Today started badly, cold and grim and unwelcoming, but Lazlo Montgomery has started a mini series on the history of Hong Kong and Philosophy Bites had an interview with Liane Young on intentionality and morality. So I lay under a warm duvet and listened. Hong Kong is too long and complex to talk about. (I am surprised that no one has commented on the Cham temple picture. despite it being Hindu isn't there something Chinese there? Via Vietnam probably, but still Chinese. Have another look.) Surprisingly it seems that psychopaths are very forgiving of accidents. However, this doesn't stop them robbing you blind, or murdering you and burying the body under the new patio. Liane Young is one of the new breed of experimental philosophers who monitor brain activity related to moral actions and the like. I am not sure how much use this study of the mechanism is when related to philosophy. In the sixties and seventies there was much heated argument about the influence of genes. The nature vs nurture debate. E O Wilson in particular got attacked and was unfairly accused of racism and promoting eugenics. But those were heady times and now there seems to be little to get upset about in Wilson's work. (The battle between E O Wilson, Steven J Gould* and Richard Dawkins has the makings of a TV series. All three great writers and often fiercely critical of the others. I always agree with the one I'm reading at the time.) Now sociobiology has been overtaken by neurobiology and the marxists have retreated so far into the wilderness that their cries of objection can hardly be heard and there is no chance of one of the climbing on stage and tipping a glass of water over the speaker. Yet I think there is still some validity in the old criticisms when applied to the new topic. We already knew that politicians and robber baron businessmen were mostly psychopaths.You can listen to Liane Young on the Philosophy Bites website. I also had the pleasure of trouncing Kit at a game of Frozen Synapse. Such was my magnanimity that I let him win a second more trivial game as balm to a bruised ego. Trounce, it seems, is a word of unknown origin, but I think 'ounce' words often come from old French. I like the assonance of pounce and trounce. Trounce becomes the result of pounce. Pounce as you all know means the talons of a hawk. Most appropriate for the game of Frozen Synapse. I swooped down on Kit with my hawk like pouncers and trounced him. Some of you know, or have heard me speak of Sue Parish. Here is a link to a recent gig she did. It was at the recently restored art deco Plaza cinema/theatre in Stockport and I put in the link to that too. It looks the perfect place for Sue to play.
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I saw the thin cord stretched to a thread, he said, then stretched again until it vanished. I saw the fat white moth that banged against the lamp caught by a sudden gust of air, and swept upwards. flapping and flailing. I tried to understand! I swear I tried. But no one met his eyes. We suddenly found things to say. Questions to ask those sitting next to us. I saw blackness drawn through blue to red, he said, then blinding white then nothing I heard scratching and scraping. small hands scratching and scraping. I saw a child digging the soil in the garden. With her hands. For a moment I thought…. But, no I didn’t see. We carried on talking. Some laughed nervously. Others made excuses, got up and left. If you knew to what places I was led, he said. The house of bone with damp red walls. Where words were swarms of biting flies covering my face and filling my eyes, my ears, my nose, my mouth. I tried to speak. Oh, I tried. The barman laid a hand upon his shoulder. And quietly led him through the door. We stopped our talking, relaxed Turned back, picked up our glasses and drank in our usual silence. By chance I came across the work of Floris Kaayk. I particularly liked this short natural history video.
Hope you do too. In the previous post I said I was surprised at how short such an influential paper as The Tragedy of the Commons was. I have since watched Jim Al-Khallili on information and he mentioned Alan Turing's On Computable Numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem" and Claude E Shannon's A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Pages Turing's work are hung from wires and Jim holds up Shannon's paper. Neither are very long. Perhaps the most important ideas don't need a lot of words. The Order Electrus video above links nicely with Alan Turing's interest in mathematical biology and computers. Extra: Have you seen the incredible Jarno Smeets, the first man to fly under his own power? If Not see The Birdwing I'm sitting in my front room about to start preparation for my poetry class on Monday. We will be looking at poetry and songwriting and perhaps take a quick look at ballads and bards. We only have two hours and that is not really long enough for a class, only a short lecture.
