More cartoons, this time in Sweden.

The right to parody, which goes hand in hand with the cultural imperative to investigate all aspects of a topic, has come to the fore again.

quote: "The right to freedom of religion and the right to blaspheme religions go together," [the newspaper] wrote.

It's more than freedom of speech. It's the freedom of inquiry that is the basis of human existence. Radical Islam has no right, no cultural imperative, to block that.

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Nerd, Geek or Dork?

I have a serious weakness for some quiz topics. Who would've guessed that I'd score as a pure nerd?

Your Score: Pure Nerd

65 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 43% Dork

For The Record:


A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.


You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.



The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendencies associated with the "dork." No longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older. Eventually, being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.


Congratulations!



Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

The merits of genteel poverty.

Nice short article from The Economist about the possible contributing factors to the development of the Industrial Revolution in England. I can see why some would find it inflammatory, but that's a matter of guilt on their part, not error on the part of the writer--or on the part of England.

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Everything Sucksism.

I've been looking for a phrase to capture this attitude, and here it is, thanks to The Onion's A.V. Club.

"Another reason I’m pursuing this project is to refute what I like to
call the “Everything Sucksism” afflicting popular culture, a cheap
adolescent nihilism that delights in taking down celebrities and
pop-culture entities that are already walking punchlines."

I would argue that it goes farther than celebrities and popular culture. It may have started there, but it's far afield now.

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Hack yourself.

This was written by someone else as a rant, sent as an email, then took on a life of its own. It's not mine, and that works for me.

"Hack yourself. You can be happy. You can live the life you want to live. You can become the person you want to be. This is what I've figured out so far."


As my Mensa buddy Leah, from whom I got this, said, "Amen, brother."

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Article in French weekly against Islamic totalitarianism

We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of
being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses
criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who
believe in it.

We defend the universality of the freedom of expression,
so that a critical spirit can exist in every continent, towards each
and every maltreatment and dogma.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits in every country that our century may be one of light and not dark.

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The longevity of neologisms.

This is a nice little rant on the increasingly swift publication of neologisms in dictionaries. I agree that perhaps more time should be taken to see if the words stick in the language; the writer's example of "to handbag," a Thatcherism, is well chosen.

Item from Der Spiegel's "Fishwrap."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

"Nicolas Sarkozy is a sworn enemy of Turkey's EU membership.
Nonetheless, his election victory has not caused much of a stir on the
Bosporus. The Turks have reconciled themselves to the fact that they
will not make any progress in the direction of Europe within the
foreseeable future. The negotiations have effectively been put on
ice."

"The secular demonstrators (will only succeed in reducing the
influence of the military in Turkish politics) through an honest
cooperation with the Europeans. A clear policy is required, even if it
involves Sarkozy and Merkel opting for another form of cooperation
with Turkey other than full membership. That would be something to be
welcomed -- because Europe's previous policy on Turkey has failed."

Art and Culture: The Watchers

Just now in my inbox from the Art and Culture Yahoo group:

"When people complain that they can't get what they want, one of the simple truths and explanations is that they don't really want it. We are all told and have experienced that when you put your mind to doing something you usually get it done, if you see it to the end.

"People who understand this truth are usually getting more done in life, than those who believe in chance and fate. BUT, there is a huge catch, most of those people who are getting things done have not established what they Really want correctly. In today's world, there are so many idols, so many immediate options, some can be grabbed while others just elude us. Deciding on what you want becomes problematic, because the core values in life have been parodied in popular culture so many times, that you would believe the parody and not even recognize the truth when it presents itself to you. The Truth is the same everywhere, the Parodies become cleverer with each season of Fashion.

"The community in the Art and Culture group often refers to itself as 'the Watchers', because we are responsible for seeing beyond what is represented in our daily lives where ever we are on the planet. And to go deeper and beyond what is local to what is fundamentally universal. And to go beyond what is 'shown to us' as universal via Global Media, to what is true and innate inside every human being; the links that tie all together, the values that could hold us in harmony for millenia to come."

