First successful sentence

“We’ll have to develop vocal chords.”

Kant and German Idealism

The categorical imperative must be proven on a case by case basis.

The Hexagon

A neomodern structure with a central courtyard, a number of concentric hubs and apparently random connecting hallways housing representatives of China, Japan, Fiji, Scotland, England, and Russia.

Surrounding the hexagon is a tent city and collection of food halls open only to employees from twelve other countries: Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden, Thailand, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Holland, and Denmark.

[too many friendly firing incidents to be interoperable with my friends the United States.]

English

All people are useless.

Parties may have contractual obligations.

The Wife Problem

Which one?

Collectives and Cooperatives

The head of the collective bargains for the members to be able to choose between three or four weetbix for breakfast in red bowls.

The cooperative allows a specialist member to stock the breakfast cereals so that other members may choose.

While driving, all members of the collective must turn the same direction at the same time.

Persons: n., pl. identical members of a collective.

People: n., pl. unique members of a cooperative.

Amorality, Society, and Ethics

Religion, or more recently, morality is nothing more than a set of norms enforced on inhabitants to limit behaviour. The social contract of Rousseau and Locke has the safety and security of person and property as the core and the benefits of specialisation and cooperation as the bonus.

I accept no unfounded morality. However, once we, in society, have agreed upon some social compact, then we have arrived at contingent morality. Not to say that I would allow rape or abuse. In the wild that wrong would not be repeated by the same person. In society, however, we develop sets of identifying and acceptable behavioural patterns. Do not tell me how to behave except in public or in a situation which grossly affects the public. Although I hold to the principle, the notion of preference frustration is a good guage of the effects of one’s actions.

A paper on the Philosophy of the Natural Sciences in 1997 with Dr. Nick Agar gave me the opportunity to write about the naturalistic fallacy and the ethics of gene therapy.

I have a great problem with the categorical imperative. While all individuals must be treated as being of equal worth, there are those individuals with greater ability who fill positions of greater responsibility and, so one would hope, privilege. There might be seven generals, one in a situation to make a decision. The environment of that situation requires attention and detail, more so than the bed and footlocker in the barracks. But when at home or at a restaurant, the general and the private are equal.

Whole Earth, the Environment, and Nations

While James Lovekock’s Gaia hypothesis might over-emphasise an anthopomorphic view of a closed ecosystem, almost three thousand years after the founding of Rome and the pax romana, we find ourselves in a situation which requires pax universalis and a whole earth policy to allay the effects of greedy optimisation and a lack of admirable foresight.

The environment is both fragile and robust. Moth species can mutate from one colour extreme to the other in short order, insecticide resistance can develop in multiple manners in under fifty years, and the albedo of the planet can dampen temperature fluctuations and the effects of solar anomalies.

The most prevalent form of government in the current era is the representative democracy. Ideally, the inhabitants and citizens of a nation should be able to select those people whom they trust to make decisions of state on their behalf. The school teacher and bank clerk should not be required to research the positions of foreign nations on pollution offset pricing, rather, they should have confidence that their elected representatives will act in a manner consistent with their interests and the interests of the future inhabitants and citizens of that country.

While most countries in the global economy are price-takers, each country maintains a prerogative to present a unique and worthwhile position and opinion. Throwing stones aside, perhaps David could have reasoned with Goliath.

The Chaotic Pendulum

Matter, coming in discrete quantities, in certain configurations, can demonstrate ‘chaotic’ behaviour, such as in the undergraduate physics experiment of the chaotic pendulum. There are no fractions of a molecule.

cp :: Prime a => a -> a -> [Integer]
-- x y relatively prime sufficient
cp x y
| y > x = cp' x y [y-x]
| otherwise = cp' y x [x-y]

cp' x y zs@(z:_)
| z > x = cp' x y ((z-x):zs)
| otherwise = cp' x y ((z+y-x):zs)


Antidisestablishmentarianism

Counter-intelligence codes are an oxymoron nothing like military intelligence.