While he was alive, my father said he preferred the company of animals to the company of people. At the time, I thought he only meant my company. After all, we’d both outgrown the idea my living under the same roof with him. I didn’t take it personally. We both knew when it was time for me to go. However, in retrospect, I believe Rocky was actually making a more general statement about the human condition because the older I get, I more I get to be like him. These days, it seems the more people I meet, the fewer I wish to know. Not because of how they look, but how they act. I already know enough people who behave like Melvin Udall, before he fell in love and became human. For example, real-life Rocky and fictitious Melvin shared more than one personality quirk in common. Hostility, much of it fueled by racial prejudices, increases by the day. People no longer stop to think before they speak, or about the feelings of those they are ripping to shreds. They don't even bother to listen to the civilized debate point the other is trying to make before shouting them down. Instead, these very angry people just unleash their vitriol at will, because it feels good to let it all hang out. Often though, it is blind hatred directed against an innocent bystander, not directed anger at another who actually caused them harm. And the smarter someone thinks he or she is, the more likely they will feel empowered to call the target of their derision an idiot, a moron, or an animal. Interestingly enough, only recently someone rather vociferously asserted that I was a … [Read more...]
The chicken-or-egg enigma, a slight return
While wandering through the Humane Society of Forsyth County thrift store, I found a hardcover copy of Wendy Northcutt's The Darwin Awards: Evolution in Action (with dust jacket) in their book section, for the bargain price of $1. Years ago while working in the corporate world, I laughed along with my "techie" co-workers at the travails of the award "nominees" and "winners" on emails we used to circulate. So I snapped up the available copy, finding it to be in excellent condition. The Darwin Award famously acknowledges the acts of individuals who inadvertently"added a little chlorine into the gene pool." The winner usually receives the award posthumously, for what it's worth. Maybe it's just me, but reading these stories about human beings killing and maiming themselves with a single, stupid mistake doesn't strike me as funny anymore. Not when I know real people are dying, and leaving behind grieving family members. I will be donating my copy back to the thrift store. I can't bring myself to just throw it away because it can potentially raise another dollar for the Humane Society. And reading the book wasn't a total complete of time. It caught my attention when, in one aside to the reader, the author posed and answered the existential chicken-or-the-egg question. Author Northcutt boldly wrote, Which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to evolution theory, the egg did. New species evolve when mutations in parental reproductive cells result in offspring with unique traits. The fertilized egg is the first member of a new species, so the egg comes … [Read more...]
The Adjustment Bureau
SPOILER ALERT -- plot details are included. I freely admit that I'm not a huge fan of Matt Damon. I don't go out of my way to see his movies. Actually, the truth is that I rarely go out of my way to see anybody's movies. I do like his movies better than Ben Affleck's, for what its worth. After all, Damon didn't make Gigli. And he was decent enough playing amnesia victim/master assassin Jason Bourne in the series of movies with remarkably improbable plots, but killer action sequences. Casino Royale, which introduced the modern version of James Bond, would not have been nearly as good if The Bourne Identity hadn't inspired its director, Martin Campbell. On the other hand, all Damon did was say words other people wrote and pretend to be someone he isn't. My opinion of actors has been adversely affected by hearing them speak off camera, I do admit. Yet this weekend, I spent a couple of hours watching a Matt Damon movie I knew nothing about, The Adjustment Bureau. Mostly, I felt like watching a movie because my body hurt too much to do anything else, but that's another story. The timing was simply exquisite. I was still a little irritated that I recently spent time (and money) reading Sam Harris's book Free Will, which proved to be a monumental waste of my time, just as I had anticipated. I turned on the television and tuned in just as the movie was starting. I only missed a few minutes in the very beginning, and the opening credits. Big deal. It had been small consolation reading Free Will gave me an excuse to write something for my blog. I'm … [Read more...]
Mental masturbation
When someone goes out of his or her way to ask me to do something very specific, I usually try to accommodate them, especially if the request is reasonable. Though I've been quite busy editing the draft of my coming novel Secondhand Sight, my friend Sean made a point of asking me to read Free Will by Sam Harris. I protested that I was busy writing and editing my novel. Readers of my first Robert Mercer mystery, titled Coastal Empire, have been clamoring for the sequel, which won't come after Secondhand Sight. I don't want interest to wane, while I'm screwing around reading another writer's book. Sean persuaded me by countering that the Harris book was short, and an "easy read." So I splurged on Amazon, shelling out $3.99 for the Kindle edition. What a sucker I am! Oh, it was short, all right. And an easy read. But more importantly, the book proved to be an utter waste of my time and money. Love ya, Sean, but I should have just kept writing. Do not assume that I fail to appreciate Sam Harris as a writer. On the contrary, I thought his book The End of Faith was quite good, though I disagreed with most of his conclusions. It was quite brave of Harris to admit that he believes in a spiritual facet of the universe that inexplicably exists, but cannot be defined in conventional, scientific terms. The "Fourth Horseman" clearly departed from Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins on that point. Harris said he prefers the term "mysticism" to "spiritualism" to describe this phenomena he accepts, because he believes the latter term has more … [Read more...]
The science of eternity
I'm somewhat accustomed to receiving presents on my birthday, but it was something of a surprise when a friend sent me a present on his birthday. I felt pretty bad, because I didn't get him anything. His gift was a link to the website for the Campaign for Philosophical Freedom, specifically directing me to a page featuring a program divided into eight parts called The Science of Eternity. It's the best present I've ever received to commemorate someone else's birthday. It turned out to be quite educational. I learned something about Sir William Crookes, the brilliant British scientist. Crookes was a chemist who discovered the chemical element thallium, essential for medical equipment such as MRI machines. He was also a physicist who invented the vacuum tube, essential discoeries making the computer monitor and television screens possible. The program also exposed me to the work of Sir Oliver Lodge, another British physicist who invented wireless telegraphy, which also contributed to the invention of television by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird. All three men were also founding members of the Society for Psychical Research, and the video claimed these men allegedly carried out experiments that "proved" life continued after physical death of the human body. The substantiation for those claims turned out to be a bit difficult to find; the interviewee and presenter alluded to the existence of proof of the afterlife, but didn't describe or elaborate on it. The definition of scientific proof offered was "repeatable experiments backed up with a theory that has a … [Read more...]
