Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments The View From the Left Hemisphere of the Universe I dislike that too, Kes. It just shows how little the person saying it knows about what they are talking about. (didn’t stop Richard Dawkins from writing a WHOLE BOOK on the subject, though……..putz……) » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 2:08 am I can definitely see someone such as yourself getting a lot out of it. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 2:06 am I just read it. I think the title should be, “Dogmatic Failure to Question Aristotle’s Assumptions Set Back Science For Around 2,000 Years”, but that isn’t as “sexy”, and wouldn’t allow a cheeky writer who probably has about a third of Aristotle’s intellect to pronounce that the great Greek “didn’t know squat about science”. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 2:02 am Wow, that’s interesting. I doubt it’s true, though. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 1:58 am Or they study engineering, which in itself can be a good thing. But so many are lured into the weapons industry in this country. In other countries, they go into industries like telecommunications and manufacturing, only to make the world more confusing than it already is! 🙂 » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 1:57 am Thank you, jkk! I had a hard time coming up with an image for this one…. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 1:55 am This is very beautiful, KT. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 1:54 am Absolutely! » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 1:52 am Thanks, PW. That’s how I see it too. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 25, 2011 @ 1:48 am Exactly! And I hate the sentiment that those of us who have spiritual views do so because we are looking for something more, that the mechanistic view of the universe DOESN’T give us a “hard on” so we SEEK for something more. It never occurs to poor Tim (the putz!) that maybe we have actually FOUND something that he can’t understand, and we use our minds, including our rational minds, to help us accommodate these things that we have FOUND, and he hasn’t, so he assumes they aren’t there. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:44 pm Yes, KT! Have you read “The Island”, the Aldous Huxley book I refer to below? In it you will find the philosophy that east and west should synthesize expounded upon all the way toward imagining a society ( a small nation state) where that has taken place. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:36 pm Great comments, Adlib, and let me chime in that I very much agree that there is snobbism on the other side as well. I think we all know both types. I have no doubt that the eponymous Storm of Minchin’s poem/rant was obnoxious, as I know many a person like her. What I find so amusing is how little he seems to recognize how much he has in common with her. 🙂 » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:34 pm btw, here’s the Tim Minchin clip that more or less inspired this article. Cher posted it on TOOT a week or so ago. Although it’s entertaining, it really got under my skin. THIS is the triumphalist attitude that I find so distasteful.
» Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:10 pm I know, e-cat. But if you go over to HP or places like that and assert that, they’ll lump you in with Deepak Chopra and say you don’t know what you’re talking about, as you’ve probably already discovered. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:07 pm That’s a great quote, KT! » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:05 pm If he wasn’t joking, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. It’s reflective of that triumphalist attitude I refer to in my essay. If he was joking, well, good on him, as the Aussies say. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:05 pm Thanks, jkk, I will most definitely check this out. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:02 pm “The Island” is his utopian response to his dystopian “Brave New World”. It is artistically less satisfying. The “characters” are no more than mouthpieces for the writer’s ideas, and the plot is even flimsier than BNW. But for the attempt to fuse East/West, intuitive/rational, I think it is a book worth reading and discussing. As for you, an RN, I imagine you have a pretty strong left hemisphere, probably better than the one in this ol’ noggin! » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 6:01 pm complete agreement, agrippa. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 5:14 pm Great quote! And thanks for showing my article to your son. Let me know any comments he made about it, pls! » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 5:06 pm Hi Kes, In fact, Aldous Huxley’s “The Island” was an attempt to visualize what such a society might be like, where yin and yang meet in the middle. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 5:04 pm I like the idea that modern science may be heading toward understanding a non-mechanistic universe, e-cat. On the other hand, I never bring up such information when I argue. Science-triumphalist types always scoff at it anyway, and call it woo woo. Besides, as I write, why SHOULD I have to present scientific evidence for my beliefs? My beliefs are not second tier notions to begin with. It’s like my metaphor of bringing a rotten banana to a chocolate lover because he insists that sweets be black. I’m not gonna do it! 🙂 » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 5:00 pm Beautiful comments, jkk! I very much agree. Like I said, arrogance. Dawkins wants it both ways. He loves to mock and ridicule what gives other people wonder, and then at the same time mocks and ridicules them for not wondering at the mechanical universe HE sees. He’s a putz! » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 4:57 pm Wow, chaz, that’s almost an article in itself! And one I very much agree with. We seem to have pursued the same line of inquiry. I like your take on things. I believe that the synthesis I write about at the end of my article would be our best hope of coming to the unity consciousness that you so eloquently describe. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 4:53 pm I feel exactly the same, e-cat. To me, the brain is more like a computer. It is expertly designed to process information, but the information itself comes from outside, or perhaps more accurately, beyond it. If a cosmic “mind” could be likened to the internet, then each of our brains are like our laptops, desktops, etc. The consciousness does not originate with them, but they are sophisticated and capable of processing that information. However, there is a REASON the two hemispheres are different, and both are essential. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 4:48 pm AD, thanks for your great clarifications, added information, and comments in general. What I am referring to when I write about “arrogance” are folks like Richard Dawkins and his many acolytes. I used to spend a lot of time on the forum section of Dawkins’ website, and believe me, the attitude I describe was fully on display there. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 4:35 pm Well, yes, H.P. Lovecraft had a real talent for making us scared even just to be alive! One of the greats at that. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 4:17 am I like your analogy about books, Caru! And I agree with you; the scientific method is a marvelous thing. » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 4:05 am I think you and I are very much in agreement, Harry! » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 3:25 am The question itself can be interpreted so many ways….it could be defined simply as “awareness”, which we would then share with other animals, and very probably plants as well. It could be defined as “the ability to know” which would seem to require thought. Difficult to ascertain if any other species on the planet have this or not. How do you personally define it, Harry? And where do you locate it? » Posted By whatsthatsound On April 24, 2011 @ 2:35 amComments Posted By whatsthatsound
I think as more and more about the workings of the brain is discovered, even the current notion of “left hemisphere = analytical/right hemisphere = holistic and intuitive” will probably be discarded. But even so, this dichotomy of human nature seems very real, at least right now. It would be wonderful to imagine a time when it fuses more, and one perspective is better able to assimilate and benefit from the other.
I think many scientists are full of wonder at the universe. What bothers me is when people like Dawkins try to force THEIR kind of wonder on everyone else. They love to say, “Isn’t this enough? All these wonderful things we are continually discovering, can’t they make YOU feel as jazzed as they do ME?”
People with any kind of spiritual beliefs suffer from psychological disorder (actually, Dawkins seems to suggest that in The God Delusion), that kind of thing. And always, the demand, “Prove It!” as if ones philosophy has to be defended in a laboratory.
It would take a whole other article to fully account for what I am talking about. Actually, it was a link Cher shared that inspired this article, a comic poet named Tim Minchin who performed a piece called “Storm” which makes fun of New Age types. It is entertaining and very well done, but also very derisive of those who base their own personal philosophies on something other than pure reason.
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