanks Hemant!
No, no, no - remember, figures like Dennett, Harris, and Dawkins are our prophets, our idols, our paragons of atheism. It is a blasphemous sin to criticize or question anything they say or do. We must - must I say! - revere them as flawless exemplars, the shining white templars of our atheist religion!
I had never heard of the man before today, and it sounds like he did a lot of good work, but I find it troubling that Hemant seemed almost to dismiss his anti-trans views. On one hand he mentioned it, which apparently few others did, but he seemed to have an 'Oh, Grandpa' attitude when talking about it.
Dennett sounds like a man who could've been educated, not locked into his bigotry and would have benefited from getting to know a trans person or two.
Yet another confirmation of my oft-repeated admonishment: Never make ANYONE into your hero. Luminaries can illuminate some things for us, but not everything. They may be brilliant in their field, but they are fallible and limited like everyone else. Accept from them what is valuable and beneficial to you, but never automatically assume that everything they say and do will be correct and proper. Daniel Dennett's work was and will remain of great value and benefit to people wanting to improve how they think. We can honor him by forgiving him for his biases and errors, and by not discarding all of his gifts.
Bagen is sort of preaching to the choir here. But it's a point that bears repeating, because so many of the arseholes seem to forget it. According to the nongs on my local political blog – since abandoned – trans women are simply anxious to get into the female toilets for some perverted reason, or "cheat at sports".
I sometimes fell like that but I also get many very useful links from FA I spread round. Sometimes i find something funny or hopefully informative to post here.
FB is a treasure trove sometimes and a barren wasteland other times. It is always a meme factory.
Breaking the spell is one of my favorite treatments of 'the new atheism'. When I was young my paternal GF was a Madeline Murray O'Hara in-your-face atheist. My maternal grandparents were very soft-spoken about their non-belief. I never could believe because of the lack of any proof and the whole problem of theodicy. I think I shall reread Dennett.
Dennett also wrote a book titled "Consciousness Explained" that is a very interesting explanation for how we created the reality that allows for religion and beliefs manifest.
No one gets it right all the time, and people should never be held to impossible standards. Only religion attempts to do that. In the aggregate, Daniel Dennett's work weighs heavily on the positives side of the scale.
He never advocated harming me. It is religionuts claiming a book that calls for my murder as a Gay man.
https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/437601686_1657996101653412_1241863509761289715_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=e8fENifN2RQAb5sVXA1&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&oh=00_AfD_2Iq49BloXUCVbgAqAwlY2myIsc2mXzq4nK0PkzEwew&oe=6629C051
Either God hates you, or God doesn't exist. You can't have it both ways.
You make a good point - if god doesn't exist, his followers would have no reason to hate certain types of people.
Right?
His followers would have to think for themselves. Can't have that, can we?
Getting enough understanding to make informed choices was how this whole 'barred from paradise' thing kicked off, anyway.
Or so I'm told.
🎯Religion, giving man an excuse to hate others, for two Millennia!
🎯
🎯
I think I have done enough sinning to even make a non-existent god dislike me.
Agreed. I didn't agree with him on some key points (I'm resisting the temptation to delve into them here), but he had a lot of good and important things to say.
Trump gets it right all the time, and Republicans hold him to impossible standards. The Orange Jesus can do no wrong! It's Not Easy Being God! https://sweatingthesmallstuff.substack.com/p/trump-its-not-easy-being-god
Not a cult though. Totally not a cult! Just real Americans!! /S
I learned of Dan's death right after I had sent him an email about a minor tax issue, relating to the business we formed for the play. We only talked about our mutual interests; I had no knowledge of his comments on trans issues.
There's an obituary of him at the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/books/daniel-dennett-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1 (subscribers only). I will sorely miss him. What a great guy he was.
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡.
This is Daniel Dennett in a sentence. He always seemed to be soft-spoken, perhaps not as brash as Hitchens or as showy as Sam Harris, but he knew how to make a statement and make it stick. He had no time for bullshit or ignorance, and he knew well how to counter both.
And we're gonna miss him like all get-out. Thanks for what you brought to us, Daniel. We owe you a lot.
POOW WIDDLE djt.
“I wouldn’t believe him if his tongue was notarized.”
— Prospective juror.
Remember a few days ago when supposed alpha male Donald Trump whined about how cold it (supposedly) was in the courtroom? Good times.
That's the problem though isn't it. You can't find someone in New York that doesn't have at least some sort of opinion about Trump. Maybe if I started recruiting jurors from somewhere around the headwaters of the Amazon?
I lived about 50 miles outside of NYC in the mid 80s and Trump was widely regarded as a poseur back then.
Except for some isolated populations I am not sure anyone on this planet doesn't have an opinion about drumpster.
DM's "C'est un grand malade" (he is batshit crazy).
Ship Trump off to the Sentinelese.
They'll give him a fair trial.
They'll give him a North Sentinelese howdy
https://imgur.com/gallery/LcvU4
Aimbots.
"identity politics and cancel culture had “torn apart” the Humanist movement" – this grinds my gears almost as much as "the MSM won't tell you this but ..." (when 10 seconds of googling proves them wrong.)
