Behind the seen

By Stephen on Sat, 18/May/2024 - 3:31am

TL;DR (Summary)

  • There is an irreducible duality to life: the physical and the meta-physical
  • Reality involves cycling the meta-physical into the physical, via fractals and other latticeworks 

When lost in a forest it can be helpful to climb a mountain or a tree to get a sense of where we are, to scout for obstacles or dangers, and to determine the best direction to head.

In a similar sense, when in the midst of a forest of conflicting ideas, beliefs, religions, philosophies, opinions and various conspiracy theories, it’s helpful to gain a philosophical high ground to gain some clarity about life.

But how do we do that?

Covid-19, herd immunity and common sense

By Stephen on Thu, 25/Jun/2020 - 11:07am

There has been a LOT of talk in the media, various forums, twitter, etc, about "herd immunity" in regards to the corona virus pandemic.

The idea, basically, is that if enough people catch and subsequently become immune to the virus, the virus will "look around" for new hosts within the population, as some have suggested, and finding none available, recede and eventually die out.

That "looking around" suggests viruses are alive, seeking to reproduce like bacteria and fungi.

Scientists know that viruses aren't "alive" in a strict biological sense—they don't have active intelligence that "looks around", or reproduce themselves independently like bacteria. As Dr Kevin Stillwagon explains:

"A virus is not even a living thing. It's just a package of genetic material inside of a shell that's made of proteins and fats. It's not alive, it has no intelligence, nor the desire to attack you."

Analysis of herd immunity using the Sorites Paradox

By Stephen on Sat, 05/Nov/2016 - 5:40pm

[See supplemental article Covid-19, herd immunity and common sense]

TL;DR (Summary)

  • The concept of "Herd immunity" fails elementary rational analysis.
  • A "herd" cannot be scientifically defined. A "herd" remains an irreducibly vague concept.
  • Ipso facto, "herd immunity" is not an identifiable, measurably-valid phenomena.
  • Population percentage deaths and illnesses correlate with psycho-social-enviro factors, not with vague, made-up marketing terms.

When the subject of vaccination1 is discussed within a group (e.g. online forum), and there are some within that group who are pro-vaccination, almost invariably they will at some point raise the issue of herd immunity.

First let's clarify what is meant by "herd immunity".

  • 1. For the purposes of this article "vaccination" is used in the ideal case whereby each vaccination creates immunity. This equivalence is deliberate in order to avoid distractive arguments that are not relevant to the analysis of "herd immunity" using the Sorites Paradox.

Scratching the etch

By Stephen on Tue, 29/May/2012 - 7:57pm

I've previously written about the importance and power of letting go the past, relationships that are 'toxic' and behaviours that aren't aligned with, or heading us towards health, wellbeing and happiness.

No surprise then to find others extolling the same approach.

This from a Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum article in which American author Augusten Burroughs is interviewed.

From the article:

The jig is up

By Stephen on Tue, 24/Jan/2012 - 10:30pm

"The Jig is up":

(US, idiomatic, dated) An expression used to mean "We have been caught out and have no defense", or if spoken to a person who's just been found out as the perpetrator of an offense, it means "You've been discovered."

For around 400 years science has -- with often great success -- played a jig on all of us.

That jig is now up. It's an extraordinarily easy jig to see - we need only use a little common sense to see it.

But the ramifications and consequences of seeing it are, and will be extraordinary.

The art and discipline of happiness

By Stephen on Mon, 26/Dec/2011 - 6:06am

When chatting with a friend recently we discovered that we had (independently) come to a similar place in our lives — a wonderfully light, free and peaceful place.

We found that we each had arrived at this place by doing something exceedingly simple — we had finally "let go" blaming others, or blaming "out there" or "suffering" blame from others, or suffering or feeling lonely, or ...

The modern superstitions of science and religion

By Stephen on Wed, 27/Jul/2011 - 12:24pm

Background

Modern science is still almost entirely based on 17th century concepts that physical movement is perfectly smooth and continuous.

This continuity of movement implies continuity of operation (of the world we experience) which naturally induced the perception that our universe (and our bodies) operated like a clockwork machine. This machine-world view was the impetus for the Industrial Revolution which resulted in many beneficial technologies (aircraft, automobiles, etc).

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