Asimov knew us, too
Reply
Category Archives: Philosophy
Henry David Thoreau knew us well
“In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard from himself this long while.”
On the uselessness of some moral philosophy
“There must in a theory be some generalization and some specification or diversification, and a good rich key concept guides on both in recognizing the unity in it. The concept of obligation has served this function very well for the area of morality it covers, and so we have some fine theories about that area. But as Aristotelians and Christians, as well as women, know, there is a lot of morality not covered by that concept, a lot of very great importance even for the area where there are obligations.
Staying out in the rain
Users who “live in” Emacs don’t get trapped paying for software upgrades just so they can continue to do their work or use their data. They don’t get told that their older computers are no longer supported (there’s a ten-year-old laptop in my living room right now that easily runs the latest version of Emacs). They don’t have to ponder the cost in time and treasure of switching operating systems. And they generally don’t have to worry about license agreements, proprietary file formats, or DRM. Emacs—and programs like it—may require a little more from their users, but in return they offer a remarkable escape hatch from proprietary lock-in and planned obsolescence. - Thoughts on Learning Emacs
I will usually prefer to stand outside in the rain if the alternative is a standing under a roof that comes with house rules. That’s why I carry an umbrella and check the weather before I leave my house.
Libertarianism can creep up on you
Sometimes I think I’ve woken up in a surreal alternate reality. I was raised in a patriotic glow where the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was a well-defined, well-reasoned expectation. America is the “land of the free.” I do not think this means what I once thought it meant, particularly if we have no fundamental right to drink the milk from our own cows.
Constitutional law is not my thing, but perhaps it should be. That way I could develop a more cogent argument against the likes of Judge Fielder. As it is, I simply say, “But what of liberty? What of privacy? What of the right to do with my body and my property what I see fit, so long as I do no harm to others?”- Is Your Choice Of Food A Fundamental Right? | Food Renegade
This reads just like a Tea Party epiphany. I hope this blogger can appreciate how many of us are fighting for freedom and autonomy and how diverse we are. We don’t always get along, or even like each other, but there are lots of Americans who want to choose how to live and I hope we can all start to push in the same direction.