WarGamer
WarGamer's JournalIntellectual Honesty in the era of Social Media and memes.
Do people let their intellectual honesty slip for the quick high of a laugh based on falsities?
Believe it or not, intellectual honesty is quite a hot topic in Philosophy and has been for the last several hundred years, if not longer.
The modern German Philosopher Thomas Metzinger said:
“Intellectual honesty means simply not being willing to lie to oneself. It is closely related to old-fashioned values such as propriety, integrity and sincerity, to a certain form of “inner decency”. Perhaps one could say that it is a very conservative way of being truly subversive. But intellectual honesty might at the same time also be exactly what representatives of organized religions and theologians of any type simply cannot have, even if they would like to make claims to the contrary. Intellectual honesty means not pretending to know or even to be able to know the unknowable while still having an unconditional will to truth and knowledge, even where self-knowledge is involved and even where self-knowledge is not accompanied by pleasant feelings or is not in accordance with the received doctrine."
But the topic goes back so much farther.
Immanuel Kant:
In the Metaphysics of Morals (1797), he put this point concisely and clearly: “. . . man’s duty to himself regarded merely as a moral being . . . is . . . truthfulness.” At this point, Kant can also explain what intellectual dishonesty is, namely a kind of “inner lie.” For Kant, dishonesty is simply a lack of conscientiousness. Lacking conscientiousness in the ethical sense of inner action is nothing other than a form of unconsciousness, a lack of awareness—a further, interesting connection not only to the spiritual stance, but also to the history of the concept of “consciousness” in the occidental tradition.
Friedrich Nietzsche:
Intellectual honesty is the “conscience behind the conscience.” In 1883, he wrote in Zarathustra: “Where my honesty ceases I am blind and also want to be blind. But where I want to know, I also want to be honest, namely venomous, rigorous, vigorous, cruel and inexorable.” Nietzsche was one of the first philosophers to really write about intellectual honesty, about “conscientiousness of the mind” as an ethics of cognitive action more narrowly conceived. It is interesting to note that, once more, this involves a certain form of asceticism, of letting go. For Nietzsche, intellectual honesty is the “culmination and ‘last virtue’” of the Greco-Christian history of ideas, because it leads to the self-annihilation of the religious-moral interpretation of the will to truth.
William Kingdon Clifford summed it up nicely.
1) It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
2) At any time, at any place, and for every person it is wrong to ignore or carelessly reject the relevant evidence for one’s own beliefs.
World past tipping point of renewable energy transformation, says Tesla's Denholm.
Wasn't I just talking about this in an OP the last week or so?
https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/world-past-tipping-point-renewable-energy-transformation-says-teslas-denholm-2021-11-11/
WELLINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The world has passed the tipping point of a renewable energy transformation and must accelerate the adoption of technology needed for this change, the chair of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) said on Thursday.
"The world is already past the tipping point of renewable energy transformation and we already have technology needed to succeed, but we must now accelerate the deployment of them at an incredible pace," Robyn Denholm said in her keynote address at the virtual APEC CEO summit.
Thoughts about a single Presidential Term in Office? Congress?
One of the greatest problems we face is the rapid vacillation in US politics.
We go from 21st Century healthcare to trying to tear it down. We go from nuclear treaties to tearing them up.
If the GOP wins in '24, the BIF will probably be gutted along with Lord knows what else?
And Presidential campaigns. Presidents and their Party get all nervous 18 months before the election and start walking on eggshells.
What if Barack Obama, the first truly modern POTUS, IMHO... the first President that I actually felt like I had something in common with... what if he were President from 2008-2018?
No reelection campaigns, just a 10 year term?
Could we do the same with Congress?
Again, you go from one Party government and at the first sign of an electoral temper tantrum we have split gov't again.
Maybe just a single Party line vote every ten years? You get the slate of Democratic choices?
On the other hand... 10 years of Trump.
Thoughts?
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal... a quick summary
Good stuff!!
Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package Friday, approving a signature part of President Joe Biden's economic agenda.
It will deliver $550 billion of new federal investments in America's infrastructure over five years, touching everything from bridges and roads to the nation's broadband, water and energy systems.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/politics/infrastructure-bill-explained/index.html
The bill calls for investing $110 billion for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects.
Also in the package is $11 billion for transportation safety, including a program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities, especially of cyclists and pedestrians, according to the White House. It would direct funding for safety efforts involving highways, trucks, and pipeline and hazardous materials.
And it contains $1 billion to reconnect communities -- mainly disproportionately Black neighborhoods -- that were divided by highways and other infrastructure, according to the White House. It will fund planning, design, demolition and reconstruction of street grids, parks or other infrastructure.
The package would provide $39 billion to modernize public transit, according to the bill text.
The deal would also invest $66 billion in passenger and freight rail, according to the bill text
The bill would provide a $65 billion investment in improving the nation's broadband infrastructure, according to the bill text.
The deal would invest $17 billion in port infrastructure and $25 billion in airports to address repair and maintenance backlogs, reduce congestion and emissions near ports and airports and promote electrification and other low-carbon technologies, according to the White House.
The bill would provide $7.5 billion for zero- and low-emission buses and ferries, aiming to deliver thousands of electric school buses to districts across the country, according to the White House.
Another $7.5 billion would go to building a nationwide network of plug-in electric vehicle chargers, according to the bill text.
The bill would invest $65 billion to rebuild the electric grid, according to the White House.
It would provide $55 billion to upgrade water infrastructure, according to the bill text.
The bill would provide $21 billion to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites, reclaim abandoned mine land and cap orphaned gas wells, according to the White House.
I was hoping the reworked EV credits were in the BIF but I guess they're in the BBB which may never become law.
After reading the same misinformation 30x today... Rittenhouse's mom did NOT
Social media users accused Wendy Rittenhouse of driving her son to Kenosha that day, sharing a picture of a woman who is not her as proof. In reality, she was 20 miles away in Illinois, getting a COVID-19 test required for her job and running errands with her oldest daughter, she said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-kyle-rittenhouse-mother-kenosha-20201110-ikckkevit5epzjydc52szyog34-story.html
Just because you saw something on Twitter doesn't mean it's NOT bullshit.
Tonight's Election Results will cast a dark shadow over the Biden Agenda
Manchin and Sinema will certainly use the results to continue their obstruction.
Some Congesscritters will be reading tea leaves, too...
With all due respect, Alexandria and Fairfax are irrelevant.
You want to watch ONE County to see what happens tonight?
Stafford County. Upper middle class (and up) community that recently went Blue for the first time. Full of lots of families with parents actively involved in schools, highly educated suburban types...
Keep the 2020 Blue Edge and win.
It reverts to the GOP and you lose.
If Stafford goes to the GOP that means 100 other similar demographic communities will also
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Name: JGender: Male
Hometown: SoCal
Home country: USA
Current location: Socal
Member since: Mon Feb 1, 2021, 09:27 PM
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