You are a dinosaur
By Scott P
quote from possibly the funniest radio comedy currently being broadcast.
(Son to father)
“You are such a dinosaur!”
“That’s right. I am both Colossal and popular with people of all ages.
technorati tags – bbc radio 4 & fags mags and bags
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July 21st, 2008
Dawkins, Belief and the life I live.
By Scott P
on radio 4′s today this morning I woke up to the sound of Richard Dawkins chatting to John Humphries.
nice way to wake up.
Anyway they were discussing the comments of Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor who has warned that public life in Britain must not become a “God free” zone. The basis of the conversation turned to Dawkins belief that there is True and False. Belief is not true because it cannot be proved. believing something is not enough to justify it being true.
you can listen again to the show here. (the interview was around 7:17am.)
In my dozing slumber i wondered about all the things we did believe.
Money – he bank promises to pay an amount in sterling? like how many promises of sterling are in circulation and how much sterling is in the world? (besides, i don’t want five pounds of a furniture store. talk about free publicity!)
The Justice system – what is the burdon of proof. If three people who don’t know me all say they saw me commit a crime would i be able to avoid being convicted. depends what the jury believes i guess
Science – that is a scientific theory and whats the difference between a theory and fact. what is a scientific Law and when are they ever broken? Has science changed it’s mind on something that was fact?
So i ask what do we believe and what is fact. If one day the bus doesn’t come as scheduled does that mean the timetable is a matter of belief or fact?
without belief, our monetary system crashes, or system of order and justice crashes and (i guess about) 50% of science is crashed with all the implications those three things mean. thats before we get into the crumbling of modernity, the experience of post modernity and where we are today.
Me I believe.
It’s better that way.
technorati Tags – richard dawkins, belief & life
open source
By Scott P
****** warning slightly too much detail about my life, if you want to miss this part, read again after the end of warning start part******
The radio in our bathroom is usually tuned to radio 4
I was in the toilet and turned on the radio.
******End of too much info stuff******
As I was listening casually, to radio 4, the words I heard started to work on me. The program, Open Source, was an investigation into the use, history and current position of open source software.
I joined the conversation as he was focusing in on the case of brazil where the gvernement has decided to embrace open source software for computers as a concious government policy.
The man from Brazil seemed very happy about this.
The man form Microsoft less so
The man from red Hat seemed okay about it.
On telling exchange came from a discussion about the open nature of the source code.
The man on the radio summing up something the man from red hat said.
“so your software is better becuase people find faults in it every day?”
I find this idea great. the weakness of being open is conversely it’s strength.
openness demands that people find holes.
It requires demands change.
It encurages growth, and in a short time the change can be massive.
as a method of chnage it is pretty good.
the downside seems to be that we make money from our secrets. form our lack of openness.
our secrets.
the things we don’t tell anyone else.
Microsoft don’t share their code or latest developments. Industrial espionage is a major fear. (Only 4 people living in the world know the correct recipe for Barr’s Irn Bru!)
we fear our secrets ebcoming known.
I fear the dark edges of my life so far. To be more accurate i fear the discovery of those dark edges by others. Others who use have got to know me through a carefully created kaleidoscope of myself.
Perhaps I should take a risk.
Perhaps I should fell safe.
Perhaps my comfort, or Bill Gates $50 Billion fortune comfort will prevent us from revealing our secrets.
open
I never live with balance, Although I like the notion.