--Marco Mann

Another great article on Pope Benedict XVI.

Broadly held assumptions notwithstanding, Joseph Ratzinger did not want this job. For decades, as guardian of the Grail, he had spent "80 percent of [his] time dealing with old women who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary," as he once remarked to a visitor.

What he wanted was to go home to Bavaria and write the three fundamental treatises that only he could write, along with a study of Jesus Christ.

"If Joseph Ratzinger ever has a question, he goes to the library. He clearly doesn't have a friend he turns to for advice," says a priest and church historian who knew this J.R. before his metamorphosis.

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Islam and Modern Science

Wow, how to characterize a couple of things. First, this is a lecture by Seyyid Hossein Nasr, given at MIT, no date, claims to be an accurate transcript taken by the Pakistan Study Group. Nasr talks about how Islamic historians of science, the precious few of them, must reorient Western science within an Islamic world view. (He also does the standard leapfrog of "We did it first.") His metaphor is that of digestion: Islamic historians of science must take Western science and "reject" what it doesn't want, just as the human body "rejects" indigestible food.

Anyone have a problem with that?

He also argues that science is not value free, and that's why science has to be reoriented within Islam. Then he claims that science has a deleterious effect on the young, and consequently, it has to be managed carefully or they'll stop saying their prayers.

And I'd so hoped that I'd found a rational, objective Islamic thinker.

Fortunately, there's help via Wikipedia:

Underdetermination (sometimes indeterminacy of data to theory) is a term used in the discussion of theories and their relation to the evidence that is cited to support them. Arguments from underdetermination are used to support epistemic relativism by claiming that there is no good way to certify a theory based on any set of evidence. A theory (or statement or belief) is underdetermined if, given the available evidence, there is a rival theory which is inconsistent with the theory that is at least as consistent with the evidence. Underdetermination is an epistemological issue about the relation of evidence to conclusions.

Looks like Islamic science will claim underdetermination as its rightful entry point into Western scientific thought and practice.

Look no further than the Hadith.

"The old Islamic ban on depictions of the prophet, though frequently ignored as these many paintings show, began to gain increased authority in the 18th century. Handmade books of history, especially those painted to legitimize one or another Islamic dynasty, were seldom commissioned after that.

"'The growing power of conservative faculties in Islamic universities also strengthened the old ban on depictions of the prophet,' As'ad AbuKhalil said. 'So did the rise of the Wahabis in Arabia. Their conservatism went so far that they obliterated the prophet's tomb.' They feared its veneration.

"But theological taboos can evolve. Sometimes they tighten, sometimes they loosen."

And this from the Iconography entry on Wikipedia:

"Icons are strictly forbidden in Islam if they are consecrated. However Islamic art differs in its view of icons ranging from totally forbidding drawings and photography as with the Wahhabis to forbidding only drawings but not photography to allowing both as with the majority of Sunni Muslims. Some Shia allow even the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad and his cousin Ali, a position totally unacceptable to the Sunnis. Muslims view sanctified icons as idols, and strictly forbid the worship of an icon, or worship in front of it."

An apologist with no apologies.

I hoped this article would be illuminating, but instead it's little more than obfuscation. Witness:



"The Muslim world never experienced a Western-style enlightenment, not that this would necessarily guarantee democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, as European history demonstrates - a fact that cannot be overstressed. Enlightenment is, however, a prerequisite for a more judicious attitude toward the professed superiority of a community's own religion (not, however, as regards its claim to possessing the absolute truth, which the Christian church also asserts) and toward its own history. Most Muslims lack critical detachment when it comes to their heritage. Enlightenment, however, needs to originate from within and reflect its specific context."



Too bad the author refuses to come to the conclusion indicated in his own words: The Muslim world has no reason to experience an enlightenment.

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"Hurray! We're Capitulating!"

