Narcissistic...we all are, at least a little bit. There is a sliver of a gap between a healthy dose of self esteem and full blown "I AM IT!" narcissism. At one time your narcissist friends were known as jerks. Then they got diagnosed...it was listed as a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder in the DSM-IV-TR. It is being eliminated from the updated version, so rather than suffering from a mental disorder narcissists are once again just assholes. If it is a state of mind or a character trait at what point along the continuum does one go from extrovert to asshole? I suppose the true narcissist doesn't really care. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201106/how-spot-narcissist
And just how do we decide when to care? Some neuroscientists are questioning whether we freely decide anything at all. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110831/full/477023a.html It seems our brains are doing something i.e., neurons are firing, seconds before we are conscious of thinking we have made a decision. The example in the experiment is the decision to push one button or the other based on a stimulus. Is it the final nail in the coffin for free will? After all what's free about simply carrying out unconscious orders from the grey matter? It's an interesting and disturbing question. Thankfully a whole gaggle of philosophers have jumped into the fray...they point out the neuroscientists are misinformed and misinterpreting data, results, and subject matter...basically the scientists don't know what they are talking about (according to the philosophers). But if we are not making conscious rational choices then we had better hope there's a god, because brothers and sisters this world is a very different place than the one in which we think we're living. Are we puppets, automatons, computer simulations or maybe zombies...and who the hell is in charge?!
Which brings me to tofu. Why would an honest carnivore choose a pseudo burger over the real deal? Well you know, if you add bacon and cheese the tofu is suddenly quite palatable. I like to think of it as a yin yang burger...all the benefits of a soy based product combined with the deliciousness of bacon and cheese. (Bacon makes everything better. It's true.)
So how do we go on from here? Are we even able to choose the next step? I think we have some clear choices...you can choose to hit the delete button or I can just stop typing this nonsense. Or harkening back to our narcissistic beginning we can choose to remind ourselves we are not the culmination of natural selection, we are just one of it's iterations. We can choose to care and avoid the hubris of narcissism. As for who's in charge, it seems we are for now. Is there really any doubt about that for Humanists? Besides, the crux of that biscuit is who takes responsibility. That is what free will is all about for me.
And as far as that yin yang burger goes...whether I freely choose it or not at least I get the bacon.
That's all I have for now.
And just how do we decide when to care? Some neuroscientists are questioning whether we freely decide anything at all. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110831/full/477023a.html It seems our brains are doing something i.e., neurons are firing, seconds before we are conscious of thinking we have made a decision. The example in the experiment is the decision to push one button or the other based on a stimulus. Is it the final nail in the coffin for free will? After all what's free about simply carrying out unconscious orders from the grey matter? It's an interesting and disturbing question. Thankfully a whole gaggle of philosophers have jumped into the fray...they point out the neuroscientists are misinformed and misinterpreting data, results, and subject matter...basically the scientists don't know what they are talking about (according to the philosophers). But if we are not making conscious rational choices then we had better hope there's a god, because brothers and sisters this world is a very different place than the one in which we think we're living. Are we puppets, automatons, computer simulations or maybe zombies...and who the hell is in charge?!
Which brings me to tofu. Why would an honest carnivore choose a pseudo burger over the real deal? Well you know, if you add bacon and cheese the tofu is suddenly quite palatable. I like to think of it as a yin yang burger...all the benefits of a soy based product combined with the deliciousness of bacon and cheese. (Bacon makes everything better. It's true.)
So how do we go on from here? Are we even able to choose the next step? I think we have some clear choices...you can choose to hit the delete button or I can just stop typing this nonsense. Or harkening back to our narcissistic beginning we can choose to remind ourselves we are not the culmination of natural selection, we are just one of it's iterations. We can choose to care and avoid the hubris of narcissism. As for who's in charge, it seems we are for now. Is there really any doubt about that for Humanists? Besides, the crux of that biscuit is who takes responsibility. That is what free will is all about for me.
And as far as that yin yang burger goes...whether I freely choose it or not at least I get the bacon.
That's all I have for now.
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