Ron Paul and His Critics
Ayjay posts a bit from Matt Stoller:
This is why Ron Paul can critique the Federal Reserve and American empire, and why liberals have essentially no answer to his ideas, arguing instead over Paul having character defects.
There’s more at the links, but I quote this bit because I really don’t think the assertion that “liberals have essentially to [Ron Paul’s] ideas” is true at all. The vast majority of economists disagree with Paul on many of his ideas, especially his idea to return to the gold standard. My sense is that Paul’s character is under attack because there are legit questions about his newsletter, etc. But lots of people from both sides of the aisle take issue with Paul’s stance on a variety of issues.
On the Internet and Quietness
My friend Wes linked to this article in the New York Times Sunday Review Op-Ed. It’s about how we’re in danger of losing our selves and our sanity due to screens, the internet, and cellphones (it’s well written and probably better than that description, but…). But as I read these articles from time to time there is a sense that there is something right about them, but I think I ultimately largely disagree with these assessments. Does anyone else find that they don’t have a problem with their selfhood in the context of the internet/cellphones? Maybe it’s because a large part of the way I use these gadgets and all this information is for reading quality writing (like the article Wes linked to) and interacting in intellectually engaging ways with other humans. But that would just reiterate to me that technology is what one makes of it. It isn’t inherently distracting. It can be used for reflective analysis of how one uses technology, like what I’m doing right now. This is form and content in harmony.
On “Living the Well Discovered Life”
Via Andrew Sullivan:
Stuart Kauffman’s philosophy on life:
Not only do you not know what will happen, you don’t even know what can happen … Radical emergence occurs all the time, Turing machine to the Web to Google, Facebook and the Arab Spring. Taken together this suggests something I’m falling in love with: Live the well discovered life. Here you do not know, as you live your life forward, as Kierkegard said, even what new opportunities will open before you affording unexpected virtues you can perfect.
The whole article is interesting. Really weird writing style. But I see this as something along the lines of what I call the radical contingency of everything. Someday I’ll post more on that, but for now, somewhat along the lines of what Stuart Kauffman is saying, I say with Conan O’brien, Work hard and be kind. Face what comes at you with poise, diligence, good naturedness and good humor. Life is fun, try to enjoy it with those around you.
"In the current view of how associative memory works, a great deal happens at once. An idea that has been activated does not merely evoke one other idea. It activates many ideas, which in turn activate others. Furthermore, only a few of the activated ideas will register in consciousness; most of the work of associative thinking is silent, hidden from our conscious selves. The notion that we have limited access to the workings of our minds is difficult to accept because, naturally, it is alien to our experience, but it is true: you know far less about yourself than you feel you do."
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
