I am what I am and that's all that I am!

Believing in Beliefs ? (Part 1)

If you call yourself scientific and logical, yet strongly believe in something that's supported by no evidence whatsoever, then there is no cure for your condition.

See the thing about logic is, it has to be possessed in entirety. If you leave holes in it, random crap will come seeping in and pollute your emotion-driven mind in no time.You'll wave the flag of science, yet you'll believe in the concept of past life. You'll demand scientific evidence but still believe that our destinies are pre-written. You'll worship logic yet that's the first thing you'll sacrifice on the alters of religion.

Words of truth, even when spoken quietly, make their impact. It is the made up stuff, the sham that needs to be spoken from the rooftops. Wonder why the proponents of illogical, unscientific rubbish are often very charismatic and effective speakers? Because what you can't prove with evidence and logic can only be pushed down people's throats through a powerful emotional rhetoric. Such people will avoid answering a logical question directly, in stead they will take you on a pseudo scientific emotional ride, and will get extremely angry if you show them the faults in their claims.

Follow logic. Completely! So that you leave no room for rubbish to hold any sway on you, no matter who speaks it or how powerfully they speak it. Skepticism is our best ally in times where too much false knowledge is being spread with too much fervor.

Save yourself. Think logically. Demand proofs. Don't just believe in something. In fact, reject all beliefs as much as possible and accept evidence. If you believe in past life, you might as well start believing in flying spaghetti monster. If you believe in the eternal nature of soul then you have no right to ridicule someone who says that we are actually living in the matrix or that you are going in hell because you are not a Christian.

Beliefs are ridiculous when they are held strongly without rational thinking or practical evidence. Beliefs are even dangerous when you are so enamored with them that you even reject the evidence that proves your beliefs wrong.

Mother nature has worked very hard to increase our brain size. Lets not insult her efforts. Think, and think deeply. Be a skeptic. Demand evidence. There are far too many loopholes laid out ahead of you to fall into, and only science and logic can save you from them.

Lastly, no matter how smart you are, if you say to me things like - "oh, i believe in black magic and I believe psychics exist and they can talk to spirits", i would say, in 'django unchained' fashion, "Lady/ Gentleman, you had my attention, but now you don't even have my curiosity". 

posted from Bloggeroid

Saw the first lecture by Prof.Michael Sandel on justice on edx. He talks about a case situation where you are driving a trolley truck that's gone out of control.there are 5 workers in the street ahead and it is 100% for sure that if you continue going straight ahead, you will careen into them and kill them.
Now, You have just one alternative. You see a side track and you can quickly steer to it. But there is 1 worker in that track and if you turn there, he will be killed for sure.

So, whats the right thing to do?

Let the truck ram into five workers and kill them, or kill one person in order to save five others?

My first answer is that I would steer the truck into the side track and save 5 lives.......by killing 1.

But that 'feels' morally wrong. That still looks like killing, rather than saving.

But what if by killing one innocent person, I could save 1000 innocent lives? Would I then take the truck on sidetrack and save 1000 other people by killing 1. Does it feel morally right ? Is that the right thing to do ?


Tough question.


my first reaction was -yes.it's rational and reasonable to kill one person to save a thousand others.

But now my answer is a NO.


Why?

Well, I feel that though your intentions are good, though the result of your action (killing one person to save many others) look logically and mathematically better on paper, it sends out a very disturbing signal in the society. It somehow dehumanizes the worker in the side track. In a split second, an innocent, hard working man became a commodity, he became expendable. His wishes, his rights didn't matter any more and he became your object, which you chose to do away with. His life was somewhat of lesser importance than the lives of five others. And that's what feels wrong.


But what about the other 5 people? Wont they die, won't their families suffer? Didn't they have a right to live as much as the poor thing in side track did ?

Yes. That's all correct. But in both the scenarios, they still have their dignity to live or die as a human being and not as an object.

Let me put it this way. Thousands of people die in accidents everyday, natural or man made. Accidents kill people, but as opposed to act of the killing with motive, they don't leave behind an uncomfortable feeling. One man treating another man as an object can never be right. It doesn't matter what the motive was.

Killing one for saving other can not be right. You wont kill one man and harvest his organs to save five others, even though it might sound like a logical thing to do. But morality isn't about logic it's about what legacy you leave behind. What lessons people get from your actions.

However, if you still choose ti steer the trolley on the sidetrack and kill one man to save many others, make sure you kill yourself right after that. Because only that can restore the balance of morality that you just disturbed.

posted from Bloggeroid