Luckily I bumped into Arbie Jay in a barroom in Bearwood and over a bottle of hooch and a cheap cigar he gave me some excellent advice to pass on. 'It is colder now....' and I write wrapped in many layers, missing the heat and humidity of Indonesia where a splash of cold water 'comes like a benison'. I took my breakfast coffee - so black no sky could squeak through - up to bed to read New Scientist. Fred Pearce had written a piece about the current trend for putting a price on nature. A company has bought some rainforest and is trying to sell such things as soil, biodiversity and, not surprisingly, rain. In the course of the article Fred P mentions The Tragedy of the Commons and I was reminded how influential that short essay became. Perhaps in maths and some other sciences a brief paper or a few lines can have extraordinary an effect, but in general it is a book or a substantial study that has the impact for change. Garrett Hardin's essay is shorter than many I wrote a SOAS and yet must be rated among one of the most influential philosophical/political works of the twentieth century. I say philosophical rather than ecological because I think the wider influence has been more important; I suspect other ecologists were already aware of the problems Hardin discusses but it was his essay that was picked up on and brought the phrase 'tragedy of the commons' into common usage. Read it yourself, here is a link The Tragedy of the Commons and The Tragedy of the Commons Revisited by Beryl Crowe There is also a copy at Columbia Univ but it is a pesky pdf and does not open easily on my browser. Can anyone think of other short essays that have been so influential and eclipse all works by the same author? Now, I have to admit that i could not help thinking that my essay The Insolent Boy: Chairil Anwar Poet Maudit was just as good, if not better, and it had pictures too. But somehow it did not get the publicity it deserved and lies neglected on my hard drive. Bloody chattering classes! I like this part, the lawyer said His skin was pale. And his hair was red. i took the contract and read it through with the proverbial toothcomb i read it the office and i even took it home to examine the small print Oh, I love this job, the lawyer said. His shirt was white. His law books red. because it seems that you are skint! cry the driving wind and the rain I like this part, the policeman said. His teeth were white. His nose was red. they need someone down the station for some non-specific crime come on now, don’t you waste my time you are the one I’ve picked But the best thing is, the policeman said. His face was pale. His eyes were red. you have no choice yes, you are nicked! cry the cold, cold ground I like this part, the doctor said. His hair was fair. His lips were red. i am well and you are ill i am rich and you are poor i have a wife three kids and a 4x4 and frankly speaking mate This part’s the best, the doctor said. His skin was clear and his tongue was red. you have cancer of the old prostate! you just lean back on your plastic chair and you return the doctor’s stare then you laugh and laugh and laugh. for what else can you do cry the wind and the biting rain cry the cold that pierces through cry the hard and frozen earth and cry the long dark shadows too This was kindly sent to me by Mr H Staggers Silly string attack on boy carrying owl What kind of world are we living in where children and owls are attacked with silly string? I would not be surprised to find this happened in Indonesia. But in Lancaster?! Full of cold and tired from constant sneazing and wheazing I have nothing to write so offer these illusions instead. Everyone loves a good illusion. I have always thought the moiré effect a bit disappointing but changed my mind on seeing the video at http://www.anopticalillusion.com/ The picture above just reinforces a very well known illusion. A&B and C&D are lines of the same length. Measure them. The two faces of the man below Is not a new idea either but what I liked is that I -I don't know about you - just can't stop it flipping whenever I look at it. Back to sneezing Achoo! achoo! a chew! eschew! issue! as you! were. Do you remember I posted a fantastic animation of the inner workings of a cell?If you do and you enjoyed it, then watch Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell. Still available on the BBC iPlayer.
After you have seen the programme perhaps you might like to send a letter of protest to the BBC about the outrageous portrayal of the adenovirus. They are shown as evil and black and rather like tiny little Darth Vadars. Whereas Dr Viv assures me that adenovirus are actually pink and blue, depending on if they are found in the nose of a boy or a girl. She also says that they are cute and chirrupy little things, and that they are only too glad to help us 'stand up to cancer'. So watch the programme and tell me if it is not pure viral racism. words wont come
tongue stuck like a swollen slug in a stone crack of mouth speech no more than hiss and scrape that carries no meaning with it Even the scrawled lines unravel twist and loop writhing and stretching until they become no more than a straight line ______________________________________ only the tap tap tap on keys with cold num fingers gos on a whil untl tha to bcms unrdlxqp4$...... -------------------------------------------------------------- Yet still the messages appear, the phone rings and downstairs I hear someone banging on the door. I start up, leaving these lines still incomplete, and catch the sound of laughter in the street. I found it exciting anyway.
The Vietnamese government has recently restored the ancient Cham temple you can see above. The Hindu/Buddhist origins leap straight out at you, but then when you look closely there is something very different that I can't quite pin down. It would be great to go and have a close look at one of these remnants of what was one of the most powerful and fascinating states of South East Asia. You can read more by following the link below. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Life-Style/231346/restoration-work-highlights-value-of-unique-cham-towers.html This year's Lancaster Music Festival was even better than the last. Word seems to be spreading and most venues were full up with an extraordinary mix of regulars, festival goers and passers by who had dropped in to see what was happening. Most of the venues were an easy walk from each other and on the Friday night we saw jazz, folk rock, pop, country and blues. Some we just sampled for a few minutes and others we stayed for a few songs before moving on. On Saturday I spent a lot of the time leafleting passers-by and encouraging them to drop in to Atticus Accordions for music, wine and cake. We had brought the blues guitarist Arbie J up from Birmingham to play in the shop and the sound of his steel resonator guitar more than made up for any lack of amplification. Kit's line up for the day reflected the diverse music on offer elsewhere with folk blues guitarist Kristi Michelle, traditional and new blues from Arbie Jay, new folk blues from David Kelly, indie pop from Faraday and Ice Pops for Breakfast and the unclassifiable L A Shrimp. Arbie J had another slot in the evening supporting a very 1960s looking American country/folk group, The Kilcawley Family, who played guitar, harmonica and auto-harp. We ended the evening in the packed out Robert Gillow listening to The Balkanics who had everyone jumping to wild fiddle music from Eastern Europe. We saw so many acts that it is hard to remember them all and I have not got time to list them all. I'll just say that we ended our visit to the festival with Max's Blues Club. A special session of the regular blues and country jam session organised by the redoubtable Max -Mississippi Max - Haymes who has been a part of the Lancaster music scene for as long as I can remember. If there seems to be a slant towards blues and country music in my description that is mainly because that reflects my own taste and the fact that we were with Arbie J and missed most of the rock, pop and jazz events. So perhaps we should have stayed up long past midnight and toured even more pubs, bars and clubs, and drunk even more whisky, wine and beer than we did. Perhaps next year. I came back to NuL and the disappointing news that I did not get the job I wanted with the WEA. So last night I began searching for flights to Cambodia. As I did an email arrived from Viv who had noticed that the WEA have now posted details of another job in this area. So now I have to decide if I will apply. Should I stay or should I go? Don't deafen me with your reply. |
Archives
January 2014
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