Michael Flynn's Blog, page 22

Political Philosophy in the Late Modern Ages

“Mine! Me! Not Fair! Gimme! It’s Not My Fault! He Hurt My Feelings!”

h/t Wm. Briggs

The Passing of the Age of Reason

Da Man

Recently, on a forum called Quora, TOF was amused to see this topic:  What are the strongest arguments for atheism?

There are actually only two such arguments, both put forth by Thomas Aquinas some 743 years ago.  Each was stated in the form of an actual syllogism, and then answered.  They are:

Objection 1. It seems that God does not exist; because if one of two contraries be infinite, the other would be altogether destroyed. But the word "God" means that He is infinite goodness. If, therefore, God existed, there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God does not exist.

Videtur quod Deus non sit. Quia si unum contrariorum fuerit infinitum, totaliter destruetur aliud. Sed hoc intelligitur in hoc nomine Deus, scilicet quod sit quoddam bonum infinitum. Si ergo Deus esset, nullum malum inveniretur. Invenitur autem malum in mundo. Ergo Deus non est.

Objection 2. Further, it is superfluous to suppose that what can be accounted for by a few principles has been produced by many. But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be reduced to one principle which is nature; and all voluntary things can be reduced to one principle which is human reason, or will. Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence.

Praeterea, quod potest compleri per pauciora principia, non fit per plura. Sed videtur quod omnia quae apparent in mundo, possunt compleri per alia principia, supposito quod Deus non sit, quia ea quae sunt naturalia, reducuntur in principium quod est natura; ea vero quae sunt a proposito, reducuntur in principium quod est ratio humana vel voluntas. Nulla igitur necessitas est ponere Deum esse.

These can be summarized as:

Life sucks.  Therefore, no God.
(Vita sugit. Igitur nullus Deus.)
Everything seems to work fine.  Therefore, no God.
(Omnia videtur ad bene operandum. Igitur nullus Deus.)
All other arguments are either padding or irrelevant.  So curiosity compelled a glance at this "Quora" site to see what the ingenuity of the Late Modern mind has come up with.  TOF was astonished.
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The Wonderful World of Statistics - Part II

Allegory of the CookiesBack in August 2012, we presented the Allegory of the Fluoropolymers and promised a Part II "soon."  Well, nine months seems long enough to give birth, so...
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Have You Seen This Theory?

Hi!  My Name is Global WarmingHave You Seen Me? 

[image error]


Rochester MN, 1 May 2013

This young theory has been missing for a decade, now,
and her parents are very worriedAnyone who thinks they have seen this theory should call 555-WARM immediately

Creation Myth

James Chastek has an interesting comment entitled Note on “science destroys creation myths”, where he riffs on a comment by someone named Mike Williamson, whose c.v. is otherwise unspecified:

More Here

Headline of the Week

"Complex being built to last"  -- Express-Times 25 April 2013
My first thought on spotting this headline was that complex beings generally don't last as long as simpler ones because there are more things that can go wrong.  The longest-lasting being is likely to be one that is radically simple, not a compound nor composed of parts.

But then reading further it transpired that "complex" was a noun not an adjective, and "being" was a participle not a noun; and it referred to the construction of a hockey arena.*

Go figure.

(*) Hockey arena.  A local billboard taken out by a dental practice proclaimed their support for the facility.

A New Definition of Chutzpah

A young woman who works in the welfare office in a certain county received a call from someone requesting food stamps.
What is your annual income? she said.
$175,000
(silence, followed by:)
I'm sorry, but you aren't eligible for food stamps. 
I don't see why not!
(looking up SSI information...)
It says here you own two rental properties in New York City and make $6000/mo.
Why does that matter?
+ + +

What Would be Redefined Must First be Destroyed

The Washington Post reports:

    …It’s hard to overstate the breakdown of marriage and the rise of single-parent families. Consider out-of-wedlock births.
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The Arithmetic of the Struggle

"However, to bring down America we do not need to strike big. In such an environment of security phobia that is sweeping America, it is more feasible to stage smaller attacks that involve fewer players and less time to launch and thus we may circumvent the security barriers America has worked so hard to erect. This strategy of attacking the enemy with smaller, but more frequent operations is what some may refer to the strategy of a thousand cuts. The aim is to bleed the enemy to death."
-- the late* Samir Khan, explaining "Operation Hemorrhage," (Inspire, Nov. 2010)

In Adam Gadahn's May 2010 message entitled "A Call to Arms," Gadahn counsels lone wolf jihadists to follow a three-pronged target selection process. They should choose a target with which they are well acquainted, a target that is feasible to hit and a target that, when struck, will have a major impact. The Tsarnaev brothers did all three in Boston.

(*) late.  US missile strike in the Yemen .

Read more: Why the Boston Bombers Succeeded | Stratfor


Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail

-- Rudyard Kipling, "Arithmetic on the Frontier"

What Does a Baby Look Like

when going into his second heart surgery?

Like this:
He obviously has complete confidence in his parents and the pediatric intensive care doctors, nurses, and technicians.  How could it be otherwise?

For those wondering, he is my cousin's grandson, named Colin, which makes him my first cousin twice removed.  (The cousin is my milk-sister cousin, who is on the German side.)  He came through the first operation with flying colors, and there is a third one in his future.  His father had this to say about his present travails:

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