Fear may be a poor counselor, but when it comes to educating the masses, there is no more effective tool.



http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,462149-2,00.html

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Article in French weekly against Islamic totalitarianism

We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who believe in it.

We defend the universality of the freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit can exist in every continent, towards each and every maltreatment and dogma.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits in every country that our century may be one of light and not dark.

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remember, remember the fifth of November

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Spiegel interview with Aga Khan

This guy wriggles, tosses out red herrings, uses the "you're another" fallacy...what an amazing bit of theater. He can't back away from the accusation that Islam is out to establish a global Islamic state, though. A year ago, I never would have agreed with that accusation. Today, I don't see how it's not the case.

Historiography of Islamic Science

The history of science in the Islamic world, like all history, is filled with questions of interpretation. Historians of science generally consider that the study of Islamic science, like all history, must be seen within the particular circumstances of time and place. A.I. Sabra opened a recent overview of Arabic science by noting, "I trust no one would wish to contest the proposition that all of history is local history ... and the history of science is no exception."^[1]

Some scholars avoid such local historical approaches and seek to identify essential relations between Islam and science that apply at all times and places. The Pakistani physicist, Pervhez Hoodbhoy, portrayed "religious fanaticism to be the dominant relation of religion and science in Islam". Sociologist Toby Huff maintained that Islam lacked the "rationalist view of man and nature" that became dominant in Europe. The Persian philosopher and historian of science, Seyyed Hossein Nasr saw a more positive connection in "an Islamic science that was spiritual and antisecular" which "point[ed] the way to a new 'Islamic science' that would avoid the dehumanizing and despiritualizing mistakes of Western science."^[2]

Nasr identified a distinctly Muslim approach to science, flowing from Islamic monotheism and the related theological prohibition against portraying graven images. In science, this is reflected in a philosophical disinterest in describing individual material objects, their properties and characteristics and instead a concern with the ideal, the Platonic form, which exists in matter as an expression of the will of the Creator. Thus one can "see why mathematics was to make such a strong appeal to the Muslim: its abstract nature furnished the bridge that Muslims were seeking between multiplicity and unity."^[3]

Rather than identifying such essential relations between Islam and science, some historians of science question the value of drawing boundaries that label the sciences, and the scientists who practice them, in specific cultural, civilizational, or linguistic terms. Consider the case of Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201–1274), who invented his mathematical theorem, the Tusi Couple, while he was director of Maragheh observatory. Tusi's patron and founder of the observatory was the non-Muslim Mongol conqueror of Baghdad, Hulagu Khan. The Tusi-couple "was first encountered in an Arabic text, written by a man who spoke Persian at home, and used that theorem, like many other astronomers who followed him and were all working in the "Arabic/Islamic" world, in order to reform classical Greek astronomy, and then have his theorem in turn be translated into Byzantine Greek towards the beginning of the fourteenth century, only to be used later by Copernicus and others in Latin texts of Renaissance Europe."^[4]

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History of Islamic Science

In the eleventh century Muslim science and the numbers of scientists started to decline. After the thirteenth century they would still produce occasional scientists but they were the exception, not the rule (see list of Islamic scholars). One reason for the scientific decline can be traced back to the tenth century when the orthodox school of Ash'ari challenged the more rational school of Mu'tazili theology, or even earlier when caliph Al-Mutawakkil (847-861) started to suppress the Mu'tazili theology. The orthodox Muslims fought the shia Muslims and other Muslim branches, as well as several invaders(mongols, crusaders etc.) on the Islamic lands between 1000 – 1300. In the end the Sunni orthodox were victorious and the more strict Ash'ari school replaced Mu'tazili thought in the Islamic lands. That replacement and numerous wars and conflicts created a climate which made Islamic science less successful than before.

With the fall of Muslim Spain in 1492, scientific and technological initiative generally passed to Christian Europe and led to what we now call the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The fiqh of Islamic Law froze more or less along classical/medieval lines, and no longer encouraged science.

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