Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 9, 2012, 12:01 pm
We in America have something of a tarnished history when it comes to inequality, what with slavery, racism, institutional discrimination, etc. Still, we rightly affirm the value of this ideal, and are constantly working to make sure we do not discriminate against people simply on the basis of morall...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 8, 2012, 2:14 pm
Though I tend to disagree with a lot of Descartes' philosophy, even though I admire him a great deal, I've always been sympathetic to his methodological doubt, not only because it provides the prospect of a possible method for acquiring true knowledge, but because I'm frequently confronted, both in ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 7, 2012, 11:26 am
When it comes to debates between religious folks and non-believers, it's not uncommon to hear the former claim that atheism is itself a religion ultimately based on faith. And it's not just your ordinary bible-thumping redneck either. If you've ever watched any of the debates on this blog featuring ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 6, 2012, 12:39 pm
There is a growing contradiction in American values: on the one hand, we like to think we are the best nation ever, full of great people, great promise, Christian family values, compassion and love for our neighbors, blah blah blah. On the other hand, we hate the idea of supporting and extending a h...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 3, 2012, 10:51 am
Math, unfortunately, is usually taught, and consequently thought of, as a set of cold, bloodless tools to solve practical and theoretical problems that are somehow removed from real lived experience. However, the truth of the matter is that math has a fascinating and mesmerizing life of its own, and...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 2, 2012, 10:36 am
As we start to celebrate Black History Month, The Onion wants to make sure we remember key historical events that a nation proud of its rich and diverse cultural heritage should never forget. One such event is the Civil Rights Act, that landmark piece of legislation that finally made it illegal to o...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Feb 1, 2012, 11:30 am
"Most men will not swim before they are able to." Is that not witty? Naturally, they won't swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they won't think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what's more, he who makes thought his business, he m...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 31, 2012, 11:00 am
If you're riding a train and you shoot a gun in the same direction, the total speed of the bullet, relative to the ground, would be the speed of the bullet relative to the gun plus the speed of the train relative to the ground. There's nothing mysterious about that concept. But what if you decided t...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 30, 2012, 10:44 am
If you have kids, I hope you've been smart enough to realize that most children's books are written by idiots and celebrities (a distinction usually without a difference) who most likely write for children because they certainly would not be able to read for intelligent and literate adults without g...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 27, 2012, 12:56 pm
Ideally, science works by the testing of hypotheses. In the real world, however, hypotheses can't always be tested directly, so scientists have to get creative and figure out indirect ways to see whether hypotheses are at least consistent with our empirical observations. Consistency alone is not suf...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 26, 2012, 1:05 pm
When you think about the sexual revolution, your mind probably focuses on the last half a century, starting with the fact that the development of the contraceptive pill gave couples all over the world, and especially women, unprecedented freedom regarding their own bodies and sexual choices. Ever si...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 25, 2012, 1:07 pm
This girl is so cool I may soon have to create a tag on this blog just for her awesomeness. Last time we saw her, she gave us a nice introduction to how the Fibonacci sequence can give rise to the kinds and numbers of spirals we find in many plants. Now, talking about plants, and considering the que...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 24, 2012, 10:30 am
I had some surgery yesterday, nothing major, but my present inability to move around as much as I'd like may result in fewer blog entries in the near future... or more than usual; we'll see. In any case, as today's entry shows, when you're bed-ridden, there are few better ways to spend your time tha...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 23, 2012, 10:30 am
As you may or may not know, Apple announced last week three initiatives designed to revolutionize education: fully interactive and affordable digital iBook textbooks for the iPad, iBooks Author (for those of you interested in creating your own interactive textbooks) and their new iTunesU app. Obviou...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 19, 2012, 3:32 pm
Traditionally, religion has been associated with a number of different concepts: explanation, revelation, salvation and consolation. The so-called New Atheists have made a strong case that when it comes to explanation, religion is no better than child fantasies. Revelation, as a corollary of explana...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 18, 2012, 2:27 pm
I'm having a hard time concentrating on work today, so instead of simply procrastinating, I've decided to raise some awareness about SOPA and PIPA without getting too technical or boring... and so I present to you Hitler! You know that there is something fundamentally wrong with the above-mentioned ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 18, 2012, 11:23 am