1. People who claim to have been "cancelled" always seem to find a platform somewhere from which they can bore us to death. Often from the MSM.
2. If "identities" got the same results from the political process as everyone else, there would be no identity politics. But they don't, so there is. And they're probably always will be because that's the nature of politics.
I get tired of reminding these arseholes that it was identity politics that got women the vote and improved the lives of black Americans in the 1950s and 60s. The fact that there is institutional racism today, means that identity politics are needed. So fuck 'em.
I think it is one of the FRIENDLY ATHEIST's most appealing strengths that he is sensitive and nuanced in his views in ways both insightful and compassionate. Kindness is most appreciated in the presence of cold reason and hard facts. Dennett was a brave contributor to a better future. Thanks Hemant!
No, no, no - remember, figures like Dennett, Harris, and Dawkins are our prophets, our idols, our paragons of atheism. It is a blasphemous sin to criticize or question anything they say or do. We must - must I say! - revere them as flawless exemplars, the shining white templars of our atheist religion!
Now where *did* all this straw come from?
What the hay. ;)
Can't think of anything to say, I'm going to bale.
No barn burners, eh?
Aaaah, quit horsing around!
Hey, I have loft-y standards. Many say I'm a stable genius.
I was mare-ly making a suggestion!
I had never heard of the man before today, and it sounds like he did a lot of good work, but I find it troubling that Hemant seemed almost to dismiss his anti-trans views. On one hand he mentioned it, which apparently few others did, but he seemed to have an 'Oh, Grandpa' attitude when talking about it.
Dennett sounds like a man who could've been educated, not locked into his bigotry and would have benefited from getting to know a trans person or two.
OT
Birthday Number 77 for Iggy Pop
https://youtu.be/3mZ0sSStW6Y
Long past time he started wearing a shirt.
Would we recognize him if he did? ;)
(I was going to post a live version of this song that he did in Paris)
I saw him on the 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 back 2013, he needed to start back then. Eleven years latter, I shudder to think about it.
https://youtu.be/-fWw7FE9tTo
I like this version too.
https://youtu.be/PFcEKm4WIJo
He released his 19th studio LP "Every Loser" last year. In the video "Strung Out Johnny, a bearded Iggy wore a vest. :)
Damn that's o....oh, wait. That's what I'll be come October. Dude is still young. Rock on!
You ever read this book? https://www.amazon.com/Punk-Rock-Blitzkrieg-Life-Ramone/dp/1451687788
Read a number of books on the Ramones (got to meet and talk with them during their "Road to Ruin" tour). Haven't read this one.
Hard to believe the original 4 are all gone. Marky, Richie, CJ and even the very short-lived Elvis (2 shows) live on.
Yet another confirmation of my oft-repeated admonishment: Never make ANYONE into your hero. Luminaries can illuminate some things for us, but not everything. They may be brilliant in their field, but they are fallible and limited like everyone else. Accept from them what is valuable and beneficial to you, but never automatically assume that everything they say and do will be correct and proper. Daniel Dennett's work was and will remain of great value and benefit to people wanting to improve how they think. We can honor him by forgiving him for his biases and errors, and by not discarding all of his gifts.
Well said!
Trump bond fraudsters.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4606053-ny-ag-trump-civil-fraud-judge-declare-175m-bond-without-effect/?
Because fraud is all Trump knows.
As I work in the financial industry, I LOVE shit like this!!!!
I read Dennett['s "Caught in the Pulpit a couple years ago. Great stories of those who lost their superstition and found the light of reason.
We are real people.
https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/439311874_3204952619638082_5096782157644946272_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=Eeyhkbc8o4QAb51nNxS&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&oh=00_AfA2wK4ZgF_TiU9QSnFooZtZFfXZrHlo-zmA8hNilRUvqQ&oe=6629B41F
I know it and you know it. Problem is, there are people out there who don't even want to consider the possibility.
What we do about them, I have no idea.
Bagen is sort of preaching to the choir here. But it's a point that bears repeating, because so many of the arseholes seem to forget it. According to the nongs on my local political blog – since abandoned – trans women are simply anxious to get into the female toilets for some perverted reason, or "cheat at sports".
I sometimes fell like that but I also get many very useful links from FA I spread round. Sometimes i find something funny or hopefully informative to post here.
FB is a treasure trove sometimes and a barren wasteland other times. It is always a meme factory.
How long?
https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/437601686_1657996101653412_1241863509761289715_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=e8fENifN2RQAb5sVXA1&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&oh=00_AfD_2Iq49BloXUCVbgAqAwlY2myIsc2mXzq4nK0PkzEwew&oe=6629C051
Judith Light, the actress?
Not familiar with her.
She's famous for starring in 𝘞𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘴𝘴? with Tony Danza.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086827/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
He made the world a better place. The world is poorer without him.
Breaking the spell is one of my favorite treatments of 'the new atheism'. When I was young my paternal GF was a Madeline Murray O'Hara in-your-face atheist. My maternal grandparents were very soft-spoken about their non-belief. I never could believe because of the lack of any proof and the whole problem of theodicy. I think I shall reread Dennett.
Dennett also wrote a book titled "Consciousness Explained" that is a very interesting explanation for how we created the reality that allows for religion and beliefs manifest.