Election Results in a Beautiful Animation

I don't know if you heard, but here in the ol' U.S. of A. we just had an election this Tuesday. You know, just trying to choose who the most powerful man in the world would be...

Well, as it turned out, President Barack Obama was re-elected, beating his conservative-liberal-tea-party-ultra-conservative-liberal-conservative opponent Mitt Romney.

If you haven't been paying attention, or don't quite understand how things break down, the following animation should clarify all sorts of questions you may have about this election:

Marihuana, porn and gay marriage... wow, that's what it's come to? :)

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Substance Dualism

Although most philosophers of mind are probably physicalists, there is still a live debate about the ontological status of mind: is it physical or immaterial?

On one side of the debate are those who argue that thoughts are not physical, and therefore cannot be generated by something physical. Apart from obvious religious and soteriological reasons, one of the more popular lines of argument goes roughly as follows: when we have a complete physical description of the brain (and of that which is perceived by the brain), there is still something about the qualitative nature of first-person subjective experiences (or qualia) that is not accounted for, so there must be something non-physical to explain this. In other words, the physicalist account leaves something rather important out of the picture, namely subjectivity and intentionality (or the 'aboutness' of mental experience), and that needs to be explained.

On the other side, the idea of an immaterial soul seems perhaps even more mysterious than the problems with physicalism: how can a non-physical substance interact causally with the physical body? What is it about this non-physical stuff that allows it to think and have first-person subjective experiences in the first place, without just being defined into having it? How can we possibly verify its existence (without arguing in a circle)? In fact, the evidence that we do have when we study the brain, especially when it suffers damage that affects very specific cognitive capacities, seems to indicate that even though we may not know the exact mechanism through which brain processes produce consciousness, that's nevertheless what happens.

But why listen to me when we have a beautiful and nicely organized animation that will take you through the steps to analyze this debate?

Did I say a beautiful animation? I meant two :)

Isn't it amazing how many problems fade away when you organize your thoughts? :)

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Take the Money, Donald Trump! Do It for the Children!

Apparently Donald Trump wants to help charities, but he won't donate the money without extorting President Obama to release documents that, let's face it, will not satisfy the birthers and their conspiracy theories.

Fortunately, Stephen Colbert has an offer of his own for Donald Trump :)

The Colbert Report
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And of course, once it's all over, those will be the smartest things ever to come out of Trump's mouth...

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Richard Dawkins - Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (1)

Dostoevsky's dictum "without God, anything is permitted" is often used by religious believers to make the point that, quite aside from the issue of its truth, religion plays an important role, perhaps even a necessary one, in fomenting moral behavior and virtue. Without God, where would morality come from? If we were simply left to our own devices, what would be there to prevent absolute chaos, violence, crime and wanton lasciviousness?

Well, whatever you may think about the moral foundation of morality, as an empirical claim, it simply isn't true that without God or religion we would turn into savages. How do we know? For one, because non-human animals, presumably not being religious believers, do have all sorts of customs and rules by which they abide without having to descend into anarchy. And second, because when you look at the behavior or religious and non-religious people, you find that there is almost no difference there.

What religious people do have, though, is a lot of shame and guilt for things that should not be quite as big a deal as they think. So it seems as though religion is a self-perpetuating industry of devotion based on making its followers feel bad about themselves and then making them turn to religion for "salvation." Not much different from drug pushers, huh?

And it's getting to the point that religious people will go to all kinds of extremes to reconcile the inevitable cognitive dissonance they experience from the conjunction of their religious beliefs and their biological nature. Richard Dawkins explores these and other related issues

What exactly is the fascination with virgins? I never understood that one...

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Obama and Romney Laugh It Up

With the upcoming elections, things have been heated up for the past few months. And though not to the same level, both major contenders, as well as the PACS and Super PACS that support them, have resorted to some cheap shots, ad hominem attacks and tactics that are unbecoming of our best ideals of civility and leadership.

So I was really glad to see Obama and Romney take a break this past week to lighten things up and engage in some humor at their own expense and that of each other.

Here's Romney, who actually did a lot better than I would have expected:

And here's Obama, more experienced in this kind of thing, and therefore doing a better job:

That joke about having been rested for the second campaign from the nap he took during the first one was priceless :)

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Obama on Romnesia: Don't worry. Obamacare Covers Pre-Existing Conditions :)

Romnesia is a serious and highly contagious medical condition, usually related to Paulzheimers. As its name suggests, it's most obviously related to Mitt Romney's almost daily political flip-flopping depending on what particular constituency's votes he's trying to secure. If he's in Massachusetts, for instance, he will advocate for various liberal platforms and women's issues. When he's in the Bible Belt, he is all about religion and the need to go back to that time when people did whatever they thought their invisible friend up in the sky wanted them to (including, but not limited to, restricting the rights of women, minorities, immigrants, gays, etc.). When he's in a secret meeting with corporate moguls, he'll make fun of and dismiss 47% of the American public as moochers and irresponsible leeches, and when that tape becomes public, he's suddenly all about 100% of Americans. Poor guy...

This is a very serious affliction, but President Obama has some great news :)

That made my day...

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Adora Svitak - What Adults Can Learn from Kids

Have you ever wondered what could happen if you respected the intelligence and potential of your children, and read to them a little Aristotle, some history and science instead of just simple bedtime stories?

Well, wonder no more. Here's a great example of the positive influence of intellectual stimulating your children's brains.

Now, pick up that dusty philosophy book that's been sitting in your book shelf for years and put it to good use :)

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