Via The Oatmeal Should copyrighted material be protected? Definitely. But SOPA and PIPA are not the way to do it. Learn more about it, and then do something about it...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 18, 2012, 10:30 am
Economists use the concept of externalities (or external costs) to refer to those costs that that are paid (usually against their will) by parties other than those who engage directly in a purchasing contract. You know how you love a good bargain? Well, those low prices are not something borne out o...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 17, 2012, 10:30 am
Beneath the surface of the world are the rules of science, but beneath them there is a far deeper set of rules, a matrix of pure mathematics, which explains the nature of the rules of science... So begins this David Malone tour-de-force tribute to four geniuses who dared to confront the nature of th...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 12, 2012, 10:33 am
One of the mantras underlying conservatism is the idea of radical freedom and personal responsibility: in America, you have the freedom to become anything you want. So, when you succeed, you should be able to keep your earnings (this is one reason they hate taxes). But when you fail, don't come cryi...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 10, 2012, 10:27 am
I find William Lane Craig fascinating... and disturbing. He's an interesting case study of a very intelligent and learned man who will use the most state-of-the-art scientific and philosophical scholarship to support the bat-shit-insane and mutually contradictory beliefs that are the legacy of the v...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 9, 2012, 10:30 am
Everyone knows that we ought to live within our means. It's just common sense, isn't it? And yet, consider your own situation: chances are that you are in debt, either because of some sort of loan or because you have a line of credit (or multiple) to pay for your house, your car, your drug addiction...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Jan 7, 2012, 10:30 am
I've never been able to figure out whether Pat Robertson believes the crazy things that come out of his mouth, or if he's purely a manipulative sociopath trying to advance his political and economic agenda by any means necessary. Well, apparently, God speaks directly to him now, telling him the outc...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Nov 2, 2011, 10:22 am
The dinosaurs say: No shit, Sherlock! Still, while the title is sort of obvious (and almost question-begging), Bad Astronomer Phil Plait (who apparently hosts some TV show? I'm disconnected from the world since I have no TV) delves into some interesting details about what scientist...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 31, 2011, 2:53 pm
Reposted from ReverendFun.com
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 31, 2011, 10:51 am
It would be no exaggeration to claim that the Republican Party is full of extremist ideologues. One clear example would be the fact that there have been times when people like former President-of-the-National-Rifle-Association-you'll-only-take-my-gun-from-my-cold-dead-hands-Charles-Hesto...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 28, 2011, 10:44 am
Science claims to be looking for cures for diseases, save the planet from the multiple dangers that threaten it, and to want to solve and understand the mysteries of the universe, but Aasif Mandvi from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, sat down with a conservative conspiracy theorist bimb...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 24, 2011, 10:52 am
"Our conceptions of human nature affect every aspect of our lives, from the way we raise our children to the political movements we embrace. Yet, just as science is bringing us into a golden age of understanding human nature, many people are hostile to the idea. They fear that a biologi...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 21, 2011, 10:35 am
In the animal kingdom, there is no sound imitator quite like the lyre bird. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you've got to check this out. But if there is anyone who might be able to outperform the lyre bird, it would have to be Michael Winslow (Sgt. Larvell Jones from Pol...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 20, 2011, 9:30 am
I don't know why it is that (with the possible exception of John Huntsman) virtually every Republican candidate does better with their base whenever they make irresponsible, racist, bigoted and divisive remarks, or when they dismiss the value of education, critical thinking and/or scient...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 19, 2011, 10:39 am
There are many things most of us just take for granted as obvious or just plain common sense, and therefore as not worth wasting our time on. Philosophers, however, nit-picking bunch that we are, are insatiably curious, and in our search for some coherent grand theory of everything, usua...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 18, 2011, 10:24 am
Based on the video excerpt from Bad Boy Bubby below (a movie I've never actually seen myself), it looks as though movie director Rolf de Heer has been reading some interesting combination of Democritian, Epicurian and Lucretian atomic materialism and hedonism mixed in with some 20th cent...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 17, 2011, 10:10 am
Death is not exactly one of the most pleasant topics of discussion, but it is an inescapable and universal aspect of life that we cannot avoid indefinitely. In the West, we tend to think that the appropriate thing to do with the bodies of the dead is to either cremate them or bury them i...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 12, 2011, 10:51 am
In my cursory and anecdotal study of human nature, I've noticed that those most loud and sure about their own opinions tend to love to vilify the views of others instead of fairly assessing and evaluating alternative points of view. Aristotle once said that it is the mark of an educated ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 11, 2011, 10:07 am
We all like to think we're good people, but sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between an accurate description of ourselves and wishful thinking. When you think of yourself as a good person, you're probably thinking that the fact that you've never killed anyone ought to coun...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 10, 2011, 10:28 am
I know she's not running now... my hopes for a 2012 Palin/Bachmann dream team ticket have now been ruined, but I wouldn't be surprised if we somehow managed to vote her in just out of a morbid sense of curiosity to see just how bad things could actually get if this bimbo were in office. ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 7, 2011, 9:25 am
Sad news for the world of technology and design. Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple, has passed away at age 56. He's credited with having revolutionized multiple industries multiple times, and with inspiring an entire generation of innovators and designers to let their cre...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 6, 2011, 9:34 am
Well, after recently claiming that being the President of the United States would only diminish her need for absolute power, it should come as no surprise to anyone that mavericky grizzly momma bear from bizarro world, Sarah Palin, has announced she will not be seeking the presidential ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 5, 2011, 8:51 am
Religious apologists are like magicians: they trick you into believing they're accomplished something philosophically profound and real (like 'proving' that some stone-age God exists), and then they pull a rabbit out of their magical hat (telling you exactly what that God does and doesn't want you t...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 4, 2011, 10:21 am
Imagine if the conceptual basis of just about every single belief you ever had, not just as a layman but as a professional and conscientious intellectual, were suddenly shattered by the writings of a single man? That's exactly what happened to Immanuel Kant when he read the work of David...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Oct 3, 2011, 9:17 am
I don't know too much about what Sarah Palin was like before she became known outside of Alaska, but I do know that she's become one of the biggest attention whores of our time, all while curiously decrying how the 'lame-stream media' is always trying to silence her. This, by the way, is...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 30, 2011, 12:48 pm
It's hard to understate the number of misleading health reports and health advice out there. First there's the problem of alternative-medicine quacks (visit the Enemies of Reason tag to learn more about them); then there are also problems with misleading journalistic reports that confuse...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 29, 2011, 10:52 pm
Woody Allen once quipped that while most people want to achieve immortality through their work, he'd rather achieve it through not dying. I think I'm with him on that one, but while we wait for people like Aubrey De Grey to figure out how to achieve radical life extension, your best nex...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 29, 2011, 9:24 am
Part of my growing opposition to libertarianism and political conservatism is due to the fact that they are shallow and myopic philosophies based on the unrealistic illusion of self-sufficiency and individual isolationism, and I don't think that these approaches to political phi...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 28, 2011, 9:49 am
So, "Dr." Oz, quack-alternative-medicine peddler, started a fear mongering campaign about a week ago scaring parents all over the country with the idea that apple juice is loaded with 'lethal' amounts of arsenic. As it turns out, Oz didn't distinguish between inorganic arsenic, which rea...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 27, 2011, 9:49 am
In the past, we've learned a few awesome things about pendulum waves and about the physics and philosophical questions raised by Foucault's pendulum, but there are plenty of other simple objects and experiments that can teach us fascinating and thought-provoking lessons about physics and...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 26, 2011, 10:15 am
Science is great when it comes to discoveries and studies about the physical world. It requires lots of work and dedication, analytic skills to test various hypotheses, and a wealth of creativity to figure out how to conduct experiments to tell the merits of one explanation from those ...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 24, 2011, 10:45 am
I seriously don't understand how Israel has managed to get away with human rights violations of Palestinians for as long as it has, or why everyone (other than the US) turns a blind eye to the shit they pull on a regular basis. I get, and agree, that the Jews have a right to have their o...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 23, 2011, 3:24 pm
I just don't get people sometimes. Religious conservatives base their opposition to homosexuality primarily on the Old Testament, where you can easily find injunctions and orders to kill the gays. So, you would think that if gays wanted to serve in the military (and run the risk of possi...
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Roberto R. posted an article on Berto: Philosophy Monkey - Sep 21, 2011, 10:31 am
It wasn't uncommon just a few centuries ago for sailors to tell tales of gigantic sea monsters whose tentacles would crush entire ships. Jules Verne's version of this monster as it attacked Captain Nemo's Nautilus is probably a good example of the kind of thing many people used to believ...
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