Why is there nothing on this blog?

Just for fun, let's discuss why nothingness is considered such an absolute truth by men like Sartre who were so intelligent yet miserable and felt meaningless.

Question: Is knowledge power and paralysis?
Answer: The more you know the less certain you are but the better a decision you can make... But will you make it?

Screwy Tape Tape

Anybody read the book? Does Doc Hopper have the goods?

...Testing...

Wiseman by James Blunt

Since nothing much is happening here, I am just going to bring up random questions that appear in my life (don't everyone cheer at once). But, anyway, I was randomly spending time on Youtube and found this song that I think is really awesome, but I can't find the meaning of it... James Blunt, who is now one of the most popular artists in England (I think), sings it. You can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cueB7j4ZGrM

I have heard that people either love or hate his voice and I am sorry if you hate it, you can always just look up the lyrics, but I would love to hear your thoughts on it...

Also comment on the video if you wish. It is just about as out there as the lyrics.

Oh, but don't google the meaning of it because you will get a random people saying that Blunt is making fun of God and other nonsense... I wonder if anyone truly knows what it means...

Selfishness?

I know we had this discussion in class, but we seemed to stop half way through. In the class discussion it seemed like we were deeming everything as selfish such as - if someone volunteers and then feels good about the work they did, they are selfish. The problem is that I don't really think that is true because it may be a little selfish, but it does not hurt anyone, and it still helps the people that were helped by the service just as much. If we say that this is an example of selfishness, isn't everything selfish? - When you feel happy, that is selfish. When you feel sad, that is selfish as well.

Personally I believe that selfishness has more to do with actions than thoughts. It is very possible to have selfish thoughts, and those are wrong (such as "I am better than everyone else") but I think it is mainly in what we do (or fail to do). Feeling good about doing something that helped someone else is just a natural reaction that is part of the human condition, not a selfish thought.

But what do you guys think about selfishness? If a person is not completely selfless, are they completely selfish?

Wild discussions

If I can force people onto this thing I think we've got our first polemical discussion going here.

Was Chris McCandless selfish for his actions of leaving his family without telling them anything. He then leaves all those people he meets who liked him so much particularly that old man who wanted Chris to inherent his worldly goods. What was Chris pursuing? Happiness, and is he "allowed" to pursue happiness if it means causing his family such sorrow?

I would like to further this discussion by asking if selfishness is inherently a bad thing. My that selfishness can be beneficial even necessary comes from the literature of Ayn Rand who spent a lifetime convincing people that selfishness was a virtue. I'll explain more if people ever appear.

Math and Intelligence

OK - lets get this blog going!!!

I honestly have no theories on why humans suffer except for as Michael W. Smith says (I think he said this) we simply have to suffer while more and more people are drawn to God (this is my religious standpoint of course) and so that in the end these people will find everlasting life and it is worth it for everyone to suffer for years for the sake of one person who will find God in those years...

But, anyway...

Today is the day that Aaron and I presented our "Mathematical ability versus intelligence" discussion and we (mainly Aaron) found an interesting/not totally related question that has plagued many of us for years - can you put a number on intelligence?

Though I finally feel as though my SAT score finally represents my abilities, I still don't think that my ACT score has anything to do with my abilities in each area. Do you think it is right to put a number on intelligence? Do you think an IQ score is accurate or just generally accurate or not accurate at all? Do your test scores represent what you think is your abilities (please do not digress into "I got this score" or so on - just relatively between like the 3 scores on the SAT did it show the difference in ability - if you took it multiple times do you think you learned the test or became more intelligent when your score